Search results for "Support"
showing 10 items of 2310 documents
Assessing the feasibility of cogeneration retrofit and district heating/cooling networks in small Italian islands
2017
Sustainability of energy supply strategies in small islands has been emerging as a severe issue, due to the large margins for improvement and rationalization of the most frequently adopted solutions. In most of the European islands, large amounts of heat are wasted by the operation of engine-based power plants; conversely, heat is produced by boilers (supplied by liquid fuels) or by electric equipment for a number of different uses, like domestic hot water production or space heating in winter. In this paper a techno-economic analysis is proposed to assess the feasibility of CHP-retrofit of the existing power plants and the possible utilization of the recovered heat to supply, via a distric…
Multicriteria performance analysis of an integrated urban wastewater system for energy management
2017
AbstractThe optimization and management of an integrated urban wastewater system is a complex problem involving many processes and variables. The possible control options are defined by several management strategies that may differently impact the economic, operational or environmental performance of the system. The present paper aims to contribute to the environmental and energy sustainability of urban wastewater systems by means of a multicriteria performance analysis. The paper begins with a complete analysis of the system performance in several fields of interest (energy, environment, quality of service, operation, economy and financial resources), and it highlights the management stren…
A new quasi-static multi-degree of freedom tapered roller bearing model to accurately consider non-Hertzian contact pressures in time-domain simulati…
2014
The accuracy of the fatigue life calculations in rolling bearing simulations is highly dependent on the precision of the roller-raceway contact simulations and the ability to accurately include structural deflections of the supporting structure. Several different methods exist to simulate the pressure distributions, and in time-domain bearing simulations, where many contacts need evaluation, the simple and time efficient methods are more popular. These methods underestimate the fatigue life reduction due to roller end effects, overload and misalignments. Furthermore, existing time-domain rolling bearing models assume that the bearing rings remain circular, which can be a poor approximation…
Regional policies for sustainability in the Mediterranean countries: the role of a proper HVAC system maintenance in museums
2013
Italy, like several Mediterranean countries, holds a very large number of cultural artifacts that are often exhibited and saved inside museums. Museums are usually part of historical buildings that, not rarely, originally had a different intended use and that have been currently transformed in place for conservation and for exhibition of works of art. The use of historical buildings as museums leads to limitations in the management and distribution of exhibition space, in design and managing HVAC systems and in the achievement of targets relating to the continuous monitoring of the microclimate for people comfort and for preservation of works of art. Moreover, the costs of the operation and…
Machining Economics in FMS by a Fuzzy Approach
1995
Abstract In a conventional manufacturing system, cutting parameters have to be fixed in order to pursue the economical and productive target related to each cutting operation. In a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS), as a consequence of the unbalanced workload due to the mutual interaction among the shared resources, the optimization of each operation does not allow the optimum of the global production system to be reached. A fuzzy programming model is developed in this paper in order to select cutting speeds of the operations in the production plan as a satisfying compromise solution between single operation and the integrated system targets.
Perspectives on executive information systems
1995
Executives who consider the acquisition of Executive Information Systems (EIS) may encounter several major problems already in their selection and introduction stages. Key issues are the following: Can the EIS's really match our managerial needs and support decision making in our organizational contingencies? How widely in the leadership levels can they be introduced? Are they easy-to-learn, easy-to-use and easily customizable? Do they utilize the newest information technology, e.g. graphics and modern interface technology? Can they work in our computer network? In order to facilitate elegant solutions of the selection problems, we construct an evaluation framework which guides the selectio…
Computer assisted techniques for the incremental forming technology
2013
The Asymmetric single point incremental forming (ASPIF) is a manufacturing technology with a high degree of novelty. Even if there are a significant number of research results reported in the literature, the industry has not been very enthusiastic to adopt and implement it on large scale. One of the main reasons for that is the lack of specific computer aided techniques and tools, which could be used to design and optimize the ASPIF process. The paper presents some methods to overcome this drawback, either by using some general purpose computer assisted tools or by developing new simple, yet effective methods. The proposed methods can be used in the preparation stage of computer automated m…
RutaRep: a computer package to design dispatching routes in the meat industry
2005
In this paper we present a computer program that has been developed to design the dispatching routes of a medium-sized meat company in Spain. We have modelled the real problem as a variant of the vehicle routing problem with Time Windows and implemented a number of heuristic algorithms based on the most advanced solution techniques for this problem. These algorithms have been embedded in a computer package that is intended to be used as a decision support system for the distribution manager. The program runs under Windows System and is straightforward to use. We also present some computational experiences based on real instances provided by the company. This experience shows important impro…
Tuning Decision Support Toolsfor Environmentally Friendly Manufacturing Approach Selection
2017
Awareness about the environmental performance of manufacturing approaches has arisen. Comparative analyses of different manufacturing approaches as well as decision support methods should be developed in the field of metal shaping processes. The present paper aims at tuning a decision support tool for identifying when mass conserving approaches (forming based) are actually preferable over machining processes for manufacturing aluminum based components. A full LCA is developed for comparing the environmental performance of forming and machining approaches as the batch size and geometry complexity hang. The impact of the used metric on the comparative results is analyzed. Results reveal that …
Improving OHS activities at company level with decision support software
2012
Abstract The paper presents the results of a project implemented at S.C. COMPA S.A., an automotive manufacturing company from Sibiu, Romania. The goal of the project was to develop a practical and sustainable solution for improving the work conditions in the company, by a proactive and systematic evaluation of compliance with national and European OHS legislation. To reach this objective an evaluation methodology was developed and a software system was implemented to support the decisions made by the company and OHS managers to improve work conditions and to grow safety level for the employees. The workplaces problems regarding risks assessment and control are revealed and managers can take…