| 11. |
- Alam, Md. Minhaj
(författare)
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Laser welding and cladding : the effects of defects on fatigue behaviour
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The thesis focuses on weld defects in laser processed materials (for laser welding, laser hybrid arc welding and laser cladding) and their effect on the fatigue life of components. Component properties were studied with particular emphasis on the macro and micro surface geometry, weld defects and clad defects. The influence of these defects on fatigue life was analyzed by; the nominal and effective notch stress method, fatigue life prediction using Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM), fatigue testing, metallurgical analysis, fractography, elastic and elastic-plastic Finite Element Analysis (FEA). A simplified Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis was also carried out to better understand the formation of undercuts during the welding process. The main objective is to gain an understanding of the impact of laser weld and clad defects on the fatigue behaviour of components.In the first two papers, fatigue testing involving the bending of laser hybrid arc welded eccentric fillet joints was carried out. Based on measurements of the weld surface geometry the crack initiation location and the crack propagation path were studied, experimentally and in conjunction with FE stress analysis. The competing criteria of throat depth and stress raising by the weld toe radii and by the surface ripples are explained, showing that the topology of surface ripples can be critical to fatigue behaviour. LEFM analysis was conducted to study the effect of Lack of Fusion (LOF) on fatigue life. Cracking starts and propagates preferentially from the lower toe of the top surface for this eccentric weld, even in cases of LOF. In the third paper two-dimensional linear elastic FEA was carried out for laser welding of a high strength steel beam. The impact of the geometrical aspects of joint design and of the weld root geometry on the fatigue performance was studied. Critical geometrical aspects were classified and then studied by FE-analysis with respect to their impact on the fatigue behaviour. In the fourth paper the melt pool flow behaviour during the laser hybrid arc welding process was analyzed by CFD simulation. The melt velocity behind the keyhole was measured from high speed imaging as a starting value for the simulation. It was found that a high speed flow in the thin topmost layer of the melt transferred its momentum to an underlying flow which is faster than the welding speed and this delays the lifting of the depressed melt.In the fifth and sixth papers FEA of different macro stress fields and of stress raisers produced by defects was studied in laser clad surfaces for four different fatigue load conditions. Defects were categorized into zero-, one- and two-dimensional types. Pores intersecting or just beneath the surface initiated fatigue cracking, accompanied by two circular buckling patterns. For a four-point bending load involving a surface pore on a spherical rod, the critical range of azimuthal angle was identified to be 55º. The performance of as-clad surfaces was found to be governed by the sharpness of surface notches. Planar defects like hot cracks or LOF are most critical if oriented vertically, transverse to the bar axis. A generalized theory was established, showing that the combination of the macro stress field with the defect type, position and orientation, determines whether it is the most critical stress raiser.
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| 12. |
- Alhalaweh, Amjad
(författare)
-
Pharmaceutical cocrystals : formation mechanisms, solubility behaviour and solid-state properties
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The primary aim of pharmaceutical materials engineering is the successful formulation and process development of pharmaceutical products. The diversity of solid forms available offers attractive opportunities for tailoring material properties. In this context, pharmaceutical cocrystals, multicomponent crystalline materials with definite stoichiometries often stabilised by hydrogen bonding, have recently emerged as interesting alternative solid forms with potential for improving the physical and biopharmaceutical properties of a drug substance. There are, however, gaps in our understanding of the screening, scale-up and formulation operations required for effective use of cocrystals in drug product development. The objective of this thesis was to improve fundamental understanding of the formation mechanisms, solution behaviour and solid-state properties of pharmaceutical cocrystals. The solution chemistry and solubility behaviour of a diverse set of cocrystals were studied. It was found that the thermodynamic stability regions of the cocrystals and their components were defined by the phase solubility diagrams. Spray drying was introduced as a new method of preparing cocrystals; the formation mechanisms are illustrated. The cocrystals were more soluble than the respective drugs alone and the solubility-pH profiles were able to be predicted by mathematical models using a eutectic point determination approach. The cocrystal solubility was pH-dependent and could be engineered by the choice of coformers; this is valuable information for designing robust formulations. The solubility advantage of cocrystals was retained by the use of excipients that imparted kinetic and thermodynamic stability. The retention of drug-coformer association in processed cocrystals has been revealed, introducing a novel concept with potential implications for solid dosage form development. The final study demonstrated that the structure of the crystals and the particle engineering processes affected the solidstate and bulk particle properties of the cocrystals.This thesis contributes to the field of pharmaceutical science by advancing our understanding of crystallization processes and formulation development, thus enabling pharmaceutical cocrystals into drug products.
