Remaining Useful Life for Heavy-Duty Railway Cast Steel Knuckles Based on Crack Growth Behavior with Hypothetical Distributions

The current research on the integrity of critical structures of rail vehicles mainly focuses on the design stage,which needs an effective method for assessing the service state.This paper proposes a framework for predicting the remaining useful life(RUL)of in-service structures with and without visible cracks.The hypothetical distribution and delay time models were used to apply the equivalent crack growth life data of heavy-duty railway cast steel knuckles,which revealed the evolution characteristics of the crack length and life scores of the knuckle under different fracture failure modes.The results indicate that the method effectively predicts the RUL of service knuckles in different failure modes based on the cumulative failure probability curves for different locations and surface crack lengths.This study proposes an RUL prediction framework that supports the dynamic overhaul and state maintenance of knuckle fatigue cracks.

Real-Time Co-optimization of Gear Shifting and Engine Torque for Predictive Cruise Control of Heavy-Duty Trucks

Fuel consumption is one of the main concerns for heavy-duty trucks.Predictive cruise control(PCC)provides an intriguing opportunity to reduce fuel consumption by using the upcoming road information.In this study,a real-time implementable PCC,which simultaneously optimizes engine torque and gear shifting,is proposed for heavy-duty trucks.To minimize fuel consumption,the problem of the PCC is formulated as a nonlinear model predictive control(MPC),in which the upcoming road elevation information is used.Finding the solution of the nonlinear MPC is time consuming;thus,a real-time implementable solver is developed based on Pontryagin’s maximum principle and indirect shooting method.Dynamic programming(DP)algorithm,as a global optimization algorithm,is used as a performance benchmark for the proposed solver.Simulation,hardware-in-the-loop and real-truck experiments are conducted to verify the performance of the proposed controller.The results demonstrate that the MPC-based solution performs nearly as well as the DP-based solution,with less than 1%deviation for testing roads.Moreover,the proposed co-optimization controller is implementable in a real-truck,and the proposed MPC-based PCC algorithm achieves a fuel-saving rate of 7.9%without compromising the truck’s travel time.

A human-sensitive frequency band vibration isolator for heavy-duty truck seats

In this study,a human-sensitive frequency band vibration isolator(HFBVI)with quasi-zero stiffness(QZS)characteristics for heavy-duty truck seats is designed to improve the comfort of heavy-duty truck drivers on uneven roads.First,the analytical expressions for the force and displacement of the HFBVI are derived with the Lagrange equation and d'Alembert's principle,and are validated through the prototype restoring force testing.Second,the harmonic balance method(HBM)is used to obtain the dynamic responses under harmonic excitation,and further the influence of pre-stretching on the dynamic characteristics and transmissibility is discussed.Finally,the experimental prototype of the HFBVI is fabricated,and vibration experiments are conducted under harmonic excitation to verify the vibration isolation performance(VIP)of the proposed vibration isolator.The experimental results indicate that the HFBVI can effectively suppress the frequency band(4-8 Hz)to which the human body is sensitive to vertical vibration.In addition,under real random road spectrum excitation,the HFBVI can achieve low-frequency vibration isolation close to 2 Hz,providing new prospects for ensuring the health of heavy-duty truck drivers.

Optimization of Engine Control Strategies for Low Fuel Consumption in Heavy-Duty Commercial Vehicles

The reduction of fuel consumption in engines is always considered of vital importance.Along these lines,in this work,this goal was attained by optimizing the heavy-duty commercial vehicle engine control strategy.More specifically,at first,a general first principles model for heavy-duty commercial vehicles and a transient fuel consumptionmodel for heavy-duty commercial vehicles were developed and the parameters were adjusted to fit the empirical data.The accuracy of the proposed modelwas demonstrated fromthe stage and the final results.Next,the control optimization problem resulting in low fuel consumption in heavy commercial vehicles was described,with minimal fuel usage as the optimization goal and throttle opening as the control variable.Then,a time-continuous engine management approach was assessed.Next,the factors that influence low fuel consumption in heavy-duty commercial vehicles were systematically examined.To reduce the computing complexity,the control strategies related to the time constraints of the engine were parametrized using three different methods.The most effective solution was obtained by applying a global optimization strategy because the constrained optimization problem was nonlinear.Finally,the effectiveness of the low-fuel consumption engine control strategy was demonstrated by comparing the simulated and field test results.

