ERU - 2006

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.248.9.226/handle/123/14683

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item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Proceedings of the 12th Annual Symposium (Pre Text)
(The Engineering Research Unit University of Moratuwa, 2006-11) Wickramasinghe, V
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Extraction of chlorophyll from 'mukunuwenna'
(2006) Dissanayake, DMMB; Amarasinghe, ADUS; Amarasinghe, BMWPK
Chlorophyll is the green colouring matter found in many plants formed in the chloroplast of their cells usually under the influence of sunlight and is necessary for the process of photosynthesis. Amongst the main types of chlorophyll exist in natural plants; chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b are very important. Chlorophyll and chlorophyll derivatives are used in the industry as a stable, non-toxic, physiologically harmless colorant of foods, cosmetics and medicines. Chlorophyll with 0.1% or less metal can be used as gasoline additive and has a definite antiknock effect. Chlorophyll accelerates the vulcanization of rubber [1]. Furthermore the anti-mutagenic and anti-carcinogenic activities of chlorophyll have been proved and hence some studies are being carried out to use it in medicines [2].
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Use of information technologies at technical colleges
(2006) Cooray, TMJA
This intervention study is aimed at helping upgrade lmowledge and skills of teachers, students and facilitators in integrating Information Technologies (IT) into technical education system. IT entered the socio-cultural setting of Sri Lankan Technical Colleges in early 1983. The teaching and learning process is the core function of the technical colleges. In the modern world that changes rapidly with the evolution of new technologies, the ways of training should be modernized with the emerging trends of IT. To study the present level of using IT for teaching and learning process at technical colleges, identify the activities of the teaching learning and process that IT can be used in different ways in which IT can be incorporated into these activities. In addition to that identify the advantages of using IT over the existing methods used for the teaching and learning process as well as to identify the difficulties in using IT for teaching and learning process at technical colleges and to propose suitable solutions to overcome these difficulties.
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Thermal comfort performance monitoring for stationary vehicles under tropical climate
(2006) Wickramasooriya, IPTS; Witharana, S; Wickramaratne, C; Perera, ULIU
The thermal comfort in an automobile is provided by the air conditioning system. Generally, in city running, an automobile air conditioner consumes nearly 10% of the fuel burnt by the engine. With the use of shading devices and by parking the vehicle under shades, the heat gain into the vehicle can be minimised. Especially in warm tropical climates, the minimisation of heat gain is of paramount importance as excessive heat gain will result in high interior temperatures, which in turn will demand higher load on the air conditioner while the life of the vehicle interior gets shorter.
item: Conference-Abstract
The scale of operation, profitability based productivity and capacity utilization in seaports: the case study based on the Colombo Seaport in Sri Lanka - 1980-2005
(2006) Dasanayaka, SWSB
The Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), an island nation, is strategically located in the South Asian main sea routes as a gateway to the Far-East, the Middle-East, Europe, Africa and Australia. This supreme strategic hub location created commendable achievements in seaports in different magnitudes over time. More specifically, after 1977 economic policy reforms, the Colombo seaport has earned the reputation as the best managed and the most efficient hub port in the South Asia and the major transshipment center in the Indian Ocean. This success further strengthened by the liberalization of shipping in 1990 which was the land mark of changing the fundamentals of the Sri Lankan shipping and ports related activities. In terms of future prospects of transshipment activities in South Asia, it can be estimated that, with the size of vessels growing in the main routes and economic booms in India and China, there will be a concentration of transshipment activities on a very limited number of strategically located hub ports equipped to cope with future generation of vessels requirements and ensuring excellent operation conditions. Therefore it is obvious that the Colombo's qualifications are deemed fit to become one of these major hub in the South Asia. In this context, the recent growth of the Colombo seaport is analyzed by using production function, profitability and capacity utilization approach to get more insights into the seaport operation and to find the possibilities for further expansion. This new approach may overcome the potential problems of port impact and cost benefits studies. First this study conclude that the analysis based on the Cobb-Douglas production function has shown that the operation of the Colombo seaport is an increasing return to scale during the recent past. The returns to scale depend to a larger extent upon changing demand for seaport services and corresponding development to cope with this demand. In view of the rapidly rising tonnage handled and the other services provided for ships and the related other business activities by the Colombo seaport after the 1977 policy reforms has reasonable evidences to find increasing returns to scale in our estimated models even with some what ambiguous data set. Second the profitability based productivity analysis shows the average profitability measures such as the marginal revenue product of labour (MRPI) is very high compared to the average wage rate paid for labour (W) and the marginal revenue product of capital (MRPk) is very high compared to the interest rate (r%) paid for the port development loans. Furthermore, the small fluctuation of the Lagrange multipliers in the estimated max-min model indicates the sustainable nature of profitability of operations in the Colombo seaport. Finally the capacity utilization analysis shows that annual rate of increase of tonnage at the Colombo seaport has been positive and, the rate has increased at an increasing rate over time and it shows the high rate of actual to preferred capacity utilization which can be used as a basis to expand seaport facilities without creating the problem of overcapacity. This new approach can be use to any seaports in any parts of the world to see their scale of operation, profitability based on the productivity and capacity utilization aspects before major expansion in capacity.
