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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Programming Of Collaborative Robot (Cobot) To Selectively Disassemble Products To Obtain Critical Materials, Brittany Felder Jan 2019

Programming Of Collaborative Robot (Cobot) To Selectively Disassemble Products To Obtain Critical Materials, Brittany Felder

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

End-of-life products that contain critical materials, such as rare earth magnets, are often discarded even though there is remaining value that can be fed back into a remanufacturing process. This research aims to develop high throughput and economic value recovery from electric machines using collaborative robotics.


Automated Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (Ecu) Sensor Location Using Feature-Vector Based Comparisons, Gregory S. Buthker Jan 2019

Automated Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (Ecu) Sensor Location Using Feature-Vector Based Comparisons, Gregory S. Buthker

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In the growing world of cybersecurity, being able to map and analyze how software and hardware interact is key to understanding and protecting critical embedded systems like the Engine Control Unit (ECU). The aim of our research is to use our understanding of the ECU's control flow attained through manual analysis to automatically map and identify sensor functions found within the ECU. We seek to do this by generating unique sets of feature vectors for every function within the binary file of a car ECU, and then using those feature sets to locate functions within each binary similar to their …


Product Disassemblability And Remanufacturability Assessment: A Quantitative Approach, Ammar Ali Jan 2017

Product Disassemblability And Remanufacturability Assessment: A Quantitative Approach, Ammar Ali

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

Majority of the products get discarded at end-of-life (EoL), causing environmental pollution, and resulting in a complete loss of all materials and embodied energy. Adopting a closed-loop material flow approach can aid preventing such losses and enable EoL value recovery from these products. Design and engineering decisions made and how products are used impact the capability to implement EOL strategies such as disassembly and remanufacturing. Some underlying factors affecting the capability to implement these EOL strategies have been discussed in previous studies. However, relevant metrics and attributes are not well defined and comprehensive methods to quantitatively evaluate them are lacking. …


Disassembly Sequence Generation In Recycling Based On Parts Accessibility And End-Of-Life Strategy, Jing Dong, Peter R. Gibson, Guenter Arndt Dec 2012

Disassembly Sequence Generation In Recycling Based On Parts Accessibility And End-Of-Life Strategy, Jing Dong, Peter R. Gibson, Guenter Arndt

Peter R Gibson

Nowadays, global sustainability is the central issue in recycling and, increasingly, in manufacturing. Recycling used products can save energy, natural resources, and landfill space, and can reduce air pollution. It can give used products new lives. The study of disassembly is needed in order to make recycling economical, and disassembly sequence generation (DSG) plays an important role. An appropriate disassembly process plan can minimize the cost spent on the disassembly processes and maximize the benefits coming from the reused components. In the current paper, a new approach using Petri net modelling to generate an optimal disassembly sequence (ODS), based on …


Solving Disassembly Sequence Planning Problems Using Combinatorial Optimization, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Sagar V. Kamarthi Apr 2012

Solving Disassembly Sequence Planning Problems Using Combinatorial Optimization, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Sagar V. Kamarthi

Seamus McGovern

Disassembly activities take place in various recovery operations including remanufacturing, recycling, and disposal. The disassembly line is the best choice for automated disassembly of returned products, a feature that will be become crucial in the future. It is, therefore, important that the disassembly line be designed and balanced so that it works as efficiently as possible. However, finding the optimal balance is computationally intensive with exhaustive search quickly becoming prohibitively large, even for relatively small products. In this paper, we solve the disassemb ly line balancing problem using combinatorial optimization techniques, which are instrumental in obtaining near-optimal solutions to problems …


Greedy Algorithm For Disassembly Line Scheduling, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Surendra M. Gupta Apr 2012

Greedy Algorithm For Disassembly Line Scheduling, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Surendra M. Gupta

