PaperID: AJERD0102_1, Pages: 136-142
Development of a Site Assessment Scheme for Hybrid Wind/Solar Electricity Generation
Authors: Olawale Olaniyi Emmanuel AJIBOLA, Maxwell KAKULU, Oluwaseyi Jessy BALOGUN
Abstract: The restrictive electricity transmission laws in Nigeria have inhibited the optimal performance of the country’s electric power industry resulting in inadequate supply of electricity to her citizenry. To this end, alternatives to centralized, grid-based production of electricity are desirable. The depleting fossil fuels coupled with their green-house gas emissions necessitated channelling research efforts towards the renewable energy particularly wind and solar energy. However, every location has its peculiar wind speed and solar irradiation characteristics. Thus prior to implementing a proposed hybrid wind/solar energy system in a given location, adequate resource reservoir for a satisfactory period of the year must be ensured to justify the commitment of scarce resources. Conventionally, this is done by computer simulation applications which solely depend on local meteorological data that are largely unreliable or unavailable in many third-world regions. In this work, we have developed a scheme for the direct assessment of the prevalent wind and solar resources by fabricating a prototype hybrid wind/solar electricity generator and deploying it in two locations within University of Lagos. And our results show that the wind/solar hybridization will make a veritable renewable energy system in the University of Lagos campus. The aim of this project is to provide a pedestal for the development of system which annihilates the deficiency in power supply to hoi polloi.
PaperID: AJERD0102_2, Pages: 143-148
Empirical Study of Energy Prospect of Cassava Peels, Cow Dung and Saw Dust
Authors: Olawale Olaniyi Emmanuel AJIBOLA, Ebun E. OGUNTIBEJU
Abstract: Biomass, especially those of cow dung (CD), cassava peels (CP) and saw dust (SD) have been discovered to contain high Carbon to Nitrogen (C:N) ratios. To this end, efforts towards achieving self-sufficiency in energy production have led to the co-digestion of CD, CP and SD under anaerobic conditions. In this project, cow dung, sawdust, cassava peels and water were mixed in ratio 1:0:1:4, 1:1:0:4 and 1:0:0:2 respectively. The slurries obtained were digested anaerobically under mesophilic condition. A retention period of 20 days was set for gas production. Comparative study of the biogas yields was conducted to determine the most ideal waste combination for optimum energy production. The overall result shows that a blend of saw dust and cow dung with a total yield of 80,238mL is the most viable waste combination for biogas production over and above those of cassava-peels/cow-dung, and cow-dung with total yields of 77.712mL and 60.842mL respectively. The significance of this study is to reduce the environmental and health hazards associated with inadequate waste management systems in Nigeria by turning waste to wealth. The by-product of the anaerobic process is also useful as manure to grow agricultural produce.
PaperID: AJERD0102_3, Pages: 149-155
Electrical Arching and Thermal Circuit Breakers: A Review
Authors: Oladipo FOLORUNSO, Emmanuel A. OGUJOR, France O. AKPOJEDJE
Abstract: The essence of electrical protective devices is to mitigate damage, to maintain system stability, and to maintain electrical consuming devices at the rated operating limits. The hazards involve in the consumption of electrical energy for homes and any other place must be well understood; because this would signal warning for proper safety. Age long protective device known to almost 99% users of electricity is circuit breaker. But this device has its limitations. A review is therefore presented to examine the duties and limitation of residential electrical circuit breakers based on available information.
PaperID: AJERD0102_4, Pages: 156-165
User Association and Enabling Technologies in Next Generation 5G Ultra-Dense Networks – A Review
Authors: Oladele Felix AFOLALU, Morufu Adewale AYOADE, Adegboyega Kifli ADEBAYO, Isaac Adekunle
Abstract: Embedding small cells and relay nodes in a macro-cellular network is a promising method for achieving substantial gains in coverage and capacity compared to traditional macro only networks. These new types of base-stations can operate on the same wireless channel as the macro-cellular network, providing higher spatial reuse via cell splitting. However, these base-stations are deployed in an unplanned manner, can have very different transmit powers, and may not have traffic aggregation among many users. This could potentially result in much higher interference magnitude and variability. Hence, such deployments require the use of innovative cell association and inter-cell interference coordination techniques in order to realize the promised capacity and coverage gains. In this paper, we review various techniques for user association and interference mitigation which are required to meet increased data demand in next generation 5G ultra-dense network.
