4-Ethyl-3-(3-pyrid­yl)-1H-1,2,4-triazole-5(4H)-thione 0.095-hydrate

The title compound, C9H10N4S·0.095H2O, consists of discrete 4-ethyl-3-(3-pyrid­yl)-1H-1,2,4-triazole-5(4H)-thione mol­ecules and a disordered mol­ecule of water of hydration with partial occupancy, lying on a twofold rotation axis. The dihedral angle between the pyridine and triazole rings is 41.73 (8)°. In the crystal structure, mol­ecules are hydrogen bonded via triazole NH groups and pyridyl N atoms, forming chains parallel to the a axis

Design and development of a slot-less permanent magnet linear motor using permeance analysis method for spray application

Mostly in industrial spray applications pneumatic systems are utilized for operating the automatic spray gun. Linear motor can be one of the alternatives for triggering the spray gun instead of pneumatic systems due to its accuracy in valve positioning according to the required flow rate. From this point of view a tubular linear permanent magnet motor has been designed using Permeance Analysis Method (PAM) and developed. Three permeance models have been developed for PAM analysis. Among these three models, only one model is selected as a PAM model which can be produced the required amount of thrust for triggering the spray gun. After selecting the PAM thrust model, the size of the motor has been optimized by analyzing the effect of thrust constant, electrical and mechanical time constant. Finally based on the optimized data, the motor has been fabricated and tested that shows the good argument with the analysis result

SOCIO- DEMOGRAPHIC AND DIETARY DETERMINANTS OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY IN MALE PAKISTANI ADULTS

The aim of this study was to identify potential socio-demographic and dietary determinants of overweight and obesity in men to provide basis for effective prevention strategies. A stratified random sample of 897 men (aged >30 years and free from any chronic / congenital diseases) were selected for the study from Mardan city located in the North West of Pakistan. Height and weight of the subjects were measured using standard anthropometric methods; body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Data on dietary intake, overweight /obesity trend in the families, physical activity and socio-economic status were collected by interview. Pearson’s chi square statistic and chi square trend were used to determine the differences in prevalence of overweight and obesity between different groups. Multiple logistic regressions were used to identify potential socio-demographic and dietary factors associated with overweight / obesity. Using BMI, subjects were identified as normal (<25), overweight (25-29.9) and obese (≥30). Overall, prevalence of overweight and obesity was 33% and 9% respectively. There was an increasing trend in the prevalence of overweight and obesity with increasing age (OR: 1.15, 95% CI: 1.12-1.18). Among socio-economic factors; occupation, family history of overweight/obesity, monthly income and physical activity were found to be significant predictors of overweight/obesity in study subjects. In contrast to developed countries, increased income was associated with increased levels of overweight/obesity. Among dietary factors, daily energy intake and subjects’ preferences for fried meat and fatty foods were evident as significant correlates of overweight/obesity. Strong predictors of overweight and obesity included income level, physical inactivity and poor dietary preferences in the study population

Preparation of multilayer microcapsules encapsulating aqueous lithium bromide and their mechanical stability

The development of more efficient and reliable absorption/adsorption refrigeration for air conditioners (ACs) and chillers is of great interest due to the increasing demand of these cooling devices in homes and offices. Presently, the majority of the ACs incorporate aqueous lithium salts as both refrigerate and desiccant, which are corrosive and lead to corrosion of the mechanical components. This increases maintenance costs and decreases the cooling system’s lifespan. Herein, an encapsulation method is proposed to encompass the aqueous lithium bromide solution with silica as the shell, to protect the surrounding mechanical components. Moreover, a coating of citrate stabilized Au nanoparticles via an electroless method involving intermolecular electrostatic interactions is introduced to improve the robustness of the capsule wall. The success of the different coatings is evident from the change of zeta potential and mechanical properties. The coating with Au nanoparticles improves the mechanical strength of the capsules significantly, increasing rupture force from 0.25 ± 0.02 mN to 0.45 ± 0.04 mN. The coated and uncoated capsules were shown to be thermally stable over 10 repeated cycles between the temperature ranges −10 to 150 °C; hence, they withstand the thermal demands in ACs. Furthermore, adsorption and desorption cycles were performed on the capsules, which showed promising stable and repeatable performance