Seamus McGovern

Remanufacturing, recycling, and disposal recovery operations require the performance of disassembly activities. The disassembly line is the best choice for automated disassembly of returned products, however, finding the optimal balance is computationally intensive with exhaustive search quickly becoming prohibitively large. In this paper, a greedy algorithm is presented for obtaining optimal or near-optimal solutions to the disassembly line balancing problem. The greedy algorithm is a first-fit decreasing algorithm further enhanced to preserve precedence relationships. The algorithm seeks to minimize the number of workstations while accounting for hazardous and high demand components. A hill-climbing heuristic is then developed to balance the …


Multi-Criteria Ant System And Genetic Algorithm For End-Of-Life Decision Making, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern Apr 2012

Multi-Criteria Ant System And Genetic Algorithm For End-Of-Life Decision Making, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern

Seamus McGovern

Disassembly takes place in remanufacturing, recycling, and disposal with a line being the best choice for automation. The disassembly line balancing problem seeks a sequence which: is feasible, minimizes workstations, and ensures similar idle times, as well as other, disassembly-specific concerns. Finding the optimal balance is computationally intensive due to factorial growth. Ant colony optimization and genetic algorithm metaheuristics are presented and compared along with an exa mple to illustrate the implementation. Conclusions drawn include the consistent generation of optimal or near-optimal solutions, the ability to preserve precedence, the speed of the metaheuristics, and their practicality due to ease of …


Computational Complexity Of A Reverse Manufacturing Line, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern Apr 2012

Computational Complexity Of A Reverse Manufacturing Line, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern

Seamus McGovern

Disassembly has recently gained attention in the literature due to its role in product recovery. Disassembly activities take place in various recovery operations including remanufacturing, recycling, and disposal. The disassembly line is the best choice for automated disassembly of returned products. It is therefore important that the disassembly line be designed and balanced so that it works as efficiently as possible. However, finding the optimal balance is computationally intensive with exhaustive search quickly becoming prohibitively large, even for relatively small products, due to exponential growth. In this paper, complexity theory is reviewed and used to prove that the DISASSEMBLY LINE …


Uninformed And Probabilistic Distributed Agent Combinatorial Searches For The Unary Np-Complete Disassembly Line Balancing Problem, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern Apr 2012

Uninformed And Probabilistic Distributed Agent Combinatorial Searches For The Unary Np-Complete Disassembly Line Balancing Problem, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern

Seamus McGovern

Disassembly takes place in remanufacturing, recycling and disposal, with a line being the best choice for automation. The disassembly line balancing problem seeks a sequence which: is feasible, minimizes workstations, and ensures similar idle times, as well as other end-of-life specific concerns. Finding the optimal balance is computationally intensive due to exponential growth. Combinatorial optimization methods hold promise for providing solutions to the disassembly line balancing problem, which is proven here to belong to the class of unary NP-complete problems. Probabilistic (ant colony optimization) and uninformed (H-K) search methods are presented and compared. Numerical results are obtained using a recent …


Combinatorial Optimization Methods For Disassembly Line Balancing, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Surendra M. Gupta Apr 2012

Combinatorial Optimization Methods For Disassembly Line Balancing, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Surendra M. Gupta

Seamus McGovern

Disassembly takes place in remanufacturing, recycling, and disposal with a line being the best choice for automation. The disassembly line balancing problem seeks a sequence which: minimizes workstations, ensures similar idle times, and is feasible. Finding the optimal balance is computationally intensive due to factorial growth. Combinatorial optimization methods hold promise for providing solutions to the disassembly line balancing problem, which is proven to belong to the class of NP-complete problems. Ant colony optimization, genetic algorithm, and H-K metaheuristics are presented and compared along with a greedy/hill-climbing heuristic hybrid. A numerical study is performed to illustrate the implementation and compare …


Metaheuristic Technique For The Disassembly Line Balancing Problem, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern Apr 2012

Metaheuristic Technique For The Disassembly Line Balancing Problem, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern

Seamus McGovern

The disassembly line is the best choice for automated disassembly of returned products. However, finding the optimal balance for a disassembly line is computationally intensive with exhaustive search quickly becoming prohibitively large. Metaheuristic techniques provide a general algorithmic framework that can be applied to this optimization problem. Although metaheuristics show promise in solving this complex problem, challenges exist in the variety of evaluation criteria available, a lack of disassembly-specific data sets for metaheuristic testing and a lack of performance analysis tools. In this paper, a balance performance measure is reviewed along with a sizeindependent a priori data set and graphical …


Case-Based Reasoning Disassembly System, Ibrahim Zeid, Surendra M. Gupta, Li Pan Apr 2012

Case-Based Reasoning Disassembly System, Ibrahim Zeid, Surendra M. Gupta, Li Pan

Ibrahim Zeid

This paper presents a new approach to address the problem of Planning for Disassembly (PFD). The approach is based on the Case-based reasoning technique. To assist planners to solve PFD problems, a system must have some heuristics and domain specific knowledge, which is related to the representation of the disassembly knowledge. In previous work, the authors suggested to use EMOPs (Eposodic Memory Organization Packet) for the knowledge representation of the PFD plan. This paper demonstrates the implementation of the EMOP memory model. The model has been implemented in C++, and tested. An example is presented to demonstrate the capabilities of …


Complications In Disassembly Line Balancing, Askiner Gungor, Surendra M. Gupta, Kishore Pochampally, Sagar V. Kamarthi Apr 2012

Complications In Disassembly Line Balancing, Askiner Gungor, Surendra M. Gupta, Kishore Pochampally, Sagar V. Kamarthi

Sagar Kamarthi

Disassembly line is, perhaps, the most suitable way for the disassembly of large products or small products in large quantities. In this paper, we address the disassembly line balancing problem (DLBP) and the challenges that come with it. The objective of balancing the disassembly line is to utilize the disassembly line in an optimized fashion while meeting the demand for the parts retrieved from the returned products. Although, the traditional line balancing problem for assembly has been studied for a long time, so far, no one has formally talked about the DLBP. In this work, our primary objective is to …


Solving Disassembly Sequence Planning Problems Using Combinatorial Optimization, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Sagar V. Kamarthi Apr 2012

Solving Disassembly Sequence Planning Problems Using Combinatorial Optimization, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Sagar V. Kamarthi

Sagar Kamarthi

Disassembly activities take place in various recovery operations including remanufacturing, recycling, and disposal. The disassembly line is the best choice for automated disassembly of returned products, a feature that will be become crucial in the future. It is, therefore, important that the disassembly line be designed and balanced so that it works as efficiently as possible. However, finding the optimal balance is computationally intensive with exhaustive search quickly becoming prohibitively large, even for relatively small products. In this paper, we solve the disassemb ly line balancing problem using combinatorial optimization techniques, which are instrumental in obtaining near-optimal solutions to problems …


Sensor-Embedded Computers For Better Life-Cycle Management, Sagar V. Kamarthi, Surendra M. Gupta, Zeid Ibrahim, Vadde Srikanth Apr 2012

Sensor-Embedded Computers For Better Life-Cycle Management, Sagar V. Kamarthi, Surendra M. Gupta, Zeid Ibrahim, Vadde Srikanth

Sagar Kamarthi

This research investigates the advantages offered by embedded sensors for cost-effective and environmentally benign product life cycle management for desktop computers. During their use by customers as well as at the end of their lives, Sensor Embedded Computers (SECs) by virtue of sensors embedded in them generate data and information pertaining to the conditions and remaining lives of important components such as hard-drive, motherboard, and power supply unit. A computer monitoring framework is proposed to provide more customer comfort, reduce repair costs and increase the effectiveness of current disassembly practices. The framework consists of SECs, remote monitoring center (RMC), repair/service, …


