Future perspectives on sustainable tribology

AbstractThis paper highlights the future perspectives of sustainable tribology by examining the economic, environmental and social impact of three tribological case studies. One case study examines the sustainability and durability of micro-CHP systems looking the tribological phenomena generated within a scroll expander system. The scroll is the main part of a specific micro-CHP system and experiences wear and cavitation damage. The tribological optimization of the scroll expander improves the sustainability of the micro-CHP unit while it has a serious economic and environmental impact to the consumers and to the society in general. Another case study is focused on friction and wear performance of lifeboat launch slipways. The causes of high friction and wear during the RNLI's lifeboat launches along an inclined slipway are investigated with a view to reducing the environmental impact due to slipway panel wear and lubricant release into the marine environment. The project encompasses the sustainable design of slipway panels using design modifications based on tribological investigations to double their lifespan, while environmental and economic impact was significantly reduced by the use of biodegradable greases and water as lubricants. The final case study involves an investigation of recycled plastic materials to replace polyurethane used on skateboard wheels, scooters and similar applications. Polyurethane (PU) is difficult to recycle. With the dwindling resources and environmental problems facing the world today, recycling for both waste reduction and resource preservation has become an increasingly important aspect of sustainability. The tribological results showed that recycled polycarbonate plastic can effectively act as a substitute to polyurethane wheels. Moreover, sustainability considerations showing the environmental benefits of the use of recycled plastics over PU include reducing the CO2 footprint by 50% and the energy consumed by 60%, among other benefits. These case studies emphasise the importance of sustainable tribology in our epoch showing that increased sustainability performance can be achieved through tribology to a significant extent in many cases, providing stability to our world and more viable long term growth to our societies

Electricity from photovoltaic solar cells: Flat-Plate Solar Array Project final report. Volume VI: Engineering sciences and reliability

The Flat-Plate Solar Array (FSA) Project, funded by the U.S. Government and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was formed in 1975 to develop the module/array technology needed to attain widespread terrestrial use of photovoltaics by 1985. To accomplish this, the FSA Project established and managed an Industry, University, and Federal Government Team to perform the needed research and development. This volume of the series of final reports documenting the FSA Project deals with the Project's activities directed at developing the engineering technology base required to achieve modules that meet the functional, safety and reliability requirements of large-scale terrestrial photovoltaic systems applications. These activities included: (1) development of functional, safety, and reliability requirements for such applications; (2) development of the engineering analytical approaches, test techniques, and design solutions required to meet the requirements; (3) synthesis and procurement of candidate designs for test and evaluation; and (4) performance of extensive testing, evaluation, and failure analysis to define design shortfalls and, thus, areas requiring additional research and development. During the life of the FSA Project, these activities were known by and included a variety of evolving organizational titles: Design and Test, Large-Scale Procurements, Engineering, Engineering Sciences, Operations, Module Performance and Failure Analysis, and at the end of the Project, Reliability and Engineering Sciences. This volume provides both a summary of the approach and technical outcome of these activities and provides a complete Bibliography (Appendix A) of the published documentation covering the detailed accomplishments and technologies developed

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis a Tool for Reliability Evaluation: Review

The purpose of safety designing is generally not on cost, but rather on saving life and nature, and consequently bargains just with specific risky system failure modes. High reliability levels are the consequence of good designing, scrupulousness and dependably never the aftereffect of re-dynamic failure management. Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is a helpful technique analyzing engineering system reliability. The study focused on the use of FMEA technique to analyze the reliability of engineering equipment or components in selected areas such as: Wind Turbine component, Manufacturing Industries, Medical field and in evaluating the performances of Robots in different fields. The study showed the importance of FMEA as used widely in analyzing engineering equipment with regards to reliability

