Recent Trends in Product Design and Intelligent Manufacturing Systems

The work of an Indian Loco pilot is a complex task that demands different levels of cognitive and physical capabilities. The job demands of a loco pilot are driving on long-distance routes through various environmental conditions, attention to signalling system, overnight stay in various locations, stretchable working hours, improper work-rest cycle and sighting different undue incidents on the railway track. This paper aims to understand the effects of psychosocial factors across the designation levels of Loco pilots. The paper also deals with understanding the tasks performed by them and their effects on the Loco pilots. A study was conducted on loco pilots on Patna Jn under the Danapur division. Data was collected through structured questionnaires from different stakeholders. In addition, working conditions and duty of the Loco pilot were observed during site visits and interviews. The study will be helpful in the identification of improvement areas of the working conditions across various designation levels of the Loco Pilots.

In India, due to the chief labor force, manual material handling (MMH) constitutes a major part of material handling activity in different sectors. One such sector where MMH is very high is the vegetable mandi. Lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, carrying, holding, and releasing several tons of vegetable and fruits are commonly observed in these mandis in several parts of India. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are commonly observed among porters due to repetitive MMH and transportation of heavy sacks. The study was conducted at Jabalpur vegetable mandi, where 30 porters were selected for interview, body discomfort questionnaire, and participatory intervention approach. MSDs like pain in back (85%), shoulders (72%), wrist (71%), neck (63%), thigh (64%), arms (70%) were found among the porters. Participatory approach in intervention helped to conceptualize, select, modify, and fabricate the shoulder load carrier for the porters. The final selected shoulder load carrier could distribute the load evenly over the upper limb, was easy to wear, and had straps with hooks and loops for support. This study concluded that the shoulder load carrier could reduce the potential risks involved in the MMH tasks among the porters and thus will also reduce pain in wrist/hand, neck, shoulders, and back.

Vegetable vendors selling vegetables on pushcart are a common occupation in many states of India and also parts of the globe. The vendors push and pull loaded vegetable cart which approximately weighs 150–200 kgs through different road terrains. The small handle of the existing cart design is very difficult for pushing and turning purposes. Ten vegetable vendors were questioned regarding musculoskeletal problems at Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad. Among the vendors, hand, back, and shoulder were the more prevalent pain points compared to other body parts. The rapid entire body assessment (REBA) was used to analyze body posture while pushing cart. Results of REBA analysis show immediate ergonomic intervention in the vegetable cart design is need of the hour. Based on the identified problems, a new cart concept was developed following ergonomic principles. This new cart design will directly and indirectly impact a vast workforce involved with vegetable vending occupation.

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are caused due to non-ergonomic work postures maintained while carrying out physical activities in the work environment. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the risk involved in adopted work postures during the handling of domestic water barrels (25 L). An exoskeleton design is proposed to reduce the consequence of the manual handling of water barrels. The Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) method and the Manual Activity Chart (MAC) Tool were used to identify the risk involved in various work postures during the loading, carrying and unloading of water barrels on a flat surface and upstairs. From the result of the REBA analysis, it is found that the work posture adopted during the handling of water barrels is at high risk and requires immediate attention. The MAC Tool analysis proved the same. The results of manual handling activity in REBA and MAC Tool are compared with working with an exoskeleton.

This paper presents a graphical user interface system for a lower limb rehabilitation robot. The mechanism considered for this application is a stationary trainer based on Cartesian parallel manipulator. The trainer is configured with three legs of PRRR (prismatic-revolute-revolute-revolute) configuration connected to the end-effector. The end-effector of the mechanism is a footplate to which the subject’s foot can be attached for therapeutic procedures. The interactive simulator is designed primarily for carrying out the therapeutic procedures of PROM (passive range of motion) of the lower limb. Specifically, the application developed can demonstrate the mechanism motion for hip abduction–adduction, hip flexion–extension, knee flexion–extension and gait training. In addition to these options, the simulator also enables the user to vary the subject parameters like thigh and crus lengths. The proposed interactive simulator design is demonstrated and verified using computer-based numerical simulations.

Today’s car market is limited not only to the passenger as well as sports car segments. Although, people start liking cars with big engines, large front grill sizes, sharp corners, etc. The main aim of this research study is to find the physical features of a vehicle that were responsible for its masculine nature. This study uses the average value method among the twelve cars, and the survey is conducted among thirty respondents. It enables the study of the relationship between the feeling of masculine nature of the vehicle and their physical factor, which leads toward their masculine nature. By this method, a large wheelbase, ample ground clearance, and front grills play a substantial part in the masculine nature of the car. Outcomes of this study can aid the designers in understanding the consumer’s likability or perceptions when they purchase a vehicle. If designers involve this consent while designing any SUVs, it will increase the company’s profit.

Agricultural farming in India has been the most integral contributor to the growth and development of the country. The demand pushed the farmers to work in the fields beyond the recommended working age limit. The objective of the study was to address and rectify the different physiological and musculoskeletal disorders due to poor ergonomic postures in elderly female farmers. The survey was done on 35 elderly female participants. Analysis of the body postures has been done with the help of Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA). Modified Nordic questionnaires, direct observation, pictures, and videography were utilized to assess body discomfort. The result showed that most of the postures were risky and increased discomfort with pain in neck, upper and lower extremities. Handling load repeatedly were the key factors responsible for the ergonomic discomfort in the elderly female farmers.

Welding is a hazardous profession that exposes welders to a variety of hazards that can cause work-related illnesses. The purpose of this study is to investigate the welding process and to identify musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and different ergonomic risks involved among the welders. A random sample of 34 welders was chosen for this study. Modified Nordic questionnaire was prepared, which includes data on work nature, employment stress, and discomfort level. Direct observation was used through photography and questionnaire. The questionnaire survey found that the occupational disorders such as pain in forearm, lower leg, feet and eye problems, and skin problems were most common. The observation and analysis show that welders’ health is negatively impacted by different MSDs. So, there is a strong need to improve the occupational wellbeing of the welders by bringing awareness about the use of safety equipment and ergonomic design interventions is needed.

Sculpting is an age-old profession practiced in India, and this hierarchical profession is carried out from generation to generation in age-old traditional workstations causing occupational stress. The aim of this paper is to identify occupational stresses of postural load on these artisans. Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) and Rapid Entire Limb Assessment (REBA) were used for postural analysis. Modified Nordic questionnaire was used where 120 artisans participated in the study from Chitar Oli and Kumartuli. From the postural analysis, it suggested investigation and corrective measures in near future. It was found that older age group artisans suffer from pain in the upper limb body regions such as palm, neck, and shoulder, due to repetitive sculpting work. Whereas, discomfort in the back was high in the younger age group. Thus, an appropriate design intervention to reduce postural load is the need of the hour to improve their productivity.

The Cobalt (Co)–Chromium (Cr)–Molybdenum (Mo) (Co–Cr–Mo) alloy and Ultra High Molecular Polyethylene are the important materials used in the biomedical applications and Bio-inerts lime hip implants, ophthalmological implants and dental implants are increasing day by day due to their unique wear resistance characteristics. This paper presents the tribological behavior of Co–Cr–Mo alloy on Ultra high molecular polyethylene with and without third body particles. Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) bone cement in 5 g/L concentration is used as third body particles. In the present investigation, pin on plate wear test is carried out using ducom linear reciprocating tribometer, to evaluate average wear rate, Coefficient of Friction (COF), and frictional force between Co–Cr–Mo alloy and Ultra High Molecular Polyethylene with and without third body particles under load condition of 20 N, stroke of 6 mm, and frequency of 5 Hz. The test is carried out for one lakh cycles and sliding distance of 1200 m. The results indicate increase in wear rate, COF, and frictional force with third body particles compared to the ones without third body particles.

The chameleon's tongue ballistic projection is an example of rapid energy release in the animal realm, which extends at a phenomenal speed and acceleration extending more than six times its length when at rest. Inspired by the rapid projection mechanism, our research examines the biological structure of the chameleon tongue, the regulating principle and its biomechanics to give a comprehensive insight into its geometrical structure. Based on our observations, we concluded that the connective tissue layer that is cylinder-shaped consisting of sheaths that have helically arranged collagen fibre stores elastic energy when the tongue is in a compressed state, and it is the root cause for this projection mechanism. Hence, we have designed three different types of springs, namely octafilar, hexafilar and quadrifilar helical springs, which closely resemble the geometrical arrangements of collagen fibre in the intralingual sheaths of a chameleon's ballistic tongue. So after designing these springs, finite element analysis (FEA) which includes stress, strain, deformation and factor of safety (F.O.S), was performed to confirm the functioning of design, and also, modal analysis was performed to make the spring free of any resonance effect in its operating frequency, the designs which were not safe for application were rejected, and the remaining were compared. Various trends were observed after studying the FEA results by changing the revolution, the number of helical coils and materials, and then comparison was done in order to conclude the best spring design and material for different requirements such as soft or stiff suspension setups.