Method for Analyzing Articulated Torques of Heavy-duty Six-legged Robot

The accuracy of an articulated torque analysis influences the comprehensive performances of heavy-duty multi-legged robots. Currently, the extremal estimation method and some complex methods are employed to calculate the articulated torques, which results in a large safety margin or a large number of calculations. To quickly obtain accurate articulated torques, an analysis method for the articulated torque is presented for an electrically driven heavy-duty six-legged robot. First, the rearmost leg that experiences the maximum normal contact force is confirmed when the robot transits a slope. Based on the ant-type and crab-type tripod gaits, the formulas of classical mechanics and MATLAB software are employed to theoretically analyze the relevant static torques of the joints. With the changes in the joint angles for the abductor joint, hip joint, and knee joint, variable tendency charts and extreme curves are obtained for the static articulated torques. Meanwhile, the maximum static articulated torques and the corresponding poses of the robot are also obtained. According to the poses of the robot under the maximum static articulated torques, ADAMS software is used to carry out a static simulation analysis. Based on the relevant simulation curves of the articulated torques, the maximum static articulated torques are acquired. A comparative analysis of the maximum static articulated torques shows that the theoretical calculation values are higher than the static simulation values, and the maximum error value is approximately 10%. The proposed method lays a foundation for quickly determining accurate articulated torques to develop heavy-duty six-legged robots.

Actualities and Development of Heavy-Duty CNC Machine Tool Thermal Error Monitoring Technology

Thermal error monitoring technology is the key technological support to solve the thermal error problem of heavy-duty CNC （computer numerical control） machine tools. Currently, there are many review literatures intro- ducing the thermal error research of CNC machine tools, but those mainly focus on the thermal issues in small and medium-sized CNC machine tools and seldom introduce thermal error monitoring technologies. This paper gives an overview of the research on the thermal error of CNC machine tools and emphasizes the study of thermal error of the heavy-duty CNC machine tool in three areas. These areas are the causes of thermal error of heavy-duty CNC machine tool and the issues with the temperature moni- toring technology and thermal deformation monitoring technology. A new optical measurement technology called the ＂fiber Bragg grating （FBG） distributed sensing tech- nology＂ for heavy-duty CNC machine tools is introduced in detail. This technology forms an intelligent sensing and monitoring system for heavy-duty CNC machine tools. This paper fills in the blank of this kind of review articlesto guide the development of this industry field and opens up new areas of research on the heavy-duty CNC machine tool thermal error.

Directional solidification casting technology of heavy-duty gas turbine blade with liquid metal cooling(LMC) process

In this work, some important factors such as ceramic shell strength, heat preservation temperature, standing time and withdrawal rate, which influence the formability of directionally solidified large-size blades of heavy-duty gas turbine with the liquid metal cooling(LMC) process, were studied through the method of microstructure analysis combining. The results show that the ceramic shell with medium strength(the high temperature flexural strength is 8 MPa, the flexural strength after thermal shock resistance is 12 MPa and the residual flexural strength is 20 MPa) can prevent the rupture and runout of the blade. The appropriate temperature(1,520 ℃ for upper region and 1,500 ℃ for lower region) of the heating furnace can eliminate the wide-angle grain boundary, the deviation of grain and the run-out caused by the shell crack. The holding time after pouring(3-5 min) can promote the growth of competitive grains and avoid a great deviation of columnar grains along the crystal orientation <001>, resulting in a straight and uniform grain structure. In addition, to avoid the formation of wrinkles and to ensure a smooth blade surface, the withdrawal rate should be no greater than the growth rate of grain. It is also found that the dendritic space of the blade decreases with the rise of solidification rate, and increases with the enlarging distance between the solidification position and the chill plate.

Loading System for Full-Scale Heavy-Duty Support Node Test with Multi-Directional Loading Requirements

This paper presents the design, analysis and experimental study of a loading system for heavy-duty nodes test based on a large-scale multi-directional in-plane loading device, which has been used in a full-scale heavy-duty support node test. Test loads of the support reached 6 567 kN with multi-directional loading requirements, which outrange the capacity of the available loading devices. Through the reinforcement of a large-scale multi-directional inplane loading device, the innovative design of a self-balanced load transferring device, and other arrangement considerations of the loading system, the test was implemented and the loading capacity of the ring was considerably enlarged. Due to the heavy loading requirements, some checking computations of the ring and the load transferring device outranged the limit of the Chinese national code "Code for Design of Steel Structures (GB 50017—2003)", thus elastic-plastic finite element (FE) analysis was carried out on the two devices, and also the real-time monitoring on the whole loading systems during experiments to ensure test safety. FE analysis and test results show that the loading system worked elastically during experiments.

Matrix test measurements of ground-borne vibration induced by the heavy-duty trains on embankment and cutting tracks in a loess area

This paper presents a comparative analysis of ground vibration in three directions generated by a heavy-duty railway with various track sections.The vibration characteristics in the plane area were investigated by using matrix test measurements.Acceleration peak attenuation was faster within 25 m from the embankment,and the high-frequency vibration attenuates faster with increased distance.For the cutting section with multi-stage soil slope,decay rate of acceleration was relatively larger.The acceleration level of the plane region ranged to 82.2-89.1 dB by the single C80 train.Yet the acceleration level caused by the C80 trains running parallel after meeting showed a distinct increment.The increment of the cutting section was much larger compared with the embankment section,with the increment ranging from 1.2-2.5 dB.In terms of the cutting section,Y direction acceleration was dominant closer to the track.Within 10-30 m of the track,the Y direction acceleration(perpendicular to the rail)decreased rapidly and became comparable to the X direction(parallel to the rail)and Z direction.Additionally,the cutting case generated a higher level of vibration in all three directions compared to the embankment,but as the distance from track increased,the deviation between acceleration gradually decreased.

Static Force Analysis of Foot of Electrically Driven Heavy-Duty Six-Legged Robot under Tripod Gait

The electrically driven six-legged robot with high carrying capacity is an indispensable equipment for planetary exploration, but it hinders its practicability because of its low efficiency of carrying energy. Meanwhile, its load capacity also affects its application range. To reduce the power consumption, increase the load to mass ratio, and improve the stability of robot, the relationship between the walking modes and the forces of feet under the tripod gait are researched for an electrically driven heavy-duty six-legged robot. Based on the configuration characteristics of electrically driven heavy-duty six-legged, the typical walking modes of robot are analyzed. The mathematical models of the normal forces of feet are respectively established under the tripod gait of typical walking modes. According to the MATLAB software, the variable tendency charts are respectively gained for the normal forces of feet. The walking experiments under the typical tripod gaits are implemented for the prototype of electrically driven heavy-duty six-legged robot. The variable tendencies of maximum normal forces of feet are acquired. The comparison results show that the theoretical and experimental data are in the same trend. The walking modes which are most available to realize the average force of distribution of each foot are confirmed. The proposed method of analyzing the relationship between the walking modes and the forces of feet can quickly determine the optimal walking mode and gait parameters under the average distribution of foot force, which is propitious to develop the excellent heavy-duty multi-legged robots with the lower power consumption, larger load to mass ratio, and higher stability.

Shear performance analysis of a heavy-duty universal hinged cast steel support

This paper presents the shear performance analysis of a heavy-duty universal hinged cast steel support with the largest bearing capacity. The effect of 9 parameters ( 52 specimens) ,i. e. height of the upper support,depth of the ring of the upper support,depth of the top plate of the bottom support,height of the ribs of the bottom support,depth of the ribs of the bottom support,bolt hole diameter,number of the ribs of the bowl,depth of the ribs of the bowl,and yield strength of the material,were analyzed with a 3-dimensional elastic-plastic finite element model in which the nonlinearities of geometry,material and contact were all considered. Analysis shows that height of the upper support,depth of the ring of the upper support and yield strength of the material have a great effect on the mechanical performance of the support. Height of the upper support has the largest effect on performance price ratio of the support,and the maximum effect can be up to 160% . Depth of the top plate of the bottom support,height of the ribs of the bottom support and depth of the ribs of the bottom support have a medium effect on performance price ratio of the support,and the effect is within the limit of 15% 19% .

