Engineering innovation and industrial development

Nigeria remains underdeveloped fifty two years after colonial rule exporting primary raw materials and depending on imports of everything including even the debasing second hand goods. This paper examines the capacity of engineering innovation to transform the economy. Approach of successive governments was analyzed. A linkage was traced between engineering innovation industrialization and the nation’s well-being. We conclude that power and the attitude of the people affect engineering innovation and industrial development

Quality Characteristics of Concrete Poles Manufactured in the Ibadan Metropolis, Southwest Nigeria

In Nigeria, power is transmitted by overhead transmission lines fixed on wooden or concrete poles. Often times these poles collapse under excessive loads occasioned by storm and accidents. This project work is to determine the quality characteristics of concrete electric poles used to carry overhead conductors in the Ibadan metropolis of Nigeria. Samples of broken concrete poles were collected from various sites within Ibadan metropolis. Core, permeability, cube and tensile tests were carried out on samples of stumbled poles and fresh concrete mix collected from companies producing poles. This was to check the conformance of the poles to the standard set by the regulatory authority. The test results showed that all the samples on which the core and permeability tests were carried out fell short of the required standard of 37,000KN/m. For the core test, only one sample had the average values of 46,200KN/m and 50,400KN/m2 at 7days and 28days respectively which exceeded the standard minimum value. The results showed that the manufacturers did not use the right ratio of materials, the mode of mixing of the aggregates was not adequate and casting allowed voids/air space which made the poles permeable and the period of curing (the number of days) of the poles was not adequate. Almost all the poles were found to be below standar

A Neuro-Fuzzy Linguistic Approach to Component Elements of a Grinding Wheel

The grinding wheel is made of very small, sharp and hard silicon carbide abrasive particles or grits held together by strong porous bond. These silicon carbide abrasive particles are hard crystalline materials which are held together by a strong, porous bond and these abrasive materials which are of extreme hardness are used to shape other materials by a grinding or abrading action. The paper presents, an analysis of the various component elements of a typical grinding wheel using neuro – fuzzy technique. Among these component elements are, the size of the grains and its spacing, volumetric proportion of grains, volumetric proportion of bonding material and volumetric proportion of pores. However, the work is new as it appears to be the first application of neuro – fuzzy to component elements of a grinding whee

A review on humanoid robotics in healthcare

Humanoid robots have evolved over the years and today it is in many different areas of applications, from homecare to social care and healthcare robotics. This paper deals with a brief overview of the current and potential applications of humanoid robotics in healthcare settings. We present a comprehensive contextualization of humanoid robots in healthcare by identifying and characterizing active research activities on humanoid robot that can work interactively and effectively with humans so as to fill some identified gaps in current healthcare deficiency

Performance Evaluation and Multidoped Composite Conditioned of A5-type/10%Ti-Sn Alloy: Processing and Properties

The need to improve the mechanical and electrochemical performance of aluminum alloy for extended application is the motivation behind this present work which is the inoculation of TiO2/SnO2 composite particulates on A500 by stir casting route. The effect of Ti/Sn on A500 aluminum series on the properties and microstructure of the produced alloy were investigated. The TiO2/SnO2 was varied from 5 to 10 wt.%. The microstructural properties of these sequence alloys were investigated using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The corrosion degradation properties in 3.65% NaCl solution were studied using linear potentiodynamic polarization technique. The wear and hardness of the composite-induced aluminum alloy were measured with dry abrasive MTR-300 testers and high diamond microhardness tester, respectively. The results showed that the average hardness value of 42.56 and 65.5 HV and wear loss of 1.5 and 0.5 g were obtained for the 0% and 10 wt.% TiO2/SnO2 in A500 series. Hence, the addition of TiO2�SnO2 led to the precipitation and modification of complex intermetallic particles like Al2SnTiO and AlSiSn which also indicate a fairly good interfacial interaction. This outcome has established that up to 10 wt.% particulate on A500 aluminum can be used in enhancing the tribology

Parametric Effects of Fused Deposition Modelling on the Mechanical Properties of Polylactide Composites: A Review

Polymers are generally inferior in mechanical properties to metals which are the current orthopaedic material for osseointegration in many parts of the world today. This assertion also applies to poly(lactic acid) (PLA), a polyester that has been recently found applicable in tissue remodelling. To improve on its mechanical properties, several processing techniques, inclusive of fused deposition modelling (FDM) also branded as fused filament fabrication (FFF), have been used. FDM has been endeared to many researchers because a range of parameters can be combined to bring about widely different mechanical properties. Although the influence of FDM parameters on the mechanical properties of PLA is clear, the tensile, compressive and flexural strengths obtained so far are inferior to human cortical bone. The need to improve on this production technique for improved mechanical properties is apparent in all the works examined in this revie

