9529125 KOREN This award is to support the establishment of an Engineering Research Center on Reconfigurable Machining Systems at the University of Michigan under a new five-year cooperative agreement. The proposed ERC is to help the United States respond to the global challenges in manufacturing by establishing a base of strong fundamental engineering knowledge in reconfigurable machining systems for flexible manufacturing technology. The distinct feature of the proposed Center is to focus on fundamental engineering issues, such as modularity, customization, convertibility, integrability, and diagnosability in reconfigurable machining system. The vision will be fulfilled by improved engineering knowledge and methodologies in stream-of-variation theory, system reliability theory, and open-architecture principles. A testbed will be developed to demonstrate the systems challenges of reconfigurable machining systems. The research is organized into five thrust areas: Thrust 1 on system design & integration with focused research activities on stream-of-variation theory in relation to economics, reliability, integration, and diagnosability; Thrust II on software architecture with focused research activities on open-architecture principles in relation to software reconfigurability and salability; Thrust III on measurement and control with focused research activities on sensors development and modular motion control system; Theory IV on mechanical design with focused research activities on reconfigurable design theory in relation to components, machines, and systems; and Thrust V on processes and tooling with focused research activities on various tooling systems for machining, boring, and drilling, and their process models. The education programs of the ERC will involve undergraduates and graduates in research teams involving industry. The ERC will enhance the industrial exposure to students enrolled in the new practice-oriented M.S. and Ph.D manufacturing degree programs. The ERC wil l provide curricular modules which will be developed and tested in partnership with the Greenfield Engineering Education Coalition. This vision is enthusiastically endorsed by 32 companies in the automotive industry, the machine tool industry, and the aerospace industry. The research team includes 25 researchers from three UM engineering departments and the UM Business School. In addition, researchers from four universities, including Wayne State University, Michigan Technological University, University of Illinois, and UC-San Diego will be involved in the research activities within the Center.
