Other than mobile hydraulics and high voltage switchgears, Bucher Hydraulics is also involved in the less-known area of hydraulic lifts. In fact, Bucher Hydraulics did invent the electronically controlled lift valve in the 1970s. Since then, Bucher Hydraulics developed a wide line of products for hydraulic elevators, such as valves and power units. In 2012, this valve family included various sizes, pressure ranges, systems with constant motor speeds, inverter-driven motors, energy-efficient solutions with hydraulic counterweight, as well as customized solutions. As the common principle, all these solutions apply an electronic closed-loop control that uses a volumetric flow sensor and a proportional actuator. Since 2012, Bucher Hydraulics is substituting this valve family with a new generation, the iValve. Every iValve uses several self-teaching algorithms to adapt to its environment. Their on-board and cabinet electronics control solenoid currents and measure flow, pressure, and temperature. These features enable the iValve to self-monitor, to adapt to operating parameters, and to analyze and log information about itself and the attached system. This report on a highly specialized product is meant to provide inspiring insights.

An MRI’s superior soft tissue contrast and ability to perform parametric scanning make it a powerful tool for use during medical procedures; from surgery to rehabilitation. However, the MRI’s strong static magnetic field, fast switching gradients and constrained space make accomplishing procedures within it difficult. Recent advances in the field of robotics have enabled the creation of devices capable of assisting medical practitioners in this environment. In this work, technologies to enable the use and control of robotic assistive devices for MRI interventions are presented. This includes a modular controller that is designed, built and used to control two surgical systems with minimal effect on image quality. Progressive improvements to an MRI conditional actuator including the construction of a first of a kind plastic piezoelectric resonant motor stator that improves the motor’s compatibility with the MRI is presented. Finally, control algorithms are evaluated for real-time functional MRI based control of a rehabilitation robot which includes the use of a robot for controlling brain activity of a subject in an online experiment.

Bakgrund: Anestesipersonal arbetar frekvent inom akutteam och samverkar regelbundet vid akut omhändertagande av instabila patienter. Kommunikation vid samverkan i akutteam beskrivs i litteraturen som grunden för ett bra samarbete och är en del av kärnan vid akut omhändertagande. Kommunikationen tenderar tyvärr att brista av olika anledningar i akutteam vilket kan utmana patientsäkerheten. Closed loop beskrivs i litteraturen som en värdefull kommunikationsmodell vid akut omhändertagande. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva anestesipersonalens upplevelser av barriärer och förutsättningar för kommunikation vid akut omhändertagande samt användande av closed loop kommunikation. Metod: Studien genomfördes med en kvalitativ metod. Totalt tio stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer med erfarna anestesisjuksköterskor och anestesiologer genomfördes och analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Följande fem kategorier utgör resultatet: Bristande erfarenhet och kompetensbrist försvårar, Stress, många personer och höga ljud stör informationsflödet, Hierarkier och dispyter skapar oklara ansvarsförhållanden, Struktur och ledarskap skapar trygghet, Intresse, stöd och personkännedom underlättar samt Closed loop fungerar bra men måste övas. Slutsats: I sitt arbete upplever anestesipersonalen kommunikativa utmaningar vid samverkan i akuta team vilket kan ge upphov till försämrad vård för den akuta patienten.

Medication-related injuries are one of the major problems with today’s healthcare. Some commonmedication errors are inaccurate prescriptions by physicians, medication given to the wrongpatient or miscalculated doses. An important part of the medication administration are nurses,who spend about a quarter of their time administrating medication. Since they oversee the lastcontrol, checking that the correct medication is being administrated, they can prevent manymedication errors from occurring. Their working conditions are far from optimal, characterized bystaff shortages and overcapacity which result in a stressful work environment. This study aims to create a requirement specification of a future system for medicationadministration. The system will be used for inpatient care and by using a solution called closedloop medication, the system aims to reduce the medication errors as well as reduce the nurses’workload. Closed loop medication uses electronic verification to eliminate the errors that occurbetween prescription and administration by ascertain the five rights of medication (five R). Theseare principles that ensure that the right drug, with the right dose and right the route, is given tothe right patient, at the right time. The methods used for the investigation were observations as well as seminars. The observationsdemonstrated how the medication administration is carried out today while the seminars wereused to investigate how nurses would want the medication administration, based on closed loopmedication, to be carried out in the future. The results of the investigation show that nurses havedifferent views of how the future medication administration should be carried out. One significantrisk identified by the nurses is how to maintain an effective workflow when events in the earliersteps prior to administration does not work correctly. Based on the investigation the requirement specification was formulated. One of severalimportant requirements of the future system is that it should be adjustable to the different wardsand their needs. The final conclusion is the following: To make sure that an implementation ofclosed loop medication reaches its full potential, the system must not result in working conditionsmore stressful for nurses.