Economics Of Pc Recycling, Jacqueline A. Isaacs, Surendra M. Gupta, Boon E. Jane Apr 2012

Economics Of Pc Recycling, Jacqueline A. Isaacs, Surendra M. Gupta, Boon E. Jane

Jacqueline Isaacs

As the use of personal computers (PCs) increases, their short life cycle and the fact that they contain many hazardous materials means that their retirement and disposal represents a significant environmental concern. Many communities are mandating the recycling of these PCs, to recover parts and materials, and to minimize the amount of waste landfilled or incinerated. An industry to recycle these PCs is evolving to take advantage of this stream of materials. At present, PC recycling is not profitable. This paper investigates the factors that most influence the net cost to recycle PCs so that PC manufacturers, recyclers and legislators …


Greedy Algorithm For Disassembly Line Scheduling, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Surendra M. Gupta Oct 2010

Greedy Algorithm For Disassembly Line Scheduling, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Surendra M. Gupta

Surendra M. Gupta

Remanufacturing, recycling, and disposal recovery operations require the performance of disassembly activities. The disassembly line is the best choice for automated disassembly of returned products, however, finding the optimal balance is computationally intensive with exhaustive search quickly becoming prohibitively large. In this paper, a greedy algorithm is presented for obtaining optimal or near-optimal solutions to the disassembly line balancing problem. The greedy algorithm is a first-fit decreasing algorithm further enhanced to preserve precedence relationships. The algorithm seeks to minimize the number of workstations while accounting for hazardous and high demand components. A hill-climbing heuristic is then developed to balance the …


Product Recovery Using A Disassembly Line : Challenges And Solution, Surendra M. Gupta, Askiner Gungor Oct 2010

Product Recovery Using A Disassembly Line : Challenges And Solution, Surendra M. Gupta, Askiner Gungor

Surendra M. Gupta

Disassembly plays an important role in product recovery by allowing selective separation of desired parts and materials. The disassembly line is the best choice for automated disassembly of returned products, a feature that will be essential in the future. It is, therefore, important that the disassembly line be designed and balanced so that it works as efficiently as possible. In this paper, the authors address the disassembly line balancing problem and the challenges that come with it.


Determining Optimum And Suboptimum Disassembly Sequences With An Application To A Cell Phone, A.J.D. (Fred) Lambert, Surendra M. Gupta Oct 2010

Determining Optimum And Suboptimum Disassembly Sequences With An Application To A Cell Phone, A.J.D. (Fred) Lambert, Surendra M. Gupta

Surendra M. Gupta

We study the disassembly process of a moderately complex consumer product (cell phone) consisting of 25 components. The investigation involves a heuristically solved disassembly line balancing problem and the determination of an appropriate disassembly sequence influenced by sequence-dependent costs, which is based on a novel combination of exact and heuristic algorithms. The issue of generating various suboptimum solutions to cope with multiple optimization criteria is also discussed.


A Stochastic Inventory Management Approach In The Disassembly Line Portion Of Reverse Logistics, Badr O. Johar, Surendra M. Gupta Sep 2010

A Stochastic Inventory Management Approach In The Disassembly Line Portion Of Reverse Logistics, Badr O. Johar, Surendra M. Gupta

Surendra M. Gupta

Reverse logistics is a critical topic that has captured the attention of government, private entities and researchers in recent years. This increase in the concern was driven by current set of government regulations, increase of public awareness, and the attractive economic opportunities. As a result, many corporations have started to comprehend the importance of the recovery process and are taking serious steps in restructuring their supply chain processes to meet the new regulations such as limitations on waste disposal and recycling requirements [1]. Because of the unique problems associated with reverse supply chain and the complex nature of the reverse …


Capacity And Buffer Trade-Offs In A Remanufacturing System, Hasan Kivanc Aksoy, Surendra M. Gupta Sep 2010

