Photo caption: L to R: Dr Ing. Paul Refalo, Mr Massimo Borg, Ms Jasmine Mallia, Dr Ing. Emmanuel Francalanza at the 17th CIRP Conference on Intelligent Computation in Manufacturing Engineering (ICME 2023).
Mr Massimo Borg and Ms Jasmine Mallia, two PhD students and Research Support Officers from the Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering (DIME), presented their studies at the 17th edition of the CIRP Conference on Intelligent Computation in Manufacturing Engineering (ICME 2023), in Ischia (Naples). The studies stem from the AIR SAVE project which aims at autonomously identifying faults in pneumatic systems and enhancing their efficiency.
Mr Massimo Borg explained how without using proprietary equipment, sensor data made it possible to identify faults in pneumatic systems and define their characteristics, including size, type and location. Ms Jasmine Mallia tackled the issue of collecting data with the development of a manufacturing-based Internet of Things (IoT) framework. This was adapted to a demand-side pneumatic system to monitor its parameters in real time.
Dr Inġ. Paul Refalo (Project Coordinator) and Dr Inġ. Emmanuel Francalanza, PhD supervisors of the students also attended the conference and were invited to chair technical sessions. Dr Peter Xuereb, from the Department of Computer Information Systems and PhD co-supervisor of Ms Mallia, coauthored the latter research paper.
These studies aim to operate pneumatic systems in a more sustainable manner and move away from current maintenance practices, which are inefficient, costly and labour intensive. The AIR SAVE project consortium, funded by the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) through the Fusion R&I Technology Development Programme, comprises the University of Malta and AIM Enterprises.