Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Carbon Nanotori Structures For Thermal Transport Applications On Lubricants, Jaime Taha-Tijerina, Karla Aviña, Juan Manuel Martínez, Patsy Yessenia Arquieta-Guillén, Marlon González-Escobedo

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Carbon nanostructures have been recently applied to improve industrial manufacturing processes and other materials; such is the case for lubricants used in the metal-mechanic industry. Nanotori are toroidal carbon nanostructures, obtained from chemical treatment of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). This material has been shown to have superb anti-wear and friction reduction performance, having the ability to homogeneously disperse within water in concentrations between 1-2 wt.%. Obtained results of these novel nanostructures under water mixtures and novel additives were a set point to our studies in different industrial lubricants. In the present work, nanotori structures have been applied in various filler …

Generic Design Methodology For Smart Manufacturing Systems From A Practical Perspective, Part I—Digital Triad Concept And Its Application As A System Reference Model, Zhuming Bi, Wen-Jun Zhang, Chong Wu, Chaomin Luo, Lida Xu

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

Rapidly developed information technologies (IT) have continuously empowered manufacturing systems and accelerated the evolution of manufacturing system paradigms, and smart manufacturing (SM) has become one of the most promising paradigms. The study of SM has attracted a great deal of attention for researchers in academia and practitioners in industry. However, an obvious fact is that people with different backgrounds have different expectations for SM, and this has led to high diversity, ambiguity, and inconsistency in terms of definitions, reference models, performance matrices, and system design methodologies. It has been found that the state of the art SM research is limited …

Generic Design Methodology For Smart Manufacturing Systems From A Practical Perspective. Part Ii—Systematic Designs Of Smart Manufacturing Systems, Zhuming Bi, Wen-Jun Zhang, Chong Wu, Chaomin Luo, Lida Xu

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

In a traditional system paradigm, an enterprise reference model provides the guide for practitioners to select manufacturing elements, configure elements into a manufacturing system, and model system options for evaluation and comparison of system solutions against given performance metrics. However, a smart manufacturing system aims to reconfigure different systems in achieving high-level smartness in its system lifecycle; moreover, each smart system is customized in terms of the constraints of manufacturing resources and the prioritized performance metrics to achieve system smartness. Few works were found on the development of systematic methodologies for the design of smart manufacturing systems. The novel contributions …

El Español En Estados Unidos Como Recurso Para La Educación De Hispanos En Ingeniería, Hiram Moya

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Los Hispanos representan la más grande minoría en Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, el número de estudiantes hispanos en las carreras de ciencias y en particular en ingeniería ha estado subrepresentada por muchos años. Esta falta de representación ha hecho que se estudie de muchas formas los métodos de reclutar y retener y graduar estudiantes hispanos en ingeniería. Sin embargo, la urgencia continúa. Existen muchos retos para mejorar la participación de hispanos en ingeniería, incluyendo la falta costumbre en preguntar o solicitar ayuda, los retos económicos, y la falta de ejemplos a seguir en la facultad. Dado los retos, este artículo …

Direct Selective Laser Synthesis Of Cucrfenitial High Entropy Alloy From Elemental Powders Through Selective Laser Melting, Joni Dhar, Lazaro Lopez, Shanshan Zhang, Ben Xu, Mohammed Jasim Uddin, Jianzhi Li

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study investigated the synthesis of CuCrFeNiTiAl high entropy alloy (HEA) from pure elements using selective laser melting (SLM). The objectives are to validate the feasibility of the HEA fabrication from elemental powder materials, and to examine the effect of various process conditions in SLM, such as laser power, point distance and laser exposure time, on the microstructures formed. The as-built samples under high, medium and low energy densities were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the microstructures were observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XRD results showed that five major crystal structure phases (hexagonal, monoclinic, orthorhombic, body-centered cubic …

Potential Production Of Theranostic Boron Nitride Nanotubes (64cu-Bnnts) Radiolabeled By Neutron Capture, Wellington Marcos Silva, Helio Ribeiro, Jaime Taha-Tijerina

