ISSUE 19
TAPAS
MARCH
2017
M. TECH-THERMAL SCIENCES, DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING,
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, CALICUT
(For internal circulation only)
THIS ISSUE
FUTURE TENSE: PLANT MICROBIAL FUEL CELL
EMINENT PERSONALITY: JAMES PRESCOTT JOULE
INSTRUMENTAL: CORIOLIS FLOWMETER
PROJECT WATCH
INDUSTRIAL INSIGHT: FORBES MARSHALL
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Bioelectricity, a novel electric
energy generation method which
has
a
fair
share
of
experimentation in renewable
energy sources, focusing on the
same Future Tense article of this
issue deals with the Plant
Microbial Fuel Cell and its
potential. A highly accurate mass
flow meter which works on
Coriolis principle is elaborated in
Instrumental
section
while
Industrial Insight talks about one
of the Indian energy solution
providers Forbes Marshall.
It will also be our pleasure to
receive your innovative ideas and
creative suggestions. You can also
download softcopy of TAPAS from
the web page of Department of
Mechanical Engineering at NITC
website and freely share it with
others, who may feel interested in
reading TAPAS
Chief Editor: Dr. S. Jayaraj
Editors: Banisetti Srikanth
Raut Nikhil Mahadev
FUTURE TENSE: PLANT MICROBIAL FUEL CELL
In energy utilization and preservation owing
to conservation strategies and maintaining
biodiversity, clean technologies are set to
redefine the methods. Biodiesel, Bioethanol
as well as bioelectricity have seen a fair
share of experimentation when it comes to
testing renewable sources of energy.
Year 2008 has seen the invention of a new
sustainable source of energy production
which was neglected for the past years. L. De
Schamphelaire developed a Microbial Fuel
Cell incorporating live plants in the system
to provide additional substrate to the
microorganisms. Plant microbial fuel cell
(PMFC) or commonly known as biological
batteries or solar bio cells, harness power in
the form of electricity from organic matter
of living plants.
Organic matter (C6H12O6) generated by
the plant during photosynthesis is partly
utilised for the plants growth while large
considerable amount is excreted out of
the roots and into the soil.
Microorganisms around the plant roots
breakdown these deposits into CO2,
protons and electrons. Inert carbon
electrodes are inserted in the soil
completing the circuit to form a
powerful biological battery. A general
consideration is made that the grass
species are more suitable for the MFC
system. The reason being the roots are
fibrous in grass species enabling even
distribution of organic matter in the
lower soil. Various plant species have
been tried in different models. In Japan
a single chamber sediment type PMFC
was tested with rice paddy which gave
5.75mW/m2. Similarly a dual chamber
cylindrical PMFC with Spartina anglica
obtained a high power density of
222mW/m2. A novel tubular design with
Glyceria maxima, produced a power
density of 60mW/m2.
Compiled by: Mohnish Borker
TAPAS
EMINENT PERSONALITY
James Prescott Joule
INSTRUMENTAL: CORIOLIS FLOWMETER
James Prescott Joule was an English
physicist and brewer. He was born on 24
December, 1818 in Manchester,
England to Benjamin Joule, a wealthy
brewer and Alice Prescott Joule. As a
child, he was fascinated with electricity
and its effects. He used to conduct
experiments at home and in one of the
experiments, he inadvertently shocked
and knocked out one of his servants. His
father’s health declined and he along
with his elder brother, Benjamin, was
forced to work in brewery, at the age of
15. Alongside, he received his education
from John Dalton, a famous English
chemist.
James Prescott Joule analysed the
nature of heat, and established its
relationship to mechanical energy. His
efforts had a profound influence on the
theory of conversation of energy, the
First Law of Thermodynamics. He
collaborated ZZ
with Lord Kelvin on the
formulation of the absolute scale of
temperature and carried out extensive
research on magnetostriction; a
property of ferromagnetic materials
that makes them modifying their
shapes when exposed to a magnetic
field. Joule was the first scientist to
identify this property in 1842 during an
experiment with a sample of nickel. He
established the relationship between
the flow of current through a resistance
and the heat dissipated which was later
termed as Joule’s law. He is also
credited with the first-ever calculation
the velocity of a gas molecule by kinetic
theory of gases. His work with William
Thompson led to the remarkable
discovery known as the Joule-Thomson
effect. The derived unit of energy or
work, the Joule, is named after him. He
served as the president of the British
Association for the Advancement of
Science. He died on October 11, 1889 in
England.
Compiled by: Banisetti Srikanth
Coriolis mass flowmeter measures the mass flow of fluids, such as water, acids,
caustic chemicals, gases, vapours etc. with very high accuracy. Coriolis mass
flowmeters measure the force resulting from the acceleration caused by mass
moving towards or away from a centre of rotation. The “swinging” is generated
by vibrating the tubes in which the fluid flows. The amount of twist is
proportional to the mass flow rate of fluid passing through the tube. As it
measures mass flow, the measurement is not affected by fluid density changes.
In addition, the relative insensitivity to density allows Coriolis mass flowmeters
to be applied in applications where the physical properties of the fluid are not
well known.
In curved tube mass flow meter fluid is being pumped through the mass flow
meter and when there is mass flow through the tube it twists slightly. The arm
through which fluid flows away from the axis of rotation exerts a force on the
fluid to increase its angular momentum so it bends backwards. The arm through
which fluid is pushed back to the axis of rotation exerts a force on the fluid to
decrease its angular momentum again, hence that arm will bend forward. In
other words, the inlet arm containing an outwards directed flow is lagging behind
the overall rotation, the part which in rest is parallel to the axis is now skewed,
and the outlet arm containing an inwards directed flow leads the overall rotation.
Under Vibrating condition when there is no mass flow rate, the inlet arm and the
