Design and Prototyping of Centrifugal Pump Impeller to be used as Water Injection Pump for Hydrocarbon Artificial Lift

Execution of maintenance activities for mechanical equipment is essential in order to preserve and enhance plant and equipment reliability. It is common especially during corrective and preventive maintenance activities to replace defective or to-be defective components. Typically the replacement components are procured through the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). However, due to the long lead-time delivery imposed by the OEM, an alternative means of procuring spares with shorter lead-time delivery should be established, in order to reduce the downtime of critical equipment should extreme cases such as repetitive failure of certain components occur. This project was carried out with such objective by studying the feasibility of locally designing and manufacturing mechanical components to reduce shipping time, and adopting rapid prototyping technology into spare parts manufacturing, to reduce manufacturing time. A centrifugal pump impeller was chosen to be designed and manufactured. The data of operating requirements of the particular pump was acquired from an existing water injection module in an actual oil field. The project started with impeller numerical design, establishing the geometry in numerical terms. The methodology was then preceded by impeller modeling, resulting in a virtual three dimensional representation of the designed impeller. The virtual model was then rapidly transformed into a solid wax prototype using rapid prototyping technology. The wax prototype was then directly used as a pattern for investment casting process, resulting in solid metallic model of the impeller. The whole processes duration and costs was recorded. A costs-time benefit analysis was carried out in the latter part of the project, to study the feasibility of the approaches adopted in this project, and to compare the its practicality to that of the conventional spare parts procurement through the OEM, in terms of costs and led-time delivery. It was concluded from the analysis, that this project dramatically reduced the lead-time delivery, and radically reduced the product’s costs. In conclusion, the approaches adopted in this project (locally designing, locally manufacturing, and introducing rapid prototyping into spare parts manufacturing) are verified to be very feasible and favorable as far as the lead-time delivery and costs are concerned. This project also adds to plant and equipment reliability by reducing equipment downtime thus enabling continuation of production and plant operation

The relationship between technological capability and innovative SMEs

Rapid changes in market condition, seen small and medium enterprises (SMEs) give major impact to Malaysian economy because it has provided a great contribution to the economy. Despite the importance of SMEs and the existence of government support from the various ministries and agencies, most literature indicated that SMEs are still having a lot of challenges that hinder their development. This research suggests the embracing of technological capability as an approach to enhance SMEs competitiveness. The objectives of this research are to identify the practices of technological capabilities among innovative SMEs in Malaysia and to investigate the relationship between technological capability and entrepreneurial orientation. The research adapted survey research design using questionnaire to obtain the quantitative data and simple random sampling was used to select the respondents. There are 51 respondents with 86% of response rate companies which are Malaysian innovative SMEs and listed under MTDC incubator programme. The data was analysed using IBM SPSS Software. Descriptive analysis, correlation and regression analytical techniques were used in analysing the research data. The findings indicated that the average mean score for the parameters of technological capability is at high level. This indicates that innovative SMEs that participated in this research have successfully practiced technological capability in their organization. The result of the hypothesis testing show an inter-item correlation that depicts positive correlation with significant relationship between innovation capability and investment capability to entrepreneurial orientation. However, there are no correlation exists between production capability with entrepreneurial orientation. This result indicate that SME entrepreneurs should understand and be aware of the importance of both organizational context and behavioural complexity in developing firm related capabilities in order to achieve the desired level of manufacturing flexibility thus boost their production more efficiently and effectively. Overall, firms need to perform an internal strategic and coherent strategy commensurate with the expected environment to get better performance

The effectiveness compensation & benefits and performance appraisal on employee engagement among employees in Felda Global Ventures Holdings Berhad (FGVHB)

The study aims to examine the relationship between compensation & benefits and performance appraisal to the employee engagement among employees in Felda Global Ventures Holdings Berhad (FGVHB). The questionnaire was distributed to approximately 400 randomly selected employees under Cluster and Division in FGVHB, of which a total of 385 responses were obtained. However only 377 questionnaires were completed and used for the analysis of this study. The data were analysed analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. The statistical method of Pearson correlation was employed to determine the existence of any relationships between compensation & benefits and performance appraisal with employee engagement. Regression analysis was conducted to examine which independent variables predict the Employee Engagement and Cronbach Alpha was used for further illustrate the reliability test. Throughout the statistical analysis of correlation analysis, it is found that there is a significant relationship between the two variables, which are compensation & benefits and performance appraisal with dependent variable: Employee Engagement. This study will help for FGVHB to improve on its current employee engagement initiatives, also further enhance and develop more engagement initiatives to improve engagement level in FGVHB. Likewise, limitation and recommendation for future research direction were also deliberated in this study

Enzymatic Synthesis of Oleyl Oleate, a Liquid Wax Ester, in a Stirred Tank Reactor

