Solid Freeform Fabrication is a set of manufacturing processes that are capable of producing complex freeform solid objects directly from a computer model of an object without part-specific tooling or knowledge. In essence, these methods are miniature manufacturing plants which come complete with material handling, information processing and materials processing. As such, these methods require technical knowledge from many disciplines; therefore, researchers, engineers, and students in Mec...

Supervisory Control of Discrete Event Systems Using Petri Nets presents a novel approach to its subject. The concepts of supervisory control and discrete event systems are explained, and the background material on general Petri net theory necessary for using the book's control techniques is provided. A large number of examples is used to illustrate the concepts and techniques presented in the text, and there are plenty of references for those interested in additional study or more...

This book offers readers a thorough and rigorous introduction to nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) for discrete-time and sampled-data systems. NMPC schemes with and without stabilizing terminal constraints are detailed, and intuitive examples illustrate the performance of different NMPC variants. NMPC is interpreted as an approximation of infinite-horizon optimal control so that important properties like closed-loop stability, inverse optimality and suboptimality can be derived in ...

Now in its third edition, this standard reference is a comprehensive treatment of nonsmooth mechanical systems refocused to give more prominence to issues connected with control and modelling. It covers Lagrangian and Newton–Euler systems, detailing mathematical tools such as convex analysis and complementarity theory. The ways in which nonsmooth mechanics influence and are influenced by well-posedness analysis, numerical analysis and simulation, modelling and control are explained. Contac...

Proceedings of the FISITA 2012 World Automotive Congress are selected from nearly 2,000 papers submitted to the 34th FISITA World Automotive Congress, which is held by Society of Automotive Engineers of China (SAE-China ) and the International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies (FISITA). This proceedings focus on solutions for sustainable mobility in all areas of passenger car, truck and bus transportation. Volume 11: Advanced Vehicle Manufacturing Technology focuses o...

This book reports on the latest developments in sliding mode overhead crane control, presenting novel research ideas and findings on sliding mode control (SMC), hierarchical SMC and compensator design-based hierarchical sliding mode. The results, which were previously scattered across various journals and conference proceedings, are now presented in a systematic and unified form. The book will be of interest to researchers, engineers and graduate students in control engineering and mechani...

This book provides comprehensive and integrated approaches for rigid and flexible object assembly. It presents comparison studies with the available force-guided robotic processes and covers contact-state modeling, scheme control strategies, and position searching algorithms. Further, it includes experimental validations for different assembly situations, including those for the assembly of industrial parts taken from the automotive industry.

This book introduces the issues and problems that arise when implementing smart energy management for sustainable manufacturing in the automotive manufacturing industry and the analytical tools and applications to deal with them. It uses a number of illustrative examples to explain energy management in automotive manufacturing, which involves most types of manufacturing technology and various levels of energy consumption.It demonstrates how analytical tools can help improve energy ...

Mastering the complexity of innovative systems is a challenging aspect of design and product development. Only a systematic approach can help to embed an increasing degree of smartness in devices and machines, allowing them to adapt to variable conditions or harsh environments. At the same time, customer needs have to be identified before they can be translated into consistent technical requirements. The field of Systems Engineering provides a method, a process, suitable tools and language...

Written for students and practicing engineers working in automotive engineering, this book provides a fundamental yet comprehensive understanding of chassis systems and requires little prior knowledge on the part of the reader. It presents the material in a practical and realistic manner, using reverse engineering as a basis for examples to reinforce understanding of the topics. The specifications and characteristics of vehicles currently on the market are used to exemplify the theory’s ap...

Maximizing reader insights into the key scientific disciplines of Machine Tool Metrology, this text will prove useful for the industrial-practitioner and those interested in the operation of machine tools. Within this current level of industrial-content, this book incorporates significant usage of the existing published literature and valid information obtained from a wide-spectrum of manufacturers of plant, equipment and instrumentation before putting forward novel ideas and meth...

Natural fibre composite is an emerging material that has great potential to be used in engineering application. Oil palm, sugar palm, bagasse, coir, banana stem, hemp, jute, sisal, kenaf, roselle, rice husk, betul nut husk and cocoa pod are among the natural fibres reported to be used as reinforcing materials in polymer composites. Natural fibre composites were used in many industries such as automotive, building, furniture, marine and aerospace industries. The advantages of natural fibre ...