To overcome the difficulties faced by manual sowing, seed drill attachment for sowing groundnut with a specific mechanism that would not damage seeds while drilling is designed. Since the annual usage of the seed drill is very less it is designed as an attachment to the tractor-drawn cultivator. Hence, the cost of equipment is reduced and it can be stored effectively during an idle period. The mechanism used for indexing and drilling seeds is cup feed type. It is designed to attach it with nine tynes cultivator so it has nine discs with 16 cups on each disc. The row-to-row distance of drilling is 9 inches. The box of seed drill attachments is designed based on the angle of repose of seeds. Based on the design seed drill attachment is manufactured and evaluated by conducting trails on it and readings are tabulated. Analyzing readings it is suggested that, to obtain an optimum seed rate of 86 kg/ha using seed drill, the tractor has to be run at the speed range of 4–6 km/h.

The principle by which nature works is circular, there is no such thing as ‘waste’ in nature, it exists only in human minds. Looking towards future, prediction is made that water will be amongst the most valued commodity, as it is something that cannot be manufactured. In Urban Indian household, water is consumed through groundwater and municipal water supply and are used in day-to-day activities, where the process is linear. Water once used for household work goes to drain directly. There is a significant possibility of reusing the household water by retreating it. One has to see water scarcity from all angles and focus on saving, reducing, and reusing it. For this study of the household water consumption habit and behaviour through observation, interview and focus group methodology of qualitative data collection was carried out, and two opportunity area in the direction of reusing the water from manual cloth washing to floor-sweeping and reusing the wastewater from reverse osmosis-based water purifier for the product design intervention area was selected. The project proposes a design solution based on the behaviour, mindset, and perception of Indian users that can cater to the present need of circularity and allow the use of water for non-potable household applications.

Wind noise from crossbars in a vehicle roof rack system is investigated using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. Favre-averaged Navier–Stoke’s equation is used to resolve the time-dependent effects of the flow turbulence. The pressure data of a point in the flow domain is processed to obtain the wind noise in terms of sound pressure level (SPL). An aerodynamic problem involving a right circular cylinder is used to validate the CFD model against experimental data. Later, the numerical analysis is performed on a crossbar of length 1 m for a wind speed of 40 m/s, to obtain the broadband and narrowband noise. Further, three configurations of the crossbar are investigated to analyse their effect on the strength of Aeolian tone. Ultimately, a crossbar configuration is obtained that shows a 50% reduction in noise.

With the rising energy demands and climate change concerns, research to develop lightweight materials for vehicular structures is essential. Reduction in weight of the structures reduces the energy demand to carry them. Syntactic foams are porous particle reinforced composite materials. The porosity was achieved by using hollow micro balloons as reinforcements. In the present study, cenospheres obtained from thermal power plants were used as reinforcements to an epoxy-based matrix material. The syntactic composites were manufactured using mechanical mixing. The manufactured samples were studied under a scanning electron microscope for defects. The density reduction with the increase in the porosity and its effect on the compression strength of foams was discussed.

This paper proposes snake robot, famously referred as SnakeBot, designed using an ultrasonic distance sensor and Arduino. The autonomous SnakeBot is highly fitted for confined surroundings as they can enter and travel through these places with a higher degree of freedom because of their small cross section and highly redundant kinematics. The first focus of SnakeBot is to copy the movement of the similar named reptile-the serpent. The discussed design of SnakeBot consists of a head-followed seven segments which together comprises the body of the robot. The 28015 PING RevC ultrasonic sensor is attached to a central unit consisting of Arduino, in the head segment which controls the SnakeBot. The sensor then determines whether or not there is a barrier in front of the robot and, if so, measures its distance. Analyzing this distance with the directions already coded in the central unit, the snake robot decides the direction to continue the movement. This design can prove beneficial in many real-life problems and can be further improvised by coupling with other technologies.

Either in spectral or counterfeit disasters, the major role of the ranger teams is to locate the victim straightway and without delay. Every second will decide the endings of lives, it’s humanly impossible to reach out & save everyone. Navigating some unique places (narrow paths, multi-story buildings), to do the rescue service are critical. One can solve this issue by deploying an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Quadcopter Drone), which aids rescue teams to find victims. An Arduino-based Walkie-Talkie Quadcopter equipped with high-end microphone & speaker set to communicate with the victim simultaneously and would help the rescue teams to overcome the problem of locating disaster victims. Other advanced technologies like High-resolution video recorders, thermal vision cameras & ultrasonic sensors are placed to identify victims as quickly as possible. Moreover, healthy working GPS and gyroscope maintain the balance of the drone in tough conditions. The final outcome of this project supports ranger unit, victims of catastrophes and helps to identify surroundings of victims using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Quadcopter).

Due to the increase of awareness for sustainable development across the world, it is important to assess the sustainability of the products which are used daily in everyone’s life. The life cycle assessment (LCA) can be used to assess the environmental loads considering the social and economic factors. The research work aims to assess the life cycle of an aluminium and bamboo decorative lamp that is used every day. The raw materials for the aluminium lamp are extracted from Odisha (India), and the manufacture, assembly, distribution and use are considered in West Bengal (India). The raw materials for the bamboo cycle are taken from Jorhat, Assam, and the manufacture, assembly and use are considered in West Bengal. The study will help to compare the environmental impact between the aluminium and bamboo lamp and more significant to daily use. The results of the study are analysed through an application of IdematLightLCA.

Amphibious Military Patrolling Vehicle is a vehicle that can run on land and water in border areas where some places, Rivers, Jungles and low land is present. The concept of patrolling in situations, remaining in one vehicle is new and will provide a definite advantage to Border Security Force. The advancement in the defense sector of our nation is a high priority, some major border areas of INDIA are partially over water. The military has the means which allow them to patrol in water but the means are now very old as compared to the advancement in the sector. This AMPV will fill in the need gap between the new entries in the defense sector. The major thinking behind this vehicle is to make it run efficiently over water and for that, a technology is needed to be combined with specific needs. This new concept vehicle is not simply a boat with wheels, it is designed by taking care of the surroundings and the consumer of the vehicle. The design methodology followed here is a theme-based visual design process and relation with functions, users, surroundings, etc. This process can be applied to any other vehicle development including military vehicles. A concept developed can be further taken forward for full-fledged vehicle development. The process shows the vehicle’s exterior development and interior development from a mood board and a cad model is generated. AMPV is conceptually new and the design follows a creative process for vehicle form generation which suits its purpose.

The growing concern of migration against a linear economy toward a circular economy has raised several political agreements in different nations. Planned obsolescence plays a crucial role from this aspect as it fosters the buyer to own a new product before the actual need. Producers practice different mechanisms to deliberately design their products to become obsolete before the natural product life. In this study, publications concerning planned obsolescence were analyzed by performing bibliometric analysis that extracted various parameters including citation per paper (CPP), total citation (TC), and total papers (TP) to understand the development and structure of this area. The results of the most widely used Web of Science and Scopus databases were compared on factors such as leading ten productive and most cited authors, top journals, and countries. Later on, frequently used keywords were visualized with the help of a VOS viewer.

This paper presents a work in progress being done to overcome educational challenges faced by Rural India and utilizes the Stanford design thinking practices for the development of a solution that focuses on the sustainable approach for an interactive and fun learning medium. A field survey was conducted using stratified random sampling covering N = 11 schools on the outskirts and in remote areas of Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Data was collected in the form of observations and open-ended interviews with N = 8 school teachers and N = 2 NGO’s to better understand the teaching process and classroom dynamics. Contextual inquiries were carried out among a total of N = 30 students considered as slow learners among a wider population of students from these schools. Insights reveal that children are inherently curious and imaginative, but due to the lack of infrastructure and financial aids such as innovative and interactive learning mediums to every school, it is the biggest challenge for them. So, to identify this problem into which equity in education should be provided to everyone, this paper discusses the approach of sustainability in rural primary education, to make it more feasible and equitable for everyone.

Medical treatment is an important aspect of the daily life of a public system with emergency ambulance service (EMS) as the basic lifeline. The growing population leading to a large volume of vehicles accessing the same roadways makes it difficult for an ambulance to operate efficiently and thereby affecting a key survival factor during various emergencies known as ambulance response time (ART). It is found that road accident fatalities are on the rise due to delays in providing medical assistance due to various complexities, which is a matter of grave concern. This paper proposes to identify the main issues that exist with the current ambulance system through an interactive survey. The survey showed that it was imperative to think about providing a faster and efficient means of a system that can address the concerns. An innovative design process is studied and explained to come about finding a possible and feasible solution to improvise the ambulance response time.

