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Solar rickshaw, wireless wheel chair UIT boys show potential(Pakistan Engineering Review Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Students of Electronics Engineering of Usman Institute of Technology, Karachi have developed some very exciting new products. Top most in the list are a solar powered rickshaw, a wireless wheel chair, which if modified also has the potential of becoming a silent and smokeless car carrying one person between home and work place and a human voice controlled car. These and 52 other very good projects were on display at UIT’s Final Year Student Projects Exhibition & Job Fair Spring-2011 (July 21). The show was organized by UIT’s Industrial Liaison Office and Placement Bureau headed by Prof. Engr. Muhammad Irfan Shaikh. The show was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Manzoor Ahmad, Chairman Executive Board, UIT. About 60 guests from industry, R&D units and media visited the show. It was apparent that teaching at UIT is done professionally and its graduates meet challenges thrown up by modern industries. UIT stresses on effective liaison between industry and students and combining knowledge with industrial financial support as it leads to innovation, new business, jobs and wealth. A report released on the occasion said, UIT has earned high reputation in academic circle and has produced around 2,000 engineering and science graduates in 16 years of its life. Many of them work with top class local and global organizations. The Exhibition & Job Fair 2011 also opened new avenues of UIT-Industry liaison and gave the institute an opportunity to project its research potential and to initiate new partnerships with industry. Many visitors discussed industrial and commercial potential of projects with students and advisors. Visitors greatly appreciated these projects which can be used by industry for various applications. Some companies conducted tests and interviews to evaluate the students’ potential. UIT teaches electronics, telecom, computer engineering and computer science. 55 projects were displayed at the exhibition. We give below details of 29 projects of Electronics Department. Despite reminders spread over 5 weeks, other departments did not provide any details to Engineering Review, the only paper interested in projecting UIT students’ work. Engr. Babar Siraj was the Project Coordinator for all Electronics Engineering projects. Projects details 1. Optimization of energy in sugar mill Sugar mills use steam turbines to rotate milling rollers with steam generated by boilers burning beggase. Steam turbines usually have constant load. Losses can be minimized by optimizing the milling process which requires shredded sugar cane in hopper to sense, measure and convert it to standard control signal (4-20 mA) for use as PV in a PID controller to control steam pressure. Electronic system developed is capable of: To display level for monitoring. To provide level signal (4-20 mA) for external use i.e. as PV to PID controller/ governor of turbine for control of speed/ torque of milling rollers (industrial applications) To interface with computer via serial port 2. Portable fingerprint based attendance system It automates marking of attendance in an organization replacing conventional swiping system. Now, it can be done by a finger print scanner which takes the image of the man’s finger and verifies it from the already stored finger print images with codes and names. Then comes access control in an institution. It substitutes security personnel and gives better reliability and is easy for workers. It has applications in libraries, areas with restricted entry and industrial units. 3. Solar / wind hybrid rickshaw Green energy matters a lot in today’s world where every thing needs ‘green energy’ to get rid of pollution and resulting problems. Be it homes or offices, everyone is moving from traditional to green energy. Even cars are being converted to electricity. Designing an electric car was chosen because we need it. For this the students converted a petrol rickshaw into solar-wind hybrid electric rickshaw to give the city green and clean environment. 4. Gas plant control thru SCADA There are chances of mishaps (gas leakage) in remote area plants, so their monitoring is needed to minimize risks. This project therefore uses an improved version of SCADA for Sui Southern Gas, handled by only one operator on PC. It monitors: actual status time to time on PC; controls plant in risky or risk free environment on PC; has wireless communication (duplex); detects pipeline leakages and shuts them down automatically; looks at load and risks in depleted reserves; senses and controls pressure for distribution in commercial, industrial, residential areas. 5. Green bus system It is basically a prototype model of a ‘green bus’ with latest RFID technology. It has 2 terminals and 1 main/ bus unit which communicate with a RF transceiver. All data including vacant seats, arrival time and bus number are sent to terminal one and update terminal 2. It is efficient for current system. 6. Replacing UNIOP MD00R-04 by developing PC based HMI of KANUPP RO plant. Project objective: to ease RO plant operation, boost in-house engineering and gain skills in automation. It has reading problems for operators while they set alarms on threshold values. Besides, the display is of primitive type and provides no mimic based display. So the display has been replaced by a user friendly graphical Interface (PC-Based HMI). The system offers: Analysis of existing system, Develops mimics on paper, Mimics with Interface Programming with SLC 500/03 PLC, Removes Old LCD Display, Installs new PC-Based HMI, Commissions new HMI System. 7. Wireless controlled wheel chair An efficient device it works through user’s voice recognition, infra red (for short distance communication) and manual control to transport patients. It helps those with heart syndromes and persons with recent surgery of heart disease. It can also be used domestically by children and people with polio. Being a trained kit, it closes a motor’s path to move in any direction (360 degrees). It moves 2-8 feet through remote control switch. Manual control is also possible. It is operated through RF, voice and manual control and the patient can move anywhere without any help by using keypad. It provides easy access to anybody with physical disabilities. It can also be ‘converted’ into a 1 man car for commuting sans smoke and noise. 8. LAN based energy meters This project, a low cost local area network (LAN) interface to energy meters, enables reading them (consumption, load) on a computer through a software program. Automated meter reading has become quite popular in many countries. It can be used for reading meters of 4 types of clients individually or getting their aggregate readings. 9. Power saving thru sensors, timing Load shedding is a big problem in Pakistan. Its main cause is high consumption as appliances are left on or in standby. This project turns off/ on appliances over time assigned by users and sensors. The project is user friendly inter face with switching of appliances as needed. Wireless system allows controlling switching of appliances from a centralized position, the most distinguished characteristic of the project. If power is consumed as needed and waste is avoided, we can minimize load shedding. 10. Human voice controlled car Cars can be controlled by voice using an RF. The project has 2 sections: one, sending voice instructions and two, controlling the car as instructed. In section 1, voice instructions are input through MIC; then instructions are recognized (to control the car correctly) and recognized voice instructions are sent through RF transmitter, using voice recognition chip. In section 2, RF receiver is used to receive voice instructions, microcontroller controls the car’s speed and turning right/ left. 11. RFID based library management This automates library system against conventional swiping. It uses non-contact devices, with Radio Frequency Identifi-cation. RFID cards given to students, have coded identification number to be retrieved only by the reader. It also controls access inside the library like security personnel. This gives a better reliability and ease of use, both to students and librarians. 13. Gas sniffer It prevents accidents from leakage of gases as it senses gas leakage and then acts against leakage to prevent accident. It detects many gases (i.e. CO2, CO, CH4, liquid and natural gases). After sensing leakage, it controls electronics valves and exhaust fans with microcontroller which also maintain log of whole process. It detects gas leakage and gives analog input to ADC, its digitized analog signals and inputs to controller ATMEL, which checks conditions and acts to prevent accidents. Micro controller gives output on LCD display and maintains record. It sends all information to PC via RF Transceiver PC, which can also instruct micro controller. 14. PC based intelligent vehicle Advent of hi-speed technology and growing computer capacity give realistic opportunities to new vehicles and realization of new control theory. It uses a PC based wireless surveillance vehicle providing atmospheric temperature and distance of nearest object in front of vehicle in real time through RF communication over 150 m (approx) and shows live video streaming. 15. Interfacing manual section machine with a touch screen LCD thru PLC It is based on auto-mation of a rolling machine with FATEK PLC and WIENTEK HMI to automate the whole system previously operated manually. It uses four 3-phase AC motors with direction and speed monitored and controlled. By rolling machine the operator detects spots/ oil stains etc on clothes and then batches it for production. 16. Automatic start/ shutdown of generator It is a device that turns on/ off standby generators automatically to shift loads from main to standby supply and to shift the load on priority basis sans any intervention. It is cost effective for automatic load shift. 17. Incubator It is a programmable temperature control system for incubators monitoring and temperature in an incubator and evaluate its performance. Its performance of controlling temperature of prototype versus conventional controller was compared and evaluated to check the effectiveness of prototype. 18. GSM based automatic beverage dispensing Though data loggers are available, but wireless and online status gives the project beauty. It stores huge data reliably. This GSM based liquid dispenser gives users access to any beverage through designed cards with tank status indicated to owners through SMS. 19. Unmanned sea surface vehicle (USV) It is based on radio frequency remote controlled equipment – leakage sensors, ultra sonic sensor, infrared sensors etc – needed for ship safety. It has a solar panel with a battery charging circuitry and also CCTV camera with a GPS. 20. Microcontroller bas-ed warship control It is a prototype and can be directly applied to large scale realistic conditions in ships and boats. Objective: to build a low cost micro controller for many ops of war ships like gun controlling, wind based maneuvering, temperature and fuel monitoring etc. 21. Overhead electromagnetic crane It is a conveyer belt where objects carried are sensed and, based on dimensions, are picked by the overhead crane electromagnetically and placed in the allocated compartment automatically without human action. It has a manual mode too letting the user control picking and placing different objects via joystick. 