Abstract: The purposes of this study are to predict the amount of alcohol produced per day, and to investigate the flow characteristics for given geometry and operating conditions. The parameters examined in this study are both the operating temperature, and the vacuum pressure at the outlet-top region. Velocity profiles and distribution of volume fraction were calculated in the distillation column model using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). The efficiency in order to obtain more than vapor from the mixture will increase if the operating temperature sets up high under the constant vacuum pressure. It can be seen that the distribution profiles of vapor volume fraction as well as the magnitude of volume fraction appears quite different at T=45oC.

Abstract: A real time implementation of Fuzzy logic controller (FLC) for a spherical tank to control liquid level is studied. Control of liquid level in a spherical tank is highly non-linear due to variation in the area of cross section of level system with change in shape .System identification of spherical tank system is done using black box model which is identified to be non-linear and approximated to be a First order plus dead time model .Here the conventional controller parameters are designed based on Ziegler-Nicholas method and its servo and regulatory responses are compared with Fuzzy logic controller based on Mamdani model. From the response curve, obtained using the above controllers, that fuzzy logic controller gives much improved performance which is measured in terms of overshoot, rise time, set point tracking and performance indices when compared to other conventional controllers

Abstract: The palm fibers are suggested as a direct evaporative cooler pad instead of rice straws that widely used in commercial coolers. In hot and dry climates such as Aswan city, the palm trees are widely planted while the rice trees do not. Experiments are made to determine the suitable thickness and mass per unit volume of the fiber palm pad. Temperature and relative humidity exit from cooler are measured at different thicknesses and masses of palm fibers. A comparison between optimum selection of palm fiber (t = 6 cm, M/V= 40 kg/m3) and standard commercial rice straws are made. The results indicate that, the outlet temperature of both palm fiber and rice straws are the same. Cooler effectiveness of palm fiber is higher than that of rice straw at most working ambient temperatures (32o – 38o). The relative humidity is lower than that of rice straw with 13% in average. Therefore, the local material, palm fibers, can be used successfully instead of standard commercial rice straws.

Abstract: Wheel-based motion is one of the most efficient and simple ways to move on smooth surfaces. Hence, wheeled mobile robots have attracted significant attention in the research field of mobile robots. Designing passive wheeled robots can provide more efficiency for the robot. However, generating predetermined curved path in passive mechanisms is a challenge. In this paper, a very simple wheeled passive robot capable of moving on a curved path. The robot moves on a simple ramp and its motion is driven by gravity force. The mechanism of robot allows predicting and determining its motion on 3D curved paths. The motion of the robot is dependent to its configuration, thus the relationship between the configuration and the robot’s path is obtained. The performed analysis results are verified by simulations in ADAMS.

Abstract: The present system of parking activity creates frustration to the user. All the vehicles have to be parked in some space when the drivers leave them. Due to unorganized parking lots, people face problem in finding a parking space in lesser time and remembering it. Time is spent in obtaining parking pass while entering the lot and roaming around the lots to see any free space is available. Sometime, the driver may not notice the vacant space or would be wandering without knowing the parking lot is full. Unless the driver recollects the exact parking space, he/she cannot pinpoint the vehicle in huge lots while collecting it back. These consume precious time and lead to Frustration, Fuel wastage, environmental pollution, and traffic congestion. To overcome all these problems, these kind of smart parking systems are essential in major cities. This is the latest trends in the technology that can be used to solve the parking problems.

Abstract: An experimental study is carried out to investigate the effects of nozzle aspect ratio and hot tube length on the energy separation of a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube (RHVT). The inlet pressures were adjusted from 200 kPa to 600 kPa with 100 kPa increments. A dry air is used as the working fluid. The conventional tangential nozzle (N = 6) was used. The inner diameter (D) of vortex tube used in the experiments was 7.5 mm. The ratio of the length of the vortex tube to its diameter (L/D) varied from 10 to 30. The experimental results reveal that the nozzle aspect has a great effect on energy separation. The results show that the maximum differences in temperature of hot and cold streams were obtained for the aspect ratio of 1.4.

Abstract: Globalization necessitates the rapid launching of new technology in to the market to avoid duplication. Most effective technology to implement this is rapid manufacturing or additive manufacturing, where the parts for produced directly from the CAD data. After the conception of the design, CAD model is created in any of the solid model software and converted into a special file named .stl format. Among various methods of rapid manufacturing, selective laser sintering plays a very vital role in production of near net shaped component. Quality of the rapid prototyping products are decided by the various factors such as process type, type of infiltration, layer thickness, orientation, laser speed etc.,. This paper presents the infiltration effect of various materials produced by selective laser sintered stainless steel green parts. Study of the infiltration effect of copper tin alloy , Brass, and Bronze on stainless steel green part was done. Hardness, dimensional study and surface roughness of different infiltrates were also compared.

