28555 - Automatic Machines

Learning outcomes

Automatic machines for discrete processes (functional concepts, architectures, operating modalities, main employment criteria), with particular reference to the packaging industries.

Course contents

The course is divided into two modules, corresponding respectively to 6 CFU and 3 CFU. The two modules are developed in parallel during the period of the lessons.

The first module, from 6 CFU (60 hours), is organized in the following sections:

M1-1. Elements of the Mechanical Behavior of Materials for Mechatronics

M1-2. Elements of Machine Design for Mechatronics

The details of each section are given below.

M1-1. The first section is divided into the following chapters:

M1-1.1 Statics of rigid bodies and calculation of constraint reactions in the case of mobile loads and mobile constraints

M1-1.2 Internal actions in slender bodies (e.g. beams) and their diagrams

M1-1.3 The concept of strain in slender bodies, simple and composite bodies, even in the presence of uniform and variable thermal fields

M1-1.4 The concept of stress in slender bodies, simple and composite bodies, even in the presence of uniform and variable thermal fields

M1-1.5 Constitutive laws for materials (metallic, plastic and ceramic); with particular regard to quasi-static and viscoelastic behavior

M1-1.6 Study of the four stress cases (normal stress, torsion, pure bending and bending with shear), even in the presence of uniform or variable thermal fields, with particular regard to the analysis of the displacement fields of slender bodies and their application in the mechatronic cases.

M1-1.7 Study of the behavior of slender bodies subject to large displacements

M1-1.7 Degradation models of the mechanical properties of materials (high cycle fatigue, tribology, tribo-fatigue, creep)

2. In the second section of the first module the main elements of machine construction are discussed:

M1-2.1 Study of transmission shafts

M1-2.2 Study of bearings and examples related to their assembly in components of automatic machines

M1-2.3 Study of springs and their applications in components of automatic machines (including cases of compliant joints)

In the second module, from 3 CFU (30 hours) the following topics are dealt with:

M2-1. Generalities about automatic machines and their architectures

M2-2 Actuation Systems for Automatic Machines and Motion Laws

The first module and the second module are completed by exercises.

Some of the exercises are carried out by the teachers during the lessons (there is no specific day for the exercises).

Other exercises are, instead, only set by the teachers in the classroom and the students must complete them at home independently and collect them in a homework book which will be an integral part of the oral examination. Finally, additional exercises are also assigned to the students, which must be carried out autonomously at home and which must be collected in the homework book which will be discussed during the oral examination.

Readings/Bibliography

1. Lectures notes

2. Luigi Biagiotti · Claudio Melchiorri, Trajectory Planning for Automatic Machines and Robots, Springer-Verlag, 2008

3. Geoffrey Boothroyd, Peter Dewhurst, Winston A. Knight, Product Design for Manufacture and Assembly, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 2011

4. Geoffrey Boothroyd, Assembly Automation and Product Design, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 2005

5. Stephen J. Derby, Design of Automatic Machinery, Marcel Dekker, 2005

6. A.A.V.V., Advances in Future Manufacturing Engineering, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015

7. A.A.V.V., Future Mechatronics and Automation, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015

8. Bruno Lotter, Manufacturing Assembly Handbook, Butterworths, 1986

9. Marco Fortis, Monica Carminati, The Automatic Packaging Machinery Sector in Italy and Germany, Springer, 2015

10. James M. Gere, Barry J. Goodno, Mechanics of Materials, Cengage Learning, 2012

11. Ansel C. Ugural, Mechanical Design of Machine components, CRC Press, 2015

Teaching methods

Frontal teaching in the classroom with use of slides and videos.

The course is developed both providing theoretical concepts and carrying out and assigning theoretical exercises and applications related to construction aspects of Automatic Machines.

To students are assigned exercises to be carried out autonomously and individually (only if specified by the teacher some exercises may be carried out in groups and, in this case, the names and surnames of the students who participated in the group must be specified in the homework book). These exercises must be collected, in an orderly manner, in a homework book that the students must bring to the exam for oral discussion.

Assessment methods

The verification of the learning of the topics covered during Module 1 and Module 2 will be carried out during the same exam.

The assessment will be divided into a written test and an oral discussion as detailed below.

In the written test, relating to all the topics of the course, questions of theory and exercises can be assigned also with multiple answers. Each question of the written test will have a score stated in the text of the test itself and the sum of the scores will be 30. The admission to the oral exam is conditional upon passing the written test with a score greater than or equal to 18. To perform the test written students will have access to all the teaching material and will also be able to use their laptop computer including any software, in their possession, useful for the performance of the test itself.

During the oral examination the student will discuss the exercises of the homework book and the teacher will ask to the student transversal and reasoning questions related to the topics and the exercises covered in class.

Teaching tools

PowerPoint presentations and audiovisual.

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Zucchelli