Module-1

Introduction: Role of Mechanical Engineering in Industries and Society-

Emerging Trends and Technologies in different sectors such as Energy,
Manufacturing, Automotive, Aerospace, and Marine sectors.

What is Mechanical Engineering?

Mechanical Engineering create and develop mechanical systems for all humankind concern with
the principles of force, energy and motion

Contribution of Mechanical Engineering to the society

• Industrial revolution since 18th century taking place with huge contribution of mechanical
engineering
• Eliminates excessive usage of resources by optimizing and improving efficiency.
• To build the things that make the world better place.
• Reduce the human effort and makes work easy.

Importance of Mechanial Engineeirng

• Without machine we cannot produce any electrical and elctronic device
• Without metal we cannot transfer electricity
• Without molding we cannot produce brick
• Without design we cannot make mother boards

Role of Mechanical Engineering in Industries: Mechanical engineers play key roles

in wide range of industries including ,railway, automotive, aerospace, biotechnology,
computers ,electronics, micro-electromechanical systems, energy conversion, process plants,
oil industries , robotics & automation, textile engineering, building & construction,
manufacturing, solid waste disposal & management & others. They are often employed in the
field of design & analysis, production, planning & quality control, testing & inspection,
maintenance & management of machines, systems & processes.
Role of Mechanical Engineering in society: The life & the standard of living in the
society are dictated by the infrastructure & products being used. Every product or process is
based on specific needs in a society. These needs can be quite broad in scope & can range from
military applications to leisure. The role of mechanical engineer is to take a product from its
conceptual (idea) stage to the marketplace, ensuring that the product functions safely, efficiently
& reliable, all at a competitive cost. Mechanical engineers provide solutions to the problems of
energy & materials utilization & in overcoming environment related problems to ensure
sustainable development of the world & secure comfortable & healthier life for a muchlarger
population.

Emerging Trends and Technologies in different sectors

Energy: The growing energy consumption in India coupled with depleting fossil fuels &
significant impact of fossil fuels towards global warming & environment degradation have
become the major challenges to the energy sector. The energy sector is undergoing a massive
technology transformation from the conventional energy supply channels like coal & oil, to
renewable or green energy technologies like solar, wind, ocean, biomass, tidal etc. Though the
make-in-India initiative, the government is working to attract global companies to produce solar
photo voltaic (PV), lithium batteries, solar charging infrastructure & other advanced
technologies in India. A mechanical engineer plays vital role in manufacturing & increasing the
GDP of country.

Manufacturing: Technologies advancement have made the manufacturing industry to shift

from traditional way of production to automation, requiring minimum or no human
intervention. Currently with industry 4.0 the manufacturing industry has reached the next
milestone of industrial revolution , by incorporating cyber-physical production systems in
association with latest technologies like artificial intelligence , Internet of things, cloud
computing, additive manufacturing etc. With new technologies, production systems,
components & people can communicate via a network, making the right information to reach
the right person at right time.

Automotive: The change from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles is
being mandated because of clear need to reduce carbon emission output & reduce global
warming of our planet. The automotive industry is designing & manufacturing the next
generation of electric vehicles & autonomous vehicles by embracing emerging technologies of
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital twins & additive manufacturing, various
automotive parts are fabricated using additive manufacturing technology for much lighter &
improved strength to weight ratio. By using a digital twin in automotive production, the entire
manufacturing process can be planned in a fully virtual environment before physically building
production lines, conveyance systems & robotic work cells or installing automation & controls.
 Aerospace: Technological complexity has been increasing exponentially in the aerospace
industry since its inception. There is a growing importance of digital technologies in
aeronautical production & maintenance such as 3D printing, augmented reality systems,
robotics, big data, autonomous systems, cloud computing, IoT & others.

Marine sector: Like all other sectors incorporating new trends & technologies, the
marine/shipping industry is also adapting to this trend with smart ship technologies. Advances
in shipbuilding with new technologies & innovative materials, propulsion, smart shipping, use
of artificial intelligence, big data & analytics, IoT & automation, sensors & communications,
tend to improve ship building & maintenance, shipping efficiency, time management & higher
output from this domain.

Internet of Energy [IoE]: Internet of Energy is a technological term that refers to the
upgrading and automating of electricity infrastructures for energy producers and manufacturers.
IoE allows energy production to move forward more efficiently and cleanly with the least amount
of waste. Benefits of using IoE include increased efficiencies, significant cost savings, and a
reduction in the wastage of energy