PaperID: AJERD0102_5, Pages: 166-172
Development of a Permeable Meter for Mould Industries Using Locally Sourced Materials
Authors: Bayode Julius OLORUNFEMI, Hezekiah Oluwole ADEYEMI, Sunday. Emmanuel KAYODE, Ajayi Peter Osasona, Samuel Babatope ADEJUYIGBE
Abstract: One of the major factors for production of quality casting is the control of properties of moulds and cores to make them uniform and consistent quality. Permeable meter is used for the determination of the venting ability of sand moulds and cores. This testing equipment is being imported to the country as at today. The cost is high and they are not readily available to foundry operators. Hence there is need to design and develop a permeable meter using locally sourced materials and make it available at an affordable price, thereby improving foundry technology in Nigeria. Two different method could be used to measure permeability of sand; determination of air flow rate and measurement of pressure difference between the orifice and the top of sand specimen. The first method was adopted in the development of the Permeable meter. On testing, the values of permeability measured using the equipment was comparable to the results obtained from the standardized imported one. The cost of production was 30% of the cost of imported one, not even now that exchange rate to international currency has skyrocketed. The work has incorporated design and fabrication principles that resulted in a relatively cheap product that can be constructed locally by an average Fabricator and Technician.
PaperID: AJERD0102_6, Pages: 173-183
Authors: Umar Omeiza AROKE, Idris Abdullahi UMAR, Ismaila Sani ISSA, Gideon Joseph GADAH
Abstract: Optimization of Azo dyes removal from aqueous solution by kaolinite clay from Alkaleri North-East Nigeria using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was carried out in this study. The Presence of colour in natural water is aesthetically undesirable coupled with the possible harmful effects to humans, aquatic lives and plants. With the aid of Design Expert and using the Central Composite Design (CCD) of the Response Surface Methodology, fifteen (15) experiments were generated for methyl red dye and methyl orange dye respectively and run. The results obtained revealed that quadratic models show better performance that correlate kaolinite clay-dye interaction variables, removal efficiencies and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The experimental constant conditions of pH 7.0 and temperature 298 K was adopted which gave 80.25% optimum removal efficiency of Methyl red from an aqueous solution at 1.29 g adsorbent dose, 23.18 mg/L initial concentration, 103.89 minutes contact time while the optimum removal efficiency for methyl orange from aqueous solution was 90.51% at 440 rpm agitation speed, 105.05 mg/L initial concentration, 77.65 contact time respectively. Therefore, the application of Response Surface Methodology to optimize the adsorptive removal efficiency of Azo dyes from aqueous solutions by kaolinite clay has been successfully demonstrated, thus the potential application of indigenous kaolinite clay for wastewater treatment in Nigeria.
PaperID: AJERD0102_7, Pages: 184-198
Response Surface Methodological Optimization of Biodiesel Production from Cassia tora Seed
Authors: Idris Abdullahi UMAR, Umar Omeiza AROKE and Odey Ade OSHA
Abstract: Two stage biodiesel production process (esterification and transesterification) was performed on Cassia tora seed oil extract in accordance with Association of Official Analytical Chemist method. Eighty grams (80 g) of the seed sample and 500 ml of petroleum ether solvent yields 8.24% Cassia tora oil (CTO). Response Surface Methodology (RSM) optimization was accomplished by 5-level 4-factorial Central Composite Design (CCD) in 30 runs, using 7.0 version of the design expert software and interaction effects of methanol/oil ratio (A), catalyst concentration (B), temperature (C) and reaction time (D) were studied on the esterification and transesterification processes. The high free fatty acid (FFA) of 2.6 mgKOH/g of CTO was reduced through CCD design of experiment to 0.395 mgKOH/g and validated to be 0.40 mgKOH/g using the optimum process variable of methanol/oil ratio (6:1), H2SO4 catalyst (1.60 v/v) in 93 minutes at 45 ℃. Experimentally validated Cassia tora biodiesel (CTB) yield of 92.4% was obtained from CCD predicted value of 95.9%, using methanol/oil molar ratio (9:1), NaOH catalyst (0.8 w/w) in 120 minutes at 50 ℃. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) of CTO free fatty acid minimization (esterification) and CTB maximization (transesterification) both gives second-order model equations respectively as the best fits of experimental data.
