Abstract Melon shelling is an intermediate stage in melon processing and needs to be given much attention for most of the farmers still employ manual means of shelling which is time consuming, energy demanding and resulting in low income. A melon shelling machine using a rubbing action motion in peeling was designed and fabricated. The machine which is powered by 1Hp, 1400rpm electric motor consists of a hopper, the shelling chamber (rotating inner serrated drum and a fixed cylindrical ring)...
This research work investigated the corrosion resistance of zinc plated 1018 steel in tomato fluid. It simulated the effect of continuous use of the material in a tomato environment where corrosion products are left in place. 1018 steel samples were zinc elecZrop1ated at voltages between O.5V to 0.9V far 5 to 2mutm.m plated samples were then subjected to tomato fluid environment for 30 days. The electrode potentials mV (SCE) were measured every day. Weight loss was determined at intervals of ...
ABSTRACT Road tankers are the most used means of transporting petroleum product to end users due to its cost effectiveness and energy-efficiency. The cylindrical tank has been well designed for by ASME VIII divisions 1 and 2 using analytical equations. Petrol tankers are not circular but elliptical probably for stability during transportation. This paper has used the finite element method to investigate in-plane displacements and Von-Mises stresses in both circular and elliptical cylindrical ...
Abstract This contribution reports on the investigation of correlation properties in an English scientific text (engineering write-up) by means of a random walk. Though the idea to use a random walk to characterise correlations is not new (it was used e.g. in the genome analysis and in the analysis of texts), a random walk approach to the analysis of an English scientific text is still far from being exploited in its full strength as demonstrated in this paper. A method of high-dimensional e...
ABSTRACT Energy study was conducted in an organic fertilizer production plant in Nigeria, to determine the energy consumption patterns and the associated costs for the production of both powdered and pelletised fertilizer. Analysis was conducted for a daily production of 9000 kg of the finished products. Eight and nine defined unit operations were required for production of powder and pellets, respectively. The electrical and manual energy required for the production of powder were 94.5 and 5...
ABSTRACT This work studied the biodegradation of the spent MWFs by using two inocular conditions: Indigenous microorganisms and seeding with Pseudomonas and Bacillus species (both earlier isolated from MWFs) both in a locally designed bioreactor. The performance of each inoculum condition was monitored by total viable bacteria counts, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total organic carbon (TOC), oil and grease content and heavy metals residue over a 15-day period. ...
Abstract: Most printing presses ill developing countries arc located in buildings with inadequate natural and mechanical ventilation such that the press operators work for major hours in poor indoor air quality buildings, which expose them to a wide range of health hazards such as lead poisoning. Understanding how poor air quality affects the operator's body system is studied using a methodology involving the principle of diffusion and the law of mass action. /I. hypothetical press in Nigeri...
Abstract Determination of friction factor is an essential prerequisite in pipe flow calculations. The DarcyWeisbach equation and other analytical models have been developed for the estimation of friction factor. But these developed models are complex and involve iterative schemes which are time consuming. In this study, a suitable model based on artificial neural network (ANN) technique was proposed for estimation of factor to friction in pipe flow. Multilayered perceptron (MLP) neural netwo...
ABSTRACT Energy audit was conducted using the energy accounting method in seven palm oil processing mills. The mills were stratified into small, medium and large categories based on the levels of mechanization and daily production capacity. The production process in three mill categories was divided into eight defined unit operations: bunch transportation, detachment and plucking, bunch sterilization, fruit digestion, pulp pressing, oil clarification, oil drying and oil packing. The energy (...
ABSTRACT The paper presents the results of investigation on the effect of soaking time on the yield strength, ductility and hardness properties of annealed cold-drawn low carbon steel. The low carbon steel cold-drawn at 40% deformation was annealed at 900 deg Celsius for soaking times of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 minutes. Tensile, charpy and Brinnel hardness tests were conducted to determine the yield strengths, tensile strengths, impact strengths, ductility and hardness of the annealed stee...
ABSTRACT This research work investigated the corrosion resistance of nickel plated medium carbon steel in cocoa liquor. It simulated the effect of continuous use of the material in a cocoa liquor environment where corrosion products are left in place. Medium carbon steel samples were nickel electroplated at 4V for 20, 25, 30, and 35 mins. using Watts solution. The plated samples were then subjected to a cocoa liquor environment for 30 days. The electrode potentials mV (SCE) were measured eve...
Abstract This research work investigated the modeling of Von Mises stress in LNG Spherical Carbon Steel Storage tank using assumed displacement Finite Element analysis based on shallow shell triangular elements. Using equations of elasticity, constant thickness carbon steel spherical storage tanks were subjected to different loading conditions. This paper stresses the need for proper definition of shallow element using sector angles to obtain the shallowness. The shallow spherical triangular...
ABSTRACT A bone-crusher ( Haminrrer Mill ) was designed, constructed and tested. The machine was designed to crush 1000kg of bones in one hour. The motor operating speed employed is 2920rpm, the sieve hole diameters are 7mm and 5mm while the numbers of hammers are 12 and 18 'pieces. The performance tests show that the mill is capable of crushing between 860 to I l70kg within an hour.
ABSTRACT This investigation derived its strong motivation in the adoption of versions of second-order Runge-Kutta methods whery there is presently dearth of relevant literature to re-establish the complicated nature of solution of buffing oscillator dynamics, The choice of second-order Runge-Kutta methods hinged on its simplest algebraic formulation of relevant coefficients based on Taylor series expansion comparing With its higher order counterpart. Validation of FORTRAN-90 codes of algorith...
ABSTRACT Combustion characteristics of coconut shell (CS) samples in an experimental model bubbling fluidized bed combustor (BFE3C) was investigated with special focus on effect of particle size of the CS. CS waste obtained from farm were crushed and classified into three sizes; Size X (12-50mm). SizeY (2-12mm) and Size Z (c2mm). For overbed feeding of the feedstock, the impact of the particle size on emission and combustion performance were examined. in a 150m diameter experimental model BFB...