Browsing by Author "Shaji James, P"

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Assessment of portable biogas plants for their energy production and emission reduction potential
(Academy of Climate Change Education and Research Vellanikkara, 2016) Iwin K Augastian; Shaji James, P
Design and development of a multipurpose tool carrier for homestead agriculture
(Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2019) Arya, K T; Shaji James, P
Design, development and evaluation of a power tiller operated bed former
(Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 1991) Shaji James, P; Sankaranarayanan, M R
A power tiller operated Bed Former was developed and evaluated. The main components of the prototype unit of the power tiller operated Bed Former are, a main frame, two pairs of forming boards, a leveling board, a hitching unit and a depth control cum transport wheel. The equipment was found capable of forming seed beds of heights 22 cm, 18 cm and 15 cm at a width range of 60-64 cm. Heights of 18 cm and 15 cm were possible at width ranges of 73-75 cm and 80 – 81 cm. The draft of the implement ranges from 115.59 kgf to 169.69 kgf. The power utilization of the implement varies from 0.586 hp to 0.771 hp and the wheel slip between 46.76 per cent and 77.1 per cent. The mean effective field capacity of the implement is 0.0996 ha/hr and the mean field efficiency is 46.3 per cent. The total cost of production of the unit is Rs. 2000/- and the cost of operation per hectare is Rs. 777/-. The amount that can be saved by using the implement is Rs. 1473/- per hectare.
Development of a semi autonomous robotic platform for intercultural operations in row crops
(Department of farm machinery and power engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, 2020) Athira, P; Shaji James, P
A semi-autonomous robotic platform was conceptualized for performing the intercultural operations in row crops. It was expected to be capable of navigating within the field and performing the intended intercultural operation according to the user command. The dimensions of the chassis (track width and ground clearance) were determined on the basis of agronomic characteristics of the crop. Wheel mounted geared motors were used for self-propulsion. The wheel variables were decided based on the rolling resistance and terramechanics relationships. A six-wheel independent drive skidsteering drive mechanism was provided to the robotic platform. Arduino Mega was the microcontroller used which was interfaced with the drive motors via L298N motor driver for speed and direction control. The microcontroller was programmed in Arduino IDE software using C++ language. The wireless communication system was based on Radio Frequency (RF) protocol using Flysky FS i6 2.4GHz Six-channel Transmitter Remote Controller with FS-iA6 Receiver unit. The monitoring guidance of the prototype was accomplished on the basis of real-time video streaming using Wi-Fi enabled wireless IP camera. The operational unit was controlled by relay driver circuits. Geared DC motor operated cable drive slider mechanisms actuated the position control of the sprayer unit. The developed prototype was evaluated in both lab and field conditions. The speed of travel obtained was less than the rated speed. The total power consumed by the prototype increased with increase in the load. The deviation of the prototype from a straight path could be corrected by the use of steering controls by the operator. The control unit functioned satisfactorily for every command by the user. During the basic field trial, a non-uniform distribution of load on each ground-contact point occurred due to the undulated terrain. Therefore, wheels were subjected to sinkage which resulted in lack of proper traction and wheel slip. The tractive forces were then insufficient to overcome the soil resistance. The test resulted in the requirement for a modified drive mechanism for the prototype. The modified design of the drive mechanism comprised of high torque motors (24 V, 8Nm, 300 RPM DC motor) with reducer unit, high power motor drivers (BTS7960) and larger diameter pneumatic wheels (30.48 cm diameter). A suspension could also be provided to maintain uniform load distribution on each groundcontact points. As the torque exerted by these motors would be greater than the required torque, the design was safe. The cost for modified prototype was estimated to be Rs.65000/-.
