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The industry is nowadays going through a transformation in networking technologies which leads to what it is called Industry 4.0. This stage of the industry is arriving from the hand of the internet of things. Having connected all the elements within a factory allows to control and keep track of them telematically. Virtual commissioning is in charge of designing, testing and debugging the system before it is even built. This project tries to approach virtual reality to virtual commissioning and create the virtual model of a human in these simulated environments. Technology allows introducing human interaction for many purposes such as operator training. To do this project properly a methodology will be followed for the design and creation. Once the background, frame of reference and literature review are established, the development can start. The development of the project has taken place alongside Simumatik Open Emulation Platform, consisting of creating the body of a person, as simple as possible, following ergonomics, into this platform for commissioning purposes. The model will be able to interact with the virtual environment like robots, boxes, and sensors. To sum up, the complexity of the model will be limited to the inputs coming from the head and the hands. There exist infinite solutions for which position should be the rest of the body, therefore, this project aims to fix some variables to find valid solutions. Finally, the project achieved building a digital human model in which the main goal was building the arms that are estimated. The model is capable of interact with Simumatik´s environment that has been created specifically to show the functionalities of this project, being detected for sensors and robots of the system.

Nowadays, virtual commissioning has become an incredibly useful technology which has raised its importance hugely in the latest years. Creating virtual automated systems, as similar to reality as possible, to test their behaviour has become into a great tool for avoiding waste of time and cost in the real commissioning stage of any manufacturing system. Currently, lots of virtual automated systems are controlled by different vision tools, however, these tools are not integrated in most of emulation platforms, so it precludes testing the performance of numerous virtual systems. This thesis intends to give a solution to this limitation that nowadays exists for virtual commissioning. The main goal is the creation of a synthetic camera that allows to obtain different types of images inside any virtual automated system in the same way it would have been obtained in a real system. Subsequently, a virtual demonstrator of a robotic cell controlled by computer vision is developed to show the immense opportunities that synthetic camera can open for testing vision systems.

Denna studie är en kvalitativ fallstudie utförd på Kinnegrip i Lidköping inom huvudämnet automatisering. Studien är en förstudie till automatisering utförd med hjälp av litteraturgranskning, intervjuer och observationer. Syftet var att svara på vilken typ av automatiseringslösning som skulle lämpa sig för Kinnegrips produkt K20-stål och vilka åtgärder som krävdes för att lösningen skulle vara möjlig. Denna studie går även igenom vilka typer av slöseri som Kinnegrip behöver reducera för att en automatiseringslösning skall vara effektiv. Resultatet av slöserianalysen leder fram till att Kinnegrip behöver förbättra befintliga processer i pressområdet, innan automatisering av K20-stål genomförs, för att undvika processtörningar. Denna studie använder en fördefinierad arbetsmetodik som är skräddarsydd för fallet som studeras. Studien resulterade i två lösningsförslag. Det ena förslaget innefattar linjära robotar och det andra förslaget utnyttjar en mobil robotlösning. Slutsatsen presenterar rekommendationer av åtgärder som Kinnegrip behöver göra innan automatiseringen utförs. / This study is a qualitative case study carried out at Kinnegrip in Lidköping within the automation field. This study is a pilot study for automation carried out with the help of a literature review, interviews and observations. The purpose was to answer what kind of automation solution would be suitable for Kinnegrip's product K20 steel and what measures were required to make the solution possible. The study also examines the waste that Kinnegrip needs to reduce in order for an automation solution to be effective. The result of the waste analysis indicates that Kinnegrip needs to improve existing processes in the press area, before automation of K20 steel is implemented, to avoid process disruptions. This study uses a predefined working methodology that is tailor-made for the case being studied. The study resulted in two solutions. One proposal includes linear robots and the other proposal utilizes a mobile robot solution. The conclusion presents recommendations of actions that Kinnegrip needs to do before automation is performed.

Through this report, the re-design process of a self-balancing robot is described. Different factors affecting the performance of the self-balancing task such as weight and mass centre location are analysed to follow with the design of a new prototype based on lightness and decoupling of components concepts. Furthermore, different control algorithms (PID, LQR and PID + P) are analysed, simulated, and compared between them to recognize the most optimal control system. This theoretical analysis is used as a guideline for the implementation of the control system in the prototype. The instability of an inverted pendulum system is a big issue in terms of controllability. So, simulations are carried out approaching to a more realistic scenario with the development of a non-linear dynamic model of the system via Simulink. Following the path for a more realistic simulation of the control system, controller’s performance is analysed and problems regarding execution time and time variability are identified. Moreover, the lack of information according the use of Raspberry Pi with MATLAB for the control of a self-balancing robot has motivated the definition of a strategy for enabling code programming through MATLAB and consequent code execution in Raspberry Pi microcontroller, clarifying the challenges that this environment drags with and giving solutions to this problem. Finally, with the idea this work could be used as a start-point for future works and use in educational area, conclusions are defined and explained, and future tasks are suggested to enhance the knowledge on this matter.

