Showing papers by "Mepco Schlenk Engineering College published in 2016"

IOT based crop-field monitoring and irrigation automation

Abstract: Internet Of Things (IoT)is a shared network of objects or things which can interact with each other provided the internet connection. IoT plays an important role in agriculture industry which can feed 9.6 billion people on the Earth by 2050. Smart Agriculture helps to reduce wastage, effective usage of fertilizer and thereby increase the crop yield. In this work, a system is developed to monitor crop-field using sensors (soil moisture, temperature, humidity, Light) and automate the irrigation system. The data from sensors are sent to web server database using wireless transmission. In server database the data are encoded in JSON format. The irrigation is automated if the moisture and temperature of the field falls below the brink. In greenhouses light intensity control can also be automated in addition to irrigation. The notifications are sent to farmers' mobile periodically. The farmers' can able to monitor the field conditions from anywhere. This system will be more useful in areas where water is in scarce. This system is 92% more efficient than the conventional approach.

Enhancement in growth rate and productivity of spinach grown in hydroponics with iron oxide nanoparticles

Abstract: Plants play a vital role in the energy and environmental ecosystem by providing food and oxygen for living organisms. Due to the increasing use of nanoparticles in the recent decade, the study on the effect of nanoparticles in environmental sectors (especially in agriculture) has become highly essential. In this study, we demonstrated the uptake of iron oxide (Fe2O3) nanoparticles by spinach via hydroponics and examined its effects on the growth rate and productivity of the spinach plant. The experimental studies such as plant growth (stem and root length) and biomass analysis revealed a dose and time dependent increase due to the uptake of Fe2O3. The vibrating sample magnetometer analysis revealed the increase in saturation magnetization of spinach plants as result of Fe uptake. Further, ICP analysis demonstrated an increase in iron content in spinach plants in a dose dependent manner. A mechanism for the uptake of Fe2O3 nanoparticles has been discussed with the help of FT-IR spectroscopy. The experimental studies might provide new insights into the application of Fe2O3 nanoparticles in the agriculture sector.

Experimental investigation on the effects of cerium oxide nanoparticle on Calophyllum inophyllum (Punnai) biodiesel blended with diesel fuel in DI diesel engine modified by nozzle geometry

Abstract: The fuel injector orientation plays a vital role in fuel–air mixing. To achieve, fast and perfect air–biodiesel mixing are the most important requirements in engine research. The mixing quality of biodiesel spray with air can be improved by better design of the fuel injection system. With this, the efficiency of the combustion can be achieved by the addition of cerium oxide nanoparticle (CON), as nanofuel additive catalyst. The diesel engine tests were conducted on a 4-Stroke Tangentially Vertical (TV1) single cylinder Kirloskar 1500 rpm water cooled direct injection diesel engine with eddy current dynamometer. For this purpose, three injectors with different nozzle holes (NH) geometries having spray holes of 3 (base, O = 0.280 mm), 4 (modified, O = 0.220 mm) and 5 (modified O = 0.240 mm) holes, with standard static injection timing of 23° bTDC and modified nozzle opening pressure (NOP) of 250 bar maintained as constant throughout the experiment under steady state at full load condition of the engine using Calophyllum Inophyllum Methyl Ester (CIME) blended with Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) and mixture of CON. The CON was synthesized by chemical method and techniques such as SEM, EDX, and XRD have been used for the characterization. The CON act as an oxygen donating catalyst which provides oxygen for the oxidation of carbon monoxide and absorbs oxygen for the reduction of nitrogen oxides. The effects of CON as the additive on the individual fuel properties, the engine performance, combustion, emissions are studied with different level. The dose of CON is optimized for green environment. The emission levels of hydrocarbon and NO x are appreciably reduced with the addition of CON. The present investigation showed an improvement in brake thermal efficiency, a reduction of brake specific fuel consumption and emission level for NH5 compared to NH3 operated at NOP 250 bar due to better air–fuel mixing and fast evaporation.

Logarithmic Mean-Based Thresholding for SAR Image Change Detection

Abstract: In this letter, a computationally economic and simple logarithmic mean-based thresholding algorithm is proposed for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image change detection (CD). A difference image (DI) is generated by taking the log ratio of two SAR images. The mean of the logarithm of each image is calculated. Weight is multiplied with the minimum mean to derive weighted threshold. Weight is automatically derived from the mean of the DI. Every pixel in the DI is compared with this derived threshold. Greater magnitude DI pixels are assigned with binary 1 that indicate “changed pixels.” Lesser magnitude pixels are assigned with binary 0 that indicate “unchanged pixels.” Thus, a binary CD map is generated. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in terms of false alarms, detection rate, kappa coefficient, and computation time.

Optimization and Effect of Weight Fraction of MoS2 on the Tribological Behavior of Mg-TiC-MoS2 Hybrid Composites

Abstract: This investigation studies the dry sliding wear behavior of magnesium (Mg) matrix composites reinforced with titanium carbide (TiC) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) fabricated using a powder metallurgy technique. The effects of both TiC (0–10%) and MoS2 (0–10%) content on the tribological properties are investigated. Wear tests are carried on magnesium reinforced with TiC and MoS2 individually and together in different proportions, using a pin-on-disc apparatus under dry sliding condition. The experiments were made using a Taguchi L27 orthogonal array with five factors at three levels. The wear resistance of the developed composites improved significantly compared to that of the magnesium matrix due to the effect offered by both reinforcements. Analysis of variance was used to verify the significance of factors influencing wear. In addition, the worn surfaces of the wear-tested specimens were examined using a scanning electron microscope coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy.

Content based image retrieval system based on semantic information using color, texture and shape features

Abstract: Due the rapid growth in the area of Digital Image Processing the semantic based techniques are also been emerged for an efficient processing In order to achieve an efficient result; this paper a proposed a technique for the generation of image content descriptor with three features viz, Color auto-Correlogram, Gabor Wavelet and Wavelet Transform Color Auto-Correlogram Feature is associated with color information of an image which is derived from the RGB color space of an image The Gabor Wavelet Feature is has the texture information to extract the textural features associated with the image and the Wavelet Transform Feature is linked with shape information in the extraction of edges in an image The feature extraction process is accomplished based on the input query image from the IDB and the features are stored in a feature dataset The Manhattan distance is applied on the user given query image and feature vector computed from database images for measuring similarity Finally, the proposed technique retrieves the meaningful image from the image database which satisfies the user expectation The performance of the retrieval system has been analyzed by the performance measures Precision and Recall The efficiency of the proposed feature descriptor is tested for CBIR system using Corel image database, Li image database and Caltech-101 image database

Respiratory monitoring system for asthma patients based on IoT

Abstract: Nowadays peoples are suffered from breathing problems. The diseases which include various ailments in the form of sleep apnea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. These diseases are the main cause of hospitalization for elder people. People who have suffered from chronic diseases are needed to repeatedly monitor the vital signs periodically. The vital signs are the basic measurements of body functions. The vital signs of our body are heart rate, temperature, blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and blood glucose level. The respiratory rate monitor is one of the important vital signs which is useful for patient's who admitted in Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The respiratory rate is calculated by using LM35 temperature sensor and monitored the patient's respiration continuously based on voltage value of inhaled and exhaled air. NRF24l01 is used to transmit the sensor data from home to medical center. Then the data are published in a webserver using Ethernet to know the patient's status which is useful for doctor. And also the data is displayed in a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). Once the threshold is reached, the alarm is generated and also a message generated in a webpage. Thereby doctor or medical professionals know the patient's conditions without delay. By using data mining techniques, people may know their condition without medical professionals help.

Optimization of Biofuel Blends and Compression Ratio of a Diesel Engine Fueled with Calophyllum inophyllum Oil Methyl Ester

Abstract: The twin crises in depletion of fossil fuels and environmental degradation have motivated researches to consolidate the use of biofuels for internal combustion engine applications. In the present study, the performance and emission characteristic of Calophyllum inophyllum oil-based methyl ester and its diesel blends are analyzed at various compression ratios. Comprehensive optimization by considering the performance parameter along with emission characteristic is rather involved and is done carefully with designed set of experiments and analyzed statistically using design expert software. Higher compression ratio (CR) induces high cylinder temperature which enhances vaporization and thereby better performance only to a certain extent, that is, up to a CR of 19. However, due to high operating temperature, the oxides of nitrogen emission increase with CR and also for high biofuel blends, but better combustion phenomenon at these conditions reduces the emissions of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbon. The designed empirical statistical model for optimum performance with lower emission is found to be B30 (30 % biofuel) at a CR of 19, which is then tested and validated.

Simplified Three-Level Five-Phase SVPWM

Abstract: A simplified space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) is proposed for a three-level five-phase inverter. The proposed method generates the duty cycle of the three-level inverter switches based on dwell times of the two-level inverter and carrier index. The proposed method automatically determines the eligible vectors, region, and switching sequence of optimized five vectors based on the modulation index. Out of 243 available vectors, 113 most eligible vectors are used for generation of desired voltage reference in main subspace, while zeroing the average voltage in the auxiliary subspace by using the proper switching sequence. This method also uses the redundant vectors in each subcycle thus balances the dc-link capacitor voltages and no additional algorithm or techniques are needed to balance the dc-link capacitor voltage. The identification of the reference location with the carrier index using the signum function simplifies the algorithm implementation. Thus, the proposed method eases the implementation of optimum five vectors to a greater extent. Based on only changing the carrier index, the proposed method can be easily extended for any multiphase multilevel (5, 7,…, n) inverter. The simulation and hardware results of the three-level five-phase inverter validate the proposed simplified method.

