Design and Development of Prototype Cylindrical Parabolic Solar Collector for Water Heating Application

Concentrating collectors absorbs solar energy and convert it into heat for generating hot water, steam at required temperature, which can be further used for solar thermal applications. The developing countries like India where solar energy is abundantly available; there is need to develop technology for harnessing solar energy for power production, but the main problem associated with concentrating solar power technology is the high cost of installation and low output efficiency. To solve this problem, a prototype cylindrical parabolic solar collector having aperture area of 1.89 m2 is designed and developed using low cost highly reflecting and absorbing material to reduce initial cost of project and improve thermal efficiency. ASHRAE Standard 93, 1986 was used to evaluate the thermal performance and it was observed that this system can generate hot water at an average temperature of 500C per day with an average efficiency of 49% which is considerable higher than flat plate solar collectors. Hot water produced by this system can be useful for domestic, agricultural, industrial process heat applications.Article History: Received Sept 19, 2015; Received in revised form Dec 23, 2015; Accepted February 2, 2016; Available online How to Cite This Article: Bhujangrao, K.H. (2016). Design and Development of Prototype Cylindrical Parabolic Solar Collector for Water Heating Application. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 5(1), 49-55 http://dx.doi.org/10.14710/ijred.5.1.49-5

Phase transfer of platinum nanoparticles from aqueous to organic solutions using fatty amine molecules

In this report we demonstrate a simple process based on amine chemistry for the phase transfer of platinum nanoparticles from an aqueous to an organic solution. The phase transfer was accomplished by vigorous shaking of a biphasic mixture of platinum nanoparticles synthesised in an aqueous medium and octadecylamine (ODA) in hexane. During shaking of the biphasic mixture, the aqueous platinum nanoparticles complex via either coordination bond formation or weak covalent interaction with the ODA molecules present in the organic phase. This process renders the nanoparticles sufficiently hydrophobic and dispersible in the organic phase. The ODA-stabilised platinum nanoparticles could be separated out from hexane in the form of a powder that is readily redispersible in weakly polar and non-polar organic solvents. The ODA-capped platinum nanoparticles show high catalytic activity in hydrogenation reactions and this is demonstrated in the efficient conversion of styrene to ethyl benzene. The nature of binding of the ODA molecules to the platinum nanoparticles surface was characterised by thermogravimetry, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)

A Study on Factors Influencing Investing in Mutual Fund with Special Reference to Mysore District

Financial reforms have great impact not only on Indian financial system but also on Indian economy as a whole. Three sectors of Indian financial system that are greatly influenced and witnessed substantial growth are banking, insurance, mutual fund. During the last decade, these three sectors have seen various developments. Mutual funds are investment avenues for the investors. Mutual fund is the pool of money of several investors to invest in financial investment such as stock, government securities and debentures. There are various sources of information like Television, internet, newspaper and also All India mutual fund association has published two booklets “Making mutual funds works for you” and “Selling mutual funds made easy”. These two publications translated into regional languages and distributed widely .To what extent do these sources of information influence the investors? The bankers or agents or financial advisers rendered services like providing knowledge about tax laws, new scheme, sorting out the problem, providing of consultancy. These are essential to strengthen or promote the mutual fund. Are the investors really satisfied with their services? If so, to what extent? Every investor has different investment avenues to invest in. There are some factors such as tax benefits, safety and liquidity, which influence behaviour of investors in selection of mutual fund (Prasada Rao and Vedantam Saikia, 2006). Do these factors influence behaviour of investors in the selection of mutual fund?, In this regard the present study is conducted to list the factors influencing investing in mutual funds in Mysore district

Chitosan reduced gold nanoparticles as novel carriers for transmucosal delivery of insulin

Purpose: Colloidal metallic systems have been recently investigated in the area of nanomedicine. Gold nanoparticles have found themselves useful for diagnostic and drug delivery applications. Herein we have reported a novel method for synthesis of gold nanoparticles using a natural, biocompatible and biodegradable polymer; chitosan. Use of chitosan serves dual purpose by acting as a reducing agent in the synthesis of gold nanoparticles and also promotes the penetration and uptake of peptide hormone insulin across the mucosa. To demonstrate the use of chitosan reduced gold nanoparticles as carriers for drug delivery, we report herein the transmucosal delivery of insulin loaded gold nanoparticles. Materials and Methods: Gold nanoparticles were prepared using different concentrations of chitosan (from 0.01% w/v up to 1% w/v). The gold nanoparticles were characterized for surface plasmon band, zeta potential, surface morphology, in vitro diffusion studies and fluorescence spectroscopy. The in vivo studies in diabetic male Wistar rats were carried out using insulin loaded chitosan reduced gold nanoparticles. Results: Varying concentrations of chitosan used for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles demonstrated that the nanoparticles obtained at higher chitosan concentrations (>0.1% w/v) were stable showing no signs of aggregation. The nanoparticles also showed long term stability in terms of aggregation for about 6 months. Insulin loading of 53% was obtained and found to be stable after loading. Blood glucose lowering at the end of 2 h following administration of insulin loaded gold nanoparticles to diabetic rats was found to be 30.41 and 20.27% for oral (50 IU/kg) and nasal (10 IU/kg), respectively. Serum gold level studies have demonstrated significant improvement in the uptake of chitosan reduced gold nanoparticles. Conclusions: The synthesis of gold nanoparticles using a biocompatible polymer, chitosan would improve its surface properties for binding of biomolecules. Our studies indicate that oral and nasal administration of insulin loaded chitosan reduced gold nanoparticles has led to improved pharmacodynamic activity. Thus, chitosan reduced gold nanoparticles loaded with insulin prove to be promising in controlling the postprandial hyperglycemia

Phase transfer of silver nanoparticles from aqueous to organic solutions using fatty amine molecules

We demonstrate the phase transfer of silver nanoparticles synthesized in an aqueous medium into hexane containing the cationic surfactant octadecylamine (ODA). During vigorous shaking of the biphasic mixture, rapid phase transfer of the silver nanoparticles into the organic phase was observed. The phase transfer of the silver nanoparticles arises due to coupling of the silver nanoparticles with the ODA molecules present in organic phase via either coordination bond formation or weak covalent interaction. This process renders the nanoparticles sufficiently hydrophobic and dispersible in the organic phase. The ODA-stabilized silver nanoparticles could be separated out from the organic phase in the form of a powder and are readily redispersible in different organic solvents. The nature of binding of the ODA molecules to the silver nanoparticle surface was characterized using UV-vis spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, transmission electron microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

A low-temperature, soft chemistry method for the synthesis of zirconia nanoparticles in thermally evaporated fatty amine thin films

We demonstrate the synthesis of zirconia nanoparticles in a lipid matrix by a simple, low temperature beaker-based process. This is accomplished by electrostatic entrapment of ZrF62− ions within thermally evaporated octadecylamine (ODA) thin films followed by the low-temperature in situ hydrolysis of the entrapped metal ion complexes. The zirconia particles thus formed were of the monoclinic phase and were fairly monodisperse with particles of average size 40 nm. The zirconia crystallites appeared to exhibit preferred orientation indicating epitaxial growth of the crystals within the lipid matrix. The formation of zirconia nanoparticles in the lipid matrix was investigated using quartz crystal microgravimetry (QCM), optical absorption spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques