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In order to compete in the global market, engineering organizations are under increasing pressure to design, develop, and deploy products in the market place as quickly as possible with first time quality. In order to achieve these objectives, it is necessary to streamline the design and development process, namely, “transfer of analytical design of Intelligence to Mechatronics intelligence” in an efficient and expedient manner. An increasing pressure exists on the development cycle of control systems to serve this widening application spectrum. The time-to-market of a new product often determines its commercial success. Consequently, design problems have to be discovered as early as possible in the design process in order to take remedial actions. Efficient and accurate tools and procedures are required to support short yet successful development processes. Over the last two decades, commercially available computer has become both increasingly powerful and increasingly affordable. This, in turn, has led to the emergence of highly sophisticated simulation software applications that not only enable high-fidelity simulation of dynamic systems and related controls, but also automatic code generation for implementation in industrial controllers. Simulation tools have been widely used for the design and improvement of electrical systems since the mid twentieth century. The evolution of simulation tools has progressed in step with the evolution of computing technologies. In last ten years, computing technologies have improved dramatically in performance and become widely available at a steadily decreasing cost. Consequently, simulation tools have also seen dramatic performance gains and steady cost decreases. Researchers and engineers now have access to affordable, high-performance simulation tools that were previously too cost prohibitive, except for the largest manufacturers and utilities. The purpose of this paper is to review major milestones that set the stage for the development of the today's real time simulation including sufficient detail to acquaint reader with their basic principles, strength, challenges and its applications.

Risk is the possibility that an undesirable event might occur in the future that will result in some negative consequences. Risk analysis of a system is required to protect the system from risky (more failure prone) components. Reliability Importance measures play an important role in ranking the components according to the impact on the system adequate performance. Risk based measures are useful in identifying the weak components and help in improving the reliability of the overall system efficiently. Risk and Reliability of Substation Automation System (SAS) are most important and desirable design considerations. SAS consists of different components and its applications require real time performance. Three substation automation system architectures are considered in this paper. Two important measures Improvement Potential (IP) and Risk Achievement Worth (RAW) are used to prioritize the components in two types of architectures of SAS. System reliability expressions for all architectures are computed with their reliability block diagrams. On the basis of these two IP and RAW measures the components DCP, ESW and NCCS are most important, BCU and EI are least important components from both maintenance and risk point of view.

Abstract Biodiesel has gained the forefront of our focus on renewable transportation fuels. This article provides a comprehensive review on the sources used as feedstock and their classification based on generation or type (edible, non-edible, waste resources and animal fats) along with a variety of classical and modern oil extraction techniques. The technical aspects of the various biodiesel production methods currently implemented to the best of our knowledge are discussed here, which include in-situ biodiesel production, both catalysed (homogeneous and heterogeneous systems) and uncatalysed classical production approaches, with emphasis on how each of these approaches are affected by their reaction parameters. The review also highlights the observed drawbacks of each process with a view to assessing the implementation of supercritical and superheated technologies as an alternative, economically feasible advancement. Supercritical process (SCP) has shown great prospect in the obtainment of high quality biodiesel from a wide range of high to low grade feedstock with minimal impacts on the presence of water or FFAs (free fatty acids). From available literature it is shown that these do not affect the process significantly, and various other supercritical fluids such as methyl acetate, tert-butyl methyl ether (MTBE) and dimethyl carbonate can also be used to avoid glycerol formation. The process however, suffers from high initial implementation cost being the most prominent drawback, among others like thermal degradation of the fuel. Another promising technique, the superheated vapour technology (SHV) has emerged as an alternative, with limited literature proving the superiority of either of these processes to be inconclusive. In future works, researchers need to look into various aspects such as developing a spiral reactor for heat recovery, using software based optimization for eliminating redundant experiments analysing production cost for industrial scale-up and improving the fuel’s oxidative stability by adding antioxidants for convenient long-term storage and use.

Abstract Heat exchanger is one the most essential heat transfer equipment in thermal area. On that heat transfer and effectiveness enhancement by using nano particles is recently developing method. In this study enhancement of effectiveness focused by using nano particles mixed with cold fluid used in the heat exchanger. Hot fluid is water with 200 °C flow into Counter flow heat exchanger and the cold fluid is mixed with 5% of nano particles which is combination of Aluminium oxide and Magnesium oxides with equal proportion. The inlet temperature of the cold fluid is maintained at 30 °C throughout the experiments. The temperatures of each place need to measure are obtained by the thermocouples connected on the particular portion of the setup. There is different mass flow rate of cold fluid passed in each successive experiment for the same mass flow rate and inlet temperature of the hot fluid. The consequent exit temperatures of hot and cold fluids were measured and considered for the mathematical calculations of the outcome of the experiments.

Improving access to safe drinking water can result in multi-dimensional impacts on people's livelihood. This has been aptly reflected in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) as one of the major objectives. Despite the availability of diverse and complex set of technologies for water purification, pragmatic and cost-effective use of the same is impeding the use of available sources of water. Hence, in country like India simple low-energy technologies such as solar still are likely to succeed. Solar stills would suffice the basic minimum drinking water requirements of man. Solar stills use sunlight, to kill or inactivate many, if not all, of the pathogens found in water. This paper provides an integrated assessment of the suitability of domestic solar still as a viable safe water technology for India. Also an attempt has been made to critically assess the operational feasibility and costs incurred for using this technology in rural India.

Abstract Globally, three-quarter of a billion people live without electricity. Besides, hundreds of million use a solar lantern for less than 4 h a day. Most of the access-deprived are in the Global South, predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The United Nations framed the seventh Sustainable Development Goal to improve access. Solar photovoltaic powered mini-grids are increasingly extending better service to deprived regions. However, poor load-factor and expensive storage adversely affect viability. Also, these mini-grids do not support infrequent large loads to avoid further loss of load-factor. Electric cooking is efficient and non-polluting; water treatment facilities can save millions from contaminant and pathogen by providing clean water. Besides, both electric cooking and water treatment are less expensive than alternatives. But mini-grids frequently do not support these. Indeed, the presence of sustained productive loads favourably influences the mini-grid economy. This study investigates the role of critical household loads to deliver similar bearing on the mini-grid economy. Results underscore realisation of desirable impact with household collaboration under a demand-response program. Collaborative consumption can lower initial investment by 62% and reduce the unit energy cost to $0.23. Also, cooperation improves the mini-grid load factor and promotes viability. Additionally, fast deployment needs during and after Covid-19 remains inherently supported while mitigating the pandemic induced financial stress of both consumer and mini-grid operator. This study of 88 nation-states underscores that demand response in a mini-grid can not only improve affordability for all consumers, but it can also bring 186 million people within affordable access.

Neem fibers are traditionally added as reinforcements in adobes. Laboratory experiments including, compressive strength, three-point bending strength, water absorption, erosion and thermal conductivity were carried out on adobes made with soil and reinforced with two neem fibers types (straw and leaves) at 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4%. It has been found that mechanical, thermal, and durability properties of adobes were globally improved. Furthermore, leaves neem fibers contribute strongly in comfort thermal, but their use has a negative effect on durability. Nevertheless, adobes reinforced with neem fibers are suitable as building materials with substantial thermal comfort and environmental benefits.