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ItemAssessment of reactive power compensation using distributed generation(Makerere University, 2014) Tegule, StephenThe provision of reactive power is a means of improving the voltage profile for a power grid. In this research, the use of distributed generation as a source of reactive power for voltage improvement is demonstrated. A solar PV system can be used as a source of reactive power that is produced by the inverter. To justify its importance, the system is compared with conventional methods that include; Static shunt capacitors, Static series capacitors, Synchronous compensators, Static VAr compensators, and STATCOMs. Kibuku town council is used as a case study. To implement this project, the case study is modeled and simulated to determine the available voltage profiles. The conventional methods are modeled to improve the voltage profile and a grid-connected solar PV system is also modeled. These two are simulated for voltage improvement and the results obtained which are voltage outputs are compared. From these results, the need for distributed generation as a means of reactive power compensation is justified.
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ItemPower losses in Uganda's distribution networks.(Makerere University, 2014-07-08) Twineamatsiko, EvansThis project is made up of four chapters. Chapter one introduces the readers to the content of the project, chapter two presents the literature review, chapter three gives the detailed methodology of the project and chapter four summarises the achievements, challenges, recommendations and conclusions. The introduction presents the project background, problem addressed and justification, project objectives, summary of methodology, project scope and ethical consideration. In the literature review, a detailed study of the power distribution losses, powers network equipment, power factor and load flow studies were addressed. Methodology summarised in chapter three is divided into field procedure, simulation software study, technical data analysis and simulation, identification of the major loss sources and modifications and then cost analysis. The last chapter points out the achievements realised in the project, the challenges faced while carrying out this project, the recommendations and the conclusions.
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ItemBattery vandalism alert system on base stations.(Makerere University, 2014-08-31) Mukonyezi, NurudinThis project presents a battery vandalism alert system on basestations, it’s a GSM-based system that monitors basestation batteries and their power to ensure that the network is fully powered. In case of any significant change in dc power at the basestations, a report is delivered via sms to facilitate immediate action. The design and implementations of this system is divided into to two parts, the hardware and software. In the hardware part a circuit simulation was first design using Proteus software then later a system prototype is designed using several electronic components In the software part, the code for this project was written in C-language by using MPLab IDE and the code (.HEX file) was uploaded into the PIC 16F877A microcontroller using PICkit 2
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ItemAssessment of quality control management on structural engineering works.( 2015-05) Nsubuga, Juma ; Mirembe Elvis EmmanuelQuality control management on structural engineering materials is of great importance towards the success of a project. There are available mechanisms of quality control management but sensitization about the importance of quality control is still low. Quality control on structural works has to be observed through carrying out several tests for every engineering materials used on a project to fulfil organisation’s objectives.
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ItemInvestigating the efficacy of Aloevera as an alternative Coagulant and Disinfectant in water treatment.( 2015-12-12) Byaba, BenardIn conventional drinking water treatment, the coagulation processes are applied to destabilize the surface charges of colloids and enhance agglomeration (flocculation). Proper coagulation is essential for good filtration performance and disinfection by-product control. Disinfection processes are also carried out at water treatment plants in order to improve the microbiological quality of drinking water. Some chemicals are used in these processes and these are aluminium and iron salts for coagulation and chlorine for disinfection. However these chemicals are associated with a few setbacks, they are both expensive and not locally available. The raw water source was River Rwizi in Mbarara, it was analysed for turbidity, pH, color, electric conductivity, and microbiological quality which are fundamentals for drinking water treatment. The pH of the raw water sample was 6.68, turbidity; 96.5 NTU, apparent colour; 963 PtCo, true colour; 884.7 PtCo, electrical conductivity; 78 μS/cm. These values generally did not meet both the National portable and WHO standards for drinking water quality. Jar tests were carried to determine the performance of the aloe extract as a primary coagulant, and flocculant and coagulant aid. The performance of alum was also determined for comparison. To investigate the suitability of aloe vera as a disinfectant, raw water samples were treated with aloe vera extract. Parallel tests were done were done with High test sodium hypochlorite. The aloe vera extract proved to be a poor primary coagulant. Aloe had a 51% removal of turbidity at 70mg/l, whereas alum had a removal percentage of 85% at the same dosage. Aloe performed poorer with regards to true colour removal where it had a 35% removal of true colour at 70mg/l whereas alum had a 100% removal of true colour at this same dosage. Aloe Vera presented lower disinfection activity than chlorine.
