Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering

PV (Photovoltaic) arrays are the most popular renewable energy sources that provide clean, reliable, and green energy. There are no harmful emissions during power generation from PV array systems. PV arrays only generate electricity during the day, and there is no output power in the night time so it is desirable that the PV arrays to be integrated with energy storage devices, such as batteries. These batteries supply power when there is no sunshine. Nowadays, a variety of battery technologies are integrated with PV arrays for residential applications. Among various battery storage systems, one needs efficient battery storage, which has a fast-charging rate, long battery lifetime, and low per-cycle cost. The objective of this research paper is to examine a suitable battery storage system to integrate with PV arrays for residential applications that have a fast-charging rate and long battery lifetime, and provide low-cost energy (per kWh).

A spacer is an essential part of a knee replacement prosthesis that resists the load transfer from the femoral to tibial component. In the present work, a poly(lactic acid)-based spacer was designed by SOLIDWORKS® 2017–18. The performance of the designed spacer was analyzed by finite element analysis using SOLIDWORKS® 2017–18. The stress and strain distribution in the spacer was examined at three different loads of 3000, 5000, and 7000 N in a simulated environment. The designed spacer shows maximum stress of 12.36 MPa, a maximum strain of 2.342 × 10−3, and a deformation of 0.0293 mm. The finite element analysis shows that the designed spacer has suitable mechanical properties as per the requirements of artificial knee joint. It also shows high load-carrying ability which can be replaced by the existing spacers used in total knee replacement prostheses.

In the market, mostly electromagnetic induction systems are used to generate heat and are used in various applications; however, it requires a lot of power and maintenance. Electromagnets are produced with the help of copper coils; by providing an electrical supply, the copper coil becomes an electromagnet and generates heat. The electromagnets are replaced by permanent magnets, which do not require an electric supply to generate magnetic fields; they have permanent magnetic properties in nature. The heat is generated by rotating the permanent magnet placed on the circular acrylic sheet in alternate polarity; various tests are conducted to study its working in different conditions.

The majority of the world is fed by the cereal rice. The need for rice is rising in cities, and people often prefer rice cereals that taste great and support food security. So farmers have to produce rice in a larger amount. When we talk about production of rice harvesting, threshing comes under discussion. After harvesting, threshing is a process carried out. It is process of separating the seeds from the crop, which increases simultaneously with production. In India, almost more than 80% of farmers are small-scale producers. So they use traditional method of threshing by beating the harvested crops against a solid surface, which takes very long and is very difficult for farmers as the production rate is high. To reduce this problem, we have come up with battery-operated rice threshing machine, which is also portable so makes it easier for the farmers to dismantle it and take it to the field easily, which is not possible in existing engine-operated rice threshing machine. The overall weight of the machine will also be less as L-channels are used for the body construction instead of rods and wooden made drum is used. For the elimination of these problems such as more weight engine usage, this machine will be a good choice for mainly small-scale producers and even for medium- and large-scale producers.

The industrial world is currently in a revolutionary phase due to the advancements in automation technology. Automation aids in simplifying by performing operations in minimum lead time. The vending machine is one such initiative in automation technology, which aims in organized product preparation and delivery. This study focuses on manufacturing an automated vending machine for preparation of raw materials especially viscous fluids at stoichiometric ratios. This study extends the application of preparing tailored or composite materials which requires dispensing of materials at stoichiometric ratio, overhead stirring for viscous or large volume material preparation, heating treatment at predetermined temperature, etc. The automation process solely depends on material handling operations which is implemented by the use of conveyor systems for transportation, dispensing via servo actions, and motorized overhead stirring and heat treatment. Thus, the machine enables large quantity material production at predetermined composition.

Multi-axis machining centers use a single pallet system where the workpiece to be machined is placed on the machining table and operations are performed. When a machining cycle is finished, the workpiece is removed from the machining table and replaced with the next workpiece. As a result, the time between machining cycles lengthens, lowering productivity. A pallet transfer system attempts to solve this difficulty by introducing a secondary pallet onto which the workpiece can be loaded while the machining process is carried out on the primary pallet. This eliminates the need to stop the machine to replace the workpiece, allowing for continuous output. A pallet station was used to implement the pallet transfer mechanism to the right of the machine. It is made up of sliding linear pallets and support structures. The scotch yoke mechanism was utilized to construct the mechanism for transporting the pallet from the pallet station to the machining table. By merging the movement along the y-axis of the pallet with the movement along the y-axis of the machining table, this system removes the requirement for y-axis movement. The pallet is pushed or pulled into the pallet station by a kinematic link. The link is moved with the help of an electrical motor. The movement mechanism's accuracy and safety are guaranteed. As a result, the time between machining cycles is shortened, and the overall machine unit productivity is increased.

The kitchen being an essential part of any household, requires best possible designs for comfortable working conditions. A large amount of literature and standards have been recommended for height and depth of the kitchen countertop. Which is mostly unified for a very wide range of population. Since the dimensional criteria are much more dependent on the local anthropometric data, a wide range of standards cannot be relied up on. In this article, the height and depth of the kitchen countertop have been optimized specifically for on the Indian population. Taguchi’s method was adopted with L25 orthogonal array to assess the postural responses from experiments conducted in virtual environment that were validated through laboratory setup and Indian female participants from 25th percentile to 95th percentile category. The results from the statistical analysis were investigated to find that a height of 895 mm and depth of 457 mm of countertop are most suited for the Indian population.

This research specifically defined the procedure for optimising the workforce requirements while performing the housekeeping activities in the manufacturing organisations targeting the productivity improvement. Any industry's primary goal is to enhance the productivity in conformance to the end result of an effective manufacturing process and the cost-effective utilisation of manufacturing resources. The prime focus of this research was on the optimisation of indirect labour, and housekeeping staffs. To analyse the housekeeping operations, Maynard operation sequence technique (MOST) approach was employed to determine the typical method and duration for cleaning activities in various types of locations. Frequent benchmarking and standards of areas were considered to select the best areas for MOST applicability. The majority of MOST analyses took into consideration particular standardised sectors of various types before extrapolating the findings to the entire industry. A customised template was created as a MOST data sheet, and the work flow was assessed by segmenting the operations into constituent parts. Complete manpower calculations were performed using accessible plans, and a few physical measures, as well as area auditing. Process optimisation incorporated an analysis of machine impact on cleaning activity. Such methodological approach will devise a framework to ascertain which area will contribute to better study outcomes that will provide a precise time estimate. The outline of this research is to develop such framework to optimise the manpower requirements in case of housekeeping activities so as to contribute towards productivity improvement and overall sustainability of the manufacturing firms.