item: Conference-Abstract
The development of rubber-thermoplastic blends from ground tyre rubber and waste polypropylene
(2006) Egodage, SM; Harper, JF; Walpalage, S
Rubber-thermoplastic blends are regarded as economical alternatives to the synthesis of new polymers with moderate characteristics and the market for such materials has grown dramatically because of the ability to recycle and process them in conventional thermoplastic machinery. Polymer blending entails the combination of the attractive features of several materials to improve the deficient characteristics of anyone of them, with a reduction in the price of the end product. Blending of polymer waste further reduces the price whilst helping to solve the waste disposal problem that industry currently faces. Rubber rich blends produce a soft thermoplastic elastomer while plastic rich blends produce a rubber toughened thermoplastic. However, literature reveals that the additions of rubber to a thermoplastic matrix result in a significant overall deterioration in mechanical properties.
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Technology impact assessment in Sri Lankan raw rubber industry (estate sector)
(2006) Wamasooriya, PC; Perera, HSC
Rubber is an industry of strategic importance to Sri Lanka as it is one of the top ten producers and the exporter of rubber in the world and as rubber has become an essential part of our lives and its uses are ranging from the simple rubber eraser to the tire of airplanes. Further Sri Lanka is having a long rubber growing history being the cradle of Asian rubber industry with ideal climatic and physical conditions allow for the growth of very high quality rubber.
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Technology based incubators: a model for Sri Lanka
(2006) De Silva, TSP; Perera, HSC
Believing the fact that Small and Medium entrepreneurial businesses are the key to economic success, policy makers understand that vast majority of new enterprises failed as a result of common problems: lack of capital, poor management skills, and insufficient understanding of the market place. In addition, in most of the developing countries, startup entrepreneurs and innovators have to struggle in an environment of severe cultural and bureaucratic constraints.
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Ship breaking industry - open doors to new business opportunity
(2006) Kulasekara, GK; Fernando, MARV
Government of Sri Lanka desperately needs more and more economical, feasible and fruit full investment projects to enhance the economy of the country. Present growth rate of economy is nearly 8 per cent and to achieve the anticipated goals within next five years more and more new business projects are needed. To create the healthy environment for the investment government already started to develop the infrastructure facilities such as power generation, high ways and roads, air ports, harbours, telecommunication systems and transport sector. The aim of the government policy is to get the attraction of large amount of new investors to contribute to the national productivity. It is important to search for new industries which are not yet established in Sri Lanka to open the door to the modem business world. Selecting the type of the business organization, suitable location for the project, availability of capital, capacity and limitations and the resource availability are most important and with the correct decisions the pay back period can be minimized thus enabling the industry to operate successfully. With the development of new industries more job opportunities can be created and the unutilized resources can be utilized for fruit full production processes
item: Conference-Abstract
Serviceability of continuous box-girder concrete bridges made by the progressive cantilever construction procedure
(2006) Thillakarathna, HMI; Weerasekera, IRA
Continuous segmental bridge construction is relatively new to the Sri Lankan bridge industry. Progressive cantilever method of construction is one method employed for continuous box-girder bridges. This technique is competitive for spans between 30 - 50 m. This construction procedure has several advantages. There is no consideration of balancing cantilevers and provides easy access through parts already constructed. Also horizontal curved shapes can be easily accommodated. From a structural sense progressive placement method is advantageous in substructure design where bearings can be placed immediately. The main disadvantage arising from cantilever action is very high bending stresses. This can be minimized by introducing temporary cables or intermediate supports. The other disadvantages are slow progress and that the superstructure undergoes stress reversal. Often other construction methods may be necessary for the first span.