Experimental Analysis of Al–TiC Sintered Nanocomposite on EDM Process Parameters Using ANOVA

Abstract: The size minimization of titanium carbide (TiC) particles was done by high-energy mechanical milling. Later Al and TiC powders were mixed to frame cylindrical preforms with 95% density using a die set. The cylindrical preform was sintered in a muffle furnace (575°C) and subsequently cooled. Characterization was done using scanning electron microscope (SEM), field emission scanning electron microscope, and energy-dispersive spectrum. An electrical discharge machining (EDM) and L9 orthogonal array was used to perform the experiments. The present investigation was carried out to optimize parameters such as current, pulse-on time, and gap voltage on metal removal rate (MRR) and tool wear rate (TWR) during EDM of as-sintered Al–5% reinforced with ≤200 nm and 2 µm TiC particle reinforcement. The rationality of the experimental plan and the effect of electrode wear ratio based on TiC particle addition were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with consideration to MRR and TWR. The recast layer evolution d...

Analysis of PV module connected in different configurations under uniform and non-uniform solar radiations

Abstract: This paper focuses on investigating the current--voltage (I--V) and power--voltage (P--V) characteristics of a photovoltaic (PV) module connected in various configurations like series, parallel, and series-parallel. The performance analysis of PV module has been carried out under uniform and non-uniform conditions such as change in irradiation (passing clouds), change in temperature, accumulation of dust, and change in wind speed using MATLAB-Simulink environment. From the observed results, it has been indicated that for a given number of PV modules, the array configurations affect the maximum available output power and more local maxima are found under partially shaded conditions. Moreover, the comparative analysis of PV module has been performed for various configurations under the above disturbances. From the results, it is evident that even under non-uniform conditions, the parallel configuration of PV modules is more prominent and maximum output power is obtained. Further, parallel layout is ...

Fuzzy C means integrated with spatial information and contrast enhancement for segmentation of MR brain images

Abstract: This paper proposes a fully automated method for MR brain image segmentation into Gray Matter, White Matter and Cerebro-spinal Fluid. It is an extension of Fuzzy C Means Clustering Algorithm which overcomes its drawbacks, of sensitivity to noise and inhomogeneity. In the conventional FCM, the membership function is computed based on the Euclidean distance between the pixel and the cluster center. It does not take into consideration the spatial correlation among the neighboring pixels. This means that the membership values of adjacent pixels belonging to the same cluster may not have the same range of membership value due to the contamination of noise and hence misclassified. Hence, in the proposed method, the membership function is convolved with mean filter and thus the local spatial information is incorporated in the clustering process. The method further includes pixel re-labeling and contrast enhancement using non-linear mapping to improve the segmentation accuracy. The proposed method is applied to both simulated and real T1-weighted MR brain images from BrainWeb and IBSR database. Experiments show that there is an increase in segmentation accuracy of around 30% over the conventional methods and 6% over the state of the art methods.

Experimental investigations on the influence of properties of Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel on performance, combustion, and emission characteristics of a DI diesel engine

Abstract: The current state of future energy and environmental crises has revitalised the need to find alternative sources of energy due to escalating oil prices and depleting oil reserves To meet increasing energy requirements, there has been a growing interest in alternative fuels like biodiesel that can become a suitable diesel fuel substitute for compression ignition engine Biodiesel offers a very promising alternative to diesel fuel, since they are renewable and have similar properties Calophyllum inophyllum seed oil collected from different restaurants in the Nagapattinam region of South India was converted into methyl esters (biodiesel) by transesterification Biodiesel produced from C inophyllum oil was blended with diesel by different volume proportions (25%, 50%, and 75%) Biodiesel and its blends were tested on a direct injection (DI) diesel engine at a constant speed by varying loads from 0% to 100% in steps of 20% to analyse its performance, emission, and combustion characteristics The results obt

Microstructure, consolidation and mechanical behaviour of Mg/n-TiC composite

Abstract: In this work, the microstructure, consolidation and mechanical properties of pure magnesium, magnesium based composite containing with different fractions (5, 10, 15 wt%) of Titanium carbide nanoparticles (n-TiC) were fabricated via powder metallurgy technique. The fabricated composites exhibited homogeneous distribution of TiC with little porosity. Microstructure of the composite and powders was studied using X-ray diffraction, Scanning electron microscope, and Transmission electron microscope. Microstructural characterization of the materials exposed that the accumulation of nanosized titanium carbide reinforcement enhanced the homogenization during mechanical blending. The relative density, compressibility, green compressive strength, sinterability and hardness of the nanocomposites were also examined. The effect of reinforcement on the densification was studied and reported in terms of the relative density and consolidation behaviour of the Magnesium matrix with n-TiC was studied and best compacted fit obtained through the Heckel, Panelli Ambrosio Filho and Ge equations. The compressive strength of the composite significantly increases from 230 MPa to 389 MPa with content of n-TiC and sintering temperature. Experiments have been performed under different conditions of temperature, n-TiC Content, and compacting pressure.

