DAMPING ANALYSIS TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF SHUNT CAPACITIVE RF MEMS SWITCH

This paper describes the significance of the iterative approach and the structure damping analysis which help to get better the performance and validation of shunt capacitive RF MEMS switch. The micro-cantilever based electrostatic ally actuated shunt capacitive RF MEMS switch is designed and after multiple iterations on cantilever structure a modification of the structure is obtained that requires low actuation voltage of 7.3 V for 3 µm deformation. To validate the structure we have performed the damping analysis for each iteration. The low actuation voltage is a consequence of identifying the critical membrane thickness of 0.7 µm, and incorporating two slots and holes into the membrane. The holes to the membrane help in stress distribution. We performed the Eigen frequency analysis of the membrane. The RF MEMS switch is micro machined on a CPW transmission line with Gap-Strip-Gap (G-S-G) of 85 µm - 70 µm - 85 µm. The switch RF isolation properties are analyzed with high dielectric constant thin films i.e., AlN, GaAs, and HfO2. For all the dielectric thin films the RF MEMS switch shows a high isolation of -63.2 dB, but there is shift in the radio frequency. Because of presence of the holes in the membrane the switch exhibits a very low insertion loss of -0.12 dB

Energy Consumption Patterns in Transplanted Paddy Cultivation in India

Paddy is grown in 22.8 % of total cropped area of India. About 55 % of the area is under rainfed cultivation. Transplanted paddy cultivation is a better option than direct sown in terms of crop management and productivity. Energy use analyses were conducted on transplanted paddy cultivation (irrigated and rainfed) in 4839 audited farms of selected villages in 7 states between 1996 and 2001 under the All India Co-ordinated Research Project on \u27Energy Requirement in Agricultural Sector\u27. Irrigated farms consumed 57 to 201 % more energy mainly through electricity, fertiliser and diesel than in rainfed farms and had 20.4 to 67.3 % higher crop productivity. Operational energy use was 40 to 50 % of the total energy usage. Irrigation was the most energy consuming operation in irrigated farms followed by tillage, harvesting, threshing and transplanting. Canal water irrigated farms used about 26 to 37 % higher irrigation energy and also had tendency of using higher tillage energy. In rainfed farms, tillage was the most energy consuming operation followed by threshing and harvesting operations. Rainfed farms used 15 % more energy in tillage and 35 % more energy in transplanting. In high yielding irrigated areas, tractor farms had highest energy productivity (0.196 kg/MJ) while in medium yielding irrigated areas animal +power tiller farms had highest energy productivity (0.306 kg/ MJ). In rainfed areas, animal + tractor farms had highest energy productivity (0.371 kg/MJ). Overall energy productivity was highest (0.25 kg/MJ) in rainfed farms while for irrigated farms it was lower by 23.4 - 44.5 % exhibiting existence of law of diminishing return

Disinfestation of chickpea and green gram from Callosobruchus maculatus adults through hot air assisted microwave heating system

Pulse bruchid-infested samples of green gram (Vigna radiata) and chickpea (Cicer arietinum) having different moisture contents (7.5–9.5% wb) (1 cm bed depth) were exposed to microwave–hot air treatment for different exposure times (3 min 20 s to 6 min) and hot air temperatures (40–60 °C). Protein content, cooking time, textural kinetics, color and viability of the treated samples were analyzed, and techno-economic feasibility analysis was carried out for the process. Hundred percent mortality of adult insect (Callosobruchus maculatus) was achieved immediately, at an air temperature of 60 °C with microwave exposure period of 6 min at 2900 W power level. All the three processing parameters, i.e., moisture content, period of exposure and hot air temperature, were found to have significant effect on the mortality of pulse bruchids for both chickpea and green gram. Negligible differences were observed between the control and treated samples with respect to protein content for both chickpea and green gram. Cooking time, textural hardness, L value, greenness and viability of treated samples were lower than control sample. Cost of the treatment works out to be INR 6.28–7.07 per kg which is likely to come down with economics of scale

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Not AvailableIn the present paper, time series data on rainfall, fertilizer consumption and food grain production have been analyzed and studied and food grain production have been modelled using structural time series modelling. It was found that both monsoon as well as annual rainfall was not following uniform distribution. Also, a decreasing trend in fertilizer response was observed. The structural time series model was fitted and the food grain production was forecasted using the fitted model. It was forecasted that in 2016, the total food grain production will be 266.66 million tones with 95 % confidence interval (244.99-288.33).Not Availabl

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Not AvailableLeaf area (LA) measurement provides valuable key information in understanding the growth and physiology of a plant. Simple, accurate and non-destructive methods are inevitable for leaf area estimation. These methods are important for physiological and agronomic studies. However, the major limitations of existing leaf area measurement techniques are destructive in nature and time consuming. Therefore, the objective of the present work is to develop ANN and linear regression models along with image processing techniques to estimate spinach leaf area making use of leaf width (LW) and length (LL) and comparison of developed models performance based on the statistical parameters. The spinach leaves were grown under different nitrogen fertilizer dosesNot Availabl

Spray Application Characteristics of Bio-pesticide Solutions through Hydraulic Nozzles

A study was conducted for efficient delivery of bio-pesticides for controlled spray application by selecting proper nozzles and operating parameters. The spray parameters of two different classes of bio-pesticides (bacterial-based Bacillus thuringiensis and fungalbased Beauveria bassiana) were evaluated for discharge by three different sizes of hollow cone nozzles (1.14, 2.31 and 3.56 mm in diameter) at four operating pressures (145, 245, 345 and 445 kPa). The discharge, spray width, cone angle, coefficient of uniformity (CU), volume median diameter (VMD), droplet volume fraction at 90 % (DV0.9) and 10 % (DV0.1), and span of water solution and two bio-pesticide solutions were measured. The results indicated that there was no significant difference in mean discharge, spray width and cone angle among water, bacterial-based bio-pesticide (BBP) and fungal-based bio-pesticide (FBP) solutions. But, these spray parameters for the selected solutions differed significantly (p<0.001) with different sizes of nozzles and operating pressures. There was significant difference (p<0.001) in CU when bio-pesticide was added to water. The type of spray solution, nozzle orifice diameter and pressure had significant effects (p<0.001) on mean VMD, DV0.1, DV0.9 and span of spray. The means of solutions showed that the values of droplet spectra were highest for FBP solution, followed for BBP solution and water-only solution. It was concluded that the bio-pesticide solutions can be effectively sprayed with hollow cone nozzle having diameter of 3.56 mm at 145 kPa operating pressure

