Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard University, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 196-201).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 1993. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-200).

Thèse (M.A.)--Université Laval, 2003. / Bibliogr.: f. 111-114. Publié aussi en version électronique.

Thesis (M.E.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-78). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri--Rolla, 2007. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed May 16, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MTech (Industrial Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / This paper is positioned within the broader context of public transportation systems, with specific focus on the development of urban micro first and last mile mobility solutions, and what it could mean for individuals and the economy. Globally, urban problems such as traffic congestion, poor public transport integration, and carbon emissions are forcing us to rethink traditional means of transport. Large fossil-fuelled vehicles and limited public transport infrastructure characterize South Africa’s transport market. Despite the growth in car use, public transport and walking are still the predominant “lifeline” forms of mobility for the vast majority of South Africans in order to access work, schools and services. Moreover, the lack of public transport services in key economic corridors and rural areas of South Africa, the role of the metered taxi industry which is currently effectively limited to serving only the needs of the tourist market due to high charging regimes, and finally, the absence of an effective inner city transport system endorses the lack of first and last mile transportation solutions, and the integration thereof with other transport mediums. This adds to the conflict commuter’s face on a daily basis in obtaining a seamless distribution of transport services. 80% of trips in urban areas are less than 3km, placing urban micro mobility vehicles in an ideal position as a solution to transportation. This describes the investigation conducted into micro-mobility trends within South Africa to identify a key mode of transport that would comply with the stated requirements, and allow accessibility to commuters within the city and to the surrounding communities. In 2014, Mellowcabs, which are electric public transport vehicles that provide first and last mile transport services, was identified as a promising candidate within the local micro-mobility vehicle context. They were in need of a design input for their immediate next requirement, which thus describes the development of a good protective side door system that would isolate passengers in adverse weather conditions, whilst similarly affording comfort and safety features found in normal passenger vehicles. The design process is focused on creating a new side door, however, at the same time the product should be, elegant, smart, fashionable, comfortable, economical, maneuverable and safe. In addition, the virtual product lifecycle management tool, CATIA, allows the design team to get feedback in terms of physical-based data that correspond to how the door could hinder the passengers interaction while they ingress and egress the vehicle. This enables us to try various designs to perform a comparative study without building a single physical prototype.

The refrigerant circuits of car air-conditioning systems are fitted with so-called open type compressors, because there is only a lip seal preventing the refrigerant from leaking from the compressor housing to the atmosphere. In addition, the cycle uses damping elements between the compressor and the other components on the suction and pressure lines to reduce vibration and noise transfer from the engine to the car body. Both the lip seal and damping elements result in loss of refrigerant as they are made from elastomers and leak with age, and, under high temperature conditions inside the engine room, these elements also allow a relatively high permeation of the refrigerant gas to the atmosphere. With very high refrigerant losses in the older R12 -cooling cycles and the damage caused by this gas to the ozone layer in the stratosphere, the Montreal protocol phased out this refrigerant and the car industry was forced to revert completely to R134a until 1994/95. R134a has no ozone depletion potential, but it has a direct global warming potential, and, therefore, leakages also have to be minimised. R134a has, because of its molecular size, a high permeation potential and, hence, all the refrigerant hoses are lined internally. Unfortunately, these hoses also leak with age and significant refrigerant loss will occur [1] R134a can therefore only be viewed as a solution until an alternative refrigerant with no direct global warming potential has been developed. Candidates for new refrigerants are natural substances such as hydrocarbons or carbon dioxide [2]. Unfortunately, both substances have disadvantages and their use is restricted to special cases, for e.g. hydrocarbons are flammable and are not used in car air-conditioners, but in Germany it is used as a refrigerant in household refrigerators with hermetic cycles. What makes the implementation of carbon dioxide (CO2) difficult are the high system pressures and the low critical point [3].

