Applying Source Parameter Imaging (SPI) to Aeromagnetic Data to Estimate Depth to Magnetic Sources in the Mamfe Sedimentary Basin

Aeromagnetic data over the Mamfe Basin have been processed. A regional magnetic gridded dataset was obtained from the Total Magnetic Intensity (TMI) data grid using a 3 × 3 convolution (Hanning) filter to remove regional trends. Major similarities in magnetic field orientation and intensities were observed at identical locations on both the regional and TMI data grids. From the regional and TMI gridded datasets, the residual dataset was generated which represents the very shallow geological features of the basin. Processing this residual data grid using the Source Parameter Imaging (SPI) for magnetic depth suggests that the estimated depths to magnetic sources in the basin range from about 271 m to 3552 m. The highest depths are located in two main locations somewhere around the central portion of the study area which correspond to the area with positive magnetic susceptibilities, as well as the areas extending outwards across the eastern boundary of the study area. Shallow magnetic depths are prominent towards the NW portion of the basin and also correspond to areas of negative magnetic susceptibilities. The basin generally exhibits a variation in depth of magnetic sources with high, average and shallow depths. The presence of intrusive igneous rocks was also observed in this basin. This characteristic is a pointer to the existence of geologic resources of interest for exploration in the basin.

Regional Intrusive Signature from the Cameroon Coastal Basins to Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea (Gulf of Guinea) Using Gravity Studies

The Gulf of Guinea constitutes an area of great petroleum potential yet with very limited geophysical research information. Consequently in this study, a Bouguer anomaly map has been computed from gravity data covering regions stretching from the Cameroon coastal basins to Bioko island (formerly Fernando Po) which is part of Equatorial Guinea. The data were further processed for Source Edge Detection (SED), Euler 3D deconvolution, 3D surface oriented models and 3D voxel solutions. The results confirmed the presence of previously identified intrusive bodies around the Douala and Kribi/Campo sedimentary sub-basins and went ahead to suggest a probable continuity between these two. A possible extension of this body offshore the Gulf of Guinea right up to Bioko island with very striking similarities was also highlighted and it shows characteristic variations in the depth to the surface of the body at different locations.

Displaying Water Table Levels, Flow Direction for Predicting Construction Techniques Using Geographic Information: Case Study of Kumba (South West, Cameroon)

The rapid economic growth of the town present the matter of water issue as a problem to human life human life, construction life, agriculture, etc. This study is to predict techniques of foundation construction through the displaying of the water table at the flow direction in the town of Kumba and GIS. It is characterized by a significant research question which is the level of fall and rise in groundwater levels within the town of Kumba and this influence on choice of types of foundation in construction. This study is directed to decision makers, and technicians of the construction field to develop policies facilitating the supervision when building construction foundation by informing about water level depth and its flow direction in the town. To achieve this, depths of static water levels were measured in over 200 randomly selected hand-dug wells in Kumba, after their geolocation and data were collected during the dry season (November and March 2017) and during the rainy season (between April and October 2017). Data were analyzed and treated using Microsoft Excel and GIS software us as Golden Surfer, Global Mapper, and ArcGIS. The results show variations of water level and those areas that may threaten foundation construction. Quarter as Kumba Station, Mile 1, Bulletin Street (Fongong Quarter), and parts of Fiango show that water table is to deep water and proper for the shallow foundation but very hard for water supply through borehole. Groundwater flow direction was revealed to be towards the south and southeastern parts of Kumba. The significant of the study is to propose to the technician the direct application on the field of chosen types of foundations according to the quarter and proposed groundwater supply possibilities.

Design of a Photovoltaic Mini-Grid System for Rural Electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper presents a detailed design of a photovoltaic (PV) system for use in the rural electrification of remote settlements that are far off from the electricity grid. Since investment in building transmission lines from the grid to these localities is not viable, a good solution is an installation in these areas of standalone photovoltaic systems. The design process comprises the choice and dimensioning of the solar panels, the battery storage, DC-AC inverter, and mini transmission grid to the different homes. The design is for a 15 kW PV system including an economic evaluation and analysis using Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software. Data on the average monthly solar radiation and temperature were obtained from various sources, including, Photovoltaic Geographical Information System (PVGIS) for Africa. From this data the study area receives a monthly average solar insolation of 6.16 kWh/m2/day with the worst month being August with 5.22 kWh/m2/day. The total daily electrical energy consumption is estimated to be about 72.525 kWh. Simulation results using HOMER software shows that the overall capital cost of the PV system components is $122,337, a replacement cost of $12,889 and an operation and maintenance cost of $29,946 over 10years. A financial analysis of the system showed that the design was both viable and sustainable with low maintenance cost.

