A review on various designs of solar still

The availability of drinking water is reducing day by day, whereas the freshwater necessity is tremendously increasing. There is a need for some sustainable water distillation (purification) to overcome this problem. Solar desalination is a technique used to convert brackish or saline water into potable water, and solar still is a useful device to distil brackish water for drinking purposes. Numerous designs of the solar still system have been developed worldwide. Many researchers outlined mathematical terms, performed experiments and validated the outcome from the various types of solar stills by varying the design and operating parameters. In this article, a review of the active and passive solar stills' performance has been carried out.

4D printing technology, modern era: A short review

The advancement in 3D printing has led to the rapid growth of 4D printing technology. Adding time, as the fourth dimension, this technology ushered the potential of a massive evolution in fields of biomedical technologies, space applications, deployable structures, manufacturing industries, and so forth. This technology performs ingenious design, using smart materials to create advanced forms of the 3-D printed specimen. Improvements in Computer-aided design, additive manufacturing process, and material science engineering have ultimately favored the growth of 4-D printing innovation and revealed an effective method to gather complex 3-D structures. Contrast to all these developments, novel material is still a challenging sector. However, this short review illustrates the basic of 4D printing, summarizes the stimuli responsive materials properties, which have prominent role in the field of 4D technology. In addition, the practical applications are depicted and the potential prospect of this technology is put forward.

Designing of anti-vibration rubber mounts for an all-terrain vehicle for BAJA SAE

Engine is the powerhouse for a combustion powered automobile. For the propulsion of automobile, engine must be mounted on vehicle safety. The way it is mounted on to vehicle is very important and plays a crucial role in determining the Noise vibration and handling (NVH) characteristics of an automobile. A proper designed mount should block the vibrations from the engine to automobile body and should not allow the effect of road unevenness on to the engine. Vibrations are generally due to power pulses during power stroke, which is reduced by properly designing flywheel, and unbalance of rotating and reciprocating parts, which is reduced to a maximum level possible and rest damped out at the mounts, generally, elastomers like rubber are utilized to damp the vibrations. When comes to All Terrain vehicle, mounts are under heavy loading conditions due to terrain on which vehicle is used. This paper discusses about the designing of such mounts to be used on BAJA SAE buggy.

Environmental and economic analysis of hybrid greenhouse solar dryer: A Review

Zero hunger is one of the goals out of 17 sustainable development goal set by United Nations for 2030. As the population is growing at a rapid rate so the demand of food will also increase. Solar dryers are considered as the sustainable solutions for conserving the food for longer duration. The enviro-economic analysis becomes necessary to check the impact of developed dryer on environment and its economic viability. This review article focuses on the environmental and economic analysis of hybrid greenhouse solar dryers. The dryers although operates using the solar energy but still in case of hybrid dryers some other devices are also used which emits CO2 and other non-environmental friendly gases during their use or disposal. The impact of a solar dryer on the environment is very low but still, it is necessary to check the impact. The economy is another factor that is kept in mind while developing the dryers. It is observed that the cost of dryer and its impact on environment increases with the increase in floor area of dryer. The hybrid dryers are usually costly due to use of various additional devices but gives better performance than passive and active dryers. The payback time of hybrid dryers are almost same as active dryers that is about 1-2 years, thus hybrid dryers can be developed commercially to get more profit. The parameters which are considered during environmental and economic analysis are discussed in the paper. The paper presents a way to carry out the environmental and economic analysis of hybrid dryers.

A study on passive solar still with nanoparticles

In current paper shows the progressive effects of nanoparticles on the passive solar stills. Nanoparticles are used in SS because of their good thermo-physical properties, which affected the performance and efficiency of the SS, its increase the heat transfer properties of the basin water. Passive SS has very low productivity about 2-3 liters/m2 in a day. Many modifications have been done continuously by the researchers to increase the performance, productivity and efficiency of passive SSs. Various thermal storage materials are used in passive solar stills, such as wax (PCM), charcoal, fine stones and nanoparticles, to increase the productivity and also various methods is used like- by controlling the saline water depth, by controlling the glass angle and good quality of insulation for cover the still walls. The behavior of nanoparticles on the performance of passive SS has been studied and also study about the thermo-physical properties of the mixture of water and nanoparticles in present paper. Definitely, nanoparticles showed suitable characteristics and a favorable big applicability, based on improvement of thermal conductivity in comparison to base fluids free from additional metal or metal oxide nano scaled particles.

