Experiments and experiences with dependability for a large autonomous industrial vehicle

This paper describes the experiences gained performing multiple experiments while developing a large autonomous industrial vehicle. Hot Metal Carriers (HMCs) are large forklift-type vehicles used in the light metals industry to move molten or hot metal around a smelter. Autonomous vehicles of this type must be dependable as they are large and potentially hazardous to infrastructure and people. This paper will talk about four aspects of dependability, that of safety, reliability, availability and security and how they have been addressed on our experimental autonomous HMC.

Applying digital product memories in industrial production

Industrial production and supply chains face increased demands for mass customization and tightening regulations on the traceability of goods, leading to higher requirements concerning flexibility, adaptability, and transparency of processes. Technologies for the ’Internet of Things' such as smart products and semantic representations pave the way for future factories and supply chains to fulfill these challenging market demands. In this chapter a backend-independent approach for information exchange in open-loop production processes based on Digital Product Memories DPMs is presented. By storing order-related data directly on the item, relevant lifecycle information is attached to the product itself. In this way, information handover between several stages of the value chain with focus on the manufacturing phase of a product has been realized. In order to report best practices regarding the application of DPM in the domain of industrial production, system prototype implementations focusing on the use case of producing and handling a smart drug case are illustrated.

Wastewater pollution abatement in China: A comparative study of fifteen industrial sectors from 1998 to 2010

This study analyzes the management of wastewater pollutants in a number of Chinese industrial sectors from 1998 to 2010. We use decomposition analysis to calculate changes in wastewater pollutant emissions that result from cleaner production processes, end-of-pipe treatment, structural changes in industry, and changes in the scale of production. We focus on one indicator of water quality and three pollutants: chemical oxygen demand (COD), petroleum, cyanide, and volatile phenols. We find that until 2002, COD emissions were mainly reduced through end-of-pipe treatments. Cleaner production processes didn’t begin contributing to COD emissions reductions until the introduction of a 2003 law that enforced their implementation. Petroleum emissions were primarily lowered through cleaner production mechanisms, which have the added benefit of reducing the input cost of intermediate petroleum. Diverse and effective pollution abatement strategies for cyanide and volatile phenols are emerging among industries in China. It will be important for the government to consider differences between industries should they choose to regulate the emissions of specific chemical substances.

Water use and wastewater discharge of industrial sector in China

Problem of water scarcity has been increasingly severe in China. Though industrial sectors play important role for the rapid economic growth, and they consumes water and discharge wastewater. The purpose of this study is to examine the efficiency of water use and wastewater discharge in comparison with those of other inputs and production output in Chinese industry. Measuring efficiency of each input and output factor from 2002 to 2008, we find the average inefficiencies of industrial water use and industrial wastewater discharge are higher than those of capital, labor, and production output in China. In addition, the productivity levels to save water in the water shortage areas are not higher compared to the others. The water use inefficiency has a high dispersion especially in the regions where the amounts of water resources per capita is less than 3000 cubic meter.

A novel experimental method to assess industrial aerosol deposition in idealized porous channels

A novel and economical experimental technique has been developed to assess industrial aerosol deposition in various idealized porous channel configurations. This judicious examination on aerosol penetration in porous channels will assist engineers to better optimize designs for various engineering applications. Deposition patterns differ with porosity due to geometric configurations of the channel and superficial inlet velocities. Interestingly, it is found that two configurations of similar porosity exhibit significantly higher deposition fractions. Inertial impaction is profound at the leading edge of all obstacles, whereas particle build-up is observed at the trailing edge of the obstructions. A qualitative analysis shows that the numerical results are in good agreement with experimental results.

The ghost in the city industrial complex: Le Corbusier and the fascist theory of Urbanisme

Le Corbusier participated in an urban dialogue with the first group in France to call itself fascist: the journalist Georges Valois’s militant Faisceau des Combattants et Producteurs (1925-1927), the “Blue Shirts,” inspired by the Italian “Fasci” of Mussolini. Le Corbusier’s portrait photograph materialised on the front cover of the January 1927 issue of the Faisceau League’s newspaper Le Nouveau Siècle edited by the former anarcho-syndicalist journalist Georges Valois, its leader, who fashioned himself as the French Mussolini. Le Corbusier was described in the Revue as one of les animateurs (the “organisers”) of the Party1 – meaning a member of the technical elite who would drive the Faisceau’s plans. On 1 May 1927, the Nouveau Siècle printed a full-page feature “Le Plan Voisin” on Le Corbusier’s 1922 redesign of Paris : the architect’s single-point perspective sketch appeared below an extract lifted from the architect’s original polemic Le Centre de Paris on the pages of Le Corbusier’s second book Urbanisme published two years earlier, a treatise on urbanism.2 Three weeks later, Le Corbusier presented a slide show of his urban plans at a fascist rally for the inauguration of the Faisceau’s new headquarters on the rue du faubourg Poissonniere, thereby crystalising the architect’s hallowed status in the league...