Simulations of the Performance of Maximum Power Point Tracking Algorithms Based on Experimental Data According to the Topologies of DC-DC Converters

Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithms are now widely used in PV systems independently of the weather conditions. In function of the application, a DC-DC converter topology is chosen without any previous performance test under normal weather conditions. This paper proposes an experimental evaluation of MPPT algorithms according to DC-DC converters topologies, under normal operation conditions. Four widely used MPPT algorithms i.e. Perturb and Observe (P & O), Hill Climbing (HC), Fixed step Increment of Conductance (INCF) and Variable step Increment of Conductance (INCV) are implemented using two topologies of DC-DC converters i.e. buck and boost converters. As input variables to the PV systems, recorded irradiance and temperature, and extracted photovoltaic parameters (ideality factor, series resistance and reverse saturation current) were used. The obtained results show that buck converter has a lot of power losses when controlled by each of the four MPPT algorithms. Meanwhile, boost converter presents a stable output power during the whole day. Once more, the results show that INCV algorithm has the best performance.

Energy Analysis and Exergy Utilization in the Residential Sector of Cameroon

In this paper, we present an analysis of energy and exergy utilization in the residential sector of Cameroon by considering the sectoral energy and exergy flows for the years of 2001-2010. Exergy analysis of Cameroon residential sector utilisation indicates a less efficient picture than that obtained by the energy analysis. Cooking stands out as the most inefficient end use in the Cameroon’s residential sector. In 2010, the energy and exergy efficiency are determined and were respectively 58.74% and 22.63%. Energy and exergy flows diagrams for the overall efficiencies of Cameroon residential sector are illustrated and a comparison with the residential sector of other countries is also done. To carry out this study, a survey of 250 households was conducted and the sharing of the end uses of energy was done and data were gathered.

Load Frequency Control of Small Hydropower Plants Using One-Input Fuzzy PI Controller with Linear and Non-Linear Plant Model

This study presents an intelligent approach for load frequency control (LFC) of small hydropower plants (SHPs). The approach which is based on fuzzy logic (FL), takes into account the non-linearity of SHPs—something which is not possible using traditional controllers. Most intelligent methods use two- input fuzzy controllers, but because such controllers are expensive, there is economic interest in the relatively cheaper single-input controllers. A non- linear control model based on one-input fuzzy logic PI (FLPI) controller was developed and applied to control the non-linear SHP. Using MATLAB/Si- mulink SimScape, the SHP was simulated with linear and non-linear plant models. The performance of the FLPI controller was investigated and compared with that of the conventional PI/PID controller. Results show that the settling time for the FLPI controller is about 8 times shorter;while the overshoot is about 15 times smaller compared to the conventional PI/PID controller. Therefore, the FLPI controller performs better than the conventional PI/PID controller not only in meeting the LFC control objective but also in ensuring increased dynamic stability of SHPs.

The Socio-Economic Impact of Land Use and Land Cover Change on the Inhabitants of Mount Bambouto Caldera of the Western Highlands of Cameroon

This work assessed the impact of land use and land cover (LULC) change on the socio-economic conditions of the inhabitants in the Mount Bambouto Caldera from 1980-2016. To achieve this, three time series satellite images;Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) (1980), Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) (2001), and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) (2016) scenes were employed to investigate the changes in LULC. The use of satellite images was supplemented with individual interviews, discussions with focus groups and key informants, and direct field observations. Five categories of LULC classes were identified namely: thick woody vegetation (natural forest and oil palms), light vegetation (croplands), savannah (grasslands), buildings (settlements), and bare grounds. The results showed that between 1980 and 2016, croplands, buildings and bare lands increased by 4%, 0.43% and 5.7% respectively while savannah/grassland and natural forest decreased by 4.4% and 5.8% respectively. Household survey revealed soil fertility decline and lack of credit schemes to be major constraints to crop production. Many religious holidays contribute to seasonal food shortages and the community faces a host of socio-economic and institutional challenges. Consequently, majority of house-holds are destitute, live in abject poverty;which is an indication of the need for interventions by government and other development stakeholders to tackle the problems of soil fertility, land use change and food insecurity.

