Commissioning and implementing a PROFIBUS network in the Universal Water System

The Universal Water System (UWS) was built for instrumentation and control engineering students to design, implement and test different control schemes. The system has been primarily developed and designed by fourth year undergraduate and master’s students with the help of on-site technicians and electricians for installation of high voltage wiring, hardware equipment and IT related tasks. As the UWS is a learning tool that provides hands on experience with an industrial grade environment and equipment, improvement and maintenance of its functionality is a vital part of the on-going thesis projects. The main objectives of this work are split into three major segments. The first was commissioning the UWS, which consisted of updating the system’s software, replacing faulty equipment and ensuring appropriate functionality of the plant’s hardware. Two PROFIBUS Decentralised Peripherals (DP) flowmeters had been purchased to replace two faulty positive displacement flowmeters in the system. Hence the second objective was implement a PROFIBUS DP communication network for the new devices. The last objective was to design, implement and test more advanced control schemes through Open Platform Communication for the newly upgraded plant. With the project now complete, the UWS is operational with a fully functioning PROFIBUS DP communication network. The server computer’s operating system has been upgraded, while the Compact RIO’s firmware and the programming software has been updated to the latest version. Faulty equipment has been replaced and commissioned. Namely, two replacement flowmeters and an electric flow valve. A PROFIBUS DP network has been implemented to communicate with the two replacement flowmeters. An unexpected technical difficultly led to 5 variable speed drives being added to the PROFIBUS DP network. Additionally, the compact RIO’s code has been redesigned to improve efficiency, provide cyber-security, and to reduce the complexity of the client program. Due to unforeseen circumstances and time constraints the time taken to commission the plant and implement PROFIBUS was far greater than expected; two of the three project objectives were completed, pushing the advanced control schemes and Open Platform Communication to future work. Overall, the main accomplishment of this thesis besides the project objectives, is that the system has been updated, refitted and ready for operation for the next thesis student; so they do not run into the tedious and painful issues found during this project

Best Environmental Management Practice for the Car Manufacturing Sector Learning from frontrunners

The European automotive industry is one of the EU's largest manufacturing sectors, and the automotive value chain covers many activities largely carried out within the EU, such as design and engineering, manufacturing, maintenance and repair, and end-of-life vehicle (ELV) handling. This Best Practice report describes Best Environmental Management Practices (BEMPs), i.e. techniques, measures or actions that are implemented by the organisations within the sector which are most advanced in terms of environmental performance in areas such as energy and resource efficiency, emissions, or supply chain management. The BEMPs provide inspirational examples for any organisation within the sector to improve its environmental performance. The report firstly outlines technical information on the contribution of car manufacturing and end-of-life vehicle (ELV) handling to key environmental burdens in the EU, alongside data on the economic relevance of the sector. The second chapter presents best environmental management practice of interest primarily for manufacturing companies (car manufacturers and associated manufacturers in the supply chain) covering cross-cutting issues related to key environmental impacts (such as energy, waste, water management, or biodiversity) before exploring best practice linked to specific topics, such as supply chain management. Subsequently, specific information concerning actors in the treatment of end-of-life vehicles is presented in the third chapter, focussing in particular on best practice applicable to processers of ELVs. This Best Practice Report was developed with support from a Technical Working Group of experts from the car manufacturing and ELV sector and associated fields. The report gives a wide range of information (environmental benefits, economics, indicators, benchmarks, references, etc.) for each of the proposed best practices in order to be a source of inspiration and guidance for any company of the sector wishing to improve environmental performance. In addition, it will be the technical basis for a Sectoral Reference Document on the car manufacturing sector, to be produced by the European Commission according to the EMAS Regulation.JRC.B.5-Circular Economy and Industrial Leadershi

Assessment of industrial energy use and carbon emissions in the textile industry

This study is to design and validate an assessment procedure for energy efficiency of manufacturing buildings. I demonstrated the assessment, based on the detailed energy audit, procedure on a case-study Scottish textile factory. This is to address the recognised need for more energy studies in the small and medium enterprise (SMEs). This heterogeneous and complicated sector inherits a range of energy efficiency barriers, and therefore requires more tailored energy efficiency studies. Over four years, half-hourly (H-H) empirical electricity and gas data, lower-resolution measured data, technology nameplate ratings and operations data have been analysed. The whole-system (site-wide) and key technology assessment assesses the baseline demand, demand variations in response to variables (such as production, weather, and departmental activity), and potential for tailored energy efficiency strategies. H-H energy data, against weekday activity and shift patterns, was used to produce average daily profiles, with trends linked to production and weather impacts, in turn allowing for identification of periods of energy wastage. Based on the 24-hour peak- and off-peak periods, specific time slots were derived to numerically estimate average demands. Consequently, various demand characteristics like baseload, disaggregation and percentage contribution at activity and departmental level were calculated. Individual key technologies were studied for behaviour- and technologyrelated energy, cost, and carbon (energy savings when transformed into carbon emissions) saving estimations. The whole assessment showed promising saving opportunities, in a way that can be potentially translated to any similar manufacturing site. As a result of applying this approach to energy analysis, indicative energy, cost, and carbon savings against a base year were estimated to be 33%, 28%, and 28% respectively, with the longest payback period of five-years. Validation for the savings associated with identified measures, through physically installing/applying the measures, was not possible due to funding limitations. Measured and nameplate rating based auditing methods were compared, where possible, to assess their discrete limitations and suitability. The promising energy and carbon reduction methodology and the lessons learnt are adaptable for both textile and the other similar industries. With this transferability, a key part of the work of this methodology in the thesis provides a framework and a series of steps that allows this approach to be taken to SME industry