Mechanical Strength and Biocompatibility Properties of Materials for Bone Internal Fixation: A Brief Overview

An ideal bone internal fixation material does more than just fracture union. It ensures the preservation of Bone Mineral Density (BMD) and body-bone’s integrity. This has been a major fight in osteosynthesis from the ancient time till date. Animal skeletons that were first used as internal fixations though had some desirable mechanical properties comparable to bones, their usage resulted in mild pus formation, difficulty with resorption of sterile bones and non-union. A shift to metallic bone implants resulted in corrosion and bio-incompatibility, stress shielding, imaging and radiotherapy interference, temperature sensitivity, revision surgery with extreme difficulty, growth restriction, metal-in tissue accumulation, bone-metal elastic modulus mismatch to mention but a few. Advances in osteosynthesis have, however, led to great improvement on metallic bone fixations, yet leaving some fundamental issues unresolved. Exploration of biodegradable polymers and their composites is fast solving most of the problems encountered through the use of skeletal and metallic fixations. Their low Young's moduli and excellent biocompatibility, non-carcinogenicity and bioresorbability have made them viable materials for bone fracture healing. This brief overview covers the biomechanical properties of popular biological materials, metallic fixations and polymeric scaffold

Parameters for Design and Construction of a Pilot Scale Pyrolysis Gas-Furnace

The objective of this study is to analyse the design parameters for a pyrolysis furnace designed and built for experimental purposes using the principle of heat transfer. The furnace was made of a casing of low carbon steel sheets inside which the refractory bricks were moulded, forming the furnace cavity to prevent heat loss. The pyrolysis capsule was made of high carbon steel tube with flanges which can be opened for batch loading of the precursors and evacuation of products. The furnace was designed to be gas-fired due to high efficiency and cleaner nature of gas energy. The pyrolysis capsule is installed along the centre of the furnace cavity where combustion takes place. The heat energy accumulated around the capsule is being absorbed into the pyrolysis chamber where precursors are being loaded, the regulation of the temperature of the combustion chamber via the installed feedback mechanism to monitor and control the system. The capsule has a Nitrogen gas inlet for the inert environment needed for effective pyrolysis process and an outlet duct for pyrolysis oil collection and gas recovery. The experimental initial conditions were inputted in Solidworks Flow Simulation to determine the heat distribution at different regions of the furnace and thus made it easy to determine the furnace combustion chamber temperature at which the pyrolysis temperature will be attained inside the pyrolysis chambe

Design of a high Temperature ‘Anaerobic Gas-Furnace’ suitable for Pyrolysis

The need for a high temperature anaerobic furnace for pyrolysis is fast becoming indispensable for technological growth in Nigeria. In this project, a high temperature furnace was designed and built using the principle of heat transfer. The furnace was made of casing of low carbon steel sheets in four rectangular shapes. The refractories made of bricks filling the cavities of the furnace. This help to preserve heat loss. The pyrolysis capsule (chamber) was made of high carbon steel tube with flanges which can be opened for loading the products and evacuate. The mechanism to regulate the temperature and the gas input were installed. The furnace was gas-fired due to its high combustibility and providing a solution to the limited supply of electricity in the country. The prototype furnace produced is easy to use and multi-versatile with the innovation of the detachable pyrolysis capsule which can be modified by intent of pyrolysis products and byproducts. The pyrolysis capsule is surrounded by the flame jacket (of the furnace main chamber) created to heat up the capsule at a regulated rate to any desired temperature up to 1,200 oC with the automated control system for the gas supply unit. The designed high temperature anaerobic gas furnace is deployable for a wide range of pyrolysis processes and can be used for different precursors to produce an achievable end-product within the temperature limit

A Social Lifecycle Assessment Model for Sachet Water Production in Nigeria

In the last two decades sachet water production and consumption has become an integral part of our consumption culture in Nigerian cities and towns. Its emergence and growth has some significant environmental and socio-economic implications. The aim of this study was to assess social impacts of sachet water production in Nigeria. This paper reports a Social Lifecycle Assessment Methodology developed to evaluate social effects of sachet water production on workers and on the local community where its production is taking place. The methodology is demonstrated with a case study on a Sachet Water brand production by a company in Sango-Ota. The social performance score of the sachet water production facility is 35.7% on workers and 50% on local community. The overall social performance is 42.3%. Results of the analysis revealed social benefits and community engagement as significant issues. The facility therefore needs to make significant improvement on a number of social aspects of its operations with regard to workers. These results provide valuable insight for those who seek to produce or purchase responsibly. The contributions made by this study include articulation of social indicators that are relevant to Nigeria, especially to sachet water production. This being the first reported sLCA study in our country, the developed sLCA model and the case study would provide a platform for future comprehensive sLCA study of a number of Nigerian products and economic activiti