Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing via Mechatronics-Based Design and Control of Machines

As a result of advances in the electronics, medical, communications and other cutting-edge industries, there is a growing demand for ultra-precision manufacturing machines which can fabricate complicated hi-tech devices having micrometer-level features and nanometer-level tolerances. On the other hand, however, there are also growing concerns about the unsustainable cost and energy per-unit-mass of manufacturing such hi-tech products. Therefore, as efforts are made to continue to improve the accuracy, speed and functionality of ultra-precision manufacturing machines, it is important for the improvements to be made at little or no additional material or energy costs, in order to maintain a sustainable competitive edge in an increasingly global economy.

This presentation will give a preview to ongoing work at the Mechatronics and Sustainability Research Lab aimed at addressing the challenges of creating sustainable advanced manufacturing machines by adopting a mechatronics-based (synergistic) approach to the design and control of the machines. The presentation will demonstrate that identifying and capitalizing on the "sweet spots" of the machine dynamics, augmented with advanced control techniques, could lead to the realization of lower-cost and more energy-efficient manufacturing machines without sacrificing high performance. The outcomes of this research could have a significant impact on the design of a whole range of advanced manufacturing and metrology machines, ranging from ultra-precision machine tools and wafer steppers to micro coordinate measurement machines and scanning probe microscopes.

Chinedum Okwudire joined the mechanical engineering faculty at the University of Michigan last September. Prior to coming to Michigan, he worked on the design of ultra-precision machine tools, and later as the mechatronic systems optimization team leader, at DTL (Mori Seiki) based in Davis, CA. Chinedum received his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia in 2009. During the course of his Ph.D., he worked closely with the mechatronics team of Siemens Automation in Germany on the performance improvement of linear motor-driven machines, under the auspices of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). He holds a M.A.Sc. degree (2005) and a B.Sc. degree (2003) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of BC and Middle East Technical University, respectively. He founded the Mechatronics and Sustainability Research Lab at U-M with a goal of conducting research into ways of leveraging the synergy of the multi-disciplinary design space provided by Mechatronics towards achieving environmental, economic and social sustainability in and through engineered systems. His current research focus is on improving the cost-effectiveness, energy-efficiency, accuracy and speed of precision and ultra-precision manufacturing machines.