Martinš Šarkans

• Senior Researcher at Tallinn University of Technology

Due to rapidly advancing technologies, there is a high demand for training specialists with the corresponding level of qualification. One of the main directions for preparing specialists is appropriate laboratory conditions and teaching methodology that are close to real practical tasks in production. The Higher Engineering School provides an oppor...

More than a decade ago, we were introduced to the concept of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), and today a lot has been applied in the manufacturing industry. Moreover, the concept of Industry 5.0 (I5.0) is spreading its branches, focusing on collaboration between humans and machines. The continuous development of collaborative robots (cobots) has led to a situ...

The adoption of Digital Twin (DT) solutions for industrial purposes is increasing among small- and medium-sized enterprises and is already being integrated into many large-scale companies. As there is an increasing need for faster production and shortening of the learning curve for new emerging technologies, Virtual Reality (VR) interfaces for ente...

The usage of far or hard ultraviolet radiation in wavelength 200 – 280 nm or shortly UV-C disinfectors are becoming more and more popular due to their universal ability to fight against bacteria and viruses. It is well known that according to DIN 5031-7, both UV-A and UV-B radiation from sunlight have clear influence on the mechanical and visual pr...

Digital Twin (DT) concept nowadays is shown via the simulations of the manufacturing systems and included those production processes and parametric 3D models of the product. It is the primary method for planning, analysing and optimising the factory layout and processes. Moreover, work on management via the simulation in real-time is already done u...

Modern Industrial Robot (IR) programming process is mainly performed by using three different methods — manual, offline, and online programming. Each of these methods has various advantages and disadvantages. Prominent automotive industries often use a combination of them, as there is no way to avoid one or another form of programming on one factor...

Measuring and inspection works in production process using laser scanners attached to the robot manipulators are more and more used in different ways and purposes. The aim of this article is to study and analyze the usage of 3D measuring devices attached to the robot manipulator according to determine the range and the purpose of such industrial me...

To stay competitive in the global market the enterprises must find possibilities to make production more efficient. Taking into consideration the production process what is energy consuming it is also essential to look at the energy consumption in enterprise. European Union has started an initiative FoF (Factories of The Future), where main purpose...

Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) has been used already for a long time. Due to increasing competition among companies, use of different kind of flexible production systems is also increasing. The main objectives to implement the FMS in the company are to produce different parts or part families more efficiently. Efficiency in FMS means minimizi...

Choosing a technology to manufacture any product has never been an easy challenge. Mostly because it requires a compromise between very different and conflicting parameters i.e. product must be cheap yet with high quality. An approach using products' functional requirements along with other parameters to help with that decision process has been pro...

For welding of conventional structural steels semiautomatic technologies (MIG, MAG) are widely used, whereas for welding of Al-alloys and stainless steels the TIG welding method is the most common. The current study concentrates on welding of thin sheet metal products from stainless steel and aluminium by using a novel cold metal transfer (CMT) pro...

Using functional requirements as a modeling tool for a company as a whole and using functional requirements to describe a production processes is relatively new approach. For companies with large manufacturing facilities and a large number of different workbenches this kind of representation is especially interesting. It allows to review and reorga...

Robot welding in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) poses new challenges concerning the programming of robots and production planning. In this context, a methodology is presented to estimate the robot programming time suitable for small product batches. On this basis a new approach to the estimation of the product suitability for robot weldi...

During recent years the automation of production processes in small and medium enterprises (SME-s) has been a subject of growing interest. The economy of scale and increased volume of production can be achieved by selecting the right strategy for the automation. The automation systems are as a rule complex and their implementation is resource consu...

During recent years the automation of production processes in SME-s (SME - Small and Medium Enterprise) has been subject of interest. The economy of scale and increased volume of production can be achieved by selecting the right strategy for the automation. The automation systems mainly are complex and their implementation is resource consuming. Th...

Rapid prototyping (RP) is being recognised as a significant technology for future product development. This paper investigates rapid product development made in collaboration with electronic engineers, designers and mechanical engineers for apparatus industry. The interaction of modularisation, collaborative engineering and competence merging metho...

Recent studies show that within the scope of modularity several approaches are proposed for creating modular products and product platforms. Those approaches are distributed over the product development (PD) process and they differ from each other on the level of modularity. The economy of production and sale can be achieved by using appropriate me...

Laboratory works elaborated for teaching multidisciplinary subjects as Machine Automation or Computer Integrated Production Systems grow obsolete rapidly, as modern CNC machine tools and robots are 'smarter' and contain more sensors. Updating the existing systems is expensive, as in wired systems the installation of enough sensors is often limited...