The objective of this Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) Collaborative Research project is to invent a new sensing system integrated with stamping press to significantly improve the observability and controllability of the stamping process. The objective will be achieved by investigating the geometrical scalability of draw-in sensors that are based on the principal of mutual electrical inductance, and wireless pressure sensors that communicate with remote ultrasound receivers through acoustic waves. The new sensors will be embedded within the stamping tooling without interfering with high-rate operations, thus providing an enabling tool that is not yet existent in the state-of-the-art stamping industry within or outside of the US. The intellectual contribution of this project will be extending fundamental laws of physics on electromagnetic coupling and acoustic telemetry to guide the functional and parametric design of the envisioned sensors such that they can accurately and reliably measure the required process parameters, given the significant impact forces and interferences typically associated with the stamping operation, thus advancing the science base for stamping process monitoring.
The broader impact of this research includes creating means for direct comparison between physical measurements and numerical simulations through tooling-embedded sensors, such that monitoring and control of the process are integrated with, and therefore, taking advantage of, the advancement in numerical tools. Research results will be shared with both the academic and industrial communities through open-house demos and a short course. Joint seminar series and student exchange are also planned.
