In the thin steel plates which are used in many industrial products, including those of the automobile industry, flaws on the plate surface and peeling during the surface treatment process are induced due to the use of many rollers in the conveyance process. These lead to deterioration of the quality of the plate surface. In order to solve this problem, the authors proposed a levitation control device for a rectangular sheet steel by the hybrid actuator using five electromagnets and thirty permanent magnets. However, it is necessary to consider elastic vibration and deflection of a thin steel plate under magnetic field by using permanent magnets. For fundamental consideration of the permanent magnets system, experiments were performed for an elastic steel beam. The attractive force of the permanent magnets, the elastic vibration and the deflection of the steel plate are calculated by the finite element method. In this study, we attempt to apply a genetic algorithm to determine the optimal placement.

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We conducted loading tests, running tests and calculating to understand the characteristic of inter-car oil damper in minute stroke. Based on the test results, we developed a high performance inter-car oil damper with pressured N_2 gas for Shinkansen train set. This damper is improved energy absorption in minute stroke. We equipped rolling stock of 700 series Shinkansen with the dampers in running tests. We got many data and analyzed them, so we report on the results.

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The bogie testing facility installed at our laboratory was designed mainly to test the characteristics of bogies of urban rail transits. A great feature of this facility is that it can test the bogie under curving. By using this facility, we have studied the mechanism of corrugation formation, wheel-rail contact, active steering trucks, and so on. To strengthen the structure and to realize the bogie-angle between truck and vehicle, the facility was improved. This paper reports the improved functions of the facility.

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In the design of rail vehicle, the compatibility between high speed running stability and good curving performance is quite important Various railway vehicles with steering mechanism have been considered Even though some steering bogies are realized on service operation, there still remains some improvement in the passive vehicle design for tighter curved track. The proposed bogie with power-steering yaw damper enables the vehicle to realize ideal curving performance on tight curved track with active control while achieving high speed running stability with passive nature of the suspension. In this paper, the theory of power-steering bogie is explained. In order to verify the performance of the newly developed steering bogie, the scaled model experimental platform with 1/10 model vehicle is originally made and experimental results show the running performance.

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From the viewpoint of the barrier-free policy, it is expected that the number of LRV with lowered-floor will increase furthermore. Trucks with independently rotating wheels (IRW) are employed in the LRV with lowered-floor. However, the truck with IRWs lacks for self-guidance ability, and then it needs some additional mechanism for running along the track. One of them is active steering mechanism using traction torque difference between two driving wheels on a non-rotational axle. This paper deals with a simulation study that examines a potential of the curving performance of a truck with IRWs by means of torque difference control of direct drive motors. The proposed steering control method, that is the same directional control of front and rear axles in a truck, has a potential to reduce the wheel lateral force of IRW over the wide range of curve radius, especially in sharp curves. Here, the control tends to steer the whole truck.

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In recent years, railway vehicles are becoming lighter since it corresponds to improvement in the running speed. However, this affects a degree of ride comfort as increase in bending vibration for which it comes from the deterioration of the body rigidity. Recently the piezo-electric element are paid attention as the actuator for structures in order to control vibration. This refers as the smart structure concept. A piezo-electric element has characteristic that is small, light and high output. Therefore, the objective of this research is to reduce bending vibration by equipping piezo-electric element in the body. In addition, an active control is applied to the secondary suspension, and the rigidity vibration the car body is decreased. Vibration control performance is investigated by computer simulation.

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A single type self-powered active suspension, which carries out regeneration and active control with one actuator and requires no external energy, has been proposed by the authors. In this system, an electromagnetic damper, which is composed of a DC motor and a ball screw and nut, is utilized as the actuator. However it is known that isolation performance and energy balance of the single type self-powered system are affected by inertia of the ball screw and a rotator of the DC motor. Then the authors examine the influence of the inertia on the self-powered system and derive the condition under which the system operates well.

