Systematic Approach to Arowana Gender Identification Problem Using Algorithm of Inventive Problem Solving (ARIZ)

This paper presents a systematic approach to arowana gender identification problem using algorithm of inventive problem solving (ARIZ). Arowana is a beautiful and expensive fish. Many farms try to improve their efficiency in breeding arowana, but the problem is that arowana is monomorphic, which makes it difficult to distinguish male from female just from their appearance. This causes difficulties in mating and selling of arowana. Many trial-and-error methods have been used with little success. The problem of arowana gender identification cannot be solved easily with the psychological methods such as brainstorming or trial and error, it needs a more logical and well-structured method of problem solving. In this paper, ARIZ is used to systematically analyze the problem and search for possibilities to identify the gender of arowana step by step, and finally, among 32 ideas generated, some potential solutions have been evaluated and compared with the commonly used methods with satisfactory results which demonstrate the effectiveness of ARIZ as a powerful innovative problem solving tool

Systematic Approach to Problem Solving of Low Quality Arc Welding during Pipeline Maintenance Using ARIZ (Algorithm of Inventive Problem Solving)

The pipelines in the oil and gas industry must be regularly checked for possible corrosion that might cause leakage of oil and gas. Magnetic flux leakage (MFL) technique is a magnetic method of nondestructive testing that is used to detect corrosion and metal loss in steel pipelines. The MFL device travels inside a pipeline to inspect the corrosion parts with a powerful magnet which is used to magnetize the pipe wall. At areas where there is corrosion or missing metal, the magnetic field leaks from the pipe wall and will be detected by magnetic sensors placed between the poles of the magnet and data is transmitted to the outside recording device for analysis. The problem occurs when it is necessary to remove the damaged segments of the pipe and replace them with the new ones by welding them to the existing pipelines. It is found that welding rod and arc column are subjected to some kind of force that causes them to deviate from the right position. In this paper, the problem of low quality arc welding during pipeline maintenance due to residual magnetic field on the pipeline caused by MFL inspection device is systematically analyzed to find the root causes and ideal solution of which internal resources are utilized, is attained by using ARIZ (in this paper, magnetic field from welding current is selected). Computer simulation using finite element method and field test are conducted and show satisfactory result for the proposed idea

Novel Approach to Respiratory Rate Measurement Using Resonance Tube with Contradictory Thresholding Technique

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to respiratory rate measurement using resonance tube to enhance the performance of microphone inserted and fixed at the end of the tube to catch breath sound signal from the mouth and/or nose. The signal is amplified and passed into envelope detector circuit after which it is compared with a suitable reference voltage in comparator circuit to generate a pulse train of square wave synchronized with the respiratory cycle. A simple algorithm is developed in a small microcontroller to detect rising edges of each consecutive square wave to calculate respiratory rate together with analysis of breathing status. In order to evade noises which will cause errors and artifacts in the measuring system, the reference voltage is creatively designed to intelligently adapt itself to be low during expiration period and high during inspiration and pause period using the concept of resolving contradiction in the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ). This makes the developed device simple and low-cost with no need for complicated filtering system. It can detect breath sound as far as 250 cm from the nose and can perform accurately as tested against End Tidal CO2 Capnography device. The result shows that the developed device can estimate precisely from as low as 0 BrPM to as high as 98 BrPM and it can detect shallow breathing as low as 10 mV of breath sound