Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Heavy vehicle transport industry'

Cette thèse fournit des clés pour mesurer, améliorer et piloter la performance de circularité de produits industriels à différentes échelles d’implémentation de l’économie circulaire (micro, meso, macro). Plusieurs indicateurs de circularité y sont expérimentés au travers d’un cas d’étude industriel et une analyse critique de ces indicateurs est effectuée au regard, entre autres, du paradigme de l’économie circulaire, et de leur intégration dans les pratiques industrielles de (re)conception et développement de produits et services. Dans le même temps, en réponse au nombre croissant d’indicateurs de circularité développés, de périmètres et d’ambitions inégales, une taxonomie d’indicateurs de circularité est proposée dans le but de clarifier le flou actuel autour de cette nébuleuse d’indicateurs de circularité. Cette classification ordonnée d’indicateurs est accompagnée de son outil informatique d’aide à la sélection afin de faciliter leurs usages appropriés. Un nouvel indicateur de circularité est également développé et expérimenté, puis des recommandations pour le développement d’indicateurs futurs sont discutées. Bien que les indicateurs évoqués dans la thèse aient pour vocation à être utilisés pour tout type de secteur, l’industrie des véhicules lourds en est le cadre d’application. En effet, en l’absence de réglementation européenne sur la fin de vie de ces véhicules, il s’agit d’identifier, de questionner et de tester les leviers d’actions que cette industrie peut activer pour améliorer sa performance dans une perspective d’économie circulaire.Tout d’abord, les meilleures pratiques et les défis actuels de l’industrie des véhicules légers et des véhicules lourds sont mis en exergue au regard des quatre pierres angulaires de l’économie circulaire définis par la Fondation Ellen MacArthur (conception circulaire, nouveaux modèles d’affaires, logistique inversée, écosystème) et des quatre boucles principales du modèle circulaire (maintenance, réutilisation, reconditionnement, recyclage). Ces pratiques exemplaires sont synthétisées au sein d’un guide de deux pages pour faciliter leur diffusion et adoption par les praticiens industriels désirant mettre en oeuvre de tels modèles de circularité. Par la suite, une étude industrielle pilote a été menée avec un constructeur d’engins de manutention cherchant à développer son activité de reconditionnement d’engins en fin de vie. Inspiré par des investigations sur le terrain couplé à un état de l’art étendu, une modélisation multi-échelles – a) engin et composants clés, b) processus de démantèlement, c) filières de valorisation – a permis (i) de proposer et de valider une amélioration (en temps et en ressources) des opérations de démontage d’un point de vue organisationnel et technique, (ii) d’effectuer une analyse économique et environnementale des activités de démantèlement et de valorisation. Un premier outil d’aide à la décision a également été conçu pour accompagner l’industriel dans la valorisation optimale de son engin en fin de vie. Des réflexions sur la généralisation et transposition des approches développées à d’autres engins ou secteurs sont données, ainsi que des pistes de recherche prometteuses pour accomplir davantage la transition vers une économie circulaire – effective, efficiente et durable
Implementing circular economy practices is increasingly acknowledged as a convenient solution to meet the goals of sustainable development. Meanwhile, there is at present no recognized way of measuring how effectively a region or a company is in making the transition to a circular economy, nor holistic monitoring tools for supporting such a process. New methods and tools are required to support industrial practitioners in their transition towards more circular practices, as well as to monitor the effects of circular economy adoption. In absence of regulations addressing the end-of-life management of their fleet, the heavy vehicles industry is both a challenging and promising industrial sector – of huge economic and environmental importance, but barely addressed from a research perspective – that needs to be boosted in its move to a more circular economy. An in-depth preliminary study reveals indeed huge potential to develop circular strategies and solutions in the heavy vehicles sector. This research explores the improvement potential for closing industrial material and components loops.On this basis, the objectives of the present Ph.D. thesis are: to provide an integrated and comprehensive framework to measure, improve and monitor the circularity performance of complex industrial systems; to identify the best mechanisms and action levers to close the loop on heavy vehicles and associated key components - providing thus decision-making support for the end-of-life management of heavy vehicles. At the intersection of design engineering and industrial ecology, this Ph.D thesis - by articles - aims to provide new meaningful insights both for academics and industrial practitioners. In fact, for each chapter, academic publications and industrial deliverables are given, illustrating and disseminating both theoretical contributions and practical implications. For instance, it includes: a proposed taxonomy of circularity indicators and its associated selection tool; an experimentation and critical analysis of several circularity indicators on a heavy vehicle’s key component; the design of a multi-tool methodology to model, simulate and quantify the impact of potential circular strategies; an industrial pilot study on an end-of-life heavy vehicle, dealing with the techno-economic and environmental analysis of possible recovery options

This research proposed a new framework for safety culture and examined the influence that culture has on safety in the heavy vehicle industry. The results gave evidence for an industry wide culture, allowing future safety interventions to be designed in a culturally-relevant manner. Designing culturally-relevant interventions may maximise their effectiveness and reduce the levels of resistance to safety that have been evident in past years.

This study aims to improve transportation held between six auction centers, Inter-Auction Transportation, of FloraHolland. FloraHolland serves ninety eight percent of the Dutch market and is the largest auction in floriculture industry. The company wants to give the best sale opportunities with the costs as low as possible and this is the main initiative of this study. In this line of thought, FloraHolland wants to have a improvement on its current routing and scheduling mechanism. Exact models do not work due to the complexity and the size of the problem. Therefore, we developed a two-stage approach specific to this study. With this approach, we split exact approach into two, a mathematical model followed by a heuristic. In the exact approach, trucks are routed and scheduled at the same time. On the other hand, our solution approach first determines most efficient routes to be followed with Cycle Assignment Model and then, with Scheduling Heuristic, trucks are assigned to the routes, so within day transportation is planned in detail. Overall, each stage of this approach works in harmony and brings good solutions in a short CPU time.

