Objectif
Foreseen Results
The proposal will benefit both the EU and the CCE countries involved in a number of ways. New methods of analysis will be applied to industrial process monitoring with a view to the solution of specific problems in CCE SMEs. The research potential of a CCE research institute will be enhanced by diversification into a new technological area at a critical time and a CCE university will benefit from access to a new area of technical expertise under development in the EU. An SME in the EU will also be involved in the development of a commercial monitoring system, containing novel features with wide potential application. Training of CCE Personnel and Dissemination of Results : Training has formed an important part of the preliminary work prior to this proposal and Mr F Trdic, who will work on the proposed programme, is currently registered at the University of Hertfordshire for a PhD.
Provision is made for bursaries at both Bremen and Hertfordshire for postgraduate students from the CCE partner countries. The need for post graduate short courses will also be identified and appropriate courses developed as required. Results will be presented at international conferences and in refereed journals. Appropriate, marketing material will be developed for the NOVISCAM system.
Background Information : Mineral wool is an important thermal and acoustic insulator with a wide range of applications. Its production involves a jet of molten rock falling onto a series of rotating wheels. A monitoring video system has been developed and is currently used in a mineral wood manufacturing plant in Slovenia. The system is used to observe highly unsteady features of the jet motion, which is sensitive to the process settings. The distribution of molten rock on the wheels is also monitored, using a different analysis method since this is a virtually steady feature. Both features are monitored from the same video image using suitable windowing of the overall picture. Image analysis gives process "measures" relating, to both the steady and unsteady processes but fully automatic control has not yet been achieved and the analysis methods used are very process specific. This proposal builds on a collaboration already established between three of the proposed partners, Turboinstitut and Termo Ltd., of Slovenia and the University of Hertfordshire, GB, which was supported by the British Council and the Ministry of Science and Technology, Slovenia for a period of three years. The proposal strengthens the collaboration by including two further partners from the Czech republic who have interests in applying monitoring, techniques to a different production process. The proposal is also greatly strengthened by the inclusion of the University of Bremen. DE. who are world leaders in the theoretical aspects of the new fractal and image measures which are core to the current proposal, and also BIRAL who are specifically included for their knowledge of potential applications and marketing skill in similar areas.
Aims and Objectives of this Proposal : It is intended to develop new measures. such as fractal dimension. which exploit the apparent chaotic nature of the unsteady features of the process and which are of general applicability to a variety of processes exhibiting chaotic features. In addition, alternative, generally applicable, measures will be developed for monitoring steady features in the image. Such measures will enable the deviation of the actual image from an ideal "target" image to be established. The primary objective of the work is to develop a specification for a modular commercial system, NOVISCAM which can be used for the monitoring and control of a wide variety of industrial processes, using these new measures. In order to achieve this, the measures will be developed on a sound theoretical basis and evaluated on the current mineral wool production process, a paper manufacturing process and on laboratory flows relevant to industrial mixing processes. The system specification will include the identification of hardware components for application to a wide range of processes. Algorithms appropriate to the general measures described above will form part of the package and suitable linking, strategies will be identified.
Champ scientifique
Appel à propositions
Data not availableRégime de financement
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinateur
AL10 9AB Hatfield
Royaume-Uni