Development of attachments for four-wheel riding types rice transplanter
(Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji Colllege of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2017) Athul Chandran, K; Shaji James, P
Rice is the most important cereal food crop of the world providing major source of the food energy for more than half of the human population. Manual transplanting of paddy is being replaced by machine transplanting due to the drudgery and increased labour cost of the former. Four wheel riding type transplanters are getting popular as they can ensure speedy operation. These costly machines require an agro-economic analysis for their proper management. Another handicap in the use of these machines is that they need to be transported in another vehicle even to nearby areas, which results in increased cost of operation. The development of a suitable transport wheel system is also needed to reduce the cost of hire charges spent for transportation. The application of bio fungicides like pseudomonas and the foliar application of micro-nutrients on the mat nursery loaded in the seedling tray of these four-wheel transplanters will be a boon to farmers as this can reduce the labour cost simultaneously boosting the yield. Hence the development of an applicator attachment for spraying liquid formulations of bio-fungicides and micronutrients on the mat nursery loaded in the seedling tray of the machine, immediately before transplanting was also attempted. Economic parameters of three types of four-wheel riding type rice transplanters, viz. Yanmar Vp8D (TR1), Yanmar Vp6D (TR2) and Kubota NSPU- 68C (TR3) were estimated considering the agronomic requirements of common rice varieties Uma, Jyothi and Prathyasha. For developing transport wheel system, 6-row Kubota make transplanter was selected. The wheel hub assembly was fabricated according to the design considerations. An electrically operated applicator attachment suitable for all makes of 6-row four wheel riding type transplanters were developed and successfully field tested. From the agro economic analysis, it was found that the annual fixed cost, annual variable cost and hourly operational cost were maximum for TR1, followed by TR2 and the TR3 respectively. The Unit Area Operating Cost (UAOC) was dependent on hourly operational costs and field capacities of the machines. TR1 had the highest field capacity (0.4 ha h-1) followed by TR2 (0.38 ha h-1) and TR3 (0.33 ha h-1). TR1 had more UAOC than that of TR2 and TR3 up to the Annual Operating Hours (AOH) of 395 h. At 395 h UAOC of both TR1 and TR2 were equal. Beyond 395 h TR2 had the maximum cost of operation among the three machines. Manual transplanting by labour contract required a cost of Rs. 10000 per ha and using these transplanters is economical than manual transplanting whenever the AOH is more than 102 h. The pneumatic wheels of 680 mm diameter and width of 100 mm were selected for front wheel. The front wheel has wheel track of 1.29 m. For rear wheel it has diameter of 720 mm and 130 mm width. The rear wheel track was 1.37 m. The maximum and minimum speeds possible using these wheels are 1.14 to 9.88 km h-1. The applicator attachment had a 12 V electrically operated diaphragm pump, LDPE pipes as conduit, five solid cone nozzles fitted on a LDPE boom. The pressure developed by the pump was 620 kPa with a discharge of 1.89 l min-1. The nozzles were selected based on the patternator studies. Five nozzles were placed at an equal distance of 35 cm on the boom of 1.8 m, with a spray span overlap of 14 cm. The droplet size was measured using bromide photo papers with pigmented spray solution and IMAGE-J image analyzing computer software. The droplet size at 50 cm height was in the range of 200 - 300 microns. The field studies on effect of pseudomonas fluorescence application revealed the enhanced growth of rice plants. No fungal attack was observed in the plots which were treated with pseudomonas. The plants subjected to application of ‘Sampoorna- KAU mutimix’ had increased plant height, more number of tillers per unit area, more productive tillers, more number of grains per panicle, higher paddy yield and increased grain weight.
Development of high- rate anaerobic bioreactor for energy production from rice- mill effluent
(Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2009) Joejoe L Bovas; Shaji James, P
Anaerobic digestion of agricultural, industrial and municipal wastes has a great relevance in the global renewable energy scenario, since it combines waste stablisation with net fuel production. RME is a low strength, high volume waste for which anaerobic treatment can be economically and technologically made feasible by adopting high rate processes. Hence, an investigation was taken up to develop an anaerobic high rate reactor for biomethanation of RME. It was revealed that the RME had a low pH along with high BOD and COD. The batch digestion studies proved that it is amenable to anaerobic digestion. The semi-continuous studies to test media compatibility could reveal that the reactor could be feed with RME without prior neutralisation. The study established the compatibility and suitability of rubber seed outer shells as packing media in high rate reactors and hence this was selected to be used in Up-flow Anaerobic Hybrid Reactors (UAHRs). Eight lab scale UAHRs were designed and fabricated, with two different media for immobilization viz. polyurethane rings and rubber seed outer shell. The daily feeding in the reactors were started from the 25th day after initial charging and operated for 31 days, with a startup HRT of 10 day. The UAHRs were then operated at HRTs of 10,5,4,3 ,2, 1 and 0.8 day and the performance evaluated. All reactors were stable in operation and exhibited high process efficiency characterised by good organic reduction and biogas production. This was due to the high degree of cell immobilisadon obtained in the hybrid design. The performance deteriorated with reduction in HRT. The methane content of the biogas remained fairly high (60-65 per cent) during the above period with a near neutral effluent pH (7.7 to 7.8). The reactor performance models showed a high degree of fit within the ranges of loading rates investigated. The major parameter which affected reactor performances was HLR, which is a function ofHRT. The maximum loading rate and volumetric gas production (at 0.8 day HRT) were 2.2 kg/m3.d and 855 tlm3 (Reactor 1). The maximum specific gas production was 858.2 t/kg TS observed in Reactor 2 at 10 day HRT. The BOD reduction had the maximum value of 82.9 per cent at 10 day HRT in R2 and the minimum reduction was on the 0.8 day HR T during which 77.1 per cent reduction was obtained for all reactors. The UAHR was found to be appropriate in energy conversion of RME and 20 MJ/m3 of energy could be produced as bio,gas by operating the bioreactor at 2 day HRT, simultaneously reducing the pollution load of RME considerably (81 per cent BOD reduction). A HRT of 2 day was found optimum for moderate biogas production. An aerobic polishing treatment would be required to meet the effluent standards prescribed by the pollution control board. The overall performance of the reactor with rubber seed outer shell media was found to be significantly better than the polyurethane media reactor, possibly due to the enhanced microbial attachment on the more favorable surface.