High performance enzymatic synthesis of oleyl oleate, a liquid wax ester was successfully synthesized via enzymatic esterification reaction of oleic acid and oley alcohol. Immobilised Candida antartica lipase B (Novozym 435) was used as biocatalyst. The study was divided into four parts which are the optimisation of reaction synthesis at different scales, the reactor study in term of mixing efficiency, the stability of immobilised enzyme and the analysis and characterization of the product of the reaction. Preliminary synthesis of oleyl oleate was carried out in a small scale reaction with a total volume of 3.5 mL using screw-capped vials. Optimisation reaction study via conventional method of varying one parameter at-a-time approach was carried out. A high percentage conversion yield of >90% was achieved at optimum reaction time of 5 min, reaction temperature of 40-6O0C1 molar ratio of substrates (oleyl alcoholloleic acid) of 2:1, amount of enzyme of 0.4 g and organic solvents of Log P23.5 at fixed agitation speed of 150 rpm. Investigation in larger scale production of oleyl oleate was performed using 2 L stirred tank reactor (STR). The reaction was scaled-up to 300X with a total volume of 1.05 L. A high percentage conversion of oleyl oleate was achieved of >95% by conventional experiment method at reaction time of 30 min, agitation speed of 400 rpm, reaction temperature of 45-50°C, molar ratio of substrate (oleyl alcoholloleic acid) of 2:l and amount of enzyme of 90 g. The reaction synthesis was further optimised by response surface method (RSM) based on five-level, three-variable central composite rotatable design (CCRD) to evaluate the interactive effects of important parameters in larger scale processing. Generally, simultaneously increasing amount of enzyme, agitation speed and reaction temperature would improved the yields. A high percentage conversion of 97.4% was achieved under the optimum condition, which compared well with the maximum predicted value of 97.7%. In order to improve the production and productivity of oleyl oleate to the highest amount that can be produced in a 2 L STR, the reaction was synthesized in a solvent-free system. Maximum scaling-up of substrate concentration that can be achieved in the reactor vessel was 900X as compared to 300X previously. The production and productivity of oleyl oleate were successfully improved from 295.39 g/L/h to 705.76 g1Uh and 31 0.16 glh to 952.78 glh, respectively. Reactor study on the performance of 2 L STR as a mixing device was evaluated to improve the mixing efficiency. The rheological property of the reaction mixture exhibited Newtonian behaviour. Rushton turbine impeller showed better performance in degree of mixing, as compared to AL Hydrofoil impeller whereby a high Reynolds number of >lo4 was achieved at 400 rpm, which exhibit a turbulent flow pattern. There was significant effect to the mixing improvement on the enzyme particles distribution by using a 2 impellers system with spacing of 30 mm. The enzyme showed high stability against heat as shown by the high percentage conversion of wax ester. Novozym 435 retained its synthetic activity up to 9 uses and 4 uses in screw-capped vials and STR, respectively. The effect of shear forces due to the mechanical agitation speed on the enzyme morphology was determined by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Although small rupture on the surface of enzyme was observed when increasing the agitation speed, the enzyme activity was very high even at high agitation speed.Analysis of product was evaluated by spectroscopy method of Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) to identify the product obtained. Characteristics of oleyl oleate were also examined, which include iodine value, saponification value, acid value and ester value. Solubility of oleyl oleate in methanol and ethanol was comparatively lower as compared to the solubility at higher chain length of alcohols. This compound seems compatible in most of oils and stable even after heating up to 90°C and overnight storage at room temperature

Separation Of Hydrochloric Acid And Glucose Using Electrodialysis

Elektrodialisis (ED) merupakan kaedah yang berpotensi untuk pemisahan dan pemekatan asid hidroklorik manakala glukosa yang tidak bertindakbalas diguna semula. Electrodialysis (ED) is a method that shows a good potential to separate and concentrate hydrochloric acid while unreacted glucose are partially recycled

Design and Fabrication of a Fuselage for a Remote-Controlled Electric-Powered Airborne Imagery Platform

Remote controlled electric powered airplane is a popular sport around the world but still searching to gain its base in Malaysia People playing remote controlled airplane is a rare sight in this country because it is not made available in shops. Basically, remote- ' controlled e_lectric powered airplane consists of wings, fuselage, propeller, motor, transmitter, receiver, regulator, battery, servos and undercarriage. Focus of this project is to make a functional airplane in collaboration with Mechanical engineering and Electrical engineering department. Design and fabrication of fuselage is one of the subcomponents in completing the project. By design, phases of planning, concept design, technical . • drawings, and product drawings are followed and completed. By fabrication, phases of prototyping, nnalprod~ct build-up and testing are followed and completed. Virtual testing for structural analysis is produced to look at effect of certain impacts exerted on the fuselage while test-flight is done to determine the flying characteristics of the airplane. Based on these analyses, recommendations are given for a better project output. Finally, dissertation is produced to compile all the project works in a final report

Signs of psychological and physiological changes in individual and team sports / Jamilah Ahmad Radzi