Development of a Cartesian Painter Robot for Construction Industry

Nowadays robots are widely used in many applications such as in factories, the mining industries, the automobile industry etc. Currently, the application of robot is still not widely implemented in construction industry. In construction industry, robots are designed to increase speed and improve the accuracy of construction field operations. It can also be used to do hazardous and dangerous job in construction. For example, house painting is done manually. This process can be simplified using a special dedicated robot. It is very difficult and troublesome for human to work in an upright position especially for painting, cleaning and screwing in the ceiling for a long time. Painting in an upright position is also very dangerous for the eyes. To overcome this difficulty, a painter robot system is proposed and developed. The main objective of this project is to develop a three-degree of freedom (DOF) painter robot and its intelligent system. In order to achieve the main objective, the following works are carried out: Development of the mechanical structure of the robot. This includes the positioning module and end-effector module. The positioning module is divided into three parts namely, X-axis module, Y-axis module and Z- axis module. Development of the electrical and electronic system of the robot. These include its power distribution system, sensor system, motor driver system, electro-pneumatic system and programmable logic controller and development of the controlling program of the robot. The proposed painter robot has three degree of freedom (DOF). For X direction, a single-phase induction motor and a chain-sprocket mechanism are used. Two limit switches and two electronic sensors are used to limit the movement i n X direction. Another sensor is used to position the robotic arm along the X direction. For Y direction, two limit switches are used to limit the movement in Y direction. Two sensors are used to protect the robotic arm along the Y direction. The single-phase motor with an inverter is utilized to control the speed of the robot in Y direction. For Z direction, a parallelogram structure and a ball-screw mechanism are used in this project. A single-phase brake motor and a photoelectric sensor are used to control the position in Z direction . Two limit switches are used to limit the movement in Z direction. The proposed robot is used to paint the ceiling of the houses. The paint i s sprayed by the robot automatically using the pneumatic system. The software part involves the design and development of the system control software. The system control software i s created using FP WIN OR PLC programming software. This project implements the Matsushita NAIS FPO programmable logic controller (PLC) to control the overall system of the machine. From the tests conducted on the painter robot operating according to its original plan

Synthesis of Bio-Dimethyl Ether Based on Carbon Dioxide-Enhanced Gasification of Biomass: Process Simulation Using Aspen Plus

YesProcess simulation of a single-step synthesis of DME based on CO2-enhanced gasification of rice straw was conducted using Aspen PlusTM. The process consists of gasification unit, heat recovery unit, gas purification unit, single-step DME synthesis, and DME separation unit. In the simulation, highly pure DME was produced by the control of CO2 concentration in syngas to a very low level prior to synthesis. A gasification system efficiency of 36.7% and CO2 emission of 1.31 kg/kg of DME were achieved. Bio-DME production based on CO2-enhanced gasification of biomass was found to be more cost-effective as it required 19.6% less biomass than that of DME production based on conventional biomass gasification. The performance and environmental benefits of the proposed process could be further improved by the utilization of unreacted gases and the handling of CO2 generated via incorporating poly-generation concept or carbon storage, which could also potentially improve process economics.Ningbo Bureau of Science and Technology; Innovation Team Scheme; Major R&D Programme; Provincial Innovation Team on the Commercialisation of SOx and NOx Removal Technologies; University of Nottingham Ningbo Chin

Configuration Detection of Grounding Grid: Static Electric Field Based Nondestructive Technique

Grounding grid configuration which, is key to its fault diagnosis, changes continuously with the extension in a substation. Furthermore, older substations grounding grid configurations are unknown. Existing literature regarding configuration detection mainly accounts for the magnetic field that required a gradient to locate the grounding conductor. The gradient of raw measurement in the substation vicinity enhances electromagnetic noise and distorts the results. Therefore, in this paper, we have developed a new algorithm, Configuration Detection of Grounding Grid (CDGG) based on the static electric field and the concept of ordered pairs to draw the configuration of the unknown grounding grid. Unlike, the practiced magnetic field, the electric field does not require a gradient. The maximum electric field value indicates the location of a grounding conductor. The connection between nodes is verified by measuring the electric field on the circle. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm also locates any diagonal conductor in the configuration. Mathematical reasoning and simulation results illustrate that our proposed algorithm is feasible to draw the configuration of the unknown grounding grid

Process involved in designing of an intelligent additional track mechanism tracked vehicle for swamp peat terrain

Different types of off road vehicles are widely used in agriculture, oil industry, mining and military operations but none of them can effectively operate over the swamp peat terrain because of its low bearing capacity of 7kN/m 2. Segmented rubber tracked vehicle and intelligent air-cushion system tracked vehicle were developed in Malaysia for swamp peat terrain.16kN/m2 of ground pressure was exerted by using the segmented rubber tracked vehicle during field operation therefore could not be operated efficiently. The air-cushion tracked vehicle increased the floatation capacity but at the same time increased the frictional effects therefore the tracks of the vehicle easily slipped out from the traction wheels during operation. Addressing these issues an intelligent additional track mechanism for tracked vehicle has been designed to improve the mobility over swamp peat terrain where the additional track would be increased the ground surface area and reduced the vehicle ground pressure. This paper presents the process involved in designing the intelligent additional track mechanism tracked vehicle for transportation of agricultural and industrial goods on the swamp peat terrain with bearing capacity of 7kN/m2. The mechanical design comprises of track vehicle frame with track mechanism. Additional track mechanism with Fuzzy expert system. The design parameters are optimized using developed mathematical model based on the dynamics and kinematics behavior of the vehicle. In order to increase the vehicle contact surface area and reduce the surface contact pressure the additional track mechanism is designed in such way that it can be folded and unfolded from its position by using the ball-screw scissor lift mechanism. While, Fuzzy expert system is used to control the movement of the lift mechanism based on 70mm critical sinkage of vehicle detected from a set of sensors. The completed to vehicle system would be used for off-road applications as required