An Intelligent Tool With Adaptive Structure for L-Bending Process of Sheet Metals

DragonFlex – Smart Steerable Laparoscopic Instrument

Investigation of the V-bending process with the effect of V-grooving insert geometries is performed through finite element analysis within ANSYS LS-DYNA. Different V-groover geometries are tested to evaluate the effect on the final bent angle and bent radius of the sheet metal part, with the objective of obtaining the minimized bent angle and bent radius results. It is also observed that the corner radius of the V-groover has a major influence on the bent angle and bent radius. Due to the removal of material in the bending region, which reduced the bending resistance, an increase in the corner radius results in a decrease in both the bent angle and radius. The shape of V-groover also affects the bending results, with variations in geometries leading to variations in both bent angle and radius. When the cutting cross-sectional area is kept constant, the bent angle shows minimal variation, while the bent radius steadily increases with the V-groover angle, reaching its maximum at 90 degrees.

Rotary bending is able to bend sheets with various bending radii and angles by controlling forming conditions. The effects of applied radial force and rotary angle on bending radius and angle are clarified to realize and a precise rotary bending system. The bending radius is determined by applied force and bending angle is determined by applied radial pressure and rotary angle. The feedback bending system for rotary bending is developed in that the bending conditions are determined by the previous measured value of bend sheets.

Optimization of Shock Loop for Least Stress in Hermetic Reciprocating Compressor

The VDA238-100 standard for tight radius bending (v-bending) of sheet materials has received widespread acceptance with automotive suppliers and material producers to characterize local formability. However, the test fixture and tooling in the v-bend test standard is not amenable to direct strain measurement and the operator cannot terminate the test at the onset of crack initiation as the outer bend surface is not visible. Consequently, fracture is identified using a load threshold and the bend angle estimated from an analytical formula based upon the punch displacement and tooling geometry. Bend angles are not directly transferable and must be interpreted relative to the sheet thickness and bend radius unlike a strain measurement. By obtaining an in-situ strain measurement on the surface using digital image correlation (DIC), the plane strain fracture limit can be accurately identified at the onset of cracking and remove ambiguity in translating the bend angles to practical forming operations and simulations. A novel inverted VDA test frame was developed to incorporate DIC strain measurement during the bend test and a variety of advanced high strength sheet materials were evaluated. It was observed that the VDA bend test creates a homogeneous strain state of plane strain across the width of the sample along with a proportional strain path to fracture without necking that is ideal for fracture characterization. A correlation is developed to relate the bend angle with the major strain for the materials considered and accounts for the sheet thickness and bend radius. A comparison of the bend angle obtained using the formula in the VDA standard based on the punch displacement was in very good agreement with manual measurements and an algorithm to measure the bend angle using DIC analysis was developed.

As a hydraulic lifting pipeline structure widely used in deep-sea oil, gas transportation, and sediment dredging projects, the pipeline configuration is related to the improvement of transportation efficiency and pipeline safety. Particularly, the bending section consumes the most energy and withstands severe erosion. Understanding and predicting the conveying characteristics of two-phase flow in bends is therefore crucial. In this study, CFD-DEM (computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method) simulation method is employed to calculate various cases, considering five parameters: pipeline bending radius and angle, conveying velocity, particle diameter, and concentration, to explore the influence of these parameters on pressure drop and erosion rate of pipeline and result in a data set of hundreds of cases. Based on this data set, seven machine learning models are trained to predict pressure drop and erosion rate, respectively. To enhance model accuracy, the stacking method in ensemble learning is employed to combine multiple models with good performance. Additionally, the Optuna and SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanation) methods are utilized to optimize hyperparameters and explain the degree to which parameters impact the predictions. The result demonstrates that pressure drop is almost unaffected by bending radius, while erosion rate initially decreases and then increases with bending angle, and both increase with other parameters. Among the evaluated models, artificial neural network, XGBoost, and random forest all demonstrate high prediction accuracy. The stacking model further improves the accuracy, with mean absolute error improving by 21.7% and 32.2%, and the SHAP method demonstrated good interpretability, which is basically consistent with CFD-DEM results.

Cover glass in commercial handheld devices is now evolving from flat (2D) to curved (3D) shapes. For example, some commercial devices have utilized sled-shape cover glass,[1] which partially covers long edges of the device. According to the patents published by key handheld manufacturers,[2, 3] we can expect more variety of 3D shaped cover glass for handheld devices in the market. In this study, we have focused on the reliability of 3D cover glass when it is dropped to a rigid surface. The key parameters under study are the corner/edge bend radius and angle of the cover glass, which determines the 3D shape of the cover glass. To achieve this goal, we developed a finite element model to simulate the drop[4-13] of a handheld device with 3D-shaped glass. The model uses explicit algorithm to simulate the high speed impact on the device during the drop test. The glass performance was evaluated based on contact force between the glass and the ground and maximum principal stress in the glass. We showed that to avoid severe damage because of first impact between the glass and the ground, the bend angle of 3D glass has to be in the range between 0 and 45°. For drop angles of 45° and higher, with the proposed glass bend angle, the impact can be taken over by the edge of the back cover of the device. In addition, we showed that optimum glass bend radius is in the range of 3.8 mm and larger. This is required to reduce stress in glass because of impact. The approach and conclusions from the current study can serve as a general guideline to improve the 3D cover glass reliability of a handheld device.

