Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 592-594

Abstract: In recent years, vision system in robotics have a major impact on research field and industry. Many industrial applications have a huge requirement of sorting out the things as per different color or label. This paper deals with an automated material handling system, which synchronizes the movement of robotic arm to pick a single object from the maximum numbers. This paper aims to sort out different kind of objects by their color occupied pin code and place them to its respective pre-programmed place.

Abstract: A Wave disk Engine is Piston less engine and a non steady flow device that uses shock waves to pressurize fluids by transferring energy from a high pressure flow to a low pressure flow in a series of channels. Much like wave rotors it runs on Humphrey cycle. Engineers have estimated that this technology can increase thermal efficiency up to 60%.Other advantages include considerable weight savings due to its compact and simple design with fewer components resulting in lower manufacturing costs. The engine is currently in research phase.The objective of this paper is to provide a brief but comprehensive knowledge of this technology and to study few of its numerical simulations/modelling.

Abstract: This paper addresses the movement analysis of square structured and triangular structured Omni directional mobile robots and its combination in the form of octagonal structured mobile robot. The Omni wheel used in this research is having 8 rollers made up of synthetic rubber coated polypropylene rollers. An experiment was setup to analyse the movement of the square, triangular and octagonal structured robot in x-axis, y-axis and rotary motion. This experiment is an attempt of combining square structure and triangular structure robot in a single robot. Omni Directional mobile robot creates another step in the field of mobile robotics.

Abstract: In this paper a new approach for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is proposed. The fractional open circuit voltage based MPPT states that the photovoltaic (PV) array voltage corresponding to the maximum power gives a linear dependence with respect to array open circuit voltage for different irradiation and temperature levels. This method is the easiest and simplest of all the MPPT methods but the disconnection of the PV array from the load on regular intervals for the sampling of the array voltage causes significant power loss. A new and simple approach is proposed by the simple linear equation of line for calculating the duty cycle of the boost converter which will extract the maximum power for the particular radiations. This topology can also be used for Wind energy systems but here the simulation is done with solar photovoltaic only. The proposed work is verified using MATLAB/SIMULNK and simulation results shows a clear improvement in achieving the desired results.

Abstract: The depletion of fossil fuel resources on a worldwide basis has necessitated an urgent search for alternative sources like biomass to meet our present demands. The present work deals with a Bio-gas power system for the generation of power in rural areas. A Bio-gas operated power plant is designed by calculating the electrical load requirement of the township. Bio-gas system serves dual purpose i.e for cooking and also for electricity. The economic analysis, payback period and Break-even point have been analyzed for the whole system. In addition carbon credit analysis has been done for the system. In the present scenario, Biogas system has been designed to increase the system efficiency and the use of renewable energy with very less operating cost and pollution free atmosphere. Keywords: Biogas, economic analysis, payback period, break-even point, carbon credit.

Abstract: Solar collectors are the key component of active solar-heating systems. They collect the sun's energy, transform its radiation into heat, and then transfer that heat to a fluid. The solar thermal energy can be used in solar water-heating systems, solar pool heaters, and solar space-heating systems. The configuration of the Flat Plate Collector (FPC) is very important parameter which affects collector performance. The collector efficiency factor is directly affecting the efficiency of the solar flat-plate collector, this collector efficiency factor influenced with few other parameters, i.e. the center to center distance of absorber tubes W and thickness of absorber plate δ and heat loss coefficient U_L. This paper focuses on the relation between δ with the collector efficiency factor of serpentine tube solar flat-plate collector. This study shows that if we increase the δ then Fˈ increases.

Abstract: Parabolic trough collectors (PTCs) and Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) cells are employed for a variety of applications including steam generation, pumping etc. This paper mainly deals with a design of a 24 hours running solar based desalination plant comprising of parabolic trough collectors (PTCs) and Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) cells. This paper provides information about the PTCs and SPVs required to run a desalination plant for 24 hours and producing 12,000 litres of fresh drinking water per day which can be fed to a community of 3,000 people.

Abstract: . This paper presents the experimental investigation of a solar desalination prototype using the humidification dehumidification principle at the weather conditions of Calicut City. The prototype is designed and fabricated at the National Institute of Technology, Calicut to conduct the experimental investigation of the dynamic behaviour of the solar desalination unit during summer season (November, December & January) and during a typical day in December was carried out to study the temporal evolutions of the temperature of air and water and the relative humidity at the inlet and the outlet of each component of the system. The results showed excellent behavior of series of parabolic reflectors over flat plate solar collector and enhanced productivity, thermally efficient and simultaneously reaches a maximum temperature of more than 75°C in a short time. The running cost of the system is low as it consumes very small power to run a small air blower and a water pump reducing the final cost per liter of fresh water.

Abstract: Now-a-days evacuated tubes solar water heaters are increasingly use in South India because of good thermal efficiency and high water temperature could be achievable as compared to flat plate solar collectors. Low manufacturing and maintenance cost also attract people to go for evacuated tube solar water heaters. This paper reports experimental results of two types of evacuated tube solar water heaters. To evaluate the performance of evacuated tube solar water heater, single-phase forced system and two-phase closed forced systems were considered. In two-phase closed system sunflower oil was used as working fluid to heat water. Throughout the study two-phase closed system shows better performance compared to single-phase open collector system and their efficiency almost 10 to 12% higher. But, because of high initial cost of two-phase system, the pay back periods of both collector systems is almost same. In two phased closed system higher temperature of water could be achieved, which is very useful to operate advanced system.

Abstract: — In the present work, a 1 m² solar gel pond was fabricated and tested. Experiments were performed on a 1.0 m² Solar Gel Pond area at Karaikal, Pondicherry, India (Latitude 10.55° N & Longitudinal 79.52° E). The experimental investigation were carried out in to study the influence of Upper Gel layer thickness (UGL), Salinity of Lower Convective Storage Zone (LCSZ), Depth of LCSZ on the storage temperature of the solar gel pond. The maximum storage temperature of 65.5 °C was achieved in a span of 15 days. Keywords —solar gel pond, polymer gel, storage temperature, solar energy