Smart control of the assembly process with a fuzzy control system in the context of Industry 4.0

Assembly line balancing is important for the efficiency of the assembly process, however, a wide range of disruptions can break the current workload balance. Some researchers explored the task assignment plan for the assembly line balancing problem with the assumption that the assembly process is smooth with no disruption. Other researchers considered the impacts of disruptions, but they only explored the task re-assignment solutions for the assembly line re-balancing problem with the assumption that the re-balancing decision has been made already. There is limited literature exploring on-line adjustment solutions (layout adjustment and production rate adjustment) for an assembly line in a dynamic environment. This is because real-time monitoring of an assembly process was impossible in the past, and it is difficult to incorporate uncertainty factors into the balancing process because of the randomness and non-linearity of these factors. However, Industry 4.0 breaks the information barriers between different parts of an assembly line, since smart, connected products, which are enabled by advanced information and communication technology, can intelligently interact and communicate with each other and collect, process and produce information. Smart control of an assembly line becomes possible with the large amounts of real-time production data in the era of Industry 4.0, but there is little literature considering this new context. In this study, a fuzzy control system is developed to analyze the real-time information of an assembly line, with two types of fuzzy controllers in the fuzzy system. Type 1 fuzzy controller is used to determine whether the assembly line should be re-balanced to satisfy the demand, and type 2 fuzzy controller is used to adjust the production rate of each workstation in time to eliminate blockage and starvation, and increase the utilization of machines. Compared with three assembly lines without the proposed fuzzy control system, the assembly line with the fuzzy control system performs better, in terms of blockage ratio, starvation ratio and buffer level. Additionally, with the improvement of information transparency, the performance of an assembly line will be better. The research findings shed light on the smart control of the assembly process, and provide insights into the impacts of Industry 4.0 on assembly line balancing.     

Agent-based management of support systems for distributed brainstorming

In this paper, we describe the design and the management of an agent-based system that supports distributed brainstorming activities. The support system is a highly coordinated IoT application composed of many locally installed interface devices, multimedia communication functions, and cloud functions that process application logic and store meeting data. The system is designed to support a variety of brainstorming sessions, so its functionalities must be modifiable and enable the system to be adapted to different environments and user requirements without any loss of performance. System accessibility should be also ensured from any location for any user. These constraints require a flexible and usable support system.We further discuss the aspects of flexibility and usability that are important in a support system for distributed brainstorming, from which we propose a conceptual schema for flexible and usable support systems. To realize this schema, we present a resource-oriented architecture that can modify the brainstorming support system’s structure and functions. Flexibility is achieved thanks to an agent-based system that manages resources and operates on them according to users’ requests.We also describe the system architecture, which is organized around a set of channels dedicated to different services proposed to the users. We present in detail a video channel that ensures user awareness during synchronized activities. We then conduct several experiments verifying the usability of important channels in the architecture and present the results of these experiments.Finally, we discuss experimental scenarios that show how the system owes its adaptability to management based on an agent organization that supports distributed brainstorming and other activities.     

空冷器用高压水清洗与雾化降温系统集成设计与开发

高压水清洗系统和喷淋降温系统分别是春季保持空冷器翅片表面清洁和夏季保证空冷器在高温下正常运行的2个重要辅助系统。针对喷淋系统的缺点研究了高压射流雾化技术,通过试验论证了高压水清洗与雾化降温系统集成的可行性和合理性。根据设计思路开发的集成系统已在山西某项目获得应用并取得了良好的使用效果,此高压水清洗与雾化降温集成系统中高压水发生装置及介质输送管路共用,产生的高压水射流雾化颗粒可达到60μm,夏季降温效果较传统喷淋降温效果大幅提升,水资源的利用率得到极大提高,系统性价比更高。     

应用变频器技术实现SO2风机节能改造

铜目前,硫酸车间制酸一系列共有三台SO2风机,这三台风机均采用液力耦合器的调速方式,这种方式可以实现无极调速,但是存在着传动效率低,耗能大的缺点,并且这三台风机均已使用20年以上,处于设备的中晚期,工作效率已大大降低。目前行业内,均采用先进的变频调速方式。使用变频器来控制风机的转速,可以极大的节省电能,尤其是在低负荷情况下,可以实现低转速运转,大大提高硫酸系统的综合能耗指标。     

储能水管-冲击式水轮机发电系统设计及发电效益分析

为充分利用高层建筑物内部的水能包括生活污水及高层建筑物顶楼雨水,可将其转化为电能。由此设计的储能水管-冲击式水轮机装置即通过冲击式水轮机和发电机将高层建筑物内部储存的生活污水及雨水的势能转变为可供使用的电能,并通过建立单户用水模拟模型,设置储能水管对30、100层建筑进行发电模拟。模拟结果表明,储能水管-冲击式水轮机发电具有很好的发电效益和节能减排社会效益,获得了日发电过程中冲击式水轮机的水头变换和启停特性,为该系统中冲击式水轮机的个性设计提供了依据。     

Experimental Study on Hybrid Organic Phase Change Materials Used for Solar Energy Storage

