AGENDA

An Ultra-Wideband Impulse Echo system is used to provide the image of the human silhouette. Both of the transmitting antennas and receiving antennas used in the radar system are Vivaldi antenna array. The transmitting signal is an Ultra-Wideband pulse signal, which is propagating in space after up-converting to 3-6 GHz. The configuration between the receivers and transmitters are a coherent bistatic MIMO radar, which means transmitter array and the receiver array are deployed in different places. Two transmitting antennas and eight receiving antennas are adopted to form a virtual array, which equally like a system of 16 receiving antennas. Back-projection algorithm is used to reconstruct the image. When recovering radar images, each image composes of pixels. Each pixel in the image represents the radar signal backscatter from the space. Darker areas represent low backscatter and brighter ones refer to high backscatter. Some of unexpected imaging results like afterimage (residue-image) exist after the imaging process. In order to enhance the image quality through residue-image processing, the crosstalk cancellation, strengthen signal and weaken noise, linear regression and threshold setting are taken into considerations to suppress unexpected residue imaging patterns. First, the radar system receives the echo signal from target. Subsequently, the signal is normalized and the problem of system delay and DC offset is fixed. Finally, the imaging is completed. Crosstalk cancellation algorithm is used to suppress the coupling between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna. And then based on the result of crosstalk suppression, strengthen signal and weaken noise, linear regression and threshold setting are used to go a step further to suppress the effect of noise on imaging results. After suppressing crosstalk and noise, the resolution of radar image is enhanced.

Keywords: Ultra-wideband, Impulse Radar, Virtual Array, Back-projection, Microwave Imaging, Delay and Sum, Crosstalk Cancellation, Linear Regression

The advent of modern robotics technology in recent decades has fueled rapid growth in agricultural robotics, not only to meet the increasing demands for alternatives to human labour in agricultural production due to the difficulty of finding and retaining workers. Agricultural processes such as harvesting and spraying on tropical fruits such as rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) and durian (Durio zibethinus), however, necessitate a mobile robotic platform with elongated arms that appends to at least four metres in height. As the arms themselves move, significant vibrations are felt at the tip of the arms which must be mathematically modelled and controlled. These vibrations are usually modeled with an initial definite complicated model structure, with more complex observers added on if the initial model fails to capture the data. This talk thus presents a simplified modeling approach to model these complicated dynamics, including the design of the nonlinear control for the system.

Confrontation with today’s crisis climate is a crucial responsibility for all of us. Energy and resource management with digitalization are one of the best solutions to tackle climate impacts. Energy efficiency and renewable energy sources are deployed in the charging station for electric vehicles as a study case. Photovoltaic system with batteries plays a crucial role for sustainability. Thanks to smart devices with digitalization, the load flow in the interconnected power system can be effectively managed at the station. Becoming more connected with community nearby, solar rooftop with micro-inverter system is proposed and get installed on a roof of neighbors. Peer-to- peer energy sharing is carried out with digitalization as organized by the station. The study will express how possible it is to make the station net-zero building.

Note: The study is funded by PMUC, Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council in 2021, and still in progress.

With the peak of up to 6MW, Walailak University is one of the biggest users on the viewpoint of electrical power consumption in the south of Thailand. The university aims to reduce energy consumption sourced by mostly fossil fuel (Thailand electrical grid); therefore, several research and projects have been established. For example, the “Green University” project had already employed a fleet of electric vehicles to provide transportation services for the university employees and students. This has the impact on reducing carbon dioxide releases. However, the burden is on the electricity usages. To reduce the pressure on electricity energy consumption, the university has put more efforts in using solar power energy with the employment of 2.4 MW of solar rooftop and a 3 MW solar farm which are now being installed. The Electrical Engineering Department introduces additional projects to help improving the efficiency of electricity energy consumption. Some faculty staffs have the expertise in resonant power converters. One of the projects is to connect the solar power system to the electrical grid of the electrical power company. Instead of employing the common high-frequency full-bridges inverters to connect the solar power system and transferring sunlight power to the electrical power lines, the resonant high-frequency half-bridge inverter and a single-switched inverter is being investigated. One of many benefits of applying the resonant circuit topology in the power converters is that the soft-switching operations can be realized. Therefore, the power conversion efficiency is to be improved by 0.5 to 1 percent, which is very significant since the power converting circuits are to be used in every single day of a year. The next project is to develop energy storage technology but not only the electrical energy is stored but also the waste heat from PV panels is going to be utilised to run a thermochemical sorption technology to produce cooling power which is the main load of most building in the university. When the overall system is achieved, Walailak University is going to be a green university model run mainly by renewable energy resources which is going to be called a net zero university.