Maximum Power Point Tracking Using the Incremental Conductance Algorithm for PV Systems Operating in Rapidly Changing Environmental Conditions

Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) is an important process in Photovoltaic (PV) systems because of the need to extract maximum power from PV panels used in these systems. Without the ability to track and have PV panels operate at its maximum power point (MPP) entails power losses;resulting in high cost since more panels will be required to provide specified energy needs. To achieve high efficiency and low cost, MPPT has therefore become an imperative in PV systems. In this study, an MPP tracker is modeled using the IC algorithm and its behavior under rapidly changing environmental conditions of temperature and irradiation levels is investigated. This algorithm, based on knowledge of the variation of the conductance of PV cells and the operating point with respect to the voltage and current of the panel calculates the slope of the power characteristics to determine the MPP as the peak of the curve. A simple circuit model of the DC-DC boost converter connected to a PV panel is used in the simulation;and the output of the boost converter is fed through a 3-phase inverter to an electricity grid. The model was simulated and tested using MATLAB/Simulink. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the IC algorithm for tracking the MPP in PV systems operating under rapidly changing temperatures and irradiations with a settling time of 2 seconds.

Optimal Placement and Sizing of Distributed Energy Generation in an Electrical Network Using the Hybrid Algorithm of Bee Colonies and Newton Raphson

Distributed generation (DG) is gaining in importance due to the growing demand for electrical energy and the key role it plays in reducing actual energy losses, lowering operating costs and improving voltage stability. In this paper, we propose to inject distributed power generation into a distribution system while minimizing active energy losses. This injection should be done at a grid node (which is a point where energy can be injected into or recovered from the grid) that will be considered the optimal node when total active losses in the radial distribution system are minimal. The focus is on meeting energy demand using renewable energy sources. The main criterion is the minimization of active energy losses during injection. The method used is the algorithm of bee colony (ABC) associated with Newtonian energy flow transfer equations. The method has been implemented in MATLAB for optimal node search in IEEE 14, 33 and 57 nodes networks. The active energy loss results of this hybrid algorithm were compared with the results of previous searches. This comparison shows that the proposed algorithm allows to have reduced losses with the power injected that we have found.

Effect of Land Use Management Patterns on Mineralization Kinetics of Soil Organic Carbon in Mount Bambouto Caldera Area of Cameroon

Soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralization was carried out on soil samples collected from two depths: 0 - 20 cm and 20 - 40 cm for all land use (LU) types (grasslands, croplands, natural forest/fallow lands, cocoa/palm plantations, and settlement/agro-forests). Microbiological analyses were carried out by measuring microbial activity in 40 g of dried soil samples wetted to 60% water holding capacity and incubated at 27 °C. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission was measured for 10 weeks using a CO2 trap. Descriptive and graphical analyses of CO2 respiration were done using CO2 emission data. Models were developed to describe CO2 respiration and the first order kinetic model provided best fit to C-mineralization. Potentially mineralizable carbon (Co) and C-mineralization rate were higher in grasslands than other LU types, indicating a higher rate of microbial activity and carbon cycling. Metabolic quotient was higher in forest/fallow lands and reflects greater stress of the microbial community and a high requirement of maintenance energy. Grasslands enhanced more SOC accumulation and decomposition, suggesting a better carbon sink than other land use and management systems (LUMS). Microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) varied across LU patterns with maximum values in grasslands and minimum values in natural forest/fallow lands insinuating better soil quality for grasslands. MBC and SOC positively correlated with Co and C-mineralization, which intimates that C-mineralization is influenced by availability of MBC and SOC. Metabolic quotient (qCO2) negatively correlated with microbial quotient (MBC:SOC), depicting that higher values of qCO2 signify difficulties in using organic substrates during microbial activity as a result of low MBC:SOC. Changes in LUMS affected the mineralization kinetics of SOC in the study area.

Microcontroller Control of Reactive Power Compensation for Growing Industrial Loads

Many industrial installations in developing countries start-up as small factories, without regard for the need of compensation of reactive power, leading to significant financial losses in the long term. By improving the power factor, the customer can reduce its power demand and potentially increase efficiency of their equipment. A PIC microcontroller is used to switch capacitor banks to compensate for the reactive power. In order to determine the size of the capacitor bank needed, the microcontroller calculates the phase difference between the voltage and the current. The results obtained based on the lagging power factor for three test loads show an improvement in the power factor from 0.52 to 0.96 under different test load conditions.

A Model Effective Mass Quantum Anharmonic Oscillator and Its Thermodynamic Characterization

Using a model anharmonic oscillator with asymptotically decreasing effective mass to study the effect of compositional grading on the quantum mechanical properties of a semiconductor heterostructure, we determine the exact bound states and spectral values of the system. Furthermore, we show that ordering ambiguity only brings about a spectral shift on the quantum anharmonic oscillator with spatially varying effective mass. A study of thermodynamic properties of the system reveals a resonance condition dependent on the magnitude of the anharmonicity parameter. This resonance condition is seen to set a critical value on the said parameter beyond which a complex valued entropy which is discussed, emerges.

