Reliability assessment of a gas generating station in Ogun State, Nigeria

This study evaluates and presents the reliability and availability of a power plant, Akute Power Plant, Ogun State, Nigeria, during the period of January – December, 2015. Time series load data on each generating unit were collected from Akute Power Plant daily operational log book from January to December 2015. Outages were classified into types, frequency and durations. The operational data for the above period was collected and analyzed using Reliability methods. Reliability conditions are defined with the collected data and types of the failure faced by each generating units. The most important reliability indices like mean time to repair (MTTR), mean time to failure (MTTF), mean time between failures (MTBF), repair rate (μ), failure rate (λ) were determined based on the loss of load approach. The reliabilities of each generating unit were evaluated on monthly basis for one year and the average availability of G1, G2, G3, and G4 were 0.9701, 0.9726, 0.9767, and 0.9707 respectively, while the reliability indices for G1, G2, G3, and G4 were 0.9860, 0.9880, 0.9854, and 0.9840 respectively. Suggestions were made to minimize system unavailability in order to improve the reliabilities of the network.Keywords: Reliability Methods, Mean Time To Repair, Mean Time Between Failure, Failure Rat

Comparison of the reliability of programmable logic controller and electromagnetic relay control in industrial production line

This paper is aimed at determining the reliability of Industrial Production Line using Programmable Logic Controller. Production lines in the manufacturing sector are automated using Programmable Logic Controller module, which is programmed using programming software. The programming software used is the Siemens S7-200 while the programming language is the Ladder Programming language. Most manufacturing industries in Nigeria today still use relays for control purposes. The wirings from the control panel are so massive that any fault from the machine usually takes hours to trace and replace using the traditional electromagnetic relay. Alternative and better control methods use Programmable Logic Controller. Research articles on the reliability of PLC in a food production line are scarce. This paper is written to address this gap. The study uses the statistical analytical method, which provides useful and higher accuracy of the result as it allows high tolerance to uncertainties. The study determines the failure rate, the mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time to failure (MTTF), and availability as a means of determining the reliability of the network. Accordingly, the study showed that the mean availability of the Production line using PLC for three consecutive years is 84% while the reliability is 86%. Consequently, the use of PLC should be encouraged in industrial automation as the fault can be detected easily, thereby reducing downtime as compared to the use of electromagnetic relay in the control circuitry.Keywords: Programmable logic controller, availability, reliability, ladder programming language, relay logi

Empirical Determination of Losses in an Optical Fibre Link

This paper analyses the characteristics of signal loss in optical fibre link with splicing loss forming part of the total loss with the loss measurement carried out with the aid of Optical Time Domain Reflector.An Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) is made up of a detector and a laser. Light signals are sent into the fibre using a laser and a demodulator or a detector on the other end to receive the signals. The received signal is displayed on a graph. The transmitted signal is a pulse with a given amount of energy. A clock determines the time duration of the signal. This paper explains the splicing using Optical Time Domain Reflectometer. These losses in an optical fibre cable arise from spliced points and joints with either connectors or any other passive fibre optic device. The study shows that losses along optical fibre arise from the splice joint, connector joint and along the fibre length as attenuation loss. These losses were obtained from readings of the optical time domain reflectometer. The study also shows that the combined splicing and connector loss is higher than attenuation loss. Here, splicing and connector loss contributes 75% of the total losses while attenuation losses account for the remaining 25%. An attempt should, therefore, be made to reduce splices in order to minimize losses when using optical fibre cabling

FAULTS ANALYSIS OF 33KV ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IN THE ABEOKUTA BUSINESS HUB

This research work investigated the faults analysis usually encountered on a 33kv distribution system using the Abeokuta business hub in Ogun state, Nigeria as a case study. The available data which was analyzed statistically revealed that the bad condition of the physical structure of the 33kv distribution network was the major cause of frequent outage in Abeokuta and its environs. Accordingly, the deplorable state of the physical structure triggers most technical faults such as, short circuits, over-voltage etc. In this research work, different electrical faults were also studied, taking cognizance of the causes and how they hinder power supply to various consumers in Abeokuta city. Important components such as the feeders, distributors and the aluminium conductors of the 33kv distribution network were assessed. The study was extended to the 33/11kv distribution system and effects of faults on this system were also statistically analyzed.&nbsp