Agriculture fields are the most reliable things and economic sources for developing countries like India. Quantification of pesticides that reach the targets are carried out using methodologies hazardous and sophisticated. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of the flight parameters over the agriculture fields while spraying pesticides. Water-sensitive papers are used as droplet collectors. In the droplet analysis method, the deposited volume in the top, middle, and bottom layers was calculated considering the factors of scattering and deposition density. The results describe the flying height 2 m and speed 4 m/s with the values of 3.41, 2.01, 1.25 droplets per cm2. At the same time, the droplet densities value are high at the multi-rotor flying height of 4 m and speed of 6 m/s with the values of 15.68, 11.54, 7.52 droplets per cm2. The results show the top layer droplet densities are higher when compared with the bottom and middle layers. At the same time, spray uniformity is high at speed of 6 m/s and a height of 3 m.

In recent years, there are many automobile industries seeking for some alternative energy sources due to increasing the cost of fuel and pollution. This project comprises dual-operated 4 wheels which run with both the engine power with compressed air as well as battery-operated electric motor. The use of fossil fuel could be eliminated with pressurized air filled in tank for running vehicle. Vehicle emission is comparatively lesser than the atmospheric temperature (20–25 °C) which helps in reducing global warming. The on-board battery is connected with electric motor for giving power to the electric vehicle by the energy of electric stored in it. From this study, it is to conclude that electric vehicle is referred to as “zero emission vehicle,” and it is pollution free and 100% eco-friendly.

This paper presents the classification, representation and extraction of mechanical interlocking features (MIFs) from the CAD model. Mechanical interlocking features (MIFs) are geometric features of two or more parts that when caused to come into contact and fully engage, prevent relative motion in certain directions of translation and/or rotation, including, when features physically interlock, unwanted separation in any or certain directions. The MIFs are represented as a set of faces with a characteristic arrangement among the faces among parts in proximity. This characteristic arrangement of contact faces and their topological relationships help in classification of MIFs. The MIFs are classified into elementary and compound types based on the number of assembly features available at the joint location. Even though CAD assembly models are available to users, it is rather difficult for the user to manually extract the assembly feature information from CAD models. It is therefore a set of algorithms are developed to extract the attributes of MIFs and identify MIFs from CAD model. CAD assembly models from aerospace domain have been used in order to illustrate and validate the proposed approach.

Rollover prevention plays important role on instability of the vehicle. About 35% of accidents are caused due to rollover. Therefore, this brings a need to prevent accidents caused by rollover of vehicles. So, this system prevents the eventual rollover of the vehicle by a method of counter steering mechanism which turns or moves the vehicle in the direction where an eventual rollover is occurring by applying a physical principle of neutral equilibrium which is displacing an object while not changing the position of its center of gravity. Counter steering brings the vehicle into a neutral equilibrium state thus avoiding the rollover. The rollover is sensed by the MPU-6050 accelerometer cum gyroscope sensor which detects the roll angle, roll acceleration of the vehicle. The programming is done for the ATMEGA controller using Arduino IDE software for continuous monitoring of roll angle and roll acceleration of the vehicle. When the roll acceleration of the roll angle exceeds the rollover threshold value calculated by mathematical modeling, the controller sends the control signal through the H-bridge which changes the direction of the motor to turn the vehicle on the same side of the rollover which drives the ring gear on the steering column to create an effect of counter steer thus maintaining a neutral equilibrium and bringing the vehicle back to the ground and avoiding the rollover.

Most of the air pollution are caused by automobiles, factories, and living things. Increasing air pollution is mainly caused by the vehicles. The power generating process in an automobile happens by the fossil fuel combustion, and incomplete combustion leads to the creation of contaminants like NOX, particulate matter, CO, HC, etc. Improving engine design and fuel pre-treatment are two effective ways to reduce these emissions. The toxicity of the exhaust gas is lowered alongside improving the efficiency by the technology—metallic catalytic converter (MCC) where the noble elements like palladium, rhodium, and platinum are replaced which are really expensive and scarce. Titanium dioxide, copper oxide, and calcium oxide are deposited on the aluminum wire mesh to substitute the noble elements. The project’s ultimate goal is to reduce harmful gas emissions, reduce engine backpressure, and investigate the value of exhaust gases under various engine load circumstances with and without the new catalytic converter.

The composite materials are mainly used in engineering sectors due to its reliable mechanical properties. Al5052 alloy generally having high corrosion resistance property, but its wear rate is high, so it will be used in limited applications. The aim of this study is improving mechanical properties of Al5052 reinforced with Al2O3 and graphite. Composite materials with different proportions of Al2O3 and graphite have been fabricated using stir casting process. The production of aluminum matrix composites in liquid processing technique leads in economical process. Samples were prepared using Al5052 with aluminum oxide Al2O3 (2%, 3%, and 4%) and graphite (2%) as reinforcements. The distribution of reinforcement and matrix elements is examined through microstructure analysis such that the mechanical properties were found for improving its strength. The evaluation of mechanical properties revealed that wear resistance increased with increasing reinforcements.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness is a widely used and customary indicator for evaluating industrial performance. Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) of a system is a metric that integrates availability, performance, and quality into a single dimension to assess how effectively a production process is functioning and what variables are holding it from getting the maximum efficiency. All control factors, i.e., availability rate, performance rate, and quality rate, are given an equal weight in the measurement of Overall Equipment Effectiveness. This assumption, however, may not be appropriate for each and every company. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology is employed in this study, to obtain the normalized OEE, which is significant for the company, by evaluating the relative significance of each performance index.

The focus of the study was to improve the existing layout of food packaging unit of an Agri-product industry. In the packing section, there are four packing processes in four different workstations where two workstations are comprised of three vertical packing machines (VPMs) each, one workstation comprised of two VPMs and a controlled packing machine (CPM) so arranged together in rows to perform the packing processes, and one new packing machine is an automated system of its own. There are eight workers in each row. The company was interested to investigate whether a change in the plant layout could result in savings in terms of time and distance moved by the product. CRAFT was used for this purpose, and a new plant layout was proposed. It was estimated that the new design could lead to saving of an overall 26% of the total cost.

The component which is actively participating in the generation of power through gas turbine power plant is a turbine blade. The blade carries the impact generated by high-temperature and high-pressure gases. The power generation capacity mainly depends on the design considerations of turbine blade. Turbine blades generally require materials like super alloys incorporated with a wide variety of cooling technologies such as provision of internal air channels, boundary layer cooling, and thermal barrier coatings, to survive in this fatigue environment. The numerical simulation of a turbine blade is carried out in this study using two distinct materials. In all categories, stainless steel 316L with the internal–external cooling system showed better results. Material selection is critical in turbo equipment since the design is crucial, and efficiency plays a vital role in material performance. For turbine blades, two materials are being investigated in this project titanium alloy and nickel alloy.

Ships and underwater vehicles like submarines and torpedoes use propellers for propulsion. These propellers consist of various blades and have also been constructed using different materials as time has passed. This project aimed to model ship propellers based on a standard four-blade INSEAN E779a model and vary it concerning materials and number of blades. Here, the procedure used to model and analyze the propeller blades has also been discussed. SIEMENS NX 11.0 was the software used to model the propellers, while ANSYS 19.2 was used to perform Static Structural and Computational Fluid Dynamic Analyses of these propellers. The analyses were carried out for two materials, namely, Aluminum and Carbon: fiber Reinforced Plastic, for rake angle 4.05°. The results obtained from the CFD and Static Structural analyses helped determine which propeller performed the best when compared across different parameters like the velocity of water around the propeller, the pressure developed by the propeller, stresses, deformations, and strains developed within the propeller when subjected to a thrust. The modifications made to the propeller in terms of material, number of blades suggested which variant of the propeller is best suited for different requirements of the Ship. For higher speeds, the three-bladed propellers proved to be more effective, while the four-bladed propellers were seen to experience lesser stress and deformations due to the thrust. The current study examines the structural properties of a CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) propeller blade that is being considered as a replacement for aluminum propeller blades. Depending on the operating depth, the propeller is subjected to external hydrostatic pressure on both sides of the edges, and flows around the propeller were computed.

The present work deals with generation of electricity from railway tracks by adopting a simple rack and pinion mechanism. Such arrangement is used in footstep or speed breakers for power generation. The rotational energy of a pinion is converted into electrical energy by means of dynamo. Whenever the train is allowed to pass over the train track with rack and pinion setup, the pinion gets rotated, where it is coupled with the 12 V DC dynamo. Due to this, the rotational energy of the pinion is converted into electrical energy. Power is generated by an energy harvesting arrangement which indicates the movement of trains on the railway track for power applications. Mathematical formulas were used to calculate efficient energy produced from the system at various speeds. The energy obtained from railway tracks is one of the major sources to get nonconventional energy where no fuel is required as an input to obtain the output. The generated energy is used for irrigation systems which are nearby farming lands and lamp lights near the track.