The demand for road freight transport continues to grow with the growing economy, resulting in increased fossil fuel consumption and emissions. At the same time, the fossil fuel use needs to decrease substantially to counteract the ongoing global warming. One way to reduce fuel consumption is to utilize emerging intelligent transport system (ITS) technologies and introduce heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) platooning, i.e. HDVs driving with small inter-vehicle gaps enabled by the use of sensors and controllers. It is of importance for transport authorities and industries to investigate the effects of introducing HDV platooning. Previous studies have investigated the potential benefits, but the effects in real traffic, both for the platoons and for the surrounding vehicles, have barely been explored. To further utilize ITS and optimize the platoons, information about the traffic situation ahead can be used to optimize the vehicle trajectories for the platoons. Paper I presents a dynamic programming-based optimal speed control including information of the traffic situation ahead. The optimal control is applied to HDV platoons in a deceleration case and the potential fuel consumption reduction is evaluated by a microscopic traffic simulation study with HDV platoons driving in real traffic conditions. The effects for the surrounding traffic are also analysed. Paper II and Paper III present a simulation platform to assess the effects of HDV platooning in real traffic conditions. Through simulation studies, the potential fuel consumption reduction by adopting HDV platooning on a real highway stretch is evaluated, and the effects for the other vehicles in the network are investigated.
Efterfrågan på godstransporter på väg fortsätter att öka i takt med den växande ekonomin, vilket resulterar i ökad förbrukning av fossila bränslen och ökade utsläpp. Samtidigt behöver användandet av fossila bränslen minska för att motverka den pågående globala uppvärmningen. Ett sätt för att minska bränsleförbrukningen är att utnyttja den teknik kring intelligenta transportsystem som är under utveckling och introducera lastbilskonvojer, det vill säga lastbilar som använder sensorer och regulatorer för att kunna köra med korta avstånd mellan sig. För transportföretag och -myndigheter är det viktigt att undersöka effekterna av att införa lastbilskonvojkörning. Tidigare studier har undersökt de möjliga fördelarna, men effekterna vid körning i trafik, både för konvojerna och för omgivande fordon, är outforskade. För att ytterligare utnyttja intelligenta transportsystem och optimera konvojerna kan information om trafiksituationen längre fram på vägen användas för att optimera konvojernas körning. Artikel I presenterar en optimal hastighetsregulator baserad på dynamisk programmering och som inkluderar information om trafiksituationen längre fram. Den optimala regulatorn appliceras på lastbilskonvojer under ett inbromsningsscenario och den potentiella minskningen i bränsleförbrukning utvärderas genom en mikroskopisk trafiksimuleringsstudie där lastbilskonvojerna kör i verkliga trafikförhållanden. Effekterna för omgivande fordon är också analyserade.Artikel II och artikel III presenterar en simuleringsplattform för att utvärdera effekterna av lastbilskonvojkörning i verkliga trafikförhållanden. Genom simuleringsstudier analyseras den potentiella bränsleförbrukningsminskningen då lastbilskonvojer körs på en verklig motorvägssträcka och effekterna för de övriga fordonen på vägen undersöks.

QC 20180516

Dagens företagsklimat och dess kontinuerliga förändringar av teknik och kundbehov tvingar alla företag att tänka om och ändra sina strategier. Scania är kända för att producera modulära produkter och vill i dagsläget undersöka modulariseringen för andra områden såsom testa riggar. När det gäller att uppfylla olika kundernas förväntningar, att snabbt anpassa sig till eventuella förändringar i testsfältet, att tillämpa omställbara modulära och återanvändbara styrsystem är de oundvikliga.Det viktigaste syfte för detta projekt är att undersöka hur Scanias befintliga centraliserade styrsystemet testriggar kan omvandlas till ett modulärt system, och ge riktlinjer för att stödja denna omvandling.En metod som kallas Modularisering Assessment Method (MAM) föreslås av författaren för att producera en modulär arkitektur för det befintliga styrsystem testriggar i Scania i Södertälje, Sverige. Det skapade metoden (MAM), som integrerar både hård- och mjukvaraperspektiv för att hitta modulgränser och undersöker den optimala nivån för distributionskontroll i testriggar som kan betraktas som en styrka för att tillämpa denna metod.För att verifiera metoden har en testrigg valts och modulerats med MAM metoden som en fallstudie.
The current business environment and continuous changes of technology and customer needs force all companies to re-think about their strategies. Scania is a famous company for producing modular products and the company wants to investigate modularization for other areas such as test rigs these days. Regarding various customer expectations, to adapt quickly to any changes in testing field, applying reconfigurable, modular, and reusable control systems is inevitable.The main goals of this project are to investigate how the existing centralized control system of test beds at Scania can be potentially converted to a modular distributed one, and provide guidelines to support this transformation.A methodology that is called Modularization Assessment Method (MAM) is proposed by the author to produce a modular architecture for the existing control system of test beds inside Scania in Södertälje, Sweden. This created method (MAM) integrates both hardware and software perspectives to find modules boundaries, and investigates the optimal level of control distribution in the test-beds which can be considered as strength points of applying this method.To verify the method, one of the test beds is chosen and be modularized by MAM method as a case study.

Society of today is struggling with both large amounts of emissions as well as congestion on the roads. For this reason, AFRY in collaboration with Volvo GTT is working on develop and implement longer and heavier transports in traffic network. These combinations are called high capacity transport and have high performance-based demands. Dynamic stability is one demand that can be improved for the DUOCAT, which is a high capacity transport combination. The hypothesis is that a displacement backward in the direction of travel of the v-stay can improve the dynamic stability. The v-stay is a component of the rear wheel suspension and has an important function regarding dynamic stability by absorbing lateral forces. To achieve better dynamic stability, the goal is to create counter steering on the rear axle of the DUO-CAT through small design changes on the v-stay. The suggestion from Volvo is to move the v-stay backward in the direction of travel, which in this thesis has become the focus in both concept generation and design work. The thesis includes development of new concepts of the v-stay. An extensive evaluation process consisting of dynamic analysis was carried out in PTC Creo Parametric, which made it possible to compare the new concepts with the current v-stay. An important part of the thesis is to obtain a simplified model that simulate the physical conditions. The delimitations are to examine lateral acceleration with load on the axle and friction between asphalt and wheels. The maneuver in the analyses emulates a quick lane change at 80 km/h. This has resulted in a new concept that includes the current v-stay where only the position on the frame and axle is changed with the help of new fastening components. The new concept provides an increased counter steering of 6%. The conclusion is that a displacement backwards in the direction of travel of the vehicle gives an increased counter steering. Future work is required to achieve the desired improved steering and safety requirements.

