B. Durga Prasad

Combustion analysis of diesel engine fueled with jatropha oil methyl ester - Diesel blends

This work involves the analysis of the combustion, performance and emission characteristics of a direct injection diesel engine fuelled with jatropha methyl ester (JTME), diesel and their blends. JTME is prepared by the alkali transesterification of Jatropha oil with methanol. The combustion parameters are determined by measuring in-cylinder pressure with respect to crank angle. The results show that ignition delay, maximum heat release rate and combustion duration are lower for JTME and its blends compared to diesel. Though JTME and its blends recorded lower Brake thermal efficiency, they have lower tail pipe emissions as compared to diesel, except for nitrogen oxides.

Chemical Composition of Natural Fibers and its Influence on their Mechanical Properties

The conventional composites are replacing such well-established structural materials as steel, iron, and aluminum very fast. The conventional composites are not easily disposable. To overcome the problems of disposability and pollution, the focus is on the fabrication of natural composite materials. The natural composite materials are made from natural fibers and natural resins. Various natural fibers, such as jute, hemp, coir, cotton, and others are used in industry to fabricate natural composite materials. The fibers are load-carrying members in the composites. The main constituents of the fibers are cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin, pectin, and wax. The composition of fibers depends on the geographic location where the plants are grown up. The peculiarity is the fact that all the fibers have the same constituents, but with different composition, which makes the fibers to behave differently. In this work, the Pearson rank correlation coefficients are found between the composition and properties of the fibers, and the corresponding equations of regression lines are obtained.

An Extraction and Performance Analysis of Rubber Seed-Methyl Ester on an IC Engine at Various Compression Ratios

Energy, Environment, and Economy are the 3Es which drive GDP growth of any country in the world. Energy security is the need of the hour due to high uncertainty prevailing globally, especially for countries like India which depend heavily on oil import to meet their growing energy needs. Use of edible bio-oil for biodiesel production may not be a viable option due to its high demand for cooking purpose. However, nonedible and discarded oils like rubber seed oil can be harnessed to supplement the increasing need for automobile fuels. High free fatty acid (FFA) content of the raw rubber seed oil increases the viscosity which makes it unsuitable for direct use in IC engines. The viscosity was reduced in two stage esterification process by conducting planned sets of experiment. The process parameters were optimized to maximize the oil yield. Fuel properties were ascertained by standard test procedure before conducting performance test in IC Engine. Better performance of the engine, while using biodiesel was found at the CR of 20. The results were compared with standard diesel for performance and emission standards. The emission analyses were done with standard procedure and found to be satisfactory. Biodiesel being an oxygenated fuel yields higher combustion efficiency, in spite of having slightly higher specific gravity than diesel.

Analysis on influence of machining parameters on thrust force in drilling GFRP-armor steel sandwich composites

This paper presents a study and analysis on the thrust force in the drilling of dissimilar materials. The material used is armor steel-glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites. The armor steel is sandwiched between the two GFRP layers. Experimental design technique is used for conducting the experiments. The three panels are drilled, and the influences of feed and spindle speed on the thrust force are measured and mathematical models are established between the drilling parameters. The results indicate that the thrust force required is more for the bottom panel than for the top, most probably due to part of the drill is engaged in the armor plate and the heat is also generated because of higher thrust force experienced in drilling the middle layer. The results are discussed and presented in detail.

Characterization of kenaf fiber and its composites: A review

Nowadays, fiber-reinforced composites have gained attention due to their improved potential for replacing the conventional materials in various applications. Kenaf fiber has been widely used as reinforcement in composites over the past few years which is a most attractive alternative due to its rapid growth at different climatic conditions and ensuring low cost; kenaf fiber has gained some attention to replacing the glass fiber composite and making it purely an eco-friendly composite. However, for enhancing its properties in different applications, an appropriate characterization is very important. Hence, many researches have been conducted in recent years, for the characterization of kenaf fiber and its composites. In this paper, a state-of-the-art review of these characterizations is presented.

