022571   Chakrabarti R;Mohanta D K;Sadhu P K (Electrical Engineering Dep, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700 032) : Possibilistic approach for evaluation of forced outage rates of generating units including the effect of maintenance scheduling. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2007, 87(Mar), 48-52.

Probability based analyses usually require more information about the system than is known. This results in less appropriate assumptions about the original data. Thus, any single value or distribution applied to the failure characteristics of generating units is likely to lead to inaccurate results. Fuzzy logic offers an alternative to probability paradigm through the use of possibility paradigm. The possibilistic approach for system behaviour allows for quantitative reliability evaluations that preserve the uncertainty in original data. The possibility model deals with uncertainty in a way that avoids making unwarranted conclusions and makes the consequences of the required assumption more clear. Presents the effect of uncertainties on forced outage rate (FOR) of generating units based on possibilistic fuzzy state (PROFUST) model. Case studies for evaluation of FOR based on both POSFUST and POSFUST models along with comparison of results corroborate the efficacy of the proposed model for dealing with non probabilistic uncertainties.

3 illus, 7 tables, 10 ref

022570   Arya L D;Koshti A;Bhatt P K (Electrical Engineering Dep, SGSITS, , Indore) : Mitigation of harmonics content in PWM ac Chopper using particle swarm optiization (PSO) and implementation on artificial neural network. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2007, 87(Mar), 32-6.

Describes a technique for mitigating harmonics content in PWM ac Chopper by selecting proper k pulses per half cycle. Optimum performance has been achieved using PSO technique. Training instances have been obained using PSO and ANN has been trained to give switching angles for getting desired fundamental ac voltages.

3 illus, 1 table, 8 ref

021725   Vijian P;Arunachalam V P;Charles S (Mechanical Engineering Dep, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore-641 013) : Surface roughness in squeeze casting LM6 aluminium alloy using taguchi method. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2007, 14(1), 7-11.

Squeeze casting combines the strength and integrity of forging with the economy and design flexibility of casting to produce components with better surface finish. The primary aim of this study was to analyze the influence of the process parameters on surface roughness in squeeze casting of LM6 aluminium alloy using Taguchi method. A three level orthogonal array L₉ (3⁴) was used to determine the S/N ratio (dB), and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The most significant process parameters affecting the surface roughness were identified using F test. The results indicated that squeeze pressure and die pre-heating temperature were the parameters responsible for causing appreciable improvement in the surface finish of the squeeze cast components.

4 illus, 7 tables, 14 ref

021724   Swamy A V N;Rao K S (Chemical Engineering Dep, J.N.T.U. College of Engineering, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh) : Anoxic-aerobic treatment of effluents containing nitro-benzene and nitro-toluene. Natn J Life Sci 2006, 3(1), 15-23.

Experiments were carried out for treating effluent containing nitro aromatic compound nitrobenzene and nitrotoluene. The removal efficiency of nitrobenzene and nitrotoluene was 80% when the wastewater was treated by aerobic process alone. However, in the anoxic-aerobic process the removal efficiency was more than 90%. During the anoxic process, nitrobenzene and nitro toluene were presumed to be converted to aniline, which was more readily biodegradable in the subsequent aerobic process. The existence of easily metabolized carbon source (glucose) helped in the bioreduction of nitrobenzene to aniline and was improved as the glucose concentration was increased. Anoxic-aerobic system was found suitable than the conventional treatment System.

1 illus, 5 tables, 14 ref

021723   Suribabu C R;Neelakanthan T R (School of Civil Engineering, SASTRA Deemed Univ, Thanjavur-613 402, Email: suribabu@civil.sastra.edu) : Linear optimization and simulation model for design of water distribution networks. J Indian Wat Resour Soc 2006, 38(1), 19-23.

Methodology based on linear programming optimization and simulation model is developed for the optimal design of water distribution networks. This model finds the optimal diameter and length of links with certain degree of tolerance under single link failure subjected to single loading pattern. The system designed can sustain prescribed failure scenarios, and still maintain a desired level of service in terms of the flow quantities and pressures. The design engineer can thus select a design based on total cost and the desired level of service. Optimization of the network for assumed flow and direction is performed with help of linear programming model formulation developed by Alperovits and Shamir. The nodes at which the pressure falling below the minimum acceptable pressure are identified under the failure of different links, one at a time. The node/nodes, which fail for maximum number of times, are indentified as critical node/nodes. Then the acceptable level of head loss between the source and critical node/nodes is reduced to satisfy the minimum required pressure with the single link failure, which causes the reduced pressure at the critical node/nodes. Again further iteration has performed to obtain the least cost network by respecting certain degree of tolerance. The optimization and simulation procedure is illustrated through a one source, 12 demand nodes and 6 loops water distribution network taken from the literature.

1 illus, 5 tables, 11 ref

021722   Subba Rao P V (NO, Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR), Gijubhai Badheka Marg, Bhavnagar-364 002, Email: pvsubbarao@csmcri.org) : Gracilaria corticata var Cylindrica: first record of rare and endemic seaweed taxon from arabian sea. Natn Acad Sci Lett 2006, 29(7-8), 271-3.

Therto unreported rare and endemic seaweed taxon Gracilaria corticata var. cylindrica has been recorded from Arabian Sea. The species, which was erected in 1974 based on the collections from Mandapam, Tamilnadu has been so far reported only from two locations from Indian waters viz. Mandapam (Type locality), Bay of Bengal and Nicobar Islands, Andaman Sea. The morpho - anatomy of the plants from Arabian Sea has been compared to that of plants from Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. The biomass availability of this alga from West coast of India is provided in the present communication along with comparison of the same with its closely related form G. corticata var. corticata.

1 illus, 14 ref

021721   Srivastava R;Rao N G V;Bhargava D S;Mishra B N;Kumar R (Bio-technology, PDKV Univ, B1/72, Sector 6, Aligarh, Lucknow) : Liquid glucose production from corn - optimisation and modelling of control parameters. J Instn Engrs-Pt CH 2006, 86(Mar), 55-9.

