Recent Advances in Manufacturing, Automation, Design and Energy Technologies

The latest advances in additive manufacturing methods (AMM) generally called as three-dimensional (3D) printing has been permitted to design and generate complicated profiles which are not possible with conventional techniques. A new method of creation of an object by layer by layer called it as rapid prototyping technique which is also known as three-dimensional printing. If these methods of printing supposed to be implemented for self-healing smart materials, then it is known as four-dimensional printing. Also, day-to-day advancements in fashion in the lifestyle of public, industries are not capable to satisfy their requirements with conventional manufacturing techniques with conventional materials because of increased cost to alter the design, manufacture and process layout for each fashion style. It is impossible to satisfy with conventional materials as well as processing methods so more competition existed in the present industrial sectors according to market demands as per customer requirements. Advancements in additive manufacturing techniques covered this gap by day-to-day developments in materials and their methods. In this review article, discussed about recent developments of smart materials, innovations in 4D printing and challenges which are faced in the research and development (R&D) divisions, also described about variety of application areas almost in all fields. This paper provides the basic information to the young researchers who are interested in this area.

PolyJet technology is one of the advanced additive manufacturing technologies booming quickly and it can fabricate the parts with multi-material and multi-color. In the present study, the build properties of multi-material parts produced with PolyJet technology are discussed. Effects of build properties were examined by three process parameters namely finish type, material combination and design of the samples. Digital materials of VeroWhite-TangoPlus, VeroClear-VeroWhite and VeroClear-TangoPlus are chosen for printing the dice, stacking-1 and stacking-2 samples on both the matte and glossy finish. Taguchi’s L18 (21, 32) orthogonal array is selected for experimental design to conduct the trails with minimum number of repeats. Importance of each parameter has been examined by analysis of signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. Findings indicate that glossy finished stacking-2 sample printed by VeroWhite-TangoPlus provides the optimum build properties. Material combination is the most dominant factor, followed by finish type and geometric design. Furthermore, printing time and consumption of support material are higher in VeroClear material when compared to other materials. The result of this study is an understanding of which process parameters and geometric design affect the build properties. This study provides a distinctive method for selecting the optimum process parameters and stimulates the research toward the material properties and digital manufacturing.

Nowadays, most modern companies focus on achieving high productivity through their normal routine work. Necessity to provide a huge quantity of products within a short period of time make the workers to redeem more of their effort. This situation demands the workers to acclimate to improperly designed workstation, and the workers feel that they suffer from high levels of fatigue and musculoskeletal disorders. Ergonomic principles play an important role in workers’ productivity, and thus, it becomes essential to consider these ergonomic principles while the industrial workstations are designed. The objective of this investigation is to improve workers efficiency with the reduction of cycle time thereby achieving high productivity. The study was conducted on assembly and collection workstation of fasteners involved in actuators assembly. Ergonomic study of these workstations was done by measuring the reach zone between the worker and working area, workbench height and time study during collection of fasteners. Findings from the study reveal that fixed existing workstation at the company was not designed by considering ergonomic principles. Moreover, collection of fasteners is about 75 s, and it is reduced to 50 s by modifying the workstation.

In the present industrial development, an essential usage of hard materials such as ceramics immensely increased. Zirconia (ZrO2) is one among to produce medical and dental instruments, atomic reactors due to its high strength and corrosion resistance. However, the machining of the zirconia is challenging without any thermal reactions. This research work focuses on machining the zirconia using one of the unconventional machining processes of electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) with NaOH as electrolyte and stainless steel as a tool material. In this work, NaOH was used as an electrolyte at various levels such as 15, 20, and 25% concentration with distilled water. The other parameters such as voltage 80, 90, and 100v and duty cycle 30, 40, and 50% are used to machining the material. Response surface methodology is used to determine the optimum parameters to conduct the design of experiments in Box–Behnken design.

Supply chain (SC) encompasses all events involved in the transformation of goods from the raw material stage to the final stage, i.e., when the goods and services reach the end client. A supply chain comprises of flow of materials, information, funds, and services from suppliers, factories, distribution centers to the end clients. Decisions regarding facility locations, supply chain planning, and logistics should be made cautiously in order to establish robust supply chain. This work is an effort to provide the firms with the models so as to help the managers to take strategic level decisions under uncertainty. A close loop supply chain (CLSC) network design that consists of forward and reverse flow is carried out. The robust optimization (RO) based modeling with both direct shipping of the products and shipping through distribution center under demand uncertainty is proposed and analyzed. The results are presented for supply chain planning strategies for an e-supply chain of case company (furniture manufacturing firm). The objective function value for robust model increases for an increase in uncertainty level. This increase in the objective function value for robust model is because of meeting the customers demand in worst case. for the case company, it was observed that for uncertain parameters (demand = 0.8), opening of total 9 MF and 4 DC can accommodate the worst case of network design. The computational results indicate that robust model is better than the deterministic one for uncertain parameters.

Filling characteristic of Al-Si cast alloys is predicted with the aid of pin test piece with cylindrical cores using casting simulation techniques. Solid model required for the simulation studies is developed using computer-aided design (CAD) application software. The key variable influencing filling characteristic is mould sand fineness, pouring temperature and pressure head. Virtual casting software which is based on finite differential method (FDM) is used for the casting simulation. Casting simulation results are conforming to experimental validation studies. The parameters providing optimum filling ability increase in pressure head, sand fineness number 40 and pouring temperature T + 20 °C.

Many diseases spread due to bacterial and viral infection, which cause noteworthy financial and personal losses. Recent years viral infections like SARS, NIFA, and COVID-19 are the leading cause of many deaths. Currently, we are facing a “pandemic” crisis that spreads around the world due to direct transmission from one person to other and indirect transmission by touching with infected surfaces. Epidemiological studies confirm that hand contact with contaminated surfaces is the most common route for the transmission of infection. Pathogenic virus can survive on surfaces for many hours and days. Therefore, it is desired to provide antimicrobial surface to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases. The development of antimicrobial coatings can help to provide anti-pathogenic surface. Aim of the present study focuses on various material and techniques used to enhance the antimicrobial properties of the surface used in various fields like health care and food procession industry.

The intention of this effort is to manufacture SiC particles reinforced aluminium functionally graded metal matrix composite (Al-FGMMC) and optimize the drilling operation parameters using TOPSIS technique. The A356-10% Al2O3p reinforced functionally graded composite was constructed by stir casting approach continued by the horizontal centrifugal fabricating approach. The microstructural evaluation showed the existence of maximum reinforcement concentration on the exterior edge. The main effect of operation variables such as speed, feed, point angle and zone distance from the exterior edge on the surface roughness and thrust force were studied. Technique for Order Preference by Similarity Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methodology was applied to identify the optimum operation parameters to achieve minimum surface roughness and thrust force. The optimized operation parameters achieved as 2000 rpm of speed, 0.15 mm/rev of feed, 140° of point angle and 15 mm of zone distance from outer edge. The found optimal operation parameter was validated through authorization evaluation and considerable development was observed in operational characteristics.

Magnesium and its alloys surfaces could be protected by various surface modification techniques. Among them, laser cladding has been identified as a prominent technique. In this present work, Ti6Al4V titanium alloy was clad on pure magnesium by laser cladding and the influence of the laser scan speed on the coating morphology, microstructure and microhardness were investigated. The results revealed that the increasing scan speed above 300 mm/min has resulted in inadequate coating deposition. The Fe2O3Ti secondary phase particle had precipitated at the grain boundaries of the clad material and MgO phase was formed at the interface. The Al12Mg17 phases were present in both clad and heat affected substrate material. The influence of laser scan speed on grain size and their orientation was limited. However, the scan speed influences the intensities of precipitated intermetallic particles. Higher microhardness was observed in the sample processed at 300 mm/min scan due to the presence of higher intensities of intermetallic particles in its clad zones.

Coal-fired plants and power station boiler valves are subjected to degradation by erosion and wear. The existence of wear and erosive environments recommends the need of thermal spray coatings on component parts, to increase the life. In the present study, detonation gun spray process (DG) is considered for coating 86WC-10Co-4Cr and 75Cr3C2-25NiCr on martensitic stainless steel (0.07C-0.79Si-0.67Mn-13.95Cr-3.79Ni-0.42Mo-80.11Fe) substrate. Porosity and hardness tests are employed for the characterization of coatings. Ductile metals and alloys have exhibited highest erosion rate when the angle of impact is between 15° to 30°, and brittle materials like ceramics, carbides, and cermets have shown maximum erosion rate near 90°. Hence, erosion test was carried out at an impact angle of 90° by means of silica as an erodent material at a velocity of 60 m/s, with the help of an air jet sand erosion tester. Based on cumulative weight loss, it is observed that 75Cr3C2-25NiCr coating on martensitic stainless steel has shown better wear resistant than the 86WC-10Co-4Cr coating.

Dissimilar aluminum alloys are being heavily used in the various field of engineering due to its light weight and superior properties. Compared to other fusion welding processes, friction stir welding is one of the solid-state joining process which joins the materials below their melting temperature. The welded sheet of AA2024 and AA7075 finds application in the aerospace industries and automobile sector. This paper discusses the modern process of FSW for joining of AA2024 and AA7075 dissimilar aluminum alloys.

Aluminum build matrix composites remnant the most studied metal matrix material for the production of metal matrix composites. The latest work comes up with the manufacture of molybdenum and coconut shell reinforced aluminum 6069 alloy metal matrix composites (MMCs). The specimens were made using the stir casting process, with six distinct weight chunks of aluminum 6069, molybdenum powder, and coconut shell ash taken into account. The first three samples were prepared in such a way that the weight fraction of aluminum 6069 and coconut shell ash alter by 2%; furthermore, the weight fraction of molybdenum powder is 1% constant. Coconut shell is kept constant by 1%, molybdenum powder as well as aluminum 6069 differs by 2%, and the next three specimens were prepared in the same way. The prime aim of the paper is to research the properties of molybdenum and coconut shell ash composites reinforced aluminum 6069 alloy produced in reach stir casting facility, and the compression test was carried out using machinery such as the universal testing machine. Hardness has also been looked at.

Composite materials and super alloys find wide range of applications in aerospace, ship building and automotive industries. Both composite and super alloys show improved mechanical properties at elevated temperature and pressure. The machining of composites and super alloys is a challenging field because of their poor machining performance. The machining of both composites and super alloys is difficult by using conventional machining. The issues regarding machinability of composites and super alloys have been vanquished by using nontraditional methods, and mostly used non-conventional machining technique is wire electric discharge machining (WEDM). This paper reviews the recent advances in machining of composites and super alloys by using Wire-EDM. This study finds that there are various important WEDM parameters, viz pulse on time (POT), pulse off time (PFT), servo voltage, wire diameter, peak current, spark gap voltage and dielectric conditions which need to be optimized to obtain maximum value of material removal rate (MRR) and minimum value of surface roughness (Ra), kerf width and electrode wear rate during machining of composites and super alloys.

