Factor Analysis of Poultry Birds De-Feathering Machines

Some concerns had been expressed over the success rate of the De-feathering machine (DM) in Nigeria. Therefore, it is imperative to evaluate DM in selected poultry farms in Ekiti State, Nigeria, and consider the factors that inhibit their viability. This study seeks to verify the success rate and identify factors that pose challenges to DM and provide a solution to their intercorrelations. Kendall Coefficient of Concordance (KCC) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was the design framework used to investigate the identified factors that influence DM. The KCC was used to analyse the data matrix generated by 12 Judges who ranked the twenty-eight identified factors that influenced DM in ascending order, upon which basis an index of concordance in ranking among the judges was computed as w = 0.70. PCA was used to further analysed questionnaires crafted with the twenty-eight well-ordered factors, purposively selected, using statistisXL version 2021.2 software. Also, the result obtained by PCA indicates that factor reduction was achieved from twenty-eight variables to seven clusters using a scree plot graph.  Furthermore, Cost of Material cluster 5 (consisting of dual factors; ‘stainless steel’ and ‘material selection’) wielded the highest factors loading of 0.847 and 0.779 respectively. This study has helped to justify unsatisfactory DM operating costs among poultry farmers in Nigeria and [email protected] clarify challenges associated with the high cost of material selection in DM design

Performance enhancement using appropriate mass charge of R600a in a developed domestic refrigerator

This paper presents performance analysis of a domestic refrigeration system using R600a as refrigerant. Investigation was conducted experimentally to select an appropriate refrigerant mass charge for the system and to compute the cooling system performance characteristics under ambient temperature of 29 oC. The choice of the hydrocarbon refrigerant (R600a) became so imperative due to notable influence of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) on global warming and ozone depletion. UNFCCC and Montreal Protocol regulation have banned the use of halogenated refrigerants in cooling and heating systems. The paper reveals that the power consumed by the system using mass charge of 15 g refrigerant was reduced by 9.3 and 10.9% compared with the 10 and 25 g refrigerant mass charges respectively. In addition, the results show that the coefficient of performance (COP) of the refrigeration system while working with 15 g is 24.7 and 20.2% higher than when the system worked with 10 and 25 g refrigerants mass charge respectively. More so, the system attained an evaporator air temperature of -12 oC in 2 hours, which makes 15 g charge refrigerant appropriate for the running of the developed system that has a volume capacity of 68 liters

Performance Evaluation of the Effect of Waste Paper on Groundnut Shell Briquette

Current energy shortage and environmental issues resulting from the use of fossil fuels have lead to exploitation of renewable energy resources that includes municipal waste and agricultural residues. These residues are available, indigenous and are environmental friendly but some can not be used directly in combustion process due high moisture content and low volumetric energy unless by briquetting. The study was undertaken to assess the combustion characteristic of binderless briquettes produced from waste paper and groundnut shell. Combustion characteristics investigated were ignition time, burning time, calorific values, burning rate, specific fuel consumption, fuel efficiency and water boiling time. The calorific values of the briquettes ranged from 19.51 - 19.92 MJ/kg, while the thermal efficiency ranges between 13.75 – 21.64%, other results shows that the average burning rate between 0.511 and 1.133 kg/hr and the specific fuel consumption ranges between 0.087 and 0.131 J/g. The recorded boiling time values were between 17.5 and 30.0 minutes for cold start and 15.0 and 20.0 minutes for hot start. The results shows that waste paper and groundnut shell up to 25% in composition composite briquettes were found to have good combustion characteristics which qualify them as alternative to firewood for domestic and industrial energy. However, production of briquettes from waste paper and groundnut shell at mixing ratio of 85:15 was found to comparatively better from all experiment conducted

Impact of Working Fluids and Performance of Isobutane in the Refrigeration System

The effect of heat transfer medium (HTM) on the environment is associated with ozone layer depletion and global warming. The role of HTM (working fluid) in the heating and air conditioning industries is paramount, which cannot be underestimated. The conventional refrigerant has been predominantly used over decades due to their thermodynamic properties. However, hydrocarbon refrigerants such as isobutane are considered substitutes because they have negligible global warming potential and zero ozone depletion. That makes it eco-friendly among other existing refrigerants. The investigation of the refrigeration system’s performance characteristics required consideration for the coefficient of performance, refrigerating effect, and the compressor work; this enables the determination of the system’s efficiency without any assumption. Another factor that suggests a better absorption of refrigerant (working fluid) into a refrigeration system is an increase in the coefficient of performance (COP). The effect will cause a reduction in the rate of energy consumption by the compressor. The result shows that the system’s coefficient of performance when using R600a was 27.1% higher than when working with R134a, with an energy reduction of 23.3%