In the present world today, manufacturing techniques have overcome the boundaries of traditional manufacturing technologies and have emerged to be more advanced and competitive with the more intensive purpose to meet the diverse customer demands. In relation with the can-making department (CMD) in an international food corporation (IFC) is no different, since the purpose is the same as any manufacturing or production nowadays and that is to meet its customer's demand in a manner of high quality, performance, and immediate response manner. Therefore, overall equipment efficiency (OEE) is an intelligent and smart key productive indicator for total productive mountainous that measures time as well as the quality of products and suggests approaches in improving efficiency and reducing the time that can be identified and categorized as loss, down, waste, etc. Moreover, in the past, traditional manufacturing measure and practices have proved to be destructive and unhealthy toward the natural global habitats; hence, sustainable manufacturing emphasis was implemented for the adaptation of sustainable measures that include eco-friendlier and environmentally friendlier. For this need, the can-making department in response will also investigate the relationship between overall equipment efficiency to achieve sustainable can manufacturing at international food corporations. The main achievement for this paper is to study the production line of the can-making department, analyze its data to implement sustainable can manufacturing, and evaluate OEE that will give a clear picture of where the matters are to be addressed and resolved to increase OEE percentage. The maturity of a production line is accomplished by OEE; hence, a company standardized as world-class will have 85% or above OEE with an accomplishment of perfect rating of availability, performance, and quality within a standard of 8 h shift.

Present work was an attempt to see future prospect of eggshells as a water filtering medium. With aim of converting waste to value, as eggshell is one of major waste in India. The eggshells nanoparticles were prepared with planetary ball milling. The morphology and surface properties were investigated with electron microscopy. The UV–vis spectroscopy was used to analyze the dye adsorption capacity of eggshell particles for methylene blue dye adsorption. The pellets of eggshells were prepared and checked with electron microscopy for the creation of pores. The pellets were also checked for their filtration ability in reducing total dissolved solids. The morphology analysis revealed that eggshell particles were well within the nanorange. The eggshell nanoparticulate pellet provided a high-adsorption rate methylene dye with adsorption of 246.56 mg/g. was used for fitting of experimental value of adsorption was fitted with The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The Langmuir models provided the best fit. There was also a significant reduction in total dissolved solids. The highest adsorption rate was found to be 277.084 using Langmuir isotherm.

The improvement in automotive technologies has led to increased thermal loads, and therefore, higher cooling rates are required. By using conventional fluids (distilled water and ethylene glycol) in radiator, we can remove heat content from engine body up to some extent only. Nanofluids have huge ability to improve automotive heavy-duty engine cooling rates and lowering the complexity of thermal management system. By improving the heat transfer rate, temperature of the intake lean mixture of fuel decreases up to some more extent which leads to increase the density of fuel compared to using of conventional fluids. So, we can admit more amount of lean mixture into the combustion chamber.

A detailed experimental study is carried out to verify and compare performance parameters of nanorefrigerants in a vapor compression-based system. Three different fluids such as (i) pure refrigerant (R134a); (ii) CuO-based nanorefrigerant; and (iii) SiO2-based nanorefrigerant have been used in the study. In this experiment, varying concentrations of SiO2, as well as CuO nanoparticles, were mixed in the base refrigerant. The prepared fluids have been characterized for heat transfer characteristics by altering the constant heat flux rate at temperature range 29–30 °C. Experimental results reveal a remarkable improvement in coefficient of performance (COP) and were found maximum for both, SiO2 and CuO, nanoparticles at a concentration of 0.5 g. Further, the cooling speed was observed better than base refrigerant and increased with the addition of nanoparticle concentration, irrespective of nanoparticles material. Moreover, power consumption fell significantly and maximum reduction was noticed with 0.5 g CuO compared with pure refrigerant and even better than 0.5 g SiO2 concentration at constant flow rate with same experimental conditions. Overall, results showed that thermophysical and heat transfer characteristics improved significantly by adding CuO and SiO2 nanoparticles to the base refrigerant (R134a).

Insulating materials derived from agriculture wastes have gained interest to manufacture sustainable green composites. In this study, blend of Rice Husk (RH) forms as reinforcement and Plaster of Paris (POP) as matrix were selected to fabricate insulating composite material. The experimentation was done to analyze the effect of different forms of RH viz. as a fiber, as grinded and as fly ash in different compositions into POP matrix. Investigation was done to analyze the effect of different forms of fiber reinforcement on thermal insulation by measuring the thermal conductivity as well as strength of the composite. The temperature was measured by using multiple thermocouples across the sides of insulations and studied the heat conduction behavior across the composite slabs. The strength of composite slabs was tested by subjecting slabs to transverse weight. The results revealed that inclusion of RH in grinded form (RH-G) gives best insulation with 3 wt% content proved to be optimum level, whereas ash form helped in imparting adequate strength to the composite. These findings will help in exploring the potential of RH for sustainable manufacturing of green insulators.

The usage of composites is increasing in this era. There are various types of composites available in the literature with different combinations. Still, there is a place to develop a new type or variety of composite to meet the needs of real-world requirements. Peepal fiber and polyester is a unique combination and found very limited work in the literature. Current work tries to investigate the behavior of peepal fiber reinforced polyester composites in terms of tensile, flexural, and impact strengths. Since polyester is a base material for many industrial applications and peepal is a natural and biodegradable material. This combination can give an answer to the green engineering requirements to some extent. The present work’s primary focus is on fabrication and testing of treated peepal fiber reinforced polyester composites in terms of mechanical behavior.

In the current study, nanocellulose fibers were extracted from two different or dissimilar plant sources Cajanus cajan (pigeon pea) and Acacia arabica (Babul plant), respectively, using mechanical and chemical treatments. The chemical analysis results of both varieties of nanocellulose fibers have shown increase in cellulose content due to the loss of hemicellulose and lignin content. The morphology and size of nanocellulose fibers are analyzed using scanning electron microscope, and the results have shown that most of the nanocellulose fibers produced using Cajanus cajan and Acacia arabica as sources have diameter in the range of 20–40 nm. Through X-ray diffraction analysis, it is also shown that, because of the chemical treatments applied, there is an increase in crystallinity of the nanocellulose fibers produced. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) has shown that both the varieties of nanocellulose fibers have reached a degradation temperature of 328 and 337 °C. Based on the properties of nanocellulose fibers produced in this study, we expect that these fibers can be used as best reinforcement materials for manufacturing biopolymers and in food processing applications.

Over the few decades, aluminum-based (Al) metal matrix composites (MMCs) have become more versatile replacement for ferrous alloys in automotive industry, aerospace field, and defense sectors. This is for the reason of its high specific strength, good wear resistance, and damping capacity when compared to unreinforced alloy. MMCs have been appeared as most suitable materials for automotive domain, aerospace, electronics filed, thermal, structural applications, and wear resistance applications to get their benefits over conventional materials. In this work, stir method of casting technique adopted in preparing Al-MMCs. Among various available reinforcements, fly ash is the one with lowest density, inexpensive, and accessible in large amounts as industrial waste. The Al-MMCs test samples were prepared using fly ash as reinforcement in various weight percentages 1, 2, and 4 into the AA1050 base metal. The different mechanical properties such as hardness—resistance to indentation, strength, and wear resistance were characterized by using universal testing machine (UTM), Vickers’s hardness, and pin-on-disk, and other experiments were executed by following ASTM standards. Factorial design methodology is followed to obtain the significant optimal parameters on wear rate, and the established relationship was authenticated using a technique known as analysis of variance (ANOVA). The developed AA1050-flyash composites results were promising and encouraging when compared to the base material.

The present work explains and processes the fabricated of a 3D composite filament using wear characteristics of a polylactic acid (PLA)-14% bronze composite filament to obtain a technique as pin-on-disc apparatus. The process is by varying the three parameters such as load, track diameter and speed. To optimize the wear and coefficient of friction, grey relational analysis (GRA) technique was used. The results were obtained that the performance of a load was greatly influenced on the effect of the printed end sample. Load and track diameter which are highly influenced over the mechanical properties are investigated. Track diameter is highly influenced on the effect of the mechanical properties.

Functionally graded materials (FGMs) can be able to withstand in coarse environmental conditions. The present research focused on tribological characteristics of epoxy-based FGMs using aluminum (FG-Al) and copper (FG-Cu) filler particles developed through hand lay-up methodology. Experiments were reported using pin-on-disk tribometer to study wear rate and coefficient of friction of individual layers at different loading conditions. The layer 4 having high filler loading showed better tribological properties as compared to layer 1 which comprise low filler content. Moreover, FG-Cu samples exhibited lower frictional coefficient than FG-Al indicating the efficiency of Cu particles in reducing friction. Surface of worn-out samples was examined microscopically which revealed the abrasive wear as dominant wear mechanism and presence of wear debris at sliding surfaces.

ZnO and SiC nanoparticles are reinforced into the Ni–P coatings at three different concentrations (1, 2, and 3 g/L) to form the Ni–P-SiC/ZnO composite coatings. To know the influence of thermal process on the microhardness of the deposit, at 400 °C temperature both the coatings are annealed. Before heat treatment, Vickers microhardness test was conducted on the coatings, and same was compared with Vickers microhardness test results of the coatings after annealing. A comparison study is being conducted among Ni–P–ZnO and Ni–P–SiC coatings to determine which particles are better reinforced to attain nickel phosphorus (Ni–P) composite coatings with good microhardness.

