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Improving the Internal Combustion Engine Performance as a Driven Pump with a Modified Cooling System
No full textAn irrigation system that uses a pump to channel water through pipes requires a stable pump performance influenced by the internal combustion engine's driving performance. The performance of an internal combustion engine is influenced by several things, one of which is the quality of the cooling system. The cooling system on the Yanmar TS190R diesel engine has a weakness with little cooling water, so it cannot be used continuously. The rice fields in Mojopuro Wuryantoro Wonogiri are rainfed rice fields, highly dependent on water supply through pumps in the dry season. The pump will work for a minimum of 10 days non-stop to irrigate 60 hectares of rice fields and require human resources to supervise around the clock. The research of the cooling system of the elevated water temperature was carried out on a Yanmar TS190R, water-cooled, diesel engine and Ebara 150 SQPB pump 15 kW, 2 m3/min capacity. The studies were conducted for the engine speed 500, 1000, 1500, 2000 rpm without circulation (initial) and with modified water cooling circulation. The flow rate of cooling water to the radiator depends on the pump's engine speed. A modified cooling system that combines a pump as a cooling water supply driven by an internal combustion engine can reduce the average radiator temperature from 96 to 76C. Lowering the radiator temperature allowed the diesel engine-pump system to operate for several days (more than ten days non-stop) without being supervised by workers
Addition of Sm0.2Ce0.8O1.9 Carbonate into Perovskite Cathode Materials for Low-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel cell: Short Review
No full textSolid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) are considered one of the most efficient energy conversion devices to meet sustainable and environmental energy resources. The high operating temperature (>800oC) of SOFCs restrains the fabrication cost, material selection, and long-term material durability. Therefore, those cons of HT-SOFC have initiated the efforts of lowering down the SOFCs operating temperature. This article extensively reviews the materials development in low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (LT-SOFC) (<600oC). Sm0.2Ce0.8O1.9 carbonate (SDCC) is developed and proved to facilitate ions transportation and low ohmic resistance at low-temperature operation compared to SDC and others electrolyte materials. The composition of carbon and calcination temperature in fabricating SDCC exhibit varying effects on the SDCC characterization and performance. Conventional perovskite materials such as La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-α (LSCF), Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3-α (BSCF) and Sm0.5Sr0.5Co8O3-α (SSC) are incorporated with SDCC electrolyte materials in the application of the cathode and interconnect coatings as well. The SDCC incorporation in the LSCF perovskite produces excellent power output and low polarization resistance in low temperatures. The incorporation of SDCC into SSC requires further investigation due to the formation of SrCO3 impurity. Besides, BSCF-SDCC perovskite exhibits better material characteristics with no calcination process involved. BSCF-SDCC attains low area-specific resistance
THE INFLUENCE OF LEADERSHIP STYLE ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
No full textOrganisations and leaders seek to have engaged employees and spend considerable time and resources to improve engagement which has enormous influence on employee productivity and organisational performance. Although there have been previous studies in Malaysia, little research has been done on leadership’s influence on employee engagement across industries. Transformational and transactional leadership is stated to be positively correlated with employee motivation and employee satisfaction, and indirectly employee engagement. This study examines the leadership style practised by leaders in five organisations in Malaysia, its influence on employee motivation and satisfaction which lead to an increase or decrease in employee engagement. Data on leadership style, employee motivation, satisfaction and engagement, and organisational culture was gathered through a web based questionnaire from employees. Quantitative data from leaders on their leadership style, motivation, satisfaction, engagement whereas those on organisational culture was gathered qualitatively. Responses from the web based employee questionnaire were processed using IBM’s Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 22. The qualitative data gathered from leaders were processed via the in vivo technique, clustered and classified into patterns according to the emerging common themes using Microsoft Excel, together with quantitative data. The findings of the study show that transformational and transactional leadership style influences employee satisfaction more than employee motivation, which impacts employee engagement. Employees led by transformational leaders have the highest satisfaction levels with their job, leadership style and organisation whereas teamwork outshines while working with a transactional leader. Finally, in project-related industries, the laissez-faire leadership style is prominent as in encouraging employee empowerment and autonomy in decision making which ultimately results in higher employee engagement. Sub-unit culture rather than organisational culture has a moderating influence on the relationship between leadership style and employee engagement