The vehicle industry have for many years improved the design of car motors and iterated the control systems associated with it. The systems have become very complex and hard to understand because of this work process. It is today very difficult to perform evaluations of the engine's performance or components theoretically at Powertrain Engineering Sweden (PES). This thesis proposes a test method to estimate the robustness, in terms of stability margins, of the air charge throttle control loop using measurement data. Alternative test methods are also presented, for example system identification performed with MATLAB's SITB. The proposed test method superimposes a sine wave upon the control signal in a closed loop system. The control signal is measured after it is superimposed and after it have made one round trip around the loop. These two signals is regarded as sine in and sine out. The phase shift and relation in amplitude are estimated from the measurements and the robustness is presented by Bode plots. The method finds the phase shift from the time difference between the zero-crossings of the input- and output signal. The relation in amplitude is found by looking at the total sum of the absolute value sine wave. Extensive testing with different tunings of the P-part of the air charge controller shows that the proposed method correctly identifies if the systems stability margins have become larger or smaller. For nine measurements with different P-tunings it is seen that the magnitude curves stay separate throughout the whole Bode plot. It is also shown that the gain margins are decreasing for every increase in P-value. The overall results and findings in this thesis are promising and can act as a foundation for future thesis' work to come.

Purpose: This thesis’ purpose is to identify a CLSC model of flat glass, including actors,waste sources, and what can be done with recycled flat glass. In addition, this researchaims to propose a cost structure of a flat glass CLSC. Thus, this thesis’ research questions(RQ) are: RQ1: How can closed-loop supply chains (CLSC) for the purpose of flat glasslook like? RQ1.A: What actors are a part of a flat glass CLSC? RQ1.B: What are thewaste sources of flat glass in a flat glass CLSC? RQ1.C: What are the uses of flat glassas secondary material? RQ2: How can a cost structure for a closed-loop supply chain(CLSC) for the purpose of flat glass look like?  Method: For this purpose of this thesis the researchers chose to employ a pragmatistresearch philosophy. The thesis is an exploratory qualitative study using an abductiveapproach. A case study strategy was used, and data was collected through semi-structuredinterviews and a literature review. Seven interviews were conducted with the six casecompanies. Findings: A flat glass CLSC consists of three phases: manufacture, use, and secondary(raw) material. The main actors are float glass manufacturer, flat glass processor/refiner,flat glass distributor, construction and demolition company, flat glass recycler, and freighthauler. Sub-actors of a flat glass CLSC are raw materials supplier, government, thirdparty contractors, container glass manufacturer, and glass wool manufacturer. Secondarymaterial occurs during flat glass manufacturing, distribution/transport, construction, anddemolition. It can be divided into three types, i.e., pure, high quality cut-offs,contaminated flat glass, and end-of-use flat glass. The possible uses of flat glass assecondary material are float glass, container glass, and glass wool manufacturing. Thecost structure for a flat glass CLSC divides cost elements into the three phases of a flatglass CLSC and six supply chain cost categories, which include manufacturing cost,distribution cost, warehousing cost, administration cost, capital cost, and installation cost. Theoretical Implications: This master’s thesis helps in adding to two research areas: flatglass and CLSC. By reviewing existing literature and conducting the case studies inChina, Germany, and Norway, the researchers can reflect the current practices of flat glassCLSCs in different countries, thereby adding to existing scientific research to close theresearch gap of flat glass CLSCs. Practical Implications: This master’s thesis contributes to practice by providing a flatglass CLSC model and cost structure which can be used as a starting point of developinga flat glass CLSC and its cost structure. In addition, this thesis is connected to anotherbigger research project in collaboration with the Linnaeus University and the city ofVäxjö, the findings from this thesis are beneficial for improving the situation of flat glassin Sweden. Societal Implications: By researching circularity in CDW, this master’s thesis helps notonly the city of Växjö but also other Swedish cities to improve the situation of flat glassand strive towards a full circular economy, further contributing to an increase insustainability in Sweden.