Laser cladding is one of the hard coating techniques used for repairing worn-out or rebuilding damaged components. In the present study, N480 and N9062 alloys were cladded on SS410 substrate with Inconel 625 as buffer layer. Investigations are carried to understand the effect of buffer layer on crack formation, microstructural and mechanical properties of the cladded materials. The clad microstructure is studied using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The coating micro-hardness measured along the depth has increased by 5–7% due to reduced dilution and diffusion of the substrate elements into the hard coating. The buffer layer addition acts as a heat sink, in turn, playing a key role in attaining fine microstructure, also reducing the thermal gradient between hard layer and substrate ensuring more uniform cooling.

Natural fibers are abundantly available in nature. The utilization of natural resources is highly useful as compared to the synthetic fibers. The increase of awareness toward the environmental protection leads the researchers to focus toward the naturally available resources such as natural fiber especially from plant. So, there is a need for making composite panel with lightweight and lower cost. In this study, acetic acid-treated banana fiber-reinforced epoxy composites are manufactured by using press. The banana fiber is pretreated with NAOH and sodium hypochlorite (50:50) followed by acetic acid. The mechanical properties of the composites are analyzed by universal testing machine. The results indicated that mechanical properties are higher at 40% of volume fraction. The optimized composite material is used in various commercial and household appliances.

Presently, Dual Phase (DP) steels are highly accepted steels by the automotive manufacturers as structural materials. Microstructural features of these steels resulted special properties. Welding is an inevitable in automobile manufacturing. Nd:YAG fiber laser welding was used to produce Beads on plate on Dual Phase steel of 780 grade. Welding Beads were produced by varying the heat input from 17 to 24 J/mm2. Complete Depth of Penetration of weld beads was observed at all heat inputs. With increase in the heat input, weld zone dimensions were increased. Fusion zone was transformed by liquid to solid transformations, up on cooling. Heat Affected Zone was formed by solid–solid phase transformation, and the proportion of Martensite was decreased with increasing the distance from Fusion Boundary. The microhardness of the fusion zone was 370 ± 10 HV0.5 and that of the base materials was 270 ± 19 HV0.5. The increase in hardness in the fusion zone was due to the phase transformation in this zone.

Plasma cladding is one of the methods which is widely applied in surface modification, reconstruction, and repair. Plasma arc welding produces high-quality weld deposit without spatter and minimal porosity, and it is a desirable process for cladding. Copper coating on stainless steel is in demand for the applications like fusion reactors and nuclear storage bins where fast dissipation of heat is required. In this study, copper deposition was made on a stainless steel 316L cylindrical surface by utilizing the full advantage of plasma. The relation between optimum parameters and geometrical characteristics was analyzed. This prefatory study establishes the feasibility and influence of processing parameters for pure copper cladding deposition on a cylindrical stainless steel 316L, using plasma arc welding. The results show successful deposition of thick cladding of copper over stainless steel 316L. The geometrical and structural integrity of plasma cladded copper presented with mean micro-hardness of the SS316L part was 198 HV, while the mean micro-hardness of the copper part cladding was 106 HV.

Automobile manufacturers using tailor welded blank (TWB) technology carryout forming operations for curved shape components by orienting multiple welds. This process results in the formation of inflection point at the welded joints, leading to fracture during forming. The study of the effect of curvilinear weld profile on formability aspects with regard to stamping/deep drawing operations is limited. Curvilinear welds decrease the number of weld requirements, scrap material and avoid imperfections whenever two welds intersect. In this work, the effect of different shapes of weld profiles viz. circular, elliptical and spline shapes on the weld line movement (WLM) was studied. WLM is one of the primary concerns in the manufacture of tailor welded blanks, because it affects component assembly and also leads to wrinkling and tearing during forming. Simulation results showed that the spline curve weld profile has a considerable effect in reducing WLM with improved formability compared to straight welds.

The objective of this study is to know the influence of tool type on the mechanism of chip formation during the turning of medium carbon (0.26%C, 0.96%Mn) steel having hardness 168BHN. High-speed steel tool (HSS) and carbide tools were used for the machining work on the lathe. Mode of chip formation occurred in an unfavorable manner, while machining with HSS tools at low and medium speeds. However, higher speed machining caused some improvement in the mode of chip formation process during machining with HSS tool. Machining with a carbide tool resulted significant improvement in the chip formation process at high speeds. Machining with a carbide tool showed better mode of chip formation at all speeds with reference to the mode of chip formation with HSS tool at different speeds. Chip formation mode is strongly affected during machining with HSS tool mainly at lower cutting speeds due to tool wear by chipping/fracturing at the cutting edge. Better understanding on to the mechanism of chip formation ensures proper selection of tool, work material and parametric conditions.

Welding is a widely used process to join the components. In recent years, several analytical methods are used to build the relationship between parameters of welding process and the quality of weldments. Soft computing tools are the one which can model the relationship between parameters of welding process and the quality of weldments at a shorter interval of time. In the present work, assessment of weld quality has been carried using general regression neural network (GRNN). A model is developed between vibratory tungsten inert gas welding process parameters and ultimate tensile strength of aluminum 5052 alloy weldments using experimental data. The developed GRNN model is validated with the experimental data. The predicted GRNN values closely matched with experimental values. This trained GRNN model can also predict the ultimate tensile strength of welded joints with an accuracy of 98.94%.

Electrochemical micromachining is one of a commonly used unconventional machining processes used to machine the not easy to process materials and to make complicated and irregular shapes of a product. This study aims to optimize process parameters and to maximize the material removal rate (MRR). Taguchi approach is used to do the design of experiments. In this work, an experimental study is given for machining of D2 Die steel. Voltage, electrolyte concentration, and duty cycle are selected as processing parameters of the electrochemical micromachining (ECCM) process. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the signal-to-noise ratio (SN) are statistical methods used to study the influence of process parameters over the results. As the results, the maximum MRR is 0.1483 mm3/min achieved at the voltage of 20 V, electrolyte concentration at 150 g/l, and duty cycle at 60% in this work voltage is the most influencing parameter on the material removal rate.

Friction stir additive manufacturing (FAM) is the advanced technology used in layer-by-layer addition and processing of the materials. In this study, the effect of process parameters on the hardness of FAM Al1100 aluminium plates was investigated. Tool rotating and travel speeds were the process parameters varied in two levels. The metallographic and microhardness FAM samples were evaluated. The results revealed that low rotational speed and travel speed combinations show higher hardness due to survival of intermetallic particles and formation of equiaxed and refined grains. However, in case of higher tool rotational and travel speed combinations, formation of elongated grains and dissolution of secondary phase particles into the matrix leads to the reduction in hardness.

Nowadays, friction stir weld (FSW) process is widely used because of its advantages like less distortion and good repeatability. Choice of welding factors is crucial to obtain defect-free welds in FSW. In this research work, an attempt has been made to investigate the defect formation in FSW process through FEM simulation. Coupled Eulerian Lagrangian analysis was used for this simulation through Abaqus software. Plunge depth is taken from 0.1 to 0.5 mm with the interval of 0.2 mm. Simulation results revealed that increase in plunge depth reduces the defect at the vicinity of bottom of the pin. Since the plunge depth cannot be increased beyond a certain limit, the defect was not completely removed. The defect formation is severe for 0.5 mm plunge depth. This indicates that further investigation is required to determine optimum parameters and tool geometry to obtain defect-free welded joints. It also proved that simulation tools can be used to forecast the imperfections during the FSW process.

In machining process, the parameters play an important role. It is important to find out its optimal setting, which results in reduction in production cost and helps to obtain the desired product quality. Tribological behavior of surfaces is affected by various parameters, and surface roughness plays an important role. The product quality is influenced by the surface roughness up to greater extent. Mechanical properties like, fatigue and corrosion resistance, are greatly influenced by surface roughness of a part. Thus, it is also known as the measure of product quality. The objective of present paper is the optimization of process parameters for minimizing the surface roughness using the Taguchi robust technique. Three parameters, spindle speed (SS), feed rate (FR) and depth of cut (DOC), each at level three were selected and their influence on surface roughness (Ra) was analyzed. EN 9 steel was selected as work piece, and nine runs were conducted using L9 Taguchi orthogonal array. With the aid of software SYSTAT, the results generated were analyzed. From analysis of means (ANOM), the optimal combination generated is A1B2C2; also, the ANOVA results unveil that the FR significantly influenced Ra, whereas SS and DOC were found insignificant.

The milk-run model is a distinct transportation model from the perspective of logistics and supply chain. Firms invest heavily on transportation of goods. In this paper, a real case of a dairy plant is taken into consideration. In the upstream of supply chain, raw milks are collected from milk farmers and deposited to dairy plant for further processing. The milk-run model of upstream supply chain is studied, and mathematical model of vehicle routing problems is adopted to minimize the transportation cost. Genetic algorithm (GA) and mixed integer programming (MIP) are used to solve the vehicle routing problems (VRP), and thus, transportation cost is minimized. The study resulted in reduction of transportation cost by 35.14% when MIP-based approach was used and 30.29% when GA-based approach was implemented.

Milling of soft metals is challenging due to their low strength and high ductility, which causes numerous challenges in terms of poor surface finish, sticking and tool failure. Surface finish is among the most desired feature for a micropart affecting its quality and functional performance. Present study investigated the effect of micro-milling parameters on average surface roughness of high purity aluminium and copper. Rectangular channels were cut in these with the help of WC end-mill cutter. Three-axis vertical CNC milling machine was used, and the milling parameters spindle speed, feed and depth of cut were varied between 4000–7000 rpm, 10–30 mm/min and 10–40 μm. A surface roughness tester with sub-μm order accuracy was used to measure average surface roughness of the two samples. Experiments were designed using Taguchi L9 orthogonal array design. S/N quality characteristic, main effects plot, and ANOVA were later used for analysis. Results show that milling parameters optimum for aluminium are not so for copper. The best surface roughness achieved for the two samples is about 0.3 μm for aluminium and 0.1 μm for copper. Finally, second-order regression equations relating roughness to speed, feed and depth of cut are proposed with R-square values more than 98.5%.

Electric discharge machining (EDM) is a prospective alternative to traditional machining methods. It is a technique in which no manual contact between the workpiece and tool is established. To augment the process performance of EDM, a new technique that utilizes addition of fine nanopowder in the dielectric is proposed. This newly developed technique is coined as nanopowder blended electric discharge machining (NPBEDM). In this paper, a discussion of results on the influence of four quantitative process variables and the optimal process variable levels for improved surface roughness (SR) is presented. The optimal variable settings for the same are peak current—5Amp, gap voltage—70 V, pulse on time—100 μs, and boric acid nanopowder concentration—1 g/L.