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| 13. |
- Alzghoul, Ahmad
(författare)
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Mining data streams to increase industrial product availability
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Improving product quality is always of industrial interest. Product availability, a function of product maintainability and reliability, is an example of a measurement that can be used to evaluate product quality. Product availability and cost are two units which are especially important to manage in the context of the manufacturing industry, especially where industry is interested in selling or buying offers with increased service content. Industry in general uses different strategies for increasing equipment availability; these include: corrective (immediate or delayed) and preventive strategies. Preventive strategies may be further subdivided into scheduled and predictive (condition-based) maintenance strategies. In turn, predictive maintenance may also be subdivided into scheduled inspection and continuously monitored. The predictive approach can be achieved by early fault detection. Fault detection and diagnosis methods can be classified into three categories: data-driven, analytically based, and knowledge-based methods. In this thesis, the focus is mainly on fault detection and on data-driven models.Furthermore, industry is generating an ever-increasing amount of data, which may eventually become impractical to store and search, and when the data rate is increasing, eventually impossible to store. The ever-increasing amount of data has prompted both industry and researchers to find systems and tools which can control the data on the fly, as close to real-time as possible, without the need to store the data itself. Approaches and tools such as Data Stream Mining (DSM) and Data Stream Management Systems (DSMS) become important. For the work reported in this thesis, DSMS and DSM have been used to control, manage and search data streams, with the purpose of supporting increased availability of industrial products.Bosch Rexroth Mellansel AB (formerly Hägglunds Drives AB) has been the industrial partner company during the course of the work reported in this thesis. Related data collection concerning the functionality of the BRMAB hydraulic system has been performed in collaboration with other researchers in Computer Aided Design at Luleå University of Technology.The research reported in this thesis started with a review of data stream mining algorithms and their applications in monitoring. Based on the review, a data stream classification method, i.e. Grid-based classifier, was proposed, tested and validated (Paper A). Also, a fault detection system based on DSM and DSMS was proposed and tested, as reported in Paper A. Thereafter, a data stream predictor was integrated into the proposed fault detection system to detect failures earlier, thus demonstrating how data stream prediction can be used to gain more time for proactive response actions by industry (Paper B). Further development included an automatic update method which allows the proposed fault detection system to be able to overcome the problem of concept drift (Paper E). The proposed and modified fault detection systems were tested and verified using data collected in collaboration with Bosch Rexroth Mellansel AB (BRMAB). The requirements for the proposed fault detection system and how it can be used in product development and design of the support system were also discussed (Paper C). In addition, the performance of a knowledge-based method and a data- driven method for detecting failures in high-volume data streams from industrial equipment have been compared (Paper D). It was found that both methods were able to detect all faults without any false alert. Finally, the possible implications of using cloud services for supporting industrial availability are discussed in Paper F. Further discussions regarding the research process and the relations between the appended papers can be found in Chapter 2, Figure 4 and in Chapter 5, Figure 21.The results showed that the proposed and modified fault detection systems achieved good performance in detecting and predicting failures on time (see Paper A and Paper B). In Paper C, it is shown how data stream management systems may be used to increase product availability awareness. Also, both the data-driven method and the knowledgebased method were suitable for searching data streams (see Paper D). Paper E shows how the challenge of concept drift, i.e. the situation in which the statistical properties of a data stream change over time, was turned to an advantage, since the authors were able to develop a method to automatically update the safe operation limits of the one-class data-driven models.In general, detecting faults and failures on time prevents unplanned stops and may improve both maintainability and reliability of industrial systems and, thus, their availability (since availability is a function of maintainability and reliability). By the results, this thesis demonstrates how DSM and DSMS technologies can be used to increase product availability and thereby increase product quality in terms of availability.