Abstract: The present study deals with the investigation relating to dry sliding wear, co-efficient of friction and corrosion behaviour of Al 2024 in the presence of silicon carbide, fly ash and its recipes. Stir casting method have been used to fabricate hybrid metal matrix composites and their wear resistance and co-efficient of friction has been investigated as a function of applied load and sliding distance for a volume fraction of the particles. Pin-on-disc machine was used to assess the wear resistance and co-efficient of friction of the specimens. The volumetric wear loss and co-efficient of friction of pure alloy and composites with sliding distance at a load varied from 15 to 40 N and sliding velocities of 1 m/s and 2 m/s were studied. It was observed that the wear rate and also the coefficient of friction of the composites decreased at higher loads and larger sliding distances. Corrosion characteristics of the influence of the mixtures of SiC and fly ash volume percent on Al 2024 were also experimentally assessed. The corrosion behaviour of the specimens was carried out by both the electrochemical impedance and potentiodynamic polarization techniques as these methods boasting superior quality and high reliability. Finally the wear and corrosion tested samples were examined using scanning electron microscope and analysed.

Abstract: In this research, a stress intensity factor (SIF) mode-I of unidirectional composite plate with central crack is calculated with volume fraction of unidirectional fiber effect. The stress intensity factor (SIF) of composite plate calculated by using finite element method (FEM) and compare the results with mesh free method (MFree) for different volume faction of unidirectional fiber of composite plate. The stress intensity factor of composite plate evaluated with different volume fraction of unidirectional fiber as (14.4%, 20.2%, 26%, 37.5%, 49%, and 60.4%), for composite plate with dimensions of plate (104 mm*40mm) and different central crack length as (3, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48 and 56 mm). The stress intensity factor of composite plate evaluated with applying constant displacement in y-direction at the end of composite plate, and then, evaluated the stress intensity factor due to stress resulted from the displacement applied on the end of plate. The results shown When the crack length and volume fraction of fiber increase, the changing of SIFs gives a good explanation for the fracture phenomena in composite materials which in turn answer the question of "How the crack is propagate in composite material". And, a comparison between the FEM and MFree method is made to study the advantages and disadvantages of each method and to choose the suitable method for calculating SIF for composite plate. Generally, there is a good agreement between the FEM and MFree method but there is a slightly difference between them. This slight difference happens due to the calculation technique of SIF and distribution of nodes used in each method.

Abstract: This paper deals with the Fuzzy-PID control on Nonlinear Wheel Balancing Robot. A simplified T-S Fuzzy-PID scheme that will be based on the signed distance method has been proposed. Simplification process of ‘conventional’ Fuzzy-PID to ‘simplified’ Fuzzy-PID scheme through 3D vector projection was demonstrated. Without reducing the performance of conventional Fuzzy-PID control, the number of fuzzy rules was greatly reduced, which eventually minimized the computational burden of the processor. Besides, the proposed controller ensures the control energy was within permissible limit and it also eliminates the effects of nonlinearity when the system was only controlled by PID controllers. Finally, the performance of proposed controller is compared to the performance of conservative Fuzzy-PID and PID schemes via simulation.

Abstract: In this present paper we propose a new approach for modeling a rigid multibody system based on Bond Graph methodology. The proposed method based on the transfer of energy between system components and on the description of the vector velocity relation of a moving point in a rotating system. Our mechatronic system is a double freedom robot manipulator driving by an electric actuator, can be efficiently modeled and solved by this multidisciplinary approach, this design of bond graph dynamic model of the arm manipulator derive information on structural controllability and observability. Also the advantages of bond graph modeling of the robot manipulator are notified.

Abstract: In this paper, the optimization of the Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) process parameters in wind velocity with multi-response criteria using Taguchi orthogonal array with grey relational analysis is studied. Based on Taguchi L9 orthogonal array nine experimental conditions were performed. The input process parameters such as Welding current, Welding speed and Wind velocity are selected using L9 orthogonal array to obtain the desired output i.e., bead width, reinforcement and depth of penetration. The quality of the weld is evaluated by studying the features of weld bead geometry. Grey relational analysis is applied to optimize the input parameters simultaneously considering output variables. In addition the analysis of variance (ANOVA) is also applied to identify the most significant factor. Optimal result has been verified through additional experiment. This indicates application feasibility of the Grey-based Taguchi technique can be improved effectively through this approach.