The transport industry is in the middle of a conceptual shift driven by delivering the targets set by the Paris Agreement. Proactive heavy-duty vehicle companies seek to further gather knowledge in a structured way on environmental impacts of its products and services. The method to be implemented is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). For implementation of LCA certain organisational and operational factors pre-requirements need to be addressed. The study takes key factors of Life Cycle Management (LCM) as a framework for assessing the readiness of Scania CV AB to implement LCA. Said key factors of LCM are analysed through company-based case study observations and literature review. The results indicate the company is in the process of introducing majority of the key factors of LCM. The case study tested the possibilities of the company for LCA, and attempted second phase of LCA, Life Cycle Inventory (LCI). The greatest challenge to LCA is low availability and format of data for LCA. However, the case study deeply tested the data limits and offers good insight in actions to be taken.

Road transport is responsible for a significant share of the global GHG emissions. In order to address the increasing trend of road vehicle emissions, due to its heavy reliance on oil, Nordic countries have set ambitious goals and policies for the reduction of road transport GHG emissions. Despite the fact that the latest developments in the passenger car segment are leading towards the progressive electrification of the fleet, the decarbonization of heavy-duty vehicle segment presents significant challenges that are yet to be overcome. This study focuses, on the first part, on the regulatory framework of fuel economy standards of road vehicles, highlighting the absence of a European regulation on fuel efficiency for the heavy-duty sector. Energy efficiency technologies can be grouped mainly in vehicle technologies, driveline and powertrain technologies, and alternative fuels. The fuel efficiency of HDVs can be positively improved at different vehicle levels, but the technology benefit and its economic feasibility are heavily dependent on the vehicle type and the operational cycle considered. The electrification pathway has the potential of reducing the carbon emission to a great extent, but the current battery technologies have proven to be not cost efficient for the heavy vehicles, because of the high purchase price and the low range, related to the battery cost and inferior energy density compared to conventional liquid fuels.   A scenario development model has been created in order to estimate and quantify the impact of future developments and emission reduction measures in Finland, Sweden and Norway for the timeframe 2016-2050, with a focus on 2030 results. Two scenarios concerning the powertrain developments of heavy-duty vehicles and buses have been created, a conservative scenario and electric scenario, as well as vehicle efficiency improvements and fuel consumption scenarios. Additional sets of parameters have been estimated as input for the model, such as national transport need and load assumptions. The results highlight the challenges of achieving the national GHG emission reduction targets with the current measures in all three countries. The slow fleet renewal rates and the high forecasted increase of transport need limit the benefits of alternative and more efficient powertrains introduced in the fleet by new vehicles. The heavy-duty transport is expected to maintain its heavy reliance on diesel fuel and hinder the improvements of the light-duty segments. A holistic approach is needed to reduce the GHG emissions from road transport, including more efficient powertrains, higher biofuel shares and progressive electrification.

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how life cycle thinking can be applied to road freight transport supply chains and explain some important matters in the management of the sustainable business model of a heavy vehicle manufacturer. The base for this dissertation is a case study within and beyond the international research project in collaboration with road freight transport industry. The purpose is addressed through a compilation of five research papers and a kappa. The first research paper addresses contextual issues of drivers and conflicts while managing sustainable supply chains in road freight transport industry. The second research paper explores the specific interaction patterns and capabilities within road freight transport supply chains for more sustainable business models. The third research paper brings an overview of the literature in the intersection of sustainable supply chain management and life cycle thinking areas. The fourth research paper questions the employment of life cycle thinking in road freight transport supply chains from a systems perspective. The last research paper analyses the components and structure of a sustainable business model in road freight transport supply chains from a social network perspective. The contributions of this study are both theoretical and practical. The application of systems theory and social network theory as external and internal lenses contributes to the theoretical development of the sustainable supply chain management field. The growing conceptualization of the sustainable business model, specifically in road freight transport industry, is also addressed in this dissertation. The practical contributions are seen through the empirical example of the adoption of life cycle thinking in road freight transport supply chains.

Includes five research papers.

The transport sector is a major cause of emissions both in Sweden and globally. This master thesis aims to develop a model for estimating emissions from heavy transport on a specific route. The emissions can be used in a route planning software and help the driver choose a route that contributes to reduced emissions. The methodology was to investigate attributes, like vehicle-related attributes and topography, and their impact on transport emissions. The carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions were converted into carbon dioxide equivalents, which were incorporated as one cost together with a precalculated driving time as a second cost in a multi objective function used for route planning. Different tests were conducted to investigate the accuracy and the usability of the model. First, a validation test was performed, where the optimized routes were analyzed. The test showed that the model was more likely to choose a shorter route in general. The fuel consumption values largely met expectations towards generic values and measurements, that were gathered from research. A second test of the model made use of the driving time combined with the emissions in a multi objective function. In this test, a weighting coefficient was varied and analyzed to understand the possibility to find a value of the coefficient for the best trade-off. The result showed that the model generates different solutions for different coefficients and that it is possible to find a suitable trade-off between the driving time and emissions. Therefore, this study shows that there is a possibility to combine emission with other objectives such as driving time for route optimization. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was performed, where attribute factors and assumptions were varied to see how sensitive they were and, in turn, how much a change would impact the calculated emissions. The result from the sensitivity analysis showed that the changes in topography-attributes had less impact than changes on vehicle-related attributes. In conclusion, this thesis has built a foundation for route planning, based on the environmental aspect, for heavy transports.