To avoid problems related to a school bus service such as kidnapping, children being left in a bus for hours leading to fatality, etc., it is important to have a reliable transportation service to ensure students’ safety along journeys. This research presents a high accuracy child monitoring system for locating students if they are inside or outside a school bus using the Internet of Things (IoT) via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) which is suitable for a signal strength indication (RSSI) algorithm. The in/out-bus child tracking system alerts a driver to determine if there is a child left on the bus or not. Distance between devices is analyzed for decision making to affiliate the zone of the current children’s position. A simplified and high accuracy machine learning of least mean square (LMS) algorithm is used in this research with model-based RSSI localization techniques. The distance is calculated with the grid size of 0.5 m × 0.5 m similar in size to an actual seat of a school bus using two zones (inside or outside a school bus). The averaged signal strength is proposed for this research, rather than using the raw value of the signal strength in typical works, providing a robust position-tracking system with high accuracy while maintaining the simplicity of the classical trilateration method leading to precise classification of each student from each zone. The test was performed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed tracking strategy which precisely shows the positions of each student. The proposed method, therefore, can be applied for future autopilot school buses where students’ home locations can be securely stored in the system used for references to transport each student to their homes without a driver.

Nature is the best science and engineering teacher. Natural structures, having been through numerous cycles of optimization due to natural selection and evolution, can inspire solutions for engineering problems. For example, shells, scales, and bones are naturally engineered to absorb impact energy, among other functions. This talk discusses the structure, the sub-components, and the arrangement of tortoise shells that influence their energy absorption capability. A finite element model of the shells is created to gain insights into the deformation mechanisms of tortoise shells. The results lend themselves to the design of impact protection components in multiple applications.

The content given here is divided into two sections. First, current research work from our department will be discussed. Then, we would like to introduce TAIST-Tokyo Tech program, a cooperative international master's degree program between Thailand and Japan universities.

• Current research work

Environmental concerns are causing increasingly strict regulation of engine particulate emissions around the world, as well as in Thailand. The motivation of this research is to reduce the depletion of fossil fuel resources and greenhouse gases emission and to reduce particulate matter (PM) emissions from diesel engine exhaust gas. This research objective is to study the diesel engine’s after-treatment system performance including diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) and diesel particulate filter (DPF). The effects of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas on the oxidation reaction of the PM trapped in the DPF was also focused on; as the gas may lower energy consumption utilized in the after-treatment system. It was clearly observed that more than 50% of the diesel engine’s PM and nitrogen monoxide (NO) gas can be reduced after installing the DOC and DPF system. The NO2 was clearly found to provide a catalytic effect on soot oxidation and can lower the oxidation temperature, i.e., lower energy consumption utilized in the system.

• International mater degree program TAIST-Tokyo Tech

TAIST (Thailand Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) is based on the idea of collaboration among NSTDA and partner universities in Thailand and the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan to develop international engineering resources. The main objective of TAIST-Tokyo Tech is to establish an institution for human resource development to foster and support world-class researchers and high-level engineers through a combination of advising from Tokyo Tech professors, excellent facilities, and research staff in NSTDA and established resources of Thai universities. Our Mechanical Engineering department at KMITL has cooperated in the Automotive and Advanced Transportation Engineering (A2TE) for more than 10 years. The program will provide researchers to act as adjunct professors, research projects, and scholarships for graduate students, not only for Thai nationality but also international students from around the world. So far, numbers of international students from Cambodia, China, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, and more have participated/graduated from our program.

