Biochar is a solid material obtained from the carbonization of biomass. Biochar is used on agricultural lands as a soil amendment to improve the fertility of the soils. Currently the most common method of producing bi...Biochar is a solid material obtained from the carbonization of biomass. Biochar is used on agricultural lands as a soil amendment to improve the fertility of the soils. Currently the most common method of producing biochar is through biochar stoves. There are two basic stove operations in the production of biochar. The first type of stove produces biochar by direct combustion of biomass. Here biomass is burnt inside a chamber in an oxygen limited environment. The resulting residue is the bio-char. The second type involves burning the biomass in one chamber and housing the biomass to be charred in the annular portion of an outer chamber. Heat is transferred from the burning fuel on the inner chamber to the material to be charred in the outer chamber. While the process of biochar production in these stoves is known, the basic principles of the stove design are not readily available. The design methodology for both the types was developed from first principles. Prototypes of both types were constructed based on the design developed and tested. The paper lists the basic principles in the design of biochar stoves and the test results.展开更多
With increasing crude oil prices, fuels like kerosene and cooking gas have become unaffordable for many ordinary people in developing countries. For millions of Africans who need heat energy to cook their food, biomas...With increasing crude oil prices, fuels like kerosene and cooking gas have become unaffordable for many ordinary people in developing countries. For millions of Africans who need heat energy to cook their food, biomass like wood remains the easiest and cheapest source of fuel. Charcoal remains the most popular choice compared to wood since it can cook food much faster with very little smoke. Torrefaction of biomass is a mild form of pyrolysis at temperatures typically between 200℃ and 300℃ to produce charcoal. Torrefaction changes biomass properties to provide a much better fuel quality for combustion applications. A simple parabolic trough solar collector to produce charcoal by torrefaction process using solar energy has been designed from first principles. The device was fabricated and various locally available wood species were tested. The yield was found to be 21% to 35% with a production time of 90 minutes. The paper details the design procedure and the test results.展开更多
The quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle is a great platform for control systems research as its nonlinear nature and under-actuated configuration make it ideal to synthesize and analyze control algorithms. After a brief...The quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle is a great platform for control systems research as its nonlinear nature and under-actuated configuration make it ideal to synthesize and analyze control algorithms. After a brief explanation of the system, several algorithms have been analyzed including their advantages and disadvantages: PID, Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR), Sliding mode, Backstepping, Feedback linearization, Adaptive, Robust, Optimal, L1, H∞, Fuzzy logic and Artificial neutral networks. The conclusion of this work is a proposal of hybrid systems to be considered as they combine advantages from more than one control philosophy.展开更多
文摘Biochar is a solid material obtained from the carbonization of biomass. Biochar is used on agricultural lands as a soil amendment to improve the fertility of the soils. Currently the most common method of producing biochar is through biochar stoves. There are two basic stove operations in the production of biochar. The first type of stove produces biochar by direct combustion of biomass. Here biomass is burnt inside a chamber in an oxygen limited environment. The resulting residue is the bio-char. The second type involves burning the biomass in one chamber and housing the biomass to be charred in the annular portion of an outer chamber. Heat is transferred from the burning fuel on the inner chamber to the material to be charred in the outer chamber. While the process of biochar production in these stoves is known, the basic principles of the stove design are not readily available. The design methodology for both the types was developed from first principles. Prototypes of both types were constructed based on the design developed and tested. The paper lists the basic principles in the design of biochar stoves and the test results.
文摘With increasing crude oil prices, fuels like kerosene and cooking gas have become unaffordable for many ordinary people in developing countries. For millions of Africans who need heat energy to cook their food, biomass like wood remains the easiest and cheapest source of fuel. Charcoal remains the most popular choice compared to wood since it can cook food much faster with very little smoke. Torrefaction of biomass is a mild form of pyrolysis at temperatures typically between 200℃ and 300℃ to produce charcoal. Torrefaction changes biomass properties to provide a much better fuel quality for combustion applications. A simple parabolic trough solar collector to produce charcoal by torrefaction process using solar energy has been designed from first principles. The device was fabricated and various locally available wood species were tested. The yield was found to be 21% to 35% with a production time of 90 minutes. The paper details the design procedure and the test results.
文摘The quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle is a great platform for control systems research as its nonlinear nature and under-actuated configuration make it ideal to synthesize and analyze control algorithms. After a brief explanation of the system, several algorithms have been analyzed including their advantages and disadvantages: PID, Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR), Sliding mode, Backstepping, Feedback linearization, Adaptive, Robust, Optimal, L1, H∞, Fuzzy logic and Artificial neutral networks. The conclusion of this work is a proposal of hybrid systems to be considered as they combine advantages from more than one control philosophy.