PaperID: AJERD0102_8, Pages: 199-204
Authors: Sulyman Age ABDULKAREEM, Adewale George ADENIYI
Abstract: This paper presents a study on the development of Natural fibre reinforced plastic composite from the waste polystyrene and rice husk, a new class of composites consisting of polystyrene based resin reinforced with rice husk fibre. Four different sets of polystyrene/rice husk composites were fabricated with addition of 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt% of rice husk particulates. Tensile and water absorbing properties of these composites were evaluated as per ASTM standard. Tests for water absorption were performed by immersing the samples in a bath of distilled water at room temperature and water uptake was measured gravimetrically along the process. It was observed that young modulus, force at peak, percentage water absorbed and diffusion coefficient of the composite increased while elongation at peak force decreased with addition of rice husk in the PBR matrix. The highest values of young modulus, force at peak, diffusion coefficients and elongation at peak force at 40 % rice husk content are: 365 N/mm2, 562 N, 1.77E-04 mm2/s and 0.76 % respectively. The recycled rice husk in combination with the PBR has produced plastic composite with moderate tensile and water absorbing properties applicable in various application.
PaperID: AJERD0102_9, Pages: 205-210
Optimised Gain Saturated Pre-Amplified Free-Space Optical Communication Systems
Authors: Jeremiah Oluwatosin BANDELE, Samson Olasunkanmi ADIGUN
Abstract: The performance of a fixed and saturated gain preamplified free-space optical communication system in a turbulent atmosphere is investigated, in the presence of amplified spontaneous emission noise. Bit error rate (BER) analysis of both non-adaptive decision and adaptive decision threshold schemes are considered and the effects of using both fixed and saturated gain preamplified receivers are investigated for different turbulence regimes. Results obtained in this paper showed, as expected, that the lognormal distribution gives a better performance than the gamma-gamma distribution in the weak turbulence regime and that the BER performances reaches an optimal level when the power at the preamplifier input is comparable with the internal saturation power of the preamplifier. Also, it is shown that the optimal non-adaptive decision threshold in a gain saturated preamplified receiver will have a decision threshold level between 0.2 and 0.3.
PaperID: AJERD0102_10, Pages: 211-217
Development of a Solar Water Distiller and Laboratory Analysis of the Product
Authors: Habila ADAMU, Oluwafemi A. OLUGBOJI, Oyewole ADEDIPE, Jonathan Y. JIYA
Abstract: In spite of the significance and availability of water, only an approximate value of about 1% is portable. Distillation processes which comprise evaporation and condensation in a box like machine called Solar Water Distiller was adopted for distilling unsafe to safe drinkable water in our homes. The design method adopted for the machine was energy method/balancing equation. The developed machine is a single stage distiller which is fabricated using local available materials. The heat energy required for powering the solar water distiller was 337.2 W/m2. This was the quantity of energy per unit time and area required for distilling the water based on average room temperature of 28.6 oC. The machine has capacity of average daily capacity of 28 litres as distillate water volume within 6.68 hours. It has design capacity of producing 4.2 litres per hour at minimum wind speed of 5.75m/s. The results show that produced machine has 75% efficiency with quality drinkable water that satisfied condition of Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality NSDWQ (2007) rating.
PaperID: AJERD0102_11, Pages: 218-224
Design and Fabrication of a Solid Waste Sorting Machine
Authors: Olawale James OKEGBILE, Nicholas Akhaze MUSA, Samuel Kolo ZHIRI
Abstract: Management of solid waste is essential to our health and environmental protection. Separation of the wastes in order to reduce, re-use, recycle, and recover energy from them or to process them for further use, is key to the proper management of the waste. Minna, the capital city of Niger State, Nigeria is on daily basis experiencing continuous growth which contributes enormously to the generation of different types of solid wastes that are dumped together. In order to sort the solid wastes, a sorting machine was designed and fabricated. The machine was designed with the major components being the fast moving conveyor, slow moving conveyor, shafts, electric motor and fan. When performance evaluation was carried out on the solid waste sorting machine, it was able to sort 2, 3, 4, 6 kg of municipal solid waste into light fractions of 0.90, 1.30, 1.65, 2.45 kg and heavy fractions of 1.10, 1.70, 2.35, 3.55 kg in 109.8, 165,219.6 and 330 seconds respectively. The solid waste sorting machine was also able to sort 3, 4, 5, 6kg of municipal waste into light fractions of 1.65, 1.85, 2.08, 2.15 kg, ferrous metallic fractions of 0.25, 0.45, 0.95, 1.15 kg and heavy fractions of 1.10, 1.70, 1.97, 2.70 kg in 168, 223.5, 287.5, 341.20 seconds respectively. The cost of materials and fabrication of the machine was one hundred and fifty-four thousand, nine hundred and eighty naira (₦154,980.00) only.
