Design methods for mobility

In the present study, a performance analysis of three different VTOL configurations is presented within an urban air mobility context. A classical lightweight helicopter was employed as a reference configuration to design a dual-rotor side-by-side helicopter and a hexacopter drone layout. An analytical model based on general momentum and blade element theories was developed for single- and multiple-rotor configurations in horizontal and vertical flight conditions. Suitable battery pack and electric motor designs were produced to evaluate the endurance and range of the different configurations for a specific mission. This paper provides fundamental insights into the endurance and range capabilities of multiple-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and a qualitative discussion on the safety and acceptability features of each configuration implemented in an advanced air mobility context. As a result, the side-by-side helicopter configuration was identified as the best solution to be introduced within urban environments, fulfilling all the performance and mission requirements.

Keywords: conceptual design , eVTOL , helicopter , performance analysis , side-by-side , UAV

Mechatronic systems become ever more complex because of their increasing number of interconnected safety critical components and sophistication. MBSE (Model-based Systems Engineering) and MBSA (Model-Based Safety Assessment) are the most commonly adopted approaches to deal with the design and safety analysis of mechatronic systems. Unfortunately, both approaches are normally adopted separately, especially in the earlier phases of system design, thus leading to a lack of communication between system engineers and the safety team. This work aims to fill that gap at a high level, that is, through process interaction. This paper proposes an enhanced V-model for the design of safety-critical mechatronic systems. It relates a system development process with specific safety assessment methods. Specifically, the proposed workflow details exchange flows between the RFLP (Requirements, Functional, Logical, Physical) method, the FHA (Functional Hazard Analysis), the FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis), the MBSA and simulation, and the FTA (Fault Tree Analysis). These analyses are complemented with multiphysics modeling and simulation to observe system behavior in functional and failure scenarios, with the aim of requirements verification. The design workflow has been applied to a winged Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to apply the parallel process and the necessary interaction of MBSE and MBSA approaches. The information flows between the individual activities proved effective for designing a safe system before the verification phase. The main benefit of the proposed workflow is providing both the design and safety team with some interaction points, thus avoiding a lack of safety-critical analysis in the early phases of system design.

Keywords: design workflow , MBSA , MBSE , mechatronics , multiphysics , RFLP , UAV

In this study, the optimal design of an Energy Storage System (ESS) for automotive application is proposed with particular focus on thermal, geometrical and efficiency parameters. In particular, the evaluations are referred to the case study of a real urban electric vehicle, equipped with a Li-NMC battery pack and a forced air-based Battery Thermal Management System. This study starts from modelling activities, concerning the development of the ESS and vehicle propulsion system models using a multi-disciplinary approach. Then, a battery pack CAD model is developed for the evaluation of the space bulk inside the vehicle chassis. Exploiting these models, the battery pack design is obtained through a multi-objective optimization strategy, to minimize cells' temperature and power, required for cooling systems under different constraints. The procedures determine the best layout solution in terms of battery cells distance and cooling fan mass flow rate value in order to reach the optimization goals, mainly in terms of significant reductions in battery pack size and cooling power, while maintaining equal thermal performance.

Keywords: Battery Electric Vehicles , Battery Thermal Management System , Multi-Domain Modelling , Multi-Objective Optimization

In the modern manufacturing industry, virtual models are normally used in machine and robot design for behavioral analysis and optimization. However, the literature reveals a notable gap in methodologies for simulating and conducting virtual commissioning multi-brand robotic systems with distributed control in a unified software environment before their physical installation. In this context, the present works leverages the open-source robotic libraries within the Robot Operating System (ROS) environment to extend the simulation capabilities of RoboDK software, aiming to support the validation and coordination of complex automated systems. This methodology is validated through procedures for conducting virtual commissioning of a robotic cell for an aircraft fuselage assembly whose process coordinator is defined in ROS. The obtained results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed simulation framework.

