Bram Demeulenaere – Industry

Some time in the Fall of 2007, I got a bit angry because of a Knack article on the economic development of the Flemish region of Belgium. In this article, a Flemish top manager stated that one of the reasons for the limited cooperation between the Flemish academic world and industry is that “the academic world is not interested in industrial cooperation anyway”.

Surely this guy does not know about the nine industrial spin-offs of K.U.Leuven’s mechanical engineering department (go to the bottom of this page to find the list), of which one (Metris) was elected Belgian Enterprise of the Year 2006. And, hey, can you believe it, but I actually like working together with industry. Below you find an overview of industry-related cooperation I have been involved in over the last few years.

If you’re a company interested in cooperating with us, you can hire one or more people of our research group as a consultant (short-term projects, low scientific risk) or set up a research project (projects of 1 to 3 yrs, higher scientific risk). The former option is fast and does not involve too much administration (mainly a contract via our interface with industry, Leuven Research & Development). The latter option involves more work (writing a project proposal) but allows the company to apply for government funding. Here I provide a bit of information concerning government funding for companies (including non-Belgian companies) that have a seat in Flanders (in dutch).

Industrial research projects

Both my doctoral and postdoctoral research has partly been driven by two industrial projects (see Projects/Past Projects for more details and some of the main results) with Picanol N.V., one of the world’s leading weaving manufacturers. Both projects involved simulation and optimization of cams and linkages, extensive experimental measurement campaigns and prototype building.

Consulting

Mainly in the are of simulation, optimization and automatic control of mechanical multibody systems, with a focus on cam mechanisms and linkages:

• Picanol N.V. (weaving machines)

• Bauknecht–Whirlpool (washing machines)

• Capsugel/Pfizer (machines for capsule production)

• OptiDrive (industrial automation)

• Hessenatie Logistics (logistic company)

Cam design

Over the years, I have acquired significant knowledge and experience in various aspects of cam design, mainly through my work with Picanol N.V.:

• optimization of cam motion laws using polynomial splines

• dynamic interaction between cams and drive system (motor/gears/flywheel)

• design of cam-based input torque balancing mechanisms

• counterweight balancing of cam mechanisms.

This has led to the design of pyKurv, a stand-alone Python software for cam design