Solar power systems are becoming increasingly popular due to the fact that solar power can offer time and money saving solutions for off-grid and grid-connected homes, cabins, and businesses with clean and affordable energy. However, there are still significant opportunities to reduce the cost of solar power systems by optimizing system design. This paper presents a methodology for evaluating the lifecycle labor costs of solar power systems. This methodology can help optimize system designs relative to cost. It can also support solar power system selection decisions based on a holistic lifecycle view. The methodology accomplishes this by first presenting a method to evaluate the modularity of competing systems, or design variants. It then describes a method of gathering data and modeling the systems so that it can be communicated to relevant stakeholders. Finally, it uses discrete event simulation to generate an estimate of relative lifecycle labor cost performance. Verification and validation of the methods described are presented through a case study of the MegaModule residential solar power system, designed by the team at GTRI. The paper concludes with a review of limitations and proposed future work.

The 7th German-Japanese Bridge Symposium, July 30-August 1, 2007 Osaka, JAPAN (GJBS07), full paper + extended abstract (p.142-143)

Examensarbetet har utförts på företaget AP&T Presses AB i Tranemo. AP&T tillverkar hydrauliska pressar med en presskraft från 100 ton upp till 20000 ton. Kunderna finns främst inom bilindustrin men även vitvaru- och inomhusklimatbranscherna finns representerade. Syftet med arbetet har varit att utarbeta ett underlag för LCC-kalkyler avseende hydrauliska pressar. Därefter skall mallen tillämpas på en press av modell ZM-8000-30/22. Det finns inga generella regler eller krav för LCC beräkningar utan de får anpassas utifrån aktuell industri och produkt.För att bestämma livscykelkostnaden listas alla kostnader som uppkommer i samband med inköp och efterföljande drift. LCC-kalkylen utgår från 8 stycken kostnadsrubriker. Det framgick att inköpskostnaden låg på 51 % av totalkostnaden efter 10 år. Livscykelkostnaden över 10 år blev 38,6 miljoner SEK. Antalet möjliga detaljer att tillverka under tio år blev 2 500 000 st. Om totalkostnaden slås ut över hur många detaljer man tillverkat kommer priset att hamna på 15,80 kr/st då endast hänsyn till kostnaden för pressen tagits. Till detta kommer materialkostnader, verktygskostnader, m.m.LCC- modellen kan användas som försäljningsargument gentemot kund, men även i förbättringsarbetet hos AP&T för att se var det uppkommer stora kostnader under maskinernas livslängd för att på så sätt bygga ännu mer kostnadseffektiva pressar i framtiden. Vidare kan LCC- kalkylen användas internt hos konstruktionsavdelningen vid AP&T för att motivera dyrare mer kvalitativa komponentinköp. På så sätt kan maskinerna görs mer kostnadseffektiva under sin livstid / Uppsatsnivå: C

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Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a renewable energy technology that has to overcome several key challenges before achieving its ultimate goal of producing baseload power on a commercial scale. The economic challenge of deploying an OTEC plant remains the biggest barrier to implementation. Although small OTEC demonstration plants and recent advances in subsystem technologies have proven OTEC’s technical merits, the process still lacks the crucial operational data required to justify investments in large commercial OTEC plants on the order of 50-100 megawatts of net electrical power (MWe-net). A pre-commercial pilot plant on the order of 5-10 MWe-net is required for an OTEC market to evolve. In addition to the economic challenge,OTEC plants have potential for adverse environmental impacts from redistribution of nutrients and residual chemicals in the discharge plume. Although long-term operational records are not available for commercial sizeOTEC plants, synergistic operational data can be leveraged from the desalination industry to improve the potential for OTEC commercialization. Large capacity desalination plants primarily use membranes or thermal evaporator tubes to transform enormous amounts of seawater into freshwater. Thermal desalination plants in particular possess many of the same technical, economic, and environmental traits as a commercial scale OTEC plant. Substantial long-term economic data and environmental impact results are now widely available since commercial desalination began in the 1950s. Analysis of this data indicates that the evolution of the desalination industry could be akin to the potential future advancement of OTEC. Furthermore, certain scenarios exist where a combined OTEC-desalination plant provides a new opportunity for commercial plants. This paper seeks to utilize operational data from the desalination industry as a progressive approach towards OTEC commercialization.

The Coast Guard has developed several systems to measure the performance of its engineering and logistics organizations. The development of these measures is based upon the need to show where and how the organization meets the American taxpayer’s needs. The use of multivariable regressions and determining the statistical distributions of the variables will show the adequacy of the measures and processes currently used. They will also determine a better way to measure the performance of the Coast Guard Small Boat Fleet. This research will analyze the 47 Motor Life Boat and 25 Response Boat-Small data from fiscal year 2011 to 2013. The focus will be on improving the measure used by the engineering and systems managers of the Coast Guard to manage assets and resources, as well as making recommendations on how to improve the processes involved in managing a robust engineering and logistics system.

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