Deals with the saccharification of corn starch to obtain sugar. This study aims at utilizing abundant available waste, moldy and broken corn for obtaining sugar from the starch content. The enzymes used for the process have been optimized in respect of pH, temperature and process time. Modelling for such a process for the production of sugar has also been attempted in this study.

8 illus, 1 table, 13 ref

021720   Sivanandam S N;Deepa S N (Computer Science and Engineering Dep, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore-641 004, Email: snsivanandam@yahoo.co.in) : Design of routh column polynomials for instability analysis of linear time invariant continuous systems. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2007, 14(1), 81-6.

Analysis of unstable linear time-invariant continuous systems, employing the elements of columns from Routh table is brought out in this work. A linear time invariant continuous system represented in the form of characteristic equation can be analyzed for stability or instability with the help of Routh table. The elements of this table are generated using Routh multiplication rules and the sign changes in the first column, as well sign change anywhere in the table indicates unstable situation. If the sign change occurs at the end of the first column, it involves more computation. As a result, in this work, the other columns of the Routh array are studied, based on which Pseudo-Routh Polynomials are constructed and the instability is analyzed. It is to be noted that the information residing from the last column only traverses towards the first column. If the instability analysis is obtained from last column or last but one column itself, the entire Routh array need not be constructed, which helps in easier computation in higher degree polynomials. Examples are given to illustrate the proposed scheme.

6 tables, 19 ref

021719   Singh S;Kasturi Lal;Srivastava A K;Sood K N; Ramkishore (Division of Materials, Characterization Electron Microscope Section, National Physic Laboratory, New Delhi-110 012, Email: sukhvir@mail.nplindia.ernet.in) : Effect of process conditions on microstructure and performance of thermally evaporated InSb thin films. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2007, 14(1), 55-63.

Technologically important Indium Antimonide (InSb) thin films have been grown on different substrates (NaCl, KC1, KBr, quartz and glass) maintained at varied temperatures (300, 373, 473, 623 and 703 K) using a thermal evaporation technique under vacuum (<126>10^-3 Pa). These films have been prepared by utilizing a single phase stoichiometric InSb compound produced by vertical directional solidification (VDS) technique. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM & TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) and electrical resistivity measurements are the important characterization methods used for analyzing these films deposited under different process conditions. The conditions have been determined to deposit good quality epitaxial films of InSb. The effect of the type of substrate and its temperature on the quality of thin films in terms of their structure and microstructure and different properties has been evaluated.

14 illus, 2 tables, 31 ref

021718   Singh S P;Tyagi S;Rathore N S (Biomass and Waste Management Lab, School of Energy and Environmental Studies, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalay, Khandawa Road, Indore-452 017, Email: sp_singh@excite.com) : Study on the combined effect of magnesium and zinc metal catalyst on biogas production. SESI Jl 2006, 16(2), 35-42.

Laboratory studies were undertaken to evaluate the combined effect of metal catalysts (Magnesium and Zinc) on biogas yield from cattle dung. The optimum dose of Mg and Zn catalyst was taken as 129 and 173 mg/l, respectively, as suggested in the literature. It corresponds to a ratio of 1:1.34 as far as the quantities of the two catalysts are concerned. For experiments, the ratio of these metals were taken to be 1:0.33, 1:1, 1:1.34 and 1:3; the total sum of dose was kept constant a! 302 mg/l. The highest gas production of 0.29 m³/kg total solids (TS) fed was obtained from slurry supplemented with Mg and Zn metal powder in the ratio of 1:0.33, followed by 0.27, 0.25 and 0.22 m³/kg for ratios of 1:1, 1:0 and 0:1, respectively. For these four cases, the percentage increase in gas production with reference to 0.18 m^3/kg gas production from the control comes out to be 61.1, 50.0, 38.9 and 22.2%, respectively. The slurry supplemented with optimum doses of individual metals Mg and Zn gave higher biogas production. The lower gas production was obtained from slurry having low doses of Mg as compared to that of Zn, leading to the conclusion that Zn suppresses gas production in this scenario.

4 illus, 2 tables, 26 ref

021717   Sethi V P;Sharma S K (Mechanical Engineering Dep, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 008, Email: vpsethi68@yahoo.co.in) : Thermal control of a greenhouse using underground water. SESI Jl 2006, 16(2), 43-51.

Water from underground aquifers is used for heating as well as cooling of a greenhouse for raising off-season vegetables, viz., chili and capsicum. The designed Aquifer Coupled Cavity Flow Heat Exchanger System (ACCFHES) utilises aquifer water, which is obtained almost at constant temperature on the ground surface through irrigation tubewells for heating of greenhouse during winter nights and cooling on summer days. Experimental performance of the ACCFHES has been tested during winter and summer seasons. In order to enhance efficacy of the system and also to improve inside relative humidity during extreme summer conditions, a simple evaporative cooling process was also added within the proposed system. From the results, it is observed that ACCFHES is capable of maintaining the air temperature in the greenhouse at about 7-9°C higher as compared to the prevailing ambient temperature during winter nights. The temperature inside the greenhouse during summer days was observed to be 6-7°C below the ambient temperature. Significant improvement in the indoor relative humidity was also observed during summer, which is beneficial in reducing stress due to shortage of water on the plants inside.

6 illus, 27 ref

021716   Senthil Kumar N;Sadasivam V (Mepco Dep, Schlenk Engineering College, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu) : Analysis and evaluation of membership functions on fuzzy controlled chopper fed dc drives. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2006, 87(Dec), 16-21.

Paper investigates the effect of membership functions in the fuzzy control of a chopper fed dc drive. A Sugeno type fuzzy controller for closed loop control of dc drive fed by buck type dc-to-dc converter is designed and considered for evaluation. The controller is used to change the duty cycle of the converter and thereby, the voltage fed to the armature of the separately excited dc motor to regulate the speed. Sugeno type fuzzy controller is selected for evaluation, as it is easy to implemen t in any em bedded micro-controller or DSP processor. The membership functions selected for evaluation are triangular, trapezoidal, Gaussian, bell shaped and PI functions. Above evaluation is done considering both five and seven linguistic sets for error and change in error. The results of the simulated performances are compared. The triangular membership function shows better performance compared to other membership functions.

