Since organic rice storage silos were faced with an insect problem, an owner solved this problem using the expert system (ES) in the controlled atmosphere process (CAP) under the required standard, fumigating insects with an N2, reducing O2 concentration to less than 2% for 21 days. This article presents the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) assisted ES successfully solved this problem. First, CFD was employed to determine the gas flow pattern, O2 concentration, proper operating conditions, and a correction factor (K) of silos. As expected, CFD results were consistent with the experimental results and theory, assuring the CFD’s credibility. Significantly, CFD results revealed that the ES controlled N2 distribution throughout the silos and effectively reduced O2 concentration to meet the requirement. Next, the ES was developed based on the inference engine assisted by CFD results and the sweep-through purging principle, and it was implemented in the CAP. Last, the experiments evaluated CAP’s efficacy in controlling O2 concentration and insect extermination in the actual silos. The experimental results and owner’s feedback confirmed the excellent efficacy of ES implementation; therefore, the CAP is effective and practical. The novel aspect of this research is a CFD methodology to create the inference engine and the ES.
การเก็บรักษาข้าวใน ไซโลเก็บข้าวอินทรีย์ เป็นแนวทางสำคัญในการรักษาคุณภาพข้าวและลดการสูญเสียหลังการเก็บเกี่ยว อย่างไรก็ตาม ปัญหาการปนเปื้อนของแมลงศัตรูข้าว เป็นอุปสรรคสำคัญที่ส่งผลกระทบต่อคุณภาพและความปลอดภัยของข้าว โดยทั่วไป การกำจัดแมลงในไซโลมักใช้สารรมยาเคมี เช่น ฟอสฟีน (PH₃) หรือ เมทิลโบรไมด์ (CH₃Br) ซึ่งอาจก่อให้เกิดสารตกค้าง ส่งผลต่อสุขภาพผู้บริโภค และสร้างผลกระทบต่อสิ่งแวดล้อม
คณะวิทยาศาสตร์
Sugar production from sugarcane is a complex process that requires precise control. One of the major issues is sugar loss, which can result from various factors, particularly "burnt cane," before being sent to the mill. This affects the quality of the sugarcane and the efficiency of sugar extraction, along with the performance of the machinery and the properties of the cane, which impact the amount of sugar extracted. This study aims to analyze the factors that influence sugar loss in the sugar production process, using quantitative data from a sugar factory. Nine variables were examined, including mechanical efficiency, machine downtime per day, cane waiting time per day, sand content in cane juice, pol extraction efficiency, overall working time efficiency, cane juice purity, cane sugar content (C.C.S.), and burnt cane. The data were analyzed using correlation analysis to examine relationships between variables and regression modeling to predict sugar loss. The results showed that mechanical efficiency, cane sugar content, and the amount of sand or impurities in the cane juice were significantly correlated with sugar loss. Mechanical efficiency had a direct relationship with the amount of cane milled, which improved sugar production. On the other hand, burnt cane, or cane that was burnt before harvesting, resulted in reduced sugar extraction and impacted the quality of the sugar. Therefore, reducing sugar loss in the production process can be achieved by improving machine efficiency, reducing impurities in cane juice, and managing burnt cane, which will improve sugar production efficiency in the future.
วิทยาลัยนวัตกรรมการผลิตขั้นสูง
The offline evaluation system for Thai-language large language models (LLMs) is designed to enable experts to efficiently test and assess various LLMs without relying on external services. This enhances the flexibility in selecting LLMs that best suit organizational needs or expert systems (ES). The system operates on personal computers, ensuring data security by eliminating concerns about external data storage. Additionally, it supports model testing and development using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), allowing access to domain-specific knowledge for accurate, energy-efficient processing. This ensures that the models can perform optimally and effectively meet the demands of organizations and expert systems.
คณะวิศวกรรมศาสตร์
During the recent years, PM2.5 concentration is rising above the safety exposure limit in Thailand. PM2.5 could have originated from various sources such as exhaust fumes, open air burning, wildfire, etc. This concludes that all cities or places would have different PM source contributions. Most studies regarding the PM source findings were done based on chemical analysis. Our research team would like to predict the PM sources physically by nanostructures analysis. These methods would require the PM dust to be collected in a limited amount of time and dry. The use of paper filters may cause contamination from filter material which may cause errors in result evaluation. Our team suggests using Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) where electrostatics is used to capture PM dust. This research mainly focuses on designing and building the ESP system for PM collection whereas the requirement is to collect at least 100 mg of PM dust within 1 day which would be adequate for nanostructure analysis. The study revealed that the customized ESP system could achieve of up to 80% collecting efficiency (which is more than the commercial ESP that we previously used), there’s a also a parametric study of relationships between flow velocity and collecting efficiency where collecting efficiency is inversely proportional to flow velocity. The suggested air velocity is not to exceed 2 m/s. However, there’re still more room for improvement of the ESP system for PM collection such as the convenience of PM collection process which resulted from the ESP construction geometry and sizes.