Micro-/mini-channel heat sink is an effective scheme for cooling electronic components. The main advantages of such a heat sink are robust design, compactness and high surface-to-volume ratio. Present study investigates effect of channel surface roughness on its pressure drop using numerical and experimental techniques. Numerical analysis was conducted using commercial computational fluid dynamics analysis software, ANSYS Fluent, and results for velocity and pressure characteristics were obtained. The channel surface conditions were changed as smooth channel and rough channels with ε = 2.5 μm and ε = 3.85 μm. In experiments, a 20-mm-long square channel of depth 2 mm was fabricated in aluminium substrate using milling parameters optimized to achieve the best surface finish. The water flow conditions across the channel were changed from Re = 200 to Re = 1000. Results show that the pressure drop values ranged from 20 to 170 Pa and the average pressure drop measured in micro-milled channel is close to rough channels with ε = 2.5 μm.

Friction stir processing (FS) is an unique surface modification technique and modifying the microstructures of the metallic materials through thermomechanical processing. In the present work, effect of FSP process parameters like tool rotational speed and tool travel speed on the microstructure of the Al 5083 aluminium alloy was investigated. The results revealed that FSP has significantly refined the grain structure of the Al 5083 alloy. Ultrarefined grains were resulted in 1000 rpm tool rotational speed due to high heat input and subsequent rapid solidification. Grain refinement increases microhardness of the FSP samples. Higher microhardness observed at nugget zones due to ultragrain refinement in that zones.

Performance evaluation of any organization is a dashboard of the stakeholders. Research studies on the performance evaluation through onsite audits are very less, and hence, this research gap is fulfilled by evaluating the performance of 519 organizations across ten countries. 879 mandays were spent onsite to conduct an objective evidence-based audit of ISO 9001. This research study determines the extent of conformance with the requirements of the quality management system. Factors influencing monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation, customer satisfaction, internal audit and management review were analysed. The results of this research study found that the organizations should continually evaluate the effectiveness of performance evaluation through internal audits followed by sincere management reviews to initiate actions as deemed necessary.

Ti6Al4V and Inconel 718 are widely used materials in the manufacturing industry and have tremendous application in major fields such as aerospace, automotive, oil and gas and other key industries. The machining of such materials has always been considered challenging. In this paper, Abaqus simulation modelling software has been used to perform orthogonal cutting finite element analysis with variation in rake angle and cutting speed. The parameters are selected for the analysis such as Johnson–Cook constitutive model, failure parameters and meshing parameters to ensure and validate the computational analysis in comparison with actual orthogonal cutting of these materials. The results portray few trends in the variation of tool parameters such as rake angle and cutting speed. The increase in rake angle leads to the decrease in shear banding, increase in smooth chip flow, decrease in chip curl diameter and increase in stress, while the increase in cutting speed led to the increase in stress and increase in surface finish.

Wood-plastic composites are revolutionary products that help in replacing furniture-based wood and other interior structural materials. They also indirectly support in reducing deforestation and have greater durability than conventional plywood. Wood-based constructional materials are generally prone to termite attack, fungal and bacterial rot, and they are not very durable in the long run. Plastic woods are the most suitable alternatives for wood furniture. In western countries, wood plastics are widely used as structural materials, while in India they are not very popular. Research relating to development of wood plastics using Indian-based woods have a vast scope for young researchers. This article provides literature survey of wood-plastic composites that have been developed by various authors who have worked with various polymers reinforced with versatile wood flours using different processing methods. The mechanical characterization parameters that are used to determine the technical properties of existing wood-plastics composites are provided in this article for researchers to obtain relative data in detail.

Natural fiber composites are accustomed to reinforce substances for over 3,000 years. More recently, they have been used in aggregate with biodegradable particulate composites. Different kinds of natural fibers are investigated which are used in particles along with Flax, hemp, jute, straw, wood fiber, etc. Mostly composites processed by fiber reinforcement have generated wide research and engineering interest to material uses due to their density, high specific strength, low cost, mild weight, biodegradability and recyclability. In this research paper, Haritaki powder and fiber-reinforced epoxy matrix composite were fabricated with four various proportions of composite based on haritaki powder compositions. The samples of composite were fabricated by conventional method of open molding fabricating processes. The longitudinal tensile strength, shocking load strength and indenter penetration resistance tests were carried out at four one of a kind speeds to examine the various mechanical behavior of the composites materials. The test values show the filler materials of haritaki (Kadukkai) are more successful in producing a desired property of resin materials. From the observation, it had been found that the mechanical property will increase up to positive percentage and then homes progressively decrease.

The chief objective of the author to go for surface change was to reduce the effect of water retention property of bio-fibrils and to progress likeness of affinity with the resin mix. In this effort, by mixing 10% vinyl ester with 90% epoxy, the bio-fibril composites were fabricated and fortified the bio-fibrils into the matrix blend. The mechanical property values of the composites were affected by chemical modification of the fibrils and fiber amount. Outside surface of the fibrils was customized by alkali treatment indicating superior crystallinity of fibrils. The exploration of flexural, compressive and tensile properties of Palmyra-Drumstick fibrils reinforced bio-composites was executed for 50, 40, 30, 20 and 10% amount of fibril surface customized composites and other untreated bio-fibrils composites. [C6H5N2]Cl-treated composite mechanical property values displayed were superior and at ideal condition for 40% fiber amount compared to 5% sodium hydroxide treated, 10% sodium hydroxide treated and 50, 40, 30, 20 and 10% fiber quantity chemically untreated and treated bio-composites.

In this paper, an endeavor was made to evaluate the influence and optimization of machining conditions on the specific cutting energy (SCE) in turning of AISI 304 SS with tungsten carbide and TiN-coated carbide tool. Energy reduction in manufacturing has been one of the main priorities for ensuring environmentally friendly development. It is therefore crucial to optimize the consumption of energy without influencing other parameters. Thus, we understand that the energy consumption depends on the cutting force. The material hard to machine was known to be austenitic stainless steel. For the study of cutting parameters on the cutting power, Taguchi's L18 orthogonal array and ANOVA are chosen. The findings demonstrate that the SCE was heavily impacted by the depth of cut and tool material and the minimum cutting force was absorbed by TiN-coated tool. In order to find an optimum set of cutting conditions, the experimental data were further evaluated.

Mode of failure is the most prominent characteristic and a key indicator of mechanical performance in the resistance spot-welded joints. Therefore, in the current investigation failure mode attained by different weldment of austenitic stainless steel (SS304) thin sheets are analyzed by performing the tensile-shear test. Squeezing time is a crucial parameter that can change the mode of failure of welded specimens. In the present work, the transition of the mode of failure was observed from interfacial to pullout by decreasing squeezing time from 70 to 30 cycles. The pullout mode of failure is a desirable failure mode in terms of mechanical performance. It is also confirmed by perceived output from the present analysis since the highest load-bearing capacity and high energy absorbing capacity is obtained for the lowest squeezing time assisted weld metal rather than higher squeeze time.

Selective laser melting is a powder-based fusion process in which a moving laser head builds metal parts from a 3D model using a high thermal gradient. The rapid heating and cooling cycles develop complicated residual stresses which are detrimental to the mechanical strength of the part. Numerical simulations serve as an effective tool for predicting the favorable temperature and stress fields rather than going for cost-expensive experimental measurements. A finite element model is developed considering the phase change, temperature-dependent thermal properties, and taking account of all the heat transfer losses to obtain the temperature field accurately. The results show the influence of the liquid thermal conductivity on the temperature field and also validates the rapid thermal cycles involved during the SLM process.

A series of repeating monomers that may be either non-biodegradable or biodegradable with technical properties for a good range of applications are called polymers. Non-biodegradable materials are replaced by new and Eco-friendly materials developed by the industries driven by the present scenario to achieve a clean and green environment. For composites’ development based on non-biodegradable polymers and natural filler, remarkable research work has been done. Two or more combined constituents are present at the macroscopic level and are not soluble with one another. The shell in which walnut is covered is called a walnut shell and is treated as waste material, but it helps in improving the property, and it is going to be used as reinforcement for the synthesis of composites with enhanced mechanical properties due to its good abrasive nature, mechanical strength, and chemical properties. In the present work, we have fabricated the composite specimens by varying the weight of walnut shell powder (0, 10, 15, and 20%) used in high-density polyethylene (HDPE) through the injection molding machining process. Different tests were performed to study synthesized composites’ properties such as tensile tests, wear tests, water absorption test, and burning test. Characteristic changes in properties were observed in HDPE/walnut shell powder composite. The wear test, flame propagation rate, and water test showed gradual increment with a rise in the filler loading while there is no remarkable improvement in tensile properties. Preparation and characterization of composites emphasize using various degradable natural fillers for several applications such as aerospace, packaging, and agriculture.

Stainless steel 303 (SS 303) is one among the parts of stainless steel alloys group. SS 303 is an austenitic stainless steel which is non-magnetic and non-hardenable. The present work attempts to optimize the CNC turning process parameters for SS303 material such as spindle speed, feed rate and depth of cut. Physical vapour deposition (PVD) coated inserts are used. Material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR) are chosen as the output responses for the optimization process. Grey-fuzzy model is generated between the normalized output values and the corresponding grey relational grade values. The optimal combination of input parameter setting for obtaining the better output responses has been decided based on the generated grey-fuzzy reasoning grade value. Analysis of variance technique has been employed to identify the influence of each input factors in achieving the optimal results.

Kenaf naturally extracted fibre is more attractive as alternative fibre reinforcement for natural composite products due to lower economical cost, impact on environments, and better mechanical characteristics. The biodegradable resin of cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) is as good binding agent between fibre surfaces, and also better compatibility with synthetic derived epoxy resin and it is reinforced to Kenaf/E-glass fibre composite materials. These composite materials consist of Kenaf/E-glass fibre as reinforcement material and CNSL/Epoxy resin as matric material. These natural composites are processed by hand lay-up traditional method process. The samples were fabricated along different kinds of varying the blending ratio of CNSL/epoxy resin. The testing specimens of samples were prepared as per ASTM standards to examine experiment values. From experimental obtained results, it has been esteem acquired that the Kenaf/E-glass strands fibre fortified mixed of CNSL/Epoxy resin composites showed prevalent properties, when contrasted with the hybrid of fibre natural composites.

This paper investigates the mechanical properties like tensile strength, hardness, porosity and ductility of newly formulated Al6082-B4C -rice husk ash (RHA) hybrid metal matrix composite. In this investigation we added reinforcement in different weight ratios in Al6082. The reinforcement weight ranges from 2.5 to 20 wt% of B4C along with 2.5–20)wt% of RHA are prepared by using powder metallurgy technique. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis is used to analyse the microstructure of the prepared Al6082 hybrid metal matrix composite. The mechanical properties like hardness, tensile strength, ductility and porosity tested using standards methods and compared with the theoretical calculated value. The maximum hardness is achieved in (Al6082-15wt% B4C–5wt%RHA) which shows the highest hardness of 74 BHN. The maximized tensile strength 167.5 MPa is achieved at Al6083-15wt% of B4C and 5% of RHA. The maximum ductility is observed at Al6082-12.5 wt% RHA and 7.5 wt% B4C. The theoretical specific strength is compared with the newly formulated metal matrix composite.

