Partners in precision
Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:34:00 GMT
Pictured at the launch are the four speakers (left to right) Mr Nick Orchard, Manufacturing Capability Acquisition Manager (Measurement) from Rolls Royce plc, Dr Brian Bowsher, Managing Director of the National Physical Laboratory, the University's Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Ball and Mr Graham Dewhurst, the Director General of the Manufacturing Technologies Association.
Among the fruits of research excellence at the University of Huddersfield are the partnerships and collaborations that have been signed with leading national bodies.
One of the most exciting and prestigious of these has been the link with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). The NPL’s eminence in fields such as the measurement of complex surfaces and the optimisation of machine tool performance are a close match with the work being done in similar fields by the University’s Centre for Precision Technologies (CPT).
The presence of the CPT, acknowledged as a global leader in its field, with its expertise in such areas as metrology, precision engineering and the calibration of machine tools, was a crucial factor in the NPL's decision to locate its facility in Huddersfield and the two bodies collaborate closely.
In 2008, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the NPL and the University and the latest development is the official opening of the National Physical Laboratory’s new measurement services facility. It took place on Friday 12 March as part of the 2010 University of Huddersfield Research Festival.
The actual opening ceremony was part of a day-long series of events that included presentations from representatives of the University, the National Physical Laboratory, the Manufacturing Technologies Association and Rolls Royce plc. The challenges facing UK manufacturers were among the topics addressed – a reminder that academic research has a vital role to play in the real world.
One of the VIPs at the ceremony was Dr Brian Bowsher, who is managing director of the National Physical Laboratory. The Memorandum of Understanding between the University and the NPL had worked really well, he said, and its success was demonstrated by the new measuring services laboratory.
“Also, we have had great interactions with the key industry in the area and we have developed a number of common appointments here at Huddersfield. The way it’s going has been very positive indeed and a very good example of how NPL is working not just in London but throughout country as a whole”.
The National Physical Laboratory now has an ultra-modern facility at the University of Huddersfield – in space provided by the CPT – that enhances its ability to provide an important service to manufacturing industry in the regions.
For example, work can be done on the measurement of highly complex surfaces such as turbine blades. And the technology available includes laser-trace equipment that can be taken on-site in order to calibrate large and complex machine tools. A procedure that might have taken fortnight can now be accomplished in two days.
Engineering Control and Machine Performance Group
One of the components of the CPT is the Engineering Control and Machine Performance Group (ECMPG), which is regularly recruited for major Europe-wide projects in the field of machine tool optimisation.
The international reputation of the group has been built over many years through industry-based projects in Italy, Germany, USA and the UK with the skills and work ethic of two of the CPT’s Senior Research Fellows, Dr Andrew Longstaff and Dr Simon Fletcher, regularly cited as providing the confidence to collaborate on such high-profile work plus condition monitoring by Dr Crinela Pislaru.
The University's Engineering Control and Machine Performance Group - (left to right) Dr Andrew Longstaff, Dr Crinela Pislaru, team leader Alan Myers and Dr Simon Fletcher
The ECMPG, led by University’s Alan Myers, was recently approached by a consortium of 11 organisations to join a new project funded by a European programme known as Framework 7. The aim of the research is to achieve massive improvements in machine tool accuracy.
Not only was Huddersfield’s ECMPG actively sought as a partner in the project, but Dr Fletcher was put in charge of the vital first stage – known as a work package – of the scheme. The choice was made unanimously at the first meeting of the consortium, whose members include the major Italian engineering firm Alesamonti, the University of Southern Switzerland and the Italian National Measurement Institute.
Alan Myers explains that his Huddersfield team’s task was to develop the concept behind the project, which aims to bring about an average improvement of greater than 75 per cent in the accuracy of machine tools.
Virtually every machine tool, he explains, suffers from errors caused by a variety of factors. Among the categories are geometric errors, dynamic errors, thermal errors and load errors.
The consortium’s aim is to eliminate these, as far as possible, by developing an inertial frame that sits within the structure of the machine tool. “It will ensure that the relationship between the spindle and the work piece remains as intended, even when the structure becomes loaded with cutting forces and the geometry of the structure causes inaccuracies,” explains Alan Myers.
The latest research is an addition to an existing Framework 7 project – which involves the development of computer software to improve machine tool accuracy – that Dr Longstaff of the ECMPG is working on. The two Framework 7 grants combined are worth 740,000 Euros to the University of Huddersfield.
