SBIR Phase II: IPPM:In-Line Piercing Process Monitoring For Seamless Tube Manufacturing

本小型企业创新研究第二阶段项目基于第一阶段的可行性，提出开发无缝钢管制造中使用的穿孔过程的图像监控系统。穿孔是无缝管近净成形制造工艺的核心工艺，无缝管是从能源到化工、汽车、航空航天和基础设施等许多关键应用中的关键材料。然而，作为管壁变化和内表面质量问题的主要原因，由于缺乏适当的传感装置，穿孔很少被研究。需要通过新的传感器来提高穿孔过程的效率，以实现更高的产品质量和更低的成本。所提出的创新包括一组成像传感器，用于测量被刺穿部件的振动。振动信号用于系统状态监测，以检测关键故障模式。在选定的试管上验证了新方法。建议进一步开发，以支持新的穿刺监测系统的商业化。该项目将由一个产学合作团队在24个月内完成。将交付一个经过现场测试的原型。该项目的广泛影响/商业潜力是巨大的。该项目代表了一种独特的方法，多模型传感器融合控制一个高度随机和非线性过程。如果商业化，它可以通过减少轧机停机时间，减少安装件和收紧公差来改善无缝钢管制造，从而减少污染排放和与再制造或再加工超差产品相关的昂贵能源消耗。在管道行业的全行业采用可以大幅减少废弃副产品，每年节省2.5亿美元的成本。科学家们认为，这项研究可能会对新兴的高维数据分析技术的采用产生影响。由于与学术界的密切合作关系，拟议项目具有很强的教育意义。预计该项目还将在改善能源保护和环境保护方面产生社会影响。估计效益包括每年节省3太瓦时的能源，减少30万吨碳当量排放和26万吨有毒废物。iPPM系统在美国的市场规模估计为1500万美元，在全球为2亿美元。除了穿孔过程，该项目的成功还将为具有复杂信息的系统提供通用建模和分析工具。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project proposes to develop an imaging based monitoring system for the piercing process used in the manufacturing of seamless steel tubes based on the feasibility proven in Phase I. Piercing is the core process of the near net-shape manufacturing process for seamless tubes, which are crucial materials in many critical applications ranging from energy to chemical, automotive, aerospace, and infrastructure. However, being the primary cause for tube wall variations and internal surface quality issues,piercing is rarely investigated due to the lack of proper sensing means. There is a need to improve the piercing process efficiency for higher product quality and lower costs with new sensors. The proposed innovation consists of a set of imaging sensors for measuring the vibrations of the part being pierced. The vibration signals are used for system conditions monitoring for the detection of critical failure modes. The new approach was validated on selected tubes. Further development is proposed to support the commercialization of a new piercing-monitoring system. This project will be carried out by a team of industry-academia collaboration in 24 months. A site-tested prototype will be delivered.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is substantial. This project represents a unique approach of multi-model sensor fusion to controlling a highly stochastic and non-linear process. If commercialized, it may improve seamless steel tubing manufacture through reduced mill downtime, fewer setup pieces, and tightened tolerances, thereby reducing the pollution emissions and costly energy consumption associated with remanufacturing or reworking out-oftolerance products. Industry-wide adoption in the tube industry could yield drastic reductions in waste byproducts and cost savings of $250 million per year. Scientifically, the proposed research could have an impact on the adoption of emerging high dimensional data analysis techniques. The proposed project carries strong educational implication due to the close working relationship with the academia. Social impact is also expected with this project in improved energy preservation and environmental protection. The estimated benefits include energy savings of 3 terawatt-hours and reduction of 300,000 tons of carbon-equivalent emission and 260,000 tons of toxic waste per year. The estimated market size for the proposed iPPM system is $15 million in the US and $200 million globally. Beyond the piercing process, the success of the project will also provide generic modeling and analysis tools for systems with complex information.