Orenburg state university

For Constructor Engineers

OSU scientists developed software which can help constructor engineers to project extrusion-type equipment manufacturing a product with target value in a short time.

Everyday we come across products of extrusion technologies: plastic pipes, sausage products, soap and breakfast snacks. It is used in chemical and food processing industry, machinery and defensive production as well as in agriculture.

How extrusion process is executed? Products take necessary shapes after passing of thermoplastic material through several conductors under pressure. Several processes are combined in a one machine: compositions from different items are made; raw materials are heated, mixed and formed. Research work of scientists of OSU Mathematics and IT Faculty is directed at increase of constructor engineers’ working efficiency creating such equipment. Their project "Automated Design of Extrusion Equipment Using Intelligent System" was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research and Government of Orenburg Region.

Automated design begins with engineer’s filling out of requirements set to a product in certain manufacturing area.

— We used methods of artificial intelligence to gather, structure and keep knowledge of constructor engineer in the field of extrusion equipment engineering, — Tatyana Zubkova — Research Head, Professor of OSU Department for Software Engineering of Computers and Automated Systems, explained. — Then a special program elaborates knowledge. This program can compare many variants and choose the most optimal for specified production conditions. Consequently it is enough for designer to conduct one computing experiment instead of 7–10.

Large world scientific centers: Berlin Technical University (Germany), University of Nottingham in England, Research Center for Agricultural Problems in Nantes (France), Kansas University in USA develop scientific basis of extrusion process. OSU scientists compared obtained results with foreign analogues (SolidWorks, PTS, ANSYS, Autodesk) and assigned wide range of differences in set of functional capabilities.

The main feature of the program developed in OSU is ability to change the used modules set depending on assigned task of engineering, in other words it adapts to a user, offers him only that part of functionality necessary now. Therefore not a user studies the program, but the program adapts to a user and proposes how it can be helpful for him. Implementation of such approach in software creation will increase working efficiency of constructor engineer by 24 percent. This integrated environment is realized in LLC "April" (Saint Petersburg).

OSU research team received the certificate of Software State Registration, and one of participants — Nail Mustyukov defended Candidate Thesis "Formation of CAD Software Architecture of Screw Extruders on the Basis of Search Adaptive Methods".