Review of electrical energy losses in Nigeria

The Nigerian electric power sector holds a lot of unfulfilled potentials for the economic development of Africa’s most populous country; the electric energy generated is not up to 30% of the national demand and worse still, over 50% of this paltry sum is recorded as losses—this is not indicative of commercial viability. The visible efforts being made to address the problems, though laudable, do not fully demonstrate complete appreciation of the underlying root causes. In this paper, an examination of the structure of the Nigerian electricity industry is provided followed by a technical review of factors responsible for the excessive losses (technical and non-technical) in the system. The solutions proffered would enable improved response, first to efficiently manage the available energy and also to grow the industry for the good of the nation. Keywords: Nigerian power distribution system, electric energy theft, power losses in Nigeria

Modelling of automatic car braking system using fuzzy logic controller

The increasing rate of road accident is alarming and any vehicle without an effective brake system is prone to accident with apparently disastrous effect following. This is due to human errors in driving which involves reaction time delays and distraction. Automatic braking system will be developed to keep the vehicle steerable and stable and also prevent wheel lock and collision with an obstacle. The objectives of this study are to: design an obstacle detection model using ultrasonic sensors, model an antilock braking system, develop fuzzy logic rules for both detection and antilock braking system, and simulate the developed model using Simulink in MATLAB software to achieve high braking torque, optimal slip ratio and shorter stopping distance and time. The results show 22% improvement in braking torque thereby giving a shorter stopping time and distance when compared to the normal PID control.Keywords: Slip ratio, Model, Ultrasonic Sensor, Antilock Braking System, Fuzzy logic, wheel loc