Industry 4.0 technologies for manufacturing sustainability: A systematic review and future research directions

Recent developments in manufacturing processes and automation have led to the new industrial revolution termed “Industry 4.0”. Industry 4.0 can be considered as a broad domain which includes: data management, manufacturing competitiveness, production processes and efficiency. The term Industry 4.0 includes a variety of key enabling technologies i.e., cyber physical systems, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, big data analytics and digital twins which can be considered as the major contributors to automated and digital manufacturing environments. Sustainability can be considered as the core of business strategy which is highlighted in the United Nations (UN) Sustainability 2030 agenda and includes smart manufacturing, energy efficient buildings and low-impact industrialization. Industry 4.0 technologies help to achieve sustainability in business practices. However, very limited studies reported about the extensive reviews on these two research areas. This study uses a systematic literature review approach to find out the current research progress and future research potential of Industry 4.0 technologies to achieve manufacturing sustainability. The role and impact of different Industry 4.0 technologies for manufacturing sustainability is discussed in detail. The findings of this study provide new research scopes and future research directions in different research areas of Industry 4.0 which will be valuable for industry and academia in order to achieve manufacturing sustainability with Industry 4.0 technologies

Study of a Semi Active Electromagnetic Regenerative Suspension

The main objective of this work is the theoretical and numerical study of a device that allows recovering energy from an automobile suspension. In place of the viscous damper, which dissipates the kinetic energy of the vehicle due to rough roads or more marked obstacles, an electromagnetic damper performs the functions of the viscous shock absorber with a recovery of electric energy. The damper has permanent magnets and its working is based on the electromagnetic induction. The used ferromagnetic material is the Supermendur, which has very good ferromagnetic properties, but is expensive and difficult to found, so that the choice of different material is useful to reduce the costs. The mathematical model describes the operation of the damper, restoring the values of the electrical and mechanical magnitudes versus the relative speed between the stem and the stator. Several finite element analyses, conducted in ANSYS Workbench Magnetostatic, confirm both the magnetic field and flux values obtained through the theoretical analysis. A calculation example of the energy recovery is done considering an electric minicar transiting on a bumpy road (IRI=3); the recovered power has a total value of 280W about; at last a comparison with similar devices proves the excellent quality of the design also if the comparison should be done with uniformity of the parameters

Design of an Electromagnetic Regenerative Damper and Energy Harvesting Assessment

Design of an electromagnetic regenerative shock absorber is proposed in this paper. In order to increase the efficiency of land vehicles the sources of energy losses have to be eliminated, or reduced. For this reason, several systems, recovering kinetic energy and converting it into electrical power, were studied and designed in the last years. This energy, converted into heat in traditional systems, is recovered to increase the autonomy of the vehicle. The proposed device is constituted by a stator part which coils are placed in an innovative disposition. The moving part is constituted by a rod made in stainless steel with alternated permanent magnets and spacers, so that the relative motion generates a great variation of the concatenated magnetic flux on the coils. A damper mathematical model is implementedin order to characterize the device operating. Several finite element analyses, conducted in ANSYS Workbench Magnetostatic, have confirmed the magnetic field and flux values obtained through the theoretical analysis

Industry 4.0: Advanced digital solutions implemented on a close power loop test bench

The paradigm of Industry 4.0 allows to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the production. Companies that will implement advanced solutions in production systems will increase their level of competitiveness and will be able reach high market shares. The present paper is focused on the development of advanced digital solutions to be implemented on a close power loop test bench designed to test high power transmissions for naval unit. In particular, the test configuration consists of a back-to-back connection between two identical mechanical reducers. Since the efficiency of these systems are very high, it is not necessary to use large electric motors, thus managing to contain the operating costs of the testing phase. The particular test bench allows to size the electric motor simply based on the dissipated power by the kinematic mechanisms. By means of suitable sensors installed on the test bench it is possible to extrapolate countless technical data. The implementation of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies allows to evaluate the increase in efficiency compared to traditional systems in terms of reduction of noise and vibrations, efficiency of lubrication, reduction of consumption, installation and maintenance cost of the entire system

Towards Shipping 4.0. A preliminary gap analysis

The paradigm of Industry 4.0 involves a substantial innovation to the value creation approach thought the supply chain and the application of digital enabling technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data Analytics (BDA) and cloud computing. The fourth industrial revolution is thus expected to have a disruptive impact on maritime transport and shipping sectors, where smart ships and autonomous vessels well be part of a new and fully interconnected maritime ecosystem. Specific hardware components, such as sensors, actuators, or processors will be embedded in the ship’s key systems in order to provide valuable information to increase the efficiency, sustainability and safety of maritime transport. The big challenge is thus to design more efficient business models where digitized information will be effectively employed to strengthen the value chain. This paper addresses such topic discussing by performing a gap analysis between current (traditional) business models and next generation digitized shipping industry, discussing the maturity level and the technological barriers

Industry 4.0: smart test bench for shipbuilding industry

Industry 4.0 promises to increase the efficiency of production plants and the quality of the final product. Consequently, companies that implement advanced solutions in production systems will have a competitive advantage in the future. The principles of Industry 4.0 can also be applied to shipyards to transform them into “smart shipyards” (Shipyard 4.0). The aim of this research is to implement an interactive approach by Internet of Things on a closed power-loop test bench equipped with sophisticated sensors that is specifically designed to test high-power thrusters before they are installed on high-speed crafts, which are used in passenger transport. The preliminary results of the proposed Internet of Things-platform demonstrates the efficacy of the decision-making support tool in improving the design of propulsion systems and increasing their efficiency compared to traditional systems

Interactive roll stabilization comparative analysis for large yacht: gyroscope versus active fins

The problem of the active stabilization of ship motions is particularly important in the case of pleasure boats or in any case of passenger ships, since the commercial value of the ship is directly related to the comfort of the load transported in this case “people”, considered as stresses induced on them by the vessel movements, with particular attention to roll, given the ship geometric characteristics. Naval architects developed trough the years different solutions to reduce the roll of the ship, and consequentially to increase the passengers comfort, and the development of this solutions followed the progress of technology. Active fins have been the most used, but now the gyroscope solution is coming out with interesting solutions also for large yacht with displacement over 1000 t. The paper aimed at making a interactive comparison between the two systems: active fins and gyroscopes, trough the case study of a yacht of 77.77 m, in order to evaluate if, assuming the same capability to reduce the roll for each one of the two systems, there are other advantages or disadvantages from the point of view of the naval architecture, in particular the resistance of the hull. In fact the importance of the resistance on high Froude number hulls, like planning hulls it is well known, but the paper aimed at giving result useful for naval architects also on traditional displacement hulls, like the one considered here, in order to give also a contribution for preliminary design. The interactivity of the process has been realized using not a theoretical estimation of the gain resistance of the ship according to equations etc. but real tank tests on the hull, according to International Towing Tank Conference methodology, with and without appendages