Design of Experiments approach is helpful in designing suitable experiments, determining important factors responsible for output and determining their optimal levels according to desired process yields. Implementation of DOE and process capability method to improve quality parameters is the way to improve the best of the products produced by identifying important process parameters and determining their optimal levels. Optimal levels are the ones that lead to the production of parts with part weight at the target weight. DOE is used to design the experiment and determination of optimal levels is done through ANOVA.

Most of the catastrophic disasters in industry are due to fatigue failure of rotating machinery, and hence, accurate determination of endurance strength is of vital importance to the designer. This work is related to determination of the finite life of low-carbon steel cylindrical notched specimens, which are subjected to fatigue loads in both with and without burnishing cases. This information can help to make the design more economical, maintainable, and reliable and thus avoid costly litigation, loss of life, sudden failure, etc. Analytical relation between impact stress and the fatigue life is obtained by power law. To verify the proposed relation, fatigue lives of low-carbon steel specimens have been observed on a tension-impact fatigue testing machine fabricated in the laboratory. The final expression between impact stress and fatigue life comes out in the form of Basquin’s law. The constants of this expression have been evaluated using least square approximation method. This work endeavors to find the damage done by the over stressing. The influence of surface finish on fatigue damage was investigated by ball burnishing process.

Over the last few decades, a vast amount of research has been carried out on different bioactive glasses for biomedical applications. However, their brittleness restricts their widespread usage and have been a point of concern. The present investigation emphases on evaluating the mechanical and tribological properties of borosilicate glass synthesized partially from natural wastes. The hardness value of the glass was found to be around 534 ± 10 HV which was in the range with glass synthesized from pure chemicals. The compression strength of glass specimen was ~86.72 MPa. It was observed that wear is directly dependent on load (at constant speed). Maximum specific wear rate was observed at 5 N load and 200 rpm (5.921 × 10–5 mm3/N m), while minimum value was observed for 15 N load and 400 rpm speed (2.854 × 10–5 mm3/N m). The debris of specimen with maximum specific wear rate was collected and observed under scanning electron microscope to study its nature.

Plastic and sintered gears, as well as carburized or surface-quality upgraded gears with very high surface fatigue strength, have a serious problem with bending load-carrying capacity. In addition to heat treatment technology and increased tooth fillet surface quality, large cutter tip corners can increase the capability to carry a load of transmissions. Modifying the involute geometry can also increase the capability to carry a load. It is possible to make the gears asymmetric by giving the power side a different pressure angle from the tooth side. By employing asymmetric teeth, gears can perform better, including the increased capability to carry a load, less bending stress, and increased resistance to wear on the drive side. The effect of asymmetric gears with a larger pressure angle on the drive side than on the coast side was explored in this study. In addition to the aforementioned changes, it has been demonstrated that changing the root fillet radius can lower bending stresses. Because the bending force is reduced, small gears or lighter gears can be produced. This advantage allows gears to be used in a larger range of industries, including aerospace and automotive. ANSYS software is used to simulate the involute profile of gear teeth and perform the analysis.

In recent era, development of new materials from existing material is very important to compensate the decencies and shortfall of the existing material. Functional graded material (FGMs) is one of the recently advanced materials which is going to replace composites and traditional materials in many applications. In the present review, a study about the fabrication techniques, mechanical and tribological properties of the functionally graded polymer materials is discussed to understand the impact of this new material.

Nowadays, biofuels have become primary important in the automobile and transport sector as an alternative to current conventional fuels. It is well known that the major varieties of vegetables are edible while few of them are deployed for research purposes such as palm oil which is non-edible oil. Palm biodiesel was extracted from raw Palm Kernel Oil by the application of Esterification and Transesterification. Palm biodiesel was blended with conventional diesel. Present work touches upon working of conventional diesel engine and exhaust emission with diesel, palm biodiesel and also blends of palm diesel and diesel blends. Apportioned fuel combination of diesel and palm biodiesel are P0: 0% Palm Kernel Oil + 100% diesel, P20: 20% Palm Kernel Oil + 80% diesel, P40: 40% Palm Kernel Oil + 60% diesel, P60: 60% Palm Kernel Oil + 40% diesel and P100: 100% Palm Kernel Oil + 0% diesel. The experimentation was carried out with no alterations to the design of the test diesel engine. In the current work, working of the Engine and engine exhaust were examined at compression ratio 18:1. Experimentation was carried out at various loads besides variable blends and results were presented. Experimentation was carried out at 1500 rpm and maximum load at compression ratio 18:1. The influence due to change in the blend ratios on the brake thermal efficiency, brake-specific fuel consumption and emission analysis was also examined. Performance evaluation covers evaluation of brake power (BP), brake SFC, brake thermal efficiency, etc. Emission testing covers CO%, CO2% NOx (ppm) emissions as measurements done by gas analyzer. The experimentation reveals that the BTE of palm biofuel engine is 29.01%, which is more than that of diesel, while the BSFC of 0.293 kg/kWh is less than that of the diesel. In the part of emission analysis, NOx, CO% and CO2% were 153 ppm, 0.006% and 2.09%, respectively at maximum BP for palm biodiesel and tallied with diesel as better substitute.

Educational sector saw a sudden shift from offline to online, during the pandemic. This however caused various difficulties among students and teachers alike. In this paper, we address the issues faced by teachers and students while taking part in online examinations. We started our groundwork by secondary research, followed by in-depth interviews, surveys, and contextual inquiries. Through our solution put forth, we try to solve largely the difficulties faced by teachers and students in conducting and attending in online examinations, respectively, within some set constraints.

For the past few years, the world has seen a paradigm shift in the way of life. Daily activities of working, learning, etc. were shifted to an online mode so that the spread of the covid virus can be contained. During this time, usage of social media apps was at an all-time high since it was the only way people could socialize. The clubhouse was one such social media app that gained popularity during the lockdown and showed exponential growth in terms of user engagement. But, it was observed that from the survey conducted among 33 users, almost 82% of users showed reluctance in using Clubhouse over time. 84.8% of users welcomed the need for a better User Experience for the platform. An average of 64.2% of users reported different User Experience (UX) related issues in the app. In this paper, the UX side of the app is studied and discussed.

In the recent pandemic period, an empathy-based strategy was applied in teaching the course of domestic interiors to second year Interior design students to help in overcoming the vulnerabilities faced by the students. To understand if using empathy and cognitive methods in instruction, are more effective in online or hybrid (online & face to face) mode for a course in design education. The student scores of two subsequent cohorts (one taught in online mode and the other in hybrid mode), were used to ascertain the difference in engagement, learning outcome quality and student feedback of the two mode of instruction. Empathy and connectivism was used in both modes. Student scores in the hybrid mode were almost 9% (average) higher than the online mode, as it provisioned for some face to face interaction.

It is well evident in the literature of the past two decades that consideration of human factors is important for any product/service/system/interface design. Researchers have made effort to establish the fact that “Good Design means Good Ergonomics”. Other groups of researchers have argued that “Good Ergonomics means Good Economics”. Hence, consideration of human factors boiled down to a better user experience. However, sometimes designers are often unable to relate how their design impacting on business outcomes. Therefore, this paper aims to understand the scope of better UX at different levels beyond product or software UX, to establish a relationship between human factors and UX strategies, and to relate UX strategies with better business outcomes. A UXSBB framework has been proposed based on the concept of total user experience (TUX) design in relation to UX strategies for better business outcomes. According to this framework designers not only have to ensure the UX of a product/software, but they have to think about other experiential domains such as brand experience, service experience, and UX awareness at the organizational level. Then they should apply the knowledge of human factors and UX strategies at these different levels to sensitize the organization about the UX. The proposed UXSBB framework also enables knowledge of the application of different UX strategies for different business contexts. The UXSBB will be helpful for designers to chalk out the UX strategies for better business outcomes.

Big data has become a significant topic of interest for data engineering field and academics in learning and research. Exponential data expansion is powered by exponential Cyberspace and digital device growth. Large amounts of data can now be stored and analyzed at a low cost due to technological advancements. Big Data is a collection of real-time data that is organized, semi-structured, or unstructured from several resources. Predictive analysis offers technique for accessing information from big data collections. Many viewers like Google, Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, etc., have recognized the potential to gain competitive advantage through Big Data and Analytics. These methods provide several possibilities such as finding patterns or improved algorithms for optimization. Big data management and analysis is also a few difficulties, including data size, quality, dependability, and comprehensiveness. This article offers a thorough overview of Big Data and Predictive Analysis literature. It provides specifics on basic ideas in this developing area. We concluded by presenting the findings of our research and highlighting future research opportunities in this domain.