The development of intracranial internal carotid artery (ICA) stenoses may be associated with the morphology of the siphon. The aim is to quantitatively characterize the geometry of ICA, and develop a classifier of the ICA shape in relation to the location and incidence of stenoses. The ICA geometry from 74 subjects was analyzed by means of image-based computational techniques. The siphon was split into two bends, and was described in terms of curvature radius, radius of vessel, angle of bending, and length. Differences of geometry between ICA classes were assessed in control group, consisted of 30 subjects without stenoses. In stenosed group, the association between the ICA classes and the incidence of stenoses were investigated and validated by hemodynamic simulation. The curvature radius and angle of the posterior bend were significantly different between ICA classes, as well as the angle between the two bends. An innovative classifier was developed with the three geometric parameters. The ICA classification was found associated with the incidence of stenoses at the siphon. Geometric factors relative to the ICA were correlated with the location and incidence of stenoses at the siphon. The present work has potential implications in the quest for hemodynamic factors contributing to the initiation and progression of intracranial ICA stenoses.

Interaction of low-frequency axisymmetric ultrasonic guided waves with bends in pipes of arbitrary bend angle and general bend radius

Due to the particularity of the material and structure of the temperature control product ammonia axial channel thermotube on satellite, there are few researches on its forming at home and abroad at present. In the process of product development, defects such as cross section deformation, accuracy out of tolerance and springback will occur, which will reduce the quality and pass rate of the product and affect the progress of the product, laser induced bending forming method is adopted in this paper, and the technological parameters of laser induced bending forming are studied according to the bending radius and angle required by the designer.In actual research process, firstly, we utilize ABAQUE software to simulate the effect of the selection of process parameters and the forming mechanism of laser induced bending forming as well as observing the laser effect in the process of stress, strain and temperature changes as well as angle, referring to the result of simulation test. Finally, we get specific process parameters under bending radius and bending angle.

This paper summarizes recent progress in the area of estimation and control of batch processes. The task of designing effective strategies for the estimation of unmeasured variables and for the control of the important outputs of the process is linked to our need to optimize the process and its success is depended upon the availability of a process model. For this reason we will provide a substantial focus on the modeling issues that relate to batch processes. In particular we will focus attention on the approach developed in our group and referred to as “tendency modeling” that can be used for the estimation, optimization and control of batch processes. Several batch reactor example processes will be detailed to illustrate the applicability of the general approach. These relate to organic synthesis reactors and bioreactors. The point that distinguishes tendency modeling from other modeling approaches is that the developed Tendency Models are multivariable, nonlinear, and aim to incorporate all the available fundamental information about the process through the use of material and energy balances. These models are not frozen in time as they are allowed to evolve. Because they are not perfectly accurate they are used in the optimization, estimation and control of the process on a tentative basis as they are updated either between batches or more frequently. This iterative or adaptive modeling strategy also influences the controller design. The controller performance requirements and thus the need of a more accurate model increase as successive optimization steps guide the process operation near its constraints.

The coagulation, flocculation, and sedimentation processes involve many complex physical and chemical phenomena and thus are difficult to model for process control with traditional methods. Proposed is the use of a neural network process control system for the coagulation, flocculation, and sedimentation processes. Presented is a review of influential control parameters and control requirements for these processes followed by the development of a feed forward neural network control scheme. A neural network process model was built based on nearly 2,000 sets of process control data. This model formed the major component of a software controller and was found to consistently predict the optimum alum and power activated carbon doses for different control actions. With minor modifications, the approach illustrated can be used for building control models for other water treatment processes.

To fabricate the precision V-bent parts, the bending angle, inner bending radius, and outer bending radius are strictly required. These requirements result in a processing difficulty especially for the difficult-to-bend material, such as high-strength steel. In the present study, the finite element method (FEM) and laboratory experiments were used to investigate the precision V-bending process. An innovation of sided coined-bead technique was proposed for preventing the spring-back and spring-go. The conventional coined-bead technique was also investigated. Based on the stress distribution analysis, the results revealed that the mechanism of the precision V-bending process, conventional coined-bead technique, and sided coined-bead technique were clearly identified. In the precision V-bending process, the conventional coined-bead technique could only prevent the spring-back. In contrast, the sided coined-bead could prevent both the spring-back and the spring-go by setting a suitable geometry and position. The FEM simulation results showed a good agreement with the experimental results with reference to the bending forces and bending angles.

The bending test at ordinary temperature is very widely used as a commercial mechanical test of metals and alloys next to the tensile test. The present author has made an investigation on the course of deformation at different parts of the test piece during bending and also the effects of the dimensions of the test piece, bending radius and the distance between two supports upon the severity of the test. Among the conclusions arrived at, the princi pal ones are as follows:-(1). The bending angle, if it exceeds a certain vulne, gives no influence upon the degree of severity. (2). For forged stecl, the distance between supports gives an influence upon the degree of severity when the specified bending angle is relatively small such as 90° or less. (3). For test pieces having constant. thickness, the severity slightly increases with the breadth. (4). When the section of the test piece is always square and both the bending radus and the thickness are increased, their ratio being kept constant, the severity slightly increases. (5). The specification for bending test, which has hitherto been used extensively in our country, has been compared with that established recently by the Japan Engineering Standards Committee. In the case of forged steel, the latter specification is decidedly looser than the formen. For cast steel the latter is looser than the former for bending angles of 90° or less, while the severities of these two specifications are almost equal when the angle is 120°.

Forming of the titanium elements by bending