Peregrine Soliton and Akhmediev Breathers in a Chameleon Electrical Transmission Line

We analyze the particular behavior exhibited by a chaotic waves field containing Peregrine soliton and Akhmediev breathers. This behavior can be assimilated to a tree with “roots of propagation” which propagate randomly. Besides, this strange phenomenon can be called “tree structures”. So, we present the collapse of dark and bright solitons in order to build up the above mentioned chaotic waves field. The investigation is done in a particular nonlinear transmission line called chameleon nonlinear transmission line. Thus, we show that this line acts as a bandpass filter at low frequencies and the impact of distance, frequency and dimensionless capacitor are also presented. In addition, the chameleon’s behavior is due to the fact that without modifying the appearance structure, it can present alternatively purely right- or left-handed transmission line. This line is different to the composite one.

Low-Cost Automated PV Panel Dust Cleaning System for Rural Communities

Dust accumulation on photovoltaic (PV) panels degrades PV panels’ performance;leading to decreased power output and consequently high cost per generated kilowatt. Research addressing the severity of dust accumulation on PV panels has been ongoing since the 1940s, but proposed solutions have tended to increase the cost of PV systems either from oversizing or from cleaning the system. The objective of this work, therefore, is to design and implement a low-cost affordable automated PV panel dust cleaning system for use in rural communities of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA);where financial resources are limited and significantly strained in meeting livelihood activities. Complete design and implementation details of a prototype system are provided for easy replication and capitalization on PV systems for sustainable energy needs. The system detects dust based on the innovative use of light-dependent resistors. Testing and observation of the system in operational mode reveal satisfactory performance;measured parameters quantify a power output increase of 33.76% as a result of cleaning dust off the PV panel used in the study.

Design and Implementation of an Automatic Over/Undervoltage Protection System for Single-Phase Low Voltage Power Lines

Today, many industrial and domestic electronic appliances and equipment (devices) are exposed to power disturbances such as voltage variations of the AC mains supply which often lead to damage of the electronic devices. As these devices are quite sensitive to power disturbances, there is a need for a tripping system that can help avoid any damage to devices in use. The objective of this work is to build a system that monitors line voltage and protects appliances from unacceptable voltage variations. The system consists of a tripping mechanism that monitors the input voltage and trips according to the limits provided. An Arduino Uno microcontroller is used to determine the voltage level through a voltage divider circuit. The system’s novelty and innovation lie in its flexibility. It offers the user the ability to define different overvoltage and undervoltage threshold values depending on the specific appliances used in the household. In operation, the system displays the voltage state (overvoltage, normal voltage, overvoltage) and alerts the user by sending an SMS via a GSM modem. The system is valuable for industrial and domestic applications, especially in developing economies such as those of Sub-Saharan Africa, where overvoltage and undervoltage are acute problems.

On the Differences in the Intraseasonal Rainfall Variability between Western and Eastern Central Africa: Case of 25 - 70-Day Oscillations

The intraseasonal timescale is critical in Central Africa, because the resources of the region are highly rainfall dependent. In this paper, we use 1DD GPCP rainfall product to investigate the differences in the space-time structures of the 25 - 70-day intraseasonal variability of rainfall, over the Western Central Africa (WCA) and the Eastern Central Africa (ECA), with different climate features. The results of Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs) analysis have shown that the amount of variance explained by the leading EOFs is greater in ECA (58.4%) than in WCA (49.8%). For both WCA and ECA, the power spectra of the Principal Components (PCs) peaked around 40 days, indicating a MJO signal. The seasonality of ISO is evident, but this seasonality is much noticeable in ECA where almost 80% of the total yearly ISO power occurs during November-April season, against only around 60% for WCA. Moreover, the lagged cross correlations computed between WCA and ECA PCs time series showed that most of the WCA PCs led ECA PCs time series with a timescale of 8 - 12 days, revealing that the eastward propagation could potentially be the relationship between WCA and ECA modes. The interannual variations in the ISO activity are weak in WCA, when compared with ECA where the signal exhibits larger interannual variations, quite linked with ENSO.

