Energy efficiency in extrusion-related polymer processing: A review of state of the art and potential efficiency improvements

2021 ◽  
Vol 147 ◽  
pp. 111219
Author(s):  
Chamil Abeykoon ◽  
Alison McMillan ◽  
Bao Kha Nguyen
Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 1848
Author(s):  
Matheus Roberto Cabral ◽  
Pierre Blanchet

The main goal of this study was to review current studies on the state of the art of wood constructions with a particular focus on energy efficiency, which could serve as a valuable source of information for both industry and scholars. This review begins with an overview of the role of materials in wood buildings to improve energy performance, covering structural and insulation materials that have already been successfully used in the market for general applications over the years. Subsequently, studies of different wood building systems (i.e., wood-frame, post-and-beam, mass timber and hybrid constructions) and energy efficiency are discussed. This is followed by a brief introduction to strategies to increase the energy efficiency of constructions. Finally, remarks and future research opportunities for wood buildings are highlighted. Some general recommendations for developing more energy-efficient wood buildings are identified in the literature and discussed. There is a lack of emerging construction concepts for wood-frame and post-and-beam buildings and a lack of design codes and specifications for mass timber and hybrid buildings. From the perspective of the potential environmental benefits of these systems as a whole, and their effects on energy efficiency and embodied energy in constructions, there are barriers that need to be considered in the future.


Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 4155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Cumino ◽  
Wellington Lobato Junior ◽  
Thais Tavares ◽  
Hugo Santos ◽  
Denis Rosário ◽  
...  

Collaboration between multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to set up a Flying Ad Hoc Network (FANET) is a growing trend since future applications claim for more autonomous and rapid deployable systems. The user experience on watching videos transmitted over FANETs should always be satisfactory even under influence of topology changes caused by the energy consumption of UAVs. In addition, the FANET must keep the UAVs cooperating as much as possible during a mission. However, one of the main challenges in FANET is how to mitigate the impact of limited energy resources of UAVs on the FANET operation in order to monitor the environment for a long period of time. In this sense, UAV replacement is required in order to avoid the premature death of nodes, network disconnections, route failures, void areas, and low-quality video transmissions. In addition, decision-making must take into account energy consumption associated with UAV movements, since they are generally quite energy-intensive. This article proposes a cooperative UAV scheme for enhancing video transmission and global energy efficiency called VOEI. The main goal of VOEI is to maintain the video with QoE support while supporting the nodes with a good connectivity quality level and flying for a long period of time. Based on an Software Defined Network (SDN) paradigm, the VOEI assumes the existence of a centrailized controller node to compute reliable and energy-efficiency routes, as well as detects the appropriate moment for UAV replacement by considering global FANET context information to provide energy-efficiency operations. Based on simulation results, we conclude that VOEI can effectively mitigate the energy challenges of FANET, since it provides energy-efficiency operations, avoiding network death, route failure, and void area, as well as network partitioning compared to state-of-the-art algorithm. In addition, VOEI delivers videos with suitable Quality of Experience (QoE) to end-users at any time, which is not achieved by the state-of-the-art algorithm.


Materials ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 384
Author(s):  
António Gaspar-Cunha ◽  
José A. Covas ◽  
Janusz Sikora

Given the global economic and societal importance of the polymer industry, the continuous search for improvements in the various processing techniques is of practical primordial importance. This review evaluates the application of optimization methodologies to the main polymer processing operations. The most important characteristics related to the usage of optimization techniques, such as the nature of the objective function, the type of optimization algorithm, the modelling approach used to evaluate the solutions, and the parameters to optimize, are discussed. The aim is to identify the most important features of an optimization system for polymer processing problems and define the best procedure for each particular practical situation. For this purpose, the state of the art of the optimization methodologies usually employed is first presented, followed by an extensive review of the literature dealing with the major processing techniques, the discussion being completed by considering both the characteristics identified and the available optimization methodologies. This first part of the review focuses on extrusion, namely single and twin-screw extruders, extrusion dies, and calibrators. It is concluded that there is a set of methodologies that can be confidently applied in polymer processing with a very good performance and without the need of demanding computation requirements.


Author(s):  
Monique F. Stewart ◽  
S. K. (John) Punwani ◽  
David R. Andersen ◽  
Graydon F. Booth ◽  
Som P. Singh ◽  
...  

Longitudinal dynamics influence several measures of train performance, including schedules and energy efficiency, stopping distances, run-in/run-out forces, etc. Therefore, an effective set of tools for studying longitudinal dynamics is essential to improving the safety and performance of train operations. Train Energy and Dynamics Simulator (TEDS) is a state-of-the-art software program designed and developed by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), for studying and simulating train safety and performance, and can be used for modeling train performance under a wide variety of equipment, track, and operating configurations [1]. Several case studies and real-world applications of TEDS, including the investigation of multiple train make-up and train handling related derailments, a study of train stopping distances, evaluations of the safety benefits of Electronically Controlled Pneumatic (ECP) brakes, Distributed Power operations, and a study of alternate train handling methodologies are described in this paper. These studies demonstrate the effectiveness of using the appropriate simulation tools to quantify and enhance a better understanding of train dynamics, and the resultant safety benefits.


Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (15) ◽  
pp. 1157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rizal Sebastian ◽  
Anna Gralka ◽  
Rosamaria Olivadese ◽  
Marco Arnesano ◽  
Gian Marco Revel ◽  
...  

Ninety percent of the existing building stock in Europe was built before 1990. These buildings are in urgent need for a significant improvement of energy-efficiency through renovation. State-of-the-art renovation solutions are available, but costly and lengthy renovation processes and incomprehensible technical complexities hinder the achievement of a wide impact at a European scale. This paper presents a research on Plug-and-Play (PnP) technologies supported by Building Information Modelling (BIM) to provide affordable, interchangeable and quick-installation solutions to overcome the main barriers of building deep renovation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 717-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Hacksteiner ◽  
H. Peherstorfer ◽  
F. Bleicher

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