Application of industry 4.0 control and “digital twinning” to pneumatic conveying
3 year paid studentship available
Improving the efficiencies of manufacturing through the implementation of digital systems in pneumatic conveying pipelines
Experts at the Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology, University of Greenwich have joined forces with Industry giants Schenck Process UK Ltd to offer a fully paid 3 year studentship to look at how the digitalisation of pneumatic conveying systems can help improve the manufacturing process.
“Industry 4.0” is a defined term indicating the ability of a process to be constantly pro-active or re-active in response to the process conditions or material characteristics, as opposed to the traditional approach of commissioning at a set point and left to operate with the same settings or occasionally reset by the process supervisor.
The key application here is Pneumatic Conveying, the transport of particles through a pipeline by a gas flow. This is universally applied to in-plant transport of particles between process steps in the power, cement, minerals, food, pharmaceuticals, petro-chem, fines chemicals and metals industries.
The objective of introducing Industry 4.0 control and a digital twin is to reduce power consumption and negative effects on particle quality.
The research aims to deliver a control system that continuously monitors the behaviour of the material in the pipeline, and readjusts the air flow to account for these material and process changes, giving substantial savings in power (varying up to about 50%) and much reduced particle breakage leading to lower waste and customer complaints.
Situated within an acknowledged world-leading research team, this project is sponsored by a leading global manufacturer of process engineering equipment. The focus will be on developing techniques for measurement and control of solids flow in pipelines, which has wide applications across nuclear, minerals, petro-chemical, food and pharmaceutical industries. The work will blend mechanical engineering with control technology and modelling techniques will be also combined with experimental approaches to study a pneumatic conveying system. Training will be given where necessary to take a creative approach to address problems associated with pneumatic transport and complement the broad range of expertise of the successful candidate.
To apply you need to hold a 1st Class or 2nd class, First Division (Upper Second Class) Honours Degree or a taught Master’s degree and hold a language proficiency score of at least IELTS 6.5 if English is not your first language.
Full entry level requirements and application details can be found here
If you require a copy of the project proposal, please contact Baldeep or Caroline at wolfson-enquiries@gre.ac.uk
The Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology
- 02083318646
- wolfson-enquiries@gre.ac.uk
- http://www.bulksolids.com
- University of Greenwich, Central Avenue, Chatham Maritime, Kent, ME4 4TB GB
About us
Our Mission: To help industry to get it's powders and bulk materials to behave in the way they need them to!
Our Services:
- Consultancy
- Research
- Short Courses
Our Clients:
Industries involved in the processing of powders, particulates and other bulk solids materials from across the spectrum including (but not limited to) food and drink, pharmaceuticals, minerals, renewable energy, chemicals, plastics, recycling, metals, household goods, paper, cosmetics, textiles and rubber.
Ranging from small local companies to international conglomerates.
Our industrial-scale pilot plant is available to test a processing step, or mock up a whole handling process or logistics chain, at full scale or near full scale. This can be used to find and solve the problems off-line, then when you transfer the same process or material to your own or your customers' plant, you can be confident it will work!
Our Experts have over one hundred man-years of experience in solving bulk materials handling problems. Along with a team of Researchers they concentrate on nothing else but the needs of Industry – and are at your disposal.
Our location offers excellent transport links within the UK and EU enabling us to provide a prompt and flexible response to site visit requests and client meetings.
Contact us for advice – don't pick up a hammer – pick up the phone. +44 (0) 20 8331 8646
Where we supply to
Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, North America
Industries we supply to
Automation, Chemicals, Consultants, Components Electronics, Energy and Power, Food and Beverage, Glass Ceramics Cement, Metals and Minerals, OEM, Paper and Pulp, Pharmaceutical Cosmetics Toiletries, Plastics and Rubber, Recycling, Textiles, Tobacco, Water and Wastewater
