Whether to Cast, Weld or Bolt – Learning Design for Manufacturing through a Graduation Project

Sangarappillai Sivaloganathan

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Conference: 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Publication Date: June 23, 2013
Start Date: June 23, 2013
End Date: June 26, 2013
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Practical Teaching
Tagged Division: Manufacturing
Page Count: 11
Page Numbers: 23.1370.1 - 23.1370.11
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--22755
Permanent URL: https://sftp.asee.org/22755
Download Count: 425

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Sangarappillai Sivaloganathan United Arab Emirates University

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Dr Sivaloganathan graduated from the University of Srilanka in 1976. After an year of post graduation train in the Railways he joined the Cement industry where he worked for ten years. He got his M.Sc. from University of Aston in 1981 and Ph.D. from City University London in 1991. He joined Brunel university in 1995 and worked there as a senior lecturer until he left Brunel in September 2011 to join UAEU. Dr Sivaloganathan was the founding Course Director for M.Sc. in Advanced Engineering Design at Brunel. He has published more than 50 papers in reputed journals and conferences. His research interests are Design Theory and Methodology, CAD and Applied FEA.

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Abstract

Whether to Cast, Weld or Bolt – Learning Design for Manufacturing through a Graduation ProjectAbstract:The success of a product depends on its functionality, performance, and cost amidst otherfactors. The right choice of the manufacturing process is crucial in the determination of thecost, and the design has to be tailor made to suit the chosen manufacturing process. In largeorganisations, product development will have dedicated funding and there would be manymanufacturing processes in use that could be employed for the new product. However forstart-up companies these facilities are typically not available. Even though design formanufacture has been a research topic for some time and considerable published work isavailable, it is sometimes difficult for engineering students to grasp this concept that providesthe vital link between design and manufacture. For students to realize the heavy influencesbrought about by the chosen process, their graduation project can be used. This paperpresents one such project where four students engaged themselves in the design anddevelopment of a medical operating table that was to be made from stainless steel. They hadto rely heavily on the university laboratory for the manufacturing where they had access to athree axis Cincinnati vertical machining centre. There were no facilities to weld or caststainless steel using the facilities within the university but they had the opportunity to useexternal workshops by paying a lot of money. Further, for the welded and bolted structuresthere was an additional constraint imposed by the standard sizes and shapes of stainless steelavailable in the market.To tackle the problem, the students started with the Design Interpretation of a typicaloperating table and analysis of tables provided by different manufacturers. They observedthat an operating table is constituted with a flexible bed section carried on a shuttle which hasthe capabilities to (i) adjust the height (ii) tilt the bed about the x axis (iii) incline the bedabout the y axis and (iv) keep the various sections of the bed at different angles. They alsoobserved that the tables have a minimum foot area so that other equipments and monitors canbe brought to the vicinity without difficulty. They concluded that the constituent functionalsubsystems of an operating table are the same for all. They then developed three embodimentdesigns for casting, welding and bolting. By mixing the good features of the welding andbolting models, a final design was selected. Analysis of the experience revealed many genericfeatures of Design for Manufacture and this paper describes them.

Citation
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Sivaloganathan, S. (2013, June), Whether to Cast, Weld or Bolt – Learning Design for Manufacturing through a Graduation Project Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--22755

TY - CPAPER
AB - Whether to Cast, Weld or Bolt – Learning Design for Manufacturing through a Graduation ProjectAbstract:The success of a product depends on its functionality, performance, and cost amidst otherfactors. The right choice of the manufacturing process is crucial in the determination of thecost, and the design has to be tailor made to suit the chosen manufacturing process. In largeorganisations, product development will have dedicated funding and there would be manymanufacturing processes in use that could be employed for the new product. However forstart-up companies these facilities are typically not available. Even though design formanufacture has been a research topic for some time and considerable published work isavailable, it is sometimes difficult for engineering students to grasp this concept that providesthe vital link between design and manufacture. For students to realize the heavy influencesbrought about by the chosen process, their graduation project can be used. This paperpresents one such project where four students engaged themselves in the design anddevelopment of a medical operating table that was to be made from stainless steel. They hadto rely heavily on the university laboratory for the manufacturing where they had access to athree axis Cincinnati vertical machining centre. There were no facilities to weld or caststainless steel using the facilities within the university but they had the opportunity to useexternal workshops by paying a lot of money. Further, for the welded and bolted structuresthere was an additional constraint imposed by the standard sizes and shapes of stainless steelavailable in the market.To tackle the problem, the students started with the Design Interpretation of a typicaloperating table and analysis of tables provided by different manufacturers. They observedthat an operating table is constituted with a flexible bed section carried on a shuttle which hasthe capabilities to (i) adjust the height (ii) tilt the bed about the x axis (iii) incline the bedabout the y axis and (iv) keep the various sections of the bed at different angles. They alsoobserved that the tables have a minimum foot area so that other equipments and monitors canbe brought to the vicinity without difficulty. They concluded that the constituent functionalsubsystems of an operating table are the same for all. They then developed three embodimentdesigns for casting, welding and bolting. By mixing the good features of the welding andbolting models, a final design was selected. Analysis of the experience revealed many genericfeatures of Design for Manufacture and this paper describes them.
AU - Sangarappillai Sivaloganathan
CY - Atlanta, Georgia
DA - 2013/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Whether to Cast, Weld or Bolt – Learning Design for Manufacturing through a Graduation Project
UR - https://sftp.asee.org/22755
DO - 10.18260/1-2--22755
ER -