Search Results (21)

Polymeric materials, renowned for their lightweight attributes and design adaptability, play a pivotal role in augmenting fuel efficiency and cost-effectiveness in railway vehicle development. The tailored formulation of compounds, specifically designed for additive manufacturing, holds significant promise in expanding the use of these materials. This study centers on poly(lactic acid) (PLA), a natural-based biodegradable polymeric material incorporating diverse halogen-free flame retardants (FRs). Our investigation scrutinizes the printability and fire performance of these formulations, aligning with the European railway standard EN 45545-2. The findings underscore that FR in the condensed phase, including ammonium polyphosphate (APP), expandable graphite (EG), and intumescent systems, exhibit superior fire performance. Notably, FR-inducing hydrolytic degradation, such as aluminum hydroxide (ATH) or EG, reduces polymer molecular weight, significantly impacting PLA’s mechanical performance. Achieving a delicate balance between fire resistance and mechanical properties, formulations with APP as the flame retardant emerge as optimal. This research contributes to understanding the fire performance and printability of 3D-printed PLA compounds, offering vital insights for the rail industry’s adoption of polymeric materials. Full article

For many years, efforts have been made to reduce the flammability of unsaturated polyester resins (UPRs), which are often used in the rail, shipbuilding, and construction industries. Without modification, they often fail to meet fire safety standards. Despite a rich history of flame retardants (FRs) applied to UPRs, researchers seek new solutions that will provide lower flammability and smoke density, as well as attaining a lower environmental impact from the composites. The objective of the study is to highlight the most important recent research on promising nano FRs in order to promote their further development. Mechanisms of action of several groups of nano FRs, such as clay-based, carbon-based, transition metal compounds, layered double hydroxides, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes, and others, including bio-based, have been studied. Particular emphasis has been laid on nano FRs applied to UPRs, and their influences on thermal stability, flammability, and mechanical properties. Moreover, the environmental impact and toxicity of nano FRs have been discussed. Results have proved that nano FRs applied at low loadings may significantly improve thermal stability, with a simultaneous increase or only a slight decrease in mechanical properties. However, attention on related environmental issues has highlighted the necessity of carefully selecting novel nano FRs. Full article

The increasing demand for storing various types of goods has led to a raise in the need for storage capacity in warehousing systems. Autonomous vehicle storage and retrieval systems (AVS/RSs) offer high flexibility by allowing different configurations to meet different storage requirements. The system mainly completes operations through elevators and multiple rail-guided vehicles (RGVs). This paper focuses on the scheduling optimization of compound operations in the AVS/RS to improve system performance. Compound operations involve the coordinated execution of both single-command and double-command operations. A mathematical model with compound operations was proposed and effectively decomposed into a horizontal component for RGVs and a vertical counterpart for the elevator, which can represent the operations of one elevator cooperating with multiple RGVs. The goal of this model was to minimize the makespan for compound operations and to determine the optimal operation sequence and path for RGVs. An improved discrete particle swarm optimization (DPSO) algorithm called AGDPSO was proposed to solve the model. The algorithm combines DPSO and a genetic algorithm in an adaptive manner to prevent the algorithm from falling into local optima and relying solely on the initial solution. Through rigorous optimization, optimal parameters for the algorithm were identified. When assessing the performance of our improved algorithm against various counterparts, considering different task durations and racking configurations, our results showed that AGDPSO outperformed the alternatives, proving its effectiveness in enhancing system efficiency for the model. The findings of this study not only contribute to the optimization of AVS/RS but also offer valuable insights for designing more efficient warehouses. By streamlining scheduling, improving operations, and leveraging advanced optimization techniques, we can create a more robust and effective storage and retrieval system. Full article

This article discusses the potential applications of the Fuel Shot liquid catalyst in compression ignition (CI) engines for reducing toxic substances in exhaust gases. Incorporating catalysts into fuel can optimize the combustion process, consequently reducing the emission of toxic substances into the atmosphere. Toxic compounds, such as nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and hydrocarbons, adversely affect flora and fauna. Various methods are known for reducing their concentration in engine exhaust gases, one of which is the Fuel Shot liquid catalyst. The authors conducted experiments on a Fiat 1.3 JTD engine with a Common Rail system. The results indicate that the application of the liquid catalyst reduces the content of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons in the exhaust gases and slightly decreases fuel consumption. Additionally, investigations were carried out on the engine’s injection apparatus, which was fueled with modified fuel. The findings demonstrate that the fuel additive does not affect the wear of precision parts of fuel injectors and high-pressure pumps. Full article