The closed loop supply chain concept has been argued to be one vital sustainability solution to prevent waste and aid humanitarian concerns. At the same time, over a third of the food resources for human consumption is being converted to food waste, contributing to malnutrition, starvation and countless deaths. Previous studies have indicated problematic barriers and constraints preventing corporations to engage in CLSC in the perceived absence of urgency and financial motives.   The purpose of this thesis is to identify how companies within the food retail industry utilise closed loop supply chain solutions to reduce waste, and contribute with knowledge in the area of CLSC solutions applicable to the food retail industry. Our study investigates the use of CLSC in the food retail industry in Sweden, and the possible constraints and advantages of CLSC in the context of reducing food waste. A qualitative study was deemed most suitable in order to try to understand and explore the complexity of the CLSC concept in a different industry environment. Three Swedish companies active in the food retail industry participated in semi-structured interviews to expand our understanding of CLSC use and incentives applicable to reducing food waste. The findings of this thesis indicates that the firms in the Swedish food retailing industry are cognisant and aware of CLSC processes. However, in the perspective of the store managers, sustainable processes and activities that theoretically constitute core components within CLSC were simply identified as fundamental processes, incentives and activities in their daily operations towards working more sustainably to minimise food waste. Advantages of CLSC included the interplay and cooperation between corporate efforts and societal stakeholders, serving as a beacon for a brighter and more sustainable future benefiting not only firms and customers but arguably everyone. However, standards, policies and regulations were identified as a limiting factor, regarding to what extent companies can engage in certain CLSC activities. Although, it was identified that all of the case companies were eager to continue their work towards CLSC and sustainable operations, arguably indicating a long-term commitment to circular activities and endeavours.

The purpose of this report was to evaluate the feasibility of an autonomous drink dispenser where it can complement the waitstaff in their many duties. The prototype can accurately dispense a wide variety of drinks without the intervention of a human operator. The focus of the project was to pour a wide variety of drinks as accurately as possible. This can be achieved without the need for trained staff through automation. Many different components were required in order to make the prototype as consistent and safe as possible. It was discovered that so many components negatively affected the end result. The final prototype can dispense liquids from six different sources. Numerous different tests were done with the maximum deviation from the expected volume being 7.7%. This was a vast improvement on the standard deviation in alcohol content in drinks, which is 42%. The prototype can dispense up to 116 drinks per hour. / Syftet med denna rapport var att utvärdera genomförbarheten av en autonom dryckesautomat där den kunde komplettera servitören i sina många uppgifter. Prototypen kan med hög noggrannhet hälla upp en stor variation av drycker utan behovet av en mänsklig operatör.  Projektets fokus var att kunna hälla ett stort antal drycker med så hög precision som möjligt. Genom automatisering kan detta uppnås utan behov av utbildad personal. Många olika slags komponenter krävdes för att göra prototypen så konsekvent och säker som möjligt. Det visade sig att denna variation skapade problem och hade en negativ effekt på det önskade slutresultatet. Den slutliga prototypen kan hälla upp vätskor från sex olika källor. Många tester gjordes med en maximal avvikelse från den förväntade volymen på 7.7%. Detta var en stor förbättring på standardavvikelsen i alkoholhaltiga drycker, vilket är 42%. Prototypen kan hälla upp till 116 drycker per timme.

This project aims to build up a soft robotic gripper that mimics human hands and design a closedloop control system. A soft gripper model is established with Finite Element Method (FEM) to describe the relation between air pressure input and gripper deformation. The best soft gripper dimensions are selected according to the FEM model and the gripper is then fabricated with Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printing method. Closed-loop angle control before the soft gripper touches the object is used to ensure a precise grasp. A camera sensor is used for the acquisition of the bending angle and a pressure regulator is applied to supply the air pressure. A closed-loop experiment platform is built based on a proportional-integral (PI) controller to realize the precise deformation control of the soft gripper. Finally, the grasp of some soft or brittle objects using the soft gripper is performed as a demonstration. / Projektet syftar till att bygga upp en mjuk robotgripare som efterliknar mänskliga händer och utformar ett slutet styrsystem. Mjuk griparmodell är upprättad med Finite element Method (FEM) för att beskriva förhållandet mellan lufttrycksingång och gripar deformation. De bästa mjuka gripdimensionerna väljs enligt FEM-modellen och griparen tillverkas sedan med Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D-tryckningsmetod. Vinkelstyrning med sluten slinga innan den mjuka griparen berör objektet används för att säkerställa ett exakt grepp. En kamerasensor används för att erhålla böjningsvinkeln och en tryckregulator appliceras för att tillföra lufttrycket. En experimentplattform med sluten slinga är byggd baserad på en proportionellintegrerad (PI) styrenhet för att realisera den exakta deformationskontrollen för den mjuka griparen. Slutligen utförs grepp om vissa mjuka eller spröda föremål som använder den mjuka griparen som en demonstration.

No description available.