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this work, the radioisotope 64Cu was obtained from copper (II) chloride dihydrate in a nuclear research reactor by neutron capture, (63Cu(n, )64Cu), and incorporated into boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) using a solvothermal process. The produced 64Cu-BNNTs were analyzed by TEM, MEV, FTIR, XDR, XPS and gamma spectrometry, with which it was possible to observe the formation of64Cu nanoparticles, with sizes of up to 16 nm, distributed through nanotubes. The synthesized of 64Cu nanostructures showed a pure photoemission peak of 511 keV, which is characteristic of gamma radiation. This type of emission is desirable for Photon Emission Tomography (PET scan) …

A Review On Application Of Model Based Systems Engineering To Manufacturing And Production Engineering Systems, Aditya Akundi, Viviana Lopez

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increasing complexity in today’s manufacturing and production industry due to the need for higher flexibility and competitiveness is leading to inconsistencies in the iterative exchange loops of the system design process. To address these complexities and inconsistencies, an ongoing industry trend for organizations to make a transition from document-centric principles and applications to being model-centric is observed. In this paper, a literature review is presented highlighting the current need for an industry-wide transition from document-centric systems engineering to Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). Further, investigating the tools and languages used by the researchers for facilitating the transition to and the integration …

A Machine Vision Based Automated Quality Control System For Product Dimensional Analysis, Aditya Akundi, Mark Reyna

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Quality control (QC) in manufacturing processes is critical to ensuring consumers receive products with proper functionality and reliability. Faulty products can lead to additional costs for the manufacturer and damage trust in a brand. A growing trend in QC is the use of machine vision (MV) systems because of their noncontact inspection, high repeatability, and relatively low cost. This paper presents a robust MV system developed to perform comparative dimensional inspection on diversely shaped samples, including additive manufacturing products. The algorithm used performs dimensional inspection on a base product considered to have acceptable dimensions. The perimeter, area, rectangularity, and circularity …

Improvement Of Light Intensity And Efficiency Of N-Zno/Nio/P-Gan Heterojunction-Based White Light Emitting Diodes Using Micro-/Nanolens Array, Apurba Adhikary, Md Shamim Ahsan, Md Mahbub Hossain, Md Bipul Hossain, S. H. Shah Newaz, Farid Ahmed, Ik-Bu Sohn

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our study proposes a technique to enhance light extraction efficiency of light emitting diodes (LEDs) by incorporating various micro-/nanolens arrays (MNLAs) on the substrate layer, which in turn increases the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the LEDs. To simulate the LEDs, we utilized the finite difference time domain method. To achieve a white LED, we inserted a thin layer of NiO at the interface between the n-type ZnO and the p-type GaN. The basic n-ZnO/NiO/p-GaN heterojunction-based LED exhibited an EQE of 10.99% where the effective refractive index of the LED structure was 1.48. The EQE was further increased by engraving …

Grow Local Manufacturing Along Us/Mexico Border Region For An Integrated Supply Chain In The Post Covid-19 Era, Jianzhi Li

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The current coronavirus disease pandemic, plus the strong movement of manufacturing reshoring, provide a unique opportunity for many US regions to grow local manufacturers. This technical note attempts to review the current situation and trend in US manufacturing. We then discuss challenges and necessary steps, such as asset mapping, required to grow local suppliers. Suggestions are then made to support growing local suppliers along the US/Mexico border region.

Characterization And Performance Of Minimum Quantity Lubricants In Through-Tool Drilling, Amla Patil, Jay Raval, Tim Bangma, Immanuel Edinbarough, Bruce Tai, David Stephenson, Suleiman Obeidat, Wayne Nguyen Hung

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study characterized airborne microdroplet diameters and size distribution from two commercially available lubricants A and B for internal minimum quantity lubrication (MQL). The effects of air pressure, oil channel size, physical properties of lubricants on the resultant microdroplets and through-tool MQL drilling performance were studied. Airborne microdroplet diameters were highly sensitive to the coolant channel sizes and air pressure. Cluster method was used to divide microdroplets into smaller clusters for comparison. Experimental data show that the average airborne microdroplet of lubricant B was larger than that of lubricant A at different air pressures and channel sizes. The contact angle …

Application Of Optimized Laser Surface Re-Melting Process On Selective Laser Melted 316l Stainless Steel Inclined Parts, Jafar Ghorbani, Jianzhi Li, Anil K. Srivastava