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Not AvailableA study was conducted for the efficient delivery of bio-pesticides for controlled spray application by selecting proper nozzles and operating parameters. The spray parameters of two different classes of bio-pesticides (bacterial-based Bacillus thuringiensis and fungal-based Beauveria bassiana) were evaluated for discharge by three different sizes of hollow cone nozzles (1.14, 2.31, and 3.56 mm in diameter) at four operating pressures (145, 245, 345 and 445 kPa). The discharge, spray width, cone angle, coefficient of uniformity (CU), volume median diameter (VMD), droplet volume fraction at 90 % (DV0.9) and 10 % (DV0.1), and span of the water solution and two bio-pesticide solutions were measured. The results indicated that there was no significant difference in mean discharge, spray width, and cone angle among water, bacterial-based bio-pesticide (BBP), and fungal-based bio-pesticide (FBP) solutions. But, these spray parameters for the selected solutions differed significantly (p<0.001) with different sizes of nozzles and operating pressures. There was a significant difference (p<0.001) in CU when bio-pesticide was added to water. The type of spray solution, nozzle orifice diameter, and pressure had significant effects (p<0.001) on mean VMD, DV0.1, DV0.9, and span of spray. The means of solutions showed that the values of droplet spectra were highest for FBP solution, followed for BBP solution and water-only solution. It was concluded that the bio-pesticide solutions can be effectively sprayed with a hollow cone nozzle having a diameter of 3.56 mm at 145 kPa operating pressure.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableA study was conducted to evaluate experimental set up for site specific application of neem coated granular urea. This was aimed to enhance fertilizer use efficiency, saving in input cost and reduced environmental degradation due to excessive use of fertilizer. The lab set up was developed based on design requirement consisted of fluted roller metering mechanism, mechanically actuated fertilizer dispensing system, fertilizer box and chain conveying arrangement for fixing cotton plant stem. A mechanical arrangement senses plant and fertilizer delivery system applies fertilizer to target plant. The fertilizer dispensing system’s actuating arm can be opened at force as low as 70 gm. Physical properties of neem coated granular urea were measured. Fertilizer box was provided with 45º side slope for free flow urea on the basis of angle of repose. The experimental set up has been tested over sticky belt to investigate optimum operating parameters for site specific application of neem coated urea. Simulated/Crop condition was created using cotton plant stems fixed over chain conveyor at a spacing of 60 cm. The setup was evaluated in terms of amount of urea delivered and length of band by varying exposure length of fluted roller (8, 16, 24, 32 mm) and forward speed (1.57, 2.04, 2.5 and 3.1 km.h-1). Best performance was observed at forward speed between 1.57 to 2.5 km.h-1.It was also found that percentage filling was observed between 155 to 189% as against theoretical values due to passive flow.SD and C.V. values for amount of urea delivered were ranged between 0.5-3.57 and 10-16%, respectively. Length of fertilizer band was observed in the range of 13 to 19 cm for selected forward speeds. Indicating that the developed setup can be used successfully for testing of site specific application of neem coated urea.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableAcoustical detection of insects feeding and crawling sounds was used to automatically monitor internal and external grain feeding bruchids in order to assess the growth and density of food legume bruchids (Callosobruchus chinensis and Callosobruchus maculatus) in bulk stored chickpea and green gram. Bruchids hidden inside the grain kernels were detected acoustically through amplification and filtering of their mobility and feeding sounds. The multivariate technique of artificial neural network (ANN) was applied to assess and predict the bruchids’ density in bulk stored legumes. Five levels of bruchids density (0, 5, 10 15 and 20 bruchids per 500 g) were monitored under without insulation and with insulated condition on the basis of formant parameter obtained by analysis of the acoustic sensor data. The K fold validation method with back propagation multilayer perceptron methodology was used for the prediction of bruchids densities. The maximum and minimum values of accuracy (R2) of 0.99, 0.98 and 0.90, 0.89 could be achieved for both bruchids in stored green gram and chickpea under insulation and without insulation for the training and validation dataset, respectively. Least RMSE (0.82 and 0.89) was obtained for C. maculatus in sound insulated stored green gram for training and validation dataset, respectively. The accuracy of prediction and validation of experimental data with low RMSE and high R2 values for both the food legumes indicated that the ANN modeling performed well in predicting bruchids density. Hence it can be concluded that, best prediction was obtained for the C. maculatus for green gram under insulated condition. The results further corroborated that bioacoustic detection technique with ANN provided a reliable and accurate monitoring technique for bruchids. The developed technique can be adopted in large bulk storage grain systems for the selected legumes for predicting and assessing the growth of bruchids thereby leading to safer storage.Not Availabl

Performance Evaluation of Tractor Operated Raised Bed Former-cum-Seeder for Maize– Chickpea Cropping Sequence

The main limiting factor in adoption of raised bed planting among farmers in vertisol is the lack of appropriate implements, especially for seeding. A study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of raised bed former-cumseeder in permanent raised bed system in comparison of zero till seed-cum-fertilizer drill in flatbed system under zero tillage condition for sowing of maize and chickpea crop. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with a raised bed former cum seeder/planter and a zero till seed-cum-fertilizer drill as main treatments, four sub-treatments with three replications. The sub plot treatments included control (top dressing of urea through broadcast method), straw mulching along with top dressing of urea by broadcast, foliar spray of 2% urea and split application of the remaining 50% urea at 100 mm depth using tractor operated variable depth fertilizer applicator in maize. Chickpea sub plot treatment included control (only basal application of NPK, straw mulching along with basal application of NPK, NPK +organic manure @ 2.7 t.ha-1 and NPK + vermicompost @ 1.4 t.ha-1 30 days after sowing. A saving of seed and fertilizers to an extent of 20% and 6%, respectively, in the case of maize and about 13% and 22%, respectively, in chickpea along with increase in yield by about 25% in both maize and chickpea was observed due to cultivation on permanent raised beds