Plantain is used for the management of type II diabetes. Plantain is usually processed into value-added and storable products, such as flour, in order to extend its shelf-life and make it available for consumption all the year round. Processing plantain into flour requires that its size be reduced before drying in order to increase its drying rate, reduce its processing time, and prevent microbial growth and decay. This paper presents conceptual design and finite element analysis (FEA) of a machine for particulating plantain in a plant that processes unripe plantain into flour. The machine consists of a hopper with cover, a particulating drum, a shaft, a belt drive, an electric motor, a pulley, a delivery chute and a support frame. Model for the machine was developed using Solid Works Computer Aided Design (CAD) application software. Appropriate materials were selected for its component parts and their design analysis was done. Its functionality and structural stability were evaluated by simulating the developed model using Solid Works CAD application software. The FEA conducted on its frame showed maximum stress of 213 MPa, resultant displacement of 0.37 mm, elastic strain of 1.0×10-16 and a minimum factor of safety (FOS) of 2.3 on the frame when a force of 595 N was applied. Also, the FEA conducted on the particulating drum showed a maximum stress of 19.3 MPa, resultant displacement of 6.98×10-3 mm, strain of 2.62×10-5 and a minimum FOS of 8.9 when a torque of 50 Nm was applied. The implication of the FEA results is that the particulating machine will be able to satisfactorily serve its intended purpose under normal working conditions, when fabricated, since the maximum stress values obtained from the FEA of its component parts are far below the corresponding yield strength values of the materials selected for their fabrication. The estimated cost of production for the machine is ?398,700 ($1,092).

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This paper describes the design and implementation of a PID controller applied to the Ball and Plate CE 151 system. The design technique used is Root Locus Method in discrete time and the controller is implemented in MatLab. Because the system has an unstable dynamic, multiple PID controllers were designed for different operating points and using the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), the best PID controller is selected. This controller is subjected to other performance tests such as, reference tracking, disturbance rejection and robustness test to observe the behavior of the controller.

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This research was carried out to investigate the effects of locust bean ash on the compaction characteristics of some selected lateritic soils with a view to discovering a cheaper and effective replacement for the conventional soil stabilizers. The necessity for improving the compaction characteristics of soil to enhance construction procedures has been recognized for a long time. Preliminary tests were performed on the natural soil samples for identification and classification purposes followed by the consistency limit tests. This was followed by compaction test carried out on the natural soil samples and when stabilized with 2, 4 and 6% locust beans ash (LBA). The results of the research showed that the Optimum Moisture Contents (OMC) of Samples A, B and C at their natural states were 25.0, 26.5 and 28.0% respectively while Maximum Dry Densities (MDD) were also 1396.3, 1523.0 and 1626.5 kg/m3 respectively. However, only at 6% LBA addition was a consistent pattern observed in all the samples where they all experienced reductions in both OMC and MDD values. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that 6% LBA addition will reduce the water absorption properties of the lateritic soil samples in these areas to provide for improved shear strength, decreased compressibility, reduced swell potential and shrinkage properties. However, reductions in MDD increase the susceptibility of these soils to settlement. Therefore, LBA is not considered an effective stabilizer for these soil samples in terms of construction works.

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Waste plastic polypropylene is increasing due to development activities and changes in lifestyle, leading to widespread littering on the landscape. The study investigates the polypropylene waste plastic potential using an asphalt concrete modifier. The compressive strength tests conducted to examine asphalt concrete wearing course mixture strength using Modified Buton Asphalt (MBA) binder with and without waste PP (Plastic Polypropylene) based on AS-2891 standard. In these tests, mixture condition with 1% and 2% asphalt binder by total weight, were chosen as an additive for AC-WC (Asphalt Concrete Wearing Course) mixture to improve the compressive strength values. The results showed that the treated AC-WC mixture compressive strength was higher as compared to the untreated AC-WC mixture. The results denoted that waste PP can coalesce with the MBA to provide much proper binder and result in higher resistance to compressive load.

