Turning nuisance into nutrition: Performance based parametric design of an automated warehouse in an insect rearing system

This thesis project features a design method of an automated warehouse in an insect rearing system, where pallets are transported from storage to a feeding machine and back into storage. From seven material handling equipment concepts, the most promising concepts are selected through a combined expert panel evaluation of 7 criteria and a basic...

Investigating Performance of a Novel Safety Measure for Assessing Potential Rear-End Collisions: An Insight Representing a Scenario in Developing Nation

Road safety is one of the major concerns in the ever-growing traffic network. In addressing this, surrogate safety measures play a critical role in identifying collision instincts. Besides the added advantage of quantifying collision instincts in advance, surrogate safety measures have their limitations. For example, in some instances, those...

Investigating traffic safety reckoning hyperbolic driving following behavior using trajectory data

Using vehicle trajectory datasets developed over a study section for three traffic flow levels, a rectangular hyperbolic relation between time-to-collision and relative speeds in vehicle-following behavior were observed. A new methodology for estimating the probable rear-end collisions in the given traffic stream is developed based on this...

Developing Extended Trajectory Database for Heterogeneous Traffic like NGSIM Database

The present work introduced a framework of developing comprehensive extended vehicular trajectory data under heterogeneous non-lane-based traffic conditions like the NGSIM datasets in the United States. Due to the absence of automation and instrumentation, and even the lack of sensor deployment on roads in developing economies like India, it...

MPC-based path following design for automated vehicles with rear wheel steering

Many studies have been recently exploited to discuss the path following control algorithms for automated vehicles using various control techniques. However, path following algorithm considering the possibility of automated vehicles with rear wheel steering (RWS) is still less investigated. In this study, we implemented nonlinear model...

Empirical Approach for Identifying Potential Rear-End Collisions Using Trajectory Data

This paper proposes a novel approach for examining rear-end collisions between successive vehicles in a traffic stream. In this approach, a new safety measure of the follower driver's attentiveness is proposed, referred to herein as instantaneous heeding time (IHT), reflecting the subject follower's heeding nature concerning its leader. A safety...

Integrated nonlinear model predictive control for automated driving

This work presents a Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) scheme to perform evasive maneuvers and avoid rear-end collisions. Rear-end collisions are among the most common road fatalities. To reduce the risk of collision, it is necessary for the controller to react as quickly as possible and exploit the full vehicle maneuverability (i.e.,...

Driver behaviour near the vehicle handling limits in vehicles with an extended linear handling region

Lateral acceleration is a key aspect of the vehicle response perceived by the driver. Assistance systems such as Active Rear Steering (ARS) or Torque Vectoring (TV) are developed to modify the lateral acceleration response such that the vehicle has an improved stability and an extended linear handling region. With this extended linear handling...

Back to Ground Zero: A study on rear passivated thin-CIGS solar cells

Having an absorber layer thickness below 1 micrometre for a regular copper indium gallium di-selenide (CIGS) solar cell reduces the pathways for electron collection which lead to reduced recombination in the bulk absorber layer. Additionally, it reduces material costs and production time. Yet, having such a thin absorber reduces the cell...

Energy Yield Model for Bifacial PV Systems: A study and analysis of temperature & rear irradiance models

In order to make the bifacial yield prediction models commercially available, a lot of work their development, improvement and validation is being done by many research institutes. At Energy research center of the Netherlands (ECN), one such model is under development. In this project, couple of aspects were investigated to give better insight...

Improving passengers’ boarding and alighting experiences at the rear entrance of the future Futura coach

The aim of this project is to improve passengers’ experience regarding boarding and alighting by designing the rear entrance and its vicinity. Based on the findings from literature researches on product experience and comfort, a series of extensive passenger researches were performed to explore passengers’ needs and wants of different levels....

Rear-Slope Revetment Stability Approached by the Wave Overtopping Simulator: Experiments Regarding the Stability of Single-Layer Cube Revetment on Breakwater Crests and Rear Slopes

Contrary to a breakwater outer slope, rear-slope revetment does not have to withstand breaking waves. However, generally, an equal dimensioned revetment is used on both the inner- and outer slope. Although with low-crested breakwaters severe overtopping occurs, the application of similarly sized armour on both sides still results in an over...

Rear Wheel Steer Bikes: Unconventional stable bicycle

The design of the ordinary bicycle has barely changed since the end of the 19th century. Until then it evolved to a well ridable machine with no need for further drastic modifications. However, around 2011 it was shown that, just like an ordinary bicycle, strange appearing designs could also be stable. One of these designs was a bicycle that...

Stability of Single Layer Cubes on Breakwater Rear Slopes

Breakwaters with single layer concrete armour are very commonly applied nowadays. Much research is available on the stability of single layer armour units on the seaward slope. However, rear slopes design methods for single layer armour units are rare. On rear side slopes usually similar sized units as on the seaward slope are applied. Limited...

Insects as a sustainable alternative to feed animals in the city

Insects can be alternative source of nutrients in various parts of the food-chain, as feed for livestock but also human consumption. However, the acceptation of insects as a source of nutrients is low. Insects are in no way a part of western culture except when they are a pest. Insects do play a vital role in upcoming developments such as urban...

Balance and control of a rear-wheel steered speed-record recumbent bicycle

The goal of the Human Power Team from the TU Delft and the Free University of Amsterdam is to break the world speed record in unpaced cycling (Sam Whittingham, 133.28 km/h). The design of such a faired recumbent bicycle is a challenge. The Delft design, called VeloX (Human Power Team (2013)), is a fully-faired monocoque front-driven recumbent...