The 2+1-road is a specific three lane road which aims to increase the safety of the predecessor 13 meter wide four lane roads. As a lane is removed and a weaving section is introduced the capacity is severely lowered, sometimes halved. A very demanding part of the traffic system with regards to capacity are heavy vehicles, especially in conjunction with the 2+1-roads. However, exactly how the share of heavy vehicles impacts the traffic system with regards to 2+1 roads and freeways is not previously studied, which grants the opportunity of this work. The work has been carried out in connection with an assignment from The Swedish Transport Administration of analyzing the E4 going north from Gävle. This study analyzes how the share of heavy vehicles and level of service affect the speed on the two types of roads. The Swedish Transport Administration currently bases their current relationships on speed, capacity, and level of service on a share of heavy vehicles of 12%, which may give slightly wrong results depending on which system is being analyzed. The study has been carried out through micro simulation, which is a method that is very dependent on what data it is given, such as behavioral parameters and other input. The results of the study show how the relationship between share of heavy vehicles and level of service affect the speed, and that the 2+1-roads are highly dependent on the share of heavy vehicles, whereas the freeways have much larger tolerances.
Den mötesfria vägen (s.k. 2+1-väg) tillkom på 90-talet och gav upphov till mycket mer trafiksäkra vägar än sina föregångare 13-metersvägarna från mitten av 1900-talet. Till följd av säkerhetsökningen kom uppoffringar i kapacitet i och med vävningssträckor, som mer än halverar kapaciteten i jämförelse med en tvåfilig väg. En mycket kapacitetskrävande del av trafiksystemet är lastbilar, framförallt i dessa vävningssträckor. Men exakt hur lastbilsandelar påverkar systemet är inte riktigt bearbetat än, vilket ger upphov till detta examensarbete. Studien har utförts i samband med ett uppdrag från Trafikverket angående simulering av E4:an norr om Gävle. Detta examensarbete granskar alltså hur lastbilsandelen och belastningsgraden påverkar punkthastigheten på de två vägtyperna mötesfri väg och motorväg. Trafikverket baserar sina effektsamband på en lastbilsandel på 12 %, vilket kan ge både för låga och för höga värden beroende på vilken plats som man granskar. Arbetet har genomförts med hjälp av mikrosimuleringsmodeller, vilka är mycket beroende av vilka parametrar och indata de får. Resultatet av studien visar hur punkthastigheten beror på lastbilsandel och belastningsgrad, och visar på att de mötesfria vägarna är mycket beroende av lastbilsandelen, medan motorvägar har betydligt större tolerans.

In recent years, a number of high profile accidental fires have occurred in several road and rail tunnels throughout the world. Many of these fires grew rapidly to catastrophic size and claimed many lives. The processes involved in the rapid growth and extremely severe of these fires are not adequately understood as yet. The introduction to this thesis reviews a number of these accidental fires and describes much of the previous experimental research which has brought about the current understanding of tunnel fire behaviour. A detailed review of the relevant parts of elementary fire dynamics is also presented. This thesis addresses two main questions: 1. What is the influence of longitudinal ventilation on fire size in tunnels? and 2. What is the influence of tunnel geometry on fire size? The answers to both these questions are determined using a probabilistic method called Bayes Theorem. This provides a method of answering the above two questions using the handful of experimental data which are available. It is found that the heat release rate (HRR) of a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) fire may be greatly increased in magnitude by longitudinal ventilation, for example by about a factor of 5 with a longitudinal ventilation velocity of 3ms-1. It is also found that longitudinal ventilation may cause a significant increase in the HRR of large pool fires, but may cause a decrease in the HRR of small pool fires and car fires. An equation is derived to predict the influence of tunnel geometry on HRR. It is found that HRR varies principally with the width of the tunnel and the width of the fire object. The HRR of a fire in a tunnel my be increased up to four times due to the geometry of the tunnel.

Research shows that climate changes we face today is a consequence of the increasing amounts of greenhouse gases that circulate in our atmosphere due to increased human industrial activity. Many firms and industries are therefore increasingly implementing environmental management strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions towards a more sustainable environment. These environmental management efforts can be broadly classified under two umbrellas which are sustainable production and sustainable consumption and these two parts need to work together in order to contribute effectively towards a more sustainable environment. The environmental management literature however reveals a gap between sustainable production and sustainable use of vehicles in the automotive industry showing that while the major global environmental impact - greenhouse gas emissions - occurs when vehicles are put to use, the environmental management efforts in the industry are skewed to the production of vehicles.An emerging trend to breach this gap is that vehicle manufacturers are providing extending services to help vehicle users minimize their greenhouse gas emissions. This study analyses the extended service packages of the global truck manufacturer, Scania, against the environmental objectives and initiatives of five road transport companies in Sweden. An exploratory case study approach was used from the perspective of the road freight transport companies to find out if extended services present suitable opportunities to extend environmental management from manufacturers to users in the road freight transport industry. The study found that the extended services provide solutions that help road freighttransport companies to achieve lower fuel consumption and lower emissions from theirvehicles. Road freight transport companies traditionally invest in environmental initiatives to gain marketing advantages but the extended services present a rare opportunity to the companies to compete on profit margins by investing in the extended services.
Market Making of a High-value Business Model in Low Cost Markets: Value Co-Creation in Swedish Industry, CeLS, Project manager: Leif-Magnus Jensen, leif-magnus.jensen@jibs.hj.se, +46 36 10 1881.

Dissertação de Mestrado em Design com a especialização em Design de Produto apresentada na Faculdade de Arquitetura da Universidade de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre.
A mobilidade é algo que se torna vital e imprescindível numa sociedade. É possível integrar diversos conceitos de mobilidade e de tecnologia em equipamentos e/ou serviços. Atualmente, embora este tipo de conceitos sejam abordados de forma individual, procuram sempre melhorar a qualidade de vida do utilizador, e das pessoas que o rodeiam, e do próprio meio ambiente, sempre com o intuito de o tornar mais eficiente, eficaz e economicamente sustentável. No entanto, vigoram modos de produzir e utilizar os produtos sob estéticas e pressupostos pouco modernos e apelativos, quando comparados com outros de categoria equivalente, não correspondendo na totalidade às demandas e aos anseios de quem pretende usufruir. As sociedades abriram espaço para os veículos autónomos, considerados como o futuro do automóvel e da própria mobilidade, criando novos desafios para os construtores. Neste contexto e beneficiando da constante modernização e alteração do paradigma da mobilidade rodoviária, a presente investigação desenvolveu um veículo pesado para transporte de mercadorias e de condução autónoma com o intuito de otimizar o transporte de bens de consumo nas áreas interurbanas. Esta investigação recairá numa metodologia mista, não-intervencionista e intervencionista de caráter qualitativo. São utilizados métodos não intervencionistas aplicados no estado da arte e estudos de caso, e métodos intervencionistas, aplicados nas entrevistas e na investigação ativa, podendo corroborar as hipóteses levantadas e contribuir para um maior conhecimento nesta área de estudo.
ABSTRACT: Mobility is something that becomes vital and essential in a society. It is possible to integrate several concepts of mobility and technology in equipment and / or services. Currently, although these types of concepts are addressed individually, they always seek to improve the quality of life of the user, and the people around him, and the environment itself, always with the aim of making it more efficient, effective and economically sustainable. However, there are ways to produce and use products under aesthetics and assumptations not very modern and appealing, when compared with others of an equivalent category, not fully meeting the demands and desires of those who want to enjoy them. Societies have opened up space for autonomous vehicles, considered as the future of the automobile and mobility itself, creating new challenges for manufacturers. In this context and benefiting from the constant modernization and alteration of the road mobility paradigm, the present investigation has developed a heavy vehicle for the transport of goods and autonomous driving in order to optimize the transport of consumer goods in the interurban areas. This investigation will fall on a mixed, non-interventionist and qualitative interventionist methodology. Non-interventionist methods applied in the state of the art and case studies are used, and interventionist methods, applied in interviews and active research, which can corroborate the hypotheses raised and contribute to greater knowledge in this area of study.
N/A

