Abstract: The characteristics of power produced from photovoltaic (PV) and Wind systems are based on the weather condition. Both the system are very unreliable in itself without sufficient capacity storage devices like batteries or back-up system like conventional engine generators. The reliability of the system significantly increases when two systems are hybridized with the provision of storage device. Even in such case, sufficient battery bank capacity is required to provide power to the load in extended cloudy days and non-windy days. Therefore the optimal sizing of system component represents the important part of hybrid power system. This paper summarizes recent trends of energy usage from renewable sources. It discusses physical modeling of renewable energy systems, several methodologies and criteria for optimization of the Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES). HRES is getting popular in the present scenario of energy and environmental crises. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review on the current state of optimization techniques specifically suited for the small and isolated power system based on the published literatures. The recent trend in optimization in the field of hybrid renewable energy system shows that artificial intelligence may provide good optimization of system without extensive long term weather data.

Abstract: The mechanical properties of metals change temporarily or permanently under application of electric currents under deformation. This phenomenon is often referred to as electroplasticity. The electroplasticity of metals and their alloys has been investigated under various loading conditions including tensile, compressive, bending, and hardness tests. Electrically-assisted manufacturing (EAM) utilizes this electroplasticity in manufacturing processes. Due to its technical advantages such as enhanced formability and reduced springback, EAM is energy efficient with reduced process time. Recent developments in EAM include various bulk deformation and sheet metal forming processes. This paper summarizes previously reported electroplastic behaviors of various metals or metal alloys and recent EAM processes. In addition, contemporary EAM patents are briefly reviewed.

Abstract: Jacket structures are still at the early stage of their development for use in the offshore wind industry. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of the soil-structure interaction on the response of an offshore wind turbine with a jacket-type foundation. For this purpose, two different models of flexible foundation-the p-y model and the p-y model considering pile groups effect-are employed to compare the dynamic responses with the fixed-base model. The modal analysis and the coupled dynamic analysis are carried out under deterministic and stochastic conditions. The influence of the soil-structure interaction on the response of the jacket foundation predicts that the flexible foundation model is necessary to estimate the loads of the offshore wind turbine structure well. It is suggested that during fatigue analysis the pile group effect should be considered for the jacket foundation.

Abstract: Demand for sapphire wafer has increased with growth of LED market. Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) comprises a large part of wafering cost since the CMP process requires approximately 3–6 hours. For longer polishing times, the cost of consumables (COC) in CMP increases the total wafering cost; hence, considerable efforts have been made to decrease the polishing time of sapphire wafers to reduce the COC. There are two main approaches to reduce polishing time: controlling the chemical factor and adjusting the mechanical factor. Controlling the chemical factor is a common approach to manipulating the removal rate and roughness. However, it is hard to control the chemical factor. Instead, this study investigates the effects of various mechanical factors. This paper focuses on the effect of high-pressure CMP on the material removal performance; the maximum applied pressure is ∼800 g/cm2. The removal rate increases linearly with gradual increase of CMP pressure to 800 g/cm2. Finally, the effect of high pressure on the removal rate of, and frictional force on, sapphire wafer during CMP using different sized abrasives is investigated; the effect of the abrasives on the removal rate is likewise analyzed at different pressures.

Abstract: Manufacturing industry has been facing tremendous pressure on environmental regulations like the reduction of pollutants, e.g., carbon dioxide. Limited natural resources have driven manufacturing companies to seek ways to reduce energy consumption for daily production. Manufacturing industry needs to consider sustainability for green manufacturing during the entire product life cycle. Conventional product life cycle management has not considered energy consumption with respect to product manufacturing. This paper proposes a new product life cycle management information model by considering the sustainability aspects. And a framework is presented to conduct energy simulation for analyzing the impact of sustainability on manufacturing. Analysis results show that the energy simulation using the sustainability-enabled product life cycle management information model could assist the manufacturing industry to save energy.