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| 14. |
- Amara, Sofiane
(författare)
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Novel and ancient technologies for heating and cooling buildings
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The basic issue of this thesis concerns one of the fundamental problems of the future of our society: How to meet the energy requirements for a large and growing world population while preserving our environment? This question is important for the world and the answers are complex and interwoven.Conventional energy sources, fossil and fissile, are polluting in the present and in the future: they erode the environment and their resources are limited. Renewable energy (hydro, wind, solar, geothermal) constitutes a minimum of pollution in the different energy systems. The technologies for using renewable energy are well known though further development and progress are made. This development also requires behavioural change, adaptation, and above all political will. The transition from an economy based on fossil energy to an economy based on renewable energy appears necessary for the protection of the environment. The cost of renewable energy is often represented as an obstacle but remains competitive in the long run.The development and availability of renewable energy, which varies because of its spatial and temporal distribution, require an adaptation of lifestyle, habits, habitat design (passive bioclimatic houses), urban planning and transportation.The focus of this thesis was to apply renewable energy in an area with hot summers and cold winter, a climate like that in the northwest of Algeria. In order to provide improved comfort in the buildings and also economic development in this area, the energy demand for heating and cooling was analyzed in the ancient city of Tlemcen. To supply domestic hot water and space heating, water must be simultaneously available at two different temperature levels. Cold water temperature, close to that of the atmosphere, and hot water between 50 and 60°C. An interesting feature of the preparation of hot water is the small variation of requirements during the year, unlike that to heating. The preparation of hot water is one of the preferred applications of solar energy in the building for several reasons. For this reason an experimental study of the thermal behaviour of a domestic hot water storage tank was undertaken. The phenomena that affect the thermal behaviour of tank especially the coupling between the solar collector and storage tank was studied. This study included concentrating solar collector in which optical fibers were used to transport the energy to the storage tank. Another technology was introduced and developed for the heating and cooling of buildings in the desert involving an existing ancient irrigation system called Fouggara. The novel idea is to use the Fouggara as an air conditioner by pumping ambient air through this underground system. Then air at a temperature of about 21°C would be supplied to the building for heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. This study shows the feasibility of using this ancient irrigation system of Fouggara and contributes to reducing and eliminating the energy demand for heating and cooling buildings in the Sahara desert.
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| 15. |
- Amofah, Lea Rastas
(författare)
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Towards sustainability of environmental protection : recovery of nutrients from wastewater filtration and the washing of arsenic contaminated soils
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Conventional methods for wastewater treatment and remediation of the sites withcontaminated soils focus on protection of human health, receiving waters and theenvironment. Towards this end, these methods concentrate on the reduction or removal of polluting substances, and therefore, are not well suited for creating resources through the recovery of nutrients, energy and decontaminated soils. Hence, a new, more sustainable approach is promoted in this thesis and, besides meeting the protection requirements, takes into consideration the resources that can be recovered from the treatment processes, keeping in mind the energy use during such a recovery. To achieve this goal, a better knowledge of wastewater and contaminated soil treatment approaches needs to be developed, from a resource recovery perspective.In this thesis project, laboratory, pilot-scale and full-scale investigations were conducted to study phosphorus (P) sorption in blast furnace slag (BF slag) filters. Further, ammonium adsorption by, and desorption from, clinoptilolite was studied in laboratory columns. A full-scale wastewater treatment system, comprising a willow bed followed by two parallel P–filters with BF slag and Filtralite® P media was examined for the wastewater treatment efficiency, nutrient accumulation in willow biomass, and biomass production. In a similar way, laboratory, pilot-scale and full-scale investigations were conducted to examine arsenic (As) removal from As contaminated