School of Engineering and Technology

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This community contains the ePrints and eTheses of the School of Engineering and technology staff and students

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    Conceptual Design Framework for Developing a Cylindrical Robot Manipulator for Material Handling in Zimbabwean Small to Medium Enterprises: A Finite Element Approach
    (Int'l Journal of Advances in Mechanical & Automobile Engg. (IJAMAE);, 2014) Masike, Rujeko; Garikayi, Talon; Tigere, Godfrey
    In many small to medium engineering companies in Zimbabwe the need for material handling devices has become a necessity. There is lack of machinery that could increase production rate, improve product quality and reduce manufacturing costs while maintaining safe working environments. Material handling is a bottle neck during production due to lack of proper equipment and plant layout thus this research seeks to improve the material handling system through the conceptual design of a framework for the application of a cylindrical robot. There are many robots in the market that will improve material handling effectively. The purpose of this paper is to present a framework that has a structured approach for developing cylindrical robots based on finite element analysis methods that will be used by small and medium engineering enterprises (SMEs).This will enable the SMEs in developing nations to maintain competitive prices on products with minimal work accidents. The research explores the current literature and design approaches used to develop cylindrical robots. The paper also provides detailed methodologies to be used for structural analysis, component simulation and performance evaluation of the machine through finite element analysis (FEA). The framework provides suitable guidelines for designers to make appropriate decisions from the initial design stage to the commercialization of the design. The authors conclude that the preliminary framework be applied to formalize design steps for sim ilar material handling machinery implementation in the SME sector.
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    Polymer Testing Methods
    (HIT, 2019-05-01) HIT
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    PROGRESS IN INFRASTRUCTURE AND PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
    (Proceedings of the 9th Zimbabwe Institute of Engineers Congress,, 2017-09-05) Mhonde, Godknows; Manyuchi, Mercy
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    Heavy Metal Ion Effluent Discharge Containment Using Magnesium Oxide (MgO) Nanoparticles
    (Materials Today: Proceedings., 2017-12) Madzokere, Tatenda C.; Karthigeyan, A
    In this study, the adsorption of copper (II) ions using nano-magnesium oxide was investigated. Mesoporous MgO nanoparticles were prepared by a relatively simple and economic combustion synthesis technique. The metal oxide nanoparticles were studied by powder X-ray Diffraction (XRD) for structural analysis, Field Emission Scanning Electronic Microscopy (FESEM) for surface morphology, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) for elemental analysis and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for chemical structure. The crystalline size obtained from Debye-Scherrer’s formula was in the range of 12–17 nm. The FESEM result revealed that the nano-MgO powder is porous in nature and highly agglomerated, whilst EDS confirmed the presence of elemental Mg and O in the highly fine white powder which was obtained after annealing the final precursor reaction mixture derived from magnesium nitrate and amino acetic acid at 500 °C for 2 hours. X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF) was utilized for analysing the adsorption properties of nano-MgO powder. It was observed that 0.20 grams of nano-MgO could remove 96 % of heavy metal ions (Cu2+) from a standard (10 ppm) copper (II) chloride solution compared with commercial grade MgO which exhibits a removal capacity of 15%. This study has potential applications in the treatment of effluent containing copper ions at the level of discharge to the environment in industrial operations such as mining, chemical manufacture and electroplating.
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    Examination of Mel-frequency Cepstral Coefficients features for Parkinson's Disease telediagnosis
    (30th GISFI Standardisation Series Meeting and IEEE 5G Summit,, 2017-11-16) Masunda, Sam; Harisudha, Kuresan; Samiappan, Dhanalakshmi
    The focus for 5G networks is on high fidelity networks with extreme precision, making complete telediagnostic and telehealth realizations a possibility. The characterization of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is based on motor and non-motor functions of the body. Speech issues in PD patients identify with motor control, not to lost the phonetic learning required to make prosodic qualifications. Speech discourse issues are referred to as one of the most punctual markers for PD and clinical conclusion takes up to five years to identify PD. This means s pitch can be used as one of the biomarkers for PD. Attention is given to prosodic, spectral, vocal tract and excitation source speech features. Fundamental frequency, Pitch Period Entropy (PPE), jitter, shimmer, Melfrequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and Hidden Markov Model (HMM) are the parameters used in this respect
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    Development of a wearable wireless body area network for health monitoring of the elderly and disabled
    (IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2017) Rushambwa, Munyaradzi C; Gezimati, Mavis; Jeeva, J B
    Novel advancements in systems miniaturization, electronics in health care and communication technologies are enabling the integration of both patients and doctors involvement in health care system. A Wearable Wireless Body Area Network (WWBAN) provides continuous, unobtrusive ambulatory, ubiquitous health monitoring, and provide real time patient’s status to the physician without any constraint on their normal daily life activities. In this project we developed a wearable wireless body area network system that continuously monitor the health of the elderly and the disabled and provide them with independent, safe and secure living. The WWBAN system monitors the following parameters; blood oxygen saturation using a pulse oximeter sensor (SpO2), heart rate (HR) pulse sensor, Temperature, hydration, glucose level and fall detection. When the wearable system is put on, the sensor values are processed and analysed. If any of the monitored parameter values falls below or exceeds the normal range, there is trigger of remote alert by which an SMS is send to a doctor or physician via GSM module and network. The developed system offers flexibility and mobility to the user; it is a real time system and has significance in revolutionizing health care system by enabling non-invasive, inexpensive, continuous health monitoring
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    Analysis of Jitter and Shimmer for Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis Using Telehealth
    (International Conference on Cognitive Informatics & Soft Computing (CISC-2017), 2017-12-20) Kuresan, Harisudha; Masunda, Sam; Samiappan, Dhanalakshmi
    The future of telecommunications is premised on high fidelity net-works with extreme precision, which in turn capacitates deployment of tele-diagnostic tools. Parkinson’s disease (PD) clinical characterization is based on, speech problems, tremors in hands, arms, legs and face, body swelling, muscle rigidity and movement problems. Speech problems are cited as one of the earliest prodromal for PD. However, using clinical diagnosis it takes upto five or more years to detect PD. Therefore with this regard speech can be used as an early biomarker for PD. Features of interest for detecting PD will be prosodic, spectral, vocal tract and excitation source speech features. We infer from the analysis, MFFC with jitter and shimmer feature extraction provides a promising method that can help the clinicians in diagnostic process.