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The inverse point kinetics equation is solved using the Boole compound rule is presented in this article. A noise with a Gaussian distribution around an average value of neutron density is considered to simulate fluctuations that are very frequent in a nuclear reactor and can affect the calculation of reactivity. To reduce fluctuations with good results, the first order delay low-pass filter is implemented. Multiple numerical experiments are performed, with time steps, standard deviations, filtering constants for different forms of neutron population density.

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Thermal pollution raises the water source temperature and thus cause a change in physical, chemical and biochemical properties of water. It has a major impact on the aquatic life and disturb the environment. A model with 18m long and 2m was constructed to study Effect of The distance between the propeller and diffuser outlet on dilution. Experimental test was carried on for three different Reynolds number Ratios Rer (0.38, 0.2, and 0.13). It was found that increasing propeller distance from (L= 0.1) to (L= 0.5), the plume center temperature ratios were changed by 3.1%, 2.74%, 0%, temperature ratios at the end of measurements were increased by 43.4%, 73.33%, 61.11%. Temperature difference distribution through the model was increased. Increasing distance of propeller clogging single port submerged diffuser reduce dilution of temperature.

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Zinc is a type of metal that will be corrosive if it is in an acidic medium. One way to reduce the rate of zinc corrosion is by adding inhibitor. This research will examine the potential of banana peels as corrosion inhibitors in hydrochloric acid medium. In this study, the type of banana that will be used is Awak banana where is widely available in Indonesia. Banana peels used in this study varied in 3 forms, namely in the powder form, extract form, and tannin form. The ability of these 3 forms of inhibitors will be compared to their ability as zinc inhibitors in HCl medium. The amount of inhibitor added varied from 1 g, 3 g, 5 g, 7 g and 9 g to zinc where was immersed in 50 mL of 3% HCl solution. Corrosion rate and inhibition efficiency were analyzed on day 3, day 6, day 9 and day 12.The results obtained show that the immersion zinc in 3% HCl medium up to 12 days with the addition of powder, extracts, and tannin. Banana peel gives a lower corrosion rate if immersed without inhibitors. The lowest corrosion rate for each form of inhibitor was 10.23 mpy by using the banana peel tannin inhibitor, 16.39 mpy by using the banana peel extract inhibitor, and by using the banana peel powder inhibitor which was 23.95 mpy. All of these rates were achieved with the addition of 9 g inhibitors and duration of immersion time for 12 days. Hence, banana peels in powder form, extract form or tannin form can be used as zinc corrosion inhibitors in hydrochloric acid medium.

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Considering the increasing cost of electricity, a practice of lowering its non-production losses becomes important. As such optimization operation of the asynchronous motor in automated electrical machines finds uses in all fields of industry. The highest efficiency is achieved at loads closer to rated, efficiency also drops at torque lower than rated, and can drop to as low as 50% which leads to loss of effectiveness and a significant decrease of power coefficient. The paper explores the possibility of using a microcontroller to control the asynchronous motor. The work aims to develop the method for optimizing the operation of the asynchronous motor by analyzing its working parameters in the main operation regime. A special microcontroller unity was created to realize the soft start of a motor. When solving power draw problems of asynchronous motor, scientific achievements in the field of electric drives, thyristors and microcontroller systems, and software development were used. Paper also presents technical description if developed device. The methodology for optimizing asynchronous motor and device operation algorithms is also described. Microcontroller programming principles were reviewed and implementation was proposed for the algorithm to optimize power draw. The scientific novelty of obtained results lies in the development of the optimization method and implementation of the software-hardware solution for the optimization of the asynchronous motor. The practical significance lies in the development of hardware and software solution that provides soft start and decrease of unnecessary losses at partial loads. The developed device can be used by different industrial objects for complex control for asynchronous motors to achieve power savings at partial loads. Developed method for optimizing asynchronous is based on analysis of operating parameters and allows to control motors with lower power draw (maximum savings of current consumption is about 15%, for a dry run), which is supported by experimental data.

