Journal of Engineering and Innovation

Effect of Additional Contents and Particle Sizes of Rice Husk Ash on Physical and Mechanical Properties of Recycled-Polypropylene Composites

2023-01-09T10:44:02+07:00

This research is a primary study of polypropylene composites mixed with rice husk ash. Polypropylene in this study was recycled from drinking water bottles, hot food packaging bags, bags of saline solution, and storage baskets. Two sizes of rich husk ash were used in this study, 17 and 29 µm, mixed with recycled polypropylene at 1:7 PHR proportion. The compound preparation process was made possible a with Twin Screw Extruder and the composite and sample works were created by a hot-pressing process. Results of this study indicated that the types of recycled-polypropylene affected the mechanical and physical properties significantly. The size of rice husk ash affected the hardness value, impact resistance value, and melting index. Increasing the proportion of rice husk ash from 1 to 7 PHR significantly affected the tensile strength, hardness value, impact resistance value, and melting index. The possible trend of this study revealed that a higher proportion of rice husk ash addition resulted in higher hardness and Young’s modulus values. However, it reduced the impact resistance, the stretch percentage, and melting index values. In terms of the different sizes of rice husk ash addition, it was found that the impact resistance value of composites, which had rice husk ash of 29 µm addition was higher than rich husk ash of 17 µm. In terms of the melting index, the value of composites which had rice husk ash of 17 µm addition was higher than composites which had rice husk ash of 29 µm addition. Consequently, the composite from this study could be used to form sample products.

Problems and Solutions of Online Learning during the COVID-19 Epidemic Using AHP and TOPSIS

2022-07-20T15:18:07+07:00

The objective of this research was to study, analyze and rank the problems which had the most impact on online learning in the COVID-19 pandemic along with presenting and ranking solutions to problems in online learning from students' perspectives. The analytical hierarchical process (AHP) and technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) were applied together. This research started by collecting and grouping online learning problems and solutions. This research considered the undergraduate Engineering students in the case study of a department, 3rd-4th year at the university in Bangkok. Based on the results, the highest weight of importance was physical and mental stress. A large amount of work and a short exam time was of secondary importance, whereas the problem that students could not do practical experiments was the third priority weight. While inadequate equipment and internet signals including the unfavorable environment were ranked 4th and 5th, respectively. As for the result of calculating the significance weight of the solution obtained from the TOPSIS technique, the highest weight of importance was to adapt the learning measurement model and the workload appropriately. Physical and mental stress relief activities were of secondary importance, whereas providing Internet access equipment and reducing educational costs were the third priority weight. While seeking additional knowledge outside of school hours and increasing teaching in the classroom (on-site) including providing environments and making agreements with residents were ranked 4th and 5th, respectively.

Suitable Site Selection of Sustainable Renewable Resource Industrial Zone Development in Savannakhet Province, Loa PDR by Using the Integrated MADM method

2022-11-16T16:01:44+07:00

This research article was conducted to select suitable sites for the development of sustainable renewable resource industrial zones in Savannakhet Province, Lao PDR. Applying the integrated MADM including methods Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP), Fuzzy Scoring Method (FSM) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Based on the concept of Sustainable Development (SD), the three main factors consisting of economic development. social responsibility and environmental protection an association with 6 minor criteria and 12 sub-criteria. It was found that the top three most suitable sites are (1) Ban Dansavanh Sepon City (having the highest score of 0.7473), followed by (2) Ban Dong, Muang Sepon (0.7331) and (3) Ban Xeno, Uthumphon City (0.5279), respectively. The researchers hope this research to be a guideline for development of a sustainable renewable resource industrial zone and selection of suitable areas for further studies.