Due to involvement of different types of noise, electrocardiogram signal needs robust techniques for its analysis. For that purpose, the theory of chaos analysis is applied as a feature extraction tool on different pathological datasets obtained from different cardiology laboratories. This paper presents the important observations on attractor plots obtained at different time delays. It facilitates the cardiologist in segregating the normal and abnormal subjects on the basis of measured heart rate. Using support vector machine, heart diseases are classified with mean-squared error of 0.023%. Two conditions, viz. normal and abnormal, are considered. The novelty of this paper is to use chaos analysis as an effective feature extraction tool for improving strength of healthcare professionals. The proposed technique shows detection error of 0.077%. The proposed method finds its major applications in regular screening of patient’s heart, heart dynamics observation during major heart therapy, etc.

This paper presents the implementation of IoT to the Quanser QUBE making them as twins to mimic. The IoT is done through various networking protocols. The communication between the master and slave is achieved using network-published shared variables. The shared variable is a streamlined programming interface for sharing information that was developed in LabVIEW. Utilizing the NI-PSP, you can undoubtedly pass information inside a device and between devices. The mimicking action of the Qube is achieved without any delay using NI-PSP. This is designed by integrating the Quanser QUBE with NI Elvis III and NI myRIO.

The robot end effectors are triggered by different modes of power, namely electrical, pneumatic, electromagnetic, adhesive and hydraulic. Handling the low-strength components by using the industrial grippers is the vital challenging routine in production units. This paper follows the recent work such that the optimal robot hand is fabricated to perform several operations. The optimal robot finger dimension is taken from the existing work, and the 3D model of the robot finger is analysed by numerical simulation using finite element software. The performance of the robotic gripper is analysed and their behaviour is predicted using FEA package. The robot finger is actuated by pneumatic mode, and this type is used to grasp the lightweight products effectively. The maximum deformation and principal stress of the robot finger with respect to the different pneumatic pressures are analysed. The maximum deformation is found to be 26.9 mm at the actuator tip and the maximum principal stress is observed as 5.13 MPa at pneumatic chamber top portion under 0.3 MPa pressure. The regression analysis is done for the various values of deformation corresponding to the input pneumatic pressure on the robot finger.

Home automation is the budding sector in the new age of technology. Many leading multi-national companies (MNCs) develop their own home automation systems to compete with the market. But all these systems are developed for the foreign requirements and focused on industry standards. An automatic system that supports the typical Indian house infrastructure is still in demand. Moreover, these technologies, which are developed by foreign MNCs, are costly in Indian market. Hence, there is a need to develop our own automatic systems which can meet the demands of the Indian infrastructure as well as affordable for the customers to purchase. Google Nest system uses highly advanced artificial intelligence (AI) called Google Assistant to predict and perform the automation tasks, whereas it requires high cloud storage and processing power to accomplish such accuracy to meet industry standards. But, we can develop a lower-level AI which can meet our requirements to capture the user data, to predict the outcome and act as per the predictions. The Raspberry Pi microcontroller can meet the requirements for the above tasks. We developed an AI-based system for home automation and an android application to serve as an interface with the customers. The overall focus of the proposed system is to develop an automatic system at affordable price with respect to the demands of Indian market.

We get our daily needs easily from the market. But, we hardly think about the farmers who give them to us. A farmer faces a lot of problems starting from weather condition to the unstable nature of prices for their goods. One of the main problems is destruction of crops by the animals and birds. Hence, the agricultural field is to be observed continuously to identify the passage of this sort of animals or some other undesirable interruption. This paper proposes an innovative system which helps the farmer in knowing the entry of animal/bird and taking some preventive steps automatically to drive away the animal/bird from the agriculture field. This work uses pyroelectric infrared (PIR) motion sensor to find any movement in the field. The PIR sensor is fixed on the stepper motor to get the location of animal or bird which entered the field. When the movement is detected, it gives vital preventive measures such as flashing of light, alarming, and sprinkling of water, to drive the animal away. Meanwhile, the information will be sent to the farmer with the help of TWILIO platform. So that, the farmer can arrive on time to avoid any further destruction. To summarize as a whole, the idea which is proposed and implemented can be a good solution for the animal intrusion problem, and also, it reduces the loss of human/animal lives due to electric fencing.

These days signal processing has the great importance in extracting important pathological attributes of the subject (patient). This paper covers important aspects of Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal analysis by proposing emerging tool. The degree of morphological beat-to-beat variability has been examined using a spectrogram technique on real-time ECG datasets. It provides time varying spectral density description of the ECG signal. Out of 49,181 total beats, the proposed technique presents duplicity (D) of 0.4% and detection rate (DR) of 99.48%. Some of the possible future directions, that the research work carried out in this paper can take, are also outlined in conclusion section.

This article gives the brief overview of the important sectors in the petroleum industry and also discusses the application of machine learning in those sectors for automation. This article also highlights the key issues in the downstream sector where adulteration is the primary concern faced by the retailer and consumer. The review of existing applications of ML in the petroleum industry is studied, and the new open-research challenges are discussed. The aim of this article is to show the new directions of research in the less explored downstream sector of the petroleum industry for automation.

This paper describes smart dispenser system for automatically dispensing the ingredients for cooking machine using VL53LOX sensor on the cap of the dispensing jar and a piezoelectric polymer gasket sheet at the bottom. The combination of these two sensors enable calibrate itself and provide accurate quantity of dispensing which is very much essential in certain process. Piezoelectric polymer sensor at the bottom and VL53LOX sensor on the cap communicate the data using IoT. VL53LOX sensor provides the level of the ingredients present. Piezoelectric polymer gasket sensor provides change in resistance value as the quantity varies in the container. By sensor data fusion, an AI engine predicts the exact volume dispensed. The containers periodically “wake up” and communicate to a base station regarding their inventory status and dispensed quantities, and the fill status is automatically updated using the same sensor (Shivraj et al. in Int Res J Eng Technol (IRJET) 06(06), 2019 [1], Voyles and Bae in Smart tupperware1: an example of bluetooth wireless sensor networks for human assistive mechatronic systems [2]). The volume is displayed by graphical user interface using geometrical parameters of the container based on user requirements, and a mobile app gives simulation of the quantity on your mobile screen.

Manufacturing industries have seen great advancements in terms of technology upgradation, new materials, machines, and instrumentation which has resulted in obtaining better performance. However, even today, industries are running hard to achieve zero defect, minimum down time and settling time because of critical process parameters involved in the industry such as pressure, temperature, vibrations, position, fluid-flow rate, rotation, etc. These variations could be consequences of various elements across the system including men, machine, material, or environmental conditions. Most of the operations in industries are sensor based. Any variation in the operation of the sensor could lead to serious performance issues. To solve these problems encountered in industries, it is essential to prepare and train young engineers at institute level about the characteristics and applications of sensors. This is possible with development of Internet of Things-based sensor laboratories in engineering institutes. In this paper, an attempt has been made to demonstrate IoT based intelligent approach to the laboratory at institute level that mimic industry, so that knowledge transfers about sensors, IoT, AI and ML areas are provided to focus future needs of the industrial growth as a part of Industry 4.0 implementation in manufacturing.

Electrical engineering and mechanical engineering lie at the nexus of the burgeoning field of mechatronics. Today, this field is transforming the manufacturing, healthcare and aerospace landscape by integrating the principles of mechanics, computer science and telecommunication. In this project, we harness mechatronics to develop a mechanical system for uniformly distributing tennis balls. This system is powered by a pneumatics actuator, ultrasonic sensors, microcontrollers and a motor. The design process consisted of three phases which include ideation, making the electrical simulation of the control system and the development of a CAD model to study the dynamics of the mechanical system.

Weld microstructural images reveal information of presence of intermetallic compounds (IMC) and IMC layer width in the weld region. This is an important characteristic in evaluating the joint strength. With the evolution of machine learning approaches, automation of quality testing has drawn attention in the manufacturing lines. This effectively reduces the maintenance time. In this paper, an attempt has been made for pixelwise segmentation of microstructural images using support vector machine (SVM) classification. Segmentation could be used to detect the locations of intermetallic compounds and IMC layer width of the joint. The extracted pixel features such as color and texture of the weld microstructural images are used to train the SVM classifier model. The proposed SVM model is able to segment the intermetallic compounds from the base metal microstructures in the weld region with greater accuracy. Further, simulated SVM model results are in good coherence with the experimental results.

The obstacle avoidance and navigation are important tasks for a mobile robot in applications such as industry, military, exploration and automated vehicles. This paper presents an implementation of mapping and navigation of autonomous mobile robot using Robot Operating System (ROS) and Orbbec Astra camera. In recent days, Lidar is used for the mapping and navigation problem by sensing the objects which are above floor level by using only a single horizontal scanning line and this may result in inaccurate generation of map leads to collision during autonomous navigation of mobile robots. In order to overcome limitation of Lidar, Orbbec Astra (Kinect) camera is used for mapping of indoor environment which can detect objects which are above and below the floor level and navigation of mobile robot from start to target location without colliding with obstacles. Experimental results show the map of the indoor environment generated using Orbbec Astra camera is matched with real indoor environment, and generated map is tested experimentally to navigate the mobile robot from start to target location without collision with obstacles.

This paper presents an automatic shopper following shopping cart system with auto-billing feature using Radio Frequency Identifier (RFID) technology and motor drive control system for a mechanized trolley using a novel finite state machine (FSM) based on object tracking method to get hands free movement. The object tracking and motion sensing is done through Computer Vision (CV) algorithm. The trolley is equipped with Raspberry Pi 4 with OpenCV for Image processing along with an IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) module that sends real time product check out data to a cloud-based web application with the vision of industry 4.0 using Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

The paper presents the development of an intelligent and robust fault diagnostics for an electromechanical system. The electromechanical system comprised of a three-phase induction motor (IM) with an external rotor–bearing system. The main contribution of this work is to investigate the combined or multiple faults for different machine components of an electromechanical system which is lacking in the literature. In this work, in total ten different combined fault situations are considered, for example, healthy motor with healthy external rotor (HM-HR), healthy motor with external bearing faults (HM-BF), healthy motor with external unbalanced rotor (HM-UR), bearing fault in motor with healthy external rotor (MBF-HR), bearing fault in motor with external bearing fault (MBF-BF), bearing fault in motor with external unbalanced rotor (MBF-UR), stator winding fault with healthy external rotor (SWF-HR), stator winding fault with external unbalanced rotor (SWF-UR), stator winding fault with external bearing fault (SWF-BF) and bearing fault in motor with external bearing fault and unbalanced rotor (MBF-BF-UR). In order to investigate faults in a combined motor–rotor–bearing system, vibration as well a current signals are used here. The critical features obtained from time domain vibration and current signals are utilized to build an intelligent and robust fault diagnosis system based on multiclass support vector machine (MSVM). The results from the present investigations are discussed in result and discussion sections.