Capacity And Buffer Trade-Offs In A Remanufacturing System, Hasan Kivanc Aksoy, Surendra M. Gupta

Surendra M. Gupta

In this paper, we examine the tradeoffs between increasing the number of buffers and increasing the capacity at the remanufacturing stations under numerous circumstances on such performance measures as expected total cost, average WIP inventory, throughput and average processing (remanufacturing) time when the remanufacturing stations are operating in uncertain environments. We model the remanufacturing system using an open queueing network with finite buffers and unreliable servers. In order to analyze the queueing network, we use the decomposition principle and expansion methodology. Each server in the system is subject to breakdown and has a finite buffer capacity.


Economic Analysis Of End-Of-Life Computer Systems In Educational Institutions, Elif A. Kizilkaya, Surendra M. Gupta, Dincer Mehmet Sep 2010

Economic Analysis Of End-Of-Life Computer Systems In Educational Institutions, Elif A. Kizilkaya, Surendra M. Gupta, Dincer Mehmet

Surendra M. Gupta

In this paper we address the operational and economical aspects of EOL computer systems at educational institutions. To this end we present an actual case study of a major university in Boston and provide an economical analysis of different options such as disposal, disassembly, recycling, reuse and re-sale of these systems. We recommend a new procedure that will improve the collection and handling processes leading to a structured decision making methodology.


Solving Disassembly Sequence Planning Problems Using Combinatorial Optimization, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Sagar V. Kamarthi Sep 2010

Solving Disassembly Sequence Planning Problems Using Combinatorial Optimization, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Sagar V. Kamarthi

Surendra M. Gupta

Disassembly activities take place in various recovery operations including remanufacturing, recycling, and disposal. The disassembly line is the best choice for automated disassembly of returned products, a feature that will be become crucial in the future. It is, therefore, important that the disassembly line be designed and balanced so that it works as efficiently as possible. However, finding the optimal balance is computationally intensive with exhaustive search quickly becoming prohibitively large, even for relatively small products. In this paper, we solve the disassemb ly line balancing problem using combinatorial optimization techniques, which are instrumental in obtaining near-optimal solutions to problems …


Sensor-Embedded Computers For Better Life-Cycle Management, Sagar V. Kamarthi, Surendra M. Gupta, Zeid Ibrahim, Vadde Srikanth Sep 2010

Sensor-Embedded Computers For Better Life-Cycle Management, Sagar V. Kamarthi, Surendra M. Gupta, Zeid Ibrahim, Vadde Srikanth

Surendra M. Gupta

This research investigates the advantages offered by embedded sensors for cost-effective and environmentally benign product life cycle management for desktop computers. During their use by customers as well as at the end of their lives, Sensor Embedded Computers (SECs) by virtue of sensors embedded in them generate data and information pertaining to the conditions and remaining lives of important components such as hard-drive, motherboard, and power supply unit. A computer monitoring framework is proposed to provide more customer comfort, reduce repair costs and increase the effectiveness of current disassembly practices. The framework consists of SECs, remote monitoring center (RMC), repair/service, …


Multi-Kanban Mechanism For Personal Computer Disassembly, Surendra M. Gupta, Kamarthi V. Sagar, Udomsawat Gun Sep 2010

Multi-Kanban Mechanism For Personal Computer Disassembly, Surendra M. Gupta, Kamarthi V. Sagar, Udomsawat Gun

Surendra M. Gupta

The use of personal computers (PCs) continues to increase every year. According to a 1999 figure, 50 percent of all US households owned PCs, a figure that continues to rise every year. With continuous development of sophisticated software, PCs are becoming increasingly powerful. In addition, the price of a PC continues to steadily decline. Furthermore, the typical life of a PC in the workplace is approximately two to three years while in the home it is three to five years. As these PCs become obsolete, they are replaced and the old PCs are disposed of. It is estimated that between …