Block chain: Block chain technology intends to unite all energy stakeholders under a single
decentralized network. Electricity producers, distribution network operators, metering operators,
providers of financial services, and traders potentially benefit from utilizing smart contracts. These
contracts ensure that all energy-related transactions pass through a secure and immutable network,
thus eliminating potential losses.
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Solar Collector: A solar collector is a heat exchanger, where it transmits the heat from sun
radiation to water. After absorption of heat, water density reduces and high density cold water
pushes the hot water away from the collector. The
Heat Exchanger (Butane Boiler): It is a heat exchanger, where hot water from solar collector
will transfer heat to butane. After absorbing heat, butane converts into superheated vapour. Butane
is selected as working fluid as it boils at low temperature.
Turbine: Turbine is work producing device. It converts kinetic energy of the butane vapour into
mechanical energy when vapour is made to expand on the turbine blades. The expanded vapour is
in binary state of vapour and liquid. This expanded steam enters into condenser.
Generator: Generator is a electric device, which converts mechanical energy into electric energy.
Thus produced electric energy is transmitted to electric grids.
Condenser: Condenser is a heat exchanger. Here vapour from turbine enters into condenser tubes
and loses heat to the cold water. After losing heat, the steam converted into liquid state.
Pump: Pump is a work absorbing device. The liquid butane is fed back to boiler with help of feed
pump. It will regulate the flow of butane in heat exchanger so as to generated the vapour at desired
quantity and pressure levels.
The solar power plant utilizes the heat energy from the solar radiations to heat liquid water in solar collector.
This water, after absorbing heat, enter into heat exchanger. In heat exchanger hot water transmits heat to
butane in liquid state. After absorbing heat, the liquid butane turns into vapour at high pressure. As the
temperature of water will be as low as up to 80 0C, it need a working fluid that boils at low temperature like
butane.
This high pressure vapour is converted into kinetic energy with the help of nozzle. This expanded steam is
then passed over the turbine blades. Where, high kinetic energy of steam is converted into mechanical
energy. Thus, produced mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy with help of generator. This
electric energy transmitted to electric grids. The vapour expanded in turbine is further cooled in condenser.
After condensation vapor is converted into liquid butane. This butane is pumped back to heat exchanger
with the help of feed pump.

 Endless amounts of energy, free of cost.

 Modern systems work efficiently even in winter
 Solar power is pollution-free and causes no greenhouse gases to be emitted after installation
 Reduced dependence on import of foreign oil and fossil fuels like coal based plant etc.
 Plant can be installed at remote locations Hence, power transmission losses are low

 Cost of power generation is high.

 Needs thermal power storage system for uninterrupted working during when sun is unavailable.
 Needs very large solar collector area for installation.
 Cannot supply continuous electric power.
 Only suitable where favorable sun-shine conditions are available
 Low thermal efficiency.

• Biomass is biological material derived from living, or recently living organisms. It most often refers
to plants or plant-derived materials which are specifically called lignocelluloses. As an energy
source, biomass can either be used directly via combustion to produce heat, or indirectly after
converting it to various forms of biofuel.
• This biomass may be transformed by physical, chemical and biological processes to biofuels. In
chemical forms biomass is stored solar energy and can be converted into solid, liquid and gaseous
energy carries. Biomass is biological/organic material derived from living, or recently living
organisms. (The term is equally applicable to both animal and vegetable derived material, but in
the context of energy, it refers to plant based material)
 • The term ‘Biofuel’ refers to liquid or gaseous fuels for the transport sector that are predominantly
produced from biomass. A variety of fuels can be produced from biomass resources including liquid
fuels, such as ethanol, methanol, biodiesel, Fischer-Tropsch diesel, and gaseous fuels, such as
hydrogen and methane.
• The biomass resource base for biofuel production is composed of a wide variety of forestry and
agricultural resources, industrial processing residues, and municipal solid and urban wood residues.

Examples of various biofuels used in engineering applications: The various bio-fuels are bio-
methanol, bio- ethanol, bio-diesel, bio-gas and producer gas.
First-generation biofuels are made from sugar, starch, vegetable oil, or animal fats using
conventional technology. The basic feedstock for the production of first-generation biofuels come from
agriculture and food processing.
The most common first-generation biofuels are:
 Biodiesel: Extraction with or without esterification of vegetable oils from seeds of plants like
soybean, oil palm, oilseed rape and sunflower or residues including animal fats derived from
rendering applied as fuel in diesel engines.
 Bioethanol: Fermentation of simple sugars from sugar crops like sugarcane or from starch crops
like maize and wheat applied as fuel in petrol engines.
 Bio-oil: Thermo-chemical conversion of biomass. A process still in the development phase.
 Biogas: Anaerobic fermentation or organic waste, animal manures, crop residues an energy crops
applied as fuel in engines suitable for compressed natural gas.
Emission of bio-fuels: Biodiesel plays a vital role in reducing emission of many air pollutants. The
emission of carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx) etc.., is lesser than
those of petroleum fuels and thus these are eco-friendly.
Calorific value of bio-fuels: Calorific values of biofuels will be considerably lesser than that of
petroleum fuels.

Advantages of biofuel:
 Renewable and inexhaustible (theoretically) source of energy.
 Biomass is very abundant
 Commercial use of biomass may reduce the problem of waste disposal.
 It may also use areas of unused agricultural land and provide jobs in rural communities.
Disadvantages of biofuel:
 A dispersed and land-intensive source.
 Could contribute to global warming and particulate pollution if directly burned.