Several aspects make today’s transport system non-sustainable: • Production, transport and combustion of fossil fuels lead to global and local environmental problems. • Oil dependency in the transport sector may lead to economical and political instability. • Air pollution, noise, congestion and land-use may jeopardise public health and quality of life, especially in urban areas. In a sustainable urban transport system most trips are made with public transport because high convenience and comfort makes travelling with public transport attractive. In terms of emissions, including noise, the vehicles are environmentally sustainable, locally as well as globally. Vehicles are energy-efficient and the primary energy stems from renewable sources. Costs are reasonable for all involved, from passengers, bus operators and transport authorities to vehicle manufacturers. The system is thus commercially viable on its own merits. This thesis presents the results from three projects involving different concept buses, all with different powertrains. The first two projects included technical evaluations, including tests, of two different fuel cell buses. The third project focussed on development of a series hybrid-bus with internal combustion engine intended for production around 2010. The research on the fuel cell buses included evaluations of the energy efficiency improvement potential using energy mapping and vehicle simulations. Attitudes to hydrogen fuel cell buses among passengers, bus drivers and bus operators were investigated. Safety aspects of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel were analysed and the use of hydrogen compared to electrical energy storage were also investigated. One main conclusion is that a city bus should be considered as one energy system, because auxiliaries contribute largely to the energy use. Focussing only on the powertrain is not sufficient. The importance of mitigating losses far down an energy conversion chain is emphasised. The Scania hybrid fuel cell bus showed the long-term potential of fuel cells, advanced auxiliaries and hybrid-electric powertrains, but technologies applied in that bus are not yet viable in terms of cost or robustness over the service life of a bus. Results from the EU-project CUTE show that hydrogen fuelled fuel cell buses are viable for real-life operation. Successful operation and public acceptance show that focus on robustness and cost in vehicle design were key success factors, despite the resulting poor fuel economy. Hybrid-electric powertrains are feasible in stop-and-go city operation. Fuel consumption can be reduced, comfort improved, noise lowered and the main power source downsized and operated less dynamically. The potential for design improvements due to flexible component packaging is implemented in the Scania hybrid concept bus. This bus and the framework for its hybrid management system are discussed in this thesis. The development of buses for a more sustainable urban transport should be made in small steps to secure technical and economical realism, which both are needed to guarantee commercialisation and volume of production. This is needed for alternative products to have a significant influence. Hybrid buses with internal combustion engines running on renewable fuel is tomorrow’s technology, which paves the way for plug-in hybrid, battery electric and fuel cell hybrid vehicles the day after tomorrow.
QC 20100722

The transport sector accounts for a third of Sweden’s total greenhouse gas emissions where cars and heavy trucks dominate the use of fossil fuels. The Swedish government is now intensifying the work for an electrified transport sector where electric roads could be an important part. Electric roads enable heavy vehicles to charge their batteries while driving, which is expected to contribute to environmentally friendly and time-efficient freight transports. To implement electric roads, availability of electric power along the electric roads will be required. This study presents a plan for connecting an electric road to the electricity grid in the electricity network area of Vattenfall Eldistribution. From the results, the idea was to present general conclusions from the experiences of the study, that could contribute in further implementation of electric roads.  The road that has been selected for the study was the E4 between Gävle and Stockholm. A model for calculating the power demand along the electric road has been modeled and connection possibilities to transformer stations has been investigated. The analysis was based on three scenarios where different degrees of strengthening of the existing electricity network were assumed. In addition, a forecast for 2030 and a cost estimation for each scenario has been carried out. The result of the study indicates that for road sections close to larger cities, there are a larger number of connection options in comparison to rural areas. Furthermore, the designed solution in the study required strengthening of the electricity grid and the investment cost was 362 million Swedish crowns.

The transport sector accounts for a third of Sweden’s total greenhouse gas emissions where cars and heavy trucks dominate the use of fossil fuels. The Swedish government is now intensifying the work for an electrified transport sector where electric roads could be an important part. Electric roads enable heavy vehicles to charge their batteries while driving, which is expected to contribute to environmentally friendly and time-efficient freight transports. To implement electric roads, availability of electric power along the electric roads will be required. This study presents a plan for connecting an electric road to the electricity grid in the electricity network area of Vattenfall Eldistribution. From the results, the idea was to present general conclusions from the experiences of the study, that could contribute in further implementation of electric roads. The road that has been selected for the study was the E4 between Gävle and Stockholm. A model for calculating the power demand along the electric road has been modeled and connection possibilities to transformer stations has been investigated. The analysis was based on three scenarios where different degrees of strengthening of the existing electricity network were assumed. In addition, a forecast for 2030 and a cost estimation for each scenario has been carried out. The result of the study indicates that for road sections close to larger cities, there are a larger number of connection options in comparison to rural areas. Furthermore, the designed solution in the study required strengthening of the electricity grid and the investment cost was 362 million Swedish crowns.

