“Pipe§net” is an Italian innovative freight transport system for light payloads, constituted by a network of vacuum-sealed pipes where goods-carrying capsules are moved by electric linear motors in very low friction conditions and at variable speed. The system is at an advanced concept stage with many researches, prototypes and feasibility studies accomplished. Pipe§net has been recently included in World Energy Council’s report European Climate Change Policy Beyond 2012 as a promising system to “enhance the portfolio of options to reduce the effect of mobility on climate change”. In comparison with other systems Pipe§net focuses on small volume light freight, thus avoiding many of the critical issues innovative systems meet in their development: construction complexity, overall size and interference of the new infrastructures with the territory, safety requirements of vehicles transporting both passengers and freight and/or transferring tons of goods, all of these issues affect the progress of untraditional systems due to cost, environmental impact and timing. With Pipe§net, small volume freight are conveyed at high rate and speed in order to keep transport capacity higher than traditional systems and at the same time fulfilling the rising needs of a society which requires a more sustainable and affordable mobility, where e-commerce is ever-growing and spreading and where transport door-to-door potential have an increasing attraction for market’s logistic stakeholders. In this paper, after a brief introduction of the main technical features of the system (thoroughly presented in ISUFT 2008 proceedings), a recent application study in an urban scenario is presented. This study has been developed within and thanks to EU's project "Renaissance" (European Union’s CIVITAS+ funding). A comparison between present situation (road replenishment of commercial activities) and an hypothetical scenario using Pipe§net system is carried out. The paper also presents different performances of the system, in terms of consumption and transport capacity, evaluating trade-off among various affecting parameters e.g. speed, number of capsules in the circuit, depressurizing intensity, etc., showing that system presents major advantages over road transport in a large range of applications.
Pipe§net: application study and further development of system
COTANA, Franco;ROSSI, Federico;
2010
Abstract
“Pipe§net” is an Italian innovative freight transport system for light payloads, constituted by a network of vacuum-sealed pipes where goods-carrying capsules are moved by electric linear motors in very low friction conditions and at variable speed. The system is at an advanced concept stage with many researches, prototypes and feasibility studies accomplished. Pipe§net has been recently included in World Energy Council’s report European Climate Change Policy Beyond 2012 as a promising system to “enhance the portfolio of options to reduce the effect of mobility on climate change”. In comparison with other systems Pipe§net focuses on small volume light freight, thus avoiding many of the critical issues innovative systems meet in their development: construction complexity, overall size and interference of the new infrastructures with the territory, safety requirements of vehicles transporting both passengers and freight and/or transferring tons of goods, all of these issues affect the progress of untraditional systems due to cost, environmental impact and timing. With Pipe§net, small volume freight are conveyed at high rate and speed in order to keep transport capacity higher than traditional systems and at the same time fulfilling the rising needs of a society which requires a more sustainable and affordable mobility, where e-commerce is ever-growing and spreading and where transport door-to-door potential have an increasing attraction for market’s logistic stakeholders. In this paper, after a brief introduction of the main technical features of the system (thoroughly presented in ISUFT 2008 proceedings), a recent application study in an urban scenario is presented. This study has been developed within and thanks to EU's project "Renaissance" (European Union’s CIVITAS+ funding). A comparison between present situation (road replenishment of commercial activities) and an hypothetical scenario using Pipe§net system is carried out. The paper also presents different performances of the system, in terms of consumption and transport capacity, evaluating trade-off among various affecting parameters e.g. speed, number of capsules in the circuit, depressurizing intensity, etc., showing that system presents major advantages over road transport in a large range of applications.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
