Center of Excellence in Advanced & Sustainable Manufacturing

Making the Case for Hydrogen in the US: American Fuel Cell and Plug Power

How a New York State company is reinventing the hydrogen fuel cell for manufacturers and consumers

Hydrogen power is back. Countries like China, Germany, and India are increasingly relying on it as part of their growing sustainable energy programs. That’s not the case in the United States, where most clean-energy R&D focuses on lithium-ion battery systems powered by other renewables, like wind and solar. But there are signs that this story is changing as new US-based companies are finding success adapting hydrogen applications to niche markets.

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Data Is Just the First Step: The Full Potential of Machine Learning for Advanced Manufacturing

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What We Do

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Model-Based Engineering

COE-ASM has the tools and expertise to understand and evaluate a design so you know how it will perform before it ever goes into production. Computer simulations of product use, manufacturing processes, and even end-of-life scenarios shed light on how designs and parameters affect success—allowing companies to make the right engineering choices without paying for mistakes.

Tools: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Finite Element Analysis (FEA), process simulation

Applications: Design of more robust products

Product being scanned into digital format

Design & Performance Validation

We help manufacturers understand how product design features and process parameters affect the outcomes and impacts of manufacturing. From concepts and prototypes to established manufacturing processes, our ever-advancing repertoire of testbeds and expertise can provide critical insight into scale-up, commercialization, and deployment performance—helping verify target achievement, measure against competitors, and optimize parameters.

Tools: Life Cycle Assessment, accelerated lifecycle testing, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)

Digital Manufacturing & Data Analytics

Digital technologies offer unprecedented levels of control, feedback, and automation, helping optimize manufacturing process performance. In turn, data from these technologies can reveal insights that help manufacturers improve product quality, maximize operational efficiency, and reduce costs. COE-ASM works closely with manufacturers to develop tailored digital technology solutions, existing system integration strategies, and data analysis methodologies.

Tools: Cyber-physical systems, mobile & wearable technology, artificial intelligence & machine learning

Applications: Digital manufacturing work instructions

man using sensing and monitoring station

Sensing, Monitoring, & Internet of Things

Information is the key to success. COE-ASM helps manufacturers capture valuable information and turn it into benefits on the triple bottom-line. We develop and integrate advanced machine-level sensors that relay data on process performance, product quality, and equipment health. And we create networking solutions that connect machines in an Internet of Things, providing system-wide monitoring that helps manufacturers make decisions to improve throughput, minimize downtime, and reduce costs.

Tools: Wireless power monitoring, sense & respond logistics, condition-based & predictive maintenance

Applications: Manufacturing peak load assessment, fleet logistics, heavy-duty vehicle maintenance

Two people, one handling a manufactured item

Life Cycle Engineering

Today’s markets demand that manufacturers increasingly consider the full product lifecycle as a central business strategy; as a result, factors like manufacturability, reliability, and durability are becoming ever more important. COE-ASM helps companies address these issues by providing design support and life cycle performance evaluations that make products easier to produce, simpler to disassemble, more valuable to remanufacture, and cleaner to recycle. The benefits help strengthen the triple bottom line.

Tools: Design-for-X, material assessment and substitution, accelerated lifecycle testing

Applications: Corrosion-resistant coatings, sustainable materials

Remanufacturing & Material Reuse

Remanufacturing and reuse preserve the embodied value of the materials, labor, energy, and manufacturing processes that go in to making a product and its constituent elements. Technologies and market opportunities in this area face many technical and economic challenges, but as a key enabler of the circular economy, show significant potential for growth. COE-ASM helps companies solve problems in technologies and business models, promoting the competitiveness of remanufacturing in industry.

Tools: Design for Remanufacturing, reman life cycle assessment, additive manufacturing

Applications: Heavy-duty vehicle components, surface restoration, printing and imaging products, office furniture, post-consumer plastics

New Technology Commercialization

In all of these areas, the potential for technology innovation is immense. Whether companies have a product prototype or a concept for a new manufacturing process, COE-ASM stands ready to help innovators strengthen the technical and business case for development and navigate the commercialization process. Our goal is to advance the state of new and emerging technologies by accelerating market readiness and facilitating broad adoption.

Testimonials

American Fuel Cell

We have established an excellent relationship with RIT-COESM to further the research, development, test, and manufacture of fuel cell membrane electrode assemblies. We expect to jointly seek funding for advanced catalyst formulations.

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The Gunlocke Company

We received a unique, timely and targeted assessment of our operations that will ultimately improve our sustainability and financial bottomline.

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Effortless Advantage

What we ended up doing is creating a better, more market ready design.

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Davies Office, Inc.

COE-ASM was able to quantify the environmental impacts of our remanufactured workspaces versus OEM workspaces. We now feel confident informing our clients on the positive effects remanufacturing has on the environment.

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Woerner Industries, Inc.

The people at RIT walked us through the process of using new technology to accurately and efficiently replicate hand-carved woodwork using existing equipment. With this new capability, Woerner is positioned to expand our product offerings and be more competitive.

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G.W. LISK

COE-ASM came in with several different ideas to address our difficult inspection challenges; I don’t think they could have done a better job.

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Council Rock

We turned to the Center to assist us with this new product, and I can say we are very pleased with the results. Working with COE-ASM proved to be a good business move, and as a result we have secured a pilot order that we believe will lead to thousands of additional sales of our product.

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Rochester Colonial

The model that RIT built gives us the confidence to know that what we’re building is 100% safe. COE-SM people were a pleasure to work with and pragmatic in their approach. We now are more confident to transition the product to mass production.

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