An Interactive Decision Support System for Energy Management in Process Industry

Industrial energy accounts for roughly one-third of total global energy consumption and is expected to continue with a similar share in the foreseeable future, therefore the efficient use of energy and energy saving are important issues for the industrial sectors. Energy Efficiency EE is a crucial factor for energy cost-benefits and waste reduction also environmental management, and can be improved by different approaches. Especially in this study the energy saving through management system will be illustrated. EE is achieved by use of an energy management system which presents various strategies, tools, methods, technologies, and effective measures to face energy saving and consumption issues, that also includes energy audits, monitoring, control and continuous improvement of the system. In particular in this work energy saving through maintenance (corrective and preventive) and operative procedures were addressed. Maintenance operations are fundamental in granting machineries and processes energy saving, given the capability of optimising them thanks to the predictive models. The major challenge of maintenance optimization is to implement a maintenance strategy, which maximizes availability and efficiency of the equipment, controls the rate of equipment deterioration, ensures the safe and environmentally friendly operation, and minimizes the total cost of the operation which means the both production and energy cost. In this work, an energy efficiency analysis model was developed formed by integration of a deterministic and probabilistic model of the system, based on a balance of cost/benefits, to optimize maintenance interventions and operative procedures as the first aim of maximizing energy efficiency. In particular, as an element of novelty with respect to literature models, the maintenance influence has been explicitly modeled and used as an optimization parameter. The decision making model and data analysing were shown through application to a case study in an industrial production process in Bitumtec Ltd. plant, which produces bituminous materials for road paving. The motor-driven equipment accounts for approximately 60% of manufacturing final electricity use worldwide. A major barrier to effective policymaking, and to more global acceptance of the energy efficiency potential in industrial motor systems, is the lack of a transparent methodology for quantifying the magnitude and cost-effectiveness of these energy savings. Therefore the power consumption was analyzed, as an example, for the most critical system (the greater energy consumption system) or the three phases electric motor system (160 kW) "Siefer" which drives the homogenization mill during production. Bottom-up energy efficiency supply curve models is used to estimate the cost-effective electricity efficiency potentials, also CO2 emission reduction, for the motor system. Using a combination of expert opinions and available data, from our selected industrial case study, there was introduced an analysis approach where is used the concept of a "conservation supply curve CSC" to capture the cost effective as well as the technical potential for energy efficiency. The curve shows the energy conservation potential as a function of the marginal Cost of Conserved Energy. This approach is explained in details; further the results were illustrated and discussed. The first step of this study was a literature review to develop a base line of information, through of research in the field of energy management systems, industrial energy efficiency technologies. That included general review of energy saving models, also optimization of energy consumption in industrial production process. Because of the importance of the maintenance activities and reliability of the systems, also was reviewed maintenance optimization models and their impacts on energy cost-effectiveness, productivity benefits and environments. A part of these studies are introduced in this work and illustrated as the theoretical parts. Analysis has been emphasized, the importance of optimizing maintenance activities and operating procedures to increase the performance of the system. Energy efficiency was evaluated for three different base case scenarios; Low, Medium and High with their related potential energy recovery, performance and environmental benefits. Maximizing efficiency of the system that is our goal is achieved through the use of this model, which also based on analysis of historical data, expert inputs and analysis of the economic impacts that was discussed and demonstrated by the results. In this work the proposed framework with flowing steps are introduced: • Identification of the Most Important System MIS Specially, in this study a motor-driven system in a production process of bituminous materials in Bitumtec Ltd. plant, is addressed. • Identification of the most critical component MCC Particularly, in this study is addressed the electrical motor (160 kWh) that drives homogenization mill "Siefer" during production process of bituminous materials. • Life time and energy consumption data collection and observation, also data related to maintenance activities (corrective and preventive) and failures data collection. • Estimated costs of maintenance and the economic evaluation of maintenance policies (based on balanced cost and risk of inefficiency). • Maintenance optimization (in terms of probability and consequences). • Estimated operating costs of the system. • Analysis of energy efficiency through maintenance optimization and operating procedures, by using of bottom-up energy efficiency supply curve analysis model, where it was introduced; Expert inputs (based on the information of the expert of the system), and data assumption. • Definition of three base case scenarios In this case, were defined three efficiency base case scenarios; low, Medium and High, base case levels with related potential for recovery of electricity. Further, was proposed the related efficiency measures o adequate solutions (cost-effective) to increase the efficiency, based on the maintenance activities, operating procedures and the conditions of the system. • Determination of the impact of these measures on the performanc

A total productive maintenance & reliability framework for an active pharmaceutical ingredient plant utilising design for Lean Six Sigma

publishedVersio

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography, supplement 122

This bibliography lists 303 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in April 1980

Manufacturing Equipment Reliability Improvement using Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Implementation : A Review

To ensure the continuity of the operation, the reliability of assets must be taken into account. Maintenance is one important aspect that contributes to efficient and effective asset performance. Lack of managing maintenance program can result low productivity and higher operational cost. Due to the limited amount of resources and large number of assets that have to be maintained, the maintenance activity has to be strategize and supported by all company organization level with respect of their capabilities. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a logical and simple concept that can improve performance. It aims zero failures, zero defects, and zero accidents to gain the maximum overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of assets. The aim of this research is to determine the core concepts and its practice of TPM from the various literature and use them to assess the current policy related to maintenance in the hydropower plant, whether it embrace TPM practices or not. It also investigate and identify the success factors and barriers in implementing TPM. The purpose of this research is to find the correlation between reliability improvement, maintenance activities, and aspects of TPM implementation. It is found that TPM theoretically can improve overall reliability of equipment by executing maintenance strategy model which is supported by all level of employee and functional divisions of manufacturing organization. Future empirical research is required to prove the concept of TPM implementation in improving equipment reliability. Keywords: reliability; maintenance; total productive maintenance (TPM

Preliminary design studies of an advanced general aviation aircraft

The preliminary design results are presented of the advanced aircraft design project. The goal was to take a revolutionary look into the design of a general aviation aircraft. Phase 1 of the project included the preliminary design of two configurations, a pusher, and a tractor. Phase 2 included the selection of only one configuration for further study. The pusher configuration was selected on the basis of performance characteristics, cabin noise, natural laminar flow, and system layouts. The design was then iterated to achieve higher levels of performance