Dr David Tormey is a Principal Investigator and Executive Committee member of I-Form. He is a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) and Academic Director of the University's Centre for Precision Engineering, Materials and Manufacturing Research (PEM Research Centre). The PEM Centre is also a designated Technology Gateway, funded by Enterprise Ireland, to support the applied research needs of the manufacturing industry. David is also Principal Investigator with the Northwest Centre for Advanced Manufacturing (NWCAM), funded by Interreg VA. Previous positions held in ATU include Head of Department of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering and manager of the Institute’s Centre for Design Innovation, funded under Enterprise Ireland’s Applied Research Enhancement (ARE) programme.
David’s current research interests are in the areas of manufacturing process optimisation, additive manufacturing, non-conventional machining and sustainable manufacturing and is an invited member of the IEEE subcommittee on Computer vision and Human-Machine Interaction in Industrial and Factory Automation. His research work is focused on increasing manufacturing process efficiencies, reducing waste and enhancing part quality through informed decision-making that is data driven. Active I-Form projects include the thermo-mechanical optimisation of injection mould tooling fabricated by metal additive manufacturing, with the objective of reducing production cycle time, increasing tool fatigue life, and minimising scrap. In addition, his current I-Form platform research is focused on post-processing of AM produced surfaces.
David has led a number of industry projects secured from national and European competitive funding programmes (cumulative €14m). He was the lead Principal Investigator and coordinator for the FP7 funded research project µECM - Development of a next generation Micro-ECM sinking machine for the Automotive, Aerospace, & Medical device sectors (FP7- Benefit of SMEs - 262072). He has published related research work in several peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and conference proceedings. David has also been appointed to various expert review panels by agencies of the European Commission to evaluate funding proposals and ongoing research projects.
Expertise
Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing), Advanced Manufacturing, Hybrid Additive/Subtractive Manufacturing, Process Modeling, Process Optimisation