soils using physical separation and chemical extraction. Finally, the decontamination of the extraction effluents (contaminated by As) was studied by adjusting pH and adding a coagulant, iron chloride.Pollutant mobilisation and immobilisation were affected by pH, the organic mattercontent, redox potential, time (process duration) and temperature. Results showed that pollutants in the studied media have complex characteristics in terms of charge of species and redox speciation, and therefore, no general conclusions addressing all the conditions studied could be given. The P sorption capacity of BF slag was reduced by outdoor storage and weathering, and the content of organic substances in sewage seemed to have a more negative impact on the sorption process when using weathered BF slag. Arsenic mobilisation from As contaminated soils was affected by pH, the content of organic substances, and redox potential and the nature of these effects depended on the polluting chemicals (i.e. wood preservatives) and the content of calcium in the soil. Extractions at elevated temperatures facilitated high As mobilisation from the contaminated soils for short contact times, assuming that the extraction solution features vital for As mobilisation were not altered, and the fastest As mobilisation was achieved by using an acid oxalate citrate solution rather than reductive or alkaline extraction solutions at room temperatures.In the full-scale treatment system, the willow bed efficiently reduced the content of total suspended solids and biodegradable organic matter in the influent wastewater and prevented the clogging of downstream phosphorus filters during the one year of operation. The Filtralite® P treatment train simultaneously removed over 90 and 70% of BOD and P, respectively, during the experimental period, and therefore, fulfilled the requirements for the low protection level over the period of one year, except for tot-P excesses during the snowmelt period. In the case of tot-N reduction (50%), the high protection level was achieved. On the other hand, the treatment system with BF slag did not fulfil requirements for either low or high protection level, because the coarse-grained BF slag was inefficient in retaining P and the concentrations of oxygen consuming compounds were elevated downstream of the filter.The studied methods for recovering resources through treatment of wastewater and contaminated soils demonstrated a potential for improving environmental sustainability of these processes. Even though the willow bed did not accumulate nutrients from the fed wastewater to a high degree, it facilitated nutrient recovery in other treatment steps located downstream. Fresh, fine-grained BF slag showed capacity to recover P from wastewater, which was comparable to that of other efficient P sorbents. The BF slag material released high amounts of sulphuric compounds during the initial loading phase which consequently increased the concentration of oxygen consuming compounds in the filter effluent. Thus, the use of BF slag for P retention is not recommended when the effluent is discharged to sensitive receiving waters. Natural clinoptilolite studied showed a high capacity for adsorbing ammonium from the pre-treated wastewater, at low operating temperatures. Hence, the clinoptilolite filter has a potential to enhance N retention during the plant dormancy or prior to the maturity of willow beds when N retention is needed. However, the recovery of ammonium was limited by the inefficient desorption process using tap water without recycling the eluate. Fertigated willows grew nearly as well as in the south of Sweden, but in the highly loaded horizontal flow willow bed, the potential to produce biofuel was limited. To recover nutrients, willow clones with lateral growth are preferable. 90% of nutrients accumulated in the above-ground parts of willows could be recovered from the experimental site operated over three growing seasons, particularly when using dense planting and annual harvesting prior to leaf fall.Soil treatment, comprising the exclusion of the fine soil fraction prior to the chemical extraction with strong extraction agents applied at an elevated temperature, was efficient in decontaminating soils, even for short contact times. However, this treatment procedure results in an incomplete soil recovery (i.e. the recovered mass of soil after decontamination is appreciably smaller than the soil mass prior to decontamination), consumes a high amount of energy and lowers the soil quality, which limits the potential end-use of the decontaminated soil. The alkaline extraction effluents could be decontaminated at a pH of 4-5 with the addition of a coagulant. Also, the treatment of alkaline extraction effluents was facilitated by the exclusion of the fine soil fraction from the chemical extraction step. The use of acid oxalate-citrate extraction solution was judged infeasible because the decontamination of such extraction solution is complicated due to the high pH buffering and complexing capacity of the solution.
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| 16. |
- Andersson, Anders G.
