Ashfaque Ahmed Chowdhury

Computer Integrated Manufacturing education to Mechanical Engineering students: Teaching, research and practice

This paper details the research and development of Computer Integrated Design and Manufacturing at Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Bangladesh, a subsidiary organ of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). IUT is basically an educational and research institution offering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the field of Engineering and Technology. The objectives of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) education are to provide industry with a new generation of engineers having interdisciplinary skills necessary to deal with state of the art technology in designing, manufacturing, maintenance, selecting, and procuring manufacturing engineering systems. The research activities on CIM systems, the course coverage and laboratory facilities are discussed in the paper. The available programs are four-year Mechanical Engineering degree program specialising in production engineering, Masters Program, and PhD. There is a thirty-two-weeks research project at the undergraduate curricula of mechanical engineering. Areas of research topics include CAD (computer aided design), CAM (computer aided manufacturing), CAPP (computer aided process planning), CNC (computer numerical control) machine tools, DNC (direct numerical control machine tools), FMS (flexible manufacturing systems), ASRS (automated storage and retrieval systems), use of robotics and automated conveyance, computerized scheduling and production control, and a business system integrated by a common database in the Department of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering at IUT.

Application of Project Based Study in the Learning Process: A Case Study

The study is a step toward studying the advanced technology specially to learn the control system of CNC lathe machine. This paper describes the development of a closed loop control system with encoder mounting as real-time control device for a conventional lathe. A personal computer is used for calculation as well as for controlling the motion of the drives. The servomotors are used for controlling the movement of carriage. A program is developed using Turbo C for evaluating the overall system. The developed control system is applied to evaluate work piece dimension in real time with the integration of production process. Encoders are used to collect real-time machining data. It is found that the errors are less than 0.005 mm of turning example part on X and Z axes. The average error is approximately 0.002 mm.

Parametric Analysis of Thermal Comfort and Energy Efficiency in Building in Subtropical Climate

This chapter presents a comparative analysis of human thermal comfort and energy efficiency achieved using traditional and alternative building envelopes. In this study, an alternative envelope system, which is scientifically and environmentally sustainable, is considered. It primarily consists of outside rendered walls with polystyrene, reinforced concrete and plasterboard inside to measure the thermal comfortability index and energy efficiency within the building environment. The results are then compared with the current brick veneer building thermal comfort index and energy performance. A parametric analysis is presented highlighting the impact of traditional and alternative envelopes on thermal comfortability and energy efficiency of buildings in a subtropical climate in Australia. The results found that the new building envelope reduces the average annual cooling energy consumption by about 11% compared to that of the current building envelope with adequate thermal comfort of the occupant.

Energy Efficient Cooling Technologies for Achieving Sustainability in Buildings in Subtropical Climate

Energy efficient cooling technology is the key to the building’s sustainability. To approach the concept of energy efficiency in building systems in a sub-tropical climate, buildings should adopt a number of innovative technologies. The building sector is of great consequence in Australia’s economy and greatly affects the level of resources that are consumed. As sustainability is an increasingly important issue, there is a need to address the factors affecting sustainability in the building sector. Globally buildings are responsible for a large portion of the total annual energy consumption in the world. Most of this energy is for the functioning of lighting, heating, cooling and air conditioning. Concerns about social and environmental sustainability have led to increased interest in planning for proper utilisation of energy. World’s attention on current climate change impact and sustainability has also urged for a closer look at the energy efficient technologies. As buildings are important consumer of energy and thus important contributor to the higher greenhouse gas emissions to the environment. Therefore, low energy cooling technologies for buildings must be one of the definite alternatives to contribute to the sustainability of buildings. This study is a step towards achieving this goal. In this study, the technologies of energy efficiency improvement in building cooling are reviewed to achieve better sustainability. The effectiveness of space-conditioning technologies within the building systems is also discussed.