Effect of shape geometry on electromagnetic radiation under quasi-static compression in sintered aluminium preforms

This paper presents the effect of shape geometry on electromagnetic radiation (EMR) emissions from sintered aluminium preforms during deformation under unrestricted quasi-static compression. The EMR emissions under compression show shape anisotropy. The end surface conditions of the compressing platens, i.e. lubrication, also influence the EMR emission characteristics. The first EMR emission invariably occurs near the yield. The dead metal zones formed on the top and bottom portions of the specimens during axial compression, possibly generate a climbing motion of edge dislocations in the radially outward mid-regions. These edge dislocations form accelerated electric line dipoles and emit electromagnetic radiation during the climbing motion. These results appear significant in understanding the mechanism of plastic deformation in metal powder preforms at the microscopic level and are expected to give a deeper insight into the metal forming processes.

Energy audit of a small commercial hospital building in Ranchi: A case study

Energy audit focuses on equipment energy consumption such as lighting, air-conditioning system, elevators, and other devices operating on electricity. Data of the energy consumption recorded are used to identify and rectify by presenting detailed energy audit. Temperature, humidity, and CO2 emission of the building should be measured to conduct the investigation on detail energy analysis. Building utilizes major energy usage accounting to more than 30% overall energy usage. The commissioning and audit process results in the low-energy consumption and low equipment’s cost resulting in higher investment returns. This paper presents a detailed energy audit through a case study on small commercial hospital building located in Ranchi. The pre audit phase suggests that ceiling fans and fluorescent tube lights consume more than 50% of the total energy in the hospital. The energy auditing of the building resulting in annual energy savings of 7697.32 KW i.e. 35 % annual energy saving if recommended suggestions are followed. The recommendation of low-energy consuming equipment’s have payback period less than 6 years leading to higher return rate.

Direct ammonia fueled solid oxide fuel cells: A comprehensive review on challenges, opportunities and future outlooks

Nowadays, the most decisive challenges we are fronting are perfectly clean energy making for equitable and sustainable modern energy access, and battling the emerging alteration of the climate. This is because, carbon-rich fuels are the fundamental supply of utilized energy for strengthening human society, and it will be sustained in the near future. In connection with this, electrochemical technologies are an emerging and domineering tool for efficiently transforming the existing scarce fossil fuels and renewable energy sources into electric power with a trivial environmental impact. Compared with conventional power generation technologies, SOFC that operate at high temperature is emerging as a frontrunner to convert the fuels chemical energy into electric power and permits the deployment of varieties of fuels with negligible ecological destructions. According to this critical review, direct ammonia is obtained as a primary possible choice and price-effective green fuel for T-SOFCs. This is because T-SOFCs have higher volumetric power density, mechanically stable, and high thermal shocking resistance. Also, there is no sealing issue problem which is the chronic issues of the planar one. As a result, the toxicity of ammonia to use as a fuel is minimized if there may be a leakage during operation. It is portable and manageable that can be work everywhere when there is energy demand. Besides, manufacturing, onboard hydrogen deposition, and transportation infrastructure connected snags of hydrogen will be solved using ammonia. Ammonia is a low-priced carbon-neutral source of energy and has more stored volumetric energy compared with hydrogen. Yet, to utilize direct NH3 as a means of hydrogen carrier and an alternative green fuel in T-SOFCs practically determining the optimum operating temperatures, reactant flow rates, electrode porosities, pressure, the position of the anode, thickness and diameters of the tube are still requiring further improvement. Therefore, mathematical modeling ought to be developed to determine these parameters before planning for experimental work. Also, a performance comparison of AS, ES, and CS- T-SOFC powered with direct NH3 will be investigated and best-performed support will be carefully chosen for practical implementation and an experimental study will be conducted for verification based on optimum parameter values obtained from numerical modeling.