Effects of High Temperature Wear Behaviour of Sintered Ti–6Al–4V Reinforced with Nano B 4 C Particle

Abstract: The present work deals with improving the high temperature wear behavior of sintered Ti–6Al–4V reinforced with nano B4C with the help of mechanical alloying method. By using Pin-on-disc wear testing machine, the high temperature wear behavior of the prepared composites were investigated at an applied load of 10–30 N with an increment of 5 N for various pin temperatures (30, 50, 100 and 150 °C). The wear resistance of the Ti–6Al–4V increased with increase in the wt% of the nano B4C reinforced at all temperatures and sliding distances. The transition of severe to mild wear strongly depended on the addition of nano B4C particles. Ti–6Al–4V showed a severe wear at all conditions such as sliding distances and sliding temperatures. But with the addition of 2 to 10 wt% of nano B4C particles, the severe to mild wear was noticed at all temperature conditions. The wear surface of the transition mode was evaluated by scanning electron microscope. At elevated temperature, the major wear mechanism for the Ti–6Al–4V was adhesion, whereas Ti–6Al–4V–B4C composite showed abrasion, oxidation and delamination as the foremost wear mechanisms.

IoT based classification of vital signs data for chronic disease monitoring

Abstract: Nowadays chronic diseases are the leading cause of deaths in India. These diseases which include various ailments in the form of diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular diseases, mental health illness, cancers, and chronic lung diseases. Chronic diseases are the biggest challenge for India and these diseases are the main cause of hospitalization for elder people. People who have suffered from chronic diseases are needed to repeatedly monitor the vital signs periodically. The number of nurses in hospital is relative low compared to the number of patients in hospital, there may be a chance to miss to monitor any patient vital signs which may affect patient health. In this paper, real time monitoring vital signs of a patient is developed using wearable sensors. Without nurse help, patient know the vital signs from the sensors and the system stored the sensor value in the form of text document. By using data mining approaches, the system is trained for vital sign data. Patients give their text document to the system which in turn they know their health status without any nurse help. This system enables high risk patients to be timely checked and enhance the quality of a life of patients.

Hybrid bat algorithm for flow shop scheduling problems

Abstract: In this paper, a hybrid bat algorithm is proposed to solve the permutation flow shop scheduling problems with makespan criterion. Developed for numerical optimisation, local search techniques are integrated into the bat algorithm to solve the flow shop problems. Reeves test problems from the literature are used to compare the performance of the proposed algorithm against the best known solutions, NEH and with different metaheuristics. Computational results and statistical analysis indicate that the proposed algorithm can be more efficient than many other metaheuristic algorithms addressed in the literature.

Use of calophyllum inophyllum biofuel blended with diesel in DI diesel engine modified with nozzle holes and its size

Abstract: Improved thermal efficiency, reduction in fuel consumption and pollutant emissions from biodiesel fueled diesel engines are important issues in engine research. To achieve these, fast and perfect air–biodiesel mixing are the most important requirements. The mixing quality of biodiesel spray with air can be improved by better design of the injection system. The diesel engine tests were conducted on a 4-stroke tangentially vertical single cylinder (TV1) kirloskar 1500 rpm water cooled direct injection diesel engine with eddy current dynamometer. In this work, by varying different nozzles having spray holes of 3 (base, O = 0.280 mm), 4 (modified, O = 0.220 mm) and 5 (modified, O = 0.240 mm) holes, with standard static injection timing of 23° bTDC and nozzle opening pressure (NOP) of 250 bar maintained as constant throughout the experiment under steady state at full load condition of the engine. The effect of varying different nozzle configuration (number of holes), on the combustion, performance and exhaust emissions, using a blend of calophyllum inophyllum methyl ester by volume in diesel were evaluated. The test results showed that improvement in terms of brake thermal efficiency and specific fuel consumption for 4 holes and 5 holes nozzle operated at NOP 250 bar. Substantial improvements in the reduction of emissions levels were also observed for 5 holes nozzle operated at NOP 250 bar.