Product Engineering

This book contains an edited version of the lectures and selected contributions presented during the Advanced Summer Institute on "Product Engineering: Eco-Design, Technologies and Green Energy" organized at the Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania, July 14-21, 2004. In the last few decades Product Engineering has become a multidisciplinary field including aspects from a wide range of scientific areas. Aspects related to eco-design, aesthetic style, human factors and ergonomics are now critical issues for the success of a product on the market. It has been shown that these apparently separate fields of research belong to the same multidisciplinary mainstream of Product Engineering and cannot progress unless an integrated approach is adopted. New advances are now likely to produce changes in the entire product life cycle chain. This is often illustrated within this book by similar methodologies used for different goals, e.g. the Virtual Engineering techniques in general, which are multi-purpose technologies or the recent interest raised by the particle based models for CAD and simulation purposes. The volume is divided into five main parts, covering the topics of Eco-Design, Computer Aided Design, Simulation Technologies, Robotics and Manufacturing and Green Energy. Audience: This work will be of interest to a wide range of readers, from students to graduates, and from industrial experts to researchers active in the field of Product Engineering.

Eco-Design.- The Design for Environmental Compliance Workbench Tool.- Eco-Impact Anticipation by Parametric Screening of Machine System Components.- Man Machine Interaction and Man Machine Interface - Critical Issues for the Human Environment.- Integrating Eco-Design Into Business Environments.- Virtual Environments - the Eco-Friendly Approach to Product Design?.- A TRIZ Approach to Design for Environment.- Eco-Design Approach for the Tripode Type Coupling.- Natural Shapes - A Source of Inspiration for Eco-Design.- Computer Aided Design.- On some Crucial Issues of Computer Support of Conceptual Design.- Expert System for the Total Design of Mechanical Systems with Gears.- Virtual Design Prototyping Utilizing Haptic Immersion.- A New Geometry Representation for Multipurpose Modeling in Conceptual Design.- Simulation Technologies.- An Overview of Several Formulations for Multibody Dynamics.- Dynamic Models in Multi-Body Systems.- Real-Time MBS Formulations: Towards Virtual Engineering.- Multi-Body Dynamics: An Evolution from Constrained Dynamics to a Multi-Psysics Interactive Framework.- A Collaborative Simulation Environment for Multibody System Analysis.- Desing Evaluation of Multibody Systems in Virtual Environment.- Spiral Elevator Modelling and Analysis Using ADAMS Software.- A New Model to Estimate Friction Torque in a Ball Screw System.- Robotics and Manufacturing.- Translational Parallel Robots with Uncoupled Motions.- Design of New High Speed Machining Machines.- High Degree Accuracy Modelling and Calibration of Serial Robots with Large Errors.- Application of Image Analysis for the Study of Structural Modifications in Flowing Emulsions.- The Manufacture Technology of Tube Models by Selective Laser Sintering.- Mobile Robot System Controlled Through MobileCommunications.- Green Energy.- Optimization of the Wind Generation: Comparison Between Two Algorithms.- Design and Determination of the Most Cost Effective PV Configuration Systems to Meet the Loads of a Household.- The Spanish Electric Power Generation Sector and Its Positioning Before Kyoto Protocol.- Helical Turbine for Aeolian Systems and Micro-Hydrostation.- Dynamic Modelling of Wind Farms: A Comparative Study Between Two Modelling Approaches.