PaperID: AJERD0102_12, Pages: 225-231
Authors: Oluwafemi OLUGBOJI, Matthew ABOLARIN, Lukman IBRAHIM, Gbenga ATOLAGBE, Adeshina ADEGOKE
Abstract: This paper entails the Stress Analysis of a Pipe Spool Conveying High Temperature and Pressure Fluid, Using Excel Visual Basic Application, focused on the analysis of Dynamic stress in pipe spool for different piping materials. The stress analysis of pipe spool under the effect of sustained load, thermal load, wind load and seismic load was built with success using Excel VBA. The VBA was made to be flexible in order to accommodate other ASME Code Standard, as the existing one is able to analyse only ASME B31.3 Code. Industry best standard have been followed in the course of the analysis. The result obtained was favourable in comparison to CAESAR II stress analysis software.
PaperID: AJERD0102_13, Pages: 232-237
Evaluation of the Impact of Virtual Patient Systems on Clinical Reasoning and Student Assessment
Authors: Adebimpe ESAN, John OLADOSU, Bolaji OMODUNBI, Nnamdi OKOMBA, Funke OYEDIJI
Abstract: In contemporary times, medical education has extended into domain-specific educational activity that has become more digitized. This is as a result of the need for worldwide access to clinical skills development, higher clinical through put in academic teaching environments, societal push back to clinical practice on real patients and higher documentation requirements for procedural skills of all levels. Information and communication technology (ICT) in medical education has therefore advanced the development of interactive learning environments with immediate, content-related feedback which is a characteristic of virtual patient systems. Virtual patients (VPs) are interactive computer simulations of real-life clinical scenarios for the purpose of medical training, education and assessment. This work surveyed some existing virtual patient systems and results from the analysis of these systems by previous researchers were recorded. Mean score was computed for clinical reasoning and student assessment metrics and results show that virtual patient systems help medical students acquire clinical reasoning skills more efficiently and it is more effective in assessing these students than real patients.
PaperID: AJERD0102_14, Pages: 238-253
An Ergonomic Critique and Redesign of a Local Cane Chair in Nigeria with User Body Mass Index
Authors: ’Ladi OGUNWOLU, Oluwatoyin P. POPOOLA, Adeyanju A. SOSIMI and Wasiu A. RAHEEM
Abstract: Furniture is designed to satisfy anthropometrical demands of proposed users and to meet intended usage. The comfort and functional utilities of the furniture depend on its physical design in relation to the physical structure and biomechanics of the human body. In this work, the design of a locally manufactured cane chair in Nigeria was critiqued with the goal of providing more ergonomic designs to satisfy both anthropometrical needs and the design goals. A novel combination of qualitative and quantitative design criteria was used in an experimental setting involving 1,000 user-assessors of varying body weights and heights to criticize the design and construction of the local cane chair. Analyses of results of measurements and interviews show discrepancies in standard design parameters and the design features of the cane chair with different Body Mass Indices (BMI). Using a multi-evaluation functional design approach and two novel design criteria, alternative designs were proposed based on analyzed results for different anthropometrical measures. The results were analyzed in relation to human body mass indices, which are health indicators for various health issues including those occasioned by seating. The work demonstrated a balanced approach using both qualitative and quantitative parameters to assess and influence the redesign of a chair in an experimental setting.
PaperID: AJERD0102_15, Pages: 254-263
Redesigning Circular Septic System of Residential Buildings in Nigeria for Electricity Generation
Authors: Kayode Hassan LASISI, Simbiat Adesola NURUDEEN, Josiah Oladele BABATOLA
Abstract: The conventional circular septic system was redesigned to help solve energy and electricity challenge in Nigeria at household level, the design involves three major stages which include ascertaining of design parameters in design calculations, using the ascertained parameters in drafting the two-dimensional engineering drawings and rendering of the three-dimensional drawing. The design calculation was done initially for both the septic and the soakaway units using the same capacity to get their depths. For the precast system, the depths for both the septic and soakaway chambers are 4.90 m and 4.25 m while for the cast in-situ system, the depths are 2.80 m and 2.46 m. The effective volume of both systems is 2.55 m3 while the probable biogas and electricity that can be generated are 0.098 m3/day and 7.22 kWh respectively. These dimensions were used for the engineering drafting. The engineering drawings show the plans and sections of the septic and soakaway systems with the biogas to electricity conversion process using gas engine or fuel cells. Three-dimensional rendering of the system was also performed to bring out a better view after being constructed. Some management measures were suggested to guarantee the normal and safe performance of the redesigned circular septic system which can now be adopted to recover methane gas purposely from household wastes for electricity generation and other economical uses in Nigeria.