item: Conference-Abstract
Resource recovery from photographic waste by electro-winning
(2006) Wijeyekoon, SLJ; Rohitha, LPS; Fernando, WLW; Dissanayaka, DMDOK; Karunarathna, S
Industries such as mining and industrial minerals, metallurgical, photographic, textile, leather and chemical produce wastewater containing heavy metals that are hazardous to man and the environment. Indiscriminate discharge of these effluents pollutes natural resources and disturbs vital eco systems. On the other hand most heavy metals in these effluents are rare in nature and hence are expensive industrial raw materials. Therefore a sustainable pollution control option for these industries should aim at resource recovery. Successful isolation of heavy metals from wastewaters will not only render such effluents non hazardous but also make waste management an attractive proposition, thus leading to multiple benefits in terms of resource conservation, pollution control and treatment cost savings. Photographic waste effluents arise from X-ray, lithographic and photographic operations. The photosensitive medium used in these operations is an emulsion of fine Ag halide matrix in gelatin. During fixing, the Ag+ is removed by the fixer solution. The developer and bleach solutions also contain the Ag heavy metal. The recovery of Ag" from such wastewater may be done by electro-winning, metallic replacement, evaporation, ion exchange, reverse osmosis and electro-dialysis. However many process parameters of these methods are not readily available and opportunities exist for optimization of methods to improve removal efficiencies. The aim of this research was to investigate the application of electro-winning technique for selective removal of Ag metals from photographic wastewater. The advantages of the application of electro-winning technique are no hazardous sludge generation, isolation of pure elements, no pretreatment requirement and l
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Rapid biodegradation of organic waste as a solution for urban solid waste
(2006) Fernando, S; Gunawardana, S; De Alwi, A
Almost all urban (municipal) waste of developing countries consists of high content of organic matter and moisture levels. Official government sources show the percentage of organic matter in waste as 65% (Department of censer and statistics, Sri Lanka 2001). This organic waste can be considered as a major polluter in Sri Lanka.
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Performance prediction of single dose dry powder inhalers using computational fluid dynamics
(2006) Goonathilake, A; Mangala, KHJ; Liyanaratne, N; Sudeera, MADA
Much attention has been drawn by inhalation as an effective route of drug administration for the treatment of obstructive lung diseases. The human lung possesses a relatively large surface area in the order of 126 m2 for drug absorption. Drugs are administered by inhalation for two reasons, to increase the desired clinical effect of the drug by direct application where that effect is needed and to reduce undesired side effects. An inhaler is a device for administering vapor or volatilized medication by inhalation. Among the type of inhalers, dry powder inhalers (DPI) are growing in popularity for being easy to use and environmentally friendly. There are two kinds of DPls, single dose inhaler where the drug is to be loaded whenever used and multi dose inhaler which could be used several times without loading the drugs.
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Performance improvement and energy saving potential of internal combustion engines in large-scale power generation
(2006) Kariyawasam, S; Witharana, S
Thermal power stations supply the majority of electricity demand in Sri Lanka. According to eEB's statistics for year 2004, more than 63% of the total annual energy demand was supplied by thermal plants, which amounted to 5,080GWh. By that year, the total installed capacity of Thermal power plants was 1,073MW, with the internal combustion (IC) engines having a share of 543MW. In terms of the number of operating hours, the Ie engines are preferred to Gas turbines due to fuel economy. In total, eEB had spent nearly 20 billion rupees to fuel its thermal power plants during the year 2004. Today the fuel costs are even higher. A 1% improvement in efficiency of all thermal power plants in Sri Lanka would return a saving of approximately 500milion rupees a year.