This article presents an analysis of the influence of engine types, fuel types and selected methods of fuel treatment before injection on reductions in fuel consumption and exhaust emission components. This is the first of such studies, the continuation of which will allow a comprehensive assessment of the impact of cutter operations on environmental pollution. For the selected type of cutter, EEOIs (Energy Efficiency Operational Indicators) were determined to be a measure that takes into account both fuel consumption and harmful gas compound emissions depending on the type of engine used and the type of fuel. The data necessary to prepare this analysis were obtained during operational tests carried out on selected cutters with various types of engines fuelled with liquid fuel and a new catalytic fuel treatment method developed by the authors, while for the case of using gas fuel and a common rail engine, possible effects were forecasted. The effects of engine type, years of manufacture and fuel type (liquid and gas) on fuel consumption and emissions of selected exhaust components are demonstrated. The positive effects on fuel consumption and emissions of harmful exhaust constituents obtained, under laboratory test conditions, for an engine fuelled with catalytically treated fuel have allowed further research directions to be set for cutter engines equipped with injection equipment with applied catalytic coatings. Full article

The article studies the effect of polynorbornene (PNB) in the composition of PNB with Norman 747 LV plasticizer (RC) on the curing characteristics of the rubber compound and the physico-mechanical, dynamic, dielectric properties and the thermal behavior of vulcanizates based on a combination of isoprene, α-methylstyrene-butadiene, and nitrile-butadiene rubbers. It is shown that vulcanizates containing PNB in the composition of the RC had lower conditional tensile strength, hardness, and tear resistance compared to the vulcanizate of the base version of the rubber compound. Studies of dynamic mechanical analysis indicate that an increase in the content of RC, and hence PNB, in the rubber compound contributes to an increase in the mechanical loss factor (tanδ) and a decrease in the storage modulus of vulcanizates. It was found that vulcanized rubber, containing 24.0 parts per hundred of rubber (phr) (8.98 wt. %) PNB as part of the RC, is characterized by stable physico-mechanical, improved vibration-absorbing properties, as well as increased dielectric parameters. This rubber compound can be used as a base for rail fasteners for railroad tracks. Full article

A rigorous study on optimized robust control is presented for non-preview (nulling-type) high-speed tilting rail vehicles. The scheme utilizes sensors on the vehicle’s body, contrary to that of preview tilt (which uses prior rail track information). Tilt with preview is the industrial norm nowadays but is a complex scheme (both in terms of inter-vehicle signal connections and when it comes to straightforward fault detection). Non-preview tilt is simple (as it essentially involves an SISO control structure) and more effective in terms of (the localization of) failure detection. However, the non-preview tilt scheme suffers from performance limitations due to non-minimum-phase zeros in the design model (due to the compound effect of the suspension dynamic interaction and sensor combination used for feedback control) and presents a challenging control design problem. We proposed an optimized robust control design offering a highly improved non-preview tilt performance via a twofold model representation, i.e., (i) using the non-minimum phase design model and (ii) proposing a factorized design model version with the non-minimum phase characteristics treated as uncertainty. The impact of the designed controllers on tilt performance deterministic (curving acceleration response) and stochastic (ride quality) trade-off was methodically investigated. Nonlinear optimization was employed to facilitate fine weight selection given the importance of the ride quality as a bounded constraint in the design process. Full article

The insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) represents a crucial component within the domain of power semiconductor devices, which finds ubiquitous employment across a range of critical domains, including new energy vehicles, smart grid systems, rail transit, aerospace, etc. The main characteristics of its operating environment are high voltage, large current, and high power density, which can easily cause issues, such as thermal stress, thermal fatigue, and mechanical stress. Therefore, the reliability of IGBT module packaging has become a critical research topic. This study focuses on the damage of power device solder layers and applies heat transfer theory. Three typical solders for welding IGBTs (92.5Pb5Sn2.5Ag, Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu (SAC305), and nano-silver solder paste) are analyzed using JMatPro software to simulate their characteristics. First, a finite element analysis method is used to simulate the entire IGBT module with ANSYS Workbench platform. The study compares the impact of three types of solders on the overall heat transfer of the IGBT module under normal operation and welding layer damage conditions. The characteristics are analyzed based on changes in the junction temperature, heat flow path, and the law of thermal stress and deformation. The findings indicated that under steady-state working conditions, adjacent chips in a multi-chip IGBT module had significant thermal coupling, with a maximum temperature difference between chip junctions reaching up to 13 °C, and a phenomenon of heat concentration emerged. The three types of solders could change the thermal conductivity and heat transfer direction of the IGBT module to varying degrees, resulting in a temperature change of 3–6 °C. Under conditions of solder layer damage, the junction temperature increased linearly with the severity of the damage. In the 92.5Pb5Sn2.5Ag and Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu (SAC305) solders, the presence of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) led to more stress concentration points in the solder layer, with the maximum stress reaching 7.14661 × 10⁷ MPa and concentrated at the edge of the solder layer. The nano-silver solder layer had the best thermal conductivity, and the maximum thermal deformation under the same conditions was only 1.9092 × 10⁻⁵ m. Full article

