Drying and Testing of Mint (Mentha piperita) by a Hybrid Photovoltaic-Thermal (PVT)-Based Greenhouse Dryer

Mint has been used as a medicinal and aromatic plant since ancient times. Its leaves are used for flavoring, spicing, and mint oil, which is used to treat several diseases. In order to preserve this seasonal plant for consumers during the year, it undergoes various technological treatments, such as drying. The economy of medicinal plant production is burdened considerably by the energy costs of drying. To substitute high-cost fossil energy, a hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) ultraviolet (UV)-stabilized polyethylene greenhouse dryer was developed to lower the initial costs. The drying process from an initial moisture content of 80% wb to a final moisture content of 11% wb takes 21 h. Testing was done for different samples of dried mint powder and comparison was made to fresh samples. The results show that nutritional and calorific values are retained along with a major degree of its original color, which, coupled with a significant reduction in moisture content, resulted in longer shelf life of the dried product. Further, the results show that the efficiency of the dryer and net CO₂ mitigation over the lifetime was 34.2% and 140.97 tons, respectively. The carbon credit earned ranges from a minimum of $704.85 per ton of C to a maximum of $2,819.40 per ton of C.     

Studies on Mechanical,Thermal, and Flame Retarding Properties of Polybutadiene Rubber (PBR) Nanocomposites

An effect of nanosize CaCO₃ on physical, mechanical, thermal and flame retarding properties of PBR was compared with commercial CaCO₃ and fly ash filled PBR. CaCO₃ at the rate of 9, 15, and 21 nm were added in polybutadiene rubber (PBR) at 4, 8 and 12 wt.% separately. Properties such as swelling index, specific gravity, tensile strength, Young's modulus, elongation at break, modulus at 300% elongation, glass transition temperature, decomposition temperature, flame retardency, hardness, and abrasion resistances were determined. The swelling index decreased and specific gravity increased with reduction in particle size of fillers in PBR composites. There was significant improvement in physical, mechanical, thermal and flame-retarding properties of PBR composites due to a reduction in the particle size of fillers. Maximum improvement in mechanical and flame retarding properties was observed at 8 wt.% of filler loading. This increment in properties was more pronounced in 9 nm size CaCO₃. The results were not appreciable above 8 wt.% loading of nano fillers because of agglomeration of nanoparticles. In addition, an attempt was made to consider some thermodynamically aspects of resulting system. The cross-linkage density has been assessed by Flory-Rehner equation in which free energy was increased with increase in filler content.     

Graft Copolymerization of Pectin with Polyacrylamide

In the present study, an attempt has been made to modify pectin by grafting polyacrylamide using ammonium ceric sulphate as initiator. The effect of various variables like initiator concentration, monomer concentration, temperature and time has been studied. The grafted copolymer was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), organic elemental analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). FT-IR studies indicated incorporation of amide group. Rheological behavior of pectin solution was compared with that of the grafted copolymer. The comparative rheological properties of pectin and grafted copolymer indicated change in the property of the product. Differential scanning calorimetry and XRD suggested formation of the grafted copolymer.     

Studies on Swelling Behavior of Wood-Polymer Composites Based on Agro-Waste and Hdpe in Steam and Water at Ambient Temperature

The polymer composites of HDPE and banana, hemp, and agave fibers (50 : 50, w/w) were prepared separately with and without treatment of maleic anhydride. The swelling phenomenon in terms of absorption of water and steam was studied and it was found that the steam penetrates more within a smaller period of time than the water at ambient temperature. The maleic anhydride treatment on these fibers showed the ester-ification of fibers, and because of that, the absorption (swelling) of steam and water is less than the untreated respective fibers composites.     

The Compatibilizing Effect of Maleic Anhydride on Swelling Properties of Plant-Fiber-Reinforced Polystyrene Composites

In this work the fibers of banana, hemp, and sisal are employed as fillers for the formation of wood polymer composites with polystyrene in the different ratios of 40:60 and 45:55 (wt/wt), respectively. These fibers were esterified with maleic anhydride, and the effect of maleic anhydride was studied on absorption of steam and water at ambient temperature in wood polymer composites. Untreated fiber composites show more absorption of steam in comparison to maleic anhydride (MA)–treated fiber composites. The absorption of water increases with the increase in time from 2–30 h in all untreated fiber composites. The maximum absorption of water was found in hemp fiber composites and the minimum in sisal fiber composites. The maleic anhydride esterified fiber composites showed less absorption of water than the untreated fiber composites. Steam absorption in MA treated and untreated fiber composites is higher than the water absorption in respective fiber composites. The wood polymer composites containing low amount of fiber shows less absorption of steam and water at ambient temperature than the composites containing a greater amount of fiber in respective fiber composites.     

