International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

The study of the formation process of the operation quality of a transport firm is the most topical, since this process significantly determines the dynamics of its evolution. The paper presents the concept of the product and service quality, describes the difference between the service and the product, as well as a step-by-step scheme of quality development. The history of quality management development is also discussed on the example of three leading regions of the world: USA, Japan and Western Europe.
Methods for assessing the quality of products and services have been established, which are somewhat different from each other and are of great importance for assessing the activities of a transport enterprise.

Application of different retrofitting technologies can play a significant role in reducing energy consumption of existing buildings. This research work analyses a building in Cork (Ireland) where underfloor heating system, and natural ventilation are used to maintain comfort conditions. Underfloor heating system is the main electricity consumer of this building. Different energy efficient technologies were implemented and analyzed in terms of reducing electricity consumption through an energy software. These technologies include replacing illumination with high efficiency light; replacement of electric motos with high efficiency; introducing underfloor heating time scheduling turning on and off based on predicted weather condition; installation of presence sensors to switch ON/OFF lighting. Finally, it was decided to implement underfloor heating time scheduling as energy efficient technology to be analyzed because of limited budget available and high return on investments provided by applying this method. Result analysis shows that electricity saving on bills was about 20% on monthly basis compared to previous consumption.

As technology advances every day of our lives and generates vast amounts of data while different systems, sensors etc. are working, it is important to meet their needs and demands. Digitalization is one of the biggest driving forces for developing of databases – relational and non-relational – in every sphere that they are used, and especially the utilization of NoSQL dBs in areas that were once unthinkable. Financial services offered by different institutions usually relied on relational databases only, but with continuously changing technologies new ways for managing data emerged. This paper presents an automated tool for evaluation and selection of NoSQL databases intended for financial services based on predefined criteria.

The paper presents a conceptual model for overcoming the consequences of the pandemic based on summarized results from research focused on societal challenges in Bulgaria caused by COVID-19. The study aims to submit a unified methodological framework for application by experts in researching, analyzing, and bench-marking the entrepreneurs’ activity and suggestions for applicable and reasonable measures in the field of business development during the pandemic situation caused by COVID-19. The findings of this research can assist managers in national institutions and business organizations to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of different measures which influence creativity and innovation and focus on proactive suggestions to overcome the negative consequences of the pandemic.

As global environmental impacts have increased, modern societies have expressed a strong interest in implementing sustainable solutions to reduce emissions and use operational energy and natural resources. The construction industry is a leading promoter of significant environmental impacts because it consumes a significant amount of water, energy, and materials. Steel and welding are critical in all three major sectors of the industry: construction, infrastructure, and industry. This paper discusses the significance of meeting sustainable development goals in welded structures and identifies ways that this industry can help to reduce environmental impact and improve employment conditions while achieving economic growth, saving time, and maintaining structural quality. The paper discusses how to optimize various aspects ranging from raw material extraction to construction waste disposal using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. It provides a starting point and demonstrates how these tools can contribute to more sustainable welded structures.

The study addresses to an economic comparison of two proposed wind farms in the same area in Mamaj, Albania, respectively 10.8 MW and 12.6 MW. The 12.6 MW wind farm proposed is predicted to produce 34 GWh energy, with a capacity factor of 30.8%, while the 10.8 MW wind farm is predicted to produce 30.4 GWh, with a capacity factor of 32%. For the 12.6 MW wind farm since there is a higher installed power, is expected to produce more energy, but referring that they will be built in same area, the wake losses will indicate in overall efficiency of the wind farm. The wake losses calculated for the 10.8 MW wind farm are 0.98%, meantime for the 12.6 MW wind farm wake losses is calculated 2.58%, means that the overall efficiency of the 10.8 MW wind farms is higher. For the economic evaluation RETScreen Expert software is used. With a discount rate of 7%, the benefit-cost ratio is 2.9 and simple payback period 7.6 years for 10.8MW wind farm, and for the 12.6 MW the benefit-cost ratio is calculated 2.6, with a simple payback year of 8 years.

A financial project has been prepared for the construction of a plant equipped with a technological line for the production of foam glass products. It is planned to build a warehouse for raw materials, a sector for preparation of materials, various production workshops for the manufacturing of foamed granules and pieces, a continuous tape or block of foam glass, various composite materials (thermal insulation and color decorative panels, various small and large composite elements, etc.), repair section and two warehouses for finished products. Approximate calculations have been made for the necessary raw materials, technical equipment, electricity, personnel and other costs for the realization and operation of the plant.

Direct At the Technical University of Liberec, Faculty of Textiles, there was a cooperation between this state university and a small private company. The cooperation was created for the development of sustainable aids for menstrual periods. All development took place at the university, including the search for local production partners, and the private company financed the development. The output is a utility model owned by the university and the private company, and in addition the private company pays the license fee. Th e article describes in more detail this cooperation, as well as the development and the developed product, up to its actual commercialization.

Artificial intelligence become more widespread in all manufacturing subjects. In manufacturing artificial intelligence deals with such tasks as quality control, robot navigation, computer vision, processes controlling, etc. The area of maintenance in machining is a great prospect for implementing artificial intelligence tools for analysis, prediction of monitored parameters, optimization, and improvement of the quality of the maintenance process. In particular, the article refers to predictive maintenance as a modern trend in mechanical engineering. In this article, a quick review of using methods of artificial intelligence and predictive analytics in maintenance and one p ractical implementation case of NAR network for time-series prediction was provided.

The issue of decision-making on the formation and optimization of the investment portfolio is in the field of attention of both large investment companies and private investors. In the presented work the developed information system for investment portfolio analysis is offered. The proposed information system focused to new private investor and allows to independently assess the effectiveness of the investment portfolio by comparing the dynamics of growth of shares available on the financial market.

The instant paper deals with the mechanism for capacity provision, which is instrumental for the operation of the capacity market. The latter belongs to the wholesale electricity market and complements the energy only one. The capacity market is tasked with securing reliable power generation under the conditions of imbalance and stress for the energy system. Capacity and energy only markets interact in a consistent manner, thus their proper operation becomes crucial. The capacity market, however, seems to be expensive and few energy systems throughout the EU rely on it. Therefore, it is important to draw a line between different capacity mechanisms already set up and operated in terms of their most important features such as physical volume and clearing price setting. This analysis seems relevant for policy-makers’ decision to adopt or to dismiss the mechanism for capacity in Bulgaria.

In recent years, much attention has been paid to the recycling of Li-ion batteries (LIBs) [1, 2]. However, there are only few economic assessments on the recycling of LIBs even if, by 2030, it is possible to reach 2 million tons of spent LIBs/year worldwide [3, 4]. In this context, the present work aims to present a viable business model that is feasible and economically efficient and can be framed in a circular economic recycling technology of spent LIBs. The proposed business model uses literature data on the hydrometallurgical processing (HP) of spent LIBs. The business plan contains estimates of costs and revenues, and, also, estimates or projections concerning the state of the relevant markets and industries for the products resulting from spent LIBs.
Our work proposes a feasible and sustainable circular economy solution able to deliver critical materials such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, and copper for the supply chain of the LIBs manufacturing. From our estimate, valorising all recovered materials, the annual profit can reach around 600,000 $ for a commercial recycling plant that processes 125 tons/year of spent LIBs.