Artificial intelligence is one of the technologies which are being applied in various domains. In transportation, managing the vehicles pass way parking and highway traffic is one of the challenging task. Maximum of the road accidents happen due to the high-beam trails on the highway and reflection gage. In this paper, we have studied the total accidents occurred during past years due to this same issue and proposed a conceptual solution of headlight beam reduction using automation of headlight system. We have also focused on the other emerging source of AI in transportation and briefly stated their application area. Overall, this paper is approach of proposing significant application area of AI and IoT in transportation.

The laser speckle images are used to characterize the surface roughness of milled surfaces. In the proposed method, the line speckle images were captured using a high definition camera. A one-dimensional image signal vector of 1 × 2000 matrices were extracted. A biorthogonal wavelet transform was used to breakdown these signal vectors. The surface roughness information were supposed to be stored in the six-level decomposition signals. The RMS and variance of the 4th and 5th order decompositions were utilized as metrics, and the Ra, Rda and Rdq were compared. Because the RMS and variance correspond well with the Ra values, the approach may be used to determine the roughness of milled surfaces online for a Ra range of 1–14 µm.

To improve the fracture toughness, “Post weld heat treatment” (PWHT) processes came into existence, but it is time-consuming, more cost, and laborious. To substitute the PWHT, Mechanical excitations are transferred throughout welding progression to enhance the weldment grain formation and fracture toughness. The vibrations are transferred to the molten state of the weld pool before it gets solidified during flux shielded manual arc welding technique (SMAW). The novel vibratory technique is introduced to vibrate the specimens mechanically and impact strength is investigated experimentally. The effect of experimental input process parameters on impact strength was compared with the conventional welding process. Results revealed the Impact strength with excitations is increased by 17% when it is compared with conventional arc welded specimen’s impact strength and the major influencing factor for improved flexural strength is a voltage at 190 V of vibrating-motor, and 18 V of D.C—Motor coupled to electrode. The microstructures of the vibratory weld joints are studied in-depth and compared with conventional prepared SMAW welded joints. Uniform and refined grain structures are identified on welded joints prepared with vibrations.

The aim of this research is to prioritize the critical factors of prognosis agent technology (PAT) in order to increase the overall performance of manufacturing organizations by applying the Decision Making Trail and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach. In which DEMATEL helps to evaluate the direct and indirect influence among the variables and determine the interrelationship between them. Five major and twenty-one major variables were identified through literature used to architect a conceptual domain. Based on this domain, a questionnaire was prepared, communicated, and a response was collected from the expert. The collected responses were analyzed using DEMATEL, which evaluated the integration between the manufacturing system and maintenance as the most significant variable, followed by fault identification, manufacturing process, organization productivity, and organization control, and also showed that organization control is highly influenced by the other variables. Finally, it is concluded through the usage of the DEMATEL approach that if PAT is implemented properly, it will enhance the overall performance of manufacturing organizations.

Deep material drilling has a wide range of technical applications. On an orbiting Electric Discharge Machine (EDM), deep drilling of SS-316L was accomplished with a copper electrode tube. Duty factor, pulse-on-time, flushing pressure, and peak current are utilized as experiment inputs, and their effects on Electrode Wear Rate (EWR) and Material Removal Rate (MRR) are investigated. The optimal peak current was determined to be 3-A at a duty factor of 75%.

The results obtained after performing multi-criterion optimization for nanopowder blended electrical spark machining of AISI D3 Die steel derived from the Taguchi scheme accompanied by grey relational examination are presented in this research paper. Different sets of experiments planned as per the Taguchi procedure were effectuated by differing four parameters: peak current, pulse on time, spark voltage and powder concentration. Material Subtraction Rate (MSR), Surface Roughness (SR) and Electrode Wear Rate (EWR) are selected as performance assessors. According to the results, peak current and powder concentration affect MSR, EWR and SR. The best combination is 7 A peak current, 50 µs pulse on time, 100 V gap voltage and 0.5 g/L powder concentration. The affirmation test, which was used to authenticate the Grey Relational Analysis result, demonstrated an acceptable improvement in the responses.

To manufacture a product accurately and defect free, both design and manufacturing playing the vital role in micro-level in the present scenario. The present work on the basis of advanced and precision manufacturing. Micro-EDM (electro discharge machining) evaporation and melting are the mechanism of material removal in nonconventional machining process, and there will be no contact between electrode and work piece. Both micro-holes and micro-channels which are essential for micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) devices can be easily machined through micro-machining such as micro-EDM. Micro-EDM is found to be capable of machining any conductive materials regardless of hardness, and both hardened and difficult to machine materials can be easily machined with great ease and accuracy using micro-EDM. The machining of the Inconel-718 was done using micro-EDM with a Copper electrode by using RSM-based BBD methodology. The response surface methodology (RSM) method is used to formulate the experiment layout to analyze the effect of each parameter on the material removal rate (MRR). Various process parameters have been used like current, voltage, pulse on time, pulse off time and gap. From the experimental results, it was observed that MRR was increased with current, pulse on time and gap. Maximum MRR was observed with 6 Amp current.

Welding is the most prevalent method of joining the components. Several analytical approaches have recently been employed to develop a correlation among welding parameters and weldment quality. Computational intelligence techniques are those that can simulate the relationship among weld process factors and weldment efficiency in a shorter period. The estimation of mechanical properties in this study was carried out utilizing an artificial neural network (ANN). An artificial neural network model developed to understand the relationship between tensile strength (UTS) of vibratory-assisted aluminium weldments to vibromotor voltage input and vibration time during welding. With the available experimental results, a model was created among vibratory aided gas tungsten arc welding (TIG) parameters and tensile strength (UTS) of 5052 H32 aluminium alloy weldments. The created ANN model is tested using results of the experiment. This trained ANN model can also predict the aluminium alloy weld joint ultimate tensile strength with an accuracy of 97.77%.

Drilling is an important machining process in manufacturing. In drilling process hole or through hole can be produced into workpiece. During machining, burr is produced. Burr is some undesirable material left on the workpiece surface after drilling. By controlling some parameters like point angle, drill diameter and spindle speed, the formation of a bar can be reduced. In this work, experimental work has been done in drilling to minimize burr formation. The aim of this research work is to optimize burr formation during the drilling operation of an aluminium bar of size 150 mm * 42 mm * 16 mm using a high-speed steel cutting tool. To obtain the comparative impact of selected parameters on the drilling burr formation analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Taguchi’s L27 orthogonal array has been used. The obtained result shows that the main parameter to optimize the burr height is point angle which gives 94% confidence level and 32.42% burr height.

Inkjet-based printing is one of the salient domain in the field of micro-additive manufacturing. Its ease of manufacturing technique added with the guaranteed precision of products have it made it quite popular in the recent decade. Several advancements have been done in this field. Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing is known to provide an even better resolution than traditional inkjet printing. The main attraction of such a kind of printing is due to the different droplet formation process. Through this study, statistical modeling and soft computing-based methods have been used for modeling of process parameters of electrohydrodynamic inkjet printing. Here, deep learning algorithm is applied to model two response parameters: droplet diameter and frequency from input parameters such as standoff distance, voltage, and ink flow rate. Three different neural network systems, namely back propagation, recurrent, and radial basis network, are used to find out the most accurate and optimum parameter with greatest precision. A comparative study of all the aforementioned learning algorithms has been executed.

Nowadays, soft robots are becoming a trend due to the limitations of hard robots. Soft robotics is made up of soft components manufactured using additive manufacturing or 3D printing. A comparison between soft robotics and hard robotics has been tabulated in the paper. The components of soft robots such as sensors and actuators must be made up of soft materials to achieve proper stretchability. Hence, to develop such soft components, the electronic components must also be soft to achieve less restriction in motion. For this purpose, various soft materials must be explored such that the perfect material is chosen for printing the desired product. The paper reviews five different 3D printing technologies and materials used in 3D printing. The modifications are done in the technologies to eliminate the limitations of these technologies. A summary table is also prepared where a quality-wise comparison of these techniques is done. Also, currently trending hybrid printers have been reviewed.

Micro-electrical discharge machining is a significant method for replicating micro-scale features. In this article, microholes were fabricated using a micro-electrical discharge machining (µ-EDM) technique and tested the circularity of the machined holes. Thin nickel sheet (0.1 mm) and tungsten tool (ø650 µm) were the selected work and tool material during the experimentation in EDM oil. The experiments were carried out at a constant open-circuit voltage of 24 V and set peak current of 300 mA, 350 mA, and 400 mA. It was found that the fabricated microholes are varying in their diametral length between 748 and 800 µm. Moreover, there is very little circularity deviation is noted in the fabricated microholes. Some recast layer formation was noted near the edge of the machined holes which is varying between 6.5 and 7.5 µm. Later on, the surface morphology and elemental characterization of the fabricated microholes were observed by high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and the energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) technique respectively. Micro/nano-electro-mechanical system (MEMS/NEMS) is the area where the microholes application is highly recommended.