Climbing the coconut trees manually is difficult and challenging because the height of the tree is very long. In addition to, day by day the availability of professional coconut climbers is less. To overcome this difficulty in the current research article, the authors proposed a climbing device which can be climb autonomously, quickly, safely, and efficiently. The developed robot can be capable to control by remotely and also it can climb the curved shape of the coconut trunk trees. Moreover, the climbing robot consists of several mechanical elements, which are upper frame, lower frame, jaw rod, spring, wheels and universal joints which will help to climb the coconut in stable manner. It is necessary to understand the deformation behavior and stresses generated from various elements of the climbing mechanism. To analyze the behavior of various said mechanical elements in the current research article, the authors conducted a modal and harmonic analysis using finite element method (FEM) in ANSYS 2022. The developed analysis is helpful to reduce the failures of the mechanism under dynamic loads.

The present work aims to develop a statistical model to assess the reliability of different cars of the same model number. The input data were collected based on fault identification from an automobile service station. The data collection is categorized according to the distance covered by the cars, and this covered distance further converted into time function by considering the speed of cars as 60 km (km)/hour (hr). The data collection was categorized into three categories: (i) up to 25,000, (ii) 25,001–50,000 and (iii) 50,001–75,000 km’s to identify the various parameters of the study. To calculate the reliability, the Weibull distribution of two parameters, slope and scale was selected and applied. Results of reliability in terms of clutch, brake and suspension were calculated, and remedies were also suggested based on data received from the analysis.

Titanium alloys are a type of biomaterial commonly seen in orthopaedic implants. Surface properties such as wettability and roughness are crucial for cell adherence, spreading, and proliferation at the implant/tissue interface, as they affect the biological response. Several surface texturing technologies have been developed to attain these properties for biomedical applications. These methods have constraints that limit their effectiveness, despite their potential. Abrasive water jet texturing could be a possible choice in this scenario. This study uses a controlled depth milling technique to use abrasive water jet milling to modify the Ti-6Al-4V alloy surface. Nozzle speed and jet pressure were taken as variable parameters, and the modified surface topography and contact angle were measured with a digital microscope, and the surface roughness was measured using a contact type tester. The obtained surface was hydrophilic, and the corrugated surface produced by the #80 abrasive particles used in the milling operation is appropriate for implant surfaces in biomedical applications.

The Al-8wt.% TiB2 in-situ-formed metal matrix composite has been fabricated and subjected to cold extrusion followed by heat treatment as per the guidelines given by the ASTM. Analyses were done to investigate the impact of cold extrusion on microstructural and mechanical characteristics. The mechanical properties have been evaluated according to the ASTM recommendations and compared with base metal properties. Superior properties have been observed in the Al-8wt.% TiB2 in-situ formed composite. Cold extruded composite properties such as hardness, 0.2% proof strength, and UTS were 94 RB, 192 MPa, 293 MPa, respectively. The homogeneity of the reinforcement particles in the composite was ascertained using the optical and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) investigations. The TiB2 particles and intermetallic phases like Mg2Si and Al5FeSi were confirmed by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and element mapping techniques.

Inconel 925 superalloy was machined and subjected to wire electrical discharge machining to study the major process parameter. The L9 orthogonal array was used in a Taguchi design with three parameters, Ton (pulse on time), Toff (pulse off time), and SV (Spark Gap Voltage) at three levels. Using analysis of variance, influencing process factors were discovered. The optimum parameters for higher material removal rate were 110 μs, Ton, 60 μs Toff, and 25 V SV. The optimal parameters for an excellent surface finish were 105 μs Ton, 60 μs Toff, and a SV of 23 V. The influencing parameter for producing a better material removal rate with good surface quality was discovered as Toff, whereas Ton and SV had no effect on the output parameters. The Taguchi design of the experiment yielded improved machining properties for increased Toff when machining the Inconel 925 superalloy.

Friction stir welding is a novel and innovative technique for the joining of different low melting point metals and their alloys, especially aluminium and its alloys in various structural, automotive, aerospace, and defence applications. Herein, multi-objective analysis for achieving the optimized parameters in the welding of a 6061 aluminium alloy sheet of 4 mm thickness was done. The joint is developed by varying the rotational speed, welding speed, tool offset distance, and plunge depth. The individual and simultaneous effect on the tensile strength and % elongation are represented. The experimental design was carried out using Taguchi L16 OA philosophy. ANOVA and GRA analysis are done for multi-criteria decision-making incorporating the principal component (PC) analysis approach. The 800-rpm tool rotation speed, 30 mm/min welding speed, 1 mm tool offset distance, and 0.16 mm plunge depth are found to be the optimal parameters. 71.04 MPa tensile strength and 1.16% elongation were found at the optimized levels.

Powder-mixed EDM (PMEDM) finds a variety of applications, including automobile components, aerospace parts, MEMS products, bio-medical implants and surgical tools. In this paper, materials removal mechanisms on the workpiece as well as the tool have been investigated in PMEDM using graphite powder-mixed pungai (Pongamia or Millettia pinnata) oil. The input parameters namely powder concentration, gap voltage and pulse on-time were considered. Taguchi’s L-9 orthogonal array design has been adopted to construct an experimental campaign. Main effects plots, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and SEM techniques have been indented to identify the major impact of process parameters. The results declared that the graphite powder-mixed pungai oil resulted in higher MRR at higher values of process parameters (concentration 6 g/l, gap voltage 50 V and pulse on-time 90 µs). Moreover, it is confirmed that the initial values of the process parameters (concentration 2 g/l, gap voltage 30 V and pulse on-time 50 µs) provided lower TWR. It is recommended that pungai oil dielectric be employed as a replacement for hydrocarbon oil-based dielectrics for the green EDMing process.