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As damping equipment for the ropeway system to reduce the swing of the carrier by wind, passive equipment which does not need a power supply can be considered to be realized easily for the system, and mass sliding equipment has been investigated and commercialized. The equipment of this system is effective in only one direction by one unit and, therefore, two units are required to damp the carrier in two directions. On the other hand, ball rolling type swing damping equipment which the writer proposes can damp the carrier not only in one direction but also in two directions by one unit. My latest paper reported the method of adjusting the equipment when the equipment is fitted to the ropeway carrier and the effects of the damping equipment. This paper describes the characteristics and behavior of movable mass when this equipment operates under wind.

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This paper describes design of active steering system for Automated Guideway Transit (AGT) vehicles. The modeling of the AGT vehicles with active steering system is carried out first. The constructed vehicle model includes lateral transition, roll and yaw motion for vehicle body, front bogie and rear bogie, respectively. The dynamics of actuator that produce the steering torque is also considered. Optimal regulator control theory is used to design the controller for the active steering system. Curving performance of AGT vehicle with active steering system is evaluated by simulation. Simulation results show that the active steering system is effective in curving performance.

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The steering type of a mechanical guidance system has been used for Automated Guideway Transit (ACT) system in Japan. Recently, the single-axle bogie system has developed for AGT vehicle and applied to Yurikamome 7200 series. This paper describes dynamic characteristics of AGT vehicle with single-axle bogie system and steering system in earthquake. By using multibody dynamics code, vehicle and elevated guideway are modeled that a computer simulation in case of earthquake is carried out. Dynamic characteristics of automated guideway transit vehicle on elevated guideway is shown.

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The rolling stock test plant at RTRI is used to test railway vehicles by forcefully oscillating its rotating rail wheels in the lateral direction to simulate actual track irregularities. However, the lateral vibration acceleration of car body measured on the test plant is different from that observed when a car runs on actual lines. This phenomenon is conspicuous in particular when the irregularity wavelength is short. It is difficult to predict actual characteristics of vehicle dynamics at high precision, therefore, from the tests to use actual irregularity data as it is. Thus, we numerically determined a weighting function to be applied to the track irregularity data to reproduce the actual car body response characteristics on the test plant and developed a system to oscillate the rail wheels accordingly.

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Measurement of wheel/rail contact forces, such as wheel load and lateral force is very important for railway safety, but it is difficult to measure them. Conventionally strain gauges attached on wheels have been used in the measurement, and slip rings or telemeters, which are difficult to handle, have been also used for the transmitter of the data. In this paper we propose a new method for measurement of contact forces between wheel and rail. The new method does not use strain gauges on wheels and complicated transmitters, but uses simple non-contact gap sensors for measuring lateral force. By using new method contact forces can be measured more easily, and continuous observation of derailment coefficient may become possible by advanced studies.

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This paper presents the curving performance of railway vehicles with air suspensions. Air suspensions sometimes cause reduction of wheel load at transition curve. In previous study, the reduction of wheel load was restraint by using the new concept devices. The proposed active control devices have functions to make the link rod of air suspension systems extend or shorten. Active control performance was examined by the experiments using one-car-modeled test bench and simulations. In this study, modified of Leveling Valve performance was proposed to improve the control performance. The problem of wheel load reduction at the leading outside wheel was almost cleared.

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A wide range of driver support system has been proposed and a number of operations for these devices are increased. Besides primary driving task, we used to have various actions, for example, we operate some buttons and look for something. These actions are necessary for driving. In this research, we call such secondary body movements as physical workloads. We investigate effect of the physical workloads on driving performance. The physical workloads are classified by distance to the target from driving position and the operational strategy of reaching the target. In experiment I, we measure a lane keeping ability driving a curve running under the physical workloads using driving simulator. In experiment II, we evaluate the avoidance ability using steering under the physical workloads. Finally, we verify the driver model constructed from course generator and response and the remarkable effect of physical workloads on steering maneuver in emergency.