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Lower surface quality of selective laser melting (SLM) manufactured parts remains to be a key shortcoming particularly for high performance functional components. In this paper, the authors utilized Box–Behnken methodology to explore the effect of laser surface re-melting process parameters. The process parameters are:laser power, laser exposure time, laser point distance, and shell layer thickness. The experiments were conducted using Renishaw AM-250 machine. SLM manufactured parts with inclination of 45˚ up-skin were treated with a given surface roughness using laser surface re-melting (LSR). The optimization of process parameters was conducted using response surface methodology and the validation tests was carried …

Embedding Computer Simulation Based Classroom Activities To Enhance The Learning Experience For Manufacturing Systems, Tzu-Liang Bill Tseng, Md Fashiar Rahman, Richard Chiou, Ivan Arturo Renteria-Marquez, Aditya Akundi, Amit J. Lopes, Jeevarathinam Senthilkumar

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent time, manufacturing environment are bracing higher end technologies to achieve high productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. Due to the adoption of the sophisticated technologies, the system is becoming very complex and stochastic. Moreover, the manufacturing system is interconnected among its different subsystems and components, which cannot be described only through the theoretical explanation. Here, computer simulation can be integrated to design and visualize the stochastic and complex system. This paper uses the advantage of simulation to describe a series classroom activity using SIMIO software, which are deployed in industrial systems simulation course in the University of Texas at El …

Thermal Conductivity Performance Of 2d Hbn/Mos 2/Hybrid Nanostructures Used On Natural And Synthetic Esters, Jaime Taha-Tijerina, Hélio Ribeiro, Karla Aviña, Juan Manuel Martínez, Anna Paula Godoy, Josué Marciano De Oliveira Cremonezzi, Milene Adriane Luciano, Marcos Antônio Gimenes Benega, Ricardo Jorge Espanhol Andrade, Guilhermino José Macedo Fechine

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this paper, the thermal conductivity behavior of synthetic and natural esters reinforced with 2D nanostructures-single hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), single molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), and hybrid h-BN/MOS2-were studied and compared to each other. As a basis for the synthesis of nanofluids, three biodegradable insulating lubricants were used: FR3TM and VG-100 were used as natural esters and MIDEL 7131 as a synthetic ester. Two-dimensional nanosheets of h-BN, MoS2, and their hybrid nanofillers (50/50 ratio percent) were incorporated into matrix lubricants without surfactants or additives. Nanofluids were prepared at 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.25 weight percent of filler fraction. The experimental …

Feasibility Of Electric Field Assisted Clogging Reduction In Cold Gas Spraying Nozzle, Hendric Tronsson

ENGS 88 Honors Thesis (AB Students)

The relatively novel cold spraying process expands its range of applications constantly. In order to continue this trend, this process still has various hurdles that need to be overcome such as clogging. Clogging within the cold gas spraying process causes porous coatings with less material properties and lower durability; a solution is needed in order to reduce the clogging and so expand the cold gas spraying applications. This study aimed to explore the feasibility of using an electric field to reduce clogging. To do so a simplified channel was used to simulate charged particle trajectory shifts under the influence of …

Virginia Digital Shipbuilding Program (Vdsp): Building An Agile Modern Workforce To Improve Performance In The Shipbuilding And Ship Repair Industry, Joseph Peter Kosteczko, Katherine Smith, Jessica Johnson, Rafael Diaz

VMASC Publications

Industry 4.0 is the latest stage in the Industrial Revolution and is reflected in the digital transformation and use of emergent technologies including the Internet of Things, Big Data, Robotic automation of processes, 3D printing and additive manufacturing, drones and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the manufacturing industry. The implementation of these technologies in the Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Industry is currently in a nascent stage. Considering this, there is huge potential to increase cost savings, decrease production timelines, and drive down inefficiencies in Lifecyle management of ships. However, the implementation of these Industry 4.0 technologies is hindered by a noticeable …

Smart Environments For Assisted Living: A Multidisciplinary Collaboration In Engineering And Architecture Education, Adriana Rios-Santiago, Anabel Pineda-Briseno, Jesus A. Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Uriel Saul Huerta