Solid-state welding is an emerging technique with the sole purpose of creating quality joints within a few seconds. Aluminum and cupronickel sheets are typically utilized in lithium-ion battery packs. Electric vehicles employ these materials due to their higher electrical and thermal conductivity. Ultrasonic welding is an energy-efficient process that produces effective bonds rapidly between two dissimilar thin materials. The weld interface temperature is comparatively low during the ultrasonic welding process, and negligible intermetallic compounds are formed at the bond region. In the present study, the weld strength and failure behavior of aluminum/cupronickel joints are investigated at various weld energies. The critical stress intensity factor is used to determine whether the joint is capable of withstanding the crack before its failure. The result disclosed that as the welding energy upsurges, the critical stress intensity factor increases gradually to its maximum level and then decreases with further increasing welding energy. The hardness of aluminum side is decreased by increasing weld energy because of enhanced plastic deformation and elemental diffusion at the bond interface. On the other hand, cupronickel surface hardness is not changed distinctly. Moreover, the cross-sectional and microstructural behavior of the joint interface is discussed to comprehend the complete bond quality.

This case study article discusses about the implementation prospects of lean manufacturing (LM) in one of the Indian SMEs, a kitchenware industry taking into account some of the Kaizen standards. In this case study, the published literatures were methodically categorized, analyzed, and addressed within the frames of this case. The regulations in conformance to Kaizen philosophy inside the work area were reviewed, analyzed, and applied adopting the LM principles. The LM practices were employed while implementing the 5S techniques and Kaizen philosophy altogether having the prime focus on big horizontal improvement to be carried out in all the workstations of this manufacturing enterprise. This case study being conducted in the premise of a kitchenware firm targeted the crucial changes and developments having linkage with lean implementation like growth of effectiveness and efficiency in the tactics, stepped forward visibility of the process, stepped forward morale and protection of the employees, decreased delays and searching time, and perilous situations. The Kaizen philosophy pinpointed each program of improvement in this SME characterized by continuous improvement. This case study will form the basis toward developing a framework for lean implementation based on Kaizen standards in other SMEs too toward their sustainable growth.

Deep drawing is mainly valuable for metal-forming industries to draw the sheet metal component. It is complex and costly, but no extra machine and machine parts are required to produce the component. The current work uses a novel deep drawing method without a blank holder or drawing beads to create cylindrical and circular cups. In this method, a circular blank is pushed through a conical die with a circular aperture using a cylindrical head circular punch to create a cylindrical cup. A test setup has been created and used for the experimental manufacturing of cylindrical sheet metal cups. The 50 mm and 55 mm blanks are cut from a 1.5 mm thick Al 1100 sheet. Compressive tests were conducted to obtain the cross head travel (CHT) and load behaviour for the sheet metal cup. After experiments, it is concluded that at the same peak load value, 55 mm symmetric cups have 32.86% more elongations than the 50 mm blank without any wrinkles, while the 50 mm blank produce an asymmetric cup in a short period. The suggested method and setup successfully produced a cylindrical cup with a blank of 55 mm.

A parking brake is a separate component from your vehicle’s conventional hydraulic brakes that controls the rear brakes. It is responsible for keeping a parked vehicle motionless, preventing it from rolling down a hill or moving. Some major kinds of parking brake systems existing in automobiles are fully mechanical (traditional), electro-mechanical park braking (EMPB), and electronic parking brake (EPB). Each design kind has its own set of benefits and drawbacks. In the event that the road surface is sloped, this might prevent the vehicle from rolling and causing a collision with other vehicles or objects located on the rear side of the vehicle. While the service brake malfunctions, the parking brakes are occasionally utilised as an emergency brake to bring the vehicle to a complete stop. Park brake systems have undergone significant structural and control improvements in recent years, not only improving safety and energy recovery efficiency but also integrating more functions. Although much progress has been made in this field, these efforts have yet to be properly described. This work reviews and summarises the literature to provide current information in the field of park brake system design.

The current revolution in information and communication technologies (ICT) has completely altered the healthcare industry. Researchers have exploited the capabilities of ICT to reduce the impact of the ongoing global health pandemic. Specifically, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) are significantly employed in the healthcare sector to mitigate the challenges posed by COVID-19. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a keyword co-occurrence network analysis of published scholarly literature on the AIoT-enabled healthcare domain. It conducts a keyword co-occurrence network analysis to deduce thematic clusters, emerging research areas, research hotspots, and technological trends using the visualization tool CiteSpace. The results of this research revealed that India is the most prominent country in this knowledge domain. Similarly, COVID-19 and smart homes are the major research areas in the IoT-enabled healthcare field. Furthermore, blockchain technology, remote monitoring, and 5G technology are the most recent technologies that are significantly employed with IoT to improve the quality of healthcare services.

The Engineering to order (ETO) is manufacturing as per specific customer demand. ETO products transferred to the specification of the customer. The ETO manufacturing method is applied in organizations for producing and developing particular customized products. Computerized automation or design automation is stared as an essential means to reach lead time and quality upgrades. Production planning and control governing the project requirement and needs with software support. Challenges in web computing with improvement in business activity of ETO Company are investigated in this paper briefly also purposed tooling with automation which will reduce loading of the sales department. It specifies to the customer the available relevant web data as per cloud computing ETO tools, which is directly linked to the sales ordering procedure.

The major goal of this study was to enhance the present Emergency Medical Service (EMS) system, which is responsible to provide out-of-hospital acute medical care for treating patients with diseases and injuries. The public can contact the EMS by dialing an emergency number, which connects them to a control room that subsequently provides ambulance provision. While the current voice call system of calling help is prone to inherent voice call delays, human errors, less accurate signal tracking systems, etc. This study focuses on developing an integrated mobile application that serves to strengthen the link between public and EMS authorities. The study proposes an Android mobile application called fast aid to plug this gap by automating the EMS processes. The app eliminates human errors, locates the site of the accident through the use of GPS in mobile devices, gives access to various emergency services, and picks out a hospital within an optimal distance, all within few clicks and a short conversation, providing a monitoring system to scale the high volume of emergency requests.