Surface roughness is a critical design parameter that has been shown to have a major impact on qualities like wear resistance and fatigue strength. Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a metal additive manufacturing technology that is gaining popularity in the aerospace and automotive industries due to its use in the maintenance and repair of key high-cost goods. As a result, in today’s manufacturing industry, surface roughness modeling and prediction of printed components are crucial. The purpose of this research is to develop an optimal neuro-fuzzy system that can represent surface roughness in the WAAM process using a set of input process variables such as welding speed, wire feed speed, and overlap ratio. During hybrid learning of the first-order Sugeno fuzzy system, three distinct membership functions, such as trapezoidal, bell, and Gaussian-shaped, were used to examine the accuracy in prediction of surface roughness by three membership functions. The experimental data were compared to the anticipated surface roughness values produced from the proposed adaptive neuro-fuzzy expert system. According to the results of the comparison research, the suggested technique may provide an ideal database and rule foundation for predicting deposition characteristics in the metal additive manufacturing process.

The manufacturing industry across the globe is accelerating at a rapid pace, and India is emerging as a preferred hub for manufacturing of automobile and aerospace components. Aero-components involve high-performance metal alloys and composites. Due to their superior properties of A356-TiB2, nanocomposite are extremely being used in aerospace, electronics, and automotive applications. Machining operations are necessary to composites processed via near net shape to function accurately for industrial applications. Thus, the machinability aspects of metallic composites are quiet challenging because of their complex form and high-quality specifications. This work is focused on the manufacture of A356-TiB2 nanocomposite by electric discharge machining (EDM), which is discussed. The impact of control parameters likes pulse current, pulse-on time, duty cycle, and voltage as well as their interactions, on surface quality facets of A356-5TiB2 is described. Some of the challenges faced during the machining of these composites include thermal degradation, erosion, quality, and productivity are reported. Quality and productivity were characterized by surface roughness and material removal rate phenomenon respectively.

3D printing is extensively applicable in research purpose and applications related to engineering starting from aerospace technology to biomedicine. It is renowned as additive manufacturing as it is produced in a layer-by-layer fashion to print the products. It is adaptable technique account for many applications to withstand the problems faced by conventional manufacturing system. Most preferable 3D printing technique is fused deposition modelling which has a wide variety of purposes to manufacture in a flexible manner. Material tested in this study to print 3D products is PLA which gave powerful results. The testing of the 3D printed specimen which showed that increase in the infill density result in the increase of flexural strength.

Economic load dispatch (ELD) is an significant optimization assignment in power system. With this allotment of generation for each unit has been achieved effectively to minimize the generation. Generally, power system problems like ELD have difficulties during solving with general maths. Conventional methods are necessary to minimize the cost of generation, with proper allotment and the reduction of losses. It can be solved by using Newton approach, nonlinear programming, quadratic programming and so on. These techniques may be struct at local optimum. Therefore, to avoid that, in this paper, newly developed firefly algorithm has been applied on six-unit generator system. With the firefly algorithm, the obtained results are superior to other methods, and it confirms the best generator output and optimal fuel cost of the system.

The technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method was used to identify the optimum process parameters in the dry turning of H13 tool steel. The carbide tool was used for the turning. Experiments were conducted by following Taguchi’s L27 orthogonal array. The surface roughness and the chip reduction coefficient were considered as the output response parameters. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was done to identify the most influential parameters on the output responses. The results showed that the TOPSIS method is suitable for solving multi-criteria optimization of process parameters. The optimum combination of process parameters was identified. The validation study on the optimization result was explored.

Aluminium has its vital role to play in engineering materials for producing higher strength-to-weight ratio components. In this present research, the tribological properties of aluminium alloy AA7075 strengthened by Tungsten Carbide (WC) at different proportions (1 and 2% wt. of WC) are synthesised using stir- casting method. To measure wear and frictional characteristics, a pin-on-disc wear tester was used to conduct a dry sliding wear test on the WC reinforced AA7075 composite. Tests were performed and processed using a TAGUCHI L-9 Orthogonal array on the basis of the proposal of design of experiments (DOE) using Taguchi’s method in Minitab tool. During the wear test, an ANOVA is used to determine the effect of load applied, sliding distance and speed of sliding on wear rate, including the coefficient of friction (COF). To study the dry sliding wear resistance, the Taguchi design was used with signal-to-noise ratio as a “smaller is better” characteristic. Results reveal that the weight and sliding speed of the sliding distance have a larger influence. At last, tests to corroborate the experimental results were carried out, three experiments are conducted for each confirmation test of wt% of WC among which highest accuracy for 1 wt% WC is 95.83% for SWR and 97.9% for COF followed by the 2 wt% composite with 97.02% for SWR and 95.16% for COF.

Magnetic force microscopy (MFM) has been generally used to concentrate on the polarization construction of hard-plate drive (HDD) media, super durable magnets, and different materials. The HDD medium's areal thickness is presently moving toward 1 Tb/in2, in spite of the way that the piece pitch is just 20–30 nm. The MFM tip will be exposed to a solid attractive field. As well as accomplishing a high goal better than 10 nm, the acknowledgment of a MFM tip with a high exchanging field (Hsw) is required. Much of the time, MFM tips are made by covering non-attractive sharp tips with attractive magnetic films. MFM performance is influenced by the shape of the MFM tip and the magnetic property of the coating material. In this work, we have tried to coat the existing commercially available atomic force microscopy tip (AFM) with a superparamagnetic material to make it work as an MFM tip. The main advantage of coating with superparamagnetic material that it has low coercivity and medium saturation magnetization which is an important factor that leads to a good contrast image of any sample that is scanned under MFM. We have tried to find out the appropriate material by surveying various literature and finally decided to coat FeGa thin film because of its superparamagnetic behavior and low coercivity in nature, after coating the standard AFM tip with FeGa film by a sputtering method under the optimal condition which we got by attempting various deposition condition and varying parameter, later that coated tip is used as an MFM tip, and scanning was performed on magnetic samples.

A battery tray for electric vehicles is fundamentally a multi-objective design optimization problem. Obtaining trade-off solutions between conflicting functional objectives can be computationally expensive when high-fidelity dynamic Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulations are used for performance evaluations. Sometimes it is even difficult to obtain any feasible solution. In this work, battery tray design exploration is performed using data-driven surrogates and multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) to obtain the best structural performances while keeping the cost low. Finally, a design is accepted that is slightly heavy than the baseline design but beats the market in cost while meeting all other functional requirements.

The Puma Energy Cathodic Protection (CP) terminals in Papua New Guinea have been under construction and maintenance by reliable external CP contractors commissioned by Puma Energy. The facilities have been effectively monitored and checked using voltmeters and ammeters for their possible corrosion and failure which may cause damage to the structures therein. The study and research have also been conducted as my final thesis from the data made available by the Puma Energy cathoidic protection engineer and concluded in conjunction with the various contractors. All Puma Energy terminal facilities have been protected from corrosion using the sacrificial anodes cathodic protection method throughout Papua New Guinea. This has been initially accepted and practiced or constructed by the company because it costs less and is reliable, however, the magnitude of protection rendered to the facilities was considered inadequate. It has been noted that the facilities in the Alotau terminals in Papua New Guinea do not have sufficient protection from the sacrificial anodes protection system. The sacrificial anode CP system has been recommended by the external contractors and proposed for possible replacement option with other means of protection such as impressed current cathodic protection method. As per the raw data made available by Puma Energy PNG limited, it was discovered and obvious that the magnitude of protection rendered by sacrificial anodes has been considered nonperforming and weak. The sacrificial anodes CP system has been declining and not performing in accordance with Australian and New Zealand standards and specification AS2832.1.2015 and (National Association of Corrosion Engineers International 2000.

EDM is a non-traditional machining process used for high strength to weight ratio material and high-heat resistance materials. This paper undertakes a comparative study between optimization using the Taguchi method and the genetic algorithm on 13/8 PH steel using die sinking EDM. The advantage of EDM is its unconventionality wherein performs machining without any contact between tool and work piece. This machining involves thorough usage of parameters that affect output response like pulse-on time, pulse-off time, tool lift time, input current on MRR. Genetic algorithm is performed in MATLAB optimization tool box. Taguchi optimization and ANOVA are performed in Minitab-19. ANOVA is performed to analyze effect of input parameters on output response. This research also provides a list of optimized process parameters for 13/8 PH steel machining.

Finding the best route for route planning can help travelers to make better choice decisions. Routing systems for outdoor as well as indoor spaces have become the focus of many researchers. Outdoor routing takes the account of spatial road networks, where a moving object can be affected by traffic movement or traffic jams. On the other hand, indoor routing gets affected by indoor space features such as walls, room, and equipment. In this paper, we will discuss the routing algorithms that adapt to dynamically changing environments. In this paper, bio-inspired algorithms for the shortest path to optimize road navigation have been discussed. These algorithms will be useful to researchers and practitioners in operation research, management, transportation, and the geographic information system.

