Lecturer: Stefano Farnè  

Course name: Mechanical plants
Course code: 502700
Degree course: Ingegneria Industriale
Disciplinary field of science: ING-IND/17
University credits: ECTS 6
Course website: n.d.

Specific course objectives

The course "mechanical plants" aims at providing to engineering students, a methodological approach to address the major issues in the plant engineering field. The course is structured in order to enable the student to acquire the relevant methods and to be able to interact effectively with other professionals involved in the design and management of production and logistic systems. The course provides the basic knowledge concerning both the technical organization of the production systems and the design methodologies of the main services of the industrial plants.

Course programme

General characteristics of the industrial plants
Definition of industrial plant and of technology and service plants. Types of production plants and production processes. Components of a production plant and interaction with the outside. Economic variables and cost items designed to make economic choices in the field of plant engineering. Fundamental components of plant services. Feasibility study. Evaluation of plant investments. Direct costing.

Methods and techniques in support of the facilities design and management.
Operational Research. Linear programming. Project management and related techniques. Principles for design and management of production systems. Optimization of paths and flows.

Plant reliability, availability, safety and maintenance
Reliability and availability of components and systems. Failure rate. Operating safety. Fault tree analysis. Condition-based, preventive and predictive maintenance.

Generation and transport of thermal energy service
Elements of energetics. Renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Types of heat and steam generators. Distribution of the thermal energy. Cogeneration plants. Energy efficiency and energy saving measures. Energy management systems.

Air conditioning service
Moist-air diagram. Major transformations. Calculation of the thermal returns, of the R factor and of the extent and choice of machinery. Heat pumps.

Lighting service
Photometry. Lighting systems sizing. Characteristics of the light sources. Total flux method. Technical inspection and single-point inspection.

Storage and material handling service
Supply chain. Characteristics of storage systems. Materials handling. Characteristics of handling systems.

Electrical service
Statistics and legislation. Definitions and main components. Elements of electrical engineering. Plant design and verification

Course entry requirements

Basic knowledge of mathematics and physics, knowledge of mechanical technologies, technical physics and energetics.

Course structure and teaching

Lectures (hours/year in lecture theatre): 45
Practical class (hours/year in lecture theatre): 0
Practicals / Workshops (hours/year in lecture theatre): 0

Suggested reading materials

Lecture notes of the professor

S. Farné. Sistemi di Gestione dell'Energia. FrancoAngeli.

S. Farné. Qualità Operativa. FrancoAngeli.

Testing and exams