An attempt has been made in this work to develop a simple yet efficient sun tracking mechanism (SSTM) using smart shape memory alloy (SMA). This mechanism is directly activated by the sun dispensing with the requirement of an additional external source to power it. The SMA element incorporated in the SSTM device performs the dual functions of sensing and actuating in such a way as to position the solar receptor tilted appropriately to face the sun directly at all times during the day. The mechanism has been designed such that the thermal stimulus needed to activate the SMA element is provided by the concentration and direct focusing of the incident sun rays on to the SMA element. This paper presents, in detail, the design and construction adopted to develop the functional model that was fabricated and tested for performance.
AND CONCLUSIONSProduct development is becoming increasingly complex, especially so in the fast paced and innovative consumer electronics industry. The conflicting trends of innovation, time pressure, complex business processes and increasing customer implies the need for different types of Product Development Processes (PDPs). Hence different quality tools are needed throughout the lifecycle.Currently the most common quality tools used in product development are QFD, FMEA and Design Rules. They require very detailed and thorough information as well as precise customer specifications. Whether the tools are usable in current product development (highly dynamic) lifecycles is still questionable.In consumer electronics industry the fundamental factors that are usually assumed to be fixed such as socio-economic, choice of technology and industrial process can vary as much as the typical product development and manufacturing process. Hence these factors must be considered up front when making decisions as they can and will impact the product reliability.This paper demonstrates that the Reliability and Quality Matrix (RQM), which was proposed by some of the authors, was able to address the reduction of uncertainty in the subareas of product technology (parts reliability) and industrial process (process reliability). However as it did not address the socio-economic factors and other sub-factors, the effectiveness was limited. More then 90% of the risks in first-of-kind products are due to these factors.To improve the effectiveness of RQM, the logical step would be to increase the uncertainty coverage. But doing this with the same level of precise information would increase the time required which is the main constraining factor in innovative PDP. This paper shows that the loss in precision is more compensated by the increase in accuracy. RQM is redesigned as RQM Lite in this paper. A comparison study is performed by applying RQM and RQM Lite on the same projects and it was found that a "quick and dirty" approach is preferred to having nothing at all.
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