Solving Environmental Problems by Recycling the Cut Chalk To Lime in a Rotating Furnace

A technology of processing chalk from the Lebedinskoye deposit into high quality lime by roasting in a rotary kiln is proposed. A procedure has been developed for the thermodynamic calculation of the specific heat of decomposition of carbonates contained in chalk. The material and heat balances of the operating rotary kiln have been compiled. All the main parameters of its operation and the optimal fuel consumption for chalk processing have been determined.

Development of a Fuel Consumption Prediction Model Based on Machine Learning Using Ship In-Service Data

As interest in eco-friendly ships increases, methods for status monitoring and forecasting using in-service data from ships are being developed. Models for predicting the energy efficiency of a ship in real time need to effectively process the operational data and be optimized for such an application. This paper presents models that can predict fuel consumption using in-service data collected from a 13,000 TEU class container ship, along with statistical and domain-knowledge methods to select the proper input variables for the models. These methods prevent overfitting and multicollinearity while providing practical applicability. To implement the prediction model, either an artificial neural network (ANN) or multiple linear regression (MLR) were applied, where the ANN-based models showed the best prediction accuracy for both variable selection methods. The goodness of fit of the models based on ANN ranged from 0.9709 to 0.9936. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis of the draught under normal operating conditions indicated an optimal draught of 14.79 m, which was very close to the design draught of the target ship, and provides the optimal fuel consumption efficiency. These models could provide valuable information for ship operators to support decision making to maintain efficient operating conditions.

Optimal damping of deviations of angular speeds of an eightsymetric space aircraft

This paper considers the problem of optimal fuel consumption damping of sudden deviations of angular velocities of an axisymmetric spacecraft with a constant speed of rotation around the main axis of symmetry. This assumption has some practical significance and may be due to the creation of artificial gravity on the spacecraft. The idea of artificial gravity due to the rotation of an axisymmetric cylindrical spacecraft is based on the principle of equivalence of the force of gravity and the force of inertia. The urgency of the fuel consumption optimization problem is due to the presence of its limited stock onboard the spacecraft. The optimization problem is solved based on the maximum principle and the phase plane method. The authors of the article determine the structure of optimal fuel consumption processes with three levels of control, and the number of their switches depends on the initial conditions. Synthesized on the phase plane, the optimal switching curves divide the phase plane into eight curvilinear quadrants, which uniquely determine the values of the optimal control effects by the current values of the deviations of the angular velocities of the spacecraft. The problem of the possible presence of a delay in the control loop is proposed to be solved based on the Bess compensation method. To do this, the corresponding optimal curves of switching and disabling the controls are built as geometric locations of points remoted for the time of delay from the found curves of switching and the beginning of coordinates accordingly. It allows us to avoid the emergence of steady self-oscillations in a control contour and to provide a condition of keeping the spacecraft in a given final state after the completion of the stabilization process. Depending on the technical equipment of the spacecraft, two variants of the optimal damping algorithm are offered, namely: an autonomous device in the onboard control system of the spacecraft in the absence of a sufficiently powerful onboard computer, or the optimal damping algorithm, implemented entirely in the onboard computer of the spacecraft in case of its sufficient power.

Sustainability through the Digitalization of Industrial Machines: Complementary Factors of Fuel Consumption and Productivity for Forklifts with Sensors

Increasing the fuel efficiency of industrial machines through digitalization can enable the transport and logistics sector to overcome challenges such as low productivity growth and increasing CO2 emissions. Modern digitalized machines with embedded sensors that collect and transmit operational data have opened up new avenues for the identification of more efficient machine use. While existing studies of industrial machines have mostly focused on one or a few conditioning factors at a time, this study took a complementary approach, using a large set of known factors that simultaneously conditioned both the fuel consumption and productivity of medium-range forklifts (n = 285) that operated in a natural industrial setting for one full year. The results confirm the importance of a set of factors, including aspects related to the vehicles’ travels, drivers, operations, workload spectra, and contextual factors, such as industry and country. As a novel contribution, this study shows that the key conditioning factors interact with each other in a non-linear and non-additive manner. This means that addressing one factor at a time might not provide optimal fuel consumption, and instead all factors need to be addressed simultaneously as a system.