SBIR Phase I: IPPM: IN-LINE PIERCING PROCESS MONITORING FOR SEAMLESS TUBE MANUFACTURING

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目旨在验证无缝钢管生产中使用的穿孔过程基于成像的监控系统的可行性。穿孔是无缝钢管制造的核心工序，也就是在钢筋上打孔而不需要钻屑的工序。无缝管是从能源、化工、汽车、航空航天到基础设施等许多关键应用中的关键材料。如果穿孔不正确，可能会导致管子质量问题。拟议的创新包括一套成像传感器，用于测量穿孔过程中零件的振动。振动数据将用于通过高级数学分析得出临界失效模式的穿透条件。该项目预计将在选定的管子上验证新方法，为新的穿孔监测系统的商业化奠定基础。该项目将由一个由产业界和学术界合作组成的团队进行。计划在轧管机中进行测试，以进行性能验证。这个项目的广泛影响/商业潜力是非常显著的。该项目提出了一种既有软传感器又有硬传感器的方法来控制高度随机和非线性的过程。在商业化后，它将通过减少停机时间、减少安装部件和收紧公差来改进无缝钢管的制造。该项目还减少了与再制造或再加工超出容差的产品相关的污染排放和昂贵的能源消耗。在整个行业范围内采用无缝钢管可以大幅减少废品，每年可节省2.5亿美元的成本。从科学上讲，该项目可能会对采用新兴的高维数据分析技术产生影响。由于与学术界的密切合作关系，该项目具有很强的教育意义。通过改善节能和环境保护，预计该项目还将产生社会影响。估计的好处包括每年节省能源3太瓦时，减少300,000吨碳当量排放和260,000吨有毒废物。除了穿透过程之外，该项目的成功还将为具有复杂信息的系统提供通用的建模和分析工具。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to verify the feasibility of an imaging based monitoring system for the piercing process used in the manufacturing of seamless steel tubes. Piercing is the core process of seamless tubes manufacturing, the process that puts a hole in a steel bar without drilling chips. Seamless tubes are crucial materials in many critical applications ranging from energy, chemical, automotive, aerospace to infrastructure. Piercing, if not done correctly, could cause tube quality issues. The proposed innovation consists of a set of imaging sensors for measuring the part vibrations in the piercing process. The vibration data will be used to derive the piercing conditions for critical failure modes through advanced mathematical analysis. This project is expected to validate the new approach on selected tubes, forming the basis for the commercialization of a new piercing monitoring system. This project will be carried out by a team consisting of industry-academia collaboration. Tests in a tube mill are planned for performance verification. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is very significant. This project presents an approach with soft as well as hard sensors to control a highly stochastic and non-linear process. When commercialized, it will improve seamless steel tubing manufacturing by reducing mill downtime, fewer set-up pieces, and tightened tolerances. This project also reduces the pollution emissions and costly energy consumption associated with remanufacturing or reworking out-of-tolerance products. Industry-wide adoption across the seamless tube and pipe industry could yield drastic reductions in waste byproducts and would produce a cost savings of $250 million per year. Scientifically, the project could have an impact on the adoption of emerging high dimensional data analysis techniques. The project carries strong educational implication due to the close working relationship with the academia. Social impact is also expected with this project, by improving 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. Beyond the piercing process, the success of the project will also provide generic modeling and analysis tools for systems with complex information.