Novel car carrier design : prevention of falls from heights

This article reports the details of a research on novel design in the field of semitrailer sector and discuss design by hazard prevention techniques. The novel design made addresses occupational health and safety (OHS)concerns of fall from heights. The research includes a detailed survey of national data sources to examine the fatalities caused due to fall from heights in car carriers. The study investigates OHS recommendations in Australia for semitrailer sector. Often injuries are caused due to drivers working above the 1.5 meter height for loading, unloading of the cars, moving the decks up, down, strapping the cars, and slipperly. The new design is developed using latest computer aided design and engineeing (CAD, CAE), product data management (PDM), virtual design process (VDP). The new car carrier design excels in reducing the risks of injuries to drivers and new bench mark for OHS standards. The new design has all the decks operated with hydraulics and uses unique ratchet lock mechanism (fool proof design) and loading happens at a safe working height (below 1.5 meter). All the cars are strapped on the safe working height, and then car desks operated hydraulically to transfer them to the required position. This also includes the car on the prime mover, which shuttles across from one deck to other using hydraulic and rack-pinion mechanisms. The novel design car carrier solves the problem of falls from height: next step would be to transfer this technology across other similar effected sectors

Using Hysteresis Loop and Torsional Shock Loading to Assess Damping and Efficiency of Cyclodrives

Cyclodrives gained popularity in the last 10...15 years. They posses many unique features such as large reduction ratio in one stage and ability to withstand up to 500% shock overloading. They are much smaller than conventional drives with a similar reduction ratio. They posses 'lost motion' up to (plus/minus)28 degrees, which can be attributed to clearances and contact deformation, and it plays much greater role in Cyclodrives performance than in other kinds of drives. Despite many interesting characteristics of Cyclodrives very few research publications are available on Cyclodrive features and dynamics. In this paper a comparative analysis is conducted of Cyclodrives and other kinds of drives with very large reduction ratio in one stage. Results of experimental study of the hysteresis phenomenon in Cyclodrives and damping properties derived from dickey curves under torsional impact load are presented. The static efficiency of Cyclodrives was significantly lover of the dynamic efficiency reported by the manufacturer (in excess of 92.5%) when they are loaded up to the nominal torque, and significantly decreases when they are overloaded to 4 times the nominal torque

Teaching Tribology in Engineering Courses

It is becoming more and more important for engineering graduates to become aware that reliable performance of equipment depends not only on the implementation of general design principles but also on understanding of fundamentals of friction, wear and lubrication (Tribology). Many universities in engineering courses teach just basic principles of engineering and mechanical design. Some universities introduced in engineering design subjects elements of machine condition monitoring and friction and wear. Queensland University of Technology (QUT) went further and introduced initially an elective subject Tribology, and then a specialisation within BE Mechanical Degree on Engineering Maintenance with a unique structure of mechanical design subjects. This structure includes three subjects: Fundamentals of mechanical design; Design of mechanical components and machines; and Design and maintenance of machinery. In this paper the analysis is presented of teaching and learning approaches, benefits of the new structure and feedback from students. Some of the presented approaches are as follows: systematic teaching of Tribology, machine reliability machine condition monitoring, machine failure analysis (including Anticipatory Failure DeterminationTM, AFDTM, method), continuing projects (gearbox project in the second design unit and lubrication project in the third design unit). These innovative teaching approaches received overwhelming students’ support. The feedback from graduates indicates that they are much better prepared for engineering practice

Teaching tribology and maintenance-related subjects: a hands-on focus

In this paper different aspects of teaching tribology and maintenance-related subjects with a hands-on focus at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) are presented and discussed. As part of the study, a combination of data from core units, such as engineering design units, and elective units, was used, in addition to laboratory experiments, real-life projects, interactive software packages and industry visits. The mechanical engineering curriculum structure used at QUT, consisting of the main specialization (first major) and the second specialization (second major), is also discussed with specific emphasis on the teaching of tribology and maintenance-related subjects. To evaluate students' satisfaction with the novel teaching approaches used, tailored questionnaires were used as well as QUT's online learning experience survey (LEX). Statistical results of these sureveys are presented and discussed. In summary, these showed that students overwhelmingly support the hands-on and practical focus in teaching tribology and maintenance-related subjects and that the teaching approaches used shorten the learning curve and make students better prepared for integration in the workplace

Study of tissue damage during mechanical peeling of tough skinned vegetables

Peeling is an essential phase of post harvesting and processing industry; however the undesirable losses and waste rate that occur during peeling stage are always the main concern of food processing sector. There are three methods of peeling fruits and vegetables including mechanical, chemical and thermal, depending on the class and type of fruit. By comparison, the mechanical method is the most preferred; this method keeps edible portions of produce fresh and creates less damage. Obviously reducing material losses and increasing the quality of the process has a direct effect on the whole efficiency of food processing industry which needs more study on technological aspects of this industrial segment. In order to enhance the effectiveness of food industrial practices it is essential to have a clear understanding of material properties and behaviour of tissues under industrial processes. This paper presents the scheme of research that seeks to examine tissue damage of tough skinned vegetables under mechanical peeling process by developing a novel FE model of the process using explicit dynamic finite element analysis approach. In the proposed study a nonlinear model which will be capable of simulating the peeling process specifically, will be developed. It is expected that unavailable information such as cutting force, maximum shearing force, shear strength, tensile strength and rupture stress will be quantified using the new FEA model. The outcomes will be used to optimize and improve the current mechanical peeling methods of this class of vegetables and thereby enhance the overall effectiveness of processing operations. Presented paper aims to review available literature and previous works have been done in this area of research and identify current gap in modelling and simulation of food processes