| "We built the piece of equipment and tried it....the thing that amazed me the most was that it worked exactly the way they said..." Rath Project Technician Todd Lee |
An innovative company, Rath Manufacturing is continually looking for new opportunities to improve its competitive edge. In enhancing part of its production process, the company may build and test prototypes in pursuit of increased performance. Building and testing prototypes is often an expensive and time consuming process. When a team can offer Rath a new system or technique that works perfectly on the first try, the company jumps on it right away. Such was the case when Rath turned to College of Engineering students for help with a heat-transfer problem.
Rath manufactures welded, full-finished stainless steel and specialty alloy pipe and tubing. Its high-performance products are specified worldwide for food, beverage, semi-conductor, biotech, chemical, pulp and paper, pharmaceutical and other industries. The company's products are made in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Janesville, Wisconsin.
Rath products are specified worldwide for food, beverage, semi-conductor, biotech, chemical, pulp and paper, pharmaceutical and other industries. The tubing is made in a state-of-the-art factory in Janesville. |
It was partly the success of an earlier project by four undergraduate electrical and computer engineering students that prompted Rath Project Technician Todd Lee to contact the college with a new challenge. Operating as their own consulting firm, the ECE students had helped Rath design a modification to the company's production process. The team of students made trips to the Rath plant to make measurements and drawings of what they saw. Over the next three months, the full-time students put in more than 150 hours each to research and develop a prototype. Most of the work was done on campus where the students had access to lab space and a machine shop. When the consultants ran into problems they found their own resources. They checked in with Rath about once a week but for the most part, the students were on their own. Rath developed its own version of the prototype for factory use. Lee says Rath has had several excellent working relationships with the college.
"They are very enthusiastic about working on real-world problems," Lee says. "They really jump right into it and take it very seriously. "
With this in mind, Lee contacted Engineering Physics and Mechanical Engineering Professor Michael L. Corradini regarding the heat transfer problem. Heat is generated during several stages of the stainless steel tube-making process. Rath was looking for a less intrusive way of removing the heat. Corradini sent PhD candidate Mark Anderson, engineering physics researcher John G. Murphy and graduate student Rusi Debu to address the problem.
"When it comes to something unusual that a consulting company wouldn't likely do--or a project that is small, as in the case of the heat transfer project--then it makes sense for the college to do it as a public service," Corradini says. "The benefit to the college comes in the form of the students being involved. They actually experience the demands of a manufacturing company that has some design and production needs. They need some quick estimates and good thinking on a short time scale. That serves as a valuable learning experience for our students."
Anderson, Murphy and Debu made several trips to the plant to gather information from Rath and discuss the options and limitations of the project.
"They wanted us to cool it down without scratching the tube," said Anderson "I was a student of Corradini's at the time. I had been working on heat transfer within nuclear reactors so this project was somewhat in line with my thesis. This was the first industry project I had worked on. It was fun. It worked out pretty well."
As it turns out, it couldn't have worked any better. Lee says the device cooled the tubing perfectly on the first try.
"They looked at how we were doing it. They looked at the process and then they came back with a proposal," says Lee. "The president of the company, a quality assurance manager and I met with the team. They brought us a very nice presentation with all their computer data and graphics. They gave it to us. We built the piece of equipment and tried it. I guess the thing that amazed me the most was that it worked exactly the way they said it would right off the bat."
--By Jim Beal--
| For further information, please contact: |
Michael L. Corradini, 608/265-2001
corradini@engr.wisc.edu
Copyright 1999 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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Date last modified: Wednesday, 03-Mar-1999 12:00:00 CST
Date created: 03-Mar-1999
