Modeling, observer design, and control of continuous slab reheating furnaces
In the steel industry, products are reheated in continuous reheating furnaces as a preparation for rolling. The reheating process requires large amounts of energy and incurs high costs. The temperature during this process is decisive for the product quality. Based on mathematical process models, state observers and controllers for the non-measureable product temperature are developed. The nonlinear model-predictive multi-input multi-output controller ensures a high accuracy, minimized energy consumption, and reduced CO2-emissions of the reheating process. Read more →
MMAssist II2017 - 2020
The goal of the project partners in MMAssist II is to research and implement modular, reusable assistance systems for employees in production companies. For that, the project partners will work on the exemplary uses cases Maintenance and Service, Arming of Machines and Simultaneous Handling of Multiple Machines, and Montage to analyze the technical and sozio-economic requirements for assistance systems in these areas. Read more →
Modeling and Control of a Cooling System with compact plate heat exchangers2010 - 2014
Fluid-fluid cooling systems are widely used in industrial applications. The mathematical model of a heat exchanger is a distributed-parameter system because of the convective heat transfer. The parametrization of the heat transfer requires extensive identintification. Thus, a nonlinear control law was designed in this project, which is indepent of the overall heat transfer coefficient. Read more →
Soft landing strategies for electromagnetic fast-switching valves
This project is concerned with the development of a soft landing control strategy electromagnetic valves. The main goal is to guarantee time-optimal switching of the valves with minimal impact velocity of the plunger at the limit stops. Thus, the approach combines the benefits of fast response and low maintenance intervals. Read more →
Thermal model and optimal time scheduling of hot rolling
In a heavy-plate rolling mill, hot slabs are rolled out. The plate temperature depends significantly on the process times and it directly influences the product quality. Mathematical models are used for better prediction and control of the product temperature. These models are also useful for an optimization of the processing times. Read more →
Optimization of process times and product sequences in a hot-rolling mill with batch-type reheating furnaces
In semiconductor manufacturing, sputtering processes require targets made of pure metals or alloys. The hot-rolling plant considered in this project produces such target of sintered refractory metal slabs. The goals of this project are to minimize the reheating times and to optimize the product sequence and the processing times for maximum product throughput. Read more →
Automated Handling of Highly Deformable Materials
In this project, a prototype of a handling system is set up and the potential of modern model-based control to handle limp materials is examined. The concepts are applicable to many other issues, such as the automated lamination of large vinyl sheets, textile handling, etc. Read more →
RALLI2016 - 2019
Future social robots will need the ability to acquire new tasks and behaviors on the job both through observation and through natural language instruction, for robot designers cannot build in all environmental and task contingencies in typical application domains such as health care settings or people’s homes. In this project, we tackle the critical subproblem of learning new actions and their corresponding words by the artificial system observing how those actions are performed and expressed by humans. Read more →
ACROSSING2016 - 2019
ACROSSING is an innovative research training network funded by the EU H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions programme which aims to change the way millions of the older people in Europe live and maintain wellbeing. The project aims to make a critical contribution towards an open smart home technology infrastructure by interlinking disciplines from sensing technologies, context inferences and interaction and considering key principles of social impact, ethics, security and privacy. Read more →
RoboFit2016 - 2019
Over the course of the project RoboFit, classes from all ages visit the institute to listen to a lecture about robotics, to try out robot navigation during a brief workshop, and to see a demo of our robots Romeo or Pepper. Read more →