UltraMQL-Ultrasonic Minimum Quantity Lubrication Machining for Economic & Environmental Sustainability

即将到来的绿色革命将影响英国精密制造业的核心加工：包括能源、汽车和航空航天在内的供应部门。英国制造业的特点在于它是由大量历史悠久的中小企业（SMEs）组成的。英国机械加工中小企业所依赖的传统设备使用昂贵的、对环境有害的、机器降解的洪水冷却剂，或者缺乏前者的冷却和材料去除性能的干式加工。英国有可能失去其在制造能力方面的竞争优势，以及支撑它的广泛供应链。Kugel Rotary（机械加工）、Quaker Houghton（润滑油）、谢菲尔德大学核先进制造研究中心、布莱顿大学先进工程中心和Bloc Digital（工业4.0）将开发一种具有成本效益的超声波最小量润滑（UltraMQL）加工系统，以改造现有设备。这将使中小企业能够利用以前负担不起的技术，并根据绿色革命和净零目标下即将出台的法规对其进行升级。最小量润滑（MQL）可以显著降低公司的能源足迹和运行成本，并将冷却剂的使用量减少高达99%。然而，在MQL系统中实现可靠的油输送是具有挑战性的：油的粘度因供应商、当地温度和油的老化而有很大差异。目前最先进的MQL系统使用文丘里管雾化润滑剂。这种方法简单且坚固，因为它是完全被动的，但它强烈依赖于油的粘度变化，并且具有不稳定的流速，这可能导致表面光洁度差或机械材料的过度污染。目前市场上还没有真正的多油、高性价比、高精度的流量装置。UltraMQL团队拥有必要的经验和技能来开发一种混合流发生器/超声换能器雾化器，该雾化器可以响应和适应粘度变化，并提供润滑过程的实时监控。我们还将开发和整合一种远程监控解决方案，使用声音和视频监控，为车间提供全面集成的改造方法，以实现可持续的高科技制造业。到项目结束时，团队将产生完整集成系统和精益概念设计的验证原型，以清楚地向客户展示价值。

The upcoming green revolution will impact machining at the heart of the UKs precision manufacturing industry: supplying sectors including energy, automotive, and aerospace. The peculiarity of the UK's manufacturing industry is it that it is formed by a large number of long standing small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Legacy equipment, on which UK machining SMEs rely uses costly, environmentally damaging, and machine degrading flood coolant, or dry machining which lacks the cooling and material removal properties of the former. The UK is at risk of losing its competitive edge in manufacturing capability, alongside the extensive supply chain that underpins it.Kugel Rotary (machining), Quaker Houghton (lubricants), the University of Sheffield's Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, the University of Brighton's Advanced Engineering Centre, and Bloc Digital (Industry 4.0) will develop a cost-effective Ultrasonic Minimum Quantity Lubrication (UltraMQL) machining system to retrofit to existing equipment. This will enable SMEs to take advantage of previously unaffordable technologies, and upgrade them for incoming regulations under the green revolution and Net Zero targets.Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) can significantly reduce a company's energy footprint and running costs, as well as reduce the amount of coolant use by up to 99%. However, achieving a reliable delivery of oil in MQL systems is challenging: oil viscosity varies significantly depending on the supplier, the local temperature, and ageing of the oil. Current state-of-the-art MQL systems use a Venturi tube to aerosolize the lubricant. This approach is simple and robust as it is fully passive, but it is strongly dependent on oil's viscosity changes and has an erratic flow rate, which can lead to poor surface finish or excessive contamination of the machined material. A true multi-oil, cost-effective, high-precision flow rate unit is not currently on the market.The UltraMQL team have the necessary experience and skills to develop a hybrid stream-generator/ultrasonic-transducer aerosoliser that would respond and adapt to viscosity changes, and provide real-time monitoring of the lubrication process. We will also develop and integrate a remote monitoring solution, using acoustic and video monitoring, to provide workshops with a fully integrated retrofit approach to sustainable high-tech manufacturing. By project end the team will have produced a validated prototype of the complete integrated system and lean concept designs to clearly demonstrate value to the customer.