A study was conducted at the University of Baghdad-College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences - Department of Agricultural Machinery and Equipment for the agricultural season 2023 with the aim of designing, manufacturing and testing a machine used to planting agricultural nursery tray with different types of vegetable or horticultural seeds or forest seeds of various forms, and using different agricultural media where they are conducted The planting process is by pulling the seeds with a negative pressure vacuum system, and then they are feding to the dishes in their right place to complete the planting process. The study included three factors: The speed of the main belt in three levels: 0.43, 0.66 and 0.90 m.sec−1 and three types of agricultural media: Petmus, mix of Petmos and silt 1:1 and silt, and three types of seeds that were planted. A factorial experiment was carried out using a design (CRD) with three replications using the least significant difference and a probability level (LSD = 0.05) to compare the mean of the coefficients. Some performance indicators of the machine were studied, including: Consumed electrical power, electric power, the productivity of the machine, and the efficiency of the machine in picking seeds. The results indicated The peat moss medium excelled in recording the least consumed electric power, which amounted to 2075.8 watts, and the lowest electric power, which amounted to 0.007751 kWh. And the third speed of the conveyor belt excelled in achieving the highest productivity of dishes per hour, amounting to 105.08 dishes.hour−1, and the first speed achieved the least consumed power, amounting to 2047.3 watts, and the least consumed electrical energy at the third speed, which amounted to 0.007703 kWh.
Anaerobic digestion is a technology widely used for treatment of organic waste for biogas production as a source for clean energy. In this study, poultry house wastes (PHW) material was examined as a source for biogas production. The effects of inoculum addition, pretreatment of the substrate, and temperature on the biogas production were taken into full consideration. Results revealed that the effect of inoculum addition was more significant than the alkaline pretreatment of raw waste materials. The biogas recovery from inoculated waste materials exceeds its production from wastes without inoculation by approximately 70% at mesophilic conditions. Whereby, the increase of biogas recovery from pretreated wastes was by 20% higher than its
... Show MoreDecolorization of red azo dye (Cibacron Red FN-R) from synthetic wastewater has been investigated as a function of solar advanced oxidation process. The photocatalytic activity using ZnO as a photocatalysis has been estimated. Different parameters affected the removal efficiency, including pH of the solution, initial dye concentration and H2O2 concentration were evaluated to find out the optimum value of these parameters. The results proved that the optimal pH value was 8 and the most efficient H2O2 concentration was 100mg/L. Toxicity reduction percent for effluent solution was also monitored to assess the degradation process. This treatment method was able to strongly reduce the color and toxicity of reactive red dye-238 to about (99 an
... Show MoreUtilizing phase change materials in thermal energy storage systems is commonly considered as an alternative solution for the effective use of energy. This study presents numerical simulations of the charging process for a multitube latent heat thermal energy storage system. A thermal energy storage model, consisting of five tubes of heat transfer fluids, was investigated using Rubitherm phase change material (RT35) as the. The locations of the tubes were optimized by applying the Taguchi method. The thermal behavior of the unit was evaluated by considering the liquid fraction graphs, streamlines, and isotherm contours. The numerical model was first verified compared with existed experimental data from the literature. The outcomes re
... Show MoreFor more than a decade, externally bonded carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites successfully utilized in retrofitting reinforced concrete structural elements. The function of CFRP reinforcement in increasing the ductility of reinforced concrete (RC) beam is essential in such members. Flexural and shear behaviors, ductility, and confinement were the main studied properties that used the CFRP as a strengthening material. However, limited attention has been paid to investigate the energy absorption of torsion strengthening of concrete members, especially two-span concrete beams. Hence, the target of this work is to investigate the effectiveness of CFRP-strengthening technique with regard to energy absorption of two-span RC
... Show MoreClimate change significantly affects photovoltaic (PV) energy potential in arid regions. This study quantifies climate change impacts on both monofacial and bifacial PV energy potential across Iraq using Community Climate System Model (CCSM4) projections under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios spanning 2020–2100. Specific mathematical frameworks accounting for thermal and irradiance characteristics were applied across 18 representative regions covering Iraq’s diverse climatic zones, with bifacial systems modeled using dual-surface irradiance capture incorporating ground reflection and thermal dynamics. Results reveal distinct northwest–southe
Objective Advantageous properties of silicone elastomer made it one of the favorable materials in maxillofacial prosthesis construction, but these properties may change after months of usage or after pigments addition. This study aimed to define the optimum concentration for a mixture of two types of intrinsic pigments that added to VST-50 maxillofacial silicone material and study their effects on mechanical properties before and after artificial aging. Methods After the pilot study was conducted, 0.1% by weight of rayon flocking and 0. 2% by weight of burnt sienna intrinsic pigment concentration was selected because of improvement in tested mechanical properties of VST-50 maxillofacial silicone. A total of one hundred and eighty samples we
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