The purpose of this study is to compare the life-cycle cost and environmental impact of the existing fuel-based propulsion system, on public commuter ferries in Stockholm, with a battery based propulsion system. The study is divided into multiple layers. First, the operating characteristics of the route Line 80 within Stockholm’s waterborne public transportation (WPT) are collected, such as fuel consumption, propulsion power output, speed, voyage time and propulsion system configuration. Second, based on the energy demand of the route, important parameters related to the existing fuel-based propulsion system and the battery-based propulsion system are accounted for and modeled. Third, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the cost assessment methods are applied to examine the effectiveness of the electrification of commuter ferries on a financial and environmental scale. With the help of the software GaBi 2020, GREET 2020, and other literature studies, the environmental impacts at the construction, use and end-of-life (EOL) phase are evaluated. There are in total 8 scenarios considered, 4 for the fuel-based and 4 for the battery-based propulsion system. The environmental performance of these 8 scenarios are discussed in terms of Globalwarmingpotential(GWP), Acidificationpotential(AP), Eutrophicationpotential(EP) and Photo-chemical ozone creation potential (POCP). Themostpollutingphaseistheusephase for all scenarios. Propulsion system powered by diesel (scenario 1) is considered as a reference for comparative analysis of 7 other scenarios. The best performing system is the one powered by batteries with the assumption of an electricity mix based on hydro, wind and nuclear power, which is scenario 7 and 8 with a net reduction of GWP by more than 98%, AP by 90%, EP by 96%, and the POCP by 96%. If we consider the current Swedish electricity mix (scenario 5 and 6), the decrease in GWP, AP, EP and POCP are 90%, 80%, 82% and 91% respectively. Alternative fuels also present promising results for GWP in comparison to diesel (with the origin of the feed-stock creating mostly negative impacts) but the contribution to other impact categories is significantly higher. With inputs from the industry and the environmental evaluation, the cost assessment compares the costs related to fuel-based and battery-based propulsion systems with different energy sources. For the battery-based system, 3 scenarios are modeled for two different types of Li-ion batteries. The vessels in the developed scenarios are charged more frequently than the existing electric vessel and the number of charging stations is varied. The costs that are included in the assessment are the initial capital cost, the cost for fuel/electricity, maintenance cost, end-of-life cost and emissions cost. When concerning all the cost categories, the battery-based system is more cost-efficient than a fuel-based system, if run on the Swedish electricity mix, due to the lower cost for electricity and emissions. The reduction of cost is more than 68% when comparing traditional diesel with battery-based systems, but the source of the electricity is very important.
Syftet med denna studie är att jämföra livscykelkostnaden och miljöpåverkan av de befintliga framdrivningssystemen på pendelbåtarna inom Stockholms kollektivtrafik, med batteridrivna system på motsvarande båtar. De befintliga framdrivningssystemen drivs av olika typer av diesel. Studien är uppdelad i flera steg. Först samlas driftsegenskaperna in, såsom bränsleförbrukning, framdrivningseffekt, hastighet, färdtidochframdrivningssystemetsuppbyggnad, etc, på linje 80, som är en del av Stockholms vattenburna kollektivtrafik. För det andra undersöks det befintliga framdrivningssystemet som drivs av diesel eller alternativa bränslen som RME eller HVO och fullt batteridrivna system utifrån energibehovet. För det tredje tillämpas metoderna för kostnadsanalys och livscykelanalys (LCA) för att undersöka hur elektrifieringen av pendelbåtar påverkar ekonomin och miljön. Med hjälp av programmet GaBi 2020, GREET 2020 och andra litteraturstudier utvärderas miljöpåverkan av faserna tillverkning, användning och avfallshantering. Det är totalt 8 scenarier som övervägs, 4 för bränslebaserade och 4 för batteri baserade framdrivningssystem. Hur bra dessa 8 scenarier presterar miljömässigt diskuteras i termer av växthuseffekt (GWP), försurning (AP), övergödning (EP) och marknära ozon (POCP). Den fasen med mest utsläpp, för alla scenarier, är användningsfasen. Framdrivningssystemet som drivs av diesel (scenario 1) används som referens att jämföra de övriga 7 scenarierna mot. Det system som presterar bästa är det som drivs av batterier, med antagandet att elmixen är baserad på vatten-, vind-och kärnkraft, detta motsvarar scenario 7 och 8 med en reduktion av GWP på mer än 98%, AP med 90%, EP med 96% och POCP med 96%. Om vi tittar på den aktuella svenska elmixen (scenario 5 och 6) så är minskningen av GWP, AP, EP och POCP 90%, 80%, 82% respektive 91%. Alternativa bränslen ger också lovande resultat för GWP jämfört med diesel (där råvarans ursprung skapar mest negativa effekter) men bidraget till andra påverkanskategorier är betydligt högre. Med input från företag och miljöutvärderingen kan kostnadsanalysen jämföra kostnaderna för bränslebaserade och batteri baserade framdrivningssystem med olika energikällor. Det batteri baserade systemet modelleras även på 3 utvecklade scenarier för 2 olika typer av batterier. Fartygen i de utvecklade scenarierna laddas oftare än det befintliga batteridrivna fartyget och antalet laddstationer varierar mellan scenarierna. De kostnader som inkluderas i analysen är de initiala kapitalkostnaderna, kostnaden för bränsle/el, underhållskostnader, avfallshanteringskostnader ochutsläppskostnader. Medallakostnaderinkluderadeiberäkningarna är batteri baserade system mer kostnadseffektiva än bränslebaserade system om de körs på svensk elmix, tack vare de lägre kostnaderna för el och utsläpp. Minskningen av den totala kostnaden är mer än 68% när man jämför traditionell diesel med batterisystem, men elens ursprung är mycket viktig.

