Conducts digital design optimization, digital manufacturing, digital inspection, and digital twin and maintenance.
The Advanced Digital Design, Manufacturing, and Metrology Laboratories (AD2MLabs) is a collective facility that conducts innovative research focused on the “digitalization” of theoretical and technological aspects in product life cycle including design, manufacturing, metrology and inspection, and maintenance.
Directed by Professor Ahmad Barari, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Ontario Tech, the team is comprised of dedicated PhD and Masters students, as well as talented undergraduate students. The lab’s research topics include the cyber-physical system for industry 4.0 applications, digital manufacturing, additive manufacturing and 3D printing, 3D coordinate metrology, topology optimization, structural design optimization, reverse engineering, and digital twin.
The objective of AD2MLabs is to serve community, industrial sectors and academia with partnership in various projects.
The lab’s research is primarily focused on the transition to the computerization of the theoretical and technological aspects in the product life cycle. AD2MLabs’ expertise lies in various research topics pertaining to digital manufacturing and design optimization.
- Aerospace and satellites
- Automotive
- Manufacturing and processing
- Transportation
Specialized labs and equipment
| Specialized lab | Equipment | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Digital Manufacturing Laboratory | Multi-scale fused deposition modeling (FDM) machines | Material extrusion machines for various scales and variety of materials including three (3) custom-built machines for large scale 3D printing, variable layer 3D printing, and multi-material green part 3D printing. |
| Advanced Digital Manufacturing Laboratory | Digital light processing (DLP) machine (custom-built) | Vat photopolymerization processes design and developed at AD2M Labs for layerless high precision 3D printing. |
| Advanced Digital Manufacturing Laboratory | EOS M190 Metal 3D Printer | Metal additive manufacturing equipment. Laser powder bed additive manufacturing for various metals including stainless steel, aluminum, and titanium alloys. |
| Advanced Digital Manufacturing Laboratory | Repair or Replace (RoR) machine (custom-built) | Laser direct energy deposition (DED) robotic arm customized for repair of damaged industrial parts. |
| Advanced Digital Metrology Laboratory | FaroArm laser scanner and tactile probe | 3D scanning with various complexities equipped with a library of custom-built software solutions for Integrated Inspection System (IIS), and commercially available software tools including Ployworks. |
| Advanced Digital Metrology Laboratory | FARO laser tracker | For large scale metrology. 3D laser tracker for large scales up to 40 m ranges, equipped with a library of custom-built software solutions for Integrated Inspection System (IIS), and commercially available software tools including Ployworks. |
| Advanced Digital Metrology Laboratory | 3D surface topography microscope (custom-built) | Profiler to study surface roughness. |
| Advanced Digital Metrology Laboratory | Friction testing apparatus (custom-built) | To study friction properties of various surface coating on rotating shafts. |
| Advanced Digital Metrology Laboratory | Pipeline testing apparatus (custom-built) | To study LIVE Digital Twin for Prognostic and Predictive Maintenance, the apparatus is equipped with proprietary Smart Structural Sensors developed at AD2MLabs. |
| Advanced Digital Metrology Laboratory | Rotary machinery testing apparatus (custom-built) | To study LIVE Digital Twin for Prognostic and Predictive Maintenance, the apparatus is equipped with proprietary Smart Structural Sensors developed at AD2MLabs. |
Private and public sector research partners
- Ontario Power Generation
- Stantec
- International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC)
- Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA)
- Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE)
- Horizon Aircraft
- Arshon Technology
- BlueWrist Inc.
- Oombo Technologies Inc.
- Anubis Solutions
- SimuTech Group
- Cimetrix Ltd.
- Intellectual Alliance Inc.
- Durmach
- Multivans Inc.
- Lamko Tool & Mold Inc.
- Multimatic Inc.
Additional information
| Title | URL |
|---|---|
| Dr. Ahmad Barari’s profile. | http://ahmadbarari.com |
| Getting up to speed: How Ontario Tech research development helped move Project Arrow forward. | https://news.ontariotechu.ca/archives/2023/07/getting-up-to-speed-how-ontario-tech-research-development-helped-move-project-arrow-forward.php |
| Driving onto the world stage: The Ontario Tech Project Arrow story. | https://uoitca-prod.modolabs.net/visitor/news/detail?feed=news_feas&id=0e677ea5-9767-56c7-9833-8de9548d30f1 |
| Profile of Dr. Ahmad Barari, Scientific Vice Chair, International Federation of Automatic Control. | https://tc.ifac-control.org/5/1/members/ahmad-barari |
| AD2MLabs page in the Canada Makes directory. | https://canadamakes.ca/directory/ad2m-labs.htm |
| 13th International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Workshop on Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS 2019). | http://www.ifacims2019.com/ |