Keywords: Industrial Robot , RoboDK , ROS , Simulation , Virtual Commissioning

The High Energy cosmic-Radiation Detection facility (HERD) will be a calorimetric experiment on board the China Space Station. Starting from 2027, HERD will perform the first direct measurement of cosmic rays in the PeV region and the gamma-ray full-sky survey from 100 MeV. The detector will be equipped with a scintillating-fiber tracker (FIT) read out with silicon photomultipliers. A miniature of a FIT sector, called MiniFIT, was designed, built and tested with particle beams at CERN. The FIT design, together with the design and physics performance of MiniFIT will be presented in this contribution.

Motorsports is the most watched sport in the world and has millions of television viewers. Despite having this media coverage, the figure of the driver has been recognized as an athlete in the last decade. It was realized that in order to achieve better performance, in addition to the engineering and mechanical part, the rider's physical condition must also be improved. The rider's body is subjected to many forces during racing. It will be explored in depth how these aspects can negatively affect the body and how to counteract their negative effects with both preventive and compensatory exercises specifically designed.

Keywords: biomechanical assessment , Motorsport , preventive exercises

Electric and hybrid powertrains are steadily gaining popularity, showcasing their efficacy in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, particularly in urban environments. This also applies to medium and heavy-duty vocational trucks. Truck manufacturers have been expanding their electrified portfolio and some of them have already announced their plans to phase out fossil fuels. Vocational trucks are essential for the industry of commercial vehicles, represent an extremely heterogeneous class, and are often upfitted by third-party companies. In general, vocational trucks are designed for specific jobs. Typically, they are driven on short routes, but they may work for longer hours in comparison to freight transportation vehicles. Most importantly, among the broad category of vocational trucks, some vehicles greatly exploit power take-offs to drive auxiliary systems, like refuse trucks, utility trucks, cement trucks, and sweeper trucks. The benefits resulting from the kinetic energy regeneration of urban driving are undeniable and well-documented in several studies. Electrified short-haul, delivery, and box vocational trucks are indeed becoming widely accepted, but the auxiliaries of these trucks do not need a significant amount of energy. In this regard, few studies analyze the effect of auxiliary loads, even if they may require significant power and cause considerable drifts in energy consumption estimation. Indeed, velocity-based driving cycles are commonly used to assess the energy savings of electrified powertrains, but they only focus on analyzing the power needed for traction purposes. By focusing on vocational trucks that greatly rely on power take-offs and auxiliary power flows, this study shows an overview of the existing advancements in electric and hybrid vocational trucks, drawing on both academic and industrial instances, while explaining their different needs. Finally, this study analyzes efforts from both academia and industry to generate standardized duty cycles that can be used to assess the energy consumption of medium and heavy-duty vocational trucks, avoiding the need to replicate unique duty cycles that are measured on specific vehicles and environments.

Achieving sustainable mobility requires the implementation of alternative and carbon-free technologies, especially in the sector of heavy-duty vehicles where powertrain electrification is challenging due to the high loads and long distances involved. In this context, hydrogen proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology is considered a promising power source for heavy-duty hybrid electric vehicles. At the fuel cell level, the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) degradation and the system thermal management remain two major areas of research, that can be addressed not only with the development of new materials but also with the implementation of optimal control strategies. Working under operating points that lead to MEA aging and performance degradation can reduce the lifetime of the fuel cell with repercussions on the vehicle's total cost of ownership. Typical fuel cell powertrains are hybridized in a parallel configuration with a battery, which requires solving an energy management control problem to define the optimal power split among the two power sources. For a given powertrain design and sizing of the components, different control strategies can greatly impact the performance of the system and its durability. In this work, a fuel-cell hybrid electric heavy-duty truck is modeled, and Dynamic Programming is used to find the optimal control strategy for the fuel cell operation that minimizes hydrogen consumption. At the same time, by limiting the current ramp rate and fuel cell shutdowns, the aim is to reduce fuel cell aging, enabling operation under minimal degradation conditions and higher efficiencies. Dynamic Programming off-line simulations provide an optimal benchmark control strategy for the fuel cell, that can be leveraged for the development of real-time implementable controllers. The simulation results show that introducing limitations on the current ramp rate and fuel cell shutdowns slightly affects energy consumption while greatly reducing the aging and degradation of the fuel cell.

In this research paper, a MATLAB-based tool is designed to assist users in selecting and dimensioning electric motors for electrification of the powertrain of Non-Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM). The tool leverages a normalized duty cycle, which is then scaled based on the specific application requirements. By plotting the scaled duty cycle on an efficiency map of an electric motor, the evaluation of the suitability of the electric machine is performed for the proposed heavy-duty application and powertrain. The primary purpose of this tool is to streamline the design and realization process of electric powertrains for Non-Road Mobile Machinery.

Keywords: duty cycle evaluation , electric motor , Non-Road Mobile Machinery , software tool

The paper presents a preliminary design activity and virtual prototyping of an innovative boat equipped with hydrofoils and hybrid propulsion, with the aim of extending the foil technology from the field of competition boats to recreational day-cruiser yachts and creating a craft with minimal environmental impact. Hydrofoils allow boats to rise from the water, greatly reducing resistance and increasing performance. The current work dealt with the preliminary design of a daysailer with foil technology and hybrid propulsion that allow to combine green and comfortable navigation both under sail and motor and that, when required, can sail in a more performing way by exploiting the foil technology and the thrust of the wind. After having deepened the theory and physics of sailing on foils, a MATLAB code was created to integrate the stability equations that characterize hydrofoil sailboats: connecting the acting forces and allowing to define the dimensions of the geometries, the code was fundamental in speeding up the iterative preliminary design process. The next step was to model the geometry of the hull and the appendages in the CAD environment and, subsequently, the wing movement mechanism so that it could both manage the incidence of the wings and retract the foils when the boat is moored. The hull, profiles, and wings were subsequently placed in a CFD and VPP virtual environment for testing their resistance. Future developments will include a detailed design and the physical prototyping of a first boat for water testing.

Keywords: Green , Hybrid , Hydrofoil , Virtual prototyping

Nowadays, 10–34% of patients undergone Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) continues to have pain and reduced mobility. New technologies in TKA have been developed to reproduce the native anatomy, respecting the natural joint line, by means of customized implants or following the kinematic alignment. In this context, the present research aims at defining a method to create customized implants. In particular, three different situations have been studied. The first condition is the healthy knee, that is used as reference for further analysis. For the second situation, an off-the-shelf prosthesis has been virtually implanted, following the kinematic joint line. In the third solution, a custom-made knee implant has been created. In all the three cases, FEA has been performed to study how load transmission and stability change after TKA. To reach the goal, high resolution Magnetic Resonance (MR) images of a healthy knee have been employed. Three-dimensional models of the knee have been reconstructed through a segmentation process, starting from DICOM images. Hence, the three situations have been studied. Distribution of pressure and stress are comparable in the two solutions, since they both maintain the natural joint line. Improving the kinematic function is crucial to increase patient satisfaction. According to the patient's anatomy, the surgeon can choose between the standard and the personalized prosthesis. The studied customized approach allows to overcome the limits of conventional TKA since it permits to create geometries, which accommodate a variety of anatomical variations.

Keywords: 3D modeling , Customized knee implants , FEA , Kinematic alignment

Automotive market requires more and more power semiconductor modules for the realization of vehicle electrification. With respect to more conventional discrete packages, power modules have more complex manufacturing flow in which there are some process parameters that play a key role for a robust design, mechanical and hydraulic integration with the vehicle. Among these parameters, the flatness of the final product must be controlled in order to guarantee the mounting of power modules on cooling system and the proper working of thermal management. This paper would introduce the technology of liquid cooling solution for electrified vehicles' power module, pointing out the importance of power module flatness. Then, it is proposed an experimental methodology to analyze the warpage behaviour during power at the different process steps and at the end of power module manufacturing. Measurements confirm that flatness is within admitted tolerance (200 μ m), highlighting the ceramic soldering process as the most critical for warpage modification.