1. Energy harvesting devices (e.g. power harvesting or energy scavenging or ambient power) are the process by which energy is derived from external sources; for examples: solar power, thermal energy, wind energy…etc., captured, and stored for small, wireless autonomous devices, like those used in wearable electronics and wireless sensor networks. Some of them are designed by the piezoelectric crystals or fibers since they can generate a small voltage whenever they are mechanically deformed. According to the piezoelectric effect, as a plate structure starts vibrating, not only the mechanical but the electrical energy are generated. So that the dynamic characteristics of the excited objects play an important role in components design. In this topic, many theories have been proposed to predict the vibration behaviors of piezoelectric plate, for example: Kirchhoff theory, Mindlin theory and higher-order plate theory. In our work, the refined Mindlin plate theory is applied to deriving the analytical solution for the flexural and extensional vibrations of a piezoelectric thick plate. First of all, the equation of motions and boundary conditions of a piezoelectric continuum can be given by Hamilton’s principle and variation method. The resonant frequencies and mode shapes of piezoelectric rectangular thick plate with completely free boundary conditions are analyzed, and the three dimensional displacement functions of the flexural mode and extensional mode are presented base on the superposition method. This solution provides the result for the coupling of out-of-plane and in-plane vibrations with the dominated motion of flexural or extensional motion and has excellent convergence for numerical calculation. To verify the validity of theoretical solution, the resonant frequencies and the corresponding mode shapes are compared with that obtained by FEM calculation and experimental measurement using amplitude-fluctuation electronic speckle pattern interferometer (AF-ESPI) technique. This measurement method can obtain the resonant frequencies and associated mode shapes at same time. Since the piezoelectric materials have the characteristic of electro-mechanical interaction, the electric impedance analyzer is used to obtain the extensional resonant frequencies. It is shown in this study that this method can be used to determine the mode shapes and resonant frequencies of the piezoelectric thick plate with great accuracy. By utilizing the theoretical analysis, numerical calculation, and experimental measurement, the great improvement of the optimal design for energy harvesting devices can be obtained.

2. A Stirling engine is an external combustion engine which can be driven by various heat sources, such as solar thermal power, nuclear power, industrial waste heat, biomass and natural gas. A Stirling engine is a closed thermal cycle engine; therefore, no intake, exhaust, or combustion processes are involved in its operation. As a result, Stirling engine has low noise level. In addition, the thermal efficiency of an ideal Stirling cycle is Carnot efficiency; therefore, Stirling engine has higher efficiency than other thermal cycles. Due to these advantages, Stirling engine s have been used in many fields, such as concentrating solar power (CSP) system, air-independent propulsion (AIP) in submarines, combined heat and power (CHP) system, and waste heat recovery system. On the contrary, the Stirling cooler constitutes an inverse application of the Stirling engine in which a motor or an engine are used for operation and cooling. Stirling coolers use helium as a working fluid instead of traditional refrigerant. The leakage of working fluid would not cause exacerbate global warning, and the cooling temperature is lower than that of liquid nitrogen. Therefore, Stirling coolers have been widely applied in many fields, such as in CO2 capture, IR sensors noise reduction, food processing, superconductor cooling, and portable refrigeration storage. In this study, a Stirling engine and Stirling cooler was integrated into a Stirling heat-driven cooler (SHC) which can apply thermal energy to generator electric power and pump heat from a low- to high-temperature reservoir directly, preventing energy loss during the transformation and transmission processes. In this study, a kW-class SHC was developed for CSP systems which can apply solar thermal energy to generate electric power, heating and cooling capacity simultaneously. A computational fluid dynamic model was built and solved using ANSYS Fluent to study the thermo-fluid field in the SHC. The pressure, velocity, and temperature fields were obtained. The performance of the system was also predicted. In parallel, a theoretical model which combines thermodynamic, dynamic, electric, and magnetic models was established for studying the overall performance. A prototype engine and cooler were also developed and tested. The results indicate that the proposed engine could reach 1312 W at 1390 rpm with 6 bar helium and 650 ℃ heating temperature. The proposed cooler can produce cooling power 417 W and heating power 904 W at 1000 rpm, respectively. The lowest cooling temperature can reach near -60 ℃.

