Building Resilient communities: Techno-economic assessment of standalone off-grid PV powered net zero energy (NZE) villages.

The use of renewable energy resources for off-grid electricity production has gained more importance in recent decades for meeting the energy needs of remote areas, even with limited resources. This research aims to provide an optimized and cost-effective approach for generating electricity in rural areas. By using current methodology, a stand alone energy source of PV is designed for development of NZE village. Solar irradiance of the selected location is 6.16 kWh/m2/day while the estimated electric load data for whole village is 64.259 kWh. Electric load and solar irradiance of the loaction is used in the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) to design and analyze the techno-economic feasibility of the stand alone PV system to meet the load requirements. The study obtained the total Net Present Cost (NPC) of $0.511 M and the Cost Of Electricity (COE) is 2.26$/unit through the HOMER analysis, which is further refined by performing sensitivity analysis using parameters such as PV panel price, battery price, solar irradiance, variations in electric load and discount rates. According to the results, system is feasibile by annual electricity production of 30,078 kWh with initial capital investment of $0.434 M. This analysis compared the system performance and showed that it is economically and technically viable to meet the complete electricity needs of the village with a payback period of 7.2 years. Research can be utilized for policy making and implementation of NZE approach in remote areas by the government.

Engine knock detection for a multifuel engine using engine block vibration with statistical approach.

Engine knock is an obstacle for maximizing CNG fuel utilization on a Diesel-CNG Dual Fuel engine. Prolong experience of this phenomenon may lead to severe engine damage. The low intensity of this phenomenon is difficult to recognize due to other noises from the engine. Thus, improper engine tuning techniques may make this phenomenon unnoticeable until the engine damages. Knock phenomena on such engines may not be detected in the combustion analysis graph. Its random occurrence in consecutive engine cycles makes it difficult to be seen using visual data. This knowledge gap, if closed, can lead to an opportunity for knock avoidance on the multifuel engine. This work proposed a method to quantify the knock occurrence based on engine block vibration using a single piezoelectric knock sensor. The knock occurrence was detected by comparing the calculated knock index with the knock threshold, determined using a statistical three-sigma rule analysis. This method can index the knock intensity, detect the engine knock occurrence, and visualize the knock phenomenon.•This paper describes an alternative engine knock detection technique based on engine block vibration.•This method proposes the knock threshold determination based on statistical three-sigma rule analysis.•This method is capable of visualizing the knock phenomenon in consecutive and at each engine cycle.

Data on FTIR, TGA - DTG, DSC of invasive pennisetum purpureum grass.

The aim of this research is to characterize the invasive grass, Pennisetum purpureum, to evaluate the potentiality of the bioenergy production. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra are measured in order to understand the functional groups and their structure in the biomass. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and the derivative thermogravimetric analysis (DTG) data are provided under Pyrolysis (N2) and combustion (O2) conditions to reveal the degradation pattern of the biomass. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is the thermochemical process to measure the enthalpy changes pattern of the biomass. The original data presented in this work can be found in a research paper titled "Evaluation of the bioenergy potential of invasive Pennisetum purpureum through pyrolysis and thermogravimetric analysis", by Md Sumon Reza, Shafi Noor Islam, Shammya Afroze, Muhammad S. Abu Bakar, Rahayu S. Sukri, Saidur Rahman, and Abul K. Azad [1].