Keywords: Design , Flatness , Manufacturing , Power module , Tolerances

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is continuously increasing its appeal as a breakthrough production process due to well-established advantages compared to traditional manufacturing strategies based on chip removal or casting. The design of lightweight structures can exploit the AM advantages, thanks to the capability of shaping complex geometries where the constant level of stress can be achieved through Topology Optimization. Moreover, in transportation engineering and lightweight structures in general, thin-shell or thin-walled components are widely used for frames, fuselages, wings, car bodies, coaches, tanks or recipients. However, the application of topology optimization routines on thin-walled structures is not exempt from difficulties. This is true especially in the case of a distributed pressure load coming from fluid-structure interaction analysis. Coupling the benefits of TO methodology with the already good performances of thin-walled structures may lead to mechanically efficient shapes. This research addresses strategies to apply topology optimization on thin-walled structures. The effect of the local concentration of distributed load in a cloud of control points distributed along the surface of interest is considered and tested. Two case studies coming from industrial engineering have been carried out to show the capabilities of the proposed approach.

Keywords: Additive Manufacturing , Design for Additive Manufacturing , Distributed load , Thin-walled structure , Topology Optimization

Although autonomous driving has significantly developed in the last years, its acceptance by users is still low, even due to the different interaction modalities between the human agent and Autonomous Vehicles (AVs). Therefore, this paper proposes an analysis of the existing research on the influence of Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) on the user acceptance of AVs from the perspective of interaction design. The authors reviewed the fundamental changes in the way users interact with AVs. The paper focuses on the transfer of the vehicle control between the human and the artificial intelligence agent, the user experience of Non-Driving-Related Tasks (NDRTs) and sharing autonomous driving in public transportation, and the impact of external HMI on Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs). In addition, the paper analyzes the concept of acceptability and describes the existing user acceptance models. Finally, the paper explores the future challenges for promoting the design potential of autonomous vehicle HMIs and proposes areas worthy of research to increase the user's acceptance of this technology

Keywords: autonomous vehicles , human-machine interface , user acceptance model , vulnerable road users

The CRYSTAL EYE detector is proposed as a space-based X and gamma ray all-sky monitor to be active from 10 keV up to 30 MeV. In its full scale configuration, it consists in a 40 cm diameter hemisphere, made by 112 pixels, with an overall weight lower than 50 kg, wide Field Of View (FOV, about 6 sr), full sky coverage and very large effective area (about 6 times higher than Fermi-GBM at 1 MeV) in the energy range of interest. Each pixel consists of two layers of scintillating LYSO crystals, read out by arrays of Silicon PhotoMultipliers (SiPMs), equipped with a segmented anticoincidence detector for charged Cosmic Ray (CR) identification and hard X-ray detection. The primary scientific goals include the observation of transient X and gamma flashes from Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), Gravitational Wave (GW) follow up, Supernovae (SN) explosions, etc. and stable gamma-ray source observation in the MeV energy range. The pioneering design optimizes these observations in terms of localization of the source and timing. By using specific triggers for charged particles, solar flares and space weather phenomena could also be studied. A pathfinder mission is foreseen onboard of the Space Rider vehicle run by European Space Agency (ESA), allowing technology tests, qualification and both deep space and Earth observation during the mission. We here present the CRYSTAL EYE technology.