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Wind energy is an important part of the worldwide electric system since it brings in 690 GW offshore, in land, in interconnected and non-interconnected areas. This article presents a review of scientific literature to identify trends and areas of development regarding WIND POWER ELECTRIC GENERATOR (WPG). Literary review was carried out using IEEE XPLORE, Science Direct and Web of Science, thus compiling more than 500 articles classified by source, year and country with most publications, as well as areas of development and critical variables. The results of the literary review show that the DUAL FED INDUCTION GENERATOR DFIG is the most commonly used in WPG and that control strategies are mostly applied in Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECS), in addition to modelling and finite element analysis FEM-FEA. It is concluded that the development trends are oriented towards Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT), and Wind Vibrational Power Generators are proposed as an alternative in future work.

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Wind Energy is one of the most rapidly growing forms of non-conventional Energy sources. Contrary to the non renewable and vulnerable counterparts, wind energy has proven to be momentous in the long journey for the purpose of power generation. The usage of wind turbines along the grid creates a large number of problems and one of them is Low Voltage Ride Through (LVRT). The purpose of this paper is to enhance the LVRT capability of Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) by using Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage system (SMES) and Switch Type Fault Current Limiter (STFCL) along with several changes along the grid side. It is required that the voltage should ride through even at a value less than 10-15% of the correct value during voltage sags.

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This paper aims to investigate the window size threshold of the incremental update strategy in K-Nearest Neighbours (KNN) for brainprint identification. Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals are low signal-to-noise ratio and non-stationary. Incremental learning is good in handling dynamic applications. It does not require a complete training example; instead it is able to adapt dynamic changes to gradually form the target concept. KNN implements First-In-First-Out (FIFO) strategy to guide the incremental learning updates. The FIFO strategy tends to construct the target concept from the training objects according to availability orders. If the number of training objects exceeds the predefined window size threshold, then the FIFO strategy remove the earliest available object. The step size of training pool is linear increased by 10%, from 20% up to 90%. The classification results showed improvement when the window size threshold is increasing. The optimum results recorded at the window size threshold of 60%, with 0.875 in accuracy, 0.887 in precision and 0.878 in f-measure. The degradation of the classification performance after 60% showed the FIFO incremental update strategy is less promising. Thus, future work should focus on the incremental update strategy for selecting the representative and distinct objects to improve the performance of brainprint identification.

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Abstract:

Currently, there is a steady demand for flat-shaped ingots (FSI) made from 5083 aluminum alloy grade. During rolling due to plastic deformation, “healing” of various casting defects, including pores, is possible. Therefore, FSI without subsequent rolling should have a regulated pore size of not more than 60 microns. To solve this problem, the authors carried out studies of the formation of porosity in the FSI volume during semi-continuous casting directly under industrial conditions at one of the UC RUSAL metallurgical plants. This made it possible to determine the influence of technological regimes on the formation and distribution of porosity in the FSI volume and to improve the technology of their production, guaranteeing the achievement of the required porosity parameters.

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Abstract:

Motor vehicles play an important role in the economies of many countries, providing efficient means of transporting goods and people. These vehicles can also have significant impacts on safety, infrastructure and the environment. The design of the suspension affects the vehicle's performance, in terms of the drive, damage to infrastructure, the working space of the suspension, power, and stability against overturning, stability against yaw, braking, and traction. The article considers the types and methods of application of adaptive suspensions of modern vehicles, justifies the feasibility of their use for various vehicles, such as modern cars, tractors, etc., which allows the usage of these vehicles for traffic in different road conditions - mountainous terrains with a slope of more than 35°, steppe off-road conditions with frontal obstacles up to half the length of the wheel radius, while the existing control schemes and prospects for their further development can be improved and intelligent transport systems introduced.

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