Kinematic study plays a significant task for proper understanding of multi-degree of freedom (m-DOF) industrial robots. This research involves the kinematic modeling of 5-DOF robotic manipulator with the help of simulation tool. The simple and direct methodology using Denavit–Hartenberg (D-H) parameters has been used to accomplish the forward kinematics analysis. Analytical equations for inverse kinematics have also been derived in the paper. Kinematic solutions have been achieved by MATLAB simulation to put forth a formidable design able to work in industries. Researcher can find this work relevant in understanding how kinematic analysis will be carried out in a robotic manipulator.

The prime aim of this research work is to study and implement real-time air pollution monitoring and forecasting system. The entire universe is facing an impending air pollution catastrophe. The presence of hazardous particles in the air is a great threat to the health of humans and other living things and is referred to as air pollution. Common contaminants include soot, smoke, ozone, pollen, methane, and carbon dioxide. Systems that can anticipate future pollution levels as well as monitor current levels of pollution are urgently needed. To lessen this danger, improved air pollution forecasting techniques and systems are needed. Using the MQ135 sensor, MQ4 sensor, and Dht11 sensor, the proposed system can be used to monitor air pollutants in a specific area, analyze air quality, and forecast the air quality along with major pollutants. It also forecasts the air quality index (AQI) along with major air pollutants using the random forest algorithm. This project can be used to remotely monitor the air quality in large cities, which can help to lower the level of air pollution.

Currently, the healthcare system is undergoing a paradigm shift from a traditional approach to a modernized patient centered approach. This project proposes a robot prototype, specially programmed in LabVIEW to support the differently-abled by assisting them with the specified medicine and water. They experience accessibility issues and mobility problems going to the grounds of their physical impairment. The hand gestures are processed using Vision Assistant in a standalone personal computer, thereby holding command over the pick and place robot arms via the wireless fidelity module to carry out the support operations needed by the differently-abled. The low-power embedded controller Arduino board controls the pick and place module through serial communication. The integrated hardware and software ensure accuracy and reliability in serving the intended purpose. The paper also emphasizes static hand gesture recognition using a convolutional neural network (CNN). The model evidenced an accuracy of 99.83%.

Crop yield can be affected by disease of cereals, and it is difficult to control the disease on a large scale. Hence, the only approach is relevant to control which is wheat crop field monitoring. This technique helps to identify the disease at an early stage and take measures to save the crop in an effective way. In this work, an autonomous drone is developed to monitor the wheat crop to detect three types of diseases like yellow rust, brown rust and white rust. An USB camera is fixed on drone to capture various images of the wheat crop, and the same is stored in Raspberry Pi. Using python, a data set of 200 images is generated and the expert labeling was done for each of them. The created data set is used on visual studio for image processing; further, the source images are converted in to gray images with the help of deep learning algorithm to identify the various diseases or affected areas of leaves. Based on the proposed method, more than 82% of the images in data set correspond to yellow rust, 10% are represented by brown rust and the remaining 8% are represented by white rust diseases.

A flying machine either uses a flapping mechanism, a fixed wing or a rotating blade in order to produce lift. While considering fixed wing aircraft or a drone, in order to produce a lift or a decent, the major contributing part is the aileron. An aileron area with respect to the wing is nearly 15%. Rather a discreet movement of aileron, the wing surface can be morphed in order to produce an effect similar to aileron. This research is done to compare and analyze a morphed wing with an aileron-based wing in order to produce the lift and identify maneuvering effects for a drone. Continuous lift force distribution throughout the wing is observed over a range of different wind speeds, and the results are found to be satisfactory.

In this study, an integration of point laser sensor in robotic arc welding has been performed for achieving robotic positional accuracy automatically in every welding cycle. With the help of defined focal length of laser sensor, weld seam positions as well as weld gap have been found automatically for any newly positioned work-piece. If there is any change in robot positioning compared to the master job, the shift in every axis is sent as signal to the robot controller so that robot end effector will adjust the shift amount automatically. The welding process parameters are set at optimal values. Taguchi approach so that maximum values of weld quality in terms of depth of penetration, yield strength and ultimate strength can be achieved in every welding cycle. Overall, with the proposed approach, a smart and productive way of operating industrial welding robot has been proposed which can be implemented in any medium to large scale industries for obtaining welding joints with minimum defects.

Acoustics is well renowned for contributing significantly to research. It does a promising job of providing a solution for several research-based problems. It includes the investigation of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids. Discussion topics regarding sound, vibration, infrasound, and ultrasound are included. The applications can be used in all the main areas of contemporary society. The noise and audio control industries are where acoustics is most useful. The fundamental idea is that while acoustics can be used to a variety of situations, it can also be utilised to address issues with accident detection in VANET. The primary goal of this study is to present an auditory signal processing-based approach to automobile accident detection.

There has been a rapid expansion of the use of biodiesel globally. It is consequently critical to have a comprehensive understanding of how biodiesel influences diesel engine emissions. Using mono-alkyl ester fatty acids of long-chain fatty acids as a renewable feedstock, biodiesel may be produced. Various oils and fats are sometimes used to fuel compression-ignition engines, such as animal fat and vegetable oils. An examination of several biodiesel production parameters was undertaken during the first phase of this research. An examination of blends of clean diesel fuel and biodiesel followed the first phase of the study. Transesterification is the process used to make biodiesel. Cottonseed oil is selected because of its excellent transesterification properties. The catalyst, methanol, or ethanol utilised during transesterification has an impact on biodiesel production. The presented in this article are the ideal conditions for biodiesel production. An optimal yield of 76% of biodiesel can be achieved by combining 20% methanol with 0.5% sodium hydroxide. Experiments with various biodiesel mixes revealed that they lowered particle and smoke emissions while also lowering carbon monoxide levels. In contrast, for biodiesel mixtures, emissions of oxides of nitrogen were increased slightly.