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ItemA mobile based customer communication management tool to improve customer care services in micro finance institutions.( 2016-05) Mutegyeki, WalterWith an explosion in new communication channels such as social communications, blog forums and self service platforms, Microfinance Institutions are faced with the challenge of ensuring clarity and consistency across all customer communications. Meanwhile customer expectations, particularly those of the tech-savvy Generation Y are changing. Customers, particularly those from the younger generations, increasingly want to communicate to their bank remotely in new and different ways. This report document describes project design and development of a digital customer care communication solution that encompasses all major communication channels that will enable microfinance bank customers to conveniently communicate with their banks and also enable banks to manage and evaluate customer care and service delivery. The project followed a software development process that included software requirements specifications and requirements engineering, software design and development, verification & validation which constituted of dynamic testing of each individual core modules. The Software design and development phase adapted the agile software development model using implementing the MVC architecture. The tools used included ASP.net framework, Android Framework, SQL server RDBMS and Java programming language given their low development cost and robust technical support. In spite of this solution, more customer care service software modules such as email ticketing, end user after-call customer care agent validations and social apps integrations should be incorporated into the system to improve customer experience interactions. The customer service communication platform successfully integrated all the major communication channels into one convergent communication platform. The customer can access customer care service through email, chats, branch location identifier at just a click.
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ItemEstablishing a link between spring water quality and waterborne diseases occurrence in Lubigi Catchment (Bwaise, Nabweru and Kawala) Kampala Uganda(Makerere University, 2016-06) Mubiru, Steven RemmyThe research study was aimed at assessing whether there is a clear link between spring water quality and water borne disease occurrence in Lubigi catchment. Previous studies have shown that 1.8 billion people worldwide drink water that is faecally contaminated. Densely populated areas experience water pollution and heavy disease burden. Most people rely on groundwater to meet their water demand. Annually, water borne diseases kill about 3.4 million people worldwide. Uganda has had epidemics of water-borne diseases including cholera and typhoid cases. The following activities were carried out; field visits, calibration of instruments, sample collection and handling, in-situ measurements, laboratory measurements, selection of springs and frequency of sampling, household questionnaires, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and epidemiological surveillance data collection. The results showed that the water quality is generally not good but it is worse in the wet season. During the wet season is also when the water borne disease occurrence is more with more cases registered in the medical centres. There is a strong relationship between the water borne diseases and spring water quality. Ensure proper record keeping and improved epidemiological surveillance system, for effective monitoring of diseases in the study area. The spring water should be monitored and if possible improve the water quality because a great number if people still rely on them. It is also a cheaper source of water.
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ItemDesign and development of an android mobile application for the student portal of the records management system(Makerere University, 2016-07-18) Ssekamatte, Simon PeterThis research was aimed at developing an Android application for the Student Portal of the Records Management System (RMS). The motivation of the research was the need for an easy, portable way to access the student portal by the intended users (students) who mainly use their smartphones to access information. The research was benchmarked against three major milestones and these were: Specification of the Student Portal Android Application Design, High-fidelity Prototyping of the Student Portal Android Application, and Development of the Student Portal Android Application. An agile approach to development was used. The technologies used during the research included C-Sharp (C#) Development Kit with Spring MVC as the Model View Controller (MVC) Framework, Android Standard Development Kit (SDK), Android Studio and Microsoft Visual Studio as the Integrated Development Environments (IDEs). The implementation technologies utilized were XML for Android content layer development, C# for server API development and Java for development of the behavior layer. The research has established a comprehensive design specification for the application, a prototype for the development of the RMS Student Portal Android application and an Android application for optimizing the functionality of the Records Management System (RMS) across multiple computing platforms.