Flexural Strength Performance of Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete (GFRC) Beam With Bottom Ash as Fine Aggregate Replacement
No full textToday, there are numerous newly invented concretes produced involving material replacement. Most of the new products prefer natural aggregates or cement waste material for a more sustainable and economical design. In line with these objectives, this project used glass fibre as part of material replacement in plain concrete in order to enhance concrete properties. The presence of glass fibre may help to reduce cracks and at the same time may help to increase the strength of concrete. This condition may help to produce higher flexural strength when the concrete is used in a concrete structure. As the new direction of concrete innovation work is now looking forward on engineered composite concrete (ECC) which had go towards the invention of a composite concrete, thus this project had also used bottom ash as fine aggregate replacement. This may help to minimize the environmental burden and reduce construction cost in production. Thus, this study is focused on the combination of bottom ash and glass fibre to determine the performance between these two particular materials in concrete. 25% of bottom ash content as fine aggregate replacement by weight had been used in 1% of glass fibre reinforced concrete (GFRC) beam. The performance of GFRC beam was compared and analysed to Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete with bottom ash (GFBA) beam in this study for future utilization in the construction industry. The presence of glass fibres has help to improve the strength characteristics of concrete while the presence of bottom ash helps to develop long term strength development and produce an economical concrete. In this study, concrete beam was designed for Grade 30. A total of eight (8) concrete cubes and four (4) reinforced concrete beam specimens had been prepared. The curing stages for concretes had been divided into 7, 14, 28 and 42 days before proceed to the destructive test for determination of its compression and flexural strengths. Based on the compression test result, 25% bottom ash content able to develop a long term strength effect with 1% glass fibres concrete. The result of compressive strength at 42 days has shown an increment of 5.57% when compared with the compressive strength at 28 days with the presence of bottom ash in GFRC. However, GFRC beams have showed greater flexural performance than GFBA beams at an average of 31.88% higher when subjected to the theoretical design performance
A Study on Multiple Load Conditions Analysis for a Bicycle Chassis
No full textIn Malaysia, mass utilization of bicycle as a “green approach” in ensuring environmental sustainability and minimizing over reliant on fossil fuel is indeed a great idea. One of the prominent components of a bicycle is its chassis. Chassis is the main part of a bicycle, where it absorbs all the load acting on it. The chassis plays important role in of safety as well as comfort. The aim of this study was to investigate on the multiple loading conditions on a bicycle chassis. For this study, an existing bicycle chassis design that was available in the market was selected to investigate. The specification details of the chassis were obtained from the manufacturer’s website and then developed via the use of Computer Aided Design (CAD). The chassis was then analyzed via Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software for the following loading conditions: (i) Static start-up (ii) Steady pedaling (iii) Vertical loading (iv) Horizontal loading and (v) Rear wheel braking. The result of the analysis was shown the reading and position of maximum equivalent (von Mises) stress of the frame, reading of safety factor and weight for each design in normal and expandable mode under each load conditions. The highest of maximum stresses were found in the load condition 3 which was the vertical loading. The lowest maximum stress of the designs was found in the load conditions 4 which was rear wheel braking. The safety factors for certain loading condition were greater than 2.0. Hence, further design optimization could be made with this aspect. As a conclusion, the assessments were a success. The data attained from this assessment could now be utilized as a benchmark for future improvements on overall chassis design, engineering material or human factors
Intelligent Manufacturing Planning System Using Dispatch Rules: A Case Study in Roofing Manufacturing Industry
No full textThis paper aims to investigate the optimal sorting of orders reflecting on the material changing lead time over the machines in the roofing manufacturing industry. Specifically, a number of jobs were sorted together based on the material used and then consolidated for subsequent processes, i.e., assigned to the corresponding machines. To achieve the optimal sorting for the received orders, a combinatorial dispatch rule was proposed, which were Earliest Due Date (EDD), First In First Out (FIFO), and Shortest Processing Time (SPT). The sequence of orders organized by the scheduling algorithm was able to minimize the changing material lead time and also maximize the number of orders to be scheduled in the production. Consequently, on-time delivery could be achieved. Tests based on real data have been set up to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm in sorting the received orders. As a result, the proposed algorithm has successfully reduced the material changing lead time by 47.3% and 40% in the first and second tests, respectively
