SMART WATER NETWORK MONITORING: A CASE STUDY AT UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

Water uses need to be measured, which is critical for evaluating water stress. The Industry 4.0 via the Internet of Things (IoT) and usage of water measurement sensor can provide real-time information on the water flow rate and water pressure, that is crucial for water monitoring and analysis. There is a need for online smart water monitoring that gives out more efficient and sustainable water uses at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) campus. A prototype of an online smart water monitoring for UTM, which was developed based on the integration of IoT and Geographical Information System (GIS), consist of four layers; (1) physical layer; (2) network layer; (3) processing layer and, (4) application layer. The findings show that when the water flow increases, the water pressure decreases. When there is no water flow, the lowest value is 52.214 Psi, and the highest value is 60.916 Psi. The latest technology integrating the IoT-GIS for smart water monitoring has shown a very efficient way of providing real-time water parameters information, cost and time effective, and allowing for continuous water consumption analysis via the cloud computing service.

Application of Artificial Intelligence for Predicting Erosion of Biochar Amended Soils

Recently, incentives have been provided in developed countries by the government for commercial production of biochar for soil treatment, and other construction uses with an aim to reduce a significant amount of carbon emissions by 2030. Biochar is an important material for the development of circular economy. This study aims to develop a simple Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based model to predict erosion of biochar amended soils (BAS) under varying conditions (slope length, slope gradient, rainfall rate, degree of compaction (DoC), and percentage of biochar amendments). Accordingly, a model has been developed to estimate the total erosion rate and total water flow rate as a function of the above conditions. The model was developed based on available data from flume experiments. Based on ANN modelling results, it was observed that slope length was the most important factor in determining total erosion rate, followed by slope gradient, DoC, and percentage of biochar amendment. The percentage of biochar amendment was a leading factor in the total water flow rate determination as compared to other factors. It was also found that the reduction in erosion is relatively minimal during an increase in slope length up to 1.55 m, reducing sharply beyond that. At a slope length of 2 m, erosion is found to be reduced by 33% (i.e., 2.6 to 1.75), whereas the total flow rate decreases linearly from 1250 mL/m2/min to 790 mL/m2/min. The ANN model developed shows that soil biochar composite (SBC) with 5% biochar amendment gave the best results in reducing soil erosion. This study can be a helpful tool in providing preliminary guidelines for using biochar in erosion control.

Study concerning the thermal energy balance in an internal combustion engine

In this scientific report the steps for achieving the energy balance on a test engine Daewoo 1.6 liter in 4 cylinders, with 4 valves per cylinder, its power being77 kW, are presented. The engine was connected to a hydraulic brake during the tests. The energy balance was established, based on measurements applied on the stand test, focusing to determine the lost heat and to conceive a Sankey diagram, accordingly. Two sets of measurements were performed and based on them the heat losses were determined and two Sankey diagrams were depicted. The lost heat through the cooling fluid is determined by measuring the cooling water flow rate and its inlet and outlet temperature. The lost heat through the exhaust gases is determined by the difference between the enthalpy of the exhaust gases and the enthalpy of fresh air. The lost heat due to incomplete chemical combustion is determined by analyzing the composition of the exhaust gases. The measurements are centralized on a graphic user interface, supported by a NI Compact RIO platform.

Evaluation and Re-estimation of Instream Flow Considering the Water Quality and Aquatic Ecosystem of the Seomjingang River Watershed

In this study, the appropriateness of the current publicly announced and managed instream flow in the Seomjingang River watershed was evaluated based on the water quantity, water quality, and state of the aquatic ecosystem. The stream flow was evaluated based on the observed water flow rate at the Gurye-gun (Songjeong-ri) station that is the main point of the Seomjingang River flow management and located at the lowest downstream of the main stream of the Seomjingang River. Another important reason for choosing this station was that observational data from before the construction of the major dam to the present day were available. The water quality and aquatic ecosystem conditions were reviewed based on the data measured over the past 20 years, and the achievement ratio of instream flow was compared with that of stations in the other major river systems. Based on the evaluation result, the instream flow was re-estimated for the 11 important stations of the Seomjingang River and its two branches. Based on the currently permitted water use of the Seomjingang River, the amount of water required to supply for the instream flow deficit during dry seasons was predicted and presented as a reference for water management work.

Design characteristics of showering aeration system

The showering aeration system (SAS) was designed and its performance was evaluated by conducting the aeration experiments in a tank of dimension 2 × 4 × 1.5 m. Initially, the aeration experiments were conducted to optimize the radius of curvature of the SAS with different values, such as = 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mm, and maintain other geometric parameters, i.e. number of holes in the shower (); height of water fall (H); diameter of the shower hole (d); volume of water under aeration (V) and water flow rate (Q) as constants. The optimum radius of curvature () was found to be 10 mm. The aeration experiments were further conducted with four different non-dimensional geometric parameters such as the number of holes , the ratio of the height of water fall to the length of shower arm the ratio of the diameter of the hole to the length of shower arm and the ratio of the volume of water to the cube of the length of shower arm The Response Surface Methodology and Box–Behnken Design were used to optimize the non-dimensional geometric parameters of the SAS to maximize the Non-Dimensional Standard Aeration Efficiency. The result indicates that the maximum NDSAE of 16.98 × 106 was obtained from the SAS performance at = 80; = 2; = 4 and = 48. HIGHLIGHT The optimized non-dimensional geometric parameters (H/l; d/l; V/l3; n) for the showering aeration system were experimentally validated, and the final NDSAE value was found to be 16.98 × 106 against the predicted NDSAE value of 17.70 × 106.