Design and Construction of a Motorized Citrus Juice Extractor

This paper presents the design, construction and performance evaluation of a locally fabricated motorized citrus juice extractor for small and medium scale industry. The fabrication materials for the machine comprises of stainless steel aluminum alloy which is used for the construction of the hopper, compression chamber and collector or receiver. The presser and perforated cylindrical sieve was formed using stainless steel sheet. The power shaft was machined from stainless steel solid shaft; mild steel angle bar was used for the main frame while the transmission pulleys were machined from mild steel material. In selection of materials for the machine critical properties such as toxicity, corrosion and pitting resistance were considered. For power transmission, 4 HP electric motor, V-belt and cast iron ball bearings were used. The performance evaluation of the machine shows that the machine extraction capacity and extraction efficiency are significantly affected by the prime mover speed in revolution per minutes (rpm). The machine efficiency is found to be 84.54 %, average juice extraction capacity is 10.92 cm3/sec or 39.312 lit/h at 600 rpm and the machine capacity is 38.89 kg/h. The production cost of the machine is about N117,800.00  (326 USD) this cost compared with the imported GG-0.5 model of similar capacity which cost about 3150 USD makes the machine considerably acquirable for use by both small and medium scale citrus juice processing plants in Nigeria.  Keywords— Design, Extraction efficiency, Fabrication, Juice extractor, Performance evaluation

Evaluation analysis of a developed solar refrigerator using conventional refrigerant for rural and medical applications

This paper study the performance evaluation of a refrigeration system that operates on solar energy as alternative source of power to enhance the refrigerating effect, coefficient of performance (COP), preservation of perishable items and short time drug such as vaccine, to remote communities and parts of the urban settlement around the developing nations where there is no access to modern electrical source. The system was made from locally sourced materials using a conventional refrigerant HFC134a as working fluid to improve thermal efficiency and stability of the vapour compression refrigeration system. The COP of the system was enhanced by 8.67% when working with solar and with energy reduction of 2.38% respectively. In case the weather is cloudy or during the night hour when the energy generation is low, the refrigerator can work on battery for an average of 12 hours if fully charge during the day to avoid idle time of the refrigeration syste

Effect of Fins spacing on the Performance Evaluation of a Refrigeration System using LPG as Refrigerant

In this paper, experimental analysis was carried out on a vapour compression system by varying the parallel tube condenser fins spacing under the same atmospheric condition in a selected Refrigeration and Air-conditioning laboratory to examine the performance characteristics of the refrigeration system. The fins spacing were 2, 4 and 6 mm using Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as working fluid with a mixture proportion of 17.2% isobutene, 56.4% butane, 24.4% propane. The result shows that the coefficient of performance of the system when working with condenser fins spacing of 2 mm was 28.8 and 35.9% higher compared to when the system worked with the fins spacing of 4 and 6 mm respectively. Energy consumed by the single hermetic compressor when the system worked with condenser fins spacing of 2 mm reduced by 16.4 and 18.7% compared to when the refrigerator worked with fins spacing of 4 and 6 mm respectively. The pull down time of the cooling system was attained in 2 hours 45 minute with minimum evaporator temperature of -13 ℃ while working with 30 g mass charge of LP

Solid waste as an alternative energy source and a means of solving waste disposal problem in Nigeria

This paper presents practical ways of generating energy from solid waste as a means of solving the problem of solid waste disposal which is confronting the major cities in Nigeria and also providing alternative energy source to supplement the high cost and fast depleting conventional sources of energy. It also discussed the conventional incineration, gasification and pyrolysis processes in which energy may be recovered from solid wastes and put to useful purposes.Keywords: solid waste, energy, waste disposal, incinerationGlobal Journal of Environmental Sciences Vol. 4(2) 2005: 111–11

The Use Of Sawdust As An Alternative Source Of Energy For Domestic Cooking And As A Means Of Reducing Deforestation

This paper presents the reports on the utilization of sawdust stove as a way of ameliorating the effect of perennial fuel crisis in Nigeria on domestic cooking and a means of reducing deforestation and subsequent desertification. The performance of the sawdust stove, in terms of cooking duration and specific fuel consumption, was compared with a conventional kerosene stove. Results obtained show that it takes less time and fuel material to cook with the sawdust stove than the kerosene stove. KEY WORDS: sawdust stove, alternative energy source, domestic cooking, deforestation. Global Journal of Environmental Sciences Vol.4(1) 2005: 73-7

Thermodynamic analysis of hydrocarbon refrigerants in a sub-cooling refrigeration system

In this study, the performance simulation of some hydrocarbon refrigerants (R290, R600 and R600a) as alternatives to R134a in refrigeration system with sub-cooling is conducted by thermodynamic calculation of performance parameters using the REFPROP software. The results obtained showed that the saturated vapour pressure and temperature characteristic profiles for R600 and R600a are very close to that of R134a. The three hydrocarbon refrigerants exhibited very high refrigerating effect and condenser duty than R134a. The best of these parameters was obtained using R600. The discharge temperatures obtained using R600 and R600a were low, while that of R290 was very much higher. The highest coefficient of performance (COP) and relative capacity index were obtained using R600. Average COPs of R600 and R600a are 4.6 and 2.2% higher than that of R134a, respectively. The performances of R600 and R600a in system were better than those of R134a and R290. The best performance was obtained using R600 in the system