Planning Grant: I/UCRC for Intelligent Maintenance Systems at The University of Texas at Austin

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

Planning Grant: I/UCRC for Intelligent Maintenance Systems (IMS) 1161021 University of Texas-Austin; Dragan Djurdjanovic The University of Texas-Austin (UT-A) is seeking to join the existing I/UCRC for Intelligent Maintenance Systems (IMS) currently comprised of the University of Cincinnati (lead), the University of Michigan and the Missouri University of Science and Technology. By joining the existing IMS Center, the UT-A will expand the ongoing IMS research with new ideas and foci grounded in the expertise and research interests of the UT faculty and students. Those new directions include predictive maintenance in semiconductor manufacturing, vehicle technologies, oil industry, renewable energy, power plants and biomedicine. The research in the proposed site will be realized through the following thrusts: 1) Information-theoretical approaches to condition-monitoring; 2) Data-driven methods for operating regime-dependent condition monitoring and prediction 3) Fault-tolerant control of complex engineering systems; 4) Predictive maintenance methods and paradigms in biomedicine and 5) System operations based on the information about the condition of system components. The US economy spends more than $1 trillion for maintenance of critical assets, with more than 33% of these costs being wasted on ineffective maintenance. The UT-A intends to address this problem by contributing new ideas and leveraging inputs and experiences from numerous new industries that did not benefit enough from the predictive maintenance research. Expected advances in the ability to assess and predict the condition of an engineering system will increase the resilience and improve operation of machines in the future, with reduced waste of resources due to more effective maintenance intervention, and improved usage and productivity due to higher availability of equipment. Broader impacts of the research expected to take place at UT-A will be realized through regular meetings with industrial partners, short courses on diagnostics and maintenance open to industry and academe, regular participation and publication in relevant conferences, and partnerships with universities in the US and abroad.