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ItemDesign and construction of a low cost rapid reverse engineering tool for 3d objects.( 2017-06-09) Karugaba, Ivan JuniorThe use of Numerically Controlled machines has become widely popular but many drawbacks come along with the entire process. The whole process of obtaining the correct CAD models of parts to finally getting the correct files (code) to run the machines is time consuming, requires specially skilled people and is prone to human errors. In this report, it is clearly demonstrated how the entire process can be seamlessly automated to ease up the use of these machines focusing on automation of the Computer Aided design process, CNC programming process and other few enabling technologies. A low cost system has been designed to enable the less skilled take part in manufacturing. The system(machine) is comprised of laser scanning module, actuator system(stepper motor), frame and other algorithms, source code and software environments that enable the reverse engineering of objects with little technical knowledge and experience in CNC machine operation. The input to the machine is any solid object and the output is Numerical code ready to be fed to an industrial 3-axis CNC milling machine. The procedures used for fabrication and construction of the prototype of the low cost rapid reverse engineering tool are discussed in detail. It transfers the design in theory into real life practical design. A prototype is constructed and tested with a sample object to determine whether the theoretical design complies with the practical design. Testing is done with a small object to find out how accurately the process is automated and the result is a machine ready file with an extension .gnc that can be directly fed into any 3-axis CNC machine to replicate the object. Basing on the results, the author would highly recommend the use of this technology in design of prosthetics, reverse engineering of weapons and preservation of antiques through creation of replicas.
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ItemEnergy-saving potential of hotels in Uganda.( 2017-06-12) Ssekiranda, ShamiruhHotel energy consumption is influenced by several factors which include size, structure and design of the building (prevailing architectural / construction practices), geographical and climatic location, the age of the facility, the type of energy and water systems installed, the way these systems are operated and maintained, types and amounts of energy and water resources available locally, as well as energy-use regulations and cost. Operational factors include operating schedules for the different functional facilities in the hotel building, the number of facilities (restaurants, kitchens, in-house laundries, swimming pools and sports centers, business centers, etc.), services offered, fluctuation in occupancy levels, variations in customer preference relevant to indoor comfort, on-site energy conservation practices, as well as culture and awareness of resource consumption among personnel and guests. Energy efficiency opportunities are low-cost measures and cost- effective investments. There are many energy saving opportunities for lighting in hotel's guest rooms as well as the more obvious savings in lobbies and exterior lighting areas. Behaviour campaigns can yield substantial energy savings, both through the guests and housekeeper behaviour. This paper presents the energy efficiency guidelines and energy benchmarking for hotels. Also, a case study showing how the energy efficiency program implemented is presented.
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ItemCriterion for on-grid versus off-grid electrification. case study: Lulagwe and Punge villages( 2017-07-07) Bakonzi, Brian ; Mangeni, David OkanyaThis project report is about the various activities undertaken in order to achieve and fulfill the project objective that is to decide on the most feasible option to be used when to villages that do not have access to electricity through either using on–grid or off-grid technology. In order to extend electricity to a given area a number of factors have to be put into consideration and most of these factors add up to the cost of the project. This report is divided into five chapters that is chapter one which covers the introduction to the project, the project background, the problem statement of the project, justification of the project, the project objectives, andabriefprojectmethodology.Chaptertwocoverstheliteraturereviewwhichis basically the theory behind the project, for example it talks about the advantages and disadvantages of on–grid system of rural electrification, the merits and demerits of off-grid system of rural electrification, the factors that favor and affect rural electrification, the challenges facing the Ugandan electricity sector, among others. Chapter three is about the methodology of the project that is how the set objectives of the project were achieved, the different activities undertaken to fulfill the project objectives for example how the data was collected. Chapter four is about the results of the project methodology and the analysis of the results that is what the obtained results mean in order to draw a conclusion. And lastly chapter five covers the challenges faced during the execution of the project, and also gives the conclusion and recommendations of the project research findings.
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ItemDevelopment and Characterization of briquettes for World grass(Makerere University, 2017-07-08) Tukamwesiga, AbiasToday biomass continues to be the main source of energy in rural communities in Uganda in its traditional forms. In rural communities, it is still a common practice to burn wild grass (Teixeira et al 2011) projected that by 2030, biomass will be an outstanding solution for individual heating, dominated by wood chips, wood logs and briquettes in rural areas. This projection however can only be achieved if conscious effort is made in commercialising the use of wild grass as heating energy source.
