Exergetic Control Charts (Variability Analysis in a Real Injection-moulding Industrial Application)

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Life cycle assessment of Italian residential windows: Sensitivity of analysis

Product Sustainability assessment is becoming ever more critical in the global competition; this is particularly true for building sector. This paper faces the problem of the analysis of sensitivity of this task by referring to a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) case of a PVC window for civil buildings applications. Sensitivity has been appreciated by referring to two functional units to evaluate the quality of the environmental impacts by relating it to the window features: per piece and per square meter of see-Through surface. It resulted that the sustainability impact calculated per square meter changes considerably with the change of the type of window. This sensitivity analysis leads to propose a new criterion of the analysis to provide a reliable assessment approach to be used for the evaluation of the environmental performance of products. The difference between the values of thermal transmittance measured and calculated is inferior to 5%, which it is an absolutely optimal value

Advances in stationary and portable fuel cell applications

The reliance on fossil fuels is one of the most challenging problems that need to be dealt with vigorously in recent times. This is because using them is not sustainable and leads to serious environmental issues, such as: air pollution and global warming. This condition affects economic security and development. An alternative to fossil fuel is highly possible which will be more environmentally friendly, sustainable and efficient as well. Among all the different technologies associated with renewable energy, fuel cell technologies represent one of the most promising technological advancement to curb the situation. In this paper, an overview of the technology and its advantages and disadvantages compared with competitive technologies was revealed. The application of different fuel cell types in the stationary and portable sectors was covered. Furthermore, recent challenges and promising developments of current fuel cell technologies in different studied applications were reviewed. Some possible solutions to the challenges were named in this paper for both the portable and stationary fuel cell applications. The paper further seeks to expose the world to the current progress made in the fuel cell industry up to date and possible areas that needs intensified research and modifications to make the fuel cell industry more vibrant and buoyant

A monitoring framework based on exergetic analysis for sustainability assessment of direct laser metal deposition process

With the constant increase of energy costs and environmental impacts, improving the process efficiency is considered a priority issue for the manufacturing field. A wide knowledge about materials, energy, machinery, and auxiliary equipment is required in order to optimize the overall performance of manufacturing processes. Sustainability needs to be assessed in order to find an optimal compromise between technical quality of products and environmental compatibility of processes. In this new Industry 4.0 era, innovative manufacturing technologies, as the additive manufacturing, are taking a predominant role. The aim of this work is to give an insight into how thermodynamic laws contribute at the same time to improve energy efficiency of manufacturing resources and to provide a methodological support to move towards a smart and sustainable additive process. In this context, a fundamental step is the proper design of a sensing and real-time monitoring framework of an additive manufacturing process. This framework should be based on an accurate modelling of the physical phenomena and technological aspects of the considered process, taking into account all the sustainability requirements. To this end, a thermodynamic model for the direct laser metal deposition (DLMD) process was proposed as a test case. Finally, an exergetic analysis was conducted on a prototype DLMD system to validate the effectiveness of an ad-hoc monitoring system and highlight the limitations of this process. What emerged is that the proposed framework provided significant advantages, since it represents a valuable approach for finding suitable process management strategies to identify sustainable solutions for innovative manufacturing procedures

Industry 4.0 paradigm: The viewpoint of the small and medium enterprises

International audienceThe pervasive diffusion of Information and Communication technologies (ICT) and automation technologies are the prerequisite for the preconized fourth industrial revolution: the Industry 4.0 (I4.0). Despite the economical efforts of several governments all over the world, still there are few companies, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), that adopt or intend to adopt in the near future I4.0 solutions. This work focus on key issues for implementing the I4.0 solutions in SMEs by using a specific case example as a test bench of an Italian small manufacturing company. Requirements and constraints derived from the field experience are generalised to provide a clear view of the profound potentialities and difficulties of the first industrial revolution announced instead of being historically recognised. A preliminary classification is then provided in view to start conceiving a library of Industry 4.0 formal patterns to identify the maturity of a SME for deploying Industry 4.0 concepts and technologies

Impact of COVID-19 emergency on the psychological well-being of susceptible individuals

The current pandemic has exerted an unprecedented psychological impact on the world population, and its effects on mental health are a growing concern. The present study aims to evaluate psychological well-being (PWB) during the COVID-19 crisis in university workers with one or more diseases likely to increase the risk of severe outcomes in the event of SARS-CoV-2 infection, defined as susceptible. 210 susceptible employees of an Italian University (aged 25-71 years) were recruited during the COVID-19 second wave (October-December 2020). A group comprising 90 healthy university employees (aged 26-69 years) was also recruited. The self-report Psychological General Well Being Index (PGWBI) was used to assess global PWB and the influence on six sub-domains: anxiety, depressed mood, positive well-being, self-control, general health, and vitality. We applied non-linear dimension-reduction techniques and regression methods to 45 variables in order to assess the main demographic, occupational, and general-health-related factors predicting PWB during the COVID-19 crisis. PGWBI score was higher in susceptible than in healthy workers, both as total score (mean 77.8 vs 71.3) and across almost all subscales. Age and jobs involving high social interaction before the pandemic were inversely associated with the PWB total score, general health, and self-control subscores. The current data suggest no decline in PWB during the second wave of COVID-19 health emergency in susceptible individuals of working age. Critically, higher risk for mental-health issues appears to be inversely related to age, particularly among individuals deprived of their previous level of social interaction at work

Evalaution and optimization of laser cutting parameters for plywood materials

Laser process parameters influence greatly the width of kerfs and quality of the cut edges. This article reports experiments on the laser plywood-cutting performance of a CW 1.5 kW CO2¬ Rofin laser, based on design of experiments (DOE). The laser was used to cut three thicknesses 3, 6 and 9 mm of plywood panels. The process factors investigated are: laser power, cutting speed, air pressure and focal point position. The aim of this work is to relate the cutting edge quality parameters namely: upper kerf (UK), lower kerf (LK), the ratio between upper to lower kerfs and the operating cost to the process parameters mentioned above. Mathematical models were developed to establish the relationship between the process parameters and the edge quality parameters, and special graphs were drawn for this purpose. Finally, a numerical optimization was performed to find out the optimal process setting at which both kerfs would lead to a ratio of about 1, and at which low cutting cost take place