Generation of Electrical Power by a Wind Turbine for Charging Moving Electric Cars

This research targets the design of a wind turbine that will be mounted on the electric car to generate electrical power to charge the car batteries when in motion. The turbine is positioned on the roof of the car near the wind screen, where the velocity of air flowing around the car is highest due to its aerodynamic nature. A portable horizontal axis diffuser augmented wind turbine is adopted for the design since that is able to produce a higher power output as compared to the conventional bare type wind turbine. The air current is generated by the car when it begins to move. A frame is provided on the roof of the car to serve as a support for the turbine. Through the theoretical calculation on the power generated from the wind, a significant amount of electrical power (about 3.26 kW) is restored to the batteries when the car is moving at a speed of 120 km/h. Keywords: Wind Turbine, Diffuser, Power, Electric Car, Batteries

Conceptual Design of Coconut Dehusking Machine

Generally, coconuts are dehusked manually using a machete. These methods require skilled labour and are laborious to use. Attempts made so far in the development of dehusking tools have only been partially successful and not effective in replacing manual methods. The reasons stated for the failure of these tools include unsatisfactory and incomplete dehusking and breakage of the coconut shell while dehusking. Based on this a hand - operated coconut dehusking machine is being designed to solve this problem. This machine takes into consideration the dangers, hazards and risks involved in dehusking the coconut which will be efficient, productive, environmentally friendly, less laborious, easy to use and ergonomic, easy to assemble and disassemble, and most importantly, cost effective in production, maintenance and repairs .The machine will use hydraulic system, including a ram, fed from a pump, which does the dehusking at a rate of 70-80 coconuts per hour. Keywords: Coconut; Dehusking; Machine; Skilled labour; Manua

Foot-Operated Device for Controlling the Flow of Water into Plumbing Fixtures

For so many years the use of the hand - operated valve has been in existence for use to control water flow into plumbing fixtures. This research report outlines attempts to solve the problems arising from hand recontamination associated with the existing means of water flow using manual control valves and the harbouring and breeding of germs related to the automatic faucet by designing a device to be controlled by foot for regulating water flow into the plumbing fixtures. This device can be adopted for use in places like homes, hostels, schools, offices, restaurants, healthcare centres and other public places in general.The design employs the use of a helical compressive spring (under varying loads) as the major component for keeping the plug of the valve and the pedal of the actuator (both linked by a control rope) in position instead of the screw as employed in the hand - operated valves, as the main principle of operation.The maximum input force accommodated by the actuator in order to open the valve at full port is 36 N for users of ages ranging from 15 years and above. Difficulties encountered (but solved) included sizing components and drawing. Keywords: Hand – operated; Valve; Control; Water; Flow; Plumbing fixture

PEDAL POWERED CENTRIFUGAL PUMP PURIFIED WATER SUPPLY DEVICE

This paper analyzes the design of a pedal powered purified water supply device to be used by local dwellers. It works on the principle of compression and sudden release of a tube by creating negative pressure in the tube and this vacuum created draws water from the sump into the pump while rollers push the water through to the filter where adsorption takes place to purify the water. The design composed a peristaltic pump powered by paddling, a carbon filter and hose or flexible tube. As the operator sits on the seat and paddles, the pedal crank transfer the motion to the rotor thus the rollers and the tube is squeezed by the set of rollers to move the fluid. The design analysis shows that one revolution of the pedal gives 1.1 litres of water. This design will reduce the labour, cost and weariness caused by transporting and sanitizing drinkable water for use in the homes of Ghanaian villages. Keywords: Design, Pedal crank, Peristaltic pump, Sump, Local dwellers, Drinkable wate

ASSESSMENT OF SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN TARKWA MUNICIPALITY GHANA: TIME SERIES APPROACH

This study intends to examine the means of waste disposal by households (place of disposal), analyze how the waste collected is finally disposed of, and predict the amount of waste that ends up at the landfill in the next five years using Time-Series and make recommendations for effective management of solid waste in Tarkwa Municipality. The historical data and the characteristic of the historical data show that the amount of waste generated in tonnes increased from year 2006 to 2011. The average waste generated was found to be 85612.8 tonnes. The graph of the projected waste using Time Series Method also showed an increase in the trend. It is observed that as the year progresses, there is increase in the amount of waste generated, the reason for this may not be far from increase in the population and urbanization of Tarkwa Municipality. Keywords: Waste, Landfill, Time-series method, Household, Disposal, Population, Urbanization,

A Computer Programme to Determine the Bending and Pitting Stresses of Gears and the Effect of Varying the AGMA Stress Equation Parameters on the Stress Values

Gears are one of the most critical components in mechanical power transmission systems. The bending and surface strength of the gear tooth are considered to be the main contributors for the failure of the gears in a gear set. Thus, analysis of these stresses has become imperative in the area of research on gears to reduce errors and omissions in order to prevent the failures, and therefore, optimize the design of gears. The objective of this project is to write a computer programme developed from Microsoft Excel and Matlab softwares, the application of which is aimed at reducing the errors and omissions when calculating the bending and pitting stresses using the AGMA methodology effectively, efficiently and quickly in the design and analysis of spur and helical gears. The procedures employed include  extraction of all the figures from the various graphs, obtaining an equation of the graphs extracted using the curve fitting tool function in Matlab and using the graph equations together with other equations of AGMA. The computer programme has been tested successfully and it has been established that its application is capable of determining the bending and pitting stresses of any spur and helical gears and their corresponding safety factors using the AGMA methodology. Keywords: Gears; Transmission system; Gear set; Bending and surface strength