Hydrogen has emerged as a promising energy carrier, with particular interest relating to the energy supply cycle, especially in transportation applications (Xu et al., 2018; Holladay et al., 2009). Hydrogen has also long been an essential reagent of various kinds of chemicals, including ammonia, urea, methanol, fertilizers as well as its use in petroleum refining (Protasova and Snijkers, 2016; Adiya et al., 2017). Development of hydrogen production technologies to serve an increase in global energy demand is therefore of interest. Thermochemical routes include partial oxidation, steam reforming, dry reforming, autothermal reforming, aqueous phase reforming, and plasma reforming. Nowadays steam reforming is a commercially standard method for producing high purity hydrogen (H2/CO ratio 3:1). However, high energy demands for the endothermic reaction and the emission of CO2, a significant cause of the greenhouse effect, are drawbacks of this technique (Holladay et al., 2009). Consequently, researches and innovations in hydrogen production technology still attract interest among researchers. Current developments and innovations have been aimed towards improving system performance of which most attention has been to improve processes in technical, economic, and environmental perspectives, that is, minimizing operating cost, lowering negative environmental impact, or maximizing utilization of resources, etc. Different strategies, such as the development of catalysts and modification and innovation of reactors and processes, have been investigated to improve process efficiency.

Currently, there are six faculty members in the chemical engineering program. We are doing our research under the Biomass and Oil Plam Center of Excellent (BOP CoE). Our research interests in the respective areas include renewable energy from biofuels, biomaterials, thermal conversion technologies for biomass, and bio-based separation processes. Dr. Kamchai focuses on biodiesel technology, biogas production from POME, succinic acid synthesis from oxidation of furfural, and heavy metals removal from wastewater using activated carbon. Dr. Attaso and Dr. Wipawee are interested in biochar and biosorbent synthesis from agricultural wastes for air and wastewater treatment applications, cellulose acetate membranes, and biomass conversion technologies (e.g., torrefaction pyrolysis and gasification). Dr. Nirattisai emphasizes value-added products from agricultural wastes, biogas and bio-oil production, and supercritical CO2 extraction. Dr. Archw focuses on chemical engineering process modeling and simulation, hydrophilic/hydrophobic materials, and natural products using a supercritical CO2 extraction. Finally, Dr. Wichitpan is interested in membrane separation processes, biomass conversion to value-added chemicals (e.g., levulinic acid), biogas upgrading, and process simulation.

Primary lithium-thionyl chloride (Li-SOCl2) battery was developed in the 1970s. It offers the highest energy density of any primary cell (up to 710 Wh Kg-1 and 1420 Wh L-1) and is widely used in utility metering, GPS, tracking devices, automotive, industrial automation, instrumentation, medical devices, and military applications. However, the drawback of the Li-SOCl2 battery is that the battery can not be recharged, which limits the scope of applications. Here, we report a novel cathode material together with a unique electrolyte recipe for the development of a new type of battery, namely rechargeable Li-Cl2/Na-Cl2 batteries, derived from the Li-SOCl2 battery. Activated microporous carbon nanospheres (AMCS) with a high surface area of 3400 m2 g-1 were employed as active material in the cathode, while the electrolyte consisted of SOCl2, LiTFSI, LiFSI, and AlCl3 for the Li-Cl2 battery while SOCl2, NaTFSI, NaFSI, and AlCl3 were used for Na-Cl2 battery. The Na-Cl2 battery, exhibiting ultrahigh ~ 2800 mAh/g first discharge capacity, could cycle with a high reversible capacity up to ~ 1200 mAh/g at 3.5 V and an average coulombic and energy efficiency of ~ 100% and ~ 94%, respectively. Through battery cycling, NaCl and other chlorine species are produced that supported anode’s Na/Na+ redox and cathode’s chloride/chlorine redox. Fluoride-rich additives were important in forming a solid-electrolyte interface, affording reversibility of the Na anode for a new class of high-capacity secondary Na battery.

Over two decades or so, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has become an essential scientific and engineering tool to provide a clear insight into fluid flow phenomena because computing technology has successfully developed. CFD can resolve the limitations of experimental fluid dynamics (EFD) and analytical fluid dynamics (AFD). Moreover, CFD can produce a large volume of results with low expenses. From these advantages, a huge volume of CFD simulations has been published. At first sight, the previous CFD simulation works seemingly provide useful information in several research fields. However, some previous works only aim to obtain the predicted results without concerning the proper CFD models of their systems. This shortfall encourages our computational fluid dynamics laboratory to develop the appropriate CFD models for predicting several industrial applications by considering grid generation, physical-model setup, and numerical method selection. We propose various suitable CFD models for predicting simple and complex flow phenomena. For the past few years, we published the proper CFD models for pump-around jet mixing tanks and gas cyclone separators. The suitable CFD model for simple turbulent flow in the rough surface circular pipe was also successfully developed. Moreover, the CFD simulations for optimizing the dustbin geometry of gas separator have been introduced. We attempt to develop a reliable CFD model for supersonic flow in anejector forfuture work.

