Effect of porosity and loading height on the performance of household LPG gas stoves

In the present work, the effect of porosity and loading height on the performance of the domestic gas burners, using LPG as fuel, is studied extensively through experimentation. Water Boiling Test (Version 4.2.3) as per the recommendations of International Organization for Standardisation International Workshop Agreement (ISO-IWA) is adopted to determine the thermal efficiency of the domestic gas stove. It is observed that, by increasing the number of holes in intermediate and innermost rows by about 96% and 73%, the pitch gets reduced by 58% and 65% respectively. Due to increased porosity, the thermal efficiency in hot and cold phase is increased by about 30% and in simmer phase the thermal efficiency is increased by about 26%. In addition to this, it is also observed that there exists an optimum height for keeping the container over the gas burner (loading height) up to which the thermal efficiency increases and beyond that, the thermal efficiency drops significantly. The optimum loading height for cold and hot phase is 14.1, and 14.6 mm respectively for the LPG cookstove used in present work (1–3 kW). The thermal efficiency at cold and hot phase, while running the gas stove with stand (11.25 mm) is reduced by about 18.5 and 16.5% respectively compared to the optimum loading height of 14.1 and 14.6 mm respectively.

Thermal Performance of Improved Charcoal Stove as A Clean Development Mechanism Project – A Case Study of Bauchi

Improved cook stoves (ICS) are known to ensure efficiency in the use of traditional fuels, reduce smoke emission and associated health hazards during cooking and reduce cooking time. Another benefit of ICS is in mitigating the effects of climate change. This paper presents the thermal performance and achievable emission reductions by ICS for daily cooking in households aroundBauchi.It evaluatesan ICS using the International Workshop Agreement (IWA) which rates cook stoves on four indicators (Indoor emission, total emission, efficiency/fuel use and safety) each indicator is rated along five tiers (0: lowest performing to 4: highest performing).The evaluation focused on efficiency/fuel use. The benchmark values for thermal efficiency, fuel use and energy use are 35%, 0.310kg and 7928kJ.This shows that the ICS offers modest improvements in fuel use and it is rated as a tier 3 ICS. A carbon savings of can be achieved on an annual basis assuming all rural and urban households in Bauchi employ ICS for their daily cooking.

Implementing Quality Management Standards in Conducting Courses at Higher Education Institutes (HEI)

The only doubt in saying that education is a key to sustainability of any nation is Quality. Education has experienced a major paradigm shift in recent years. It has become a service industry affecting its various stakeholders from faculty and students to society. Its vast impact has intrigued the application of management principals such as project management and quality management to assure best results in terms of its various deliverables. Higher education, in particular, for its direct and immediate applicability in society needs a concrete quality assurance system. According to foreign researchers and practitioners, future is the age of knowledge, knowledge organizations, new economy that forces organizations to create new methods of work, competences, processes, management methods and the principles of strategic management. Knowledge is obtained through thinking, experience, observation, information channels and other sources. Quality management standard ISO 9000 has already been investigated and implemented in educational institutes which has resulted in development of IWA2 (International Workshop Agreement). However most of such work is focused on assuring quality in organizational structure of higher education institutes. In this research we will investigate various aspects of implementing quality management standards in various activities of conducting a course at a higher education institute. These activities should be based on the 4 P’s of management i.e. Performance through Planning and managing People and Processes, where people concerned are instructors and students and processes range from instruction to assessment. Quality in conducting courses can be ensured by leadership and customer satisfaction from the stakeholders and planning processes, documenting and implementing them followed by auditing. Our work will follow the three stages of (a) preparation work for the creation of quality management system, (b) the preparation and implementation of the documents of the quality management system and (c) the preparation of the quality management system for certification as suggested by earlier research.