Abstract: Sapphire wafers are widely used as substrates for fabricating gallium nitride light-emitting diodes. The quality of light-emitting diodes depends on the total thickness variation and BOW of the wafers. The multi-wire saw process is critical in determining post-processing times for steps such as diamond mechanical polishing and chemical mechanical polishing. In particular, thickness variation is affected by wear of diamond wires, which in turn is controlled by cutting conditions including wire speed, feed rate, initial contact condition between ingot and wire, and new wire consumption. Thickness variation shows a marked change from the initial to final feeding location during the multi-wire sawing process. A wire is not worn when it is initially contacted by an ingot. Hence, the initial kerf loss is greater than the kerf loss at the final feeding location. This study focused on minimizing the thickness variation between the initial and final contact points of the wafer. Experiments were conducted with different initial wire deflection conditions. The experimental results showed that increasing the wire deflection increased the cutting load, which in turn caused severe wear of the wire. Consequently, the thickness variation of the wafer in the multi-wire sawing process was controlled by adjusting the wire deflection.

Abstract: Most maintenance works on building exterior walls are carried out by human labor and a cable-driven system (gondola). This approach involves a safety problem, motivating many recent studies of exterior wall automated maintenance methods. However, the conventional studies have been concentrated only on moving mechanism and the studies on cleaning method and processing of cleaning materials are insufficient. In addition, most conventional automated systems are composed of a roll-brush and injection nozzle. These systems generate problems such as the scattering and dripping of used water resulting contamination of surrounding areas. In order to solve these problems, a new cleaning tool system with water circulation function is developed to improve cleaning efficiency and reduce water usage in this paper. Using the cleaning tool system with the water circulation (injection-squeeze-suctioncollection-filtering-recharge) and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) flow control, the scattering and dripping was removed and the water usage was reduced about 20%. Also, this cleaning tool system was compared to manual work by human experts as well as previously developed automated (or semi-automated) cleaning robots through statistical analysis.

Abstract: Accurate predictions of the amount of harvestable energy available from ambient vibrations are important for design of energy harvesters and for their integration in specific applications. This need has motivated the development of many mathematical models for piezoelectric energy harvesters (PEHs). Existing models, however, require material and geometric PEH data that are often incorrect and/or unavailable. As a more accurate and practical means to meet this need, we propose an energy conversion model of a cantilevered PEH that requires only geometric data and modal parameters that can be directly measured using a standard vibration test. The newly proposed model facilitates calculation of the maximum output power and thus enables visualization of the harvestable energy from the target vibrating structure. Prediction accuracy of the proposed model was confirmed in our study through finite element analysis and experimental results. Practical use of the proposed energy conversion model was demonstrated by applying it to a cooling fan unit of a boiler facility in a power plant.

Abstract: We show that crack-free drilled structures with 25 μm hole size can be fabricated in the 12 μm-thick Permalloy foil by a nanosecond ultraviolet laser with low pulse energy and high repetition rate. The number of pulses required for drilling decreased with increasing pulse energy. The obtained hole exhibited a smaller size than the laser spot, implying that only the central part of a focused Gaussian beam contributed to the drilling. Debris and burr incurring as a result of the laser micromachining could be quickly removed by etching in an HCl/HNO3 solution. This made it possible to obtain a clear structure without any debris remaining on the foil. This laserdirect process may be effectively utilized for fabricating fine metal masks necessary for the production of organic light emitting diode displays and other electronic devices.

Abstract: Cu based metal-organic decomposition (MOD) ink has been preferred as a printable conductive material in the field of printed electronics because it can mitigate the formation of undesired Cu oxide or precipitation of the metal source during storage and printing. However there will be oxidation of Cu during sintering process in air environment, for fabrication of conductive track from printed ink. In this paper, possibility of laser-sintering of Cu MOD ink in air was studied. The Cu MOD ink was spin-coated on polyimide (PI) substrate. The laser with 355 nm wavelength was accommodated as a heat source in this study. The parametric study with various laser power intensities and scan rates, showed 230-557 W/cm2 and 1-8 mm/s as the feasible laser-sintering process window. As a result, the specific resistance of the laser-sintered Cu MOD ink was achieved 21 μΩcm which was about 10 times as much as that of bulk Cu. As an application, laser-sintered Cu MOD ink was confirmed to give acceptable performances compared to traditional Cu sheet electrodes as flexible current collectors of the supercapacitor.

