半英寸厚的钢板由库里铁路在霍利迪斯堡捐赠, Pennsylvania, are cut into pieces. With 10 preheat lit jets, 切割是由一股从刀尖中心喷出的纯氧射流完成的.
ALTOONA, Pa. 切割金属是许多制造方法的主要组成部分. To cut steel, in what is known as oxy-fuel cutting, 一股纯氧流燃烧着钢材，以形成所需的切口, a process first developed in the early 1900s. 当然，切割过程中必须有一个机械师全程监视，以确保不会出错. 但是，如果有一种可靠的电子方式来监视切割情况呢?
这正是十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校机械工程助理教授克里斯托弗·马丁正在寻找的——新的东西, more efficient ways to monitor the oxyfuel cutting process.
马丁瞄准了热点:“如果我们可以用火焰本身作为传感器，那不是很好吗? Flames are electrically conductive; you can pass electricity through a flame.”
Using the flame’s natural responses to electricity, Martin can monitor a number of aspects of the cutting process. 用电监测火焰实际上并不是一个新想法:战后人们曾研究过这种方法，但后来放弃了, according to Martin. 他们想测量火炬和工件之间的距离，但这只是控制器自动化切割过程所需的关键测量之一, 他补充说.
今天, 马丁的研究提供了更可靠的方法来测量自动化氧燃料切割的最重要参数.
Martin describes the present situation this way.
“在工厂里有一系列的机器，想象一台机器出了问题. A tool is wearing, or a part needs to be replaced. 过去，机械师可以整天站在机器前，这就是他的世界. Now an operator has four or five machines," he said.
然而，我们的目标是让一个人管理更多的机器.
“Historically these systems have not been interfaceable," said Martin, meaning they don’t communicate with each other. 他补充说，目标是建立一个能够自我诊断问题的工厂, “预测是，一个核心‘东西’可以跨机器或跨工厂进行诊断,”,, according to Martin, would be a significant improvement in efficiency.
That’s the grand idea. The bad news, said Martin, 行业的发展方向和现状之间是否存在巨大反差.
“在我研究的工厂里，我看到机器在地板上使用. 这些机器还没有为这种程度的自动化做好准备。. “今天，如果我们进入一家工厂，在一块板材上切割零件，操作员需要在场. They cannot do it with oxy-fuel. 有传感套件(带有传感器的系统，可以提供实时状态) ... but they are not robust enough, they give you bad signals, and there are things they don’t measure well.
“This is where you get into my world. IHT自动化公司出资让我设计这些。”马丁说着，手里拿着一块PC板. “而不是把电子传感器放在火焰附近(它不喜欢热), 辐射, 或噪声), the board is the controller; it will monitor the flame and automate a measurement. PC板将在内部制造-内部原型制作能力变得相当好. All soldering [on the boards] is done by students.”
雅各布·托马斯(Jacob Tomas)是与马丁一起工作的学生之一，他是EMET专业的大四学生.
“做这项研究是一个很好的机会，可以应用我在EMET课程中学到的东西," said Tomas. "For instance, 我的任务是根据光学传感器的数据表选择其电子元件. 具备运放和集成电路电子学(EET 212W)和计算机I/O系统(EMET 230)课程的背景是必不可少的.
“At the moment, I am working on the setup for data acquisition, 并重新安装冷却剂系统的部分暴露在火焰上," added Tomas.
一旦电路板制成，“我们需要测试它们，把东西拿出来试驾，”马丁说. He has a very realistic view of the research process.
“Things will go wrong. The first prototype never works perfectly. 在它被实地证明之前，你不知道你不知道什么. 这就是为什么这些工业伙伴关系对我们如此有价值。. "Curry donated the steel. They have offered to test the prototypes when we’re ready. IHT is going to test them.”
Martin acknowledges two parts to his work. Building the PC boards is the applied side.
"If I build a circuit and I don’t understand why it works, how will I fix it tomorrow if something goes wrong?" he said. “在研究方面，我们认为我们知道火焰内部的物理原理. But reality has its own opinions. 我们要使数学模型与实验结果一致.”
He also knows that the research is in the beginning stages.
“我们(仍然)没有准备好对整个过程进行数字化控制. 如果你制造和销售用于制造的设备，你就无法与之交互, sooner or later you will be out of the game," he said.
But he’s pragmatic and in the end always a teacher.
“Learning happens in failure," he said. "The educational process is one of the places it’s okay to fail. That’s where we learn. Let the students see it. 我们不会再犯这些错误——它们让我们对自己有了深刻的认识.”