Selection the suitable material for making base-cutter blades in sugarcane harvester using TOPSIS and ROC method

2022-09-02T23:31:00+07:00

This research study purposed to select appropriate material for making base-cutter blades in sugarcane harvester using technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) and rank order centroid (ROC) method. The eight criterions affecting material decision were weighted importance using ROC method, which were 1) modulus of elasticity 2) machinability 3) hardness 4) toughness 5) harden ability 6) wear resistance 7) non-deforming properties 8) cost, respectively. After that materials in the steel group which have suitable properties for making base-cutter blades in sugarcane harvester were considered for alternative decisions. It was found that there were 5 types namely spring steel (AISI 5160), alloy steel (AISI 4140), medium carbon steel (AISI1045), water-hardening tool steel (AISI W1) and high-carbon high-chrome air-hardening steel (AISI D2). Finally, the closeness coefficient was computed to be used to rank alternative decisions with the TOPSIS method. The results showed that high-carbon high-chrome air-hardening steel (AISI D2) was the most suitable material for making base-cutter blades in sugarcane harvester. On the other hand, the other steel was arranged in descending order based on their closeness coefficient value.

Application of Macroscopic Mathematical Models to Predict and Evaluate the Road Deaths Rates in Thailand

2023-02-15T10:46:55+07:00

In this research, two macroscopic-mathematical models namely, the Smeed model and the Koren & Borsos model, are applied to predict road deaths per 100,000 population (D/P) and to evaluate the general performances of the implementation of various road safety measures in Thailand compared to the national road safety targets. While the Smeed model is adopted to illustrate that the D/N values will decrease, as the vehicle occupancy rates increase, the Koren & Borsos model is also used to model the relationship between the D/P values and the vehicle occupancy rates as an inverted U-shaped curve. It was found that at the national level of Thailand, the D/P values tended to decrease as the vehicle ownership rates increased. For the Koren & Borsos model, this findings indicated that at the current situation, Thailand has already passed the turning point (the maximum D/P value). Importantly, Thailand sill cannot achieve the national road safety targets. At the provincial level of Thailand, the relationship between the D/P values and the vehicle occupancy rates is as an inverted U-shaped curve. However, the reliability of such relationship is relatively low. The trend of the D/P changes of each province is uniquely distinct over time (years). These circumstances can cause problems and obstacles in setting the road safety targets of each province to be consistent with and lead to achieve the national road safety targets of Thailand in the future.

An Inventory policy consideration based on break-even point under demand uncertainty and price sensitivity

2023-03-02T15:46:58+07:00

This research aims to propose the inventory policy that considers the break-even point under uncertain demands and price sensitivity of a company's product case study, which sells both wholesale and retail products in order to increase business liquidity and profit opportunity. In this study, it developed a mathematical model suitable for policies of the Min-Max order and the conditional discount. Result from the study that the Min policy had a lower total inventory cost than other policies. While the Max policy and the conditional discount policy, the total inventory costs were different. According to the sensitivity analysis, it was found that the increasing or decreasing of products’ prices affected the selling price of products both retail and wholesale. Moreover, the conditions for trade discounts affect the level of money loss of each product differently. In the analysis of the break-even point, it was found that when the break-even point was 55% or more, Even though the purchase of goods had a trade discount or not. It will result in a net profit selling more retail than wholesale.

Bending and Large Deflection Behaviors of Free Horizontally Moving Supported Beam Subjected to Self-weight and Compression at the End

2023-02-14T17:20:31+07:00

This research presents bending and large deflection behaviors of the beams with horizontally moveable support subjected to self-weight and compressive force at a beam tip. A variational formulation of a beam system has been developed based on principle of virtual work, which is written in term of intrinsic coordinate. The geometric relation of deformed infinitesimal length of the beam is derived by considering the elastica theory. The non-linear finite element method incorporated with the Newton-Raphson iterative procedure is used to solve the numerical solution. In addition, the set of nonlinear first-order differential equations obtained from the force and moment equilibrium, moment-curvature relationship, and nonlinear geometric relations of the beam segment, which is categorized as two-point boundary value problem is numerically solved by using the shooting method. Then the numerical results from the finite element method are independently verified by those results from the shooting method. The results also show that the beam self-weight and the compressive force at the beam tip cause the support movement, which induce large deflection.

Simulation and Experimental Results the Maximum Power Point Tracking of PV Stand-alone System Using Fixed Step Size Incremental Conductance Method

2023-04-10T15:09:22+07:00

Tracking the maximum power point of a PV system is essential for both stand-alone and grid-connected PV systems to ensure that the solar cells can produce the highest power for different environmental conditions. This paper proposes the maximum power point tracking for a PV stand-alone system using incremental conductance method. The control principle of the proposed method uses the duty cycle adjustment via the buck converter to obtain the maximum power output of stand-alone PV system. The control performance was confirmed by MATLAB/Simulink simulation and experiment results. It has been demonstrated that the maximum power point tracking of stand-alone PV system by incremental conductance method can follow the peak power point in all environmental changes.