outlet arm vibrate with the same frequency as the overall vibration, but when
there is mass flow the two vibrations are out of sync i.e. the inlet arm is behind
and the outlet arm is ahead. The two vibrations are shifted in phase with respect
to each other, and the degree of phase-shift is a measure for the amount of mass
that is flowing through the tubes.
Materials of construction are generally limited to stainless steel and Hastelloy C
alloy. Coriolis mass flowmeters can also be used in chemical processes where
fluids are corrosive or mass flow rates are difficult to measure. They find major
use in chemical, oil and gas, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper,
power, metals and mining, water and wastewater industries etc.
Compiled by: Piyush Dhake
TAPAS
PROJECT WATCH
INVESTIGATION ON THE PERFORMANCE OF COUNTER FLOW DOUBLE PASS SOLAR AIR HEATER
WITH LATENT HEAT STORAGE MEDIUM
Guide- Dr. M Srinivas
Drying of agricultural produce, food products, oilseeds, timber, packing containers, space heating etc. are some of
the most common applications where solar energy is being utilized. Drying of these products by exposing to direct
solar radiation diminishes the quality of the product, over the past three decades solar air heaters has been accepted
as one of the prominent methods to harness solar energy. Performance enhancement of conventional solar air
heaters can be done by incorporating artificial roughness, thermal energy storage media. This artificial roughness
will increase the heat transfer rate from the absorber plate by creating turbulence near to surface of the absorber
plate. Energy storage methods and storage devices have been gaining utmost importance since last three decades.
Among the different forms of energy, thermal energy is categorized under low grade energy which emphasizes the
need for efficient design, fabrication and proper selection of storage media concerned with specific applications.
Thermal energy storage is basically categorized in two types; sensible heat storage and latent heat storage. Sensible
heat storage mainly depends upon the temperature change brought about within the material in relation with its
specific heat. A wide number of solid sensible heat storage mediums are available which comprises of iron, lead,
aluminium, graphite, bricks, rocks, sand, and sandstones, lime stones, and concrete. On the other hand, latent heat
storage devices and methods are raising popularity due to high energy storage density, constant temperature
process and availability of materials over an appreciable range of temperature, which makes them flexible for
different applications.
This project focuses its attention towards storing and re-use of excess available energy during off-peak
conditions and peak conditions. To employ the advantages of artificial roughness and thermal energy storage, it has
been identified that, several factors such as proper selection of heat storage medium, chemical and physical stability,
heat exchanger design, containment issues, solar insolation etc., proved to be the vital aspects in design, fabrication
and analysis of such similar systems. Double pass solar air heater with encapsulated PCM placing above the absorber
plate is most useful to store more energy coming from the absorber plate as well as from the heated air, and it can
be utilized in the off peak hours when solar insolation is less. PCM (paraffin wax) is mostly selected as the storage
medium due to its chemical stability and better containment properties.
Banisetti Srikanth
M Tech Thermal Sciences (Batch 2015-17)
TAPAS
MILE STONE
INDUSTRIAL INSIGHT: FORBES MARSHALL
Our alumnus Mayur P. Bonkile
(2013-15 batch) who is
currently a Research Scholar
at IIT Bombay, won the
FameLab India competition.
The event took place on 22
February, 2017 at IISER Pune
and was organized by the
British Council. Mayur will
represent India at the
FameLab International Grand
Finale at the Cheltenham
Science Festival, UK in the
June 2017. Congratulations
11111
Mayur and all
the best for the
International grand finale.
Forbes Marshall is one of the Indian engineering and energy conservation solutions
providers, especially for the process industries. In 1926, J N Marshall & Co a forerunner
of Forbes Marshall started supplying accessories to a thriving textile industry in
Ahmedabad. In 1946 they entered into the distribution of products for the effective and
efficient use of steam and started their first manufacturing plant in Pune in 1958. Forbes
Marshall makes steam engineering and control instrumentation products and solutions.
They have expertise in manufacturing of boilers, steam metering equipment, heat
recovery systems, temperature and pressure control systems. They are also one of the
leaders in production of various instrumentation control equipment such as flowmeters,
level instruments, vibration monitors, distributed control systems, valves and gauges etc.
Being expert in steam production as well as control and instrumentation, they are
solution provider for large sector of industries such as textiles, food processing, paper,
power, chemicals, oil & gas, rubber, pharmaceutical etc. Currently company has business
across more than 35 countries and manufacturing facilities over 4 places across the India.
Compiled by: Piyush Dhake
Upcoming Conferences and Events
FameLab is one of the biggest
science
communication
competitions in the world
organized by the British
Council. The competition is to
explain a scientific concept to
nonscientific audience in
simple language.
The
competition
offers
contestants
training
masterclasses, which focus on
presentation
and
communication skills and aim
to
empower
individual
scientists and researchers in
speaking about their work.

World Conference on Innovation, Engineering, and Technology (IET 2017)
June 27-29, 2017
Kyoto, Japan
http://iainst.org/iet/

International Conference on Engineering, Science and Applications (ICESA 2017)
August 16-18, 2017
Tokyo, Japan
http://icesa2017.globalconf.org/site/page.aspx?pid=901&sid=1145&lang=en

4th International Conference on Power and Energy Systems Engineering (CPESE
2017)
September 25-29, 2017
Berlin, Germany
www.cpese.net/
Send your articles and/or suggestions at [email protected]
TAPAS