PaperID: AJERD0102_16, Pages: 264-272
Evaluative Assessment of an X-band Microstrip Patch Antenna for Wireless Systems
Authors: Abdulazeez Femi SALAMI, Olayinka Sikiru ZAKARIYYA, Bashir Olaniyi SADIQ, Olaniyan Adebayo ABDULRAHMAN
Abstract: Microstrip patch antennas (MPAs) are rapidly gaining more attention due to the proliferation of communication devices and systems with frequencies becoming more suitable for the size and performance of this type of antenna. Due to recent advancements in semiconductor technology, high dielectric constant materials are used to achieve additional size reduction which has made MPAs very useful and popular in the design of mobile devices and wireless systems. However, MPAs suffer from problems associated with narrow bandwidth and low gain. Techniques employed for improving the performance of MPA hinge on tweaking features such as the patch size, substrate height, ground plane size and feeding method. In view of this, this research designs and analyses the performance of an X-band MPA for wireless systems using CST Microwave Studio. Including the ground plane, the proposed design has a low-profile structure of 17 mm × 17 mm × 1.6 mm which is suitable for wireless systems. The proposed design also resonates at a frequency of 10 GHz with an omnidirectional radiation pattern exhibiting a gain of 7.2 dBi. Return Loss, VSWR, Gain and Radiation Pattern are the performance indicators employed in this research. The proposed MPA design demonstrates marked performance improvement when benchmarked with a similar MPA designed for 5G applications.
PaperID: AJERD0102_17, Pages: 273-282
Biogas Production from Anaerobic Co–Digestion of Corn Cobs, Pig and Poultry Droppings
Authors: Akindele OKEWALE, Kamoru BABAYEMI, Olusola ADESINA
Abstract: Biogas production from anaerobic co – digestion of poultry and pig droppings, and corn cobs was carried out in this study. Buckner flasks (500 ml) connected in series were used as digesters and water displacement method was used to estimate the amount of biogas produced. The pH and temperature ranges for this study were 5.5 – 8.2 and 28 oC – 30 oC respectively within the hydraulic retention time of 52 days. Total solid concentration of 9.10% was used in each of the digesters. The ratio of the percentage distribution of poultry dropping to pig dropping were; (100:0), (50:50), (75:25), (25:75), (0:100) all by weight percent for digesters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Result showed the Digester 2 had the maximum biogas yield of 313 cm3 at the end of 52 days of fermentation after which there was no further production. It is suggested that the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, alkanes, sp3 and methyl functional group in all these substrates used as shown by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy carried out make these materials to be viable for biogas production. The GC analysis on the biogas produced in digester 2 showed 66.60 wt.% and 20.75 wt.% for methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) respectively. Linear kinetic model was used to fit the experimental data which shows that as the retention time increases the biogas yield increases. The net performance of the digesters is digester 2 > digester 3 > digester 1 > digester 4 > digester 5. X – RF analysis showed that poultry dropping has more of these essential elements required for enzymes and microbial metabolism in anaerobic digestion compared to corn cob and pig dropping which makes it to be a very viable substrate for biogas production.
PaperID: AJERD0102_18, Pages: 283-289
Comparative Analysis of Biogas Yield from Cassava Peel, Yam Peel, Jatropha Cake and Cattle Dung
Author: Olawale Olugbenga OLANREWAJU
Abstract: A comparative analysis of biogas yield from a Cassava peel, Yam peel, Jatropha cake and Cattle dung was investigated at the mesophilic temperature. The mesophilic ambient temperatures range attained within the testing period were 24 °C to 37 °C. The objectives of this work were to compare biogas yield in animal dung and agricultural wastes and to monitor the production rate of the biogas from co-digestion of cassava peel, yam peel, cattle dung and Jatropha cake. In determining some of the parameters controlling anaerobic digestion, four small-sized laboratory digesters (conical flasks) were setup in the Soil and Water Laboratory, Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria. These digesters were employed in order to examine the biogas production potential from cassava peel, yam peel, Jatropha cake and cattle dung. Water displacement method was used in this experiment. Each of the waste types was anaerobically digested for a 35-day detention period. The result shows that the volume of biogas yield from cassava peel was the highest at the end of the experiment compared to yam peel, Jatropha cake and cattle dung. The total biogas yield observed for cassava peel was 449.00 ml, yam peel was 327.50 ml, Jatropha cake was 219.00 ml and cattle dung was 206.00 ml. Findings from this research revealed that out of the substrates tested for methane production, the peel of cassava anaerobically yielded the highest volume of biogas. It is evidenced that with respect to methane generation in commercial quantity, production of biogas from cassava peels, amongst all other substrates, remains the lasting resource.