Pengaruh Kecepatan Fluida Pendingin (Udara) Terhadap Unjuk Kerja Dan Karakteristik Perpindahan Panas Pada Radiator Sepeda Motor Yamaha Nmax 155CC

Penelitian ini menggunakan metode ɛ-NTU untuk menganalisis data. Radiator yang digunakan adalah radiator sepeda motor Yamaha Nmax 155cc dengan jenis aliran vertical, flat tube dan louvered fins, kipas/fan sebagai sumber angin simulasi, dengan campuran 50% air + 50% coolant radiator. Laju aliran air konstan 4 lpm dan temperatur fluida panas konstan 80. Variasi kecepatan aliran udara yang digunakan pada pengujian kali ini adalah 4-8 m/s dan diatur menggunakan Dimmer sebagai alat bantu. Dari pengujian yang telah dilakukan didapat laju massa aliran udara yang paling besar terjadi pada kecepatan kipas 8 m/s. Laju perpindahan panas yang paling besar terjadi dikecepatan kipas 8 m/s sebesar 0,0735 kW dan panas menyeluruh terbesar juga terjadi dikecepatan kipas 8 m/s yaitu sebesar 9,50 W/m2°C. Efisiensi radiator maksimum terjadi pada kecepatan kipas 5 m/s dengan nilai sebesar 7,59. Kata kunci: Efektifitas, Metode ε-NTU, Radiator Nmax 155cc. This study uses the ε-NTU method to analyze the data. The radiator used is a 155cc Yamaha Nmax motorcycle radiator with vertical flow type, flat tube and louvered fins, fan/fan as a simulation source, with a mixture of 50% water + 50% coolant radiator. The water flow rate is constant 4 lpm and the hot fluid temperature is constant 80℃. The variation of air flow velocity used in this test is 4-8 m/s and is adjusted using a dimmer as a tool. From the tests that have been carried out, the largest air flow rate occurs at a fan speed of 8 m/s. The highest heat transfer rate occurs at a fan speed of 8 m/s at 0.0735 kW and the largest overall heat also occurs at a fan speed of 8 m/s at 9.50 W/m2°C. The maximum radiator efficiency occurs at a fan speed of 5 m/s with a value of 7.59 Keywords: Effectivenes, ɛ-NTU Method, Nmax 155cc Radiator

Optimization of Reaction Typed Water Turbine in Very Low Head Water Resources for Pico Hydro

The purpose of this research is to investigate the dominant parameters that influence the optimum performance of reaction typed turbine at very low water head. The concepts of conservation of mass, momentum and energy are utilised to explore performance characteristics using a graphical technique. Parametric analysis of the governing equation and experimental results were performed to show that the turbine diameter and nozzle exit area has a dynamic response to mass flow rate, angular speed, output power and efficiency. Depending on the nozzle diameter of (0.01 m, 0.006 m, and 0.008 m) and turbine pipe size with (diameter of 0.025 m and 0.015 m), six versions of prototype turbine Z-blade turbine were produced. All the turbines have been tested at 100 kPa static water pressures and below. According to a variety of experimental data for all types of turbines, the turbine diameter and nozzle exit area have a substantial impact on turbine performance, especially at high water heads. Despite differences in turbine length and nozzle exit area, more than 90 % of the pattern curves for rotational speed, water flow rate, and mechanical power were identical. Overall, the Z-blade turbine Type B outperforms, resulting in higher turbine efficiency at low head and low flow water condition.

The community heating network’s thermal condition assessment

Heat losses at the heating network’s distribution pipelines were identified for Karkivcommunity. Heat losses’ calculation is performed in view of the underground pipelines’ installationin non-accessible ducts. The heating system water temperature is accepted in line with the heatingnetwork temperature chart and according to the design outdoor temperature value for heatingpurposes. Specific heat losses in the network section’ pipelines are accepted at the level of standardvalues for the specified network laying method. The water flow rate at the heat pipeline sections isdefined as per the design heat loads from the buildings connected to the heat supply network. Theheat pipeline segment with uniform diameter is accepted as the rated section. The soil temperatureat the heat pipeline axis laying depth is accepted as 5°C. The heat losses at the structural networkelements are considered by 1.15 coefficient. The calculations are performed in view of the heatingsystem water flow rate and temperate changes along the heat pipeline length. While analyzing thethermal condition of the return pipelines of the community heating network, the changes in the heatcontent of the heating system water flow in the main direction pipeline during mixing with the waterflow from the branches of the main direction line are taken into account. Considering the averagetemperature of the coldest five days consecutively, the total energy loss in heating pipeline for a groupof buildings in Kharkov region are equivalent to 180.8kW.In view of the ambient air temperature changing over the heating period for Kharkiv cityclimate conditions and the current schedule for quality heat energy supply to the consumers controlthe annual heat losses in the community heating network pipelines were calculated. The soil temperature change at the heat pipeline installation depth during the heating period was notconsidered.Heat losses in the microdistrict network for the year are 2184 GJ. The data obtained can beused to compare options when developing a strategy for reforming the microdistrict heat supplysystem.

Modeling and Investigation of Multistage Flash-Mixing Brine in Aqaba City, Jordan

Desalination processes are considered an essential solution to meet the water scarcity in Jordan. Among the desalination techniques, the multistage flash (MSF) desalination technique has a significant contribution to water budget in many regions around the world. In this paper, MSF with a mixing brine desalination plant was proposed in Aqaba city of Jordan. The plant will consume 5 MW power to produce about 74 Kg/s of freshwater. Different designs are studied to determine the most appropriate design. Also, the effect of feed sea water flow rate, heating steam flow rate and number of stages on the plant performance were evaluated. The optimum layout consists of 24 stages with 3.6 m width, 2.6 m length, and with a recycled brine flow rate of about 651 Kg/s. The expected plant performance is 9.6.