EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Through-life Engineering Services

EPSRC耦合整体系统中心是一个国家中心，由克兰菲尔德和达勒姆大学主办。成功的高科技英国制造公司提供一系列相互关联的高价值产品和服务。高价值产品通常是技术密集型的、昂贵的和可靠性关键的，需要在整个生命周期中提供工程服务（例如维护、修理和大修），例如飞机发动机、高端汽车、铁路车辆、风力涡轮机和国防设备。因此，竞争力取决于许多因素，例如产品的设计创新、服务的附加值以及整个生命周期成本的最小化。这些产品通常结合了联合收割机五个主要领域（结构、机械、电气、电子和软件子系统）来实现所需的功能和性能。这些产品被称为耦合整体系统。建议中的EPSRC中心的整体愿景是开发知识、技术和流程演示器、新方法、技术和相关工具集，以提供基于工程服务系统设计的耦合整体系统概念设计能力。经与工业伙伴、KTN和所有参与中心的学者讨论后，已决定该中心将从五个项目开始。这些项目分为三种类型，第一种确定了跨多个行业的系统设计中的当前挑战，第二组三个项目属于TRL 2-3级，并解决了跨行业工程服务的三个主要行业挑战。本研究将开发技术和流程演示程序，设计规则和标准，以评估系统设计，以降低生命周期后期的工程服务成本。第三种类型是更长期的，代表TRL 1-2级。该项目将开发可减少维护需求的技术，从而降低高价值产品的整个生命周期成本。五个初始项目如下：项目1：研究耦合整体系统设计中的跨部门挑战（6个月）项目2：通过系统设计减少未发现故障（NFF）（3年）项目3：系统设计的服务组件反馈的特性（3年）项目4：改进系统设计过程以降低整个寿命成本（2年）项目5：电子和机械部件和子系统的自我修复技术（3年）所有初始项目和未来的项目将使用克兰菲尔德的整体系统工作室的设施。该工作室将提供仪器和设施来进行实验，以支持最初和未来的研究项目，并开发技术和工艺演示。该工作室将拥有一个网络计算设施，以及一个基于OSys集成平台的数据高速公路。该平台最初将允许其他设施，如GOM的3D扫描设施，达勒姆的电子实验室，克兰菲尔德的IVHM中心和德比劳斯莱斯的MRO商店与工作室连接。未来，其他研究小组和实验室也将获准使用该工作室。该中心的核心合作伙伴包括劳斯莱斯、BAE系统公司、庞巴迪运输公司、ARM和国防部（MoD）。合作伙伴代表航空航天，国防，铁路和电子部门。还有13个其他工业合作伙伴代表来自国防，信息技术（IT），机床和能源部门的用户公司和知识转移网络（航空航天，能源和电子），软件供应商，媒体合作伙伴和贸易组织作为传播合作伙伴，以支持中心的发展。

The EPSRC Centre in Coupled Whole Systems is a National Centre, hosted by Cranfield and Durham Universities. Successful high technology UK manufacturing companies are offering a range of interlinked high value products and services. High value products are typically technology intensive, expensive and reliability critical requiring engineering services (e.g. maintenance, repair and overhaul) throughout the life cycle e.g. aircraft engine, high-end cars, railway vehicle, wind turbines and defence equipment. Competitiveness is then dependent on many factors, such as design innovation for the product and added value through the services and minimisation of whole life cost. These products typically combine five major domains (structural, mechanical, electrical, electronic and software sub-systems) to achieve the required functionality and performance. These products are referred to as Coupled Whole Systems. The overall vision of the proposed EPSRC Centre is to develop knowledge, technology and process demonstrators, novel methodologies, techniques and the associated toolsets to provide the capability for the concept design of the coupled whole system based on system design for engineering services.After discussions with the industrial partners, KTNs and all the academics involved in the Centre, it has been decided that the Centre will start with a set of five projects. The projects are of three types, the first one identifies current challenges in the systems design across multiple sectors, the second set of three projects is in TRL levels 2-3 and addresses three major industrial challenges for engineering services across the sectors. This research will develop technology and process demonstrators, design rules and standards to evaluate the system design in order to reduce the engineering services cost later in the life cycle. The third type is more long term and represents TRL levels 1-2. This project will develop technologies that could reduce the need for maintenance and therefore reduce the whole life cost of a high value product. The five initial projects are as follows:Project 1: Study of cross sector challenges in coupled whole systems design (6 mths)Project 2: Reduction of no-fault found (NFF) through system design (3 yrs)Project 3: Characterisation of in-service component feedback for system design (3 yrs)Project 4: Improvement of System Design Process for whole life cost reduction (2 yrs)Project 5: Self-healing technologies for electronic and mechanical components and subsystems (3 yrs)All the initial projects and future ones will use the facilities of a Whole Systems Studio at Cranfield. The Studio will provide instrumentation and facilities to perform experiments in support of the initial and future research projects and develop technology and process demonstrators. The Studio will have a networked computing facility with a data highway based on the OSys integration platform. The platform will initially allow other facilities such as the 3D scanning facility from GOM, Electronics Lab from Durham, IVHM Centre at Cranfield and MRO Shop at Rolls Royce, Derby to be connected with the Studio. In future, other research groups and laboratories will be given access to the Studio as well.The core partners of the Centre are Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, Bombardier Transport, ARM and the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The partners represent aerospace, defence, railways and electronics sectors. There are 13 other industrial partners representing user companies from defence, information technology (IT), machine tool, and energy sectors and knowledge transfer networks (aerospace, energy and electronics), software vendor, media partner and trade organisations as dissemination partner to support the growth of the Centre.