Abstract: The sun tracking is aimed to optimize the energy production efficiency by following the sun trajectory, and, therefore, the panels must remain always normal to the sun direction. The sun tracking constitute a promising alternative and they are more and more used in industry in order to improve the quantity of the produced power by the photovoltaic systems Tracker performance is impacted from effects such as wind and gravity, and understanding the impact of these loads on the optical performance can yield tracker designs that are potentially cheaper, while maintaining required structural stability. In this paper, A dual axis sun tracking system of 12.8 kWp connected to the grid (the active surface being of 88.5 m²) is modeled geometrically (three dimensional solid model) by using SolidWorks CAD Software and simulated statically by FEA (Finite Element Analysis) using SolidWorks Simulation to determine the equivalent stress, displacement, deformation and safety factor. This approach of design and optimization of the tracking subjected to its free weight and critical wind load, namely wind speed of 130 km/h. Puts forward the interest of this design is to get gain of time, money and the quality of rigidity and resistance of the finished product. Thus, the reliability of the tracking is shown because the critical stresses of Von Mises of the most fragile material check the criteria of resistance with a safety factor higher than six (06) with strains are much lower than the unit.

Abstract: Nanocrystalline form of pure ceria (CeO2) and metal (Mg and Sc) doped ceria was obtained by co-precipitation technique. The metal loading was maintained at 10 mol % for both Mg and Sc dopants. The synthesized nanocrystalline form of powders was then subjected to different characterization techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) for phase and structural identification. The composition and morphology was investigated using scanning electron microscopic analysis and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS). The ionic conductivity due to the dopant effect was investigated using impedence spectroscopic analysis in the frequency range 50 Hz to 5 MHz. The impedance analysis reveals that the sample Ce0.9Mg0.1O2 was found to have higher ionic conductivity compared to Ce0.9Sc0.1O2 in the temperature range of 400–600°C. Nyquist plot shows the major contributions were due to the grain boundary resistance contributions which accounts for the higher ionic conductivity in case of the dopants. These dopant effect on the ceria was discussed in detail.

Abstract: Brushless DC(BLDC) motors are now a days becoming popular in battery operated vehicles, fuel pumps, medical equipments, printers and in many applications because of its light weight, high operating speed and excellent speed-torque characteristics. However, BLDC motor requires complex and expensive high speed drives and converter circuits to perform electronic commutation and suitable control circuits for implementing control technique. Since the conventional drive circuits are expensive, bulky and more complex, this paper proposes a low cost, compact, high performance BLDC drive system employing solar module with DC –DC converters and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) control strategy. The proposed drive consists of a solar module, charge controllers, batteries, SEPIC converter and BLDC motor, henceforth developed into the Solar Powered BLDC motor drive and solar powered equipments and three phase inverter containing six MOSFET switches. A microcontroller or DSP will be used to control the overall system. This project explains the study of designing a Solar Powered BLDC Motor Drive which is one of the solutions for the oncoming crisis. The approach of selecting the appropriate components for this application is studied and each of them are simulated.

Abstract: This paper describes the thermal decomposition analysis of Ammonium nitrate based composite solid propellants. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to investigate the performance of the propellants. Three compositions -Ammonium nitrate (AN) /Hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), AN/HTPB/Ammonium dichromate (ADC), AP/HTPB/ADC/ Gunadiene nitrate (GN) were prepared. Calcium stearate, water proofing material was added to AN to resist the moisture absorption from the air, since AN is hygroscopic substance. The thermal decomposition of samples is carried out at the heating rates of 5 K/min, 8 K/min and 16K/min in non-isothermal conditions and the output numerical values are plotted in DSC and TGA curves. The features of the thermal behaviour of phase stabilized AN, i.e phase transition, melting and exothermic peak were studied. The effect of a burning rate catalyst such as ADC and GN on the cure reaction was studied. For different heating rate, the kinetic parameters that are activation energy and pre-exponential factor were determined by Ozawa method. For AN/HTPB, AN/HTPB/ADC and AN/HTPB/ADC/HTPB sample, the activation energies at 16K/min were 145.67, 89.67 and 153.54kJ/mol. Also the pre exponential factors were found to be 8.81x1014, 1.837x1012 and 1.13x1017 for same compositions.