Mechanical Engineering

The study aimed at designing an efficient low cost poultry feather plucker with the main objective of ensuring that the machine improves the hygiene, food safety and defeathering processes in poultry meat production. The machine is made up of four main parts viz: the frame, prime mover, plucker drum, and plucker fingers. The study reveals that for the aim to be realized, an electric motor of 0.5hp with 2300rpm is needed to transmit a torque of 1226.25Nmm through a mild steel shaft of 10mm diameter to a plucker drum of mass 2.5kg which has 24 polypropylene plucker fingers mounted on it. The study estimated the cost of producing the machine to be $98 and considers the design safe since the FoS of the drum has a minimum value of 8 and a maximum value of 56; shear strength of the drum falls below the shear stress of Aluminum

This paper deals with the performance analysis and optimization of working parameters of a flat plate solar cavity collector. Cavity type configuration is an improved version of a flat plate collector. It is evident that every solar gadget need a little bit of improvement in order to perform well. Various experiments both theoretical and experimental are going on in various countries to achieve better performance of flat plate collector. Hence the better choice for the improvement of flat plate collector is the cavity collector. Usually the cavity type configuration is utilized for focusing, solar tower and Fresnel lens collectors. But it was experimented for the flat plate improvement and hence it is proved to be a one of the alternate solution for the flat plate collector. It also works more efficiently even at low radiation source for a certain period of time and at part cloudy days. Solar Cavity Collector (SCC) has been experimented with various working parameters like change of receiver material (Copper and Aluminum), various L/D ratio, change of inclination angle, change of mode of flow (parallel and serpentine), collector packed with pebble bed and metal chips to enhance the heat transfer phenomena in the collector, by increasing the number of cavities and Collector with end plates. End plates were welded at entry and exit of the receiver pipes to stagnate the water for a while inside the collector.

In recent days most of the automotive parts are manufactured with different materials which will increase the weight of the vehicle and the materials also cannot be recycled. But with the European union and Asian countries stringent norms on automotive end life i.e the parts should be recycled. This made the researchers to use natural fibers in composite materials. With their low cost, low density, stiffness, high specific strength and biodegradable characteristics, they are considered as perfect replacement for conventional fibers. This has resulted in creation of more awareness about the use of natural fibers based materials mainly composites. The properties of the composites mainly depend on the interfacial adhesion between the matrix and the fibers. The present study aims at the mechanical properties namely tensile strength, flexural strength and impact strength of the composites. In the present work the composite is produced with good compressive strength (Egg shell) and tensile strength (coconut coir) materials and is further tested for various mechanical properties. The results indicated that these composites are very good for automotive applications.

This work focused at designing and fabricating of an aluminium mould for the production of motorcycle brake lever. The pattern making, sand mould and the casting are the major step used to achieve the work. The thermal stress exerted on the mould stood at 0.67GPa which did not exceed the permissible thermal stress for aluminium. In the design of the motorcycle brake lever, it was discovered that a force of 0.58N is required to operate the lever at an effective length of 9cm from the motorcycle head. It shows that the production of motorcycle brake lever can be done locally since aluminium is largely available in the country and hence recommends that more effort should be put in by the Nigerian government for sustainability and development in this area.

This paper reviews the current situation with regard to generation of low grade fuels and their prospects of economic conversion into electrical power, the technologies presently available for this purpose, and the problems faced in such efforts. It emphasizes the need for an integrated approach to devise ways and means for generating electrical power from low grade fuels; keeping in mind the requirements of cleaner production and environmental protection so that the initiative leads to a total solution. The calorific value of such fuels varies between 550kcal/kg-1050 kcal/kg as compared to developed countries ie1550kcal/kg to 2050kcal/kg. The combination of various low grade fuels were prepared and tested, experimental analysis amply high light the usage of these fuels as a replacement of coal. There is a shimmering promise that the whole process of using low grade fuel i.e. too Agriwaste harvesting, collection, transport,economic processing and utilization of low grade fuel can be made technically and economically more viable in future. Thus, this paper highlights the value of low grade fuels as a prospective source of electric power and thus serving the remote areas in the form of stand- alone units giving a boost to decentralized power supply. This approach and option seems to be possible in view of its potential contribution to our economic and social development. No doubt, this initiative needs to be backed and perused rigorously for removing regional imbalances as well as strengthening National economy.

In this study an exergy analysis of 75 MW gas turbine is carried out. Exergy analysis based on second law was applied to the gas cycle and individual components through an off design point modeling approach. The analysis shows that the highest exergy destruction occurs in the combustion chamber (CC), and the gas turbine is significantly affected by the ambient temperature; increase in temperature leads to decrease in GT power output. The compressor has the largest exergy efficiency of 99% as compared to the other components (combustion chamber – 76%, Turbine – 95%). The highest destruction in exergy was recorded in the combustion chamber. As a result of this destruction, 2.23kJ of energy is lost in every 1MW output of power produced by the plant.