Abstract: Greenhouse gas emission has become a recent global concern for green manufacturing. As product low-carbon design is an essential approach to achieve low-carbon manufacturing, which has a profound effect on the product carbon footprint, many researches have been focused on it in recent years with a result of valuable contributions. This paper is devoted to presenting a dynamic programmingbased approach to product low-carbon design. After product low-carbon design is characterized by a multi-stage decision process with interaction effects on each other in the product life cycle, a dynamic programming method is used to optimize the total carbon footprint of each stage while considering interaction effects of solutions at each stage in product life cycle. The low-carbon design of a cold heading machine is used to demonstrate the proposed methodology.

Abstract: Due to global warming and the rise of the CO2 emissions electric mobility is in the focus. In this case costs for li-ion batteries and especially the material costs are the main cost drivers for electric vehicles. The aim of this paper is to develop a material cost model which can evaluate cell chemistry alternatives for li-ion battery anodes and cathodes. A focus is set on innovative cell chemistries which currently are not using in mass production. The presented model is based on bottom-up approach which can calculate costs and cell performance together to determine the ratio of material cost and energy. The general results are complemented with a case study that assesses that active material with a high specific energy can help reducing the material costs and improves cell performance parameters.

Abstract: The present work aims at analyzing how the adoption of a proactive environmental management via green operational practices (GOPs) correlates to the Green Performance (GrP) of a given set of ISO 9001-certified firms in Brazil. To this end, we elaborated a conceptual framework about environmental management, GOPs, and GrP. Such theoretical foundation supported the development of empirical research through quantitative analysis. For the analysis, 75 questionnaires were collected from ISO 9001 certified companies. Data was analyzed by with statistical tools such as descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results demonstrate that the adoption of GOPs, in fact, exerts a positive impact on the GrP of the firms. This work contributes to a better understanding of green manufacturing in Brazil’s industrial sector.

Abstract: The demand for pattern miniaturization on package substrates has been steadily increasing. One technical innovation for the package substrate manufacturing process was chemical mechanical planarization (CMP). In conventional wiring, it was possible to remove extraneous copper through only the etching process. However, etching defects occur with narrower line widths. As the package substrate has a Cu hybrid structure through Cu plating and copper clad laminate (CCL) removal, it is necessary to apply the CMP to remove excess copper. However, defects are generated by the CMP process due to mechanical and chemical effects from the slurry. This study investigated the surfactant effect on Cu dishing and erosion in patterns with approximately 10/10 µm line width and spacing. The conventional Cu slurry without a surfactant had severe erosion (0.58 µm) in Cu patterns of 4/6 µm and deep dishing (4.2 µm) in Cu patterns of 14/16 µm. However, the experimental results showed that the friction force during CMP decreased, with smaller dishing and erosion as surfactant concentration increased. Finally, globally planarized Cu patterns were realized with an erosion range of 0.22 µm to 0.35 µm and a dishing range of 0.37 µm to 0.69 µm with 3 wt.% surfactant.

Abstract: Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is currently replacing a conventional chemical etching or mechanical polishing to remove overburdened copper deposit in printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing process owing to its ability to realize a global planarization. In order to stabilize the CMP as one of the PCB manufacturing processes, the CMP machine has been investigated. This paper introduces a newly developed Oscar-type CMP machine and copper CMP process to polish rectangular PCB with a size up to 510 mm by 510 mm, especially focused on the effect of platen coolant temperature on removal rate and removal uniformity during copper CMP to reduce the amount of slurry consumed. The CMP experiments are implemented under the coolant temperatures of 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30°C, and the slurry flow of 600, 800, 1000 and 1200 mL/min. The experimental results show that the removal rate goes up with an increase in the platen coolant temperature during polishing at a fixed slurry flow rate, and the removal rate goes down at any fixed the platen coolant temperature when the slurry flow rate increases. It means that the reduction of thermochemical reaction rate in the chemical mechanical removal, resulting from cooling down of the copper surface when the.