Frictional heating, produced due to friction between contacting elements in a relative sliding motion, is the result of the transformation of mechanical energy into internal energy. Frictional heating raises contact surface temperature (CST) that may lead to the formation of oxides, thermo-elastic instabilities, thermomechanical failure, and wear. The exact mechanism of frictional energy dissipation is still under research due to the complexity of the contact geometry. The purpose of the present study is to determine the average CST by using a simplified mathematical model based on steady-state temperature distribution. The study first estimates flash temperature generation for a deformed asperity by considering asperity stiffness on strain energy approach during sliding. The mathematical model presented here is a steady-state equation of the heat flow through the pin and achieving its solution in a reverse manner by using computer programming to calculate the average CST.

In this experiment, tests have been conducted with compression ratios that varied from the normal value of 17.5:1 (manufacturer setting), and the findings were addressed. Transesterified Adelfa biodiesel has been blended 20% by volume with petroleum diesel and studied for its stability for 24 h. Tests have been performed using biodiesel (A20) as the test fuel and diesel fuel (the reference fuel) as the test fuel while adjusting the compression ratio. When the compression ratio was raised to 19.5:1, noticeable results were attained in terms of performance and emission criteria like hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and smoke opacity emission. The emission of nitrogen oxides (NOx) was found to be marginally elevated which might be due to the presence of oxygen in the biodiesel. The break thermal efficiency of the blend was found to be 25.41%, which is the closest to diesel. By altering the compression ratio to 19.5:1, the brake thermal efficiency was found to be 25.41 which is closest to neat diesel. The lowest drop of 9.1% cylinder pressure was observed, which is highly appreciable. Also, the lowest heat emission was found to be 3.529. The final report indicates that changing the compression ratio to 19.5:1 is a smart idea because 87.5% of the total findings are favourable.

Due to the situation of our country’s need for fuel, energy requirement has become a major problem due to the over pricing of the fossil fuels like coal, petrol, diesel, etc. So it is very much important to find an alternative source of fuel to satisfy the need of our countries fuel requirement. This work is based on those factors. The capability of biogas in power generation is substantial and is definitely a field that deserves a lot of awareness. This work has fully described the method of production and uses of biogas. It has also gone a step further to filter and remove the traces of H2S gas from the raw biogas. Food wastes are gathered and prepared for anaerobic digestion, and the biogas created is tested experimentally for its ability to operate a boiler and used that energy to make electric power. According to experimental findings, adding 2% of food waste could significantly increase the volume of CH4 gas. As the biogas is prepared from organic waste, its price is very much lower than any other fuels like petrol, diesel, LPG, etc. The digestate produced from the biogas plant is a very good organic fertilizer which increases the fertility of the soil; it can be used in agriculture. By executing biogas plant, the domestic waste generated in our country can be reduced and can be converted into a useful source of energy.

This study reports a domestic wood cookstove design to improve air availability for wood combustion inside the combustion chamber. The proposed cookstove design has conical-shaped tubes for adequate air supply, resulting in efficient wood combustion. Through simulations, the performance of the conical-shaped air inlet tube is studied in order to attain the desired air velocity. The simulations of the tubes are performed using the Ansys 18.1 Fluent software. In the simulation, atmospheric conditions are considered where the air inlet temperature is 30 °C and the air outlet temperature is 300 °C. The maximum velocity observed at the air outlets of Tubes 1 and 2 is 4.43 m/s and 4.91 m/s, respectively. It is proposed that ten cone-shaped tubes can be used in the cookstove. The mass flow rate calculated from ten tubes is 1.14 kg/min. The wood's air–fuel (A.F.) ratio was also calculated and found to be 5.08:1. The current study also determines the rate at which wood is consumed in order to decrease excess wood consumption and harmful carbon emissions. The air covers approximately 80% of the area inside the combustion chamber, ensuring adequate air for burning and providing a compelling reason to use this cookstove. In addition, a theoretical method to calculating the cooking time of the food is explained.

Renewable and sustainable energy sources are essential for solving the problem of fossil fuel depletion and must be deployed internationally. Solar energy positively affects the environment in several ways compared to other energy sources. Along with the design and operation of a flat-plate solar water heater (FPSWH), the environmental benefits of solar-powered systems are exaggerated in this study. In addition, the negative impacts of the solar thermal system (STS) are also highlighted. As far as the performance of the FPSWH is concerned, a novel family of fluids known as nanofluids is efficiently used as working fluids to increase the collector efficiency of a traditional solar water heater, whose driving energy source is solar energy: a renewable, non-depletable energy. This study summarizes the performance enhancement analyses of an FPSWH employing nanofluids that have been conducted in previous literatures. In addition, the application of hybrid nanofluids and their effect on collector efficiency, as well as an overview of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of a residential solar water heating system, are discussed in this study.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to do a 3D numerical analysis of erosion wear of seawater with particles in the elbow. The maximum erosion rate is calculated for various pipe model dimensions. The effect of particle size and velocity is observed for 65 NB pipe diameter with 90° bend angle and 1.5d bend radius. Results show that the maximum erosion was observed at the bending area of the elbow for all the cases. The erosion rate decreases with increasing bending size and bending radius, while the erosion rate increases with increasing bending angle. The erosion rate increases with increasing velocity and for higher particle diameters. The wear of the pipe wall material is more severe due to the increase in inflow velocity, which will also increase the impact strength of particles on the pipe wall in the elbow section and the amount of particles impacting the wall.

In the present technology, the composites are playing an important role in industrial application as well as human applications. The natural fibers provide better features and advantages than synthetic fibers. The natural reinforced polymer matrix composites are familiar with the exploration of lightweight, degradable, and durable materials. This work mainly focuses on the preparation of sample specimens according to ASTM standard with the help of corn powder which is collected from the corn seeds along with reinforcements by using hand layup method. Performing the mechanical tests like tensile, compression, and Izod impact test on prepared specimens is to draw the mechanical properties and analyze the mechanical behavior of composition factors. The Design of Experiments (DoE) follows L9 orthogonal array based on Taguchi approach, and the ANOVA is used for analyzing the output responses and drawing the significant process parameters. It is observed that the best combination and most significant values at ABS (12%), guar Gum (12%), and CMC (8%) with the values of tensile strength 59.23 MPa, compression strength 68.74 MPa, and impact strength 0.275 J.