(författare)
-
Modelling flow with free and rough surfaces in the vicinity of hydropower plants
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Flow with free and rough surfaces near hydropower stations is of interest for both engineering and environmental applications. Here, Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations of free surface flow and flow over rough surfaces in regulated rivers were performed in applications such fish migration, spillway design and flow over rough surfaces as in hydropower tunnels or natural channels. For all the investigated applications it is typical with very large geometrical scales, high flow rates and highly turbulent flow. Modelling boundaries such as free water surfaces and rough walls presents a challenge and was given special attention as well as the treatment of turbulence. Validation of the numerical simulations was performed in all cases with methods such as acoustic measurements with an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) and optical measurements with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV).Numerical simulations have been used to evaluate the flow downstream the Stornorrfors hydropower plant in Umeälven with regards to upstream migrating fish. Field measurements with an ADCP were performed and the measurements were used to validate the simulations. By adding a fish ladder in the simulations it was possible to investigate the attraction water created from the fishway at different positions and angles. An additional possibility to create better attraction water and improve the conditions for upstream migrating fish was simulated by guiding the spill water from the hydropower dam through a smaller passage from the old river bed.Fish population data from the same location was compared with flow fields from numerical simulations. The population data was compared with variables such as velocity, vorticity and turbulence intensity. A correlation between fish detections and turbulence intensity was shown.Simulations on the spilling from a dam were performed and compared to experimental results from a physical scale model. ADV was used to measure the velocity and validate the simulations. Two different spillway configurations were considered and simulations with both the Rigid Lid model and the Volume of Fluids method were carried out. Water levels, velocities and the shape of the water surface were compared between simulations and experiments. The simulations capture both qualitative features such as a vortex near the outlet and show good quantitative agreement with the experiments.A wall with large surface roughness was created by laser scanning a tunnel. One of the side walls was down-scaled and used to create a rough wall in a channel with rectangular cross-section for both a numerical model and an experimental model. Numerical simulations were performed and validated by PIV-measurements in the experimental model.The resolution of the geometry for the rough surface was lowered in two steps and numerical simulations were performed for flow over all three surfaces. The difference in flow fields in the bulk and near wall region was investigated as well as the difference in turbulent quantities which can provide good input for a new model for surface roughness in applications with very large surface roughness and high velocities such as flow in hydropower tunnels or natural channels and rivers.
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| 17. |
- Andersson, Jan-Olof
(författare)
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Energy and Resource Efficiency in Convective Drying Systems in the Process Industry
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Growing concern about environmental problems has increased the public’s interest in energy usage. The subsidies for biomass, together with the rising energy prices have madebiomass a desirable product on the energy market. This has led to higher biomass prices and an increased interest in improving the resource and energy efficiency associated withbiomass production. Biofuel is an interesting substitute for fossil fuels to decrease the greenhouse gas emissions. One challenge with biofuels is to find sufficient amounts of biomass since the foresting is already close to its maximum sustainable capacity. Sawmills are important suppliers to the biomass market, since the sawmill industries produce a significant part of the available biomass. This Doctoral thesis focuses on strategies to decrease biomass usage in order to increase the biomass availability at the market. This is done through mapping and system analysis of energy and material streams for process industries using convective drying techniques. The energy analysis is mainly done through thermodynamics and psychrometry. Available state-of-the-art technologies on the market are studied to determine their potential for decreasing the total energy usage in sawmills. Integration possibilities between biomass consumers are also investigated through process integration with mathematical programming and pinch analysis. Energy efficiency of berry drying in a juice plant is also studied. The main conclusions are as follows. The heat demand of drying lumber in Swedish sawmills is about 4.9 TWh/year. Using available state-of-the-art technologies (heat pumps,heat exchangers and open absorption system) it is possible to reduce the energy usagesubstantially. If the recovered heat is used for heat sinks inside, or close to, the sawmill, the energy efficiency can be improved significantly. Using mechanical heat pumps nationally could save 4.9 TWh/year ofheatandgenerate0.62 TWh/year of surplus heat, at the cost of 1TWh/year of electricity. Using open absorption systems nationally, could save 3.4 TWh/year of heat, at the cost of only 0.05 TWh/year of electricity. Saving this heat means that an even larger amount of biomass will be saved, since there are heat losses during the combustion and distribution. Another way of saving energy is to displacethe starting time between batch kilns, and recycle evacuation air between the kilns. Nationally, this could save 0.44 TWh/year of heat. Industrial site integration between sawmills and the main biomass users (pelleting plants an d CHP plants) can decrease the use of biomass in the industrial site with 43% wt compared to a standalone site with a comparable production. Nationally, this could save up to 7.1 TWh/year of biomass. Despite the significant savings in terms of resources, it is not profitable due to the currentprice ratio between district heating and biomass. Finally, drying and separationof berry press cake in a juice plant is found to be possible using only energy from the exhaust gases of the steam boiler, if the drying air is sufficientlyrecycled. Instead of composting the press cake, the dried and separated skins and seeds could then be sold.
