Educational Compression Testing Machine for

Teleoperated Teaching of the metals flow curves

Lucas Boeira Michels
Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina
Yuri Crotti
Luan Carlos Casagrande
Vilson Gruber
Roderval Marcelino
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
Lirio Schaeffer
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
AbstractToday in the world, there are numerous
educational experiments teleoperetad to support the teaching of
engineering, but the number of this remote experiments in the
area of metal forming is not enough. This article will show a new
remote experiment called Educational Compression Testing
Machine teleoperated via Internet. This experiment will create
the possibility for the students to do a real compression test and
to collect force applied in the specimen and size data during the
experimentation process. These data will be useful for the
construction of flow curve of metals aiming the calculation for
projects of formed parts. The remote experiment is divided in
two basic parts: the website and the Educational Compression
Testing Machine. For data acquisition, control and data
processing, as well as the interface between the user and the
machine was used the Raspberry Pi that is a small size and low
cost microcomputer. The reduced structure for the experiment
and the low cost were defined as priority for this work, aiming to
fit the necessity of undeveloped countries.
KeywordsTeleopered Experiment; Remote experiment, flow
curve; Raspberry Pi; Compression testing machine;

I.
INTRODUCTION
Remote experiments are not a novelty in engineering
education [1]. However, just few topics were contemplated
with teleoperated experiments. Recently we had initiatives to
create experiments in the field of production engineering as
[1,2]. Nowadays the interest in this type of development is
growing because the number of experiments is not enough. In
the work of [2,3] was developed a teleoperated lab from a
commercial testing machine traction with support of robots for
replacement of the specimen. However, the final cost to
develop this project was high, and consequently, undeveloped

countries would not be able to afford this project.

II.

FLOW CURVES AND CONFORMATION

Flow curves are essential in metallurgical engineering,

mainly for mechanical forming area, because this is the best
way to get the parameters from a metal and consequently it is
possible to predict its behavior during the forming process.
These curves are obtained from tension and compression
testing. However, the best mechanism to achieve the flow
curves in a forming process is the compression approach [4]
because disruption in brittle materials occurs after the elastic
zone and therefore the data are not very significant.
Flow curves are made with the force data, displacement
(size range), height and initial and final diameter of mechanical
test specimens.
It is possible to get all the parameters and necessary
information useful for the mechanical design manufacturing
using equations and mathematical graph software.
III. ARTICLE OBJETIVE
This work will present an Educational Compression Testing
Machine teleoperated via Internet that has the objective to
provide the necessary data for the construction of flow curves.
This experiment is different from others because it was
developed in order to facilitate the data acquisition and its
development. In addition, this is an educational machine, and
consequently, the mechanical components have a smaller scale.
The electronic components have reduced complexity of
configuration and they have a lower cost too.
IV. REMOTE EXPERIMENT COMPONENTS
The experiment consist of the following components
(Figure 1):
A. Compression Testing Machine
This component is a mechanical structure that is
responsible for the processes of compression of the specimen
through the force of a hydraulic cylinder (Figure 2). This is the
main component of the experiment because this is the place
where occurs the phenomenon under study. The machine has
two different sensors that are responsible to measure force and

Fig. 1 Overview of the Experiment

displacement. These sensors are fundamental for the

experiment because they will register the behavior of the
mechanical test specimen during the experimentation process.
In addition, they will provide the necessary data that is
essential for the construction of the flow curve of the metal.
The microcomputer will control the streaming of video
through a webcam. The replacement of specimen will be
realized by a low cost system with a step motor that will create
a linear movement of advancement and return.

E. Electrical Power;
Electrical power must be 220 volts to charge all the
circuits in the control panel and others circuits.
F. Devices with Internet Access;
All the devices with network access will have access to the
experiment. Consequently, the user will be able to access the
experiment from everywhere with network access at anytime.
G. Internet Access;
Internet is responsible to allow the interface between the
microcomputer and the users.
H. Remote Experiment Website
The website will provide the control and monitoring of the
experiment in real time. The web page was developed using
the learning management system MOODLE. This important
tool created the possibility to export the data from the
experimentation process and to explain material about this
experiment and the flow curves.

Fig. 2 - Educational Compression Testing Machine Tele Operated

B. Hydraulic Unit;
The Hydraulic unit and the pumping oil system are
responsible to generate the necessary flow of oil to the
hydraulic cylinder.
C. Motor Drive Panel;
The motor drive panel is a fundamental part to start the
pump of the hydraulic unit. This panel has a frequency
inverter to control the motor start and the voltage conversion
from 220V to 380V.
D. Data Processing Panel;
The data processing panel has a component called
Raspberry Pi (Figure 3).

V.

EXPERIMENTATION PROCESS

In the beginning of the process, the user will need to access

the Web Site www.labtel.com.br and chose the option
Educational Compression Testing Machine. In this new
environment, the student will be able to start the
experimentation and to watch the execution process. During
this performance, the webcam will show the low cost system
positioning the specimen and after that, the compression and
discard of the specimen. Finally, the user will be able to get all
the output data and to use spreadsheets in the Web page to
calculate and to create the flow curve. The dimensions of the
specimen are given in the beginning of the experiment. Before
creating the flow curve, the learner can watch instructional
videos and read texts about the subject.
REFERENCES

Fig. 3 - Raspberry Pi

This equipment is responsible for the data acquisition from

the sensors, to stream the video from the webcam, to control
the relays, motor and the lamps, and to control the
communication between the user and the machine through the
network. Raspberry Pi is a modern, small and low cost
microcomputer that additionally to all the computer functions
can do the data acquisition, control and signal processing [3].

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