5 illus, 3 tables, 10 ref

021715   Sehgal R;Angra S;Sharma V (Mechanical Engineering Dep, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur-177 005, Email: rsehgal@recham.ernet.in) : Failure cause analysis of welded joints. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2007, 14(1), 24-30.

Failure of welded structures/machine components lead to various direct losses such as the cost of repair work, the cost of the work to prevent future failure and accident compensation, and indirect losses such as decrease in production and a damage to company's image. Joints being the weakest elements in any structure/machine are likely to fail first. It is therefore, imperative to understand the failure of these joints. Understanding a failure occurrence and its propagation will lead to a better appreciation of welded joints from reliability point of view. It may be possible that a few cause events or failure causes may be crucial and could be minimized at design or fabrication stage leading to failure minimization of such joints. In this paper, a procedure based on digraph modeling and matrix approach is suggested for failure analysis of welded joints. The failure logic digraph for welded joint (WLFLD) is defined which considers contributing cause events and their interrelations. The digraph is analysed using connection and reachability matrices. Welded joint failure connection matrix (WJFCM) is obtained for the welded joint failure logic digraph and welded joint failure reachability matrix (WJFRM) is derived from it which helps in identifying the stage relationship among various cause events and evaluate the importance of the cause events for the failure modes. It, therefore, provides direction for appropriate action for minimization of failure mode thus improving the reliability of the joints.

1 illus, 1 table, 16 ref

021714   Saiyed M A;Kundu G;Mukherjee D (Chemical Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721 302) : Column flotation cell performance using fine coal. J Instn Engrs-Pt CH 2006, 86(Mar), 73-7.

Flotation columns are counter-current bubble columns that have recently been applied for the beneficiation of coal. In coal flotation, a significant portion of the feed material gets collected t r the product in the froth concentrate, which results in a condition, commonly referred as the limit of the carrying capacity. In this study, the effects of various operating variables on the carrying capacity of the flotation column have been studied and a semi-empirical equation to predict the carrying capacity of the flotation column has been proposed. Experiments have benn carried out using fine coal of mean particle size 27.96 μm in a perspex column of 10 cm internal dia.

5 illus, 5 ref

021713   Sadhu S;Srinivasan M;Ghoshal T K (Electrical Engineering Dep, Jadavpur Univ, Kolkata-700 032) : Robustness and tuning of bearing only tracking filter. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2006, 87(Dec), 42-9.

Robustness properties of scaled Sigma Point Kalman Filters (SPKF), also known as (scaled) Unseen ted Kalman Filter (UKF) and Extended Kalman Filters for bearing only target tracking problems are re-examined. For increased computational efficiency, a square root implementation of SPKF has been used. It is shown that while the rms error settling performance of scaled square root SPKF is close to that obtainable by more traditional, Extended Kalman Filter(EKF), the SPKF is, on the whole, more robust. Robustness (rather lack of it) is quantified by the frequency of track loss cases in Monte-Carlo simulation with large batch size is introduced. By using a new, more realistic test for track loss and a previously reported track loss criterion, the superior robustness of SPKF over EKF has been established. Further. the feasibility of utilising a design freedom, parameterised by the sigma point spread factor alpha, available with the scaled version of SPKF, is demonstrated. Feasibility of tuning the filters by changing the initial error covariance (by multiplying with a variable factor ζ) is also explored. The quantitative analysis of design freedom parameter (a), covariance tuning parameter ( ζ) and choice of the track loss criterion, on robustness and error settling performance provide a better insight into design trade off. It is shown that the use of square root SPKF does not introduce substantial computational burden, when compared to EKF, making the SPKF a strong candidate for on board implementation.

5 illus, 1 table, 12 ref

021712   Ray Chaudhuri U (Chemical technology Dep, Calcutta Univ, Kolkata-700 009) : Comparative study of pH control in an acidic effluent neutralization process. J Instn Engrs-Pt CH 2006, 86(Mar), 64-72.

Various control strategies have been attempted to fit as a t bust control logic for pH control. A study has been carried out using monobasic strong acid-base neutralization scheme. Attempts have , been made to correlate pH of the mixing process based on fundamental laws of titration under dynamic conditions and four control logics, namely, Model Predicted Control (MPC), Modified Linear Control (MLC), Artificial Neural Network Control (ANN) and Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) have been developed. Simulation study and real time experimentation has been carried out in the laboratory scale to verify the control logic. The ANN control logic has been found to be robust both in simulation and real time experimentation.

18 illus, 24 ref

021711   Rao P V;Achar K R T;Rao P L N (NO, , ) : Importance of pump characteristics on waterhammer pressure in pumping main. J Indian Wat Resour Soc 2006, 38(1), 65-76.

Detailed transient analyses were carried out using ten practical pumping schemes and fifteen sets of pump characteristics for pump trip cases to examine the influence of specific speed and pump characteristics on waterhammer phenomenon. The maximum transient pressures were not exceeding their steady-state values for different systems using mixed - and axial-flow type pump characteristics (75 ≤ N_s ≥ 261). Pressure rise was noticed after pump trip for pumping schemes' using radial-low pump characteristics (N_s ≤ 75). The pump characteristics are very sensitive in the range 15 ≤ N_s ≥ 75 (radial-flow pump range) on waterhammer pressures after pump trip. However, for preliminary prediction of waterhammer pressures, any set of pump characteristics can be used. The results are also discussed with a non-dimensional factor which is a function of N_s, L and a. The accuracy of results using the present program is highlighted with sixteen different test cases.

2 illus 3 tables, 28 ref

021710   Rajput T B S;Patel N (Water Technology Centre, IARI, New Delhi-110 012) : Design, development and performance evaluation of fertigation venturies. J Instn Engrs-Pt AG 2006, 87(Dec), 10-14.