A model of fluid flow level sensing and control using programmable logic controller

In this paper, the use of Programmable Logic Controllers for level sensing and control of fluid base substance like refined Hydrocarbon is presented. The use of Remote Telemetry Unit (RTU) for monitoring fluid flow is highlighted. Remote networking and forecasting of leakage is carefully analyzed. Process Control Engineers, Industrialist and Scientist will benefit from the new innovative automation technologies for fluid flow control and measurement presented

Design and development of biometric voting system using fingerprint and facial recognition

The election process adopted in Nigeria is mostly paper based or manual. This manually handled process can be time-consuming, and prone to security breaches and electoral fraud. Consequently, this work proposes a biometrically authenticated voting system to provide inexpensive solution to the electoral process in Nigeria. In particular, the biometric database is constructed by filling it with the audio fingerprints and the associated metadata of many audio clips, and then the fingerprint of an unknown clip (or the distorted version of the clip brought by compression or standard audio processing) is extracted and compared to that of the clip in the database. If the fingerprint of the unknown clip is in the database, it will be correctly identified by the matching procedures. The project is implemented with biometric system i.e. fingerprint scanning and facial recognition. Accordingly, this is used to ensure enhanced security, and to avoid fake, repeated voting. Results obtained showed that the proposed system is fast, accurate, reliable, and cost effective, thus a viable option to replace the manual voting process. Keywords: Biometrics, electoral process, facial recognition, finger print scannin

Design and Implementation of Solar Street Light for Scarcely Electrified Areas

Streetlights are usually powered by alternating current supply from distribution stations of  the utility companies. This invariably increases the demand for power distribution from utility companies. Recent developments, however, suggest the possibility of the use of renewable energy sources to power streetlights in order to reduce the demand on the consumption rate of energy on the utility companies. Accordingly, this work considered the design and implementation of streetslights in scarcely electrified areas powered by solar energy. Using tilted solar modules, energy efficient lamps, and structural anticorrosion parts, a standalone streetlight configuration with automatic switch ON/OFF mechanism was built. The results show that streetlight powered by solar source of renewable energy cheaply generates electricity directly from sunlight without emissions, noise, or vibration. Therefore, due to the inconsistencies surrounding the generation of electricity using fossil fuels, this work offers an alternative source to power streetlights thereby reducing pressure on the national grid

Design and Implementation of Internet of Things Based Irrigation System

This work considered the design and implementation of an Internet of things (IoT) based irrigation system that encourages efficient and optimal use of water management practice. The proposed IoT based irrigation system promotes user acknowledgment practice on farmlands by monitoring the soil moisture value and other environmental parameters. This system, which is based on IoT, stores the sensor data, and the water pump can be monitored via the internet using a ThingSpeak channel. Using a micro-controller which coordinates system activities, a wireless fidelity (WIFI) module which transmits the sensed data to the cloud, a motor driver which controls the pump, a digital temperature and humidity (DHT)11 sensor which monitors  environmental parameters, and a YL-69 soil moisture sensor, an IoT based irrigation system is implemented. Results obtained showed that the system irrigates the soil based on the defined threshold value of the soil moisture in order to promote efficient and optimal utilization of water management practice. Additionally, farmers can monitor the irrigation processes remotely from a ThingSpeak channel, which gives a graphical representation of the soil moisture value, pump status, temperature and humidity value as well as the flow rate within the environment

RELIABILITY ASSESSMENT OF POWER DISTRIBUTION FEEDERS

The study focuses on the analysis of 33kv distribution feeder network in Ibadan Electricity Company, Ota. The main aim of this research is to estimate the reliability of 33-KV feeders which are secondary distribution network of the system. The study determines the Failure Rate, the Mean Time between Failures (MTBF), Mean Time to Failure (MTTF), Availability and reliability of the network. This study uses statistical analytical method. Statistical analytical methods provide useful and higher accuracy of result since it provides high tolerance to uncertainties. The result shows that the mean reliability of the supply system was 74.41%, and thus for a developing nations like ours, the reliability is partly satisfactory.&nbsp