Abstract: The Green Mark eco-label constitutes an essential program introduced by Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration to support environmental protection. In the manufacturing industry, the Green Mark eco-label is intended to enable differentiating between manufacturers that apply green processes and those that do not. This paper presents an assessment model for identifying manufacturers’ initial intention to apply the Green Mark eco-label. The model was derived from the certification process flow. A total of 200 structured questionnaires were distributed to manufacturers in Taiwan, and 172 responses were retrieved. The model was analyzed by applying structural equation modeling, and the correlation of review process and end certification process exhibited the strongest correlation. Improving the document verification stage is highly likely to increase the overall initial intention ofmanufacturers to participate in the Green Mark eco-label program. The overall certification process contributed 16% to the total initial intention of manufacturers to apply the Green Mark eco-label to their products.

Abstract: Railway is an environmental friendly method which has been widely used in the land transportation driven by electric powers, without harmful emissions and unhoped traffic jams. And it is important to guarantee the running safety through the technology of rail grinding. However, the empirical processes have limitations on the expanded requirements of frequent and systematic rail grinding. Therefore, it is necessary to build up the rail grinding model to fill the gap between the operating parameters and desired on-theground results. In this paper, a three-dimensional distribution model has been built to get a uniform special-distribution for grains and extract one slice as the representative grinding surface, with decahedrons grains transformed from spheres. Then the cutting force model and then related power model have been achieved based on the formed grinding surface with information of grains geometry and their locations. Calculation results show that the consumed power or the consumed energy have a close relationship with grinding speeds and grinding forces, which are closely related to the grain geometry, involved grain numbers, location of grains and their cutting depth. And it comes to a conclusion that a judgment for energy-saved grinding strategy depends on the grinding aims.

Abstract: The extended-range electric vehicle (E-REV) is an electric vehicle concept that has a light engine to allow an extended driving range. One of the most important features of these vehicles, based on electricity, is their ability to recover significant amounts of braking energy in a process known as regenerative braking. The more driving motor operates widely as generator, the more braking energy can be absorbed. However, it is not realistic in terms of performance for components. This study proposes three regenerative braking torque maps as the constraints to consider their performance. The results of fuel economy for simulations while applying proposed torque maps are compared with those of simulations without any constraints to evaluate effect of regenerative braking for E-REV bus according to characteristic of driving cycle. The characteristics of driving cycles are analyzed to find relationship between driving cycle and fuel economy. The aggressiveness of the driving cycles shows a linear relationship with regard to the difference in the fuel economy. This result can be used to develop power distribution control strategies with regenerative braking models to improve fuel economy levels.

Abstract: This paper presents a novel energy-saving method of a robotic system utilizing parallel mechanism by redundant actuation. The redundantly actuated system can distribute arbitrary actuating torques in a certain combination. By using this feature, the regenerative power dissipation and electric power loss are reduced. Moreover, the redundant actuation can reduce the peak torque of actuating joints. This feature reduces the friction loss because we can use a smaller gear reducer. A parallel manipulator with two degrees of freedom is simulated as a case study. The energy consumption of the robotic system is modeled by analyzing the type of energy consumption in actuation systems. An optimization process is proposed to maximize the energy-saving effect. The results show that 26.1% of electric energy can be saved by redundant actuation.