Effects of glove use on grip strengths at different working postures

2023-03-17T13:56:51+07:00

Gloves are one of the most widely used personal protective equipment in industrial and agricultural work fields. However, use of gloves may affect an ability of the hand. The purpose of this research was to study the effects of glove use on grip strengths at different working postures. The study was conducted with a sample group of 40 university students (20 males and 20 females) aged 18-22 years, average height 166.74 (±9.44) cm, average weight 63.52 (±19.34) kg. The experiments were first tested with bare hands against the use of three different types of cotton yarn knitted gloves: 1) non-patterned gloves, 2) rubber-dotted gloves, and 3) fully rubber-coated gloves. Grip strength was measured using a hand dynamometer in 3 postures: straight arm (180 degrees), elbow flexion (90 degrees) and shoulder flexion (45 degrees). Dominant and non-dominant hands are measured. The study found that the average grip strength of the bare hands of both hands was higher than when using gloves. In testing the dominant hand, it was found that the highest hand grip strength was the straight arm (29.3 kg), followed by the shoulder flexion (27.9 kg) and the elbow flexion (27 kg). The dominant hand test in all positions was higher than the non-dominant hand (11.5-12.5%). In addition, straight arm extension (180 degrees) was found to have the highest hand grip strength in both bare-handed and gloved use. It is found that, compared with bare hands, different types of gloves were associated with different reduction in the grip strength: 20.6-22.2% for fully-coated gloves and 8.4-9.9% for rubber-dotted gloves. Analyzing with the paired t-test, significant differences of resultant grip strengths were confirmed across the experimented postures and types of gloves. However, in male samples, there was no significant statistical evidence between the grip strength of bare hands and rubber-dotted gloved hands when the samples performed a particular posture with the elbow bent at 90°. Results from the experiments urge operators to be selective on glove use, leading to not only being able to use their hands effectively, but also to avoid any accidents that may be caused by hand fatigue.

Effect of addition copper metal balls on pyrolysis temperature and properties of biochar from spent coffee ground

2023-03-14T18:57:31+07:00

In this study, slow pyrolysis of spent coffee ground (SCG) in cylinder shape fixed bed reactor was investigated with the aim to develop the way increasing the heating rate of SCG in the center of reactor. The small metal balls 8 mm. diameter were used as the thermal distributor within the final temperature 500°C, 50 ml/min of N2 gas flow, and 2 hrs. holding time. The results reveal that the heating rate of spent coffee ground with small metal balls (SCG+MB) was increased in the range of temperature 351.5 - 461.5°C faster than the pyrolysis of SCG and could reduce 5.98% electric consumption for heating the reactor. The yield of bio-char from experiments are not different significantly as well as the content of Volatile matter, ash, fixed carbon and higher heating value of the products. The specific surface area, pore volume and pore size tend to increase due to the effect of addition of metal balls could rise duration time of the thermochemical decomposition, iodine adsorption of the SCB+MB bio-char is 590 mg/g which is 118.51% higher than SCG bio-char at 270 mg/g. These results claim that the pyrolysis which having metal balls can improve the raising of heating rate of the pyrolysis and could upgrade the properties of product biochar to be prepared for primary materials for further use.

Improvement of color formulations in industrial printing by mixture design of experiments

2023-02-27T16:16:07+07:00

Printing on packages as per customer need in the case study revealed the problems at the stage of prototype inspection before production. The error was caused by the printing department, of which the printing plate system took too many materials and color production ingredients as not necessary. This resulted in high production cost. Also, there was neither data recording nor color adjustment to be in accordance with the company standard. Thus, this research aimed to improve color formations in industrial printing by mixture design. The factors to be studied were 2 new color formulations, i.e., Formulation 1: Pink, which included 9 ingredients; and Formulation 2: Purple, which included 3 ingredients. The experiment of each particular formulation was implemented as the amounts of ingredients for 3 formulations. Then, the results were analyzed by one-way ANOVA, with the significance level of 0.05. The ingredients of the 3 formulations were considered. It was found that the reduction of ingredients did not affect tone change. More specifically, the results of improvement revealed that the total amount of Formulation 1: Pink was 69.60 kg, which could reduce to 48.60 kg; with the cost reducing to 7,346 baht (42.30%). The total amount of Formulation 2: Purple was 29 kg, which could reduce to 17 kg; with the cost reducing to 3,498 (39.13%). Besides, the values obtained from these improved color formulations could be recorded as the standard values of the company for package printing in the future.