The purpose of this study was to discover whether psychological and physiological parameters of anxiety existed between athletes who participated in individual sports versus athletes who competed in team sports. The sample comprised of Malaysian males back up athletes (N=52). State anxiety (Competitive State Anxiety Inventory (CSAI-2), heart rate and salivary cortisol samples were measured at three different times, which were one week, one day and one hour prior to the competition. In addition, trait anxiety scale was administered only to participants at one week before competition using State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Once the competition finished, performance satisfaction scale was obtained from the participants. Result of this study revealed that none of the variables, except for trait anxiety showed significant difference between individual and team sports athletes. In individual sport athletes, there was a significant difference in somatic anxiety at one week and one day prior to the competition. Unfortunately, somatic anxiety did not demonstrate any significant effect of time in team sports athletes. Trait anxiety also showed significantly moderate negative correlation with cognitive anxiety in individual sports. In team sports athletes, trait anxiety was significantly moderate positive correlation with self-confidence. Moreover, a significant strong, positive relationship between cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety was noted in both individual and team sports athletes. There was a significant strong, negative relationship between cognitive anxiety scores and self-confidence scores in individual sports. The results indicated that there was no significant correlation of CSAI-2 subscale scores with cortisol response in individual sports athletes across the three difference times. Whereas in team sports athletes, a significant moderate negative correlation was noted in self-confidence and cortisol response at one week prior to the competition and significant strong, positive relationship between somatic anxiety and cortisol response. Cortisol response was found significantly moderate negative correlation with performance satisfaction in individual sports but not in team sports. The results of this study could provide insight toward anxiety differences in athletes from different sports categories when the competition approaches. The measurement of cortisol at the same time with self-reports psychological indicators would provide an approach to examine changes in anxiety. Therefore, it is suggested that in future studies the effect of higher level of competitive situation on the anxiety related hormones should be examined

A Comparative Study Between Public And Private Procurement System In Building Projects In Malaysia

This thesis was undertaken to survey the perception and selection of client in Malaysia including the public and private sector on the types of procurement system „used‟ and „preferred‟, the problems arising based on the procurement „used‟ and also the satisfaction level between both sectors of client. The motivation to study the procurement systems in construction field are caused by the problems and many issues in the Malaysian construction industry recently. Since Malaysian construction industry is one of the components that give a massive impact on the national economy, procurement system are said to be correlate to this matter hence, needs to be revised. Personally Administered questionnaire survey were conducted over 4 months period in 2009 to get the population aim perception‟s on the procurement issues such procurement types „used‟ and „preferred‟, the problems of procurement types and the level of satisfaction between public and private sector clients. Interviews sessions were also conducted in order to strengthen the answers gathered in questionnaire survey session

Vehicle Crash Avoidance Modelling and Simulation Using Artificial Neural Network Approach

The objectives of this project are to study kinematics of vehicles in crash avoidance maneuvers, to model and simulate vehicles in crash avoidance scenarios in Matlab Simulink environment, and also to develop crash avoidance algorithm utilizing artificial neural network approach. The problem that leads to the development of this project is that accidents happened mostly caused by human error, in which traffic delays and congestion can eventually take place. The project involves a preliminary study on the simulation of changinglane and also merging into highwaytraffic. This project consists of two main components, which represents the method. The first component is whereby studying of vehicle kinematics in crash avoidance maneuvers is done. The second component is the process of modeling and simulation of crash avoidance scenarios in Matlab Simulink environment. Based on the project that is to be done, the accidents caused by lane changing and merging can be avoided through the design of intelligent vehicle and intelligent highway. As a conclusion, the results ofthis paper could be used to investigate on how to improve the safety of lane changingmaneuversand to provide warnings or take evasive actions to avoid collision when combined with appropriate hardware on board vehicles

Evaluation of Digital Speckle Filters for Ultrasound Images

Ultrasound (US) images are inherently corrupted by speckle noise causing inaccuracy of medical diagnosis using this technique. Hence, numerous despeckling filters are used to denoise US images. However most of the despeckling techniques cause blurring to the US images. In this work, four filters namely Lee, Wavelet Linear Minimum Mean Square Error (LMMSE), Speckle-reduction Anisotropic Diffusion (SRAD) and Non-local-means (NLM) filters are evaluated in terms of their ability in noise removal and capability to preserve the image contrast. This is done through calculating four performance metrics Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Ultrasound Despeckling Assessment Index (USDSAI), Normalized Variance and Mean Preservation. The experiments were conducted on three different types of images which is simulated noise images, computer generated image and real US images. The evaluation in terms of PSNR, USDSAI, Normalized Variance and Mean Preservation shows that NLM filter is the best filter in all scenarios considering both speckle noise suppression and image restoration however with quite slow processing time. It may not be the best option of filter if speed is the priority during the image processing. Wavelet LMMSE filter is the next best performing filter after NLM filter with faster speed