Death and serious injuries caused by heavy vehicle crashes occur daily in the heavy vehicle transport industry, which has been described as the deadliest industry to work in. There is much suffering and grief amongst families caused by these deaths and serious injuries, and there is a significant financial burden costing the economy billions of dollars each year, yet crash investigations do not appear to identify the underlying causes of these crashes and why heavy vehicle drivers, as well as other road users, are being killed or seriously injured. This is a worldwide problem and not unique to any one country. This research has been undertaken to identify whether systemic investigations are needed to improve safety in the heavy vehicle transport industry. A systemic investigation is the detailed process of collecting and analysing crash information from a broad and varied scope, using a wide range of resources, techniques and methods in order to identify and establish the underlying causes of a crash. The heavy vehicle transport industry operates in a socio-technical system that has been described as a multi-layered hierarchical system, which is multifaceted, non-linear and complex, and contains a level of uncertainty where actors, technologies and tasks are interacting across levels of the hierarchical layers. Their relationships are interlinked and interconnected, having causal ties where there are direct or indirect operational requirements. For this research the socio-technical system has been identified as consisting of government, regulatory/enforcement agencies, supply chain parties, heavy vehicle companies, drivers/co-drivers, and environment/road and vehicles. A part of the heavy vehicle transport industry socio-technical system comprises of policies, rules, legislation and procedures to help guide the decision-making process to ensure both safety and compliance within the system. The intent is captured in the legislation that governs the system where compliance to the legislation is required. Heavy vehicle crashes are investigated by state and territory police forces as well as regulatory agencies. These police forces and regulatory agencies have a mandate to investigate for the purposes of identifying driver liability, and as a consequence look for blame. However, the recent enactment of the Heavy Vehicle National Law and Compliance and Enforcement legislation does not support this approach and seeks to apportion blame throughout the logistics chain, rather than placing blame on the driver. This research discovered that there are a number of underlying causes that adversely influence heavy vehicle driver behaviour and contribute to crashes; however, these causes are not usually identified in investigations, with the outcome of an investigation often being to blame the driver. Investigations do not tend to look at the socio-technical system within which the heavy vehicle transport industry operates to identify the interactions and interconnections that can influence and impact upon a driver’s behaviour. In most instances when human errors are identified the investigation ceases with no further exploration as to what caused the human errors. This research has identified that investigators do not use a systemic investigation methodology, indeed many who have conducted investigations of heavy vehicle crashes have no knowledge of what a systemic investigation is. In addition, this research discovered that investigators did not have the training, skills and competencies or specialist knowledge of the heavy vehicle transport industry to investigate heavy vehicle crashes. These investigators primarily gained their skills and competencies ‘on the job’ through a tacit transfer of knowledge, essentially learning as they worked. Unfortunately, the investigators from the state and territory police forces and regulatory agencies are not specialists in the heavy vehicle transport industry and lack the understanding of the heavy vehicle transport socio-technical system. These investigators have a mandate to investigate for the purposes of prosecution, and as a consequence look for the attribution of blame. These agencies do not apply a systemic investigation methodology to determine the underlying causes of a crash. Even the recent enactment of the Heavy Vehicle National Law, which seeks to apportion liability to others throughout the logistics chain, is consistent with this prosecutorial approach. In contrast, investigations into aviation, rail and maritime incidents are conducted by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which adopts a “no blame-no liability” investigation methodology, albeit one that is not systemic. These investigations are tailored to each specific domain which seeks to uncover underlying causes without attributing blame. Incident investigations in these transport modalities have facilitated a reduction in rates of serious incidents. Consequently, the adoption of such an approach to heavy vehicle crash investigations should also result in a reduction of serious crashes due to a more comprehensive uncovering and understanding of underlying causative factors. This research was conducted in three stages. The first stage consisted of a literature review that identified the socio-technical system within which the heavy vehicle transport industry operates, the underlying causes of heavy vehicle crashes identified by academic research, the legislative regimes governing the heavy vehicle transport industry, the actors involved in the heavy vehicle transport system, and what investigation methods are currently being used to conduct heavy vehicle crash investigations. Stage two consisted of two parts: the first part being a survey of heavy vehicle transport industry participants seeking their responses to twenty survey statements, and the second part being semi-structured interviews of investigators who have investigated heavy vehicle crashes. Stage three also consisted of two parts. Part one was a thematic analysis of investigation reports completed by the ATSB of investigations of heavy vehicles crashing with trains at level crossing that occurred between 2000-2019. Part two was a thematic analysis of Coronial report findings of heavy vehicle fatal crashes that occurred in Australia between 2005 and 2020. This research identified that a number of stakeholders have called for the ATSB to take over investigations of heavy vehicle crashes; however, the ATSB are under resourced to meet their current obligations and may not be best suited to conduct investigations of heavy vehicle fatal crashes. The ATSB have also, in the past, been criticised for not having suitable systemic investigation processes in place. This research’s original contribution to knowledge is the development of an investigation framework that can be used by investigative agencies to assist with investigations of heavy vehicle crashes. The investigation framework will help direct investigators in their search for answers to identify the underlying causes of a heavy vehicle crash. The framework instructs the investigator to look beyond blame and driver error and motivates the investigator to look at other underlying causes and contributory factors influencing driver behaviour. This research has obtained evidence to support the need for a dedicated heavy vehicle crash investigation agency which uses a systemic investigation methodology to investigate crashes. Additionally, the research has identified the need for investigators to be trained in the necessary systemic investigation techniques and to gain knowledge and develop skills specific to the heavy vehicle transport industry. This research has developed an investigation framework that can be used by investigators to conduct investigations of heavy vehicle crashes. This framework is a systemic methodology that when applied will ensure investigators delve deeply to uncover the underlying causes from within the heavy vehicle transport socio-technical system, rather than assigning blame to the driver and ceasing investigations when human error has been identified.

The major purpose of this thesis is to offer a detailed look at the development of two models used to assist in the detailed study of Australian two lane two way highways with particular reference to heavy vehicles. The first model governs the acceleration behaviour of vehicles on upgrades and downgrades. The second model controls overtaking manoeuvres on two lane two way highways where movement into the lane of oncoming traffic is required. Both models are implemented through a suite of transport simulation modelling software called Paramics.

碩士
東吳大學
企業管理學系
100
Tractor operational efficiency is the key for a freight transportation company to fulfill its customer demand and enhance its profitability. That is, it is crucial to develop a comprehensive analytical framework to effectively evaluate the tractor operational efficiency and to suggest improvement directions. However, the tractor operational efficiency assessment involves complex multiple inputs and outputs, each of which can hardly represent the efficiency of a given tractor. Therefore, this study aims to utilize Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) modeling method to evaluate the tractor operational efficiencies using multiple inputs (fuel consumption, maintenance & repair expenses, driver salaries, and empty kilometers) and outputs (loads, revenue, load kilometers, and days of transport assignment). This study follows action research method and work closely with F freight transport firm to extract its domain knowledge on the tractor operations and investigate their managerial insights. The research findings show that maintenance & repair expenses, empty kilometers, and loads are main factors to the low operational efficiencies. Management should follow up and clarify root causes based on the poor performing input and output factors. Last but not the least, F company should design a better system for the tractor operational efficiency management to motivate the tractor efficiency improvement and bring up overall company-wise and fleet-wise operating performance. Keywords: Tractor, Tractor Operational Efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)

The purpose of this Work Project is to help investors understand how a Chinese private equity fund works through a pre-IPO project analysis of a Chinese private equity fund company named New Silk Road Investment Management Co., Ltd. Firstly, the investment target was selected through analyzing Chinese listing requirements and investment preference of our investment team. Then I started to do the industry research and company research of the investment target to analyze its situation. Finally, the valuation of investment target was done based on some assumptions to project the purchase price.

