EXPERT SYSTEM BASED APPROACH FOR MATERIAL SELECTION OF AUTOMOBILE BODY-IN-WHITE STRUCTURAL PANELS USING NUMERICAL RANKING AND SUSTAINABILITY INDICES

The goal of this work is to establish a set of quantifiable measures for design for sustainability (DFS) that can be applied to automotive applications in terms of environmental, social, economic and technical aspects. In this study, a comprehensive analysis was made in order to develop a methodology that can evaluate different body-in-white designs in terms of major sustainability aspects. Besides the complete life cycle analysis, environmental impacts and cost factors will be analyzed over vehicle\u27s entire life-cycle (fuel extraction and refining, Pre-manufacturing, Manufacturing, Use, and Post-use stages). The considered material options include: conventional steel, high strength steel, aluminum, magnesium, titanium and composites that are currently used in body-in-white (BIW) structures and exterior body panels. Sustainability scoring method was developed and used to decide on how using lighter materials in auto body applications is beneficial or not. The proposed major sustainable factors are categorized into four major groups: environmental, economical, social and technical groups. Also, each group has corresponding factors which were chosen by extensive search and screening, so only important sustainability aspects for auto body design have been selected in this study. Then the dissertation proceeds to show some sustainability scoring methods in order to get better understanding as well as relative ranking for different materials from sustainability point of view. Moreover, this work discusses the role and application of some multi-criteria decision making methods in materials selection, namely quality function deployment (QFD) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). However, multi-criteria decision making methods are efficient tools to choose alternative from large set of alternatives, especially when two or more conflicting goals are present. Besides that, knowledge based system (KBS) was established for eco-material selection for auto-body structural panels. The goal behind using KBS is to help designers in material selection process which usually needs experience, time and effort

Eco-Material Selection for Lightweight Vehicle Design

In order for automakers to meet the new stringent environmental policies and to improve fuel efficiency of their vehicles, they started to change the design of their vehicles to be better aerodynamically, to downside their vehicle sizes, thus they can reduce the engine size as well, and to increase the level of the electrification (partial or full electrification) of their fleet vehicles. Lightweight design is another widely used strategy to improve fuel economy of automobiles. Potential lightweight material needs to be cost effective, has the ability to reduce the weight of the vehicle and can meet the functionality requirements. Thus, we need a systematic material selection process that takes into consideration all design aspects such as cost, performance, and environmental impacts. Eco-material selection provides a systematic method for material selection and takes into account material’s mechanical properties, cost, and ability to reduce environmental impacts over product’s lifetime. This chapter summarizes methods of eco-material selections for automotive structural panels in the body-in-white. A set of numerical and qualitative metrics for eco-material selection will be developed and discussed in this chapter. These metrics cover products’ environmental impact, functionality, manufacturability, economic, and societal and safety factors

Freeze Dried Quetiapine-Nicotinamide Binary Solid Dispersions: A New Strategy for Improving Physicochemical Properties and Ex Vivo Diffusion

Improving the physicochemical properties and oral bioavailability of quetiapine fumarate (QF) enabling enhanced antipsychotic attributes are the main aims of this research. The freeze dried solid dispersion strategy was adopted using nicotinamide (NIC) as highly soluble coformer. The prepared dispersions were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Static disc intrinsic dissolution rate and ex vivo diffusion through intestinal tissues were conducted and compared to pure quetiapine fumarate. The results demonstrated a highly soluble coamorphous system formed between quetiapine fumarate and nicotinamide at 1 : 3 molar ratio through H-bonding interactions. The results showed >14-fold increase in solubility of QF from the prepared dispersions. Increased intrinsic dissolution rate (from 0.28 to 0.603 mg cm −2 min −1 ) and faster flux rate through duodenum (from 0.027 to 0.041 mg cm −2 h −1 ) and jejunum (0.027 to 0.036 mg cm −2 h −1 ) were obtained. The prepared coamorphous dispersion proved to be effective in improving the drug solubility and dissolution rate and ex vivo diffusion. Therefore, binary coamorphous dispersions could be a promising solution to modify the physicochemical properties, raise oral bioavailability, and change the biopharmaceutics classification (BCS) of some active pharmaceutical ingredients

