The present work presents design and implementation of an automated two-axis solar tracking system using local materials with minimum cost, light weight and reliable structure. The tracking system consists of two parts, mechanical units (fixed and moving parts) and control units (four LDR sensors and Arduino UNO microcontroller to control two DC servomotors). The tracking system was fitted and assembled together with a parabolic trough solar concentrator (PTSC) system to move it according to information come from the sensors so as to keep the PTSC always perpendicular to sun rays. The experimental tests have been done on the PTSC system to investigate its thermal performance in two cases, with tracking system (case 1) and without tracking system (case 2). The experimental results showed that the average solar radiation falling on the PTSC prototype in the two cases during the same time was 854 and 701 watt/m2, respectively, which means an increase in the solar radiation about 21.8 % when using tracking system. It was found that the average useful heat gain output of solar collector was equal to (376.2, 252.6 watt) for the two cases, respectively, so there was an increase of about 48.9 % when using the tracking system. Also, the average thermal efficiency of the PTSC was found to be (20.7, 26.5 %) for the two cases, respectively, which means an increase in the average efficiency by 28% with use of tracking system compared to the fixed case.
This paper describes a new proposed structure of the Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller based on modified Elman neural network for the DC-DC buck converter system which is used in battery operation of the portable devices. The Dolphin Echolocation Optimization (DEO) algorithm is considered as a perfect on-line tuning technique therefore, it was used for tuning and obtaining the parameters of the modified Elman neural-PID controller to avoid the local minimum problem during learning the proposed controller. Simulation results show that the best weight parameters of the proposed controller, which are taken from the DEO, lead to find the best action and unsaturated state that will stabilize the Buck converter system performan
... Show MoreThis article will address autoclave design considerations and
manufacturing working with high pressure low temperature
supercritical drying technique to produce silica aerogel. The design
elects carbon dioxide as a supercritical fluid (31.7 oC and 72.3 bar).
Both temperature and pressure have independently controlling
facility through present design. The autoclave was light weight (4.5
kg) and factory-made from stainless steel. It contains a high pressure
window for monitoring both transfer carbon dioxide gas to liquid
carbon dioxide and watching supercritical drying via aerogel
preparation process. In this work aerogel samples were prepared and
the true apparent densities, total pore volume and pore size
The energy requirements of corn silage harvesters and the application of precision agricultural techniques are essential for efficient and productive agricultural practices. The article aims to review previous studies on the energy requirements needed for different corn silage harvesting machines, and on the other hand, to present methods for measuring corn silage productivity directly in the field and monitoring it based on microcontrollers and artificial intelligence techniques. The process of making corn silage is done by cutting green fodder plants into small pieces, so special harvesters are used for this, called corn silage harvesters. The purpose of harvesting corn silage is to efficiently collect and store as many digestible nutrien
... Show MoreThe current research illustrates experimentally the effect of series and parallel connection (Z-I Configurations) of flat plate water solar collectors array on the thermal performance of closed loop solar heating system. The study includes the effect of changing the water flow rate on the thermal efficiency. The results show that, the collector's efficiency in series connection is higher than the parallel connection within flow rate level less than (100) ℓ/hr. Moreover, the collector efficiency in parallel connection of (I-Configurations) is more than the (Z- Configurations) with increasing the water flow rate .The maximum daily efficiency for parallel (I-Configurations) and (Z- Configurations) are (55%) and (51%) at w
... Show MoreWireless sensor applications are susceptible to energy constraints. Most of the energy is consumed in communication between wireless nodes. Clustering and data aggregation are the two widely used strategies for reducing energy usage and increasing the lifetime of wireless sensor networks. In target tracking applications, large amount of redundant data is produced regularly. Hence, deployment of effective data aggregation schemes is vital to eliminate data redundancy. This work aims to conduct a comparative study of various research approaches that employ clustering techniques for efficiently aggregating data in target tracking applications as selection of an appropriate clustering algorithm may reflect positive results in the data aggregati
... Show MoreThe aim of advancements in technologies is to increase scientific development and get the overall human satisfaction and comfortability. One of the active research area in recent years that addresses the above mentioned issues, is the integration of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology into network-based systems. Even though, RFID is considered as a promising technology, it has some bleeding points. This paper identifies seven intertwined deficiencies, namely: remote setting, scalability, power saving, remote and concurrent tracking, reusability, automation, and continuity in work. This paper proposes the construction of a general purpose infrastructure for RFID-based applications (IRFID) to tackle these deficiencies. Finally
... Show MorePolypyrrole (PPy) nanocomposites were prepared using chemical oxidation and were combined with manganese oxide (MnO2) nanoparticles. The PPY-MnO2 nanocomposite was synthesized by integrating PPy nanofibers with varying volume ratio percentages of MnO2 dopant (10, 30, and 50% vol. ratio). The structural features of the PPy and PPy-MnO2 nanocomposite were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Fourier transfor infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to demonstrate the molecular structures of primary materials and the final product of PPy, MnO2, and PPy- MnO2 nanocomposites. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) showed that the morphology of PPy consisted of a network of nanofibers. Increasing the volume ratios of ma
... Show MoreOver the past few decades, the surveying fieldworks were usually carried out based on classical positioning methods for establishing horizontal and vertical geodetic networks. However, these conventional positioning techniques have many drawbacks such as time-consuming, too costly, and require massive effort. Thus, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) has been invented to fulfill the quickness, increase the accuracy, and overcome all the difficulties inherent in almost every surveying fieldwork. This research assesses the accuracy of local geodetic networks using different Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) techniques, such as Static, Precise Point Positioning, Post Processing Kinematic, Session method, a
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