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    A Review of the Existing Solar Irradiation Databases
    (International Journal of Engineering Science and Computing, 2017-10-21) Kwinjo, Gerald; Munetsiwa, Tendaishe; Arora, R
    Huge gains in the form of time and cost savings, increased productivity and efficiency will be obtained by designers and researchers of solar technology systems if relevant information is available and easily accessible for every site in the world. The Internet has played a major role in making this information available to users through various online databases for solar radiation. However, often times many of the available databases do not meet actual users ‘needs. In general most users prefer hourly or daily irradiation data with a spatial resolution of a maximum of 20km, but unfortunately the number of ground measuring station around the globe are too small to attain such accuracy. The accessibility is also made poor by the complexity of the data which comes from various storage standards, units, ways of expressing time etc. in the databases. Moreover, users often face difficulties in selecting the database that meet their needs for a particular time and location. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the available online databases with the information that they provide and their advantages and disadvantages. Demonstrations are also shown for the applicability of one online design software called HELIOSCOPE. Recommendations and proposals for future work were given to address the discrepancies between users’ needs and the available databases
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    ,A Paper on the Testing Procedures and Protocols for Concentrated Solar Thermal Technologies
    (International Journal of Engineering Science and Computing,, 2017-11-01) Kanyowa, Tatenda; Ndala, Emmanuel; Nyakujara, Garikayi Victor; Sahoo, U; Das, Subhra
    Interest in solar thermal technologies have grown over the past two decades due to the increasing energy deficit around the globe as well as increasing carbon levels in the atmosphere. Unlike solar photovoltaics, solar thermal technology has the potential to provide both high and low-grade energy which can be used for several applications from household, industrial to electricity generation. This document will focus more on concentrated solar technology (CST) which are essential for the future because they can offer flexibility and potential high dispatch ability in power plant applications. In order to fully utilize CSTs, performance standards of these systems are being setup. These can help to ensure that for a certain CST device, it must meet certain performance criteria in order for it to produce favourable results. Performance standards for these systems also help in allowing interchangeability of certain components. Testing of a CST system is done in several steps depending on the type of system. Usually the most ideal conditions are required to test the performance of a CST system. Clear skies with radiation of 450W/m or above are usually ideal to execute this process. The testing equipment is adjusted so that near steady state conditions are established. CST systems must have high optical efficiency for good performance since they rely on reflection of the direct radiation onto a receiver. Good reflecting materials must be used to guarantee better performance of the system since the system will always have losses which will reduce the expected thermal efficiency of the system. These are some of the parameters and conditions which will be discussed in this paper
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    The effects of vertebral morphology on human lumbar spine with progressive decrease in bone mineral density – An FEM study
    (IOP Publishing, 2018-11-19) Zizhou, C; Ashokkumar, D; Raja, D; Varshini, Karthik; Mudzingwa, M O J
    Osteopenia and Osteoporosis are major bone metabolic diseases among people especially in women aged above 50 years old. The bone related problems pose an increasing economic demand in our healthcare system. Study and research in bone and tissues has grown exponentially over the last years. The knowledge of the mechanical properties of bone will enhance the understanding of the effect of bone related fractures. In people affected with low bone mineral density, the fractures are common in the vertebral bodies of the spine. In this study, Computed tomography images of human lumbar spine is segmented in the required region (L3 to L5). The three dimensional model of the segmented image was used to develop finite element model. Further, model of the human lumbar spine L3 to L5 was validated with literature. This validated model of human lumbar spine is modified to osteopenia and osteoporosis conditions with different mechanical properties and range of motion is analyzed. The analysis and the comparison is made with that of normal human lumbar spine. The results produced in this study can be used in studies related to vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty