Remanufacturing Testbed

About

GIS is home to RIT’s 12,000-ft2 remanufacturing testbed. It is fitted with state-of-the-art equipment, including semi-automated workstations, to help our industry partners test, validate, and de-risk their investment in remanufacturing. The testbed can simulate the entire remanufacturing process, including cleaning, additive repair, nondestructive inspection, electronic testing and repair, automated core identification, and disassembly and assembly.

The RIT Remanufacturing Testbed is where innovation and opportunities in reman—new technologies, applications, products, services, and processes—can be initiated, thought through, and rigorously tested to determine their usefulness and viability before coming to market. View videos of some of our equipment and technologies here.

Learn more by visiting our Center for Remanufacturing and Resource Recovery

Capabilities

Handheld analysis device

We are an international leader driving remanufacturing and resource recovery innovation. This testbed offers various capabilities to fit your needs, including:

  • Lifecycle engineering:
    We assess cost-efficiencies and environmental impacts for end-of-life product or component evaluation.
  • Design for remanufacturing:
    We improve process cost effectiveness through design tools and methods.
  • Cleaning:
    We evaluate existing cleaning processes and technologies and develop new ones.
  • Core or part condition assessment: 
    We test and validate non-destructive inspection and analytical techniques.
  • Additive-repair technologies for material restoration:
    We evaluate a diversity of parts, materials, and processes. 
  • Electronics remanufacturing: 
    We develop rapid functional tests and improved condition-assessment methodologies.
  • Reverse engineering and additive manufacturing: 
    We research and test methods for component replacement and fixturing.
  • Industry 4.0: 
    We explore uses of data and process automation to improve operational efficiency.

Equipment and Technologies

Engineer conducting magnetic particle inspection

Our one-of-a-kind remanufacturing testbed offers production scale facilities, equipment, and technologies capable of furthering key remanufacturing processes. To accomplish this, we offer a state-of-the-art lineup of equipment and technology, including:

Non-Destructive Inspection

  • Ultrasonic inspection equipment
  • Fluorescent penetrant inspection equipment
  • Magnetic-particle inspection (MPI) system
  • Optical and laser-based dimensional inspection system

Material Analysis

  • Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy analyzer (LIBS)
  • Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analyzer (FTIR)
  • Scanning electron microscope (SEM)

Additive Manufacturing

  • Cold-metal transfer-welding system
  • Laser additive-repair system
  • Thermal-spray systems (flame spray, cold spray, and twin-wire arc)

Electronics Testing

  • HALT thermal/vibration test chamber
  • MARS automated board-testing and reverse-engineering system
  • Switch matrix functional tester

Cleaning Technologies

  • High pressure wash
  • Ultrasonic
  • Liquid CO2
  • Dry-ice blasting
  • Wet and dry media blasting equipment

Part Handling and Work Tracking

  • Interactive cobot (collaborative robot)
  • Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and readers
  • Reman-supported ERP system

Contact

Gerry Hurley
Technical Program Manager
gmhgis@rit.edu
585-475-4183