Recently core–shell types of particles are found to be used for the improvement of semiconductor efficiency, information storage, optoelectronics, catalysis and quantum dots, etc. ZnS and ZnO are II–VI group semiconductors with a wide band gap. Both materials show prominent applications in photocatalytic activity and solar cells. In the present investigations an effort has been made to synthesize Zinc Oxide@ Zinc Sulfide core–shell by a facile water bath route. X-ray diffraction data revealed the presence of ZnO in high percentage with small amount of ZnS phase. W–H plot and size–strain plot was used to evaluate the crystallite size and strain for the as synthesized material. UV–Vis spectroscopy technique was used to record the absorption. On analysis of absorption data revealed a band gap of 3.2 eV and refractive index of 2.34 for the material. Microstructural investigations carried out by TEM show rod and oval shaped core–shell particles having average particle size with a length of 250 nm and breath of 150 nm. The shell thickness estimated from TEM image is about 25 nm. Elemental compositional analysis of the as synthesized material depicted the presence of zinc, oxide and sulfide.

The present work reports the synthesis of MoS2 nanoparticles via a facile ultrasonication-assisted hydrothermal route. The presence of 2-H hexagonal phase of MoS2 is analyzed by XRD which shows diffused and broad pattern revealing the low crystallinity of the synthesized sample. The crystallite size as calculated using different methods like Debye Scherrer equation, Williamson-Hall (W-H) and size strain plots comes out to be around 140 nm and the strain is negative which shows the compression in the material. The optical studies carried out by UV–vis shows the absorbance in UV and visible region. Absorbance data revealed the band gap of 0.9 eV and refractive index of 3.48. The high value of the refractive index makes it a promising candidate for optoelectronic applications. FESEM images shows the aggregation of MoS2 sheets formed in pebble like particles of micron sizes. Elemental compositional analysis of the corresponding area of the sample revealed the presence of Mo and S. TEM images also revealed the aggregation of thin sheets and selected area electron diffraction pattern (SAEDP) shows the amorphous nature of the as-synthesized materials which is also in good agreement with the XRD data.

The use of hyacinth plant ash particle with moringa powder filler material in polymer composites has not been well studied in the literature due to lack of research. This study aims to study whether moringa plant powder can be used as a filler material for hyacinth ash composites for the purpose of reducing the moisture content of the composites. If the moringa filler material is used in the preparation of hyacinth fibre composites, they have improved the hardness strength and reduce the water and chemical absorption behaviour. In order to create composite samples, it is combined with an epoxy polymer matrix, and the ash particles are used as a part of the compression moulding process. A composite sample with high hardness strength was obtained in which 30% of hyacinth ash particle and 5% of moringa filler powder were used. Each weight percentage five different composites are tested and the average value is reported in this work. This combination achieved a Shore D hardness value of 89 in the composite sample. Based on the results of the water and chemical absorption studies, it can be concluded that the filler material can increase the level of absorption resistance of composite samples by a significant amount. As a result of this study, the use of hyacinth ash particles reinforced with moringa powder composites in medium density fibreboard (MDF) applications is strongly recommended based on the results presented in the paper.

This research is primarily intended to develop biodegradable composites by utilizing green resins namely prunus amygdalus and to study the tribological behaviours. The work is focused on the friction and wear behaviour of the amygdalus resin-based composites. Through a series of processing steps involving polyester and amygdalus resin, functional bio-resin has been formed. Composite materials have been developed by modifying the jute reinforcement and resin compositions. The formed composites have been examined for their friction and wear characteristics by altering the various input parameters. By carrying out several trial runs using response surface methodology-based D-optimal design, the sample that provides the best tribological performance has been found. Optimization has been done by keeping the objectives as minimization of friction and wear. The ideal conditions have been arrived and confirmatory runs for the ideal condition have been performed, validating that the prediction was true.

This paper predicted a noise level for Indian highways and developed a relationship between noise and pavement distress cracks (CR), potholes (PH), and the International Roughness Index (IRI). The government of India is investing huge amounts in road construction every year. Poor road construction quality and subsequent maintenance lead to faster road deterioration, which reduces vehicle speed and increases noise pollution. In this regard, scientific procedures must evolve to predict noise pollution levels. In this research, data was collected on the age of the pavement, the number of commercial vehicles, the noise level, and the condition of the pavement. This information was used to make a noise prediction model with the Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) technique and an R2 of 0.90. Environmental and highway engineers can use this study to predict noise pollution in pavement distress.

Due to the depletion of non-renewable resources and rising environmental awareness in recent years, scientist and engineers are trying to come up with bio-degradable materials as an alternative to synthetic fibers. Synthetic fibers are not recyclable or bio-degradable. The increasing focus on environmental issues has led to the widespread use of bio-degradable and renewable materials such as natural fiber-based hybrid composites for use in different manufacturing sectors like building and construction industry, automobile industry, marine industry, aerospace industry, sports, and the packaging industry. In light of their wide range of potential applications, the mechanical properties of composites enhance from natural fibers are of particular interest in the present review. Natural fiber-based hybrid composite shows the various properties including low density, abundant availability, bio-degradability, high specific strength, corrosion resistance, low cost, and the bio-degradability. There are several parameters like fiber type, fiber length, fiber orientation, weight percentage loading, surface modification, fiber matrix adhesion, choice of polymer matrix, addition of nanoparticles, and processing conditions that influences the mechanical properties. These parameters significantly enhance the mechanical properties of the fabricated hybrid composite.

In this paper aim to developed the new hybrid metal matrix composite materials, demand for light-weight and high-strength materials fabricated from Graphene due to their excellent properties such as lightweight, high tensile strength, and hardness, particle-reinforced aluminum matrix composites have been developed over the last few decades. Thus, the Graphene particle reinforced composites are expected to have many applications in aerospace, aircraft, automobile and electronic industries. Aluminum metal matrix composites with various weight percentages of reinforcement particles were prepared using the stir casting method. The study presents the results of experimental investigation on mechanical behavior of graphene particle reinforced aluminum matrix. The influence of reinforced ratio of 3 and 6 percentage weights of graphene particles on mechanical behavior was examined. The effect of different weight percentage of graphene in composite on hardness, tensile and compression strength was studied. The hardness, tensile and compression properties with increasing reinforcement of graphene addition in it.

