Development of cleaning device for In-pipe Robot Application

Pipelines are essential tools for transporting water, oils, gases and sewer from one place to another. Pipelines are used to interconnect networks from one station to another that involved various diameter sizes and fittings to compensate intended directions. There are many issues that influenced performance of the pipelines namely aging, corrosion, cracks and use to clog up with debris, or sediments after long use. There are number of methods available to clean the inside of the closed pipeline namely traditional method like boiling, picking, alcohol and salt and cleaning kits, or tools kits such as wire and plunger or large-gauge snake. However, all the methods can over-stress older pipeline and cause leaks that make even more extensive repair procedures needed to fix the problem. Chemical fluid for pipe cleaning is also not suitable to all types of pipeline because the chemical can erode the pipe wall. Currently, service robot is the best solution that purposely developed to facilitate humans being activities including cleaning, inspection for cracks or repairing damage in pipeline. This paper intends to report about the development of cleaning device for in-pipe robot application. The development covers both software and hardware of the device. Significant experiment has been designed to validate the function of the device. It is proof that the device has successfully clean the soft and moderate clog. The success of the cleaning device can be attached to the in-pipe robot and the outcome is expected to assist pipeline cleaning operations. Thus, enable the pipelines to transport efficiently with minimum cost of operation

Lean manufacturing practices in Malaysian automotive industry

This paper presents a case study of lean manufacturing implementation in Malaysian automotive components manufacturer. Semi-structured interview and open-ended questionnaire were used to investigate on how to successfully implement lean manufacturing in Malaysia manufacturing industry. The interview was conducted at a case study company with two managerials who are familiar with lean manufacturing implementation projects. The case study company was selected due to its achievement as a Toyota Production System Model Company awarded by the Malaysia Japan Automotive Industries Cooperation. The finding shows that this case study company used the project approach in their early stage of implementing lean manufacturing projects. The project based is a small scale project where the focus of lean manufacturing implementation is to solve the problems at a small area. They form a team with five full-time members, determine a model line for lean manufacturing implementation project, and then did the continuous improvements effort with focus on reducing the level of inventory. By reducing the level of inventory, this case study company was able to reduce other form of wastes including over production, waiting times, excessive transportation, excessive processing, excessive motion, and defective products. In the project based approach the company, conducted continuous improvement efforts until saturated level of major improvement and achieving a stable condition for the model line. Through their efforts and achievements in implementing lean manufacturing, this case study company has become a reference and role model for the other manufacturing companies in Malaysia

Determining and ranking of CSFs for design capabilities development in Malaysian automotive vendors

Competition dynamically pushes manufacturing ahead. Consequently, design capabilities identified as strategic weapon that offers tremendous opportunities. However, design capabilities development is a stringent challenge to an organization especially in high technology base like automotive. In Malaysia, especially vendors has limited capabilities consequently bound the development steps. There are numerous critical success factors (CSFs) involved in developing successful design capabilities. Thus, makes the development process more complicated. All important CSFs have to be determined and rank accordingly. The CSFs are then applied in a model, using multi criteria decision making approach to facilitate the development process

Exploratory Study: Design Capabilities Development for Malaysian Vendors in Automotive Industry

The involvement of vendors in product development (PD) is able to make the process more efficient, effective and economical. Since vendors account for more than half of the total cost of production, their involvement have major influence on the cost and quality of the products. Vendors’ involvement in PD has significantly increased their importance; expose them to greater risks and challenges. As a return, the vendors are able to improve business performance results, productivity, and reputation, thus increasing the companies’ competitive advantage. To be successful in PD require certain level of design capabilities (DC), thus huge investment is needed. However, the Malaysian automotive market size is considered small and vendors’ capabilities are also limited. Since, studies on vendors’ DC, particularly, in Malaysia is very limited, an empirical study was conducted to explore on the critical success factors (CSFs) in enhancing the vendors design capabilities for the Malaysian automotive industry. A series of interviews were conducted on selected automaker and vendors from different categories to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) that are able to enhance the design capabilities development for Malaysian vendors

Development of Black Pepper Rotary Drum Dryer System

Rotary drum dryer has been identified as hygienic and practical method to dry black pepper. The quality of black pepper is defined based on the chemical properties and moisture content. This research aims to develop a control system for black pepper rotary drum dryer. The dried pepper should meet the specific 12% moisture content while the heating temperature must be kept below 550C. The requirement of 12% moisture content is equivalent to 30% of the remaining weight of the pepper (final weight). The developed system uses Arduino Mega 2560 REV board as a microcontroller.  A type K thermocouple with MAX6675 thermocouple amplifier and S-type load cells (TAS501) with HX711 load cell amplifier are used as input sensor to microcontroller.  The system keeps measuring the current weight until it hit the targeted final weight. Two set of experiments that are using 500 g and 1500 g of pre-treated pepper were conducted to verify the system. As a result, the dryer was successful to work within the desired temperature and it stop operating just after the samples reached 12% of the moisture content. The finding has proven a shorten of drying time from 4 to 7 days when using the traditional method to the current 3 – 5 hours only when using the developed system. Hence, this is an improved method achieved to a quick drying of the black pepper.  &nbsp