Keywords: Citiroc , Gamma ray bursts , LYSO , SiPM , Space detectors

This paper investigates the effect of the Dynamically Morphing Leading Edge (DMLE) on the flow structure and the behavior of dynamic stall vortices around a pitching UAS-S45 airfoil with the objective of controlling the dynamic stall. An unsteady parametrization framework was developed to model the time-varying motion of the leading edge. This scheme was then integrated within the Ansys-Fluent numerical solver by developing a User-Defined-Function (UDF), with the aim to dynamically deflect the airfoil boundaries, and to control the dynamic mesh used to morph and to further adapt it. The dynamic and sliding mesh techniques were used to simulate the unsteady flow around the sinusoidally pitching UAS-S45 airfoil. While the (Formula presented.) turbulence model adequately captured the flow structures of dynamic airfoils associated with leading-edge vortex formations for a wide range of Reynolds numbers, two broader studies are here considered. Firstly, (i) an oscillating airfoil with the DMLE is investigated; the pitching-oscillation motion of an airfoil and its parameters are defined, such as the droop nose amplitude ((Formula presented.)) and the pitch angle at which the leading-edge morphing starts ((Formula presented.)). The effects of the (Formula presented.) and the (Formula presented.) on the aerodynamic performance was studied, and three different amplitude cases are considered. Secondly, (ii) the DMLE of an airfoil motion at stall angles of attack was investigated. In this case, the airfoil was set at stall angles of attack rather than oscillating it. This study will provide the transient lift and drag at different deflection frequencies of 0.5 Hz, 1 Hz, 2 Hz, 5 Hz, and 10 Hz. The results showed that the lift coefficient for the airfoil increased by 20.15%, while a 16.58% delay in the dynamic stall angle was obtained for an oscillating airfoil with DMLE with (Formula presented.) = 0.01 and (Formula presented.) = 14.75°, as compared to the reference airfoil. Similarly, the lift coefficients for two other cases, where (Formula presented.) = 0.05 and (Formula presented.) = 0.0075, increased by 10.67% and 11.46%, respectively, compared to the reference airfoil. Furthermore, it was shown that the downward deflection of the leading edge increased the stall angle of attack and the nose-down pitching moment. Finally, it was concluded that the new radius of curvature of the DMLE airfoil minimized the streamwise adverse pressure gradient and prevented significant flow separation by delaying the Dynamic Stall Vortex (DSV) occurrence.

Keywords: dynamic stall , Dynamically Morphing Leading Edge (DMLE) , flow control , morphing , unsteady parameterization

Industrial engineering applications often require manufacturing large components in composite materials to obtain light structures; however, moulds are expensive, especially when manufacturing a limited batch of parts. On the one hand, when traditional approaches are carried out, moulds are milled from large slabs or laminated with composite materials on a model of the part to produce. In this case, the realisation of a mould leads to adding time-consuming operations to the manufacturing process. On the other hand, if a fully additively manufactured approach is chosen, the manufacturing time increases exponentially and does not match the market's requirements. This research proposes a methodology to improve the production efficiency of large moulds using a hybrid technology by combining additive manufacturing and milling tools. A block of soft material such as foam is milled, and then the printing head of an additive manufacturing machine deposits several layers of plastic material or modelling clay using conformal three-dimensional paths. Finally, the mill can polish the surface, thus obtaining a mould of large dimensions quickly, with reduced cost and without needing trained personnel and handcraft polishing. A software tool has been developed to modify the G-code read by an additive manufacturing machine to obtain material deposition over the soft mould. The authors forced conventional machining instructions to match those of an AM machine. Thus, additive deposition of new material uses 3D conformal trajectories typical of CNC machines. Consequently, communication between two very different instruments using the same language is possible. At first, the code was tested on a modified Fused Filament Fabrication machine whose firmware has been adapted to manage a milling tool and a printing head. Then, the software was tested on a large machine suitable for producing moulds for the large parts typical of marine and aerospace engineering. The research demonstrates that AM technologies can integrate conventional machinery to support the composite materials industry when large parts are required.