Abstract: The realization of lubricant free forming processes is motivated by an increasing demand for resource efficiency and higher environmental standards. Further potentials are the reduction of production steps and time. The dry conditions lead to an intensive interaction between tool and workpiece. Increasing friction and wear are the consequences. One approach to face these challenges is the implementation of tailored tool surfaces. Within this study the behavior of different tool surfaces under dry and lubricated conditions is investigated. In this regards, a flat strip drawing test was conducted to determine the friction coefficients depending on the tool surface properties resulting from various machining processes. Furthermore, a surface characterization before and after the experiments was performed to gain knowledge about the wear mechanisms. The tests series with dry strips lead to a higher friction level. Furthermore, the results show that the friction can be reduced when the grinding marks are orientated transversal to the drawing direction. A further friction reduction is achieved when applying polished tools.

Abstract: In this work, a numerical study is performed to know the effect of mode stirrers on the temperature distribution inside a microwave cavity with a conveyor belt system. A 3-dimensional simulation model is built and simulated using the COMSOL Multiphysics software. Since it is very difficult to simulate the mode stirrer’s motion using COMSOL, eleven still angles of the mode stirrers are considered. The final temperature distribution result is obtained by taking the average of all eleven angles results. Also to get the final temperature of a heated material after it comes out of the cavity, the average of all temperature values in the direction of conveyor belt motion is taken as it is assumed that conveyor belt motion is much slower than the speed of the mode stirrers. The simulation results show that temperature distribution is more uniform for the case with mode stirrers compared to that obtained without mode stirrers. This is confirmed by using standard deviation equation.

Abstract: As chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) enables local and global planarization over a wafer surface by the combined effects of chemical and mechanical interactions, process monitoring is becoming an increasingly important in-situ methodology for process control. According to the materials and process, signal characteristics were distinguishable between material and process. In this study, an acoustic emission (AE) sensor was used to measure the abrasive and molecular-scale phenomena during CMP. An AE signal was acquired using rotational equipment and adapted to two types of equipment. First, a wireless AE system consisting of wireless modules using Bluetooth was used. This system was suitable for acquiring signals in rotational equipment. However, a wireless AE system could be acquired with only Root Mean Square(RMS) signals. Second, mercury slip-ring (wired) AE systems that were suitable for rotational equipment and the acquisition of raw signals were used. The acquired raw signals could be analyzed by a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) for abrasive and molecular-level phenomena in the CMP process. The AE signal parameters including the AE RMS, frequency, and amplitude were analyzed for abrasive and molecular-level phenomena in the CMP process. The authors analyzed the AE signals for changes in the materials and CMP process.

Abstract: The steel industry accounts for the largest share, approximately 27 percent, of global carbon dioxide emissions from the manufacturing sector Changes in material and energy use, and emissions profiles of the iron and steel manufacturing are the result of complex interrelationships between technological and economic drivers A better understanding of these changes require special attention paid to the time dependent consequences that technology and economic influences contribute to the choice of inputs and their associated outputs We assess the impact that climate-change policies may have on energy use and carbon emissions in the Korean iron and steel industry We then present models of the iron and steel industry’s energy and product flow of POSCO corporation, with respect to environmental regulations by using the system dynamics (SD) Time series data and engineering information are combined to specify changes in technologies, fuel mix, and production processes Various scenarios are used to analyze the consequences of climate change on the iron and steel industry The results of these studies show strategies to prevent environmental changes are devised from various perspectives to minimize the risks associated with future uncertainties, all in an effort to be conducive to the sustainable development of the energy-intensive industry

Abstract: In this work, effect of inductance was investigated in micro EDM using high frequency bipolar pulse generator used for electrolytic corrosion prevention in deionized water. To understand behaviors of the pulses during machining according to inductance, capacitor voltage which is equal to gap voltage and inductor current were analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. Inductance affected the pulse behaviors as well as machining characteristics. In the case of high inductance, inductor current increased after discharge occurred. This increased inductor current also increased both capacitor voltage and discharge current. So, machining time decreased, and tool wear as well as side gap increased with high inductance. However, this peak value shift could lead fluctuation of gap distance and servo voltage, thus, deteriorated controllability. On the other hand, constant discharge current was achieved in the case of low inductance. Low tool wear, small side gap and fine surface were achieved with low inductance.

Abstract: This study aims to develop a durability test procedure for vibration-based energy harvesters in the frequency domain. First, we investigated the vibration environment of a structure on which an energy harvester may be installed and determined the level and frequency range of the power spectral density (PSD) exerted on the energy harvester. Consequently, we developed a test procedure, which is composed of the PSD and sinusoidal sweep loads. The test system was built using a vibration exciter, data acquisition unit, and LabView-based control software. Using the developed test system, durability performance tests for two types of energy harvesters were performed according to the established test procedure.

Abstract: This paper presents a horizontal active vibration isolator (HAVI) using both horizontal and vertical forces of an electromagnetic planar actuator (EPA). The horizontal force is used to reject horizontal disturbance while the vertical force is applied to adjust natural frequency of the HAVI. A simulation model of the active horizontal isolator with flexible beam column (FBC) is built and active isolation methodology using both horizontal and vertical forces of the EPA is implemented. Simulations and experiments show that PID gain of the HAVI is tuned properly so that the horizontal vibration due to impulse disturbance is reduced by 90%. In addition, vertical force of the EPA can reduce the natural frequency by 40% for improving its ground isolation performance, compared to horizontal force only.

Abstract: Traditional information system and managerial mechanism cannot meet the new environment protection regulations; therefore, a new solution must be set up, else it may run the risk of losing the market and the value of product brand.This research focuses on the solutions provided by the network and communication industry, manufacture of the green products, and the establishment of a Webbased green collaboration management system, which incorporates the environment protection requests into the product development and green supply chain activities. There are three goals: (1) For the design of green products, green components and product management are set up for the purpose of de-toxin and ease of disassemble; (2) For the green supply chain, the management of hazardous substances, product recycle and disassemble are set up; (3) For the product recycling management, the recycling information is feedback for the product update and collaboration operation. The result of research can provide information for the integration of workflow and information system currently in use, provide RoHS and WEEE management solutions, and set up green collaboration information system, so that green products, brand leadership, and environment protection endeavor can be assured.

Abstract: In this study, we design a lightweight antenna-supporting structure for a vehicle-mounted radar system using a multiphase design exploration method. In the first phase of the approach, structural topology within a given design domain is optimized in order to reduce the weight and increase the structural integrity applying various design scenarios, which provides several preliminary structural layouts. Inspecting the commonalities and differences of the preliminary layouts, key shape (i.e., geometry) parameters in an initial layout to be further explored are chosen. In the second phase, design variables, the chosen shape parameters and properties of its material are concurrently explored to satisfy the given system requirements. For the concurrent design exploration of the materials and structures, the inductive design exploration method is employed for obtaining feasible ranged sets of design variables, instead of a single optimum solution. In this way, a designer may simply make a robust choice among the feasible sets under various sources of uncertainties and multiple performance requirements.

Abstract: Enhanced global trade forces companies to comply with a variety of environmental legislations each being subject to continuous modifications. During the past years the number of environmental legislations increased dramatically while law enforcement agencies expanded their active analysis of companies and their products. The number of companies being accused to sell non-compliant products by both enforcement authorities and competitors increases ever since. The compliance of companies and products is greatly dependent on their internal processes and their ability to adjust to changes. In this paper we introduce a highly applicable process aiming to ensure compliance with various hazardous substances regulations that has been tested successfully in over 70 companies of different industries in Germany. Thereby, we define essential steps, present a standardized approach for material, substance and risk assessment for articles based on existing standards (ISO 31000, 14040, 14044 and EN50581) and discuss its applicability to different business types related to size, number of employees, suppliers and materials. While the process is found to be appropriate for all business types, the time span required for realization varies significantly. Especially large companies tend to suffer from bureaucratic structures, while small and micro sized companies rather lack of knowledge and availability of resources.