Human movement representation in virtual environment using gaming software

Human movement in crowd can be considered as complex and unpredictable. In this research, image analysis, video observation and conceptual behaviour was developed as a method to understand the human movement in crowd. Based on the method, human movement was represented or converted into the virtual environment using gaming software called DarkBASIC Professional (DBPro). The developed program using DBPro was applied as a tool to simulate and predict human movement in different building layout. Two subjects (adult and older people) were selected as the virtual entities. Human movement at the bottleneck and non-bottleneck layout was presented in this paper as example of case study

Utilizing P-Type ILA in tuning Hybrid PID Controller for Double Link Flexible Robotic Manipulator

The usage of robotic manipulator with multi-link structure has a great influence in most of the current industries. However, controlling the motion of multi-link manipulator has become a challenging task especially when the flexible structure is used. Currently, the system utilizes the complex mathematics to solve desired hub angle with the coupling effect and vibration in the system. Thus, this research aims to develop the controller for double-link flexible robotics manipulator (DLFRM) with the improvement on hub angle position and vibration suppression. The research utilized DLFRM modeling based on NARX model structure estimated by neural network. In the controllers' development, this research focuses on adaptive controller. PType iterative learning algorithm (ILA) control scheme is implemented to adapt the controller parameters to meet the desired performances when there are changes to the system. The hybrid PID-PID controller is developed for hub motion and end point vibration suppression of each link respectively. The controllers are tested in MATLAB/Simulink simulation environment. The performance of the controller is compared with the fixed hybrid PID-PID controller in term of input tracking and vibration suppression. The results indicate that the proposed controller is effective to move the double-link flexible robotic manipulator to the desired position with suppression of the vibration at the end of the double-link flexible robotic manipulator structure

Development of Black Pepper Rotary Drum Dryer System

Rotary drum dryer has been identified as hygienic and practical method to dry black pepper. The quality of black pepper is defined based on the chemical properties and moisture content. This research aims to develop a control system for black pepper rotary drum dryer. The dried pepper should meet the specific 12% moisture content while the heating temperature must be kept below 550C. The requirement of 12% moisture content is equivalent to 30% of there maining weight of the pepper (final weight). The developed system uses Arduino Mega 2560 REV board as a microcontroller. A type K thermocouple with MAX6675 thermocouple amplifier and S -type load cells (TAS501) with HX711 load cell amplifier are used asinput sensor to microcontroller. The system keeps measuring the current weight until it hit the targeted final weight. Two set of experiments that are using 500 g and 1500 g of pre-treated pepper were conducted to verify the system. As a result, the dryer was successful to work within the desired temperature and it stop operating just after the samples reached 12% of the moisture content. The finding has proven a shorten of drying time from 4 to 7 days when using the traditional method to the current 3 –5 hours only when using the developed system. Hence, this is an improved method achieved to a quick drying of the black pepper

Micro Fine Sized Palm Oil Fuel Ash Produced Using a Wind Tunnel Production System

Micro fine sized palm oil fuel ash (POFA) is a new supplementary cementitious material that can increase the strength, durability, and workability of concrete. However, production of this material incurs high cost and is not practical for the construction industry. This paper investigates a simple methodology of producing micro fine sized POFA by means of a laboratory scale wind tunnel system. The raw POFA obtained from an oil palm factory is first calcined to remove carbon residue and then grinded in Los Angeles abrasion machine. The grinded POFA is then blown in the fabricated wind tunnel system for separation into different ranges of particle sizes. The physical, morphological, and chemical properties of the micro fine sized POFA were then investigated using Laser Particle Size Analyser (PSA), nitrogen sorption, and Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray (SEM-EDX). A total of 32.1% micro fine sized POFA were collected from each sample blown, with the size range of 1-10 micrometers. The devised laboratory scale of wind tunnel production system is successful in producing micro fine sized POFA and, with modifications, this system is envisaged applicable to be used to commercialize micro fine sized POFA production for the construction industry

Utilizing P-Type ILA in tuning Hybrid PID Controller for Double Link Flexible Robotic Manipulator

The usage of robotic manipulator with multi-link structure has a great influence in most of the current industries. However, controlling the motion of multi-link manipulator has become a challenging task especially when the flexible structure is used. Currently, the system utilizes the complex mathematics to solve desired hub angle with the coupling effect and vibration in the system. Thus, this research aims to develop the controller for double-link flexible robotics manipulator (DLFRM) with the improvement on hub angle position and vibration suppression. The research utilized DLFRM modeling based on NARX model structure estimated by neural network. In the controllers’ development, this research focuses on adaptive controller. PType iterative learning algorithm (ILA) control scheme is implemented to adapt the controller parameters to meet the desired performances when there are changes to the system. The hybrid PID-PID controller is developed for hub motion and end point vibration suppression of each link respectively. The controllers are tested in MATLAB/Simulink simulation environment. The performance of the controller is compared with the fixed hybrid PID-PID controller in term of input tracking and vibration suppression. The results indicate that the proposed controller is effective to move the double-link flexible robotic manipulator to the desired position with suppression of the vibration at the end of the double-link flexible robotic manipulator structure