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ItemDevelopment of quality control plan for Uganda local clay bricks manufacturing industry to achieve durability for local clay bricks.(Makerere University, 2017-07-17) Lule, John ; Aiga JamalClays occur widely in many parts of Uganda. Besides their geological interest, they are of importance for the local industry. They have been used to produce rather poor quality bricks, tiles and pottery by primitive methods for several years. Scattered clay pits and brick kilns along the roadsides document the uncontrolled and low-technology exploitation of the Uganda clay occurrences. Apart from artisan brick producers, there are organized clay works, such as Uganda Clays at Kajjansi, and Nkozi Clays along the Masaka road, which supply the construction industry in Kampala and surroundings. The fore mentioned industries cannot meet the ever-increasing market demand for the construction materials needed. Traditional methods of production, which do not take into account of the chemical and mineralogical characteristics, are practiced. Few studies have been made of the clays used in the brickworks or of raw materials used for pottery in Uganda. (Harris, 1946) and (Kagobya, 1950) studied the clay deposit at Ntawo, 25 km from Kampala on the Jinja road. It was reported that Ntawo clay exhibited marked shrinkage and cracked on firing, and the quality of product was inferior when it was evaluated for pottery production. (McGill, 1965) studied the nature and distribution of clays from several occurrences around Kampala, and determined their plasticity with a view to establish a fine ceramics industry. (Tuhumwire et al., 1995) measured the physical properties and discussed the geology of the Kajjansi and Kitiko deposits located 13 km from Kampala on the Kampala– Entebbe road. A study of some clay samples from various deposits in Uganda indicated that they are mediumquality kaolinitic–illitic clays (Nyakairu & Kaahwa, 1998) There is ample demand for quality bricks and other clay products, and thus, this study investigated the mineralogical and chemical characteristics of the raw material used and the durability of locally-produced burnt clay bricks and development of a quality control management plan for the local manufacturing industry. This will help to give a better understanding of the clay materials, as well as of their geochemistry. Properties of laboratory-produced burnt bricks from Mukono and Wakiso clays were compared with burnt bricks available on the market but produced from the same clay sources. Burnt bricks produced in the laboratory were fired at 650oC, 750oC and 1100oC to investigate the effect of firing temperature on brick properties. The results show that burnt bricks fired at high temperatures are more durable and have better chances of survival in aggressive environments than bricks fired at low temperatures. The differences in durability in the environments studied are due to variation in the chemical composition of the clays which resulted in different properties of burnt bricks. Careful control of clay composition and firing temperature can produce durable burnt clay bricks with high durability, that remain unaltered in the process of their service life even in aggressive environments.
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ItemAn Investigation into On-site Labour Productivity in Uganda: Case Study of Kampala.( 2017-07-17) Ogwaro, Allan ; Ssonko, StephenUganda’s construction sector is mainly traditional and not modern in a way that most of the projects done are labour based; this labour is mainly uneducated and semi-skilled and highly unproductive. Labour unproductivity is a crucial factor in determining the success of any project being run in Uganda. This is attributed to the fact that many of the construction firms hire semiskilled labour that is majorly not educated or provided with the right set of skills to do the job since they focus on cheap labour have put a strong pressure on construction entities to continually improve their productivity and performance, consequently the objective of this research is to investigate how to improve the on-site productivity of labour in Uganda, a case study of Kampala. Productivity investigation, assessment, analysis and subsequent measurement criteria vary from project to project, despite much work on the subject, there is no commonly agreed framework of productivity measurement and improvement of on-site labour. The study explored the significance of key contributing factors in the perspective of various construction stakeholders (Consulting Engineers, Project Managers, Site Engineers, Foremen and Clerk of Works) and to elicit perceptions of their relative importance. The literature review embarked on was thoroughly invested to develop and come up with different factors believed to affect onsite labour productivity. The questionnaire survey developed had 40 factors which were identified and categorized into 5 groups for efficiency. A total of 100 questionnaires were distributed to four (4) key groups of project participants; namely Site Engineers, Clerk of Works, Consulting Engineer (Project Manager) and Foremen. 25 data collection sheet were used by the researchers to obtain MPDM data to obtain more information. 65 questionnaires were returned showing a 65% response rate, among these 17 Site Engineers (26.2%), 11 Clerk of Works (16.9%), 25 Foremen (38.5) and 12 Project Managers (28.5%) gave feedback. The data from these returned questions were analyzed by The Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) to obtain the key factors affecting onsite labour productivity. The researchers also used the Method Productivity Delay Model data collection sheets to collect information from the 25 sites and they considered casting of columns and laying of bricks along with courses as the parameters of the study. The method resulted in key factors being identified as was done with SPSS. Spearman’s Rank Correlation method was used to rank the key factors affecting onsite labour productivity between the two approaches. Findings from the analysis revealed that the key factors affecting the productivity of onsite labour in Uganda with an emphasis in Kampala in order of their relative importance as perceived by the stakeholders are: labour, environment, equipment, materials and management factors.