In this paper, design analysis of single-bit cache memory architecture has been done. The proposed single-bit cache memory architecture comprises of the write driver circuit, static random access memory (SRAM) cell, and a current latch sense amplifier (CLSA). The parameter such as power consumption, sensing delay, and the number of transistors in architecture is analyzed at a different value of resistance (R). The optimized value of R in the architecture, power reduction techniques are applied and compared for sleep transistor technique, dual sleep technique, and forced stack technique. Results depicted that applying forced stack technique over SRAM cell and CLSA consume the lowest power 11.58 µW with R = 42.3 kΩ and 39 number of transistors in an architecture. All simulations have been done for 45 ηm CMOS technology in cadence virtuoso tool.

A quantitative and yield analysis of single-bit cache memory architecture with different types of sense amplifiers such as voltage-mode differential sense amplifier (VMDSA), has been implemented and compared on different values of resistance (R). Results depicted that the single-bit cache memory architecture having voltage-mode differential sense amplifier consumes the lowest power (11.16 µW). This SRAM is specifically suitable for Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications with slow access rates and low power consumption.

Nano-satellite going to perform a predominant roll in a future of space industry. These artificial structures move in a closed loop to rationalize the information about the planets for a further study, more over its use in communication and navigation are exceptional. To maintain the steadfast of the signals of the satellites, the external structure needs to have unique properties, because sudden guest launch in the satellites impacts more harmonic load and static structural load to the satellites. So, the Satellite design and the materials decide the strength and lifespan of the Nano-satellites, so that it can able to withstand the space atmospheric condition. In this study, improvement of Nano-satellite design with different composite materials has been analyzed, and the values have been tabulated. The following Nano-satellites structure has been designed, and Static Structural analysis, deformation figured out using Ansys.

A finite element model-based approach based on unbalance response sensitivity (influence coefficient) has been proposed in this work for unbalance identification and balancing of rotor systems. The accuracy of the finite element model being employed in the method is very important aspect, and it emphasizes to use the updated finite element model in its application. A single-disc un-damped rotor system has been considered, with centrally located as well as offset disc positions, to illustrate the effectiveness of the method in unbalance identification. It has been shown that the single-disc rotor system can be balanced using two runs, i.e. initial run and the final run. The method employs the use of the unbalance response sensitivities as computed using the finite element model and the measured unbalance response. However, in this work simulated measured response has been used for the demonstration. Gyroscopic effect due to disc as well as rotor-shaft has been considered in the finite element modelling of the rotor system. The developed algorithm has been tested under a number of rotor spin speeds.

In the following paper, the design of an 8-bit electromechanical processor is presented. The processor has been designed to demonstrate the basic principles of computer organization and digital logic for education in digital computation. As the name suggests, the processor has been designed by using electromechanical relays as the logic blocks. The major features of the processor are that it is simple, illustrative and visual and can be targeted toward computer education at the high school level as well. The processor follows a very minimalistic von Neumann architecture. The minimalistic approach has been taken specially to allow students, even if unprepared in the basic scientific and technological areas to easily understand the working principle of digital processors. The paper presents the description of the processor core and its hardware and software tools.

The buckling of laminated plates is measured with analytical procedures commonly established on the panels subjected to uniform in-plane edge loads. But, the real structural elements are subjected to varied kinds of non-uniform in-plane edge loads. This paper's main objective is to examine the effect of nonlinear edge loads in composite panels with and without stiffeners by using the finite element technique—ABAQUS. The plate and stiffeners are discretized using an eight-noded S8R5 shell element and a three-noded B32 beam element. The study addresses the effect of nonlinearly varying loads, the position of the stiffener, stiffener depth-to-width ratio, panel thickness, ply-orientation and number of stiffeners. It is observed from the study that each parameter significantly affects the buckling behaviour of stiffened plates.

This paper focuses on the effect of optimally damped dynamic vibration absorber (DVA) to attenuate vibration caused by the rotating mass unbalance. The exact solution for DVA damping factor has been determined by using higher-order L’Hospital rule as a function of mass ratio. The effect of exact solution has been compared numerically with approximate solutions obtained by using H∞ method, equivalent linearization method, solution proposed by Ioi and Ikeda and also without DVA. Compared with optimal damping factor solution given by all the listed methods, the required DVA damping factor percentage reduction 85% to 75% for the mass ratio range 0.05 to 0.125, respectively, is found with the exact solution.

Use of advanced materials in gear manufacturing lead to the best use of the material is achieved by geometric optimization, which uses less material. Removal of the material from gear makes lighter weight gear, and the simulation study helps in understanding their effects on stress distribution. This present research work focuses on removing material from the gear tooth for developing lightweight gears. Circular holes are introduced radially through the gear tooth and holes of 1.5 mm diameter created from top land of the gear tooth with varying depth from 5 to 20 mm. This leads to a volume reduction of 2.49% to a maximum of 12.451% as compared to no radial hole on gear. The analysis of CAD models created in CREO software of pinion and gear assembly is carried out in Ansys Workbench 17.2. Stresses in gear proposed are compared with the gear without a hole. The magnitude of stresses at the roots for both pinion and gear is observed and discussed.

An automated vending cum disposal unit with self-sterilization unit is proposed to cope with the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic scenario. Researchers have stated that COVID-19 transmission among Indians occurs significantly through improper storage of the soiled face masks with personal belongings and through discarding of the soiled face masks in public areas. The proposed design integrates the 3-ply and 4-ply face masks vending unit, disposal unit and sterilization unit into a single machine, and the modeling is performed in solid works (2019). The objective of this proposed design is to inhibit human contact while vending and/or disposing face masks.

Bone plate made up of metallic material is being used in the healing of long bone fractures. Unfortunately, it causes some problems like metal incompatibility, corrosion and delay in fracture healing. Hence, researchers seek alternative implant materials to avoid these problems. Natural fibre reinforced polymer composite materials may be good substitutes due to their properties closer to mechanical properties of bone and easily biodegradable too. Nowadays, the utilization of bio-materials in making degradable bone plates has been increased. Among these bio-materials, Kenaf fibres have grabbed the attentions of researchers by their unique properties and performance. Hence, in this connection, our present scientific study focuses on the mechanical properties of alkaline-treated Kenaf fabrics / biodegradable epoxy resin composite with and without fillers (egg-shell powder or fly ash) for bone fracture fixation plates through tensile test as per ASTM standards. The results showed that alkaline treatment introduces the ductile nature of the composite, while non-treated composite had the brittle nature under tensile loading condition. The positive effect of adding 0–10 wt % fly ash filler can be witnessed, as the tensile strength increased from 30 to 45 MPa. In case of egg-shell fillers, the carbonized egg-shell powder (20 wt. %) showed better results achieving maximum strength of 48 MPa, whereas uncarbonized egg-shell powder (0–20 wt. %) could only increase the tensile strength from 25 to 35 MPa. From these results, it is evident that the flexibility of the natural biodegradable composite is more than that of conventional metallic fixator. This study suggests that alkaline-treated kenaf fabric / bio-epoxy-based composite with 10 wt. % fly ash filler or 20 wt. % carbonized egg-shell powder composite can be used as femur bone plate instead of metallic plate during the orthopaedic implant.

Thin-walled tubular cylinders with uniform thickness (UT) are predominantly used as crash energy absorbers in transportation sector for safety applications. Despite their better energy absorption and good strength to weight ratio, during crash event, initial higher peak crushing force is accompanied too, which causes severe damage to the passengers ultimately. In this research work, cylindrical tubes with varying wall thickness along axial direction (VT) are suggested as these energy absorbing devices exhibit minimum initial peak crushing force along with enhanced energy absorption capacity under axial static loading conditions. These tubes were manufactured by turning process. Subsequently, the crushing behaviours of VT tubes were experimentally characterised, and their initial peak crushing force (IPF) and energy absorption (EA) were evaluated. It was found that wall thickness ratio of VT tubes has significant effect on their IPF and EA. Thus, the crushing performance characteristics of VT and UT were compared and resulted as, the IPF and EA of VT tubes were reduced by 20–50% and 5–10%, respectively. The VT tubes deformed more progressive compared to UT tubes in terms of hinge formation and local buckling modes. The results evidenced that VT tubes can improve the deformation behaviour and used as energy absorbers in place of UT structures in automotive fields.

Ventilators are one of the most important and complex devices in the intensive care unit (ICU). These devices are used to handle the patients in critical conditions like lungs collapse, comma, transplant surgeries, etc. But due to COVID-19 pandemic, there is a very large need of the ventilators. This paper focuses on the development of a prototype of portable ventilators with remote control. These ventilators are based on the slider-crank mechanism operated remotely as well as manually. The slider-crank mechanism compresses resuscitator (AMBU bag) and delivers the compressed air to lungs through a pipe and face mask. These ventilators are capable of controlling breath per minute (BPM) and Tidal volume (volume of the oxygen compulsory in the lungs). The range of BPM can be controlled 10-45 BPM where deliverable tidal volume is 250–750 mL. To deliver the contactless treatment to a patient and save the doctor from the disease transmission, we have developed the android application to operate ventilator remotely. Arduino-based Wi-Fi controller is used to create control over BPM. Wi-Fi controller integrates the mobile application with ventilators to establish remote and contactless control. There is the provision of emergency cut-off in antagonistic condition. The overall cost of the prototyping is only 4000 INR and can be assembled within minutes on an assembly line. Because of the ventilator’s compact size and light weight it can be used in remote locations and ambulances.

The use of thin-walled square tubes has got significance in the design of impact energy absorbers for safety of the occupant because of their better specific energy absorption. Despite their better energy absorption, greater initial peak crushing force is the serious threat to occupants causing injuries. Hence, it is critical to minimize the initial peak crushing force with improved crashworthiness performance of thin-walled square tubes. Hence, in the present study, an idea of implementing patterned through-hole perforations along the lateral sides of extruded square profile tubes has been proposed to improve the performance characteristic of the thin-walled tubes by decreasing the initial peak crush force and by improving the crushing energy absorption capacity under axial static loading conditions. The effect of patterned perforations on performance characteristics was implemented by drilling lateral holes at desired positions. Quasi-static axial compressive experiments were conducted to compare the performance characteristics between bare square tubes and square tubes with patterned perforations of discontinuities. The results showed that the patterned holes increased energy absorption (EA) capability with reduced peak force. The initial peak crush force was decreased by 5–25%, and total energy absorption was increased up to 17%. The results have shown the performance characteristics of tubes having patterned holes.

Journal bearings are employed to hold the propellers in high-speed machines such as turbines, combustion engines, etc. Maximum of the design methods employed in the design of journal bearings are based on isothermal hydrodynamic conditions which is not an accurate value. The true value can be getting if the actual conditions are fulfilled which means for the fluid behaviour normally considered as laminar but in the case of motion the fluid flow is not an exactly laminar flow to get the actual flow pattern in some case turbulence model is used to find actual fluid behaviour. In this case the work is kept the condition as laminar. In this design, different input parameters such as viscosity, speed, and shape (L/D ratio) effect on thermo-hydrodynamic lubrication model (i.e., Effect of heat on the viscosity is include in the computation) are carried out to arrive the performance parameters such as pressure developed in the bearing while in operation by using Ansys Fluent. Computational fluid dynamics is a division of numerical methods which finds increasing use nowadays in the lubrication industry. Finite volume method is the basic background of Fluent software.