The role of hydrogen and fuel cells in the global energy system

Hydrogen technologies have experienced cycles of excessive expectations followed by disillusion. Nonetheless, a growing body of evidence suggests these technologies form an attractive option for the deep decarb onisation of global energy systems, and that recent improvements in their cost and performance point towards economic viability as well. This paper is a comprehensive review of the potential role that hydrogen could play in the provision of electricity, h eat, industry, transport and energy storage in a low - carbon energy system, and an assessment of the status of hydrogen in being able to fulfil that potential. The picture that emerges is one of qualified promise: hydrogen is well established in certain nic hes such as forklift trucks, while mainstream applications are now forthcoming. Hydrogen vehicles are available commercially in several countries, and 225,000 fuel cell home heating systems have been sold. This represents a step change from the situation of only five years ago. This review shows that challenges around cost and performance remain, and considerable improvements are still required for hydrogen to become truly competitive. But such competitiveness in the medium - term future no longer seems an unrealistic prospect, which fully justifies the growing interest and policy support for these technologies around the world

Techno-economic analysis of H2@Scale production from organic municipal solid waste

Environmental sustainability entails alleviating a multitude of challenges including the minimization of waste and associated carbon emissions. The emergence of Green Hydrogen (H2) utilization is considered a promising groundbreaking initiative for the transition toward a low-carbon economy. While the concept of energy recovery from waste is not novel, its practical implementation remains questionable at times. This study examines the technical and economic viability of scaled H2 production from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste, through an in-depth techno-economic and cost-benefit analysis. The results demonstrate that the H2 yield obtained exclusively from plastic waste exceeds that from mixed-feed waste by ∼ 24.5 %. Equally significant, the LCOH stands at ∼$4.96/kg-H2, inclusive of CO2 capture and storage charges, while decreasing to$4.10/kg-H2 when excluding such charges. The integration of previously overlooked key macro and micro-economic and financial parameters has facilitated a more nuanced and practical evaluation of the levelized cost of H2, allowing for a fair comparison with the current market cost of blue H2.These findings are of significance for investors and decision-makers operating within the realm of ecological sustainability and energy transition, while concurrently serving as an indispensable benchmark for the formulation of sensible waste management policies

Symmetry of gamma distribution data about the mean after processing with EWMA function

Abstract Statistical Process Control (SPC) plays a vital role in maintaining quality and reducing variability in manufacturing processes. Among SPC techniques, the Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) stands out for its ability to detect small process shifts quickly, making it a valuable tool in ensuring product consistency and preventing quality issues. EWMA constructs control charts to monitor process mean shifts, tracks product/service quality by identifying variations, and monitors manufacturing process parameters for early detection of deviations and necessary adjustments. EWMA control chart has been proposed as an alternative to the Shewhart control chart. Sequential measurements are processed using the EWMA function before being placed on the control chart. One of the crucial concerns about the EWMA control chart is the asymmetry of the data around the mean. Although processing with the EWMA function reduces data skewness, the problem of asymmetric data may not be solved. The control chart is designed to leave in front of the upper control limit (UCL) α/2 of the data and behind the lower control limit (LCL) another α/2 of the data, and this does not occur in the case of symmetric data. α/2 represents the significance level for each tail in a two-tailed hypothesis test, indicating the probability of incorrectly rejecting the null hypothesis for each side of the distribution. Since many of the distributions in real life can be approximated by the Gamma distribution, the Gamma distribution was adopted in this study. The Monte Carlo simulation methodology was implemented to generate Gamma distributed data, process it with EWMA function and assess the skewness and kurtosis. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of EWMA parameters on the performance of the EWMA control chart. Moreover, it focuses on skewness and kurtosis reduction after data processing using the EWMA function. The findings help researchers and practitioners to select the best parameters. Further, the research investigates the effect of EWMA parameter on the shape of distribution

Driving a sustainable road transportation transformation

Strategies to sustainably transform road transformation often focus on electrification and environmental benefits. However, transportation is also intricately linked to socio-economic aspects of sustainable development and electrification poses its own challenges