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ItemSuitability of the C-RAN Model for future dense networks.(Makerere University, 2017-08) Nabiryo, Ann LisaC-RAN is an acronym for Cloud Radio Access Network which consists of a Centralized baseband pool, real-time Cloud computing, Collaborative radio and a clean system. The main idea behind it is of a system architecture that can cope with the rapid development of mobile networks and accommodate next-generation networks advanced features, as well as the increasing demands for capacity and coverage. This report provides an assessment of the suitability of the C-RAN model for future dense networks in terms of coverage, capacity and energy efficiency. This report shows the comparison in performance C-RAN against the T-RAN by analyzing the different results obtained through simulations using MATLAB software. While T-RAN has been very convenient, the benefits of the C-RAN architecture are wide-ranging and some of which include the opportunities to lower the total cost of ownership for mobile operators and improve performance in the network.
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ItemCloud Based Sailing Handicap System( 2017-08-02) Mugoda, VivianThis project is centered on provision of software as a service through the internet, which is termed as cloud computing.Until recently the cloud computing paradigm has been on hardware and software locally hosted applications for enterprises. The advance of cloud computing is changing this forever. Cloud computing is a new model that enables users to access hardware and software applications stored at data centers via the internet.It is against this background that the project seeks to build a cloud based sailing handicap system to enable sailing clubs in Uganda, East Africa and Africa at large manage their club activities and members efficiently,Handicap systems for sailing races are complex and usually managed by complex spreadsheets. The systems are hard to use and very hard to reciprocate from one sailing club to another, hence causing inconsistencies and ineffectiveness across sailing clubs that usually compete.Hence the need for a cloud based handicap system that can be used by all the sailing clubs in Uganda and can be accessed by sailors, game officiators, club members and club administrators at their different levels of permission.With a good and consistent handicap system, it will be easy to breed professionalism of this sport in Uganda and in no time Uganda will be sending participants to the Olympic Sailing races.The major objective of this project is to consider the existing system being employed at the VNSC and use it to design a Cloud based handicap system that can be used by multiple clubs for managing club activities and members. The system is accessed via a web interface and a mobile application.
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ItemFeasibility of Deployment of TV White Spaces in Uganda.( 2017-08-07) Mungi, MarthaIn this project, the effective utilisation of TV whitespace in the UHF band in Uganda on an unlicensed basis is addressed. This involves determining parameters a whitespace device performing spectrum sensing can use to en- sure harmless unlicensed communication in this band. Spectrum occupancy, noise, and received signal power measurements were carried out in differ- ent environments (suburban and urban) to determine suitable occupancy threshold and sensing bandwidth for unlicensed devices to operate in this band. The hidden node margin was analysed with respect to environment and frequency. Results show greater hidden node margins in urban areas and at higher frequencies translating to a lower required occupancy thresh- old. Noise level in an 8MHz channel was found to be at most -76dBm. We propose a sensing bandwidth smaller than the 8MHz channel for greater ac- curacy and a sensing system based on taking three samples per channel. TV whitespace utilisation in the UHF band will be feasible with the unlicensed devices able to meet the recommended constraints.
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ItemAnalysis of using TV whitespaces for broadband connectivity in selected areas of Uganda.( 2017-09-14) Asiimire, IsaackizzaThe project is about the analysis of the feasibility of using TV Whitespace for broadband connectivity in rural areas of Uganda whereby the case study is Luwero district. We first determined the TV Whitespace spectrum available in Luwero. This was done by using the energy detection method which compares the received signal energy to a certain predefined threshold, if the signal is above the threshold, the band is considered to be occupied, otherwise, the band is free and is considered a TV Whitespace. We noted that the number of whitespaces varied from point to point due to the fact that the TV transmitters were transmitting to different distances away from the transmitters. We also determined the most suitable propagation model for path loss prediction. We selected three propagation models that is Hata, Cost231, and extended Hata models basing on their range of frequency, area of application