Sliding Wear Response of Beryl Reinforced Aluminum Composite - A Factorial Design Approach

Al-Beryl MMCs were successfully fabricated using powder metallurgy route. Processing conditions such as beryl content and particle size were varied and its influence on dry sliding wear response was studied. Effect of test parameters like applied load and sliding distance on wear performance of Al-Beryl MMCs were discussed detail. Sliding wear tests were conducted using a pin on disc machine based on the 24 (4 factors at 2 levels) factorial design. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to obtain the contribution of control parameters on wear rate. The present study shows that wear resistance of Al-beryl MMCs not only depends on the beryl content but also influenced by normal load, sliding distance and particle size. The results show that most significant variables affecting wear rate of Al - beryl MMCs are size of the beryl particles (22%), beryl content (19.60%), sliding distance (18.47%), and normal load (10.30%). The interaction effects of these parameters are less significant in influencing wear rate compared to the individual parameters. The correlation between sliding wear and its parameters was obtained by multiple regression analysis. Regression model developed in the present study can be successfully implemented to predict the wear response of Al-Beryl MMCs.

Experimental Study of Thermal Energy Storage System Using Nanofluid

Efficient and reliable thermal energy storage systems are required for solar applications to overcome their existing discontinuous nature and abrupt change in weather conditions. In Thermal energy storage system, Phase Change Material (PCM) is used as latent heat storage material has received greater attention in recent era. It has better heat storage capacity and isothermal nature during charging and discharging processes. Besides having high energy density most of the PCMs have an unacceptable low thermal conductivity. To over come this drawback heat transfer enhancement techniques are required for any Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage (LHTS) application comprises with PCMs. One of the best suited method is the addition of nanoparticles into base fluid to enhance its thermal performance. Phase change materials (PCMs) have a high ability to store energy and have an excellent characteristic of constant temperature in the course of absorbing or releasing energy. In present work, Al2O3 nanoparticles are added in 0.02 and 0.08% volume concentration into the base fluid (water) to enhance its thermal performance.

Influence of Machining Parameters on Diameter Error in Drilling of GFRP – Armour Steel Sandwich Composites

This paper presents a study on cutting parameters on the roundness error on drilling of an armour steel –Glass fiber reinforced plastic sandwiched plate, which is extensively used in defence industries. The influence of parameters on roundness error is presented in detail. The results indicated that the increase of feed rate increases the roundness error, whereas the increase of spindle speed reduce the roundness error in drilling. The results are analysed through graphs and presented in this study.

Investigation on 4S ceramic heater surface ignition C.I. engine using ethanol- diesel blends with amyl nitrate additive

An experimental investigation on the performance of surface ignition 4S (four stroke) C.I (Compression Ignition) engine fueled with pure diesel (0/100) and ethanol-diesel blends ratio of 15/85, 25/75, 30/70 and 35/65 by volume of ethanol are evaluated. Amyl nitrate (B) additive is used to satisfy mixture homogeneity and prevent phase separation. The mixing protocol considered of first blending the emulsifier into the ethanol and then blending this mixture into the diesel fuel. The tests are carried out on a ceramic heater surface ignition single cylinder aluminium oxide coating on piston head diesel engine under steady state operating conditions on two specified speeds of 1250rpm and 1500rpm. The stabilized zirconia ceramic heater is used to reduce the emissions from the engine and improve engine output behavior. The relevant parameters such as brake thermal efficiency, brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and emissions are calculated for ethanol-diesel blends with 5% of additive 15/85, 25/75, 30/70 and 35/65 by volume. The emulsifier replaced a corresponding part of the diesel. Thus, the 15/85 blend ratio corresponds to 85% diesel fuel, 5% additive and 10% ethanol, and similarly for the other blends. The stabilized zirconia ceramic heater is used to reduce the emissions by 38% of NOx, under half load conditions for the blends of B5D85E10 (15/85) (5% additive 85% diesel, 10% ethanol) gives minimum CO emissions, unburned HC emissions by 7.5 ppm for B0D100E0 (0/100) (pure diesel) and improve engine output behavior to 1.8%.