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This Paper analyzes nonlinearity of human operation by using neural networks. Manual control experiments based on PC were carried out to emulate the longitudinal control of an aircraft. By using neural networks, two-input and one-output pilot models are identified from experimental data. The obtained pilot models are analyzed through FFT method, hi the results, it is found that human operations have nonlinear behaviors. Conventionally, there is a large number of researches which described human operation as linear pilot models and analyze them to estimate the difficulty of operation. However, this research suggests a possibility that actual human operations include nonlinearity and the nonlinear characteristics enables us to explain how pilots control the stick and evaluate workload levels.

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Recently, the tasks involved in Air Traffic Control (ATC) make heavy demands on the information processing capacities of the Air Traffic Controllers. In particular, human factors problems that lead to both major and minor incidents are considered to be a serious problem for ATC in Air Traffic safety. Therefore, the need to analyse the error occurrence mechanism which occurs due to complex factors, and the need for developing systems that can deal with these errors, are increasing. This research focuses on analysis of the Air Traffic Controller's tasks for En-route ATC and modeling air controller's cognitive process models.

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As for the motion control of the motorcycle, the rider's steering operation is basic. However, it is thought that rider's movement also has the influence. Then, the equipment which measured sheet operation force and moment was developed in order to examine the effect of the movement of the rider. By using this, the influence of the dynamic characteristic of the motorcycle in straight running by the sheet operation was analyzed.

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This paper describes the feature of train driver focusing on brain activity measured by using the newly developed train simulator and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The developed train simulator can simulate the real train operation with designed task condition for measuring brain function of train driver. Experiments to measure the driver's cerebral blood flow are carried out by using the developed train simulator. It is shown that the simulator is effective for obtaining driver's brain activity.

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This paper presents experiments to evaluate riding comfort of high speed trains using the motion simulator. The use of motion simulator has various merits for evaluation rather than the case of actual trains such as the reproducibility of the cabin vibration and setting of many conditions which are difficult for real vehicles. In the experiment, the riding condition acting combination of acceleration by centrifugal force and lateral oscillation are simulated for sitting, standing and walking condition of passengers in curving situation. Experimental plan and questionnaire are carefully considered and it was found that the experiment using simulator is effective for evaluation of comfort.

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An experiment platform for drivers' human factor analysis on the moving-based driving simulator, is developed by the authors. For realistic human factor measurement experiments, the previous driving simulator was made many modifications. Now new driving simulator, which is named as "Universal Driving Simulator for Human,Vehicle and Traffic Research", has many functions. The 360 degrees-field-of-view visual information projectors are introduced to response to the complicated traffic situations. The Cabin is made with a frame-structured flexible cut-body for the purpose of high versatility. It is also equipped with 5.1ch surround audio system and better motion control. The steering wheel is controlled by an AC servomotor. This new driving simulator is useful for human factor analysis experiments.

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In recent studies of automobiles and transportation, the driving simulator has become powerful tool for drivers' behaviors. There are several merits of experiments using a driving simulator. In this study, the new concept of driving simulator has been developed with interactive traffic scenario using macro and micro traffic simulations. The hardware of the driving simulator also modified for this purpose. In this study, the comparison of drivers' behaviors between actual car and driving simulator is made in order to show the usefulness of the developed driving simulator. As the database of road images in the driving simulators is the Metropolitan Expressway Route No.3 (Shibuya), the driving test was conducted using test vehicle equipped the various sensors to measure the own and the other vehicle behaviors and driver's motions on the same condition.

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When a human pilot controls aircraft, he relies on visual cues and motion cues. Especially visual cues are great part of information required for control. We thought of modifying the movement of the outside visual field. That is, pilot observes a virtual visual cue which is added a first-order lead compensation to the real roll response of aircraft. In this study we prepared two tasks, roll compensatory control task and holding flight path task. We investigate the effect of virtual visual cue using a fixed-based flight simulator. As a result, in a roll compensatory control task, pilot controls aircraft easier without getting task performance worse. But in a holding flight path task, pilot didn't control aircraft easier. Although only roll response is important cue in roll compensatory control task. In holding flight path task, not only roll response but also yaw response plays a great role. That shows that it is necessary to modify the dutch-roll oscillation component in the yaw response.

