Autoclave Facility Upgrade for Advanced Applications

不列颠哥伦比亚大学(UBC)的复合材料研究网络(CRN)迫切需要对我们的高压罐设施进行升级。*高压罐是工业(如航空航天)中用来“烹调”复合材料结构和制造部件的压力容器。高压罐是CRN中的关键任务设备，用于(I)收集数据以演示数字孪生及其应用；(Ii)研究工具和气流在高压罐加工过程中对复合材料部件热响应的影响；(Iii)开发基于模拟的热轮廓工作流，以支持行业决策者更好地设计高压罐制造计划；(Iv)研究航空航天高压罐制造的碳纤维复合材料的固化路径依赖性；以及(V)研究高压罐对流行为对先进复合材料固化的影响。我们的项目专注于针对实际工业问题的基于知识的解决方案，使公司能够在此过程中降低生产并扩大成本。*现有的高压灭菌器迫切需要升级控制器以及过时的硬件和软件。目前，这些问题导致该设备严重停机，导致生产率延迟，这也对HQP培训和职业发展产生了负面影响。UBC在Point Grey和Kelowna校园都没有类似的工业高压灭菌器。CRN目前的项目与行业相关，对先进制造业至关重要。CRN培训了大量HQP，并继续拥有本科生和研究生，以及该小组的博士后研究员。这些学员在使用先进制造业中必不可少的工具和操作设备(如高压锅)方面获得了宝贵的经验，这使他们成为任何从事复合材料工作的中小企业或OEM的资产。

The Composites Research Network (CRN) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is in urgent need of an upgrade to our autoclave facility.******Autoclaves are pressure vessels used in industry (eg., aerospace) to "cook" composites structures and create parts. The autoclave is a mission critical piece of equipment in the CRN and is being used to (i) collect data to demonstrate digital twinning and its applications; (ii) study the effect of tooling and airflow on the thermal response of composite parts during autoclave processing; (iii) develop a simulation based thermal profiling workflow to support industry decision makers to better design autoclave manufacturing plans; (iv) study the cure path dependence of aerospace autoclave manufactured carbon fibre composite material; and (v) study the effects of autoclave convective behaviour on curing of advanced composites. Our programs focus on knowledge based solutions for real industrial problems, enabling companies to decrease both their production and scale up costs in the process.******The existing autoclave is in desperate need of upgrading the controller as well as outdated hardware and software. Currently, these problems result in significant downtime of this equipment, resulting in delays in productivity, which also negatively impact HQP training and career progression. UBC does not have a comparable industrial autoclave on either the Point Grey or Kelowna campuses. The current projects at CRN are industrially relevant and critical to the advanced manufacturing industry.******CRN has trained a large number of HQPs and continues to have undergraduate and graduate trainees, as well as postdoctoral fellows in the group. The invaluable experience these trainees get in using tools and operating equipment (eg., autoclave) that are essential in advanced manufacturing industries, makes them an asset to any SME or OEM working with composites.