A design and performance improvement of a drum sander with principles of ergonomics and economics

2022-12-26T15:50:05+07:00

Laser-cut steel part often produces scrap cassia under the workpiece, and assembly welding will cause the workpiece to be poorly assembled, causing the workpiece to be weak. It is necessary to have a surface polishing process to remove scrap before welding and assembly. Therefore, this research aims to improve the design and performance of a drum sander. One of our main goals was to make the sander more ergonomic for the users, reduce processing time and worker fatigue, and be economically worthwhile. As a result, our drum sander can reduce the processing time from the conventional belt sander by 84.62%. In addition, we have evaluated the principles of ergonomics by using the Rapid Upper Limp Assessment. The evaluation score is 2, which means the process is acceptable. Moreover, the economic assessment section found that the production cost per unit was 0.046 THB, and the payback period was approximately 0.55 years.

Non-iterative method for maximum power point tracking of single phase grid connected PV system

2023-01-31T09:52:21+07:00

This paper presents a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of single-phase grid connected photovoltaic (PV) system using non-iterative method. The proposed method considers the change in PV voltage. The reference maximum power of PV panel was calculated by the open-circuit voltage (V_oc). Therefore, the power response using the proposed method is faster than that from the iterative MPPT methods. The effectiveness of the proposed non-iterative method was confirmed by computer simulation and hardware in the loop simulation using a TMS320F28335 microcontroller board with MATLAB/Simulink. The results show that the proposed MPPT method can reach the maximum power point in a shorter time compared with the traditional iterative methods.

การศึกษาห่วงโซ่อุปทานวิสาหกิจชุมชนแปลงใหญ่พริกตำบลหัวเรือ จังหวัดอุบลราชธานี

2023-05-28T10:46:32+07:00

This aims of this research is to study the supply chain model of the chili community enterprise in Hua Rue Subdistrict, Ubon Ratchathani Province. The target group is the members of the community enterprise of chili in Hua Rue Subdistrict. Qualitative research tools such as in-depth interviews and focus groups will be used, and the questions will follow the guidelines of the SCOR Model, which is a tool used to measure the results of the supply chain management process. The study identified the following processes: 1) planning the quality and quantity of sales, 2) procurement by chili farmers and chili collectors from network members, 3) production, where farmers produce, send, and sell to local collectors and traders, 4) transportation, where farmers deliver chilies to gatherers by pickup trucks, and those who collect and sort chilies transport them to domestic and foreign customers by container ships, and 5) return where there is no product return. Customers purchase all the chili, but the price may vary depending on the customer. Alternatively, the aggregator may purchase all the chili at a price determined by the quality and the prevailing market price. Suggestions for improvement include setting output goals both quantitatively and qualitatively according to customer needs each year, planning transportation vehicles and routes, and providing concrete knowledge on growing chili to farmers through government agencies, including how to harvest and use the right amount of pesticides to meet the requirements of foreign customers. The study proposes a campaign for planting chili peppers to increase competitiveness, develop the capacity and strength of local communities to be efficient and effective, reduce costs, and increase income for local communities.

Comparative study of sensors for agricultural applications

2022-07-06T12:38:39+07:00

This paper presents a comparative study of various sensors utilized in plant farming, with the objective of supplying farmers with valuable information for advancing precision agriculture practices. Four types of sensors including temperature, soil moisture, humidity and light sensors, are selected to measure the important factors for planting. Different sensing technologies are considered. They are installed in practical field within Ubon Ratchathani University campus. Data collected using IoT is used to compare in four aspects including cost, technical aspect, measurement result and durability. The results lead to a guidance of these sensors application in practical.