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Electromechanical Engineering

D. Phil. (Energy Studies) / Quantifying energy consumed and emissions produced by transport is essential for effective policy formulation and urban environmental management. Current first-world methods for determining vehicle emissions factors are technology and resource intensive, and results cannot be applied directly to cities in other parts of the world. There is a need for alternative cost-effective and accurate methods for determining real-world fuel consumption and emissions from vehicles in cities of the developing world. In this thesis, a new emissions simulation and inventory model is developed and implemented as a software tool. A novel application of low cost on-board diagnostics equipment and Global Positioning System sensors is devised to survey engine-operating parameters, driving conditions and vehicle usage profiles needed by the model. An emissions inventory is produced for the City of Johannesburg using the software tool and surveying method to demonstrate the overall process. The core contribution of this thesis is the logical development of data structures and software tools which link base engine-operating patterns (of engine speed and engine load), derived from the literature, to measured engine-operating patterns and vehicle activity from real-world driving. A range of real-world driving cycles and emission factors published by the Swiss Institute of Materials Science and Technology are transformed to produce the base engine-operating patterns and their corresponding emissions factors. The calculation of emission factors for real-world driving involves matching measured engineoperating patterns to combinations of the base engine-operating patterns using numerical methods. The method is validated using a cross validation technique. The emissions inventory application integrates measured engine-operating patterns, vehicle activity, fleet structure, fuel sales and the emissions simulation procedure to calculate total emissions. Fuel consumption and emissions of interest are CO2, CO, HC, NOx. Measurements of engine operating parameters and vehicle usage patterns were recorded for 30 privately owned passenger vehicles from the Johannesburg fleet. The selection included Euro-0 (a mixture of pre Euro-1 vehicles), Euro-2 and Euro-3 petrol vehicles, and Euro-2 diesel private passenger vehicles. Fifteen billion vehicle kilometres were driven in Johannesburg by private passenger vehicles per year consuming 325 million litres of diesel and 1 524 billion litres of petrol. iv Total emissions were estimated to be 4.13 Mt CO2, 82.77 kt CO, 9.15 kt HC, and 24.49 kt NOx. Between 88 and 93% of the total emissions were from vehicles which fall into the Euro-0 petrol category. Diesel vehicles did not make a significant contribution to CO and HC emissions but contributed 14% of the NOx and 19% of the CO2 emissions. During weekdays, 28 to 31% and 25 to 27% of the total fuel consumption and emissions were due to the morning commute and the evening commute periods respectively. Although minibus taxis, buses, freight and vehicle age significantly impact on total fuel consumption and emissions in cities they were not considered within the scope of this study. Vehicle usage patterns are analysed to produce spatial maps and diurnal charts of congestion on suburban roads, streets and highways within the Johannesburg municipal area. Times and locations of congestion are presented in terms of a standard congestion index, and suggestion given on how and where congestion problems could be addressed. This study shows that vehicle emissions inventories can be cost effectively produced by surveying engine-operating parameters and vehicle usage profiles using on-board diagnostics and Global Positioning System sensors and simulating emissions factors using a new emissions simulation and emissions inventory model.

The introduction of a vehicle destined for world-wide export brought mass customization to BMW SA. This, together with a 29% headcount reduction, a model range increase, stringent profitability targets and increased customer satisfaction demands, made the previous, un-integrated quality systems used in the Sales&Marketing Division obsolete. A quality management system was required to provide structure to the processes supporting a product which was becoming more and more complex. The implementation of a quality management system is described. This system for the first time, described some of the procedures used in the mass customization process of the BMW SA Sales&Marketing Division. The quality management system is evaluated based on the principle that customer satisfaction and the failure of internal processes need to be measured. Various are identified and recommendations are made. Some of the recommendations described have already been implemented successfully. An integrated mass customization procedure was established. Recommendations regarding customer satisfaction are in the process of being implemented. The effectiveness of these recommendations will be evaluated by future customer satisfaction survey results. / Dissertation (MEng (Technology Management))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) / unrestricted