Four different makes of venturies are commercially available, for use in fertigation in the market, but all the four were found to be of the same effective size. Venturies of different sizes were designed and developed for achieving different rates of fertilizer injection. The suction rate of all the venturies were measured with normal irrigation water, as the test fluid, under a large range of operating pressure at inlet and outlet ends of venturies (1. 0 kg/cm² to 2.0 kg/cm² and 0.1 kg/cm² to 1.4 kg/cm²), respectively. Suction rate of commercially available venturies reached a maximum of 1081/h but it varied from 4.8 1/h to 220 1/h for newly designed venturies. The suction rate of all the venturies were found to be directly proportional to the throat, size as well as to the pressure gradient between inlet and outlet ends of the venturi. Suction index of commercially available venturies was found ranging between 22.1 % and 75%, but for newly developed venturies, suction index varied between 48.0 and 320.0, whereas injection efficiencies of commercially available as well as those of newly designed venturies were found ranging between 65% and 90%.

6 illus, 5 tables, 9 ref

021709   Radhakrishnan T K;Ramakrishna K (Chemical Engineering Dep, National Institute of Technology, Trichy-620 015) : Level control in an industrial gas chiller. J Instn Engrs-Pt CH 2006, 86(Mar), 60-3.

Inverse response is associated with a Right Half Plane (RHP) zero. Any typical chiller| boiler in processing industries shows suth a behaviour. An inverse response compensator is designed and the controller parameters an evaluated for the compensated process using several tuning criteria. The effectiveness of the controllers designed is compared for different disturbances and new controller parameters are recommended instead of existing parameters.

7 illus, 1 table, 4 ref

021708   Pushp M;Mande S (NO, The Energy and Research Institute (TERI), Darbari Seth Block, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110 003, Email: mohit@teri.res.in) : Testing of PID controller mechanism for 100% producer gas engine for decentralised gasifier power systems. SESI Jl 2006, 16(2), 29-34.

With increasing emphasis on electrification of remote villages and captive power generation using biomass, gasifier based decentralised power plants are gaining importance. For large-scale penetration there is a need to have a simple, robust governor system, which can enable operation of producer gas engine for varying loads under field conditions. Presently, gasifier-based power plants are considered for constant base load and the gas-air flow rate to engine is manually controlled to operate it at different constant loads. Gives details of an experiment undertaken to study application of Pill controller to control speed of a dedicated producer gas engine used in a stationary gasifier-based power system in rural area. A number of combinations of Pill controller parameters were studied under application of various types of oscillating resistive, inductive, and lighting loads. Results show that the governor using Pill control is able to control RPM of the engine and, consequently, maintain the output frequency within allowable limits when varying loads were applied.

4 illus, 2 tables, 6 ref

021707   Prajapati G V;Subbaiah R (Soil and Water Engineering Dep, College of Agricultural Engineering an, Junagadh Agricultural Univ, Junagadh) : Run off prediction for Rawat Sagar catchment using geomorphological approach. J Instn Engrs-Pt AG 2006, 87(Dec), 27-32.

Run off is the surface water flow collected at a location in a watershed. Conceptually, the watershed integrates all the physiographic and hydro meteorological processes that produce run off. From this definition, it should be clear that run off varies both with location-and time. The detailed investigation of the process may be more scientific oriented than engineering oriented, many engineering designs and applications need to have an estimation of the quantity and feature of run off resulted from particular rainfall. In the present study, the run off is estimated for the Rawat Sagar catchment, using geomorphologic approach as it takes into cognizance the laws of geomorphology and the principles of linear hydrologic systems. A good agreement between the observed and computed values was obtained. The values of EFF, AAE and RMSE were found to be 91.68, 0.029 and 0.042 respectively.

2 illus, 4 tables, 10 ref

021706   Poongothai S;Thayumanavan S (Civil Engng Dep, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar-608 002) : Water resources management for sustainable development. Ecol Envir Conserv 2006, 12(2), 211-5.

Water is the main life-supporting ingredient of world. Its availability varies with time and space since precipitation acts as mother. Its life cycle is characterized by hydrologic cycle, which has neither origin nor destination. Therefore water is called as the elixir of life. The watershed based water resources management is necessary to plan and conserve the available natural resources. When a watershed is properly managed for water, it is also managed simultaneously for soil and vegetation for sustainable development. Application of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) in water resources management started gaining importance due to their valuable merits. The combined GIS and remote sensing technology is an excellent tool for monitoring the water resource changes in the watershed over space and time. Relevant systematic database on various aspects of water resources is an important requirement for their sustainable development. Explores the creation of a watershed database for sustainable development of water resources. A sub watershed of Gomukhi watershed (4C1A3f), Vellar basin, Tamilnadu, India was considered as study area. Basically this is a rural watershed with more than 65% of croplands and with mean annual rainfall of about 720mm. Satellite data of IRS 1C - LISS III (1997) and SOI topographical maps (1971-72) were used for preparing various thematic maps of the study area. Mini watershed wise surface water potential and ground water potential maps were prepared. Also the total water potential against total water demand of the watershed was studied. Knowing the available surface runoff and groundwater resources of the watershed, proper water management strategies for efficient irrigation and agriculture can be suggested for sustainable development.

3 illus, 2 tables, 8 ref

021705   Paul S;Rao B N (Civil Engineering Dep, Structural Engineering Div, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai-600 036, Email: bnrao@iitm.ac.in) : A modified quarter point element for fracture analysis of cracks. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2007, 14(1), 31-8.

Modification to the quarter-point crack tip element for the computation of stress intensity factors in cracked plates subjected to mixed mode loading is presented. The standard quarter-point singular element is modified such that the near tip crack opening displacement satisfies a known constraint; the coefficient of the term in William's expression which is a linear function of the distance to the tip must vanish in order to have the singularity at the crack tip. Stress intensity factors . Computed using the modified quarter-point crack tip element in conjunction with the displacement correlation technique gives better results as compared to those obtained by the standard quarter-point element. The technique basically involves the same guidelines as that of the standard quarter-point element, where 6-noded quarter-point elements are adopted to mesh the singular region around the crack tip and 8-noded quadrilateral elements are adopted to mesh rest of the non-singular region. Based on the shape functions of the proposed modified quarter-point crack tip element the equations for computing the crack tip opening displacement and the stress intensity factors are presented taking into account the nodal displacement values of the elements around the crack tip. The results obtained using the modified quarter-point crack tip element are shown to be significantly more accurate than those obtained using the standard quarter-point element for both mode-I and mixed-mode problems.