Composite structures in their service life subjected to various static and dynamic loadings. Static loading leads to noticeable permanent deformation in structures. Hence, failure can be predictable earlier. On the contrary, dynamic loading develops fluctuating stresses. Fluctuating stress leads to initiation of fatigue crack in composite structures. Fatigue crack initiation and its propagation are main cause of failures. Prier detection of crack and its severity is essential to avoid catastrophic failure of structure. Available conventional damage detection methods are time taking, expensive and may require unassembled from machines. Hence, now, more emphasis is given on unconventional methods. In this work, a damage detection method is introduced through fuzzy logic system (FLS) and regression analysis (RA). Statistical process control methods are applied, and investigations made on a cantilever composite beam with a crack. A data pool has been extracted from analytical method. Then, the search space was trained by that proposed methodology to get damage location. The result of the proposed methodology found within the permissible limit.

The motive behind this paper is to recognize the notion of lean manufacturing, its ideology, several tools and techniques, benefits gained after application, and various hurdles toward lean application. As lean techniques reduce waste and increases resource utilization efficiency. There is necessity for lean manufacturing almost in every industry due to competitive environment. Due to fast-changing business and its environment, firms are set to face challenges and complexities. It is a useful technique to diminish the movement of non-value-added time. This paper presents a literature review and tries to recognize the main and handy contributions to this subject. Lean manufacturing uses a different span of methodologies and techniques. Many factors contribute to lean success; not only it is compulsory to implement most of the lean tools, but an organization’s culture needs transformation too. Companies following lean manufacturing have better flexibility and a good market share.

Simulation plays a vital role in providing insights and designing a complex system. It is imperative to learn the simulation tools to understand the landscape of industrial robotics. The kinematic equations vary due to structural variations of industrial robots. The paper describes the simulation of a 6R industrial robot. The kinematic equations for IRB 1600 are developed using MATLAB. Then, the simulation of the IRB 1600 robot is carried out using RoKiSim and validated through RobotStudio. The kinematic results are in agreement with those obtained by the software tools.

Paper shows the contribution of the neuro-Sugeno-fuzzy gravitational technique towards path navigation. Fire bird-V robot is used in the above approach. The work is done in both simulation and experimental environment using simulation tools. The results of the simulation and experiments are compared and expressed in tabular form. The percentage deviation in the result was within the acceptable limits. The reason for the deviation was various external reasons, and slippage at the contact between the wheel and the floor. The proposed controller was found to be effective in preventing collision with different obstacles at different locations. Arena selected was a static environment.

The paper presents a rigorous study of the different path planning approaches for humanoid navigation in an unknown space. Different reactive techniques along with classical techniques are discussed in the paper for navigation of the humanoid robot in different terrain. The paper deals with a comprehensive discussion of the above methods to identify the best intelligent technique for the navigation-based planning of humanoids. It was found that the convergence of the classical method is dependent upon the navigation environment and the level of selection of parameters. The paper introduces a new controller (based on the gravity search algorithm, GSO) to model humanoid navigation in cluttered terrain. The controller was tested in both simulation and experimental environments. It was found that the designed controller was effective in achieving optimized path navigation and the percentage error was within the acceptable limits.

Intelligent manufacturing systems rely heavily on industrial robots. An industrial robot manipulator moves its end effector from an initial position and orientation to the desired final position and orientation in its workspace with less error. However, the generally used approaches are not capable to solve the complicated inverse kinematics problems of industrial robotic manipulators with more degrees of freedom. Nowadays, various neural network methods such as artificial neural network (ANN) and convolution neural network (CNN) are being used to overcome such complications. In this paper, 6 degree of freedom (DOF) robot manipulator is modeled, and its kinematics parameters are analyzed. A CNN is based on the shared weight architecture of kernels that extract input features and provide equivalent responses called feature maps. Following the generation of a data set, the training, validation, and testing of the neural network model are done using the input data set, and various plots such as performance plot, training state, and regression plot are studied. The data were divided randomly, where 70% data are provided to the training set, 15% data to the validation set, and 15% data to the testing set. As a result, the error obtained was within the acceptable limits.

Most of the path planning algorithms used for avoiding obstacles are prone to higher computational complexity. Hybrid algorithms employed for the static obstacle collision avoidance are proved to be efficient as compared to conventional algorithms. In this paper, a hybrid algorithm that consumes less computational time during static obstacle avoidance is introduced. A hybrid algorithm combining Lazy Probabilistic Road Map (PRM) algorithm as well as Life Long Planning (LPA) star algorithm is employed for generating an optimized path from start node to end node. Lazy PRM technique reduces the computational time for generating nodes and edges connecting the generated nodes. LPA star algorithm determines the optimized path connecting the local edges formed using Lazy PRM technique. A non-holonomic mobile platform designed for carrying upper body humanoid robot is used in this paper for the experimental evaluation of the proposed hybrid algorithm.

In spite of efforts aimed at reducing failures and incidents in industrial structures, there is still a risk of periodical incidence, which could lead to catastrophic consequences that tend to affect personnel, finance, and even the environment. Therefore, this means that constant assessment of structural integrity is imperative as well the performance of extensive inspection in industrial facilities. Typically, in carrying out these inspections, visual inspection remains one of the primary methodologies applied. However, this is associated with substantial financial implications, as well as safety-related issues. Therefore, this paper focuses on the automated visual inspection (AVI) of defects using computer vision equipped on an inspection robot. The robot holds a mounted camera to provide real time feedback of the inspection plane, which is then analyzed to build up an automated defect classification system based on extracted features of the surface captured, training image set, and the application of statistical inference algorithms.

Space robotics is a relatively new exploring field in science mainly utilized for space exploration and space missions. Space robotics field is also utilized in space debris removal from earth orbit and preventing meteorites from hitting earth planet. Many authorized techniques were explored in past four decades and several technology advancement missions to space were also demonstrated by The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), and The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Several manned space missions were already demonstrated but fully autonomous, unmanned space missions are needed to be explored facing some technical issues in it. The major difficulty in space mission is to perform servicing of non-cooperative satellite with fully autonomous control, detumbling of non-cooperative satellites through impedance control, and dynamic control of autonomous moving targets with minimum rendezvous attitude. To inspire and assist advance research development in space technology, this paper provides a comprehensive study of the key challenges and projected solutions resembling to the obstacle avoidance, on-orbit servicing, and impedance control for fully autonomous space missions in near future. At last, possible directions for future research are discussed in conclusion part.

A novel belt and pulley type setup for magnetorheological finishing (MRF) has been designed to overcome the complication of the limited finishing spot while surface finishing of the workpiece using the conventional MRF process. It requires large number of finishing cycles in the traditional MRF process to finish a large-sized workpiece which ultimately results in the increment of the finishing time. The belt-type magnetorheological finishing setup consists of a flexible belt that rotates over the two pulleys. The belt runs over a base plate made of ferromagnetic material, which rests upon a set of electromagnets underneath it. Magnetorheological polishing (MRP) fluid stiffened when comes over the magnetized base plate along with the flexible belt. In the present work, a novel electromagnet configuration has been proposed based on the magnetic simulation studies that enhance the magnetic flux density and its distribution on the base plate and hence in the MRP fluid.

The Nowadays utilization of cold storage devices increases in a wide variety of applications such as vaccines, medicines and food processing units, these devices consume a lot of power to operate. The power consumption of cold storage devices increases with lower coefficient of performance (COP) of the device. The present work gives the solution to enhance the performance of a commercial freezer by using phase change material (PCM) around the evaporator. PCM is a substance which absorbs or releases energy to produce useful cooling or heat at a phase transition. The conductive heat transfer rate from PCM to evaporator increased due to addition of PCM around the evaporator of the freezer, which improves the COP of the device. The freezer is also operating continuously for a few hours without power supply due to the energy stored in the PCM. An experimental setup of a commercial freezer with glycol solution used as a PCM was developed and experiment was conducted on the freezer with and without PCM. The test results show that the COP of freezer enhanced in between range of 40 and 80% by using of PCM.

Electrical power delivery is the primary function of power line distribution networks. This paper describes an “Interleave-Division Multiple Access (IDMA)” system that can alleviate various difficulties caused by both frequency selective fading and impulsive noise. IDMA inherits numerous benefits from CDMA, such as fading diversity and ISI mitigation. It also enables a simple chip-by-chip multiuser detection (MUD) technique. There is no correlation between the number of users in a MUD and the cost per user. We analyzed the performance of IDMA power line communication utilizing BPSK and QPSK modulation. The system is exposed to “Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN)” in both encoded and uncoded environments utilizing random and tree-based interleavers. The paper also contains prime interleaver performance analysis. Bit Error Rate has been simulated and evaluated using MATLAB-7.9. As a result of this comparison, the system may choose the best modulation strategy for the given channel quality, allowing us to provide the maximum data rate to the terminal.