Auxetics structures, otherwise known as Negative Poisson’s Ratio structures, respond to a tensile load by expanding laterally and to a compressive load by contracting laterally. A prominent structure of this kind is the re-entrant hexagonal honeycomb. Over the years, studies have been carried out in an attempt to understand the behaviour of such structures in terms of properties like Poisson’s ratio and Young’s modulus, circumventing studies over its load-bearing capacities and potential applications. This paper deals with the latter of the two. Re-entrant structured beams are designed and tested numerically using FE models. Inferior deflection characteristics of the conventional re-entrant beams indicate scope for improvement in the design. An additional design factor of the introduction of filler materials into the voids of cells and its influence is also analysed. Multiple foreign filler materials are introduced in the design to understand the effect of filler materials in deflection characteristics of auxetic beams. Influence of these filler materials, expressed through the ranges of their modulus of elasticity, is recorded and shown. Results obtained from the analysis of beams with filler materials indicate a profitable design with enhancement in deflection characteristics compared to that of the conventional auxetic re-entrant beam.

Purpose:Purpose of this study is to explore the interdependence of eccentric force, torque, joint angle, and angular velocity during human multi‑joint leg extension.Design/Methodology/Approach:Joints will be identified for calculation of various forces. Analysis of the forces will be then carried out in software for dynamic conditions. The materials usually used for joints are usually methyl methacrylate (MMA)–poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE).Findings:The results show that force/torque production during multi-joint leg extension in humans depends on both joint angle and angular velocity. This result should be accounted for in-modeling and optimization of human joint movement. The results from the analysis will be used for deciding which material to be used for joints and how to design the artificial joints based on result of analysis. The analysis can be used for further research of joints made up of biomaterials.Research limitations/implications:The research is limited due to lack of proper data. So far, very less research has been done on the mathematical aspect of biomaterials. This study will help in further analysis of biomaterials.Practical implications:This study will help us in deciding the proper materials that can be used in joint replacements while having enough strength to be viable for mass usage. In addition, this study can be used to create prototype models of joints based on the analysis done in this study.Social implications:This study will be used to make joints for joint replacement surgeries. The study will enable people to have these replacements economically while being strong enough to be used in daily life.Originality/value:Not many people have researched on the mechanical aspects of biomaterials, which is seen by the lack of experimental data available. This study allows us to use the analysis in further study of joints made up of biomaterials.

Within a short span of time, the medical-related devices, implants kind of product, have been done by 3D printing manufacturing process. The objective of this study is to design a 3D printable prosthetic foot with an optimized design. The prosthetic foot is very much useful to people with lower-limb loss. It is manufactured by additive manufacturing using nylon 66 materials. The foot is designed using Mechanical CAD Software and imported into ANSYS workbench. The topology optimization is used for providing the portable prosthetic foot with the weight as light as possible. Without compromising the strength and quality of a product, the weight of the product can be reduced using a topology optimization technique.

Thin-walled tubular structures are commonly used as crash energy absorbers in transportation sector for safety applications. These regular profiled tubes are generally metal formed through extrusion process using appropriate dies. In this research work, sheet metals are used to fabricate the tubular structures. Due to their ease of metal working, as well as cost-effective, sheet metals are folded into tubular structures using the sheet metal die. However, these unconstrained folded tubes are ineffective to be used directly under axial crush due to their less energy absorption capacity. Adhesive bonding is one of the effective joining techniques which can constrain the walls of folded tubes together, and thus, energy absorption capacity is enhanced. Crushing tests were performed on the plain folded and folded tubes with adhesive bond in universal testing machine (UTM). The performance characteristics of these folded tubes were analysed and compared with equal mass of conventional plain square tubes to scientifically investigate the relative merits. The experimental results reveal that the initial peak crushing force (IPF) of adhesive bonded tube is 15–30% significantly lower than the extruded square tube. The results also reveal that the crushing length of adhesive bonding folded tube is positively higher than in case of plain folded tube which increases overall energy absorption capacity in the former one. The present study focuses on design for better energy absorbing structure with combined cost-effective manufacturing technology.

The present research work investigates the crashworthiness performance of multi-section tubes with the square cross section at one end and circle at the other end (MTSC). The results were compared with their counterparts such as normal square (USS) and circular (USC) tubes of uniform cross section. In this study, the MTSC, USS and USC are designed to have the same height and thickness. Three different aluminium alloys namely AA6060-T6, AA6061-T6 and AA6063-T6 were chosen for initial investigation. ABAQUS software code was used to predict the performance parameters such as initial peak force (IPF) and specific energy absorption capacity (SEA) under quasi static loading conditions. Mesh sensitivity study has also been performed to improve the accuracy of numerical results. The results evidenced that the multi-section tubes have better energy absorption capacity compared to the normal square and circular tubes.

Digital photoelasticity, a non-contact, non-destructive and optical technique is the most widely accepted methodology for stress measurement. Phase shifting technique (PST) algorithms serve the purpose of evaluating the isochromatic and isoclinic data with more accuracy. However, manual operations of the polariscope for PST is tedious and time-consuming. Further, manual operations confront with high chances of errors during calculations due to the manual rotation of the optical elements. This work aims towards overcoming these limitations by automating the rotational procedure of the plane polariscope-based optical configurations. A compact, table-top optical box design for analyser and polariser is proposed in this work. The plane polariscope-based optical modules can be effectively used for automating the plane polariscope-based phase shifting procedures and thereby enhancing the scope of digital photoelastic stress measurements.

The Hull of a ship is the most prominent structural component. To describe the ship hull, it is said to be the watertight protection of the ship that protects the cargo, machinery, and spaces of the ship from the climate, flooding, and structural damage. In this work, we have taken a pre-assumed load-charring ship vessel of prescribed length barge hull from the real-time ship. Using these parameters, Lloyd’s rules and regulations are used to design the individual components of the ship hull. The barge ship hull model is created using DELFT ship software, and the barge ship hull was performed and modelling was done in CATIA software. The finite element portion is done in HYPERMESH and ABAQUS. Four types of materials are considered which are used in the building of ship in real time. Initially, the design has been done based on steel material, and stress validation is done using ABAQUS software. Vibration is the main factor in moving parts like ships. To find out the vibration behaviour of the ship hull, model analysis and harmonic analysis were performed. This work is mainly concentrated on deformations, stresses, and vibrations for four types of materials like steel, aluminium, wood, and fibreglass. From this research work, we are suggesting that the materials like steel, aluminium, wood, and fibreglass for the barge ship hull strongly advocate that among these, the fibreglass material exhibits good results, and it can be suggested for developing the practical prototype of the barge ship hull.

Curve-shaped laminates are widely used in the aircraft industries, marine industries, and automobile industries. These types of structures have stress concentration near the curved regions. Under the action of applied load, strength and stiffness of the composite laminates reduce that lead to matrix cracking and delamination failures, subsequently. To check the ultimate strength and failures in composites, pull-out and 4-point bending tests have been performed. Here, L-shaped composite laminates are designed using the balanced stacking sequences [0/45/90/-45]3s and are fabricated by using hand lay-up technique. Fabricated specimens are cured by keeping 24 h at room temperature and cut into specimens based on ASTM standards. Further, fixtures were designed to conduct pull-out and 4-point bending test experiments using universal testing machine (Blue Star, 20 kN). Average failure load is evaluated as 1.76 and 1.1 kN in the pull-out and 4-point bending tests, respectively. Furthermore, delamination failures were recorded using Nikon DSLR camera at various strengths. Further, optical microscope studies reveal the interaction between matrix cracking and delamination failure. It is observed that matrix-cracking phenomenon occurs initially and leads to delamination failure in both types of loading conditions.

Machine tools and Process industries extensively use roller contact bearings and sliding contact bearings. They are designed to take both radial load and axial load in different configurations. They can take high loads and take up misalignments in the assembly systems. The failure of the spherical roller bearing in the system can cause problems in quality of the product produced. Any downtime due to bearing failure must be reduced to minimum so as to increase the productivity through reduction of corrective and preventive maintenance of the system. Vibration analysis is a powerful technique used to predict the bearing failures. The failure of the inner race, outer race and rolling element defects are very common in rotary machines and analytical model is necessary to predict the failure. In this work proceeds of dimensional analysis are used to analyzes such defects. Various defects are artificially created using non-conventional machining processes. Experimental setup is also developed to find out the vibration behavior of the bearing with various kinds and sizes of the defects. It is found that there is a good correlation between experimental and theoretical model on the vibration behavior of the defective bearings

Vibration measurement in condition monitoring is gaining lots of importance in industry. Correct detection of the defects in bearings saves lots of energy, time, and cost of the product. Most of the rotating machines use bearings, both sliding contact and roller contact bearings. Choice of the bearing depends on the load conditions, velocity, environments, and other factors. In industry, it is estimated that 15% of the loss is due to wear, friction, and improper lubrication. In this work rolling element bearing failure analysis is done using dimensional analysis as well as experiments. The multiple defects such as unbalance and radial clearance of the bearing systems are investigated using experimentation. Effect of unbalance on the vibration amplitude is studied in this work. It is found that unbalance has a crucial role to play in reduction of the vibration characteristics of the rotor system and earlier detection of the unbalance can save cost and reduce unnecessary breakdown of the rotating machines

Recent advances in topology optimization methods offer better material saving for complex structural applications. This paper investigates noticeable stress variations occurred in the optimized topology through finite element analysis (FEA) with the mesh size as a function to define the stress singularities. The total weight of structure is minimized with the density-based topology optimization scheme. In this article, material volume and element wise stresses are considered as constraints to minimize compliance. The Mitchel cantilever beam, Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) Beam, and L-Bracket members are analyzed as benchmark problems to discuss the importance of stress distribution. To find the solution for optimum topological design problem, density-based Simplified Isotropic Material with Penalization (SIMP) method is employed. This study is revealing the stress-based topology optimization is more suitable to achieve stabilized simulation.

Optimization of flow in non-cyclical areas gains much importance when it comes to practical industrial applications. The present work covers an extensive Study, Analysis, Design, and Development of an optimal model of internal logistics operations between Raw Material Stores to Assembly Line at WABCO-India Limited, Ambattur. It is shown that there is a major nonstandard, non-cyclical movement of the water spider from storage to assembly line that is non-value-added. It is found that quantity of the parts delivered by suppliers does not synchronize with production requirements and there is a lot of material mix up/damage and high (Work-in-process) WIP Inventory with container sizes not clearly defined. Communication between Stores to Assembly Line is totally manual. A (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) DMAIC procedure was adopted to solve the above stated issues. Using the first Lean principle of Right Part at Right Time, Standard movement of Water Spider was achieved. Material mix up/damage and WIP Inventory were reduced thereby increasing the productivity by 50%. By standardizing the container sizes and eliminating manual communication Built in Quality was achieved. Principle of shorter lead time was applied to synchronize Quantity of the parts delivered by supplier with production requirements. A potential state implementation model has been developed for cascades on the other bays.