Experimental and Numerical Study of Impact of Air Filter Holes Masking on Altitude at Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine

At high altitudes, power of an internal combustion engine reduces due to air density reduction. In turbocharged diesel engine this issue affects the performance of the compressor and can result in unstable operation of the turbocharger if the power is not decreased by engine actuator. Mainly for testing the effects of altitude in the test room, air throttle valve and combustion air handling unit were used to reduce the suction air pressure. Easier and cheaper solution to consider effect of altitude on engine performance is to mask part of the air filter to reduce the suction pressure. In this paper, pressure drop against 0%, 26%, 52%, 66% and 74% of air filter hole’s masking for different mass flow rates has been studied by computational fluid dynamics. The analysis output mass flow rate-pressure diagram for the air filter, will be used as input data in the GT-Power software which is a one-dimensional computational fluid dynamics software and the effect of masking on altitude and performance at different revolutions per minute of the engine is investigated. Also, an experimental and computational fluid dynamics study was carried out to predict altitude against different proportions of air filter hole’s masking at 1000 rpm. The predicted results are validated by comparing with those of experimental data. A good agreement between the predicted and experimental values ensures the accuracy of the numerical predictions with the present work.

Oxidization resistance of Ni76Cr19AlTi valve alloy at temperatures under operating mode of heavy-duty engines

The oxidization resistance of the Ni76Cr19A1Ti alloy was studied by a static oxidization experiment at 600-800℃. The results show that the oxidation behavior of the alloy can be explained by a kinetic equation： （△m/S）2 = Kpt ＋ C, where Kp is a kinetic constant of the nickel-base alloy. The higher the experimental temperature, the higher the value of Kp. It is discovered that the microstructure of the oxide scales is compact and the thickness of it is less than 10 μm The oxidization of the alloy is in the first grade. It is also found that the oxide scales are mainly composed of Cr2O3 and TiO2. Chrome and titanium react more easily with oxygen at temperatures under the operating mode.

Reliability Analysis of Heavy-Duty CNC Machine Hydraulic System Based on Fuzzy Goal Oriented Method

There is a common sense that heavy-duty CNC machine strongly depends on its foundation and can be easily affected by many factors.Hydraulic system,the most important part in CNC machine,is a complex and multi-loop system.In order to make up for the shortcomings of traditional fault tree analysis method and traditional GO method,the most effective method named fuzzy GO method is proposed to analyze the reliability of hydraulic system.And then some ideas are provided for system reliability assessment,fault diagnosis and maintenance by qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Derivation of a Representative Engine Duty Cycle from On-Road Heavy-Duty Vehicle Driving Data

The heavy-duty vehicle fleet involved in delivering water and sand makes noticeable issues of exhaust emissions and fuel consumption in the process of shale gas development. To examine the possibility of converting these heavy-duty diesel engines to run on natural gas-diesel dual-fuel, a transient engine duty cycle representing the real-world engine working conditions is necessary. In this paper, a methodology is proposed, and a target engine duty cycle comprising of 2231 seconds is developed from on-road data collected from 11 on-road sand and water hauling trucks. The similarity of inherent characteristics of the developed cycle and the base trip observed is evidenced by the 2.05% error of standard deviation and average values for normalized engine speed and engine torque. Our results show that the proposed approach is expected to produce a representative cycle of in-use heavy-duty engine behavior.

Multi-objective reliability optimization design of high-speed heavy-duty gears based on APCK-SORA model

For high-speed heavy-duty gears in operation is prone to high tooth surface temperature rise and thus produce tooth surface gluing leading to transmission failure and other adverse effects,but in the gear optimization design and little consideration of thermal transmission errors and thermal resonance and other factors,while the conventional multi-objective optimization design methods are difficult to achieve the optimum of each objective.Based on this,the paper proposes a gear multi-objective reliability optimisation design method based on the APCK-SORA model.The PC-Kriging model and the adaptive k-means clustering method are combined to construct an adaptive reliability analysis method(APCK for short),which is then integrated with the SORA optimisation algorithm.The objective function is the lightweight of gear pair,the maximum overlap degree and the maximum anti-glue strength;the basic parameters of the gear and the sensitivity parameters affecting the thermal deformation and thermal resonance of the gear are used as design variables;the amount of thermal deformation and thermal resonance,as well as the contact strength of the tooth face and the bending strength of the tooth root are used as constraints;the optimisation results show that:the mass of the gear is reduced by 0.13kg,the degree of overlap is increased by 0.016 and the coefficient of safety against galling Compared with other methods,the proposed method is more efficient than the other methods in meeting the multi-objective reliability design requirements of lightweighting,ensuring smoothness and anti-galling capability of high-speed heavy-duty gears.

