The current paper reports results from a preliminary study on PREGCYL™ NC R2HM-01 which is a carbon nanotube doped prepreg produced by Nanocyl. The work consisted of sample manufacturing in autoclave, microcopy analysis with XHR-SEM and mechanical testing. The mechanical testing consisted of tensile tests of unidirectional (in longitudinal direction) and cross-ply laminates. Test of unidirectional laminates showed that stiffness of the PREGCYL material is slightly higher than that of MTM55 composites (111GPa vs 102GPa). The results from tests of cross-ply laminates indicated that damage (transverse cracks) initiation is delayed in PREGCYL composites compare to the MTM55 material. Damage accumulation also seems to be slower in nano-doped composites.

In the project "Concept study battery-powered autonomous agricultural machine", an electric autonomous agricultural machine has been compared with a conventional diesel tractor by simulating all machine activities in a field on an organic dairy farm of 200 hectares during one year. Combine Harvesting was not included. The results show that it is possible to replace a conventional tractor (160 kW) with two autonomous battery-powered machines (36 kW motor, 113 kWh battery) with 15% lower costs. Even better, energy consumption was reduced by 58% and greenhouse gas emissions by 92% compared to diesel when energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from battery manufacturing were included. Furthermore local emissions were avoided and the sound pollution greatly reduced.  The major efficiency increase can be explained by the higher efficiency of electric power drivelines, and that the Swedish and Nordic electricity mix has very low greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact. We also see that the weight of the conventional diesel tractor is more than four times the weight of the autonomous battery-powered, and that's only the tractor without any implements or payload. In the sensitivity calculations, changes in the cost of implements or driver / operator costs have the greatest impact on the total price. It is also important not to have a charger with low power, while the battery price does not have such big impact on the total cost. Continued research is needed to verify the theoretical simulation by building a test platform where knowledge can be gathered about the problems and opportunities in practical work - both in the field of battery-electric operation and autonomous driving.

This pilot study was initiated by the sawmill industry and aims to investigate the

possibility of introducing autonomous vehicles in the form of forklift trucks for

handling of timber packages at sawmills.

The report presents the various levels of definition of autonomous vehicles, and in

which activities we now can find examples of vehicles with varying degrees of autonomy.

Various technical solutions to enable navigation and security for autonomous

vehicles are presented as well as the security requirements of autonomous vehicles in

different situations.

To exemplify today’s and tomorrow’s use of forklifts, a sawmill’s package management

is described, and a scenario for autonomous trucks is presented. Under that scenario,

today’s six trucks are replaced with three or four driverless trucks. A brief economic

calculation is made, describing the economic potential of driverless trucks. It shows

that autonomous forklifts may be permitted to cost significantly more than conventional

forklifts after the external security systems are installed, and still be profitable.

The reason is mainly the personnel costs associated with running conventional forklifts.

In conclusion, autonomous vehicles can be realized in the relatively near future in

many industries. The sawmill industry is also expected to take advantage of the ongoing

research and development. It is not least the economic parameters that weigh heavily

pro an introduction of autonomous forklift trucks, while safety precautions can be a

challenge.

An intermediate step towards fully driverless forklift trucks can be a semi-autonomous

solution, where the driver / operator manage a plurality of trucks by telemetry with

manual assistance only when

This study shows that electrospinning nanofibers onto single microfibers allows for careful tailoring of material properties that may suit a wide variety of applications. The nanofiber-coated microfibers are created by electrospinning nanofibers alongside a microfiber toward a collector that rotates around the microfiber. This force the nanofibers to be collected around the microfiber, creating a hierarchical structure that can be modified at nano scale. In this study, control of nanofiber diameters, nanofiber alignment, and nanofiber loading was evaluated. It was seen that varying polymer concentration affected the nanofiber diameters, collecting the nanofiber-coated microfibers at different speeds changed the degree of alignment of the nanofibers and that changing the polymer feeding rate affected the loading density of the nanofibers collected. The carefully designed nanofiber-coated microfibers have great potential in creation of highly porous materials with tailored properties down to nano scale. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.