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents a description of a collaborative project based on the integration of technology development in the built environment for assisted living. The multidisciplinary collaboration is developed as a cooperative commitment to provide support for cross-border, collective projects. It was initiated as a project-based learning setting between undergraduate engineering students, and four years later the program shifted to include undergraduate architecture students and engineering master’s students. The learning experience opens the gate to a completely new collaborative setting, yet to be established, independent from its predecessor setting of project-based learning, focusing now towards an interdisciplinarity setting in cross-border collaboration. …

Rapid Manufacturing Of Critical Industrial Parts: A Method Based On Reverse Engineering, Rapid Prototyping, And Coordinate Metrology, Immanuel Edinbarough, Aditya Akundi

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents a method of rapidly manufacturing industrial parts that are critical to the production. In order to assist the Advanced Manufacturing industry, a senior project team at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) applied Rapid Manufacturing (RM) to manufacture or fabricate critical machine parts used to maintain production machines. Failures of parts and tools in industrial settings cost money and hurt output. Usually, the problem arises when the tooling being used is one of a kind and repair or replacements come with long leadtimes. Other problems are encountered when original part or tool engineering drawing is …

Text Mining-Based Qualitative Student Assessment Of Interactive Simulation Learning Using Simio Tool – A Work In Progress, Aditya Akundi, Immanuel Edinbarough

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Computer simulations complement and extend the real-world components of industries and manufacturing organizations. Teaching simulation-based tools helps students in modeling and analyzing the behavior of real time systems. With the increased demand observed in products and technology consumption, manufacturing industries are evolving to embrace new technologies and initiatives. To keep the emerging workforce technically competent in current tools to understand and interpret manufacturing processes, this paper portrays an effort by the authors in introducing SIMIO i.e. a tool on Simulation of intelligent objects to undergraduate students at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and in understanding the influence of using …

Expanding Engineering And Technology Opportunities To Students In The Border Region Through International Collaboration, Jesus A. Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Immanuel Edinbarough, Adriana Rios-Santiago, Anabel Pineda-Briseno

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Expanding Engineering and Technology Opportunities to Students in the Border Region through International Collaboration

For some years now, our Department of Engineering Technology of the XXXX, has collaborated with Universities across the southern border to carry out different activities such as undergraduate research, collaborative course-based projects, and senior design projects. We have observed how students benefit from being exposed to work in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams.

We now expand this form of work to a higher-level research collaboration where students and faculty from four different institutions participate. Two institutions of higher education in Mexico and a University and a Community …

Hollow-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber Mach–Zehnder Interferometer For Gas Sensing, Kaveh Nazeri, Farid Ahmed, Vahid Ahsani, Hang-Eun Joe, Colin Bradley, Ehsan Toyserkani, Martin B. G. Jun

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A novel and compact interferometric refractive index (RI) point sensor is developed using hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) and experimentally demonstrated for high sensitivity detection and measurement of pure gases. To construct the device, the sensing element fiber (HC-PCF) was placed between two single-mode fibers with airgaps at each side. Great measurement repeatability was shown in the cyclic test for the detection of various gases. The RI sensitivity of 4629 nm/RIU was demonstrated in the RI range of 1.0000347–1.000436 for the sensor with an HC-PCF length of 3.3 mm. The sensitivity of the proposed Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) sensor increases when …

A Review Of Problem Structuring Methods For Consideration In Prognostics And Smart Manufacturing, Patrick T. Hester, Andrew J. Collins, Barry Ezell, John Horst

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Successful use of prognostics involves the prediction of future system behaviors in an effort to maintain system availability and reduce the cost of maintenance and repairs. Recent work by the National Institute of Standards and Technology indicates that the field of prognostics and health management is vital for remaining competitive in today’s manufacturing environment. While prognostics-based maintenance involves many traditional operations research-centric challenges for successful deployment such as limited availability of information and concerns regarding computational efficiency, the authors argue in this paper that the field of prognostics and health management, still in its embryonic development stage, could benefit greatly …

The Business Case For Industrial Safety: Revealing The Comprehensive Value Of Ergonomic Investments For Manufacturing Enterprises In Industry 4.0, Shane Stan