10 illus, 8 tables, 18 ref

021704   Narra M;Nagori G P (NO, Sardar Patel Renewable Research Institute (SPRERI), Vallabh Vidyanagar-388 120, Email: gpnagori@ankurscientific.com) : Performance evaluation of 2 m<. SESI Jl 2006, 16(2), 22-8.

A 2 m³ fixed dome type (Janata) biogas plant was operated on delignified banana stem and its performance was monitored. Delignification of banana stem was carried out using Tremetes versicolor (TV). About 34-63% higher gas production was recorded compared to untreated banana stem. Performance of the plant is presented.

3 illus, 6 tables, 10 ref

021703   Mital S K;Shamshi M A;Garg R K;Sharma B K (Central Scientific Instruments Organization (CSIO), , Sector 30, Chandigarh-160 030) : Design and development of infrared technique based snow surface temperature measurement probe. J scient ind Res 2007, 66(5), 367-70.

Design and development of IR probe, developed first time in India, which is used to measure snow surface temperature without contact with snow. The design can operate round the clock in harsh weather conditions in snow bound areas (-40<157>C to +50 0<157>C) with high relative humidity and wind speed (200 km/h). This instrument has been installed in Siachen region, J & K region and interfaced with Data Collection Platform. The recorded temperature data is being transmitted hourly through satellite from Siachen and J & K region to central base station at SASE, Chandigarh. This instrument can measure temperature (- 40<157>C to + 100 ⁰C) with the resolution of 0.1 ⁰C and consumes low power. This paper mainly describes the characteristics of IR rays, basic principle involved in designing and principle of operation.

5 illus, 5 ref

021702   Manjaiah D H;Subramanya K N;Sharma S C (Computer Sci Dep, Mangalore Univ, Mangalore-574 199, Email: ylm321@yahoo.co.in) : Simulation and modeling of an automated system. J Analysis Computn 2006, 2(2), 159-65.

Paper discusses how simulation is used to design new manufacturing systems and to improve the performance of existing ones. Modern manufacturing systems are complicated, highly automated, computer controlled integrated systems. They ask for essential investments at all stages of their life-cycle, from designing through operation to re-engineering and modernisation. This combination of complexity and necessity for large investments cause existence of such potential decisions that could essentially increase efficiency of manufacturing systems. Traditionally, these decisions are defined with extended use of discrete-event simulation. Simulation is an essential tool for performance evaluation of many practical systems where planners typically want to know how the system will perform under various parameter settings. Since large-scale simulation may require great amount of computer time and storage, appropriate statistical analysis can become quite costly. In this paper, we develop an interpolation technique as an effective tool for estimating system responses to parametric perturbations in simulation. We also analyze the usefulness of the M/M/l model. The model sets no limit on the maximum number in the system. But it assumes an infinite-capacity source. Arrivals occur at the rate of e customers per unit time, and the service rate is /1 customers per unit time. The result of the model consists of generation of Random numbers for the transition time and the system size, and the same is plotted on Graph which may vary depending on the random numbers generated. The model requires two basic elements:

3 illus, 9 ref

021701   Madhu G (School of Engineering, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin-682 022) : Management of chemical accidents- an indian perspective. J Instn Engrs-Pt CH 2006, 86(Mar), 51-4.

Disaster that may occur in chemical industries and natural disasters are to be, viewed in different perspectives. Industrial disasters are preventable to a larger extent compared to natural calamities. Damages associated with explosion, fire, toxic releases and nuclear accidents lead to financial losses. Major industrialized countries have evolved their own mechanism for the management of chemical accidents. India has also made tremendous progress in evolving systems for tackling major chemical disasters after the Bhopal gas tragedy. This paper discusses the various tools that have been adopted in India for the management of chemical accidents. The major tools available for the management of chemical accidents include the legal frame work, the technoware. human elements, assessment of hazard and risk, planning for emergencies, response systems and safety management systems.

12 ref

021700   Kumar Y;Chauhan H S (Irrigation and Drainage Engineering Dep, College of Technology, G B Pant Univ of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar-263 145) : Transient flow in a two-layered unconfined semi-infinite aquifer with instantaneous change in boundary stage. J Instn Engrs-Pt AG 2006, 87(Dec), 33-7.

Trannsient flow problem in a two layered soil near a canal or reservoir, subjected to instantaneous upstream water level change has been solved based on Girinsky potential function. The error-function in the solution has been approximated for smaller value of function u. Relationships have been developed for computing hydraulic conductivity for each layer of a two layered flow system, if other characteristics, such as depth of layers, water table above the impermeable layer and drop in water table in the reservoir or canal are known.

3 illus, 1 table 12 ref

021699   Karacor A G;Sivri N;Ucan O N (TUAF Academy, Computer Engng Dep, , 34149, Istanbul, Turkey, Email: g.karacor@hho.edu.tr) : Maximum stream temperature estimation of degirmendere river using artifical neural network. J scient ind Res 2007, 66(5), 363-6.

Stream temperature determines the rate of the decomposition of organic matter and the saturation concentration of dissolved oxygen. Combined with industrial waste, stream temperature becomes a crucial parameter. Therefore, estimation of maximum stream temperature is very important, especially during summertime when the high temperatures may become dangerous for the habitat of rivers. A three-layered feed forward artificial neural network was developed to predict the maximum stream temperature of Degirmendere River for the five days ahead. Satisfactory results were achieved as the average prediction error turned out to be less than 1°C.

2 illus, 2 tables, 9 ref

021698   John Cairns (Biological Sciences Dep, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA) : Phantom land and ghost slaves: Humankind's addiction to fossil energy. Asian J expl Sci 2007, 21(2), 191-204.