The purpose of this study has been to describe the current work situation for BA-operatives (firefighters) within Swedish rescue services, to examine the causes for occupational injuries and near accidents among BA-operatives and also examine in which type of environments occupational injuries and near accidents have occurred. All occupational injuries and near accidents that was reported to the Swedish Work Environment Authority during 1st January 2002- to 17th July 2014 have been analyzed. The analysis showed that a significant larger amount of injuries and near accidents occurred during nighttime BA-operations than during daytime operations. The analysis also showed that there are a significant higher number of occupational injuries during BA-operations among retained firefighters than among whole-time firefighters. Most occupational injuries during the investigated time period have occurred in detached houses. The analysis have shown that the reason for this, in most cases, is that the officer in charge has made errors when assessing the risks before the BA-operation was carried out or has failed to communicate his decisions with the other firefighters. Most of the near accidents during the time period have occurred in underground car parks and case studies have shown that it’s difficult for BA-operatives to locate and fight fires in this kind of buildings. The case studies also showed that local rescue services often have failed to prepare the firefighters for BA-operations in large buildings and also that many of the  local standard operation procedures are inadequate with respect to replacement of BA-operatives. (Swedish)

In today’s competitive automotive market, many of the world’s leading organizations utilize the Lean manufacturing philosophy in order to increase productivity and stay competitive. With this philosophy come many great methods for improving processes, where focus is put on reducing or eradicating any actions or process that fail to create value for customers, the so-called waste. However, one question that remains is how fast a process actually can be.  Having “40% waste”, how can one know if this is the endpoint of a successful efficiency improvement journey, or if the waste can be reduced all the way down to 0%? This Master thesis seeks to identify where this endpoint is located for a specific design of the product, aiming to help organizations allocate improvement work to where it does the greatest impact. Hence, knowing if the endpoint for a process already is reached, organizations can steer improvement work to R&D departments instead of trying to improve something not capable of improving. The findings show that organizations can use the results from this study in more than just one context. Not only will it complement the Lean philosophy by providing a measure of the absolute shortest durations for each individual activity or process under ideal conditions, but also will it facilitate communication between R&D and assembly departments at an earlier stage of the development process by quantifying the impact of different design choices on the total assembly time.

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Energy efficiency and conservation measures in hotels is an area of research at the Department of Energy Technology, Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (KTH), Sweden. As a continuation of the research work, this project was focused on a hotel's resource-use performance, considering both internal and external factors that influence their consumption. The work comprised a literature study on energy efficiency and conservation measures in the built environment, focusing on hotel buildings, as well as an analysis of existing building assessment tools. An auditing and monitoring process was applied at one Scandic hotel, Järva Krog, which was selected with the support of Scandic management. Another four Scandic hotels were included in this study, using their data on energy/water consumption for the past five years.  The tourism industry is one of the world’s largest single industries, experiencing rapid expansion in recent decades. The number of international tourist arrivals increased from 441 million in 1990 to 763 million in 2004 (WTO, 2005). The hotel industry forms the largest part of the tourism industry with more than 300 000 hotels worldwide. Hotels offer their lodging capacities with the highest possible comfort and quality, without compromise. High demands on comfort and the level of services offered require an intensive utilization of energy and water.  The price of energy has been increasing continuously during the last few years, with electricity increasing 6 % on an annual basis, which has made energy expenses increase rapidly during the past years. Adding high energy costs to concerns about CO2 emissions, highlights the importance of accurate information for energy management within any hotel facility. A need to decrease energy expenditure demands depending of knowledge relating to hotel facility consumption.  The objective of this thesis is to understand energy performance and energy distribution within one typical chain hotel facility, and how this understanding can be applied to a selected group of similar hotels as well as to define the relationship between the factors behind energy expenditure. Such factors include outdoor climate as an external quantitative factor; HVAC system efficiency, lighting, occupancy rate and number of food covers sold as internal quantitative factors; and personnel behavior, operation/maintenance routines/levels as internal qualitative factors. / QC 20110427

Jackon AB i Skövde tillverkar cellplast och är en av Europas ledande producenter av isolering. Tillverkningsprocessen påminner om bakning. Råmaterial hanteras, expanderas och formas för att sedan skäras upp med hjälp av glödtråd och paketeras. Innan paketering utföras kvalitetskontroller genom provtagning av färdiga skivor. Examensarbetet har utförts för att utreda möjligheten att effektivisera och säkerställa en snabb provtagning med hjälp av FMEA och riskanalys. Genom att utföra VSM – Nulägesanalys, strukturerade intervjuer, FMEA och riskanalys har ritningsförslag på möjliga ombyggnationer tagits fram. Under arbetets gång har dessa ritningsförslag jämförts med varandra för att framställa för- och nackdelar med varje förslag. Efter genomförd studie kan effektivisering av en snabb provtagning med hjälp av FMEA och riskanalys genomföras. Arbetet visar att det är möjligt att genomföra en ombyggnation utan att riskera säkerheten för operatörer och robot men även att en effektivare provtagning är genomförbar. / Jackon AB in Skövde manufactures cellular plastic and is one of Europe's leading producers of insulation. The manufacturing process is reminiscent of baking. Raw materials are handled, expanded, shaped and then cut with filament and packaged. Before packaging, quality checks are performed by sampling finished discs. The degree project has been carried out to investigate the possibility of streamlining and ensuring rapid sampling with the help of FMEA and risk analysis. By performing VSM - Current situation analysis, structured interviews, FMEA and risk analysis, drawing proposals for possible alterations have been produced. During the work, these drawing proposals have been compared with each other to present advantages and disadvantages of each proposal. After completing the study, streamlining of a rapid sampling with the help of FMEA and risk analysis can be carried out. The work shows that it is possible to carry out a rebuild without risking the safety of operators and robots, but also that more efficient sampling is feasible.