Nano-Calcium carbonate (CaCO3)/Polystyrene (PS) core-shell nanoparticle: It’s effect on physical and mechanical properties of high impact polystyrene (HIPS)

Rheological, thermal, mechanical and morphological properties of core-shell [Calcium carbonate (CaCO₃)/Polystyrene (PS)]/High impact polystyrene (HIPS) as well as bare nano-CaCO₃/HIPS nanocomposites with different wt% loading were investigated in this paper. All composites were prepared individually by incorporating nano-CaCO₃/PS hybrid nanoparticles and bare nano-CaCO₃ with 0.10–5.0 wt% loading on Brabender Plastograph. It was shown from the experimental results that rheological, thermal, mechanical and morphological properties were improved as hybrid nano-CaCO₃/PS particles reinforced in HIPS matrix. The interaction between nano-CaCO₃ particles and HIPS matrix was significantly improved when the nano-CaCO₃ nanoparticles were grafted with PS. FESEM (field emission scanning electron microscope) and AFM (atomic force microscope) images showed a perfect dispersion of nano-CaCO₃ particles in polypropylene (PP) matrix.     

Application of the lattice Boltzmann method for solving the energy equation of a 2-D transient conduction-radiation problem

A lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is used to solve the energy equation in a test problem involving thermal radiation and to thus investigate the suitability of scalar diffusion LBM for a new class of problems. The problem chosen is transient conductive and radiative heat transfer in a 2-D rectangular enclosure filled with an optically absorbing, emitting and scattering medium. The energy equation of the problem is solved alternatively with a previously used finite volume method (FVM) and with the LBM, while the radiative transfer equation is solved in both cases using the collapsed dimension method. In a parametric study on the effects of the conduction-radiation parameter, extinction coefficient, scattering albedo, and enclosure aspect ratio, FVM and LBM are compared in each case. It is found that, for given level of accuracy, LBM converges in fewer iterations to the steady-state solution, independent of the influence of radiation. On the other hand, the computational cost per iteration is higher for LBM than for the FVM for a simple grid. For coupled radiation-diffusion, the LBM is faster than the FVM because the radiative transfer computation is more time-consuming than that of diffusion.     

Probing the role of aromaticity in the design of dipeptide based nanostructures

Self-assembly of peptide into nanostructures is believed to be stabilized primarily by aromatic interactions. Using a minimalistic approach, we probed the importance of aromatic interactions in the self-assembly of simple model dipeptides. Our results suggest that aromaticity may not be absolutely essential for self-assembly, even though it tends to provide directionality to the assembly. We found that peptides containing cyclic/linear side chain hydrophobic residues were also capable of forming stable self-assemblies that are stabilized by hydrophobic interactions. Our observations will find relevance in the design of small peptide based nanoparticles.     

Implementation of complex digital PLL for phase detection in software defined radar

Software defined radar (SDR) has been the latest trend in developing enhanced radar signal processing techniques for state-of-the-art radar systems. SDR provides tremendous flexibility in reconfigurable design and rapid prototyping capabilities on FPGA platform. To cater real-time processing for high-speed radar, COordinate Rotation Digital Computer (CORDIC) unit has been utilized as a core processing element in a complex digital phase locked loop (DPLL) for digital demodulation of received signal. Since the real-time systems are required to handle extremely high sampling rates, the pipelined architecture of CORDIC processing element has been chosen for its inherent high system throughput. The architecture is optimized in terms of bit-length for better convergence and loop performance of the first order complex DPLL during demodulation. TheBOXCARfilter has been used as a low pass filter in the output stage of the detector for better information recovery from narrow samples with little energy signal without incurring hardware overhead. Extensive MATLAB simulations have been added to show the effectiveness of the design for the application of radar phase detection.     

Dynamical Evolution of Wear Particles in Nanocontacts

Nanoscale surface modification, by the interaction of sliding surfaces and mobile nanoparticles, is a critical parameter for controlling friction, wear and failure of surface structures. Here we demonstrate how nanoparticles form and interact in real-time at moving nanocontacts, with reciprocating wear tests imaged in situ at the nanoscale over >300 cycles in a transmission electron microscope. Between sliding surfaces, friction-formed nanoparticles are observed with rolling, sliding and spinning motions, dependant on localised contact conditions and particle geometry. Over periods of many scratch cycles, nanoparticles dynamically agglomerate into elongated clusters, and dissociate into smaller particulates. We also show that the onset of rolling motion of these particles accompanies a reduction in measured friction. Introduction of nanoparticles with optimum shape and property can thus be used to control friction and wear in microdevices.