Design, feasibility, performance assessment and optimization of the technical and financial viability of potential renewable energy and energy efficiency projects

Until recently, renewable energy technologies (RETs) have been confronted with a huge up-front cost due to technologies in development. However, massive and global deployment of renewable energy systems has led to significant cost reductions and performance improvements and the hope is to see increasing uptake of RETs by African countries. Cameroon a central African country is heavily reliant on hydropower, which contributes an estimated 60% to the country’s total installed 1,400MW capacity in 2015. In addition, there is constants power failure due to the non-reliability of the electric grid and load shedding to meet increasing demand and or to relieve stress on the primary energy source when demand for electricity is greater than the primary power source can supply. However, climate change poses additional huge risk (large reservoirs and dams drying up) and to meet the increasing demand, Cameroon is being forced to seek alternative power sources. In January 2014, Cameroon welcomed its first 72MW solar photovoltaic plant as well as the construction of a 500MW solar photovoltaic park in Q3 of 2015 in the northern region of Cameroon. It is common practice that energy efficiency and energy conservation lead to environmental sustainability. “Energy security starts with energy efficiency and the most sustainable energy option or system is energy conservation”. While it is common practice that energy efficiency and energy conservation lead to environmental sustainability, the building envelope also plays a key role in energy usage, energy conservation and thermal comfort for the building occupants. The rate of infiltration/leakage rate detect the rate of energy usage and cost of using energy. Having a tide and well-constructed building envelope is a key factor and helps reduce/reconcile buildings gas and electricity consumption. RETScreen Expert is the most current version of the RETScreen software and was released to the public on September 19, 2016. The software allows for the comprehensive identification, assessment and optimization of technical and financial viability of potential renewable energy and energy efficiency projects; as well as the measurement and verification of the actual performance of facilities and the identification of energy savings/production opportunities [1-3]. This paper will demonstrate how the software can be use in the design, feasibility, performance assessment and optimization of technical and financial viability of potential renewable energy and energy efficiency projects related to photovoltaic, solar thermal, building envelope and the replacement of non/less-efficient electrical equipment with more efficient and cost effective lamps like LEDs and the installation of smart power bars with automatic shut off function for TV screens, to take care of phantom power in large scale hotels. This approach will further reduce electricity usage and help diversified the sources of energy for a country like Cameroon, which is often subjected to constant power failure and load shedding to either relieve the stress on a primary energy source when demand for electricity is greater than the primary power source can supply or to meet power supply during the critical seasons.

Powering community electrical loads in Cameroon using off-grid hybrid energy systems

The millions of users in developing countries often live far off the electric grid (rural areas) which seems not very cost effective extending the national grid to these rural areas as per respective governments. Africa’s total primary energy supply has seen an increasing annual rate of about 3%, seeming to be the highest among all other continents. The African continent as a whole is endowed with large renewable energy potential, varying in type across diverse geographic locations. These resources, and the settings in which they exist, can point to country or regional specific renewable energy solutions to fit each nation’s strengths and needs. In Sub-Saharan Africa, reliable access to electric power must be consider a basic precondition to improve people’s lives as it further promote education, health care and economic growth via the creation of sustainable and clean energy jobs. Until recently, renewable energy technologies (RETs) have been confronted with a huge up-front cost and technologies in development but massive and global deployment of renewable energy systems has led to significant cost reductions and performance improvements and the hope is to see increasing uptake of RETs by African countries. Cameroon a Central African country is heavily reliant on hydropower, which contributes an estimated 60% to the country’s total installed 1,400MW capacity in 2015. In addition, there is constants power failure due to the non-reliability of the electric grid and load shedding to meet increasing demand. However, climate change poses additional huge risk (large reservoirs and dams drying up) and to meet the increasing demand, Cameroon is being forced to seek alternative power sources. This paper proposes the need for a sustainable hybrid energy system design and the development of an effective design, simulation and analysis approach of stand-alone off-grid in Cameroon as a potential optimal solution to help power community electrical loads. Finding an optimized mix of renewable energy technologies for Bandjoun and Muyuka were the goals of this paper.