Driving Innovation in Product Design and Manufacturing Using 3D Printing
1. OVERVIEW
The transformation underway in industry is fundamentally changing the way products are designed and manufactured, and what these products can do. In old industries such as the Lime Industry, innovation faces many obstacles. By overcoming many challenges, the Industrial Internet of Things( IIoT) and Advanced Manufacturing will move the Lime Industry into new levels of efficiency and productivity:
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New generation state-of-the-art sensors can capture a much more granular level of operational data and can operate more reliably under harsh process conditions( i. e. a combustion chamber scenario) New production techniques, like 3D printing of sensors and devices, will enable the production of prototypes faster, at lower cost and with major flexibility.
Machines today are designed with corresponding virtual representations. The physical and digital counterparts exchange data, which is constantly captured by sensors. This way, companies can detect faults earlier in the development phase – and even monitor machinery and components after distribution.
This article explores, in a real world example, the ability to digitally link together design, product engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, distribution, and remanufacturing( or servicing) into one cohesive, intelligent system – indeed, a level indicator sensor that helps to prevent inefficiency and downtime in a plant that has to run 24 / 7 on a continuous basis.
2. INTRODUCTION
2.1 What is Lime?
Lime is one of the oldest and most vital materials known to man. Limestone is the raw material for lime-making, and constitutes approximately 10 percent of the sedimentary rocks exposed on the earth’ s surface. It is formed over thousands and thousands of years by compression of organic substances such as corals, plants and animals. Lime, often referred to as“ quicklime,” is a term applied to several related materials. Pure lime is calcium oxide( CaO) formed by“ burning” a form of calcium carbonate such as limestone( CaCO3). Carbon dioxide gas( CO2) is released and leaves lime behind. Dolomite, a calcium magnesium carbonate( CaMg( CO3) 2) can also be calcined to form dolomitic lime. These processes are called calcination. Lime can also be mixed with water to form hydrated lime( Ca( OH) 2). Before the rapid growth of the chemical process industry, lime was regarded almost entirely in the steel manufacturing, agricultural and water treatment industries.
Since 1900, progressively larger quantities of lime have been used in industry as a chemical reagent. Today, more than 90 % of lime is used as a chemical in its oxide and hydroxide forms. Lime products are used in a wide variety of applications in Europe and throughout the world. Although lime products are rarely sold directly to consumers, the average EU citizen indirectly
- 42- January 2017