Honors Theses

How can today’s manufacturing enterprises construct, implement, and optimize modern safety initiatives in a manner that will present maximum return on investment and facilitate enterprise growth? Furthermore, how can these manufacturers assure individual ergonomic investments become part of a larger strategy to facilitate organizational change in safety? This work addresses these questions by placing industrial ergonomics in a business improvement context which comprehensively presents the financial returns and growth opportunities poised by modern safety initiatives. Additionally, to further strengthen the business case for industrial safety, an ergonomic action planning framework is established to guide the creation of holistic safety programs …

Maquiladoras In Central America: An Analysis Of Workforce Schedule, Productivity And Fatigue., Jose L. Barahona

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Textile factories or Maquiladoras are very abundant and predominant in Central American economies. However, they all do not have the same standardized work schedule or routines. Most of the Maquiladoras only follow schedules and regulations established by the current labor laws without taking into consideration many variables within their organization that could affect their overall performance. As a result, the purpose of the study is to analyze the current working structure of a textile Maquiladora and determine the most suitable schedule that will abide with the current working structure but also increase production levels, employee morale and decrease employee fatigue. …

Zinc Ferrite Based Gas Sensors: A Review, Kaidi Wu, Jianzhi Li, Chao Zhang

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Flammable, explosive and toxic gases, such as hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide and volatile organic compounds vapor, are major threats to the ecological environment safety and human health. Among the available technologies, gas sensing is a vital component, and has been widely studied in literature for early detection and warning. As a metal oxide semiconductor, zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) represents a kind of promising gas sensing material with a spinel structure, which also shows a fine gas sensing performance to reducing gases. Due to its great potentials and widespread applications, this article is intended to provide a review on the latest development in …

An Energy Profile Model For Fused Deposition Modeling 3d Printing Process, Calvin Hawkins

Research Opportunities for Engineering Undergraduates (ROEU) Program 2018-19

This project develops a strategy to monitor and estimate the energy consumption of fused deposition modeling (FDM) additive manufacturing, which will benefit manufacturers and designers seeking to design and manufacture products with minimal energy consumption.

4-D Printing Of Pressure Sensors And Energy Harvesting Devices For Engineering Education, Tzu-Liang Bill Tseng, Aditya Akundi, Hoejin Kim

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper elaborates on the development of laboratory project modules in the Industrial manufacturing and systems engineering department at The University of Texas El Paso based on Four-Dimensional (4D) printing technology. These modules are aimed at introducing the students to interdisciplinary manufacturing and emerging dimensions in manufacturing technology. 4D printing is a new dimension in additive manufacturing wherein, the 3D printed structures react to the change of parameters within the environment such as temperature, and humidity, resulting in shape change or in functionality such as electricity output, and self-healing. Recently 4D printing of simple devices for pressure sensors application were …

Stochastic Bi-Level Optimization Models For Efficient Operating Room Planning, Amin Abedini, Wei Li, Honghan Ye

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Within a hospital, the operating room (OR) department has the largest cost and revenue. Because of the aging population, the demand for surgical services has been increasing sharply in recent years. At the other hand, the rate of OR capacity expansion is lower than the rate of increasing demand. As a result, OR managers must leverage their resources by efficient OR planning. OR planning is challenging because of multiple competing\conflicting objectives such cost minimization and throughput maximization. Inherent uncertainty in the surgical procedures and patients arrivals complicate the decision making process. This increases the risk of non-realization of the system …

An Optimization Model For Operating Room Scheduling To Reduce Blocking Across The Perioperative Process, Amin Abedini, Wei Li, Honghan Ye

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Operating room (OR) scheduling is important. Because of increasing demand for surgical services, hospitals must provide high quality care more efficiently with limited resources. When constructing the OR schedule, it is necessary to consider the availability of downstream resources, such as intensive care unit (ICU) and post anaesthesia care unit (PACU). The unavailability of downstream resources causes blockings between every two consecutive stages. In this paper we address the master surgical schedule (MSS) problem in order to minimize blockings between two consecutive stages. First, we present a blocking minimization (BM) model for the MSS by using integer programming, based on …

Condition Assessment Of End-Of-Use Products For Remanufacturing, Jovan Morgan

Research Opportunities for Engineering Undergraduates (ROEU) Program 2016-17

The goal of the project is to use the automated 3-D laser scanner using a Capnut as a test object to detect surface defects, corrosion and calculation error through offline quality inspection. potentially reducing labor time and cost for both consumers and manufacturers.