Towards process intensification : remediation of fouling in continuous microscale synthesis of phosphated TiO2

The use of continuous flow microreactors offers an interesting approach among the process intensification tools available. Fouling in a microreactor during synthesis of industrially relevant nanoparticles was investigated. In order to achieve this, microscale synthesis of phosphated TiO2 nanoparticles from titanium(IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) and titanium(IV) butoxide (TBUT) was employed. A continuous three step process, consisting of hydrolysis of the respective alkoxide, phosphate modification and precipitation was developed. The resulting catalyst was characterized by means of nitrogen adsorption, dynamic light scattering and SEM/EDX. It was observed that TTIP resulted in massive fouling, while a stable process was possible with TBUT. This was related to the nucleation time of the particles. The particle size directly after the critical hydrolysis step was investigated. The particles formed with TTIP as a precursor (3.4 nm) were larger than those obtained from TBUT (2.4 nm). Diffusion based reactant concentration gradients within the multilamellar micromixer were calculated, and the corresponding Damköhler numbers for mixing were estimated to be 2.6∙10^-3 for TBUT and 3.5∙10^-2 for TTIP respectively. These numbers highlight the influence of incomplete mixing on fouling for TTIP as a precursor. Thus, our work demonstrates the necessity to consider the reaction kinetics during process intensification by miniaturization

Experimental Studies Towards a DC-DC Conversion Powering Scheme for the CMS Silicon Strip Tracker at SLHC

The upgrade of the CMS silicon tracker for the Super-LHC presents many challenges. The distribution of power to the tracker is considered particularly difficult, as the tracker power consumption is expected to be similar to or higher than today, while the operating voltage will decrease and power cables cannot be exchanged or added. The CMS tracker has adopted parallel powering with DC-DC conversion as the baseline solution to the powering problem. In this paper, experimental studies of such a DC-DC conversion powering scheme are presented, including system test measurements with custom DC-DC converters and current strip tracker structures, studies of the detector susceptibility to conductive noise, and simulations of the effect of novel powering schemes on the strip tracker material budget

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

[Whitepaper] Service Innovation [eng.]

The change from the traditional to the digital service provider is not easy. The digital maturity level of many industrial companies is still too low to successfully place these digital service innovations on the market. One problem of service development is the increasing involvement of information and communication technology in service development and implementation. The additional technology makes the innovation processes for services on the part of manufacturers increasingly complex by involving different internal and external stakeholders (e.g. IT partners, data protection officers or product development departments). In addition to this, data-driven services also require that manufacturers (e.g. data scientists) develop new competencies in order to use the customer data obtained to increase machine productivity and to offer new business models. Furthermore, industrial companies that want to successfully offer data-driven services must develop new market introduction strategies to create a high degree of acceptance and trust among their customers. This is necessary to get access to relevant data. These and other challenges caused the success rate of companies in regarding the development of new, industrial services to shrink. To change this, this white paper presents six principles that help industrial enterprises to develop new successful data-driven services

[Whitepaper] Return on Maintenance [engl.]

The FIR at the RWTH Aachen University continuously develops the concept and the principles of RoM further. It is already noticeable that the gap between companies that began preparing their maintenance departments for Industrie 4.0 years ago and those that are still struggling with the mere foundations of a professional maintenance organisation is rapidly increasing. The first driver of the development sparked by Industrie 4.0 is the collection of and work with condition data. It is used to create a digital shadow of a service, e.g. maintenance measures in a specific context. In the future, critical machine functions will be monitored continuously within production processes. Based on these observations, the likelihood of machine failures can be predicted, which makes it possible to prioritize data-based maintenance measures. This means that maintenance activities, i.e. production plans, are based on prognoses regarding machine failures. By doing so, the currently existing separation between inspection, maintenance and reactive measures can be overcome, resulting in a holistic approach to maintenance. Maintenance specialists receive support from assistance systems, which give them access to all relevant information (e.g. machine history, spare part availability, proposals for measures, etc.). As a result, they can take on routine tasks in different areas as well and contribute to the increased flexibility of the production process. Although data is becoming an increasingly important driver of successful maintenance strategies, maintenance employees continue to be central to specific tasks, machines and systems. In the future, it can be expected that they choose to become experts in a certain field and, ideally, actively share their knowledge with others within an open maintenance culture. Systems for interdisciplinary collaboration will be made part of everyday practice. The maintenance department will be a center and distributor of knowledge in the agile company of the future.Only through the interaction of the outlined success principles, which amount to a paradigm shift within the maintenance department, the potential benefit of maintenance as defined by RoM can be fully exploited, creating a long-term competitive advantage for those who consistently follow the path towards Industrie 4.0 in maintenance

[Whitepaper] Smart Maintenance – just do it!

Today, maintenance exceeds this definition, it is significantly more. In many companies, it plays the role of an incubator for development and drives digital transformation forward. The very essence of Industrie 4.0 is the optimisation of the flow of information within as well as outside of a company to accelerate the adjustment of company organisations in the context of increasing competitive pressure. Because of the variety of interfaces, information and data that is available as well as its service character, maintenance lends itself easily as the area of choice for a company to make Industrie 4.0 real. Whilst doing so, the aim is not to equip employees with the latest “gimmick“ for order processment or to be the company with the highest number of lighthouse projects. Instead, maintenance ensures reliable and cost-efficient production and, consequently, the primary creation of added value of the manufacturing company. Those who were identified as top performers during the “Smart Maintenance“ consortium benchmarking by FIR at RWTH Aachen University gain particular useful ideas twice as often as other follower companies directly from staff, thus releasing the right potential. Information and data help to reach these goals and transfer the vision of smart maintenance into actual pratice. But what is smart maintenance exactly and how far along are you in the development of your individual smart maintenance concept

Trust me, I’m an Intermediary! Exploring Data Intermediation Services

Data ecosystems receive considerable attention in academia and practice, as indicated by a steadily growing body of research and large-scale (industry-driven) research projects. They can leverage so-called data intermediaries, which are mediating parties that facilitate data sharing between a data provider and a data consumer. Research has uncovered many types of data intermediaries, such as data marketplaces or data trusts. However, what is missing is a ‘big picture’ of data intermediaries and the functions they fulfill. We tackle this issue by extracting data intermediation services decoupled from specific instances to give a comprehensive overview of how they work. To achieve this, we report on a systematic literature review, contributing data intermediation services