The aim of this paper is to design modern control strategies to enhance the control performance of multi area automatic generation control of thermal-thermal power plant scheme. One of the major concerns to enhance the stability of automatic generation control is due to non linearity involved inside control signal during load changes. The major incompetence of existing PID scheme is high settling time, high operational noise, high rise time and peak overshoot. The proposed PID scheme has surpassed all mentioned confines of existing one. A modified PID based control scheme is presented to enrich stability, decay noise, diminish rise time and peak overshoot to optimize control action of multi area automatic generation control scheme. The modern adaptive PID based control scheme is more efficient. The safety and reliability aspects of recommended scheme have been enhanced. Furthermore, simulations have been made using MATLAB Simulink, results have been examined and dynamic performances have been evaluated, showing the performance of our application.

Automatic generation control plays vital role to change generation with respect to load changes. In the existing research work, the non linearity, noise and settling time is predominant which significantly affect the load sharing between various operating area and independent generators. The objective of this paper is to design modern hybrid control strategies implementing artificial intelligence techniques to enhance the control performance of multi area automatic generation control of thermal-thermal power plant schemes. One of the vital concerns to enrich the stability of automatic generation control is due to non linearity involved inside control signal during load changes. The major incompetence of existing conventional control scheme is high settling time, high operational noise, high rise time and peak overshoot. The proposed fuzzy-PID hybrid control scheme has surpassed all mentioned limitations of existing one. A modified hybrid fuzzy—PID based control scheme is presented to enrich stability, decay noise, diminish rise time and peak overshoot to optimize control action of multi area automatic generation control scheme. The ultramodern fuzzy—PID based hybrid control scheme is more efficient. The safety and reliability aspects of recommended scheme have been enhanced. Furthermore, simulations have been made using MATLAB Simulink, results have been examined and dynamic performances have been evaluated, showing the performance of our application.

In solar thermal technology, line focus is one of the major categories of solar collectors. They are used to produce either steam or process heat in many applications. In the technology of line focus, sun radiation is directed into the receiver to establish and sustain a line focus. The principal contributors to this technology are parabolic troughs and linear Fresnel collectors. In this paper, an idea of a combination of parabolic and flat reflectors is hypothesized for minimizing the current problems of existing line focus solar collectors. The stationary receiver is mounted in the focal line of parabolic trough. Tracking is only provided to flat reflectors that reduce the tracking cost. A prototype with aforementioned modification is developed and tested for experimental investigation. The thermal performance of the prototype for different operating conditions has been evaluated. Maximum thermal efficiency is reached around 55% that competes with the performance of parabolic trough collector. The average temperature difference of 6.85 °C is noticed, which is 1.14 °C higher than the tested parabolic trough collector.

The battery management system (BMS) is the heart of an electric vehicle. It is a fundamental device connected between the charger and the battery of the electric or hybrid systems. The BMS has several vital functions to perform such as safety, protection, battery management including estimation of charge, cell balancing for effective and smooth operation of the battery and vehicle. This paper aims at designing and implementation of a prototype for 3 level BMS in an EV. The significance of the proposed work is to use the charge of the battery pack in the most efficient and effective way. The software tools used are MATLAB/Simulink, proteus and Arduino IDE. The designed prototype is able to switch off the non-essential appliances including air conditioner, radio, etc., with reduction in speed range. Thus, battery management is successfully carried out. The driver also gets an alert regarding current state of battery, so that he may plan his journey accordingly.

The use of hydrokinetic turbines gathers much attention due to its high power density compared to wind turbines and predictable power output. The Savonius turbine is one of the best hydrokinetic turbines, however, limitations with a low coefficient of power. The input velocity to the turbine also plays an important role in the performance of the turbine. In the present investigation, the effect of flow velocity on the performance of the Savonius turbine is investigated with numerical simulation. The grid-independent study, domain optimization, and validation of the methodology used in the present investigation are carried out prior to the investigation. The investigations are carried out for different ten inlet velocities, and the performance of the turbine is compared in form of the coefficient of power (Cp). The results indicate that to get optimum performance from the turbine, minimum of 2 m/s velocity is required for the considered design of the turbine.

The theoretical and experimental results collected from the most relevant research papers are reported. The thermodynamic properties of refrigerants used for experiments are analyzed, and results from all the papers were summarized. From the literature review, it is understood that although R22 gave a higher coefficient of performance, considering its phase out, we need to look for an alternate. R134a being used as an alternative today but due to its global warming value, we need to look for the eco-friendly refrigerant. The promising refrigerant which comes next to address global warming potential (GWP) was synthetic refrigerant group refrigerant, and their global warming potential was very small compared to the other group refrigerants. The study of lubricants with nanoparticles is included. Addition of nanoparticles to the lubricant and refrigerants increase the efficiency of the system.

In this paper, the optimum nanofluid parameters are established for double pipe heat exchanger (DPHE) which are commonly used in sensible heating and cooling of fluids. For the same heat transfer surface area and same fluids temperature difference, performance comparisons are carried out by the use of nanofluid and without nanofluid, that is, base fluid itself. Important parameters of nanofluids such as volume concentrations and nanoparticle diameter are varied with respect to second law thermodynamic non-dimensional performance parameters exergetic efficiency and entropy generation number. Also, heat exchanger parametric study is carried out by variations of hot fluid temperature drop, surface area, and length-to-diameter ratio. Although there is increase in heat transfer and effectiveness of DPHE by the use of nanofluid, this will not guarantee higher performance. Because there will be reduction of exergetic efficiency and increase in irreversibilities of heat exchangers. The reasons for this are investigated in this work, and suggestions are provided to choose the optimum values of nanofluid particles based on second law efficiency analysis.

Mixed convection lid-driven square cavity’s numerical analysis is carried out using hybrid nanoparticles adding water as base fluid at uniform heating bottom wall. In this analysis, the hybrid nanoparticles which are a combination of graphene (the main constituent) and others such as copper (Cu), silver (Ag), and zinc (Zn) are used with a graphene proportion (10%) for the volume fraction of ϕ = 0.1. At a specified Reynolds number, the percentage combination of the hybrid nanoparticles and the heat transfer coefficients are determined at various Richardson numbers (0.001 ≤ Ri ≤ 10). By comparing different hybrid nanofluids with their average Nusselt numbers at different volume fractions and different proportions of nanoparticles, it can be observed that (graphene–zinc)–water shows more significant enhancement of heat transfer than (graphene–copper)–water and (graphene–silver)–water. From the results at ϕ = 0.1 and Ri = 10 for a proportion of 10:90, it is observed that graphene–zinc (40.982) has 67.06% and 69.39% increment of heat transfer rate when compared with graphene–copper (24.532) and graphene–silver (24.193), respectively.

The proposed experimental work substantially targets the denouement of graphene nanoparticles (GNP’s) addition to jatropha seed methyl ester-diesel meld fuel (JSME20-20% jatropha methyl ester + 80% diesel) to explore the performance and emission characteristics. The GNP’s are infused at assorted aggregations like 25, 50, 75, and 100 parts per million (PPM) to JSME20 with ultrasonicator. The results revealed a significant intensification in brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and recede in brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) for the JSME20 with 50 PPM addition of graphene nanoparticles. The detrimental emissions such as NOx, CO, HC, and smoke are cut back at all load conditions for the graphene nanoparticles added JSME20 than JSME 20. The use of GNP’s in the jatropha biodiesel mix is suggested for future diesel engine applications.

Lithium-ion batteries are very popular as an energy storage system for electric vehicles. Efficient heat transfer and overall thermal management of Lithium-ion battery are very essential for optimum performance. During charging and discharging cycles of the battery, considerable heat is produced which requires rapid diffusion. Use of phase change material as a medium of such heat transfer exhibit considerable potential. However, there exists a large variation in thermo-physical properties of the phase change materials, particularly organic PCM. It is very important to understand, transient heat transfer characteristics of these PCM in a single battery cell. A critical review of the available literature suggests a gap in addressing the above issues under different discharge rates. In order to resolve this issue, numerical analysis of a single li-ion battery cell is performed in the present work. In the current work, variations in current density and temperature are studied to understand the heat transfer process with the variations in thermo-physical properties of phase change material. The result exhibits considerable variations in temperature with changing discharge rate. In addition to this, a comparative study is also performed to understand the final temperature rise in the battery at different discharge rates with and without PCM. The current work provides a good insight of the temperature characteristic for efficient thermal management of li-ion battery.

Photovoltaic (PV) power fluctuation, voltage unbalance, voltage harmonic distortion, and harmonic current sharing are primary concerns of power quality problems in PV based distributed generators (DGs) in an isolated microgrid system. For resolving these issues, this paper proposes a model predictive control (MPC) methodology for the battery management system (BMS) to smooth the PV power fluctuation, maintain the stable DC-link voltage, and manage the power balance within the microgrid. In addition to DG control, autonomous control strategy for parallel inverters is also developed to ensure the stable output AC voltage and proper load sharing. Specifically, prediction based voltage unbalance and harmonic compensation (VUHC) controller are proposed in the secondary level of hierarchical control to enhance the power quality in microgrids. The proposed compensation method reduces circulating currents among the parallel-connected inverters and provides quality power to loads. The effectiveness of this power control strategy is carried out by simulation under mismatched distribution feeder with nonlinear/unbalanced load conditions.

Centralized PID control scheme is applied for isolated power system integrated with droop and inertia-controlled wind farm through HVDC transmission link. Optimal control parameter gains of PID controller are set by using biogeography-based optimization (BBO) algorithm with the help of integral square error (ISE) measurement. This scheme supervise all plants secondary control action to minimize the frequency oscillations caused by load changes. Comparisons are provided with optimal PI, PID controllers shows the superiority of the proposed scheme.

In the present analysis, heat transfer through natural convection in a square cavity was studied and compared between various nanofluids with uniform heating. In this analysis, nanoparticles like graphene, copper (Cu), titanium oxide (TiO2), silver (Ag), and base fluids like water and ethylene glycol executed in a square cavity. The effects of volume concentrations of nanoparticles (ϕ) and Rayleigh number (Ra) are showed, and the average Nusselt number was investigated. By increasing the volume concentration of nanoparticles, the average Nusselt number also increases. Input parameters like Rayleigh number in the range of 103 ≤ Ra ≤ 106 and volume concentrations of nanoparticles in the field of 0 ≤ ϕ ≤ 0.1, and the results exhibited in average Nusselt number. From the results, the average Nusselt number in a square cavity with graphene-water is 14.453, and graphene-ethylene glycol is 14.578, with a percentage change of 0.8574%. Comparing different nanofluids with their average Nusselt numbers at various volume concentrations found that graphene-ethylene glycol at Rayleigh number (Ra = 105) have more enhancement of heat transfer inside square cavity.

