Keith E. Rouch

Bio: Keith E. Rouch is an academic researcher from University of Kentucky. The author has contributed to research in topics: Machine tool & Sustainability. The author has an hindex of 17, co-authored 31 publications receiving 790 citations.

Product Sustainability Index (ProdSI): A Metrics-based Framework to Evaluate the Total Life Cycle Sustainability of Manufactured Products

Abstract: As a result of the rapidly depleting global resources, continuing climate change and increasing environmental pollution, and the associated growth in customer awareness, improving product sustainability has become a global trend. Comprehensive sustainability assessment techniques are needed to assess a product's sustainability performance throughout its entire life cycle. This article presents the Product Sustainability Index (ProdSI) methodology and its application. This methodology is metrics based and provides a comprehensive assessment of the overall product sustainability throughout its total life cycle, covering the four life cycle stages: pre-manufacturing; manufacturing; use; and postuse. In this article, first the fundamentals of sustainable manufacturing and product sustainability assessment (PSA) are presented, followed by a review of existing PSA methodologies. Major product sustainability elements that are used to define product sustainability clusters and individual sustainability metrics are then presented. Finally, the ProdSI methodology for PSA, which follows a hierarchical approach for sustainability metrics identification and overall PSA, is introduced. The application of the methodology is demonstrated in a numerical example of ProdSI evaluation for two generations of a consumer electronics component.

A study of cutting process stability of a boring bar with active dynamic absorber

Abstract: In this paper, the use of an active dynamic absorber to suppress machine tool chatter in a boring bar is studied. The vibrations of the system are reduced by moving an absorber mass using an active device such as an piezoelectric actuator, to generate an inertial force that counteracts the disturbance acting on the main system. An equivalent lumped mass model of a boring bar with active dynamic absorber is considered. A cutting process model that considers the dynamic variation of shear and friction angle, that causes self-excited chatter during the cutting process, is applied to the lumped mass model. The theory of regenerative chatter is also applied to the model. Stability boundaries have been calculated for maximum permissible width of cut as a function of cutting speed. A comparison of the boundaries for chatter-free cutting operation of a plain boring bar, a boring bar with passive tuned dynamic absorber and a boring bar with active dynamic absorber is provided in this paper. The comparison shows that a substantial increase in the maximum permissible width of cut for stable cutting operation, over a range of cutting speeds, is obtained for a boring bar equipped with an active dynamic absorber.

A total life cycle cost model (TLCCM) for the circular economy and its application to post-recovery resource allocation

Abstract: The consumerism-driven, consumption-based linear economy is leaving a trail of economic, environmental, and societal challenges in its wake. The Circular Economy, a new economic framework, can be combined with the 6R-based elements of sustainable manufacturing in order to relieve these challenges by establishing a closed-loop material flow. To realize this ideal state, a total life cycle cost model (TLCCM) is needed to serve as the primary engineering economic model. Therefore, a framework for such a model is presented that aims to aid stakeholders in making decisions regarding all aspects of the product life cycle. It is intended that these stakeholders use this model in order to challenge the status quo of costly “green”-centric decisions and demand innovation in the overall process in order to realize a net positive total life cycle cost benefit alongside a balanced Triple-Bottom-Line (TBL). To illustrate how the TLCCM can be applied, an application is explored that uses the model to determine post-recovery resource allocation into three closed-loop streams (Recycling, Remanufacturing, and Reusing). An outlook for future research is then presented.

Active vibration control device

Abstract: An active vibration control device for controlling vibration in a cantilevered member (12) and a method for the same are disclosed. The device is comprised of a cantilevered member (12) having a longitudinal axis (13) comprising a sensor (92) mounted near the free end of the member (12) to measure motion of the member (12) in a transverse direction and to produce a corresponding signal. A force generating assembly (64) is mounted to the member (12) near the free end to oppose the measured motion with a force thereby minimizing subsequent motion along the transverse axis caused by vibration.

Sustainable manufacturing: Modeling and optimization challenges at the product, process and system levels

Abstract: Achieving sustainability in manufacturing requires a holistic view spanning not just the product, and the manufacturing processes involved in its fabrication, but also the entire supply chain, including the manufacturing systems across multiple product life-cycles. This requires improved models, metrics for sustainability evaluation, and optimization techniques at the product, process, and system levels. This paper presents an overview of recent trends and new concepts in the development of sustainable products, processes and systems. In particular, recent trends in developing improved sustainability scoring methods for products and processes, and predictive models and optimization techniques for sustainable manufacturing processes, focusing on dry, near-dry and cryogenic machining as examples, are presented.

Chatter in machining processes: A review

Abstract: Chatter is a self-excited vibration that can occur during machining operations and become a common limitation to productivity and part quality. For this reason, it has been a topic of industrial and academic interest in the manufacturing sector for many years. A great deal of research has been carried out since the late 1950s to solve the chatter problem. Researchers have studied how to detect, identify, avoid, prevent, reduce, control, or suppress chatter. This paper reviews the state of research on the chatter problem and classifies the existing methods developed to ensure stable cutting into those that use the lobbing effect, out-of-process or in-process, and those that, passively or actively, modify the system behaviour.

A review of chatter vibration research in turning

Abstract: Chatter vibrations are present in almost all cutting operations and they are major obstacles in achieving desired productivity. Regenerative chatter is the most detrimental to any process as it creates excessive vibration between the tool and the workpiece, resulting in a poor surface finish, high-pitch noise and accelerated tool wear which in turn reduces machine tool life, reliability and safety of the machining operation. There are various techniques proposed by several researchers to predict and detect chatter where the objective is to avoid chatter occurrence in the cutting process in order to obtain better surface finish of the product, higher productivity and tool life. In this paper, some of the chatter stability prediction, chatter detection and chatter control techniques for the turning process are reviewed to summarize the status of current research in this field. The objective of this review work is to compare different chatter stability prediction, chatter detection and chatter control techniques to find out most suitable technique/s and to identify a research scope in this area. One scope of research has been identified as establishing a theoretical relationship between chatter vibration and tool wear in order to predict tool wear and tool life in the presence of chatter vibration.

Design for sustainability in automotive industry: A comprehensive review

Abstract: Presented manuscript investigates the current sustainability research within the automotive industry, through a comprehensive review of the different studies in vehicles’ life cycle, disposal and end of life analyses, and the different sustainability metrics and models used to quantify the environmental impact. The sustainability research in this study targets the measures and studies at the three basic elemental levels involved; environmental, economic, and societal. The presented review categorizes the literature into four main research areas; the life cycle assessment approach, the end-of-life perspective, the design for X, and the light-weight engineering and material selection studies. Also, the text attempts to draw the link between these research themes and expose any inter-relationships, and discuss the physics behind some of the sustainability models presented to analyze the automobile sustainability.