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Driving hazardous factors or dangerous regions detection algorithm is proposed This algorithm is based on two combinations of local information, provided by optical flow, and global information, obtained from vehicle's states. The algorithm infers degrees of danger of moving objects in dynamic images taken from a vehicle-mounted camera using artificial neural networks. It makes the system more flexible to multiple drivers with dissimilar characteristics. Experiments are done on model and real vehicles videos with multiple moving objects. The results show that it is possible to determine dangerous regions close to the drivers' decisions. The foundation of a practical driver assistance system is fixed by the proposed algorithm.

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To lessen operation errors in case of machine start or stop operating, the predictive information system is considered. That is, before actuator's start/stop, its predictive sign is informed to the operator by this system, it is helpful for operators to do more precise operation. This system is applied to the boom tilt operation of the rough-terrain crane. Its motion prediction is assumed by sensing its actuator's hydraulic pressure change. This pressure sensor signal is transformed to the sound information so as to transmit its prediction to the operator. This sound volume and frequency are varied in accordance with its pressure signal. Two professional operators have tried the tilt operation test, this system has lessened operating errors on account of the assistance of the start/stop timing recognition.

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We propose the assist system for the sidewalk snow remover operation that makes sidewalk snow removal easier and safer. Current sidewalk snow removal is carried out by compact rotary snow blowers. The assist system provides information on guide routes and warnings to the vehicle drivers, the system always recognizes the vehicles position and provides assisting information corresponding to the position. Therefore, in order to assist effectively, it is essential for the assist system to predict the vehicle's attainment position. This paper explains the outline of the assist system and the dynamics of the vehicles, and shows the validity of this method with results from experiments and simulations.

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This paper discusses about driver's information processing on vehicle following condition. Driver's information processing is led from relation of inputs and driver behavior. Therefore we constructed a driver model which was able to reproduce a driver behavior from environmental information and vehicle information. And the driver model constructed by a neural network system built causal association in that structure. Next we analyzed that structure to express the driver's information processing using factor analysis. Then, we showed important information for the driver on driving. Finally, we showed differences of driving characteristics from the fluctuation of driver's information processing. Then we constructed models in each situations and showed difference a performance function.

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This paper introduce the outline of development of probe-vehicle system for advanced railway inspection, supported by the Program for Promoting Fundamental Transport Technology Research from the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (JRTT). Scope of the study and essential fundamental technology applicable to the project are shown.

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We have studied the derailment and overturning of railway vehicles during earthquakes. Numerical simulation clarified dynamic behaviors and running safety limits of a vehicle on a vibrating track. The results of the simulation are now effectively used for the design of railway structures. And vibration tests using a half-body car mounted on a shinkansen bogie were performed, that confirmed the validity of the numerical analysis. These results were premised on the sin wave vibration. This paper shows behaviors of vehicle on an observed vibration during an earthquake based on numerical simulation. And we suggest running safety limits for seismic motions that can be used in seismic design of railway structures.

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This paper deals with influence of relative hole-layout to the initiation and propagation of the crack around the local hole in one-piece brake disc. Overload braking tests were carried out with two types of brake disc, which have same shape of hub part (decoration-windows), hole size and number of holes, but different hole-layout in circumferential direction. Thermal stress in hard braking was analyzed by FEM in which constraint temperature was applied on the elemental nodes observed in actual thermography test. Local compliance in circumferential direction around the hole was also evaluated at static state. The FEM results showed that local stress distribution around the hole was affected by the hole-layout. It suggested that the hole-layout changed the crack initiation process in the brake disc due to the compressive thermal stress, which induced tensile stress with plastic deformation as previous studies show. Different crack lengths were observed in two specimens having different hole-layout in the hard braking test. The crack length was related with the local circumferential compliance. This paper proposed that hole-layout should be determined as the local compliance in circumferential is high around the hole where elevated temperature is applied by the braking energy.