Causes and Solutions of Construction Crane Accidents in Malaysian Construction Industry
No full textConstruction industries play a significant role in contributing to the economic growth of a country. It provides job opportunities to all parties involved in the construction and operation of the building. However, it has one of the highest fatalities and injuries rate among the main economic sectors in Malaysia. This is because all processes in a construction project is extremely hazardous especially projects involving construction cranes. The aim of this study is to determine the causes and solutions of crane accidents in construction industry. The results gathered from the questionnaire shows that the main causes of crane accidents are safety management failure and in-depth training for operators and signalman is the solution for it
Converting Agro-Ecological Waste into Potential Substrates for Cultivation of P. ostreatus
No full textPleurotus ostreatus is an edible mushroom which is rich in proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and lipids, making it a highly beneficial food source. Commercial cultivation of P. ostreatus is mostly done on sawdust, however, there is a potential shortage of sawdust due to a shift of rubber plantations to more profitable oil palm plantations in Malaysia. Therefore, alternative substrates should be sourced, preferably from agricultural waste. Cultivation of P. ostreatus on agricultural waste that are abundant in Malaysia, namely Imperata cylindrica, was studied in terms of cultivation parameters and nutritional value. The sterilized substrates were treated and inoculated with spawn of P. ostreatus before incubation for colonization and fruiting of the mushrooms. The experiment was conducted in triplicates for each substrate. I. cylindrica had a faster mycelial growth compared to sawdust which was used as a control. After complete colonization, two flushes of matured fruiting bodies were harvested from both sawdust and I. cylindrica, where P. ostreatus cultivated on I. cylindrica took a shorter duration (58 days). Although I. cylindrica had better mycelial growth, however a lower yield performance and biological efficiency were observed with this substrate compared to sawdust. However, the two different substrates had similar effects on the nutritional values of P. ostreatus in terms of the moisture, total carbohydrates, protein, lipids and metabolised energy. Based on the results obtained, I. cylindrica was found to be a potential alternative substrate for P. ostreatus cultivation as no significant differences were observed on the total yield and nutritional values between substrates. Nevertheless, further studies on the optimization of commercial P. ostreatus production using I. cylindrica are required
Thermo-mechanical efficiency of fibre-reinforced structural lightweight aggregate concrete
No full textThe construction industry must consider not only the mechanical performances of structural materials but also their thermal performances for energy-efficient buildings. There exist conflicting thermal and mechanical properties between normal weight concrete (NWC) and lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC). NWC with high mechanical strength exhibits poor thermal efficiency but LWAC possesses low mechanical strengths but high thermal efficiency. The inclusion of fibres in the mixture of LWAC could provide a solution to its weaknesses in mechanical properties however its thermal performance was not well fully understood. To produce an energy-efficient building material, this study was conducted to determine thermo-mechanical performances of steel (ST) and polypropylene (PP) fibre-reinforced LWACs that meet the structural code requirements with good thermal properties. Lightweight expanded clay aggregate was used to make a structural LWAC and polypropylene and steel fibres were used as the reinforcement. Test results revealed that structural LWAC reinforced ST fibre with 1.0% dosage has the best mechanical and thermo-mechanical efficiency whilst PP fibre with 0.3% dosage has the best thermal performance.The ST fibre has a positive influence on the compressive and tensile strength than PP fibre. In terms of overall thermal performance and cost, LWAC containing 0.3% PP fibre was the most desirable. The PP fibre has a more positive influence on thermal properties than ST fibre. The equations had been proposed with a good correlation of R2 > 0.7979 to predict the thermal properties against density for ST and PP fibres. The new merit Mo equation provides a novel way to measure the thermo-mechanical efficiency of the building materials for the construction industry. ST fibre is better than PP fibre in enhancing the mechanical efficiency but PP fibre is more efficient than ST in enhancing the thermal efficiency of fibre-reinforced LWAC