GOALI: A Framework For Integrated Product Design and Control in Polymer Nanocomposites

本研究的主要目标是开发和验证一个框架，用于将产品设计与适当的控制策略相结合，以在制造的产品中始终如一地实现设计目标的最终使用特性。新的建模和控制技术将在与杜邦的持续合作中开发和实验验证。由于它们目前和未来的重要性，以及它们如何完美地体现产品设计和随之而来的性能控制挑战，这项工作将专门针对聚合物纳米复合材料进行。然而，拟议研究的最终结果将普遍适用于其他产品类别。需要回答的具体问题如下：在为特定最终用途设计的制造产品(如聚合物纳米复合材料)中，需要什么策略来有效控制产品性能并确保可接受的最终用途性能？要执行的具体任务是：任务1：开发和测试用于控制产品最终用途属性的新框架。PIS将开发一个理论框架来实现有效的最终用途属性控制，并与杜邦公司合作，在制造聚丙烯/蒙脱土纳米复合材料产品的过程中对其进行测试。任务2：扩展任务1中开发的框架，以纳入客户对实际产品性能的反馈：客户对最终用途实际性能的反馈是实现产品目标的最终衡量标准。绩效指标将制定利用这些信息的控制策略，将其纳入框架，并分析由此产生的总体方案的理论属性。任务3：测试和验证任务1中使用的实验过程的总体框架，并概括原则。绩效指标将实施开发的半商业流程框架，将客户反馈纳入实际最终使用性能；我们将推广这些概念，使其适用于其他产品。化工行业的智力系统变化创造了快速开发尽可能精确地满足客户需求的新产品的需求。传统的化学工程侧重于工艺设计，虽然很重要，但现在必须纳入“产品设计”。即便如此，为了将“产品设计”的结果转化为现实，产品仍然必须被制造--并且以这样一种方式来制造，即最终产品将在最终用途上满足客户的要求。因此，产品设计必须直接与高水平的产品特性控制相结合，才能成功地进行“产品工程”。目前，还没有系统的控制范例来确保在制造过程中将最终用户的属性控制到规格(而不仅仅是事后进行“测试”以确定其状态)。这项研究将为产品特性控制及其与产品设计的集成建立一个系统的范式，为向客户交付精确按照设计规范制造的产品，并直接将客户对实际最终使用性能的反馈纳入控制方案提供新的解决方案。广泛影响：研究结果还将对制造设计产品的工业实践产生直接影响，因为作为拟议研究的组成部分，实验部分将完全在工业研究环境中半商业规模的过程中进行。研究成果还将被纳入产品设计、过程动力学和控制的教学，并通过出版物和向教育工作者和其他学术界和工业界研究人员的演示文稿广泛传播。

0652172OgunnaikeThe primary goal of this research is to develop and validate a framework for integrating product design with the appropriate control strategies required for consistently achieving, in the manufactured product, the design target end-use characteristics. Novel modeling and control techniques will be developed and validated experimentally in a continuing collaboration with DuPont. Because of their current and future importance and because of how they perfectly exemplify product design and the accompanying property control challenges, the work will be carried out specifically for polymer nanocomposites. However, the end result of the proposed research will be applicable in general to other product classes.The specific question to be answered may be stated as follows:In manufacturing products (such as polymer nanocomposites) designed for specific end-use applications, what strategy is required for effective control of product properties and assuring acceptable end-use performance?The specific tasks to be performed are:Task 1: Develop and test a novel framework for controlling product end-use attributes.The PIs will develop a theoretical framework for achieving effective end-use attribute control and, in collaboration with DuPont, test it on a process for manufacturing a Polypropylene/Montmorillonite clay nanocomposite product.Task 2: Extend the framework developed in Task 1 to incorporate customer feedback on actual product performance: Feedback from customers on actual performance in end-use is the ultimate measure of product target attainment. The PIs will develop a control strategy for utilizing this information, incorporate it into the framework, and analyze the theoretical properties of the resulting overall scheme.Task 3: Test and validate the overall framework on the experimental process used in Task 1 and generalize the principles. The PIs will implement the developed framework on the semi-commercial process incorporating customer feedback in actual end-use performance; we will generalize the concepts to be applicable to other products.Intellectual Merit Systemic changes in the chemical industry have created a need for the rapid development of new products that meet customer needs as precisely as possible. The traditional chemical engineering focus on process design, while important, must now incorporate "product design". Even so, to translate the result of "product design" into reality, the product must still be manufactured--and in such a way that the resulting product will meet the customer requirements in end-use. Product design must therefore be integrated directly with high level product characteristic control for successful "product engineering". Currently, there are no systematic control paradigms for ensuring that end-use attributes are controlled to specification during the manufacturing process (and not merely "tested" afterwards to ascertain their status). This research will establish a systematic paradigm for product characteristic control and its integration with product design "providing novel solutions to the problems associated with delivering to customers, products that are manufactured precisely to design specifications, and directly incorporating into the control scheme, customer feedback on actual end-use performance.Broader Impact: The outcomes of the research will also have a direct impact on the industrial practice of manufacturing designed products because the experimental component, an integral part of the proposed research, is to be carried out entirely within an industrial research environment, on a semi-commercial scale process. The research results will also be incorporated into the teaching of product design and process dynamics and control, and widely disseminated through publications and presentations to educators and other researchers both academic and industrial.