Keywords CFD modeling; Fluid Mechanics; Numerical; Simulation; Transport Phenomena

One of the common causes of a heart attack is fibrillation, a condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate. There is scientific evidence that the survival rate of sudden cardiac arrest patients who are rescued with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and with the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) is significantly increased. Despite the recommendation that automated external defibrillators should be installed in the workplace, along with a proper management system and training for employees on how to use the device, less than 70% of non-residential areas have an AED installed. The situation is even worse in residential areas, with less than 30% having an AED installed. This research concerns the development of a medical drone managing system that can deliver an AED in case of emergency. An application was developed that can be installed on the mobile phone and/or tablet of the patient or the accompanying person. In the event of a heart attack, the patient or the accompanying person can call a medical drone by sending coordinates to the drone station and a notification to medical staff. The drone station administrator can respond by sending the drone, which automatically lands at the patient’s location. After being tested in a simulation situation, the operational field test yielded satisfactory results. The medical drone can land within 1.5 m of the destination. The designed AED drone can be used not only to deliver AEDs, but also first aid kits and prescribed drugs suitable for medical care. Such a system is especially useful in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: AED; automated external defibrillators; medical drone; delivery drone

Energy management is a great investment for business sites. Not only are energy costs reduced, carbon footprint reduction is achieved as well. In the study, the EV charging station integrated with solar energy and energy storages is proposed for digitalization. Digitalization is the key to fully optimizing energy clean and cost. With solar rooftops of neighborhood, P2P energy trading is studied for enabling mutual beneficial transactions as the station organized. Tools and platforms is formulated to help integrated variable renewables by enabling power grid to better match energy demand to times, especially charging time to electric vehicles. Interoperability between smart devices, IT systems and various platforms are studied and implemented in the ecosystem of the station. The study will show how far to bring sustainability to the business.

Note: The study is funded by PMUC, Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council in 2021, and still in progress.

Street lighting is a critical component of any city's infrastructure. On the other hand, the street lighting system consumes a significant amount of electricity. As a result, many technologies and studies are being developed to reduce the energy cost of street lighting. While the majority of the proposed ideas for reducing the energy cost of the street lighting system are based on light emitting diode lamps, they are not suitable for high-pressure sodium lamps, which continue to dominate in developing countries. Moreover, the high initial cost, difficulty of installation and maintenance, reliability, and service lifetime are all significant barriers to the practical implementation of these ideas. This paper presents a web-based control system for traditional street lighting systems that still employs high-pressure sodium lamps. The proposed idea converts existing modules of the conventional controller, which are photo switches, into IoT devices. The web application on the server then manages and controls the devices. The web application allows users to create a schedule for turning off the lights during the late-night hours to save energy. The system's advantages include its low cost, ease of installation, and maintenance. The proposed system is useful for roads or areas with low traffic density at late night. This system has been validated at Walailak University, Thailand.

In recent years, due to the presentation of a lot of emerging big data applications, digital data volume has been growing larger rapidly. The capacity of both memory and storage fails to keep the cost and performance balance to meet the requirement of storing data. Luckily, some novel memory and storage technologies have been developed for large-scale data applications. For example, non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM) shows the potential to replace DRAM as the main memory for next-generation computer architecture because of its high cell density, non-volatility and low power-leakage; on the other hand, shingle magnetic recording (SMR) drive also tends to be the storage for enlarging the capacity of storage. However, both of these new technologies suffer from write-constraint issues, and they may significantly affect the performance and lifetime. In other words, the conventional algorithms and systems may not suitable for these new kinds of technologies. Therefore, to manage massive data efficiently over such novel technologies, this talk will provide the brand-new thoughts of how to redesign the algorithms and systems for next-generation memory and storage architecture. More specifically, this talk will introduce some “software” methodologies for programmers to mitigate the performance gaps between these new technologies and the modern-used technology.