Management of Peak Loads in an Emerging Electricity Market

An electricity market is a trading platform provided by the actors in the electricity sector to sell and buy electricity while maintaining the stability of the transmission network and minimizing energy losses.The management of electrical energy for rational use consists of all the operations that the consumers can carry out in order to minimize their electricity bill,while the producers optimize their benefits and the transmission infrastructure.The reduction of active and reactive power consumption and the smoothing of daily and yearly load profiles are the main objectives in this work.Many developed countries already have properly functioning electricity markets,but developing countries are still in their infancy of deregulated electricity markets.The major tools used in smoothing the load profiles include decentralized generation,energy storage and demand response.A load power smoothing control strategy is proposed to smooth the load power fluctuations of the distribution network.The required power change is determined by evaluating the power fluctuation rate of the load,and then the required power change is allocated to some generators or to some stored reserves.Otherwise,the consumers are made to curtail their power consumption.The ideas proposed in this work provide important opportunities for energy policy makers and regulators.These ideas would only be feasible if there exists real-time communication among the actors in the electricity market.The results indicate that as much as 1100 Megawatt-hours of energy can be stored for smoothing the load profile,when applied to the Southern Interconnected Grid of the Cameroon power system;and that Time of Use(TOU)pricing could be used instead of rotating blackouts in case of energy shortage.

Gravity Model for an Anomalous Body Located in the NW Portion of the Douala Sedimentary Sub-Basin, Cameroon (Central Africa)

Gravity studies have been carried out in the Douala sub-basin which is a sedimentary basin located both onshore and offshore on the South coast of Cameroon between latitudes 3°03'N and 4°06'N and longitudes 9°00' and 10°00'E, covering a total surface area of 12,805 km2. On its onshore portion, the Douala sub-basin has a trapezoic shape and covers a total surface area of about 6955 km2 while the offshore part covers an area of about 5850 km2. Gravity data used in this study are constituted of 912 gravity data points located between longitudes 8°10.2' to 10°59.4'E and latitudes 2°30.6' to 4°59.4'N and the study area is located to the NW section of the onshore portion of the Douala sub-basin. This study area is characterised by considerably high positive anomalies attaining peak values of about 104.1 mGals at longitude 9°9.9' and latitude 4°1.1' with contour lines which are mostly oriented in the NNE direction. Residual anomalies were extracted by upward continuation of the Bouguer anomaly field at an optimum height of 30 km. This residual field and those obtained by the separation of polynomial of order 4 had a very high correlation coefficient factor of 0.979. The multi-scale horizontal derivative of the vertical derivative (MSHDVD) method was applied on the extracted residual anomalies for the delimitation of possible contacts in the source while the amplitude spectrum was used to estimate the depth to the top of the potential field source. The MSHDVD method did not delimite any clear cut contacts in the source but the amplitude spectrum estimated the potential field source at a depth of about 4.8 km. The ideal body theory was used to determine the density contrast along a 65 km NW-SE profile yielding a value of 0.266 g/cm3. 2.5D modelling aimed at bringing out the underlying structural layout of this study area presents a source body which is very probably an intrusive igneous block surrounded by sedimentary formations and having a density of 2.77 g/cm3 at a depth of about 5.88 km below the surface and an average thickness of about 26.95 km.

Evidence of Some Major Structures Underlying the Douala Sedimentary Sub-Basin: West African Coastal Basin

Gravity data have been processed in the Douala sedimentary sub-basin in a section consisting of a set of 116 gravity data points located between latitudes 3°03'N and 4°06'N and longitudes 9°00'E and 10°00'E. The established Bouguer anomaly fields and the Residual anomaly fields, extracted by upward continuation at an optimum height of 30 km, were both characterized by considerably high positive anomalies. These anomalies showed many ring-like positive gravity anomaly contour lines in the study region. Gravity gradients were analysed using the multi-scale horizontal derivative of the vertical derivative (MSHDVD) method, and this excluded the existence of fault lines across this region. Amplitude spectrum was used to estimate the potential field source at a depth of about 4.8 km. The ideal body theory capable of handling sparse data contaminated with noise was applied along a 50.2 km WWS-EEN profile to determine a density contrast of 0.266 g/cm3. Using these results as constraints, 2.5 D modelling carried out along this profile presented two major blocks with density contrast of 0.266 g/cm3. The first block is probably an intrusive igneous body with a density of about 2.77 g/cm3 , having an average thickness of about 26 km with its top and base lying at depths of about 4.25 km and 30.25 km respectively. The second block is likely a pillar of igneous material, located at a depth of about 10.77 km with a density of about 2.77 g/cm3 whose base goes deep down beyond the crust-mantle boundary. These results support previous findings that there are similarities between the Douala sedimentary sub-basin and the coastal sedimentary basin of Mauritania-Senegal and thus foster the suggestions of a more extensive movement that would have affected the whole of the West African coast.