Hitachi Energy, one of the largest transformer manufacturers in the world, has a factory based in the small town of Ludvika, Sweden. Here, all of the production is carried out, from order to delivery, and the key to reaching the rest of the world lies within the Swedish railway network. Utilizing specialized railway wagons, Hitachi Energy transports the transformers to the industrial ports for further export to the rest of the world. To ensure safe transportation, with loads exceeding 400 tons, transportation consoles made for this exact purpose are used to carry the transformer's weight and keep them in place during transportation. However, with their current solution having stayed the same for many years, they now aspire to a new solution for the transportation consoles to fulfill both the physical and human-centered demands better. In this master's thesis, in industrial design engineering, a new solution for transportation consoles is being developed. To ensure the quality of the project, a design process with four stages - a learning phase, an ideation phase, a development phase, and a delivery phase - has been used. Three research questions have been in focus during the project: What are the needs and requirements for the new transportation console? How can we identify both user needs and product requirements for the new transportation consoles through an industrial design engineering approach? How would a completely new solution for transportation consoles be designed and used in detail? Several industrial design methods have been utilized in these phases to gain a broad knowledge of the problem and generate ideas. A product cycle analysis was conducted based on interviews and observations to better understand the product. When the knowledge was gathered, several brainstorming methods, scamper, and virtual prototyping were used to generate several new solutions and ideas. To test and develop the concepts in detail, computer-aided engineering has been used, with computer-aided design to virtually prototype the concepts and finite element analysis to verify them. The learning phase showed the need for a more user-friendly solution and how a slimmer console profile could improve the workers' overall experience. Multiple concepts of solving these problems in different ways were found in the ideation phase. After design reviews with the stakeholders and consultation with the supervisors, a final concept, Arc, for a new transportation console was chosen to continue with into the two later stages of the process. Arc's foundation lies within a human-centered design and the people interacting with it weekly. It has several advantages compared to the previous design, with its adjustability and slim design facilitating the workload and enabling easier transportation. Analyses of its durability against external accelerations have been conducted, leaning towards a promising outcome. However, further testing and verifications are needed to ensure its durability before use.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:ltu-107595 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Miiro, Theodor, Persson, Daniel |
| Publisher | Luleå tekniska universitet, Institutionen för ekonomi, teknik, konst och samhälle |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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