Modern industry in the XXI century requires high-performance and fully automated technology. The best way to meet these requirements is the introduction of new progressive technologies in the process of transportation. One of the possible ways to increase productivity, as well as automate the process of transportation, is the transition from cyclic machines to continuous transport, namely to belt conveyors. However, with the increase in the length of the conveyor there is a need for stronger belts. This can be avoided by using intermediate drives of various designs. The article describes the principle of operation of the intermediate linear drive with transverse partitions, provides formulas for calculating the values of the tractive effort, gives comparative graphs showing the effectiveness of the use of an intermediate drive in various conditions. The possibilities of increasing the capacity of an intermediate linear drive are described.

This paper presents a numerical simulation of powder sintering. The numerical model presented in this paper uses the discrete element method, which suggests that the material can be modeled by a large set of discrete elements (particles) of a spherical shape that interact with each other. A methodology has been developed to determine the DEM parameters of bulk materials based on machine vision and a neural network algorithm. The approach is suitable for obtaining the exact values of the DEM parameters of the investigated bulk material by comparing the visual images of the material’s behavior at the experimental stand in reality and in the model. Simulation of sintering requires an introduction of cohesive interaction between particles representing interparticle sintering forces. Numerical sintering studies were supplemented with experimental studies that provided data for calibration and model validation. The experimental results have shown a significant capability of the designed numerical model in modeling sintering processes. Evolution of microstructure and density during sintering have been studied under the laboratory conditions.

Dramatic changes in the global energy market due to COVID-19 pandemic, the OPEC+ agreement, and increasing rates of green energy share in the world community have brought nega-tive effects on the oil sector. In the long term, oil will reduce its importance as an energy resource, but for many years, it will continue to play a significant role in the world of energy. The oil industry has huge potential in terms of technical expertise, management, and financial resources to reduce its greenhouse emissions and ensuring an affordable availability of predictable energy. However, nowadays this sector has lost investing attractiveness. It is an interdisciplinary problem with a so-lution at the intersection of different stakeholders’ interests. The article is a review one and devoted to the issue of the implementation a public-private partnership (PPP) as a key tool that allows the use of the state and the business’ available resources to achieve the sector’s sustainable development and investment attractiveness. Research and analysis of PPP were based on foreign and domestic literature, using classification and generalization methods, retrospective and critical analysis. This paper contains identified groups of drivers, constraints, and recommendations for further successful PPP implementation in the Russian case.