Keywords: additive manufacturing , aerospace engineering , Fused Filament Fabrication , G-code , hybrid manufacturing , marine engineering , mould

Urban mobility scenarios are constantly evolving, and today's solutions may not be adequate in the future. Through innovative analysis and design methods encapsulated by the IDeS methodology, it is possible to plausibly hypothesize a number of key scenarios to be analyzed, for which vehicles can be designed in order to solve the main problems. Scenarios such as the steady growth in public mobility, based on the sharing of electric mini-buses at the expense of the privatization of the means of transport, lead to the gradual rethinking of citizens' needs and the supporting infrastructure. Problems such as the lack of privacy of public vehicles, the efficiency of the infrastructure and recharging modes of e-buses, and autonomous driving are addressed here through methods such as QFD (quality function deployment) and SDE (stylistic design engineering), with the aim of outlining a proposal that, to date, is futuristic but is designed to be concrete and feasible within the next decade. These methodologies were applied to the design of a sustainable urban transport system consisting of an electric mini-bus, effected by rethinking the layout of the interior spaces in favor of areas enabling greater privacy and a mobile recharging system (MBS) capable of offering a new management strategy for the non-stop recharging phase. Through the use of an MBS, which functions as a mobile ‘energy bank' module that is capable of autonomously reaching a mini-bus in need of recharging and extending its autonomy by connecting and recharging it, the proposed system can potentially be enabled to perform its required service during the day without any need to spend time making intermediate stops for the purpose of recharging.

Keywords: autonomous driving , human centered design , minibus , privacy , range , recharging systems

Due to ever-increasing technological acceleration leading to rapid changes in society and its needs, just as today's habits and needs turn out to be completely different from those of only a few years ago, likewise it is reasonable to assume that the same trend will continue in its growth path, making today's solutions rapidly obsolete as time passes and technological innovations follow. This study aims to investigate possible solutions in search of a futuristic and breakthrough response to what is present today. The idea concerns the design of a new type of means of transportation that can best interface with what today are the various criticalities given by vehicular traffic mainly urban but also suburban, going to solve by generating new opportunities from previous problems. This system will be able to go alongside and gradually replace a substantial portion of the current means of transport going to conceptually redefine some elements taken for granted today. In this regard, the application of the IDeS (Industrial Design Structure) methodology has been found to be of great use, which, thanks to the scientific and repeatable methods contained within, has made it possible to arrive at a very clear visualization of the problem, a precise definition, and a level of innovation that is fully satisfactory with respect to the contemporary scenario, while always keeping an eye on feasibility while taking into account the conceptual and therefore deliberately very driven nature of the solution being designed.

Keywords: Extra-urban mobility , Industrial design structure (IDeS) , Maglev , Quality function deployment (QFD) , Stylistic design engineering (SDE) , Sustainable design , Sustainable mobility

Recent analysis has shown deteriorating traffic conditions in urban areas, caused by an increase in the motorization rate, which has risen to 66.6 vehicles per 100 inhabitants. As a result of the pandemic, individuality has grown, hence private vehicles are becoming more prevalent whilst public transport and sharing are negatively affected. Therefore, European policies have encouraged and innovated more sustainable mobility. Thus, the developed project aims to achieve more efficient mobility and more sustainable environments, towards social and economic well-being. The proposed means of transport aims to appeal to an audience with a reduced ability to drive a car as intended. The IDeS methodology was applied to develop a self-driving, urban micro mobility vehicle, aimed to give enough room and equipment for people with moving disabilities. The innovation of the IDeS method is state-of-the-art and ought to satisfy current product needs, which leads to an innovative micromobility vehicle and portrays a design for a car that will help to close the gaps in urban mobility. These design processes, which are distinguished by the fusion of several industrial techniques, enabled the development of a plan that addresses current mobility issues for disabled people and opens to new mobility prospects.

Keywords: design for all , industrial design structure (IDeS) , quality function deployment (QFD) , sharing mobility , stylistic design engineering (SDE)