Modeling of 2-D Computer Aided Drafting Application for Teaching and Learning Engineering Drawing

With non-availability of the required equipment, teaching engineering drawing to a class of over 1000 students and retaining their interests and attention from the beginning to the end of a lecture period was of big concern to the engineering drawing courses lecturers in the Faculty of Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. This work is aimed at designing and developing animated Microsoft Office PowerPoint teaching applications named 2-D Computer-Aided Drafting Applications (2-D CADA) that eliminate this problem. This paper presents a sample of the Applications which demonstrates clearly to the audience’s pleasure how to mount, set and hold a drawing sheet on a drawing board before actual drawing commences. It also shows how to manually draw boarder lines on the drawing sheet. Similar programs can be written and used to show to engineering students how to manually draw most of the figures specified in their schools' curricula using engineering drawing instruments. Many of this Application have been written on various topics in engineering drawing in line with the global trend of drudgery reduction in man-machine systems. These Applications are already being deployed in teaching engineering drawing in the Faculty of Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. The benefits of employing 2-D CADA in teaching and learning engineering drawing are overwhelming. 2D-CADA relieves a teacher the mental and physical stresses that go with manual production of drawings on a chalk board. It drastically improved the attention, interest and understanding of students during drawing lessons. A well written 2D-CADA can be replicated and deployed to a personal computer for self-study plans as well as to group-based students’ workstations for group teaching

Physico-Mechanical and Fuel Properties of Sawdust Briquettes using Abelmoschus esculentus Waste as a Binder

Various physicomechanical, and fuel properties of sawdust briquettes with Abelmoschus esculentus (okra) waste binder additive were determined. Elemental analysis was done to determine the oxygen (O), hydrogen (H), and carbon content of the briquettes.  Volatile matter, ash content, fixed carbon, heating value, density, compressive strength, stability, durability, and shatter resistance. 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% Abelmoschus esculentus composition per weight of the biomass were used. The 5% Okra briquette had the highest volatile matter and heating value of 85.46% and 17.82 MJ/kg, while maintaining the lowest ash content and moisture content of 1.59% and 7.6%, respectively. The briquette with 5% Abelmoschus esculentus (Okra) composition had the highest carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) contents of 42.7%, 5.64%, and 42.7%, respectively. The results were within international standard limits for briquettes. Based on the results obtained, the sawdust-Abelmoschus esculentus briquette can adequately replace firewood in sub-Saharan Africa. Okra showed great potential as a binder with a very high hardness level of 7 days in water without disintegration.  Increased utilization of agro-wastes briquettes will ensue while carbon emissions from the open burning of wastes will reduce. Equally, the use of clean cookstoves will increase with the production of these briquettes and will lead to a reduction in the present rate of deforestation that will result from domestic heating processes