22. Mine detector & target acquisition using GPS It has a graphic user monitoring environmental conditions that could deflect fired ballistics from original destination. User can change gun positions to target selected range. Inputs of the system are environmental characteristics, target latitude, longitude and the ship’s current latitude and longitude. 23. Switching using GSM and IR remote Home appliances can be controlled wirelessly (speed of fan, switching time, mode etc). Status of appliances is given by SMS. Switching of fan and AC by temperature variation has also been developed. 24. RFID based monitoring It is based on locating the person using RFI and can monitor more than one person. Sites where the person moves are also data logged on the main server and monitored person is provided TAGS. Transponders atta-ched with the main server are placed on the area where the required person is to be monitored. When he moves within the range, the transponder will detect tags and send its location to the server. 25. Security system of shops It incorporates many sensors for security in a shop. If an intruder enters the shop, the owner will be informed via SMS and alarms will be turned on and the shop will shut down. It is a cost effective security system that can be employed anywhere. 26. Patient monitoring system An important feature of a patient monitoring system is its ability to display psychological waveforms being monitored. Clear, faithful reproduction of ECG lets medical staff to periodically check patient’s progress and make decisions in crisis. This system collects the data from patient and sends it to PC to display it graphically. 27. Remote surveillance vehicle using AVR ATMEGA16 A surveillance vehicle developed here can be operated via mobile phone; the project has been developed using AVR microcontroller where GSM modules are interfaced with controller. A camera and a microphone are mounted on the vehicle for surveillance. RF transceivers are used to send information. 28. Solid state circuit breaker A cost effective and reliable solid state circuit breaker replaces current mechanical breakers in 10-12 Amps range. Mechanical breakers are large and more vulnerable to sparks, have a short life and need much maintenance. So a cost effective solid state circuit breaker based on thyristors was designed to cut switching time and maintenance. 29. SCADA based app-liances controlling The SMS based system uses wireless technology to revolutionize standards of living. Being wireless, it is more adaptable and cost-effective. It provides security against intrusion and automates home appliances using SMS. The system provides ubiquitous access to security and automated appliance control. 30. Wire twister and winder machine Its objective is to twist and wind wire with the help of micro processor. Many of industries use it but the goal here is low price, reliability and user friendly. Sensors detect breakage of wire and insertion for both winding and twisting. A user friendly PC interface winds and twists the wires as specified. 31. Plc based centralized cooling It meets cooling needs of industrial process to ensure reliable conditions, including startup and shut down. Minimum process temperature and cooling capacity are maintained and monitored to guarantee full efficiency. Compressors with many cooling chambers and sensors are used to maintain temperature with an interactive PC. Electronic Engg Project Coordinator: Engr. Babar Siraj Optimization of energy in sugar mills, Portable fingerprint based online attendance system PV/solar based energy efficient traffic signal, Automated gas plant control through SCADA, Green bus management system, Replacement of UNIOP MD00R-04 by developing PC based HMI and Logic modification of Allen-Bradley SLC5/03 programmable logical controllers of RO plant (KANUPP), Wireless controlled wheel chair, LAN based energy meters, Power saving through sensors and timing, Human voice controlled car, RFID based library management system, Gas sniffer, GSM/CDMA/DCS jammer detector, Interfacing manually operated section machine with touch screen LCD through PLC, Economical domestic panel of automatic start-shutdown of generator, Complete replacement of UPS used in domestic applications, Design and fabrication incubator, GSM based automatic cane/ liquid beverage dispenser machine, Unmanned sea surface vehicle (USV), Microcontroller based warship control, Overhead bridge electromagnetic crane, Mine detector and target acquisition using GPS, Switching off appliances using GSM and IR remote, Active RFID based monitoring, Security system of shop with evidence, Patient information monitoring system, Remote surveillance vehicle using AVR ATmega16, Solid state circuit breaker, Wireless SCADA based home/ industry electrical appliances controlling system, Wire twister and winder machine. Computer Engg Human detection in surveillance applications, Face recognition surveillance system, Biometric attendance control system, Portable attendance system using RFID, 3D model surveillance system, Telecom Engg Scheduling algorithm to improve quality of service in Wimax, System study of two GSM providers, Vision based intelligent traffic control system, Cost effective neural network based intelligent autonomous vehicle, Survey, planning and installation of BTS, Control of home appliances through cell phone, voice, personal computer and Bluetooth, Gigabit passive optical network (GPON), Implementation of VoIP in UIT using Asterisk, Novel algorithm on data encryption, Implementation of CDMA transceiver on FPGA. Computer Science: Cognitive agent for automated software installation, Restaurant management using open table concept, Web based textile ERP system, Image interpreter, Web crawler, Smart home system, Distributed filing system with cryptography, Manipulating distributed database records amongst several database engines, Implementation of software define radio with PC sound card, Mobile intelligence, UIT community web portal. |