Design a Hybrid Energy-Supply for the Electrically Driven Heavy-Duty Hexapod Vehicle

Increasing the power density and overload capability of the energy-supply units(ESUs)is always one of the most challenging tasks in developing and deploying legged vehicles,especially for heavy-duty legged vehicles,in which significant power fluctuations in energy supply exist with peak power several times surpassing the average value.Applying ESUs with high power density and high overload can compactly ensure fluctuating power source supply on demand.It can avoid the ultra-high configuration issue,which usually exists in the conventional lithium-ion battery-based or engine-generator-based ESUs.Moreover,it dramatically reduces weight and significantly increases the loading and endurance capabilities of the legged vehicles.In this paper,we present a hybrid energy-supply unit for a heavy-duty legged vehicle combining the discharge characteristics of lithium-ion batteries and peak energy release/absorption characteristics of supercapacitors to adapt the ESU to high overload power fluctuations.The parameters of the lithium-ion battery pack and supercapacitor pack inside the ESU are optimally matched using the genetic algorithm based on the energy consumption model of the heavy-duty legged vehicle.The experiment results exhibit that the legged vehicle with a weight of 4.2 tons can walk at the speed of 5 km/h in a tripod gait under a reduction of 35.39%in weight of the ESU compared to the conventional lithium-ion battery-based solution.

Robust Parameter Identification Method of Adhesion Model for Heavy Haul Trains

A robust parameter identification method based on Kiencke model was proposed to solve the problem of the parameter identification accuracy being affected by the rail environment change and noise interference for heavy-duty trains. Firstly, a Kiencke stick-creep identification model was constructed, and the parameter identification task was transformed into a quadratic programming problem. Secondly, an iterative algorithm was constructed to solve the problem, into which a time-varying forgetting factor was added to track the change of the rail environment, and to solve the uncertainty problem of the wheel-rail environment. The Granger causality test was adopted to detect the interference, and then the weights of the current data were redistributed to solve the problem of noise interference in parameter identification. Finally, simulations were carried out and the results showed that the proposed method could track the change of the track environment in time, reduce the noise interference in the identification process, and effectively identify the adhesion performance parameters.

A review of heavy-duty legged robots

Heavy-duty legged robots have been regarded as one of the important developments in the field of legged robots because of their high payload-total mass ratio,terrain adaptability,and multitasking.The problems associated with the development and use of heavy-duty legged robots have motivated researchers to conduct many important studies,covering topics related to the mechanical structure,force distribution,control strategy,energy efficiency,etc.Overall,heavy-duty legged robots have three main characteristics:greater body masses,larger body sizes,and higher payload-total mass ratios.Thus,various heavy-duty legged robots and their performances are reviewed here.This review presents the current developments with regard to heavy-duty legged robots.Also,the main characteristics of high-performance heavy-duty legged robots are determined and conclusions are drawn.Furthermore,the current research of key techniques of heavy-duty legged robots,including the mechanical structure,force distribution,control method,and power source,is described.To assess the transportation capacity of heavy-duty legged robots,performance evaluation parameters are proposed.Finally,problems that need further research are addressed.

Waste heat recovery from heavy-duty diesel engine exhaust gases by medium temperature ORC system

A medium-temperature waste-heat recovery system based on the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is designed to recover the exhaust energy from a heavy-duty diesel engine. Analysis of the 1st law of thermodynamics for an ORC system is performed. This analysis contains two parts. The first part is an analysis with undefined heat exchangers to gain an understanding of the ORC and find out suitable organic fluid parameters for a better ORC efficiency. The second part of the analysis uses combined engine test results and two designs of heat exchangers. By comparing the two designs, an improved system of heat exchangers is described. This analysis also quantifies the effect of engine parameters on ORC system. The study concludes that the supercritical Rankine cycle is a better approach towards waste heat recovery. The ORC system is found to perform better under part-load conditions if the medium-high power condition rather than rated working point of the engine is used as the design parameter. The ORC system achieves the highest waste-heat recovery efficiency of up to 10-15% for the optimised heat ex-changer design.