In the context of energy conversion systems, understanding the performance of thermal energy storage is crucial. Latent thermal energy storage (LTES) system is a prominent application of energy conversion system due to its high volumetric energy holding capacity. However, its performance is limited due to unfavorable thermophysical properties of phase change material (PCM). Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDP) is a justified potential PCM due to the huge waste recycled material piled up every year based on massive use of plastic products. Present numerical work explores performance enhancement of a shell and coil-based LTES system. The thermophysical properties of LLDP are improved by adding functionalized graphene in the proportion of 1%, 3% and 5% in the composition termed as CPCM1, CPCM2 and CPCM3, respectively. The results confirm that adding graphene decreases the charging time of LTES, maximum up to 40%, and the average temperature of PCM increases along with the concentration of graphene.

Bismuth ferrite (BFO) is one among the few promising materials which can be ferroelectric and ferromagnetic both at room temperature. The sol–gel auto combustion synthesis route has been followed to prepare the pure bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) as well as 10% Zn doped bismuth ferrite (Bi1−xZnxFeO3). The structural property of the samples has been studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) method at room temperature (RT). The values of crystallite size and lattice strain have been calculated using Williamson-Hall plot. The crystallite size obtained from the Debye Scherrer equation is found to be 23.31 nm. The morphological studies of the zinc doped bismuth ferrites nanoparticles have been obtained using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The dielectric studies and impedance analysis of the samples have confirmed the increase in conductivity on doping of zinc with bismuth ferrites at the room temperature. The dielectric studies exhibit the conventional Maxwell–Wagner polarization. The Cole–Cole plots have confirmed the presence of both grains and grain boundaries. The optical bandgap of the pure bismuth ferrite using Tauc plot (obtained from the UV–visible spectroscopy) was found to be near about 2.04 eV annealed at 600 ˚C while zinc doped bismuth ferrite shows slightly higher value of bandgap near about 2.4 eV. This value of Eg makes BFO useful as a photovoltaic material. The value of polarization (Pmax) is also found to be improved on zinc doping in bismuth ferrite as confirmed by the P-E hysteresis loop. The fabricated hydroelectric cell using the Zn doped bismuth ferrites showed the improved potential, and thus material, is useful in fabricating the hydroelectric cell.

Functionally graded plates with length-wise material variation attached to a two-parameter elastic foundation are examined to understand its free vibration behavior. A Mindlin plate is employed in the analysis where the effect of shear deformation is taken into account. The dynamic equation is formed using Hamilton’s principle. The numerical analysis is performed using finite element method where a four-noded quadrilateral plate element is considered. An exponential function is selected for the length-wise material variation of the plate which can be altered using a material variation parameter. The foundation consists of a Winkler layer and a shear layer whose stiffnesses are defined by foundation parameters. To corroborate the findings of the analysis, the results are matched with established ones in the literature. Several variables like foundation stiffness and material variation are selected to study the behavior of the plate.

This research work explores the characteristics of the mechanical and thermal insulation properties of a Bamboo E-Glass-Reinforced Composite (BERC). In order to extract the fibers from bamboo, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is used as a chemical agent. After complete separation, the fibers are used to fabricate composite material trapped in various volume fractions of thermoset resins (Polyester). There are three different composites that have been developed, and their ratios are as follows: the first composite has 40% Bamboo fiber and 10% E-Glass fiber. Second, 40% and 20% of Bamboo fiber and E-Glass fiber, and the third, 40% and 30% of Bamboo fiber and E-Glass fiber, respectively. There are seven different angular orientations of layers were used to prepare the composite material. Finally, the compression molding machine has been employed to make the composites. These composites were subjected to thermal, tensile, shear, flexural, impact, hardness, and water absorption tests. The thermal insulation properties were obtained by using the guarded heat flow meter method.

Green synthesis by biological systems especially plant extracts has become an evolving field in nanotechnology for the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles since they are most clean and cost-effective method. In this study, nanoparticles were synthesized using aleovera extract as fuel. The zinc oxide (ZnO) and cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4:CFO) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by green synthesis co-precipitation method, and further their composite was made by solid-state route method. The pure phase formation of zinc oxide and cobalt ferrite was observed for in X-ray diffraction spectra. The average crystallite size and other structural parameters for ZnO, CFO, and 0.5ZnO-0.5CFO were calculated from XRD plot. The XRD pattern shows composite formation of ZnO-CFO nanocomposite with crystallite size variation in nanometer range. The relative permittivity values and loss factor were also studied. The hydroelectric cell prepared using ZnO-CFO nanocomposites exhibits efficiency of the cell. These properties are owing to improved structural stability and suggest their use in the application of hydroelectric cells. It is observed from investigational outcomes that using aleovera as a fuel one can obtain smaller particle size.

Mechanical testing and procedures are employed in this present work to investigate the material properties of a Casuarina filler biocomposite that has been developed with particle reinforcement. The major goal of this work is to change the material composition and investigate the mechanical properties of the generated composite material. Specimens were made with varied proportions of Casuarina flora (10, 15, 20, 25, and 30%) in hand lay-up method. Mechanical testing, such as tensile, flexural, and impact tests, was achieved to produced natural composite material, from which the gear is made. Natural gear that has been developed is environmentally friendly, and this gear may be used in Xerox machines and textile manufacturing.

In recent years, aluminum and their alloy foams have gained attention due to their low density and unique properties. Stir casting was used in this investigation to produce aluminum AA7075/SiC composite foams using calcium carbonate as a blowing agent (CaCO3 2 wt.% alloy for sample 1, 2.5 wt.% alloy for sample 2, and 3 wt.% alloy for sample 3) and no viscosity-enhancing ingredient. The impact of foaming agent weight % on the compressive characteristics of AA7075/SiC, such as yield strength (σc), plateau stress (σpl), energy absorption (Eab), and microstructure attributes (cell size, cell wall thickness), was investigated. The composite foam porosity rises with the addition of CaCO3 particles (2–3 wt. %) from 59.43 to 68.68%. Size of the cell also changes from 0.876 to 1.885 mm once the relative density of the AA7075/SiC composite foam was reduced from 0.4 to 0.31.