The paper reflects, machine designed and developed by authors that suit medium sized farmer and farm industrialist holding only few acres of land. It has been designed and developed by CMERI, Durgapur, India, in collaboration with NIF(National Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad, India). A number of crops i.e., wheat, and pulse like soybean, gram have been successfully reaped(harvested), and, concurrently the m/c is ready to undergo reliability&feasibility trial/inspection/check, desired for an Agri Machinery. It will be indigenously get checked for Nation wide R&D standard. The system is designed by inculcating years of expertise in this stream. There is a keen observation by designer to simplify assembling/disassembly and maintenance/ operations/ of picker reel, cutter link & blade, roll & push type auger and simplest possible bevel PTO. This prototype is a foolproof machine, designed with consideration of global knowhow of scientific mechanisms of this stream. The basic research work has been done thoroughly by selecting adequate technology and scientific calculations in all the assemblies and critical parts e.g. pivots, mounting bearing are analyzed through readymade CAD software as very firmness and strength is desirable. Maximum spare parts have been preferred IS standard (ready stock found vigorously). Right from selecting end support bearing of reel-the foremost unit, Pitmanless tumble and knife link of cutter unit, dowel pin of cross auger(the screw to roll&push the cut crop), and bevel gear&pinion of PTO unit, Indian standards are followed thoroughly. At each and every point while design of various devices in this machine, care has been taken for economy, simplicity and life span into consideration (the value addition). As it is a vital need of the farmers and agriculturists (farm experts), one thing has been fully kept in mind that we should confirm to reliability by judging robustness/longevity of various units, its ease and simplicity while operation and maintenance. Finally, this device could be easily fabricated by a small enterprise, as scientific knowhow is available with the authors. It has been predicted to save final labour, being minimized in the field. Maximum spares parts(more than 70%) can be found as ready stock in the market for running a medium or small scale enterprise.

Flow Shop Scheduling is the combinational optimization & NP-hard (i.e. Non-deterministic Polynomial-time hard) problems. In Permutation Flow Shops, the sequence of the jobs is same on all machines. In a Flow Shop Scheduling problem with ‘n’ jobs that should be processed on ‘m’ machines. The job can be processed on at most one machine; meanwhile one machine can be processed at most one job. A significant research effort has been committed for sequencing jobs in flow shop to minimizing the make span. Optimization algorithms such as Simulated Annealing (SA), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) & Neighborhood Search have played a significant role in solving small scale flow shop scheduling problems. In this paper a recently developed Teaching Learning Based Optimization (TLBO) is proposed method to solve the flow shop scheduling problems to minimize the make span. The proposed algorithm is tested on Taillard Benchmark problems and results are compared with Palmer’s & CDS Heuristic methods. The results show that the proposed algorithm is efficient in producing optimal solution and simple, easy to understand.

In this study, the deformation behavior of 93Tungsten alloy under the hydrostatic extrusion has been investigated. The hydrostatic extrusion process of 93 Tungsten alloy has been analyzed by means of finite element method (FEM). The numerical results were highly corresponded to the experimental ones. Also the effect of die angle on the extrusion pressure and applied damages to the 93 Tungsten alloy during the process of hydrostatic extrusion has been investigated according to the Cockcroft & Latham damage criterion. As was deduced from results, when the die angle has been considered as 30°, the applied damages to the material during the process were negligible in comparison with higher values of die angle.

In recent years, the food industries experts have drawn their attention toward using high frequency ultrasound waves in producing processes. The main part of these equipments is the ultrasonic probe which called sonotrode. The performance of ultrasonic equipments depends on properly design of sonotrode shape. In this study, four methods were used to design the ultrasonic probes for use in food and chemical industries. Two types of probes, namely, step type and cylindrical type were considered and the related calculations for the both types of probes were performed based on the four design methods. For both of the cylindrical and step type probes, the length of the designed probe was equal to half of the ultrasonic wavelength. Modal analysis of the models were determined by the numerical simulation using finite element method (FEM) design procedures. The results showed that although the probe material does not affect vibration amplitude, it can affect stress distribution along the probe. In the cylindrical type probe, the maximum stress raised in the middle part of probe, whilst in the step type probe, regardless of design probe, the maximum stress was occurred in the surface variation location. Based on the results, to design a probe, it should be noted that the maximum created stress in the probe must not exceed the yield stress of the selected material.