Humankind uses vast amounts of fossil energy accumulated millions of years ago. The rate of use is many orders of magnitude greater than the replacement rate. Peak oil is the most immediate problem, and replacing this rate of energy use with biofuels is problematic. Coal is an alternative but produces more severe environment problems than petroleum and is less suitable for some forms of transportation such as airplanes. Nuclear energy does not produce greenhouse gases, but does generate troublesome waste disposal problems (e.g., one-million-year storage for some components). Solar and wind power are proven alternatives, but are not likely to generate sufficient energy to replace the petroleum no longer available. The prudent course of action, then, is reduced energy consumption per capita. As the Marks et al. (2006) report illustrates, high energy and material goods consumption is not highly correlated with happiness (i.e., satisfaction). Even if high consumption were related to happiness, continued extremely high energy consumption would probably not be justified. The approximately 100-200 years of the petroleum era are a brief, aberrant period of human history, and breaking this addiction will be painful, but not fatal.

021697   Jayan P R;Kumar V J F (NO, Kerala Agricultural Univ, Kerala-679 306) : Mechanical planter for maize. J Instn Engrs-Pt AG 2006, 87(Dec), 3-9.

Mechanical (cam actuated) dibber planter for planting maize was developed and field tested. It was developed based on the optimized dibber depth settings and soil type. The planter mainly consisted of a frame, dibber wheel, seed metering mechanism, cam, drag chain and depth control wheels. The dynamic performance of the dibber wheel was tested under laboratory conditions for optimizing the soil and machine parameters. Tests were conducted using alfisol. Among the factors selected to access the performance of the dibber wheel on the depth of placement of seed under dynamic condition, the dibber depth setting and forward speed of the unit strongly influenced it. The influence of soil moisture content was negligible. It was found that the dibber depth setting of 50mm, dibber wheel speed of 1 km/h and soil moisture content of 12% (db), resulted the desired depth of placement of seed, maximum number of seeds placed inside the dibbed hole and hill spacing. The field capacity of the unit with three rows was 0.27 ha/h. The results also indicated that about 32% of the hills were spaced at 300mm and the rest of hills were spaced at a distance of 285 mm to 300mm. The missing of the hills was observed as 3% to 5%. The cost of operation of the dibber planter for sowing maize was Rs. 740/ha, the cost of the three row dibber planter being Rs 20000.

2 illus,10 tables, 10 ref

021696   Jain P K;Sengupta J B (Central, Road Research Institute, New Delhi-110 020, Email: pramodj.crri@nic.in) : Mitigation of moisture damage in bitumibous pavements. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2007, 14(1), 48-54.

Process of stripping failure of aggregate-bitumen system in presence of water is accelerated by ions of salts and is thus responsible for early failure of open graded bituminous courses in salt infected areas. A quantitative assessment of stripping is not possible by available methods. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate mitigation of moisture damage in bituminous pavements using long chain fatty acid amine based additives. Results of studies reported in this paper indicate that measurement of indirect tensile strength under specified conditions of moisture soaking and immersion correlate well with stripping area of aggregates to the extent of 90-100%. Incorporation of 0.5% dehydrogenated tallow di methyl amine in bitumen prevents stripping of aggregates in presence of detrimental salt ions. Hence, failure of bituminous courses in salt infected areas can be prevented using these additives and life of surfacing can be extended. Indirect tensile strength ratio of Marshall specimen of open graded mix can be considered for quantitative assessment of stripping phenomenon.

1 illus, 13 tables, 31 ref

021695   J Chhabra;Chhabra V K (NO, , ) : Country's first successful community defluoridation plant based on activated alumina. J Indian Wat Resour Soc 2006, 38(1), 31-6.

1 illus, 3 tables, 6 ref

021694   Gopalkrishnan K;Thompson M R (Civil Engineering Dep, Iowa State Univ, Ames, 498 Town Engineering Building, IA 50011-3232, USA, Email: rangan@iastate.edu) : Pavement rutting characterization using deflection basin parameters. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2007, 14(1), 39-47.

U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's National Airport Pavement Test Facility (NAPTF) was constructed to generate full-scale traffic test data to support the development of advanced airport pavement design procedures. During the first series of traffic tests, a six-wheel Boeing 777 gear and a four-wheel Boeing 747 gear were tested on flexible pavements until they were deemed failed. Heavy Weight Deflectometer (HWD) tests were conducted prior to and throughout the traffic testing to assess the structural integrity of pavements. An inertial profiling device was used to measure the transverse surface profiles periodically during the traffic testing to monitor the development of rut depths. The NAPTF rutting data were characterized using the simple Power model. In this study, regression models were developed to obtain the rutting model parameters, in terms of rutting potential and rutting rate, as functions of initial HWD surface deflections. The results indicated that the rutting potential is strongly related to initial surface deflections. If the rutting model (Power model) coefficients can be related to .HWD structural responses, a viable rutting algorithm can be developed for use in a priori airport pavement design and management activities.

7 illus, 5 tables, 26 ref

021693   Gnanadass R (Electrical Engineering Dep, Pondicherry Engineering College, Pondicherry-605 014) : Optimal power dispatch of power producers with ramping cost. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2006, 87(Dec), 22-8.

Loads and wheeling transactions are varying very dynamically in deregulated power market. The power producers must respond quickly to those changes. Optimal production costs are computed with ramping costs for power producers with non-smooth fuel cost functions. The proposed algorithm is demonstrated on practical Indian utility-62 bus system.

5 illus, 2 tables, 14 ref

021692   Gill H;Evin D (Mechanical Engineering Dep, Firat Univ, 23119, Elazig, Turkey, Email: hgul@firat.edu.tr) : Flow characteristics in a transition duct passing from rectangular section to circular section. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2007, 14(1), 12-8.

Characteristics of a flow in a transition duct, in which the flow passes from a rectangular cross-section to a circular one, were investigated experimentally. The transition duct had an entry aspect ratio of 0.65 and exit aspect ratio of 1. The experiments were conducted at three different channels which have different lengths. The exit cross-sectional area of the transitional duct was double of the inlet. Reynolds number varied in the range of 2xl0⁵-6xl0⁵. Local pressures and velocities were measured along the duct.

9 illus, 19 ref

021691   Ghoshal S P;Roy R (Electrical Engineering Dep, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur) : Optimization of proportional-integral-derivative gains by evolutionary programming in fuzzy based automatic generation control. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2006, 87(Dec), 29-35.