Optimum Disassembly Sequencing, Surendra M. Gupta, A. J. D. Lambert Sep 2010

Optimum Disassembly Sequencing, Surendra M. Gupta, A. J. D. Lambert

Surendra M. Gupta

We consider the disassembly sequencing problem subjected to sequence dependent disassembly costs. Because most of the available methods that deal with such problems rely on metaheuristic and heuristic methods, it is desirable to have exact methods available that can at least be applied to medium sized problems to determine if the heuristically obtained solutions are acceptable or not. The conventional integer linear programming (ILP) approaches become unmanageable even for modest product complexity cases. In this paper, we propose an iterative method that repeatedly solves a binary integer linear programming (BILP) problem. The method converges quickly for medium sized problems. We …


Disassembly Line Balancing, Askiner Gungor, Surendra M. Gupta Sep 2010

Disassembly Line Balancing, Askiner Gungor, Surendra M. Gupta

Surendra M. Gupta

In this paper, we discuss a new problem, the disassembly line balancing problem (DLBP), which can simply be defined as the optimum assignment of disassembly tasks to the disassembly workstations under the condition that the precedence relationships among the tasks are not violated. The objectives are to meet the demand and to utilize the disassembly line as efficiently as possible. We present a systematic approach to solve a simple DLBP. An example is also presented to illustrate the approach.


Uninformed And Probabilistic Distributed Agent Combinatorial Searches For The Unary Np-Complete Disassembly Line Balancing Problem, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern Sep 2010

Uninformed And Probabilistic Distributed Agent Combinatorial Searches For The Unary Np-Complete Disassembly Line Balancing Problem, Surendra M. Gupta, Seamus M. Mcgovern

Surendra M. Gupta

Disassembly takes place in remanufacturing, recycling and disposal, with a line being the best choice for automation. The disassembly line balancing problem seeks a sequence which: is feasible, minimizes workstations, and ensures similar idle times, as well as other end-of-life specific concerns. Finding the optimal balance is computationally intensive due to exponential growth. Combinatorial optimization methods hold promise for providing solutions to the disassembly line balancing problem, which is proven here to belong to the class of unary NP-complete problems. Probabilistic (ant colony optimization) and uninformed (H-K) search methods are presented and compared. Numerical results are obtained using a recent …


Combinatorial Optimization Methods For Disassembly Line Balancing, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Surendra M. Gupta Sep 2010

Combinatorial Optimization Methods For Disassembly Line Balancing, Seamus M. Mcgovern, Surendra M. Gupta

Surendra M. Gupta

Disassembly takes place in remanufacturing, recycling, and disposal with a line being the best choice for automation. The disassembly line balancing problem seeks a sequence which: minimizes workstations, ensures similar idle times, and is feasible. Finding the optimal balance is computationally intensive due to factorial growth. Combinatorial optimization methods hold promise for providing solutions to the disassembly line balancing problem, which is proven to belong to the class of NP-complete problems. Ant colony optimization, genetic algorithm, and H-K metaheuristics are presented and compared along with a greedy/hill-climbing heuristic hybrid. A numerical study is performed to illustrate the implementation and compare …


The Effect Of Sudden Server Breakdown On The Performance Of A Disassembly Line, Surendra M. Gupta, Gun Udomsawat Sep 2010

The Effect Of Sudden Server Breakdown On The Performance Of A Disassembly Line, Surendra M. Gupta, Gun Udomsawat

Surendra M. Gupta

Product and material recovery relies on the disassembly process to separate target components or materials from the end-of-life (EOL) products. Disassembly line is especially effective when products in large quantity are disassembled. Unlike an assembly line, a disassembly line is more complex and is subjected to numerous uncertainties including stochastic and multi-level arrivals of component demands, stochastic arrival times for EOL products, and process interruption due to equipment failure. These factors seriously impair the control mechanism in the disassembly line. A common production control mechanism is the traditional push system (TPS). TPS responds to the aforementioned complications by carrying substantial …