The new heterometallic compounds, [{Cu(pn)₂}₂Ni(NCS)₆]_n·2nH₂O (1), [{Cu^II(trien)}₂Ni(NCS)₆Cu^I(NCS)]_n (2) and [Cu(tren)(NCS)]₄[Ni(NCS)₆] (3) (pn = 1,2-diaminopropane, trien = triethylenetetramine and tren = tris(2-aminoethylo)amine), were obtained and characterized by X-ray analysis, IR spectra, XAS and magnetic measurements. Compounds 1, 2 and 3 show the structural diversity of 2D, 1D and 0D compounds, respectively. Depending on the polyamine used, different coordination polyhedron for Cu(II) was found, i.e., distorted octahedral (1), square pyramidal (2) and trigonal bipyramidal (3), whereas coordination polyhedron for nickel(II) was always octahedral. It provides an approach for tailoring magnetic properties by proper selection of auxiliary ligands determining the topology. In 1, thiocyanate ligands form bridges between the copper and nickel ions, creating 2D layers of sql topology with weak ferromagnetic interactions. Compound 2 is a mixed-valence copper coordination polymer and shows the rare ladder topology of 1D chains decorated with [Cu^II(tren)]²⁺ antennas as the side chains attached to nickel(II). The ladder rails are formed by alternately arranged Ni(II) and Cu(I) ions connected by N2 thiocyanate anions and rungs made by N3 thiocyanate. For the Cu(I) ions, the tetrahedral thiocyanate environment mixed N/S donor atoms was found, confirming significant coordination spheres rearrangement occurring at the copper precursor together with the reduction in some Cu(II) to Cu(I). Such topology enables significant simplification of the magnetic properties modeling by assuming magnetic coupling inside {Ni^IICu^II₂} trinuclear units separated by diamagnetic [Cu(NCS)(SCN)₃]³⁻ linkers. Compound 3 shows three discrete mononuclear units connected by N-H…N and N-H…S hydrogen bonds. Analysis of XAS proves that the average ligand character and the covalency of the unoccupied metal d-based orbitals for copper(II) and nickel(II) increase in the following order: 1 → 2 → 3. In 1 and 2, a weak ferromagnetic coupling between copper(II) and nickel(II) was found, but in 2, additional and stronger antiferromagnetic interaction between copper(II) ions prevailed. Compound 3, as an ionic pair, shows, as expected, a spin-only magnetic moment. Full article

In the background of constructing a wold-class Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area (GBA), the growing demand for industrial, transportation and energy development in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) will put considerable pressure on improvement of regional air quality. It is important to choose a scientific development path to achieve both economic goal and air quality improvement target. This study uses scenario analysis method to construct three “industry-transport-energy” development scenarios within the region while the improvement level of air quality is simulated and analyzed. The results show that: (1) Considering the mutual constraints and influence relations between industry, transportation and energy in scenario analysis, the “industry-transport-energy” development scenario can be established to meets the same economic goal but has different development paths. (2) Along the historical track and established policy path, concentration of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) in the PRD can be reduced to 16.2 µg/m³ by 2035 as regional gross domestic product (GDP) reaching about 23.5 trillion. (3) Under the same economic goals, raising the proportion of emerging industries, freight by rail, public transport travel and non-fossil power to 95%, 10%, 73%, and 46% respectively leads to 29.6~49.2% reductions in the emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO₂), nitrous oxides (NOx), primary PM_2.5 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) compared with those in 2017 that the regional PM_2.5 concentration will further drop to 14.1 µg/m³. The results show that, under the constraints of economic development objectives, deepening structural adjustment can improve air quality, which gives advice for the PRD to choose its development path. Furthermore, this study can provide reference for the PRD to promote the transformation of industrial, transportation and energy development modes and structural adjustment under the dual objective of promoting the world-class bay area economic level and high-quality air level. Full article

In today’s environmentally conscious society, advocated by a global point of view, land and building use around rail transit stations have changed in the urbanization process. Promoting urban construction and development centered on rail transit stations not only meets the actual needs of urban sustainable development but is also an important means to guide the development of innovative cities. Therefore, it is meaningful to study the characteristics of urban spatial succession, development rules, and future trends based on this new perspective. We analyzed the relationship between rail transit networks and urban form in Japan using GIS by investigating changes in land and building use around rail transit stations over 30 years in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s (from 1985–2010) using factor analysis and cluster analysis, and we discussed the impact of land consolidation planning and the setting and site selection of new stations based on urban development to understand the development trends inside and outside station zones and urban spatial succession. The results showed the following: (1) There are certain relationships between the development of urban form and traffic demand, and the rail transit network in Japan has the characteristics of high accessibility and aggregation of a small network; (2) Commercial development with a high plot ratio is dispersed and diverted by high-density rail transit stations in the commercial center of Japan; and (3) Commercial sub-centers form complexes by integrating multi-line transfers and form regional linkages through clustered commercial development. Regional business centers realize the agglomeration and radiation of functions through the compound development of station zones. This case study on rail transit zones and urban spatial succession in Japan has important enlightenment significance for urban construction toward optimizing the location and development of suburban rail transit lines, promoting the compact development of cities, exploring new ways to build more reasonable transport, planning city design and layout for rail transit station zones, and providing decision-making references for urban regeneration and sustainable development. Full article

During the operation of the Quadrupole Compound Orbital electromagnetic launcher, the current is easy to gather in the armature and the rail contact surface. Serious turn and arc ablation can occur, causing damage to the rail and the armature and affecting the life of the launcher. To better solve the thermal ablation problem of the armature and the rail, three different configurations of the rail and the armature are established, and the current density, magnetic field distribution and electromagnetic force of the rail and the armature are compared and analyzed using the finite element method, and the effect of concave and convex values of the armature rail on current distribution and electromagnetic force is discussed. The results show that the planar armature can effectively reduce the maximum current density and mitigate thermal damage. The concave elliptical rail produces the largest electromagnetic thrust and the smallest radial electromagnetic force, and the armature is more stable during firing. The maximum current density and magnetic field strength are negatively correlated with the concave and convex values; the electromagnetic thrust applied to the concave elliptical armature is negatively correlated with the concave value, while the electromagnetic force applied to the convex elliptical armature is positively correlated with the convex value. Full article

A conventional linear guiding mechanism refers to the slide rail guides composed of multiple assemble parts. These guiding mechanisms suffer from many adverse effects, including lubrication, wear and assembly issues. A novel compliant guiding mechanism is proposed in this paper to address these common problems, and this mechanism transfers or transforms motion, force and energy via the deformation of flexible members. This linear guide is designed in a cylindrical shape, and the centre platform moves along its axis (i.e., the motion direction). The proposed linear guide consists of several in-parallel curved compound double parallelogram mechanisms (CDPMs) connected by the same number of decoupling parallelogram mechanisms. Nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) is used for stiffness analysis and shows that applying the decoupling mechanisms to the detached linear guide (the in-parallel curved CDPMs only) can dramatically improve the stiffness in undesired movement (bearing) directions while keeping its original stiffness along its axis. The nonlinear FEA can capture the stiffness variation by considering all the structural deformation. The issue of bearing-direction stiffness degradation of the detached linear guide is dealt with by applying decoupling mechanisms. The static experimental test is conducted on a 3D printed prototype and shows that the stiffness in the motion direction is nearly constant (linear). The results obtained from the experimental test show good agreement with those obtained from the nonlinear FEA with a maximum error of 9.76%. Full article

Supercapacitors have the unique advantages of high power density, fast charge and discharge rates, long cycle life, high safety, and reliability, and are increasingly being used for applications including automobiles, rail transit, communication equipment, digital electronics, and aerospace equipment. The supercapacitor industry is currently in a stage of rapid development; great breakthroughs have also been made in improving the performance of supercapacitors and the expansion of their application. Electrode technology is the core of supercapacitors. Transition-metal compounds have a relatively high theoretical capacity and have received widespread attention as electrode materials for supercapacitors. In addition, there is a synergistic effect between the different components of various electrode composite materials. Due to their superior electrochemical performance, supercapacitors are receiving increasing research attention. Flexible supercapacitors have been hailed for their good plasticity, resulting in a development boom. This review article mainly outlines the development process of various electrode materials, including carbon materials, conductive polymers, metal compounds, and composite materials, as well as flexible electrode materials based on carbon cloth. Full article

This manuscript shows the use of natural polysaccharides such as starch and cellulose as a carbon source for fuel cells. To achieve this, two innovative methods of obtaining hydrogen have been shown: by adsorption and by enzyme. The carbonization path of the material results in excellent sorption properties and allows gas with high efficiency to be obtained. The enzymatic method for the degradation of the compound is more expensive because specific enzymes (such as laccase, tyrosinase) must be used, but it allows greater control of the properties of the obtained material. A scientific novelty is the use of natural raw materials, the use of which increases the biodegradability of the electrochemical system and also reduces the cost of raw materials and increases the range of their acquisition. Energy should be generated where it is used. Another goal is decentralization, and thanks to the proposed solutions, hydrogen cells represent an innovative alternative to today’s energy giants—also for independent power supply to households. The proposed harvesting paths are intended to drive rail vehicles in order to reduce emissions and secondary pollution of the environment. The goals of both methods were easy recycling, high efficiency, increased environmental friendliness, low cost and a short hydrogen production path. Full article