Various novel heuristic stochastic search optimization techniques like basic evolutionary programming (BEP) and novel hybrid evolutionary programming (HEP) have been proposed for optimization of proportional-integral-derivative gains used in Sugeno fuzzy logic based automatic generation control of multi-area thermal generating plants. Numerical results show that the two optimization techniques yield more optimal gains than those obtained by genetic algorithm (GA) / hybrid genetic algorithm -simulated annealing (GA -SA) and are more or less equally effective in yielding optimal transient responses of area frequency and tie -line power flow deviations for both nominal system parameters and varying off-nominal on -line system parameters. Fast acting Sugeno fuzzy logic manipulates the nominal optimal gains adaptively to determine off-nominal gains and thus off-nominal transient responses.

6 illus, 1 table, 4 ref

021690   Ghoshal S P;Roy R (Electrical Engineering Dep, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur) : A comparative study of genetic algorithm based optimization and particle swarm optimization in economic load dispatch. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2006, 87(Dec), 3-9.

Economic load dispatch (ELD) is the scheduling of generators to minimize the total operating cost depending on equality and inequality constraints. The transmission line loss also is to be kept as minimum as possible. So, the problem is of multi-objective optimization. The authors have studied the comparative effectiveness of GA, particle swarm optimization (PSO) for such multi-objective optimization in two standard test cases of 13 and 40 thermal generators with non-monotonically increasing cost functions. The generators are interconnected through lossy transmission lines. Numerical results indicate PSO techniques yield optimal results up to 10/13 units and GA proves to be better than PSOs for more number of units in terms of operating costs but inferior to PSOs in terms of transmission line losses. But, PSOs execute in the least time, yielding near optimal results and this is the major merit of PSO techniques over any other evolutionary technique.

13 illus, 5 tables, 8 ref

021689   Feroz S (Chemical Engineering Dep, RVR and JC College of Engineering, Chowdavaram, Guntur-522 019) : Mass transfer with impinging multi-jets. J Instn Engrs-Pt CH 2006, 86(Mar), 47-50.

Review has been aimed in this article on various experimental investigations of mass transfer studies with impinging multi-jets. Multi-jets provide effective enhancement of transfer rates and uniformity in distribution of mass at large surface areas. Interferences between neighbouring jets prior to impingement and collisions of developing wall flows from adjacent jets have significant effect on transfer rates depending upon jet-to-jet spacing and jet to surfacing spacing.

52 ref

021688   Engade K;Gupta S G (Microbiology Dep, Government Institute of Science, Nipatniranjan Nagar, Caves Raod, Aurangabad, Maharashtra) : Adsorption of few synthetic dyes by metabolically active culture of Aspergillus terreus. Natn J Life Sci 2006, 3(1), 59-62.

In recent years, intensive research is going on for bioremediation of wastewaters containing dyes. In the investigation, attempts were made to adsorb and remove (decolorization) Rathilene black, Rathilene scarlet red, Rathilene violet and Rathilene navy blue dyes (Basic dyes) by metabolically active Aspergillus terreus culture. The above synthetic dyes are extensively used in textile and dyeing industries. Spectral studies of these dyes were carried out and their λ max values were determined and were found in the visible range. Standard graphs were plotted by considering known concentrations of the selected dyes on X-axis and the observed optical density values at their respected λ max on Y-axis. These graphs were used to calculate percent dye decolorization. Experiments revealed that the tested dyes don't support the growth of A. terreus as they failed to serve as a source of carbon and nitrogen. Hence, experiments were designed for decolorization of dyes with metabolically active culture of A. terreus isolated from textile efnuent. A. terrells showed 68-96% (initial dye concentration 0.01 % (w/v) of intracellular and extra cellular dye adsorption (confirmed by microscopic observations) when grown in sterile Potato Dextrose Broth (PDB) at 30°C under shaking conditions in 6 days. The growth of A. lerrells (in terms of % dry weight) in PDB was inhibited with increase in concentration of Rathilene scarlet red and Rathilene Black indicating the interference of dyes with permeation processes of solute during growth. At 6% (w/v) dye concentration growth of A. terreus was completely inhibited.

4 tables, 9 ref

021687   Das A;Srihari V;Uma S R (School Civil Engng, SASTRA, Deemed univ, Thanjavur-613 402) : Cyclonic wind energy-dissipation and extraction techniques for coastal villages of India. Ecol Envir Conserv 2006, 12(2), 361-4.

Villages along coastal line suffer severe damage due to cyclones every year. There is an urgent need to mitigate the disaster with proper management operations. In general, the cyclone resistant shelters are provided for relief and rescue operations. However, pre-cyclone prevention steps have to be taken with respect to the behavior of structures to avoid major destruction and remove the barrier against growth and development of national economy. In this paper, the wind energy dissipation strategies and extraction techniques are attempted and discussed.

2 illus, 3 ref

021686   Chaurey A;Kandpal T C (NO, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Darbari Seth Block, Habitat Place, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110 003) : Techno-economic analysis of solar home systems for decentralised rural electrification in India. SESI Jl 2006, 16(2), 1-21.

Solar home system (SHS) has been one of the preferred options for providing electricity, to remote rural communities without access to grid electrification, for some of the basic services such as lighting and entertainment. While most of the SHS projects and programmes have disseminated a single system configuration - a combination of photovoltaic (PV) module size and battery - irrespective of solar resource availability and load pattern of the target user, literature points to the demand for a variety of configurations to suit the specific user requirements and also to the willingness to pay for different users. An analysis of several SHS configurations with respect to their ability to service a given load under given design conditions is presented. Using HOMER, a software developed by the National Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, Colorado, USA, configurations are compared on the basis of the levelised unit cost of electricity and capacity shortage, a fraction by which the load will not be met by a particular configuration. Some typical results are presented and also briefly discussed.

9 illus, 9 tables, 51 ref

021685   Chandra R;Mishra T N;Bhattacharya T K (Rural Development and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi-110 016) : Exhaust emission characteristics of alcohol-diesel microemulsions in a Low BHP constant speed compression ignition engine. J Instn Engrs-Pt AG 2006, 87(Dec), 15-19.