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| 18. |
- Andersson, Karl
(författare)
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On access network selection models and mobility support in heterogeneous wireless networks
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to define a solution offering end-users seamless mobility in a multi-radio access technology environment. Today an increasing portion of cell phones and PDAs have more than one radio access technology and wireless access networks of various types are commonly available with overlapping coverage. This creates a heterogeneous network environment in which mobile devices can use several networks in parallel. In such environment the device needs to select the best network for each application to use available networks wisely. Selecting the best network for individual applications constitutes a major core problem.The thesis proposes a host-based solution for access network selection in heterogeneous wireless networking environments. Host-based solutions use only information available in mobile devices and are independent of information available in the networks to which these devices are attached. The host-based decision mechanism proposed in this thesis takes a number of constraints into account including network characteristics and mobility patterns in terms of movement speed of the user. The thesis also proposes a solution for network-based mobility management contrasting the other proposals using a host-based approach. Finally, this thesis proposes an architecture supporting mobility for roaming users in heterogeneous environments avoiding the need for scanning the medium when performing vertical handovers.Results include reduced handover latencies achieved by allowing hosts to use multihoming, bandwidth savings on the wireless interface by removing the tunneling overhead, and handover guidance through the usage of directory-based solutions instead of scanning the medium. User-perceived quality of voice calls measured on the MOS (Mean Opinion Score) scale shows no or very little impact from the mobility support procedures proposed in this thesis. Results also include simulation models, real-world prototypes, and testbeds that all could be used in future work. The proposed solutions in this thesis are mainly evaluated using simulations and experiments with prototypes in live testbeds. Analytical methods are used to complement some results from simulations and experiments
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| 19. |
- Andersson, Märtha
(författare)
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Berättandets möjligheter : Multimodala berättelser och estetiska lärprocesser
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this study is to investigate meaning-making in pupils' multimodal narratives that have emerged in aesthetic learning processes. To, with the support of ethnographic methods and theories of narrative and multimodality, study the resources and strategies used by the pupils. The study also examines how teachers and educators make use of aesthetic learning processes and multimodal narrative in practice-based reality. The empirical material is based on four cultural and narrator projects that have been conducted in a collaboration between nine-year compulsory schools and Kulturskolan (School of Culture) in a municipality in northern Sweden. The projects included pupils from the preschool level up to and including 5th grade in the compulsory school level. These projects were monitored for a total of three semesters. The pervading goal in all projects was to stimulate language development and language use with the help of imagination and creativity, where the pupils' own creation was the key focus. The empirical material consists of observations, log book entries and interviews with teachers, educators and pupils, as well as the pupils' own pictures and texts. The results show that the pupils exemplify from the fictional world. Although they do not directly say that they draw inspiration from computer, television and film media, this is made visible in and embodies their narratives. The pupils' multimodal narratives show that they create meaning by mixing fiction with a world recognisable to them, where fictional characters live a life that they can identify with. The meaning-making strategies that emerge in the pupils' narratives are: identification, gender stereotypes, humour, structures from the horror and fairy-tale genres and remediation. In the interviews with the teachers it is noted that the use of narrative has declined in teaching. Reasons cited include a lack of time and the stress of everyday life, as well as the individualisation which has led to a reduction in the collaboration between pupils and thus the use of narrative. The teachers, however, expressed great enthusiasm for providing pupils with the tools to develop different narrative forms, a way to create meaningful contexts for the pupils.