Wear resistant materials are required in multiple scenarios to increase the life of the mechanical components subjected to relative motion. In this present study, an effort has been done to make a lightweight wear resistance aluminum metal matrix composite (AMMC). This AMMC was fabricated by stir casting using aluminum (Al) 5052 alloy as a matrix material and silicon carbide (SiC) particulates as a reinforcement material. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to see the distribution of SiC contents in the Al 5052 alloy. The abrasive wear analysis of the fabricated AMMC and the Al 5052 alloy was carried out on the emery paper pasted pin-on-disk machine according to ASTM G132. The wear patterns of the tested samples were also analyzed with the help of optical microscopy. The densities of the fabricated samples were also analyzed by Archimedes’ principle. The obtained results indicate the AMMC has smaller frictional force, volumetric wear rate, abrasive volume loss, abrasive mass loss, and coefficient of friction (COF) in comparison with the unreinforced Al 5052 alloy. The density of the fabricated AMMC is higher than the unreinforced Al 5052 alloy.

High emissions from petroleum products affect the ozone layer and the environment, and this impact can be reduced by using alternative fuels. The production and use of lemon seed oil and hydrogen blends in a CE engine. Two tanks were used in the compression ignition engine: the primary and secondary storage units. Diesel was mixed with biodiesel and used in different blends B5, B10, and B20. Hydrogen was inducted into the engine for constant propulsion at 10 LPM and was used to prepare the fuel blends B5H10, B10H10, and B20H10. The BTE of the fuel blend B5H10 increased by 3.45%. The brake-specific fuel consumption, CO, HC, and NOx emission of the fuel blend B20H10 dropped by 4.8%, 37.5%, 9.6%, and 9.8%, respectively. The lowest smoke opacity emission of the B20H10 fuel blend was 15.2% compared with the standard diesel fuel due to biodiesel's oxygen concentration and lesser ignition delay.

Biodiesel has a vital role in automotive industries because of their extensive need for traditional fossil diesel fuel. An important stumbling block of using traditional fossil diesel fuel in the base engine is emissions at the rear end of the exhaust. There is an increase in performance and emission characteristics and a drop-down in toxic pollutants from the exhaust was observed with the addition of water into the fuel. The neem oil was used as biodiesel, which was added around 5% water by volume to the fuel and surfactants (Span80 and Tween80). With plasma spray coating technique, the inlet, exhaust valves, and piston head were coated with PSZ to a preferred coating of 500 mm. Performance parameters such as brake thermal efficiency increased by 4.8% and brake-specific fuel consumption decreased by 7.4% for neem oil emulsion than diesel fuel. The emission characteristics of CO and HC were reduced by 6.6% and 5.5%, respectively; however, NOx and smoke emissions were increased by 2.8% and 4.6%, respectively, when neem oil emulsion was used in the engine in contrast to the conventional diesel fuel.

The requirement for recyclable materials has arisen due to environmental degradation from non-biodegradable materials. Polymer materials have long been recognized as useful for a wide range of applications; however, a lack of comprehension of such materials has severely limited their use. Even so, as the trend has shifted, polymer materials have progressively displaced other components in the majority of cases. Polymer-based materials have recently become the first-choice substances for a spectrum of uses, thanks to advances in research and understanding, and are rapidly substituting many substances. Polymer composites have progressively replaced metallic materials due to their appealing properties in terms of processability, good strength, heat resistance, and simplicity of molding into multiple design shapes. Carbon nanotubes, nanoclay, and nanographene are the nanoparticles discussed in this study. The researched material systems that generate polymer nanocomposites are examined independently and collectively, demonstrating their scientific advancements. The basic mechanical characteristics described by past research, such as tension, compressive strength, endurance, toughness, and flexural modulus, are evaluated to demonstrate the amount of reinforcement employed and the associated improvements made after processing. Furthermore, the review attempts to broaden the boundaries of natural fiber-reinforced polymeric nanocomposite usage with a view toward potential future possibilities.

The fiber metal laminate (FML) hybrid composite has superior properties in structural and thermal applications. The stacking sequence of FML composite is arranged alternatively for fibers with metals fabricated by vacuum bag infusion methods. Epoxy with LY 59 hardener is used as a matrix material. The fibers were arranged in different stacking sequences and were controlled by a vacuum pump. Pressure was applied with a roller till set and so the composite was left for 24–48 h till it absolutely was hardened. Also, metal laminates were enclosed between the fiber layers. Kevlar/ copper sheet/ glass fibers are used as reinforcement materials. The novelty of the work is to change the sequence of metals between the fibers. After the fabricated samples as per the ASTM Stands experimental was conducted, the mechanical properties of FML. Finally, mechanical properties are improved when compared to neat fiber laminates. Fiber metal laminates are suggested for the structural and automotive industry.

Cooling storage devices are most important to store food items, medicines, etc. For long-term applications so that only we have designed these devices. Nowadays, we are using refrigerators to store food items and medicines, but due to these devices, the environment will be affected, because these are releasing harmful gases like Hydrofluorocarbon (HFCs) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Due to these gases, human respiratory will be affected, to prevent this defect thermoelectric module is used to produce cold temperatures as well as hot, it is worked based on the principles of both Peltier and Seebeck effect. Peltier module having semiconductor-based materials is thermally and electrically connected in parallel and series, respectively. By using this module to create the cooling device, we are able to shield the environment from the toxic gases that the refrigerator releases into the air. But this module never releases any harmful gases and never interferes with the human respiratory system, which is the only reason we were brought here. The TEC module had be chosen depending on calculations of passive heat load and the temperature that the cooling chamber must reach. Following the TEC’s construction, cooling and discharge operations are tested both with and without the use of phase change material. The values are graphically depicted and tabulated. To find the multi-objective optimal solution, the value with the highest grey relatively grade is employed in the analysis and is regarded as the best option. Here, renewable energy source is used as an input power. In our solar system, solar energy is one of the abundant sources of renewable energy on the earth’s surface.