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Performance analysis of free flow fans
(2006) Jayasantha, TDKN; Appuhami, JADLP; Gamage, GAC; Sugathapala, AGT
In Sri Lanka air circulating fans are extensively used to improve the comfort level in enclosed spaces. The flow generated by such a fan not only provides the required circulation and velocity but also maintains steady and uniform temperature conditions through better mixing. Among these fans, the most extensively used category is the ceiling fans. There is a wide variety of ceiling fans available locally with different levels of performance. Due to a lack of criterion to identify the most suitable fans for various applications, customers have to face unnecessary inconveniences. To address this issue, it has been proposed to introduce an energy labelling criterion for ceiling fans by Energy Conservation Fund (ECF) & Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI). Development of such a criterion needs detailed performance testing of ceiling fans, particularly the flow field generated.
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Modeling sector wise demand for electricity in Sri Lanka using bayesian techniques
(2006) Cooray, TMJA
The demand for the electricity in Sri Lanka depends mainly on the activities of domestic, industrial, and commercial sectors. Electricity has become the most important source of energy in the domestic sector of the country that is desirous of achieving the newly developed nation status. This study aims to identify a model to forecast Electricity demand. The unpredictable changes in the activities cause the demand of electricity to change unusually. This makes predicting the demand very difficult sometimes. Therefore in this research the way of incorporating changes in the activities in the time series model for forecasting is used, which is known as Bayesian Forecasting (BF) model. The Comparison of this model with the Autoregressive Integrated Moving averages (ARIMA) model, which is generally used, was made. According to the calculated mean absolute percentages error (MAPE), BF model gave better performance in term of higher degrees accuracy of forecasting. Thus on one hand it is encouraging that the Sri Lanka electricity authorities can have some faith in the model used for forecasting. Hence the chosen econometric work does have a considerable impact of the policy decisions in the Sri Lankan electricity supply industry.
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Mathematical model and prototype design of an electro-hydraulic camless valvetrain
(2006) Perera, ULIU; Ranaweera, RKPS; Weerasinghe, WMSR
Presented within is a synopsis of the mathematical model and prototype design & manufacture of an electro-hydraulic camless valvetrain. This valvetrain system was developed for use as a replacement for the conventional camshaft operated valvetrain in an internal combustion engine.
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Low-cost one-axis solar tracking operated by water pressure
(2006) Jayampathy, M; Watugala, GK
Solar photovoltaic CPV)panels are increasingly used in rural areas of Sri Lanka where the main grid electricity is not available. The high initial cost is a major deterrent in the popularization of this renewable energy source. Because of the complexities and additional cost involved, solar tracking is not done for these panels, and the panels are mounted at a fixed orientation, normally at an inclination of about 6-10°, facing the South. The additional solar power obtainable by having one-axis solar tracking can not justify the additional cost needed for tracking mechanisms available now.
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
It enabled services in the Sri Lankan healthcare sector
(2006) Pereira, N; Jayasena, S
Process Automation concentrates on automating structured processes of an organization in order to achieve excellent service delivery by enabling the employees to pay more attention to semi structured or unstructured processes. The growth of the Sri Lankan healthcare sector is a necessity at this stage due to an increasingly ageing community and a significant increase in non-communicable diseases. Despite many regulations that govern the sector, it continues to be inundated with many problems in relation to delivery of healthcare services.
item: Conference-Extended-Abstract
Investigations of wave reflection and transmission through berm structures
(2006) Fernando, KPM; Hettiarachchi, SSL
A breakwater is designed to dissipate wave energy with due attention focused on hydraulic, geotechnical and structural stability. The use of physical models is the principal method for investigating experimentally the performance of breakwaters. Research on the design and construction of breakwaters has led to the development of new concepts and further examination of alternative design practices. One such alternative is the use of the berm breakwaters. In berm breakwaters, the hydraulics of wave structure interaction plays a vital role in the dissipation of wave energy. It is therefore evident that a detailed investigation of this subject using a large scale hydraulic model would provide information leading to improved design with respect to hydraulic efficiency and minimization of costs. The investigation was designed to obtain a complete profile of the energy dissipation characteristics of the structure, including damping of waves along the berm and its full structure.

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