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This paper presents a fault tolerant flight control system using the simultaneous on-line fault/wind estimation and the control law based on the estimated data. The algorithm consists of the extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and the nonlinear inverse dynamics (NID) controller. The EKF estimates the control derivative changes and the wind-velocity components at the same time. The NID controller calculates control surface deflections and thrust to track the reference trajectory under gusty environment by using sensor output and estimates. It is confirmed that the algorithm is greatly useful to save and control aircraft in the hazardous situations.

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The accident example 127, originating from a tire blowout was chosen from the traffic accident cases which had occurred on the expressways of Gifu Pref. with-in the past five years (1999〜2003). The correspondence and actions of the driver immediately after the tire blowout were investigated on the basis of the traffic accident data from the investigation of the accident. Furthermore, the action of the vehicle immediately after the tire blowout in this specific accident was reproduced by using traffic accident simulation soft (PC-Crash). And, we faithfully simulated the various kinds of traces (tire marks etc.) that had been confirmed in the actual accident scene.

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Related to the IS012100: Safety of machinery-Basic concepts, general principles for design, the position and the ripple effect of the IEC61508: Functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-related systems is to be considered, when the software is applied to the control. Specially, the logistic system or the large-scale product system, such as the automobile industry and the semiconductor industry, the application of safe programmable controller should be required from the efficient viewpoint in future. Then, the safety management for all the life cycles and the product design meeting the functional safety should be necessary. After product has already been established logically and technically, it is authenticated by third party and applied to the actual working place. Because the functional safety standard is in the high level and the comprehensive scale, the proper consensus between the user side and the establishment side should be created at the introduction of each field.

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A PC base small-size excavator accident simulator was developed. This is based on a graphic workstation base large-size simulator. This was developed as a prototype of a simulator that will be used in training facilities, etc. This simulator has 4 projectors and a front screen, driver's seat with a motion device, and 5 PC. Performances of the small-size simulator that is necessary for training are nearly equal to that of the large-size simulator.

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This Paper proposes a total risk reduction strategy by hazardous point nearby operation. Hazardous point nearby operation isn't safe only Protective measures taken by the designer. Therefore suggest a Total risk reduction strategy (A human risk reduction measures and Protective measures). Appropriate risk reduction is enabled by suggesting safety technique information from operating worker to de-signer. Edge safety device is safety device in high place work. This was developed by specification suggested by operating worker. Hereby, Operating worker can get the residual risk that can support.

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This report proposes a new safety system to know the human existence in the machine moving area of large scale product lines. It is very difficult to create such a system because the operator can enter into the machine moving area without pulling out of the interlocking key, and there were not only nominated operators but also non-nominated operators, passers-by, or observers in the actual field. The adequate risk reduction can be achieved by direct monitoring devices such as the laser scanning sensor. It can be achieved also by indirect counting devices such as the mechanical counter gate. The ALARP risk reduction can be achieved by using both the key-switch and monitoring devices such as the photo-electric sensor or mat switch. On the other hand, the adequate risk reduction cannot be achieved only by the plug, key-switch or movable guard.

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This paper describes an approach of "IT Barrier-Free Project for Aged and Disabled" which commissioned by METI and NEDO. This project builds up a device attached cell phone, and standardizes a guidance system that helps aged and disabled person move safety, correctly and quickly. The device has seamless utilization and miniaturization of various existing support systems, using GPS, infrared rays, FM waves, or RFID. Additionally, this has applications to PICS, such as telling the status of traffic lights and extending the green signal duration.

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It is expected that users can smoothly transit in a station as a pass point of public transportation facilities. However, there are cases when users get lost in large terminal facilities. As a solution to this problem, signs have been improved for several times and they have attempted use of ITS technology. On the other hand, there are no clear guidelines to provide information to guide the users. In order to provide an appropriate information system for movility support, we focused the attention on the information-research activity of the user, and tryed to objectively understand it. This paper explains some result of the activity analysis with the use of bionic information and proposes a procedure to evaluate the activity by quantitative indicators.

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Barrier-free equipment has been provided in traffic system such as a bus, a train and a passenger ship. Then many disabled persons and aged persons have been acting in society. In order to activate this movement, we are developing barrier-free equipment. In this study, we propose a special wheelchair with an infinitely variable transmission. The infinitely variable transmission consists of spherical pulleys and friction wheels. In this paper, we introduce the characteristics and technical problems of the mechanism.

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Means of escape of transportation facilities should be effective for evacuees including disabled persons. It is, therefore, important to develop methods for evaluating the effectiveness of means of escape for such persons to maintain evacuation safety. One way for the evaluation is an evacuation simulation. We are developing an evacuation simulation program to estimate evacuation time and the optimal escape route. It uses multi-agent method and can treat evacuees including disabled persons individually. Using the evacuation simulation program we calculate evacuation time and congestion time of several escape route arrangements of a barrier-free ferry. We discuss differences of means of escape from the viewpoint of evacuation time and congestion time.

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When a high-speed train enters or leaves a tunnel, impulsive pressure waves are radiated directly from the entrance/exit portal toward the outside of the tunnel. A similar phenomenon occurs when a train passes a short structure (such as an over-bridge) in an open section. We call it a "structure-passing wave." Although the structure-passing wave is usually weak, it could cause an environmental problem as the train speed increases. In addition, people are taking interest increasingly in low-frequency noise. This paper describes the characteristics of the structure-passing wave based on the results of model experiment.

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The globalization in economic activity and the development of IT in recent years promote the expansion of an international, interactive transportation. Therefore, the concentration of the cargo on the container terminal continues and the role of ports in distribution becomes more important. On the other hand, contributing to reduce the environmental burden and to establish the recycling-based society is an important issue in the transportation field. In this paper the annual amount of the carbon dioxide emissions on main container terminals in Japan was estimated and the equivalent unit of the carbon dioxide emission in the container terminal was investigated.

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On the basis of the actual bus driving data, a series hybrid power system including 4 motors was designed for the transit bus. Then, city route driving for the supposed bus was operated on a bench dynamometer tester and a static charge-discharge tester. As a result, it was clarified that the charge-discharge electric loss was only about 10 % of the generated electric energy on board, and the energy efficiency of the supposed power system was estimated as 1.7-2 times that of conventional engine traction systems for route buses.

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We investigated a method of decomposing unsaturated polyester (UP) into low molecular weigh products. The method can apply to separate FRP into polymer solution, filler and glass fiber. The recovered filler and glass fiber are reuseable as raw materials for FRP. To raise the efficiency of the decomposition, we examined treatment conditions. As a result, we found that the treatment time was shorten by 1/5 of the current conditions by the removing water from the catalyst to 1% or less, and by increasing the amount of the catalyst up to 0.66mol/1000g solvent. We made the window frame of railway car using the recovered glass fiber, and we evaluated its performance.

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With development of the Honda LCA System, Honda has succeeded in quantitative assessment of environmental impact covering the entire product cycle, from manufacturing to disposal, as well as in establishment of goals for impact reduction. This has contributed to raising the quality of environmental improvement activities and reducing the environmental impact of Honda products and business activities. This report presents case studies on quantitative assessment of environmental impact in the life cycle of a motor vehicle and LCA studies on the environmental impact of each business division in all company's business activities.

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An experimental study has been undertaken into the wear performance of the interface between the traction sheave and rope of elevator. In conventional elevator traction drive, the wire rope slightly slide, called creep, on the traction sheaves. The creep has led to the wear of the traction sheave and the rope over the long term. Wear of rope and traction sheave was simulated by a test bench with cyclic load and reciprocating sliding mechanism. The influence of normal load and contact period on wear was investigated at some typical conditions of elevator systems. Wear of sheave are proportional to the number of contact cycles, not the sliding length. The crack was observed on the wear surface of the sheave specimens. The results of this study show that fatigue wear occurs in sheaves.

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