Exhaust emission characteristics of six alcohol-diesel microemulsions prepared using ethyl acetate surfactant with ethanol of 200° and 1900 (5 % water content) proof were compared with diesel fuel, in a 3.73 kW stationary constant speed CI engine. A reduction of 1.4 % to 44.4% of CO was observed as compared to diesel. The emission of unburnt hydrocarbon was found higher (up to maximum of 66%) on the microemulsions, but the values were comparable with diesel in light of percentage diesel replacement. The highest reduction of 24 37 in the emission of nitric oxide was found on 190°-20/29/51 aqueous microemulsion, though it was always lower on microemulsions except few. However, the emission of nitrogen dioxide was always higher on microemulsions but it was comparable to that of diesel fuel which caused increase in exhaust gas temperature on microemulsions.

5 illus, 1 table, 10 ref

021684   Bhaumik S;Sadhu S;Ghoshal T K (Electrical Engineering Dep, Jadavpur Univ, Kolkata-700 032) : Parametric performance analysis of tracking system using Posterior Cramer Rao Lower Bounds. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2006, 87(Dec), 36-41.

Paper analyses the parametric performance of tracking system using Posterior Cramer Rao Lower Bound (PCRLB). It demonstrates how the influence of model parameters and instrumental/signal processing capabilities of tracking filter can be studied using PCRLB without going into specific elaborate detailed filter design and Monte Carlo Analysis. After briefly reviewing the concept and algorithm of the PCRLB the lower bound of root mean square error for a bearing only tracking (BOT) has been computed. As in many other tracking problems the process noise covariance matrix (Q) is singular in nature in this specific example. So a reformulation of the PCRLB recursion equation is recommended here. The PCRLB performance for position and velocity error has been studied with respect to the variation of (i) the variance of the measurement noise, (ii) the variance of the process noise, and (iii) the sampling time. With this example, it is shown that the PCRLB analysis provides a good handle for tracking system design trade off.

5 illus, 12 ref

021683   Baredar P;Sethi V K;Pandey M (NO, Laxmi Narain College of Technology, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh) : Power productivity enhancement and statistical analysis using hybrid system of solar, wind and biomass. Asian J expl Sci 2007, 21(2), 341-52.

Hybrid system of Solar and Wind can work as a highly efficient and Green Power technology for power generation. After adequate demonstration world wide, is now poised to compete with the conventional power generation technologies and is the 21st century technology to meet the stringent environmental regulations more efficiently and economically than other power generation technique. For reliable supply of power in remote locations or inaccessible rural areas it will be possible and sometimes necessary to design and setup Hybrid system, which combines the advantages of two or more different technologies, to take care of base load requirements. An integrated Hybrid System Solar, Wind and Biomass would ensure that power supply could be maintained at an optimum level during adverse condition like cloudy days (for PV system), low wind conditions (for wind electric generators) and non-availability of Biomass in rainy season.

021682   Azad Sohail M;Ismail Mustafa A (Central Chemical Research Laboratory, Ghorasal Thermal Power Station, BPDB, Narsingdi 1610, Bangladesh, Email: masohail2004@yahoo.com) : Damages in alloyed super heater tubes of thermal power station. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2007, 14(1), 19-23.

Investigation on the damages in alloyed super heater and reheater tubes materials for natural circulation water wall tubes (NCWWTs) high-pressure drum boiler units TGME-COB-206 (Russia) of Ghorasal Thermal Power Station (GTPS), Bangladesh, have been carried out at different schedule maintenances. Extensive analyses of different chemical parameters of boiler water chemical regime (BWCR), and generated steam (live) quality at rated operating steam temperature and pressure, revealed carryover of SiC₂ 20. (±5) mgL^-1 in steam (live) during cold startup and abrupt increase in thermal load of boiler unit. The micro and macro structural examinations of super heater tube materials, scale composition; scale thickness and composition of super heater tubes materials have been monitored very carefully. Silica is found to be the major component for the super heater scaling which has strong affinity to the chromium containing steel reheater tubes materials.

7 illus, 2 tables, 10 ref

021681   Arya L D;Shrivastava M (Electrical Engineering Dep, SGSITS, Indore, Madhya Pradesh-452 003) : Voltage stability evaluation using line voltage stability index. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2006, 87(Dec), 50-4.

New line voltage stability index, which is reliable and computationally efficient for predicting voltage collapse of an integrated power system has been presented. The index is based on singularity of load flow Jacobian of a transmission line. The developed index has been used to identify the tines, which contribute to voltage instability, and also permits to identify the lines for series compensation. The proposed index has been used to estimate system loadability with various degrees of series compensated and uncompensated system. A concept of critical length of transmission line has been proposed which maybe useful not only in opera ting condition bute even in planning studies. Results for voltage stability assessment have been presented for 6-bus standard test system.

6 illus, 3 tables, 14 ref

021680   Arya L D;Choube S C;Shrivastava M (Electrical Engineering Dep, SGSITS, Indore, Madhya Pradesh-452 003) : Protection scheme against voltage instability using the concept of impedance relaying. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2006, 87(Dec), 10-15.

Paper proposes an efficient and reliable scheme for protection against voltage collapse. Proposed scheme can be incorporated in selected lines with higher settings of impedance relays. Developed algorithm is based on newly developed line voltage stability index which becomes half at collapse point. The proposed index could be easily implemented in a distance relay either numerical or electromagnetic. This type of arrangement can give an alarm/preventive measure signal indicating that the system has entered into insecure zone from voltage collapse viewpoint. Developed concept has been implemented on a standard 6-bus and 25-bus IEEE test systems.

4 illus, 21 ref

020736   Zahedi H R;Adam N M;Sapuan S M;Ahmad M M H M (Mechanical and Manufacturing Engng Dep, Univ Putra, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia, Email: sapuan@eng.upm.edu.my) : Effect of storage tank geometry on performance of solar water heater. J scient ind Res 2007, 66(2), 146-51.

Computer simulation program has been developed to predict the performance of solar thermosyphon domestic water heater. The model has standard configuration of solar collector (2m<^>2) and 150 litres vertical storage tank. Malaysian hot water consumption profile has been used. Increasing the storage tank height above 1.0 m has no significant effect on solar fraction, but the solar fraction is adversely affected, particularly at high set points, if considerably shorter tanks are used.