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| 20. |
- Andersson, Petter
(författare)
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Support for re-use of manufacturing experience in product development : from an aerospace perspective
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Globalization, public environmental concern and government legislation are challenging the Swedish industry to be more efficient and increase its efforts in research and in the development of methods and tools for product development and production. Furthermore, the manufacturing industry is changing from producing solely hardware products towards the inclusion of services or soft offers to add more value for the customer. As a result, there are an increased number of stakeholders involved in the early phases of product development that has an interest in the products design and performance during its life cycle. This challenges the way we manage and share experience internally as well as between companies.The intellectual property of a company is a key asset when competing on the global market; hence, the ability to capitalize on experiences from a company’s development processes as well as products in use becomes increasingly important. Also, the European manufacturing industry and the EU commission conclude that the industry has to move from being "Resource-based" to "Knowledge based" to add more value and avoid competing solely on low-cost. It is recognized that an expensive manufacturing solution has a negative effect on a products total life cycle cost and the ability to earn profit. Hence, manufacturing processes is constantly a target for improvement efforts and experience gained in manufacturing has a potentially high impact on design decisions in new projects.The aim of the research presented here is to improve manufacturability and avoid reoccurrence of design flaws in ongoing or new projects. The research has provided a better understanding of the mechanisms for experience re-use and developed methods and tools for feedback of experience from the manufacturing phase back to the earlier phases in the products life cycle. The work has been carried out within two projects funded by the Swedish governmental agency for Innovation Systems and industry. The first project was DLP-E, Digitally Linked Processes with a focus on Experience re-use and the second project was Robust Machining, aiming for more robust machining processes within manufacturing.The research approach has been to combine the design research methodology and participatory action research. These methodologies together with an initial research question have guided the work:RQ: “How can experience from manufacturing processes be tied and reused to impact the governing product and process definition?”Branches within engineering research committed to his area are concurrent engineering and design for manufacturing although this has usually been limited to general rules of thumb and qualitative methods for designers. Recently however, statistical methods such as Design for Six Sigma and other methods for Robust Design are introduced to affect earlier phases of PD to achieve improved manufacturability.Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE), represents a technology that provide the means to capture and automatically re-use engineering knowledge in an engineering design environment. Methods and tools from this area have been used as an initial approach in this research. A functional product perspective puts a focus on the activity where the product is used rather than on the tangible product itself. From an experience feedback perspective, experience is gained during these activities and possibly re-used if there is a learning process.This thesis presents an initial descriptive case study at two manufacturing companies that provided a better understanding of current practices for experience re-use and identified factors that influenced the feedback of manufacturing experience in product development. Based on initial assumptions and the results from the first descriptive study, a theory on the mechanism for experience feedback and requirements on a manufacturing system was formulated in a prescriptive study. A second descriptive study utilized a prototype to identify if the theory was applicable in an industrial environment and if it addressed the factors it was supposed to address. The research has been an iterative process, whereas results from the descriptive studies have influenced new prescriptive studies, delivering methods and tools, which in turn have influenced the ongoing work at the company where the research was conducted.The main contribution from the research is a framework to support re-use of manufacturing experience. The framework decompose the multifaceted task of experience re-use by identifying typical activities involved in the feedback process and categorizing the “elements of experience” in terms of knowledge, information and data. Combined with an engineering process improvement approach, processes are streamlined and value is added to the product. KBE techniques are used to capture and re-use product and process knowledge in an integrated manner. The applicability of the result has been validated in descriptive studies as well as within company improvement efforts.The research supports a frontloading approach in product development by enabling manufacturing experience to have an impact on the design definition in the early phases of product development. As a consequence, the risk for costly re-design later on in a project is reduced.
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