碩士
東吳大學
企業管理學系
101
In Taiwan, transportation industry plays an important role in transporting passengers and cargos. Due to offshoring of manufacturing industry, decreasing demand of import and export, and rising of operating costs in the transport operators, most of transport operators just hold balance between making either a profit or a loss, and even need to reduce their fleet size. In passenger transport market, a new choice offered by high-speed rail seriously struck against the road traffic volume. Though increasing tourists from China due to the relaxation of travel regulation have boosted the demand gradually, transport operators end up unprofitably because of intense competition among travel agents. The transportation industry is now at a highly competitive state, thus requirements of improving vehicle uptime and greater emphasis on driving safety have become more important to operators to reduce operational costs and risks and enhance profitability. The research chose the repair and maintenance (R&M) services of heavy vehicles as the research topic because it greatly affects vehicle uptime and driving safety. We reviewed the performance-based logistics (PBL) literature first, and then compared the differences between PBL which is developed by Swedish heavy vehicle suppliers, and the traditional R&M mode used by Taiwanese transport operators according to critical factors when introducing PBL through a case study research approach. Furthermore, we assessed the feasibility of the PBL application model in Taiwan, and offer the directions key stakeholders in Taiwan should follow if PBL model is to be introduced successfully. After collection of secondary data and manager interviews of four cases in different trasnport sectors, a qualitative triangulation analysis is carried out to get more complete and in-depth understanding of the business models of these cases with particular focus on R&M activities. Next, we explored the PBL application feasibility in Taiwan and assessed, based on critical factors affecting PBL model implementation proposed by Agndal et al (2013), the obstacles that might hinder the application of PBL model by case companies. Finally, the development of PBL model in Taiwan transportation industry is explored. In the following, the research findings and results are summarized: 1. There are major differences in R&M operations between Sweden and Taiwan. The former puts great attention on traffic management and driving safety; the latter hands over maintenance jobs to private workshop instead, which makes the vehicle quality unstable. Swedish vehicle suppliers often offer customized contract services based on corporate culture, working conditions and vehicle usage characteristics, and used the vehicle performance as valuation standards; while vehicle suppliers in Taiwan still provide traditional repair and maintenance contracts to transport operators. 2.As to the repair and maintenance models in case companies, most of them use the services of the workshop ran by vehicle suppliers to make sure the quality of vehicles, showing Taiwanese transport operators’ increasing emphasis on the management of the vehicle fleet. In the freight market in Taiwan, the PBL model has been started by D vehicle suppliers. Compared to S vehicle suppliers, D vehicle suppliers is very positive both in developing a comprehensive repair and maintenance facility network and communicating this advanced service concept to the customers. In the future, the number of companies which is willing to adopt heavy vehicle R&M PBL model is expected to increase. 3.More and more transport operators start to emphasize operating vehicle quality in Taiwan. They have carried out preventive driver training and manage R&M operations with intensive attention. If R&M PBL model is introduced by operators, the key portion of fleet management is meant to outsource to the vehicle supplier. It could be a barrier if operators and suppliers do not take long term perspective and develop strategic partnerships. On the other hand, Taiwan’s Europe-based vehicle suppliers must understand the current situation in operators and carry out in-depth analysis with their repair and maintenance data. This might be another barrier due to the need and lack of capable specialist to develop proper analytical model to analyze trade-offs for introducing PBL model. Besides, it is a complicate task to develop a right pricing mechanism for PBL R&M service acceptable to both operators and suppliers. These potential barriers increase the complexity when in the PBL development process, as well as reduce the willingness of both parties to adopt PBL model in Taiwan.

Unlike methods such as replacing components when they fail or on a calendar time schedule, Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) consists of quantifying component degradation in real-time, allowing repairs to be made only when necessary and improving the overall efficiency of mechanical systems. An ideal CBM application for freight railway wagons would consist of a wireless self-powered electronic device installed on each vehicle, detecting and communicating parameters such as brake, bearing or wheel faults, and dynamic instabilities. Such a monitoring device has not been achieved yet, mainly because of the lack of electricity on-board the vehicles and the cost of instrumenting massive fleets. Recent advances and cost reductions in devices and technologies for the Internet of Things (IoT) open the possibility for developing a feasible on-wagon monitoring device. Wireless data transmission, acquisition, and digital signal processing are the most power demanding tasks in on-board condition monitoring sensor nodes. Traditional approaches use mostly digital signal processing and opt for reducing monitoring and communication events, limiting the types of parameters that can be measured and the associated analyses. On the other hand, the approach of the present project is to develop an innovative hardware architecture based on analogue computing for decreasing energy consumption with a reduced sensor node architecture. That is, achieving fault detection using analogue electronic circuitry which directly extracts relevant information from sensor signals, hence reducing digital system workload and complexity and thereby being able to handle higher frequency analogue signals with simple electronic components. This project develops an innovative sensor node hardware architecture and algorithms for a practical on-wagon monitoring device, with low power usage and sufficient on-board calculation capability to provide warning messages when a fault emerges. Developments regarding sensors, IoT, integrated systems and fault detection techniques were reviewed. A wheel flat defect was used as a case study to develop and investigate the proposed condition monitoring sensor node. Railway vehicle dynamic behaviour was simulated to determine operating conditions for the device and the nature of the signals to be monitored. The device concept was firstly proven by combining vehicle dynamic simulations with a physical prototype of the on-wagon fault detection analogue circuit. Subsequently, a hardware prototype version of the circuit was constructed and tested on a scaled bogie rig. The proposed sensor node hardware architecture effectively reduced power consumption and memory requirements for detecting a wheel flat defect using on-board acceleration signals.