Energy use and emission reduction in dairy farm
(Academy of Climate Change Education and Research Vellanikkara, 2016) Athira P Ratnakaran; Shaji James, P
Investigations on energy conversion of waste coconut water through an up-flow anaerobic hybrid bioreactor
(Department of Farm Power, Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2016) Dayanand Kumbar; Shaji James, P
Investigations on high rate anaerobic bioreactor for energy production from rubber latex processing effluent
(Tavanur Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, 2020) Megha, A S; Shaji James, P
Agro-processing industries often contribute significantly in pollution due to discharge of untreated effluents. By anaerobic digestion of these organic effluents, methane rich gas can be produced which is suitable to generate electricity and process heat. But conventional biogas plants are slow in operation with long hydraulic retention times of 35 to 40 days which necessitates large digester volumes. So, anaerobic digestion of high volume agro-processing effluents is feasible only through high rate bioreactors which can reduce hydraulic retention time to few hours. Rubber latex processing effluent (RLPE) is a dilute waste water for which high rate anaerobic treatment can be an affordable technology. Hence, an investigation was taken up to study the performance of Up-flow Anaerobic Hybrid Bioreactor for energy conversion of rubber latex processing effluent (RLPE). Physico-chemical characteristics of RLPE samples were tested and found that RLPE was a dilute waste water with pH in the acidic range. BOD: COD ratio of 0.44 obtained in this study showed good biodegradability of RLPE. A batch anaerobic digestion study was conducted as a preliminary experiment to investigate the biomethanation characteristics of RLPE. The experiment consisted of four treatments having different composition of RLPE with inoculums replicated thrice. This study could prove that RLPE could be subjected to biomethanation and cow dung slurry can be used as inoculum. Even at a lower inoculum: substrate ratio of 1:2, the system could be started up yielding substantial amount of biogas coupled with good TS reduction. Performance of field scale Up-flow Anaerobic Hybrid Bioreactors (UAHBR) was assessed by operating them at different HRTs of 10, 7, 5, 3 and 2 day. During the study an interruption of 2 months in operation occurred due to shut down of the processing unit due to Covid 19. After interruption of 2 months reactor recovered within one month and it proved that hybrid bioreactor could be restarted easily after a shutdown for few months. Reactor was stable in operation during 10, 7, 5, 3 and 2 day HRTs and exhibited good process efficiency with better pollutant reduction and biogas production. Performance was seen deteriorated beyond 5 day HRT. The bioreactors were operated successively at reduced loading rates corresponding to the longer HRTs after reaching the shortest HRT of 2 day. It was observed that there was no considerable difference in daily biogas production with the earlier values obtained during the progressive decrease in HRT. This revealed that the bioreactors would have achieved the maximum possible microbial population already and there was no further improvement in performance on further passage of time. The performance parameters obtained in the investigations with field scale reactors were used for evolving guidelines to design a full scale anaerobic bioreactor. The UAHBR performance was quite satisfactory at 5 day HRT with respect to pollutant reduction as well as energy production. Hence as criteria, full scale plant was proposed to be operated at 5 day and the corresponding reactor volume was 27 m 3 with 7.2 m 3 gas holder volume. The biogas expected to be produced from the full scale plant can be used in a biogas fired rubber sheet dryer which can save about 500 kg of fire wood per day currently used for drying rubber sheets.