Huge consumption of electricity produced from fossil fuels prompts to probe for refrigeration systems that could be operated with renewable energy. In this context, heat-operated refrigeration systems have become better choice as they eliminate the intermediate processes in conversion relating to generation of electricity and subsequent higher production costs. Ejector refrigeration system produces the lowest temperature in comparison with other systems which belong to heat-operated systems. Achievement of this low temperature is attributed to the working fluids employed for refrigeration. Investigations are being carried out both theoretically and experimentally by several researchers world-wide to enhance the performance of the ejector refrigeration system better and control it with greater efficiency. This paper provides a comprehensive review of working fluids used by various researchers for their theoretical and experimental investigations.

Dew point indirect evaporative coolers (IEC) are air cooling devices that cool air without the inclusion of moisture. The work furnished in this paper is an experimental study on mixed-flow dew point IEC. With direct evaporative coolers (DEC), it is difficult to reach a temperature below the wet bulb. The drawbacks of DEC and normal IEC are to be solved by replacing them with dew point IEC. Heat and mass exchanger (HMX) is fabricated using 1 mm thick aluminum sheets and cellulose-rich cotton fabric to absorb water. Acrylic ducts are attached at the entry and exit of HMX to ensure a fully developed flow of air. Performance test conducted is to study the effect of inlet flow conditions such as velocity (1–2.5 m/s) and temperature (22–35 °C). Coefficient of performance (COP) and cooling capacity (CC) are better at higher inlet air temperature and higher flow rate of air. A similar trend has been observed in wet bulb effectiveness (WBE) and dew point effectiveness (DPE). Maximum COP recorded during experimentation is 5.3 at a temperature of 35 °C with 2.5 m/s inlet air velocity.

This study proposed an investigation on the performance of the jet impingement microchannel heat sink infused with cylindrical passive structures called pillars at the centerline of the channel. Array of nozzles were designed on the top of the microchannel, and pillars were designed at the center of two neighboring nozzles. Numerical modelling and simulation of conjugate solid–fluid heat transfer is performed by using finite volume-based commercial Ansys CFX software. Analysis was done for the effect of nozzle inclination angle on the hydraulic and thermal characteristics of the hybrid MCHS. Characteristic parameters such as heat transfer coefficient, thermal resistance, wall temperature, and pressure drop were observed for Reynolds number varied from 100 to 400 and nozzle impingement angle varied in between 30° and 90°. Improvement in heat transfer occurred with increasing the Re as well as inclination angle. Highest heat transfer coefficient and lowest bottom wall temperature are obtained for the 60° nozzle angle. Moreover, with increasing the inclination angle, pressure drop is reducing, but with increasing the Re, pressure drop is increasing.

Introduction of swirling flow in pipes has significant impact in convective heat transfer applications. The swirl is induced by various means such as installing guide vanes and swirl generators along the pipe. In this work, a numerical study is performed to predict the influence of the swirl intensity on heat transfer. The numerical analysis is performed using a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics package for turbulent flow with a Reynolds number around 3300. The intensity of the swirl component at the inlet of the pipe is varied from 0 to 5 m/s by having a constant axial component of 0.1 m/s. Moreover, a step is introduced on the inlet of the pipe and its influence in heat transfer is also investigated. The results revealed that the heat transfer takes place effectively when the diameter of the inlet pipe is smaller. However, it is less responsive for the induced swirl. Conversely, the heat transfer is not as effective as the diameter of the inlet is more. But it is highly sensitive for the swirl flows and the heat transfer could be enhanced by swirling flows where the inlet diameter is relatively high.

With developing overall attention of ecological guard, green production has turned into a vital problem on behalf of practically each maker and will decide the maintainability of a producer in the long haul. An exhibition assessment framework for green providers is important to decide the appropriateness of providers to collaborate with the dense. Many MCDM methods have provided valuable factors in selection of green suppliers. The objective of this work is to evaluate a hybrid algorithm for evaluating the significance of the chose standards and the exhibition of green providers. Six standards are contemplated for assessing provider’s presentation. By using DEMATEL approach will be able to categorize the cause-and-effect relationship between criteria. Entropy is used to find out the virtual decision-making criteria condition weights, and TOPSIS is used to give the ranks their alternatives.

This present experimental investigation is intended to illustrate the significance of the biodiesel derived from Cotton seed oil (CSO) with 1% Di Hydroxy Fatty Acid (DHFA) as an additive in the fuel samples on the environmental pollution issues. The different fuel combinations tested were pure diesel, B5, B10, B10, B15, B20 and B25. The experiments were done with compression ratio 17.5. From the experimental evidence, there was an increase in 14.6% thermal efficiency, 6% brake power and lower exhaust gas temperature for VCR fueled with CSO as compared to diesel in the aspects of performance study.

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study has been carried out to analyse the performance of gasoline and diesel blends under homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine conditions. A sector model of 60° has been implemented to capture the in-cylinder combustion process. Effect of air–fuel ratio (50, 55, 60, 70 and 80) and various gasoline contents (50%, 60%, 70% and 80%) on the combustion characteristics of the engine operating under HCCI engine conditions have been studied. CFD results predicted using the tool STAR-CD have been validated with the measured experimental values available in the literature. Progress variable model multi-fuel (PVM-MF) has been implemented as the combustion model. The pressure and temperature curves obtained from the simulation results are presented. From the results, it can be seen that the gasoline content and air–fuel ratio are inversely proportional. High gasoline content cases show that the air–fuel ratio must be maintained low in order to obtain combustion of the charge itself. Lower gasoline content portrays that the engine can be operated under lean conditions, and their behaviour is similar to a current diesel operation.

In this paper, comparison of transformer less bi-directional dc–dc converter with conventional buck-boost converter topology is done. BDC has many advantages such as power flow in both directions, high gain, high efficiency, simple circuit structure, reduced switching components, with wide voltage range, reduced switching loss due to zero voltage switching, reduce voltage stress and reduced size. Bi-directional converters are of different topologies and are used for different applications based on their features. Isolated converters are bulky and are of large size due to high frequency transformer, therefore they are useful for static energy storage applications, whereas transformer less BDC are lightweight and convenient for dynamic applications like Electric Vehicle. BDC with energy storage devices is used for frequent start–stop of motors and electric vehicles. BDC is also helpful in energy transfer between two dc buses of different voltage level. Transformer less converter topology is compared with traditional converter topology which is simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK.

A comparative study of thermocol-FRP-insulated domestic solar water heating system (TDSWHS) with the conventional water heating system (flat plate collector (FPC)) and recently developed MDSWH with PV module has been carried out. TDSWHS is a water heater which efficiently utilizes the solar radiation falling on the solar collector as well as on storage tank for heating of water. Results satisfactorily proved the TDSWHS to be better than the conventional system. It provides water temperatures 19 °C higher than FPC of the same capacity and under same environmental conditions with 43.5% reduced floor area demand. It has been found to be 27.1% cheaper than MDSWH with photovoltaic (PV) module. Earned carbon credit has been found to be Rs. 24,964 (371.27 US $) and Rs. 998.06 (44.58 US $) in terms of energy and exergy, respectively, for TDSWHS.

Continuously increased requirement of electricity because of population, higher living standards, and the human race in automation directs the world to use the waste and non-conventional sources of energy. In the present work, unwanted vibration from an electric motor is used to generate electric power with the help of the piezoelectric element. Piezoelectric is a special class of dielectric which generates electric power because of their structural deformation under force and vibration. The piezoelectric material lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is mounted between the electric motor’s base and foundation. The output of the piezoelectric element is measured under three different conditions of the motor operation such as (a) idle running, (b) loaded with a grain-grinding machine, and (c) loaded with a chaff cutter machine. The maximum power generated from diaphragm-type single piezoelectric element was 48.06 µW when the motor was connected to a chaff cutter. To increase power output, two pieces of piezoelectric elements are connected in series and parallel connection. The power output obtained from two piezoelectric materials connected in series and parallel is 102.96 and 151.81 µW, respectively, for the same chaff cutter. Further, the effect of both the connections is studied in laboratory conditions. Results are comparable with field experiments. The electric power generated from waste vibration is sufficient to operate small electronic and microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices. The proposed technique has the potential to utilize vibrations of big electric motors and machines in industries.

This research is possibly attempting the current issue of COVID-19 medical waste safe disposal and energy recovery from pathogenic waste. Non-woven fabric waste generation increased in pandemic situations, which need to dispose of safely; meanwhile, energy recovery is also important. Pyrolysis is an economical and harmless way to handle and efficiently convert infectious waste into fuel and chemicals. The chemical kinetic model for the infectious medical waste pyrolysis process was developed using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) data. The ASTM D3172 proximate analysis determines a volatile matter, moisture, ash, and fixed carbon percentages. Bomb calorimeter is used to determine the exact calorific value of solid infectious medical waste. The proximate and calorimetric investigations show non-woven fabric waste has 35.8 MJ/kg heating values and more than 98.5 weight percentage of volatile matters. The chemical kinetic study focuses on the identification of the reaction model for the non-woven fabric pyrolysis process. It can conclude that this infectious medical waste can become a useful source of energy, chemicals, and fuels.

A computational model based on the exergy destruction using Engineering Equation Solver (EES) is developed to analyze the exergy losses in the evaporator, condenser, compressor, and the expansion valve of the system for the refrigerant R134a and its alternatives: R600a, R290, R1234yf, and R1234ze. Coefficient of performance, refrigeration effect, total exergy destruction, and exergy efficiency for the various operating ranges of condensing and evaporator temperatures are evaluated for a particular alternate refrigerant. The results inferred that R600a, R290, R1234yf, and R1234ze refrigerants in comparison with R134a perform well for domestic residential applications within evaporator temperature (263–293 K) and condenser temperature (303–323 K). Although the performance parameters for R1234yf and R1234ze fall short than that of R134a as per the first law of thermodynamics, its eco-friendly properties, low exergy loss for lower capacity refrigeration system such as domestic refrigeration system, and lower work input requirement offset the gap and make it a suitable alternative for R134a.

Natural convection heat transfer has been a subject of intensive research during the past decades due to its wide applications such as in cooling of nuclear reactors and electronic equipments, heating and ventilation in building design. The present study is focussed with enhancement of natural convection heat transfer in a cylindrical enclosure with in-built heat source. Fluids of two different Prandtl numbers (air and liquid sodium) are studied in laminar regime. The solution of the governing equations is carried out using Fluent 4.3.16 CFD solver, which uses control volume method to discretise the governing equations. The detailed heat transfer and flow characteristics are investigated in five different chimney configurations. The use of chimney enhances the rate of heat transfer from the source. For air, any plate which has at least one opening in it can be selected to maximise the heat removal from the plate. However, for liquid sodium, the funnel chimney configuration gives the best results to maximise heat transfer rate.