Twin tools for intelligent manufacturing: a case study

The article deals with a case of an industrial plant for which a balanced mix of flexibility and production slenderness is sought together with high quality, transparency and production effectiveness. The study is based on virtual plant assessments (by means of virtual engineering) and considers industrial artefacts (automotive components) aiming at economics of scale figures on short horizons, but undergoing fast updating requests of high flexibility of new hybrid and electric vehicles; the sought solution profits of shop-floor resources modularity and robotic cells use; example simulation issues are given, and the advantages, offered by the use of digital twins, are analyzed

Power Tillers and Snails for Demining in Sri Lanka

This paper presents a project the author has been working on since January 2005 in the context of her doctoral research and offers some of the first results. The topic concerns the participatory design and development of a distributed system for humanitarian-demining operations in Sri Lanka. The completed research is expected to encompass the relationship among landmines, humanitarian technologies and development. This article looks at the adaptation of power tillers for demining applications in Sri Lanka using a participatory design methodology called the Snail System

Land Release in Action

As part of the EU-funded TIRAMISU project, the author conducted a comprehensive survey of land release procedures in six countries during 2012. The results show that expectations of technical survey machines should be defined and standardized through tests and evaluations

Billy Goat Radio: MRE in Sahrawi Refugee Camps

Billy Goat Radio, a mine-risk education tool, enables local operators to easily write and produce short educational serial dramas, which can be radio broadcast and performed live for mine-affected communities. A pilot project using Billy Goat Radio was fielded in Sahrawi refugee camps in southwest Algeria in late 2013

Could Local Agricultural Machines Make a Country ‘Impact Free’ by 2010?

Many countries affected by landmines are also facing food crises, underscoring the necessity of cost-effective mine removal. Converting agricultural machines already available in many mine-affected countries for use on mine-action projects saves not only time but also money by speeding up the removal process and turning the land back into an agricultural resource

a methodology for planning a new urban car sharing system with fully automated personal vehicles

Purpose The paper concerns a transport system for pedestrian areas, based on a fleet of fully-automated Personal Intelligent Accessible Vehicles. The following services are provided: instant access, open ended reservation and one way trips. All these features provide users with high flexibility, but create a problem of uneven distribution of vehicles among the stations. A fully vehicle based relocation strategy is proposed: when a relocation is required vehicles automatically move among stations. The paper focuses on a methodology that allows to plan the proposed transport system for wide pedestrian areas. The methodology aims to determine the fleet dimension and the relocation strategy parameters which minimize the system cost. The system cost takes into account the level of service and the efficiency. Relocation strategy parameters define when and among which stations relocations should be performed

Toward LOCOSTRA: Blast-resistant Wheels Test

Technical Survey, often an efficient method of achieving land release, can also be prohibitively expensive for certain communities due to the utilization of the same hulking, heavily-armored machines used in clearance operations. If Technical Survey could be achieved through the use of less expensive agricultural equipment that is already present in communities near suspected areas, land release could be achieved at a much lower price. The following study explores this possibility by examining the explosion resilience of four different designs of blast-resistant tractor wheels, each made of commercial off-the-shelf components and designed for easy reproduction in mine-affected communities

Use of Dielectric Heating in Greenhouses

Cogeneration helps to optimise the energy consumption in modern greenhouse systems. A cogeneration plant produces electrical and thermal energy close to the greenhouse. Thermal energy is used for heating the plants, while electric energy powers the lights. A patent from the University of Genoa proposes to use part of the electricity produced by the cogeneration system to power a low-power microwave heating system that provides additional thermal energy input to the plants. This innovative approach showcases the integration of diverse energy sources for enhanced efficiency. The project aims to create a cost-effective dielectric heating system with feasible installation expenses, underpinned by a comprehensive analysis of power requirements and electric field dynamics that are essential for optimal plant heating. Four microstrip antennas for microwave generation have been designed. Their performance has been compared. A laboratory and an industrial prototype of microwave heaters have been created. The results are discussed. The successful testing of a prototype heater in a small greenhouse environment is a significant step towards the feasibility of this heating solution. The modular heater proposed makes the product suitable for different greenhouse sizes