Ship routing and scheduling systems: forecasting, upscaling and viability

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to resolve three problems in ship routing and scheduling systems. Problem 1 is the anticipation of the future cargo transport demand when the shipping models are stochastic based on this demand. Problem 2 is the capacity of these models in processing large number of ships and cargoes within a reasonable time. Problem 3 is the viability of tramp shipping when it comes to real problems. Design/methodology/approach A commodity-trade forecasting system is developed, an information technology platform is designed and new shipping elements are added to the models to resolve tramp problems of en-route ship bunkering, low-tide port calls and hold-cleaning cost caused by carrying incompatible cargoes. Findings More realistic stochastic cargo quantity and freight can now be anticipated, larger number of ships and cargoes are now processed in time and shipping systems are becoming more viable. Practical implications More support goes to ship owners to make better shipping decisions. Originality/value New norms are established in forecasting, upscaling and viability in ship routing and scheduling systems.

Optimizing Replaced Nozzle Diameter of Abrasive Blasting Systems Using Experiment Technique Design

The blasting technique has been broadly utilized to prepare new surfaces for painting, engraving, etc., in industry. In fact, the minimization of the cleaning cost system is essential. However, the knowledge of this technique in terms of optimization has been poor so far. The aim of this study is to find the optimum replaced boron carbide nozzle diameter for the abrasive blasting system. The basis of the study is to find the replaced nozzle diameter to minimize the cost of the blasting system. Seven main parameters are adopted for examining their influences on the response and the optimum replaced nozzle diameter. The design of experiment (DOE) technique is utilized by using Minitab@19. The results reveal that the initial nozzle diameter has the strongest impact on the optimum replaced nozzle diameter. Furthermore, the proposed regression model has been found to be entirely insistent to the experiments. The utilization of this model can provide an effective way to simplify the calculation of the optimum initial nozzle diameter for boron carbide.

Cleaning Costs for European Sheltered White Painted Steel and Modern Glass Surfaces Due to Air Pollution Since the Year 2000

This paper reports estimated maintenance-cleaning costs, cost savings and cleaning interval increases for structural surfaces and windows in Europe obtainable by reducing the air pollution. Methodology and data from the ICP-materials project were used. The average present (2018) cleaning costs for sheltered white painted steel surfaces and modern glass due to air pollution over background, was estimated to be ~2.5 Euro/m2∙year. Hypothetical 50% reduction in the air pollution was found to give savings in these cleaning costs of ~1.5 Euro/m2∙year. Observed reduction in the air pollution, from 2002–2005 until 2011–2014, have probably increased the cleaning interval for white painted steel with ~100% (from 12 to 24 years), representing reductions in the single intervention cleaning costs from 7 to 4%/year (= % of one cleaning investment, per year during the cleaning interval) and for the modern glass with ~65% (from 0.85 to 1.3 years), representing reductions in the cleaning cost from 124 to 95%/year. The cleaning cost reductions, obtainable by 50% reduction in air pollution, would have been ~3 %/year for white painted steel and ~60%/year for the modern glass, representing ~100 and 50% additional cleaning interval increases. These potential cleaning cost savings are significantly higher than previously reported for the weathering of Portland limestone ornament and zinc monuments.

Design and Application for Heller System Radiator Built-In Automatic Cleaning Device

Due to working in natural environment in a long term and dust deposited on the surface, air cooling radiator turns to a lower heat transfer rate, so that it leads to load limit operation for air cooling unit in summer. In allusion to indirect air cooling radiator with Heller System, high-pressure water jet technique is used and built-in cleaning device is designed to entirely solve above-mentioned problem. Cleaning device works automatically and realizes full cover cleaning. Cleaning-pressure is between 100 and 150bar and cleaning target distance keeps within 200mm. Dust on the surface of radiator can be entirely cleaned. Cleaning flow is 20m3 /h and the cleaning cost decreases greatly. Such device has been successfully tested and worked. Furthermore, it has been applied to the project with a system of 2×600MW supercritical indirect air cooling unit.

Research of Unpowered Cleaning Equipment for Blanket Cylinder

In order to enhance the cleaning speed, reduce the cleaning cost and solve other problems of the existing cleaning equipment for blanket cylinder, we put forward a new-type unpowered cleaning equipment for blanket cylinder after a comparative analysis between powered spurt brush type cleaning equipment and unpowered cleaning cloth type cleaning equipment with respect to their structures and characteristics. Furthermore, after we study the cylinder structure of printing press and the cleaning effect of the existing cleaning equipments, a spurt brush type is proposed. We obtain the optimal pressure of this cleaning equipment through repeated experimental analyses on the pressure exerted by brush roller on blanket cylinder. The velocity parameter is determined by analyzing the cleaning principle of brush roller.

A Study on Cost Optimization of Steel Shot Blasting Systems

This paper introduces a new study on cost optimization of steel shot blasting systems. In the study, the influences of blasting process parameters such as air pressure, nozzle diameter, cost components as well as the effect of the nozzle wear on the cleaning cost were investigated. For calculation of the optimum exchanged nozzle diameter (called optimum diameter) a regression model was proposed. By using this model, both cleaning cost and cleaning time can be reduced considerably.

Recyclable Fluorine-Based Cleaning Solvents for Resist Removal

The development of new functional cleaning agents is strongly required for leading-edge LSI fabrication, such as resist removal process without any damage to low-k materials. For example, as excessive acid cleaning agents would damage such materials. Consequently, a low damage cleaning technique with no collapsing fine structures is also desirable. On the other hand, the concept of recycle of cleaning agents is an urgent issue for the reduction of cleaning cost. Therefore, both cleaning ability and easy recyclable function are essential for next generation cleaning agents. Fluorine-based cleaning agents have been widely used for cleaning, rinsing and drying process in the electronics industry. Asahi Glass Corporation (AGC) has commercialized various fluorine-based cleaning agents as AC-series (Hydrofluorocarbon: HFC) and AE-series (Hydorofluoroether: HFE). Typical properties of these compounds are summarized in Table I. Here we report the application of fluorine-based cleaning agents to ArF resist removal and the evaluation of the recycles.