The solar energy utilization in built environment has been limited due to its low heat flux, uneven distribution in time and space and temporal difference in day and night. The phase change materials have been used to collect the fluctuant solar energy to form a stable energy source for the terminal equipment of the buildings. In this study, the hybrid organic phase change materials was prepared for the capillary radiant heating system which formed a cascade utilization of solar energy. Firstly, lauric acid and stearic acid were selected as the basic organic phase change materials and the binary equilibrium phase diagram was completed based on the method of step cooling curve according to the experimental tests data. The results showed that the phase transition temperature of the mixed acid at the lowest eutectic point was 31.2℃ and the latent heat value was 264.3 kJ/kg when the mass mixing ratio was 70% for lauric acid and 30% for stearic acid. Secondly, the expanded graphite was used as an additive to enwrap the mixed acid and enhance the heat conductivity. The experimental results showed that when the mass proportion of expanded graphite in the mixed acid was 10%, the mixed acid could be completely enclosed by expanded graphite and the stability of melting and solidification was optimal. Additionally, the phase transition temperature of the hybrid phase change material was 31.5℃ and the latent heat value was 217.4 kJ/kg. The novel hybrid phase change material has a lower eutectic point and a higher latent heat of phase change, so it has a large application space and is quite suitable for the cascade utilization of solar energy with capillary network heating system.     

浅析火力发电厂汽水系统中内径管与外径管的设计选择

按照管道加工工艺的不同,管道可分为内径控制管和外径控制管。通过热轧工艺生产的外径控制无缝钢管,可满足火力发电厂汽水系统中绝大部分管道的使用要求。对于超(超)临界机组的主蒸汽和高温再热蒸汽管道采用的P91/P92材质的大口径厚壁无缝钢管,由于对材料性能和加工工艺有特殊要求,因此宜采用内径控制管。     

Multi-objective optimal allocation strategy for the energy internet in Huangpu District,Guangzhou, China

To improve the overall efficiency of the energy system, the basic structure for the energy internet of coordination and optimization of “generation-grid-load-storage” of Huangpu District, Guangzhou, China is designed, while the arrangement for the output of centralized and distributed energy module and energy storage are proposed. Taking economic benefit maximization, environmental benefit maximization and energy efficiency maximization as sub-objectives, the mathematical model of multi-objective optimal allocation and operation strategy of the energy internet is established considering supply-demand balance constraints, equipment characteristic constraints, operation mode constraints, and energy conditions constraints. The calculation results show that without considering the outsourced electricity, the balanced strategy, the economic development strategy, the environmental protection strategy, and the energy efficiency strategy are obtained by calculation, which are all superior to the traditional energy supply strategy. Moreover, considering the outsourced electricity, the proportion of outsourced electricity to total electricity is 19.8%, which is the system optimization of the energy internet under certain power demand. Compared with other strategies without outsourced electricity, the outsourced electricity strategy can have a certain emission reduction effect, but at the same time reduce the economic benefit. Furthermore, the huge difference in demand for thermal and cooling load between industrial and commercial areas results in the installed capacity of gas distributed energy stations in industrial areas being nearly twice as large as that in commercial areas. The distributed photovoltaic power generation is allocated according to the proportion of the installed roof areas of photovoltaic power generation system in residential, industrial, and commercial areas.     

Analysis and assessment of a nanoparticle seeded small scale absorption refrigeration system driven by a low‐grade waste heat source

The thermoeconomic behaviour of a nanoparticle seeded single effect LiBr‐H₂O absorption refrigeration system (ARS) is investigated for a small scale application. In the proposed method, alumina nanoparticles with volume concentrations of 3%, 5%, and 7% are dispersed into an aqua lithium bromide solution. The multiobjective heat transfer search algorithm is employed to examine the design trade‐off between the coefficient of performance (COP) and total annualized cost (TAC). To analyze the overall performance of the system, the influence of five design parameters, namely the temperatures of the generator, absorber, evaporator, condenser and heat exchanger pipe diameter, are studied. It is found that with an increase in the COP, the TAC of the system is initially raised marginally, and after that, raised rigorously with further increment. The comparative results indicate that the COP and TAC of the nanofluid based ARS system are increased by about 7% and decreased by about 3.2%, respectively, corresponding to the Pareto points of the base ARS system. A lower break‐even point of about 2.6 years is achieved for the ARS system containing nanoparticles compared to the base ARS system. Overall, the ARS system containing 5% nanoparticles is the best solution from a thermodynamic and economic point of view.     

水电站大型竖井施工安全风险控制措施研究

竖井是大型水电工程中广泛采用的重要建筑物,但竖井的传统施工方法存在施工程序复杂、人工劳动强度大、施工效率不高等特点,同时还存在较大的安全风险。通过对杨房沟水电站大型竖井施工过程的研究,总结出精细化控制爆破、小溜渣井施工方式,同时也设计了一套用于运输的综合提升系统。采用上述创新方法不仅减少了繁琐的施工程序,降低了安全施工风险,而且大量采用机械化手段进一步提高了施工效率,确保了该工程竖井施工的安全风险可控。相关措施可为类似工程的竖井施工提供较好的借鉴作用。