Re-design of a railway locomotive in virtual environment for ergonomic requirements

Abstract

The present work deals with the re-designing of a locomotive, according to in force European standards, in the field of active and passive safety. The paper illustrates the use and the management of heterogeneous product information (2D drawings, technical documentation, photos),Virtual Reality tools and digital human models, for the re-designing of a locomotive, using a collaborative approach with a total absence of the reference digital models. The project development has been organised using a top–down approach in a collaborative environment. Finally, by means of the digital prototype of locomotive, a series of aesthetic, functional and ergonomic analyses, in virtual environment, has been performed

Concept design in virtual reality of a forestry trailer using a QFD-TRIZ based approach

“…All the criteria and subcriteria were analyzed through the previous step with regard to the 4 trailers with an objective evaluation, except for the loading operation, the change of the trailer's direction, and the tandem behavior, all of which require a subjective evaluation by experts. In order to support the decision process, all evaluation activity was carried out in an immersive VR using virtual prototypes and ergonomic simulations realized in DELMIA, as previously done by Di Gironimo and Patalano (2008) and Lanzotti et al (2009). Figure 8 shows, as an example, the loading operation simulated using virtual manikins.…”

“…The top-down logic is a typical approach to designing a complex product, as stated by many authors (Lee and Gossard, 1985;Mantripragada and Whitney, 1998;Whitney et al, 1999;Whitney, 2004;Di Gironimo and Patalano, 2008). Adopting a top-down approach, the designer has a complete view of the whole assembly, and it is possible to make considerations and adjustments of the entire assembly in real time, saving time (Di Gironimo et al, 2012b).…”

Establishing the Product Realization Concept in Railway Technology

“…For instance, in their study on the virtual re-design of a railway locomotive in line with the existing European norms, Di Gironimo and Patalano (2008a) organized their project development process drawing a top-down methodology, and performed a series of aesthetic, functional and ergonomic analyses drawing upon the digital locomotive prototype they realized. Likewise, in an applied study intended to improve the performance of high-speed trains in terms of dynamic stability and comfort, Allota et al (2011) administered innovative damping technologies to the secondary suspension stage.…”

Virtual concepts and experiments to improve quality of train interiors

“…A set of product-oriented modelling guidelines, executed through a parametric CAD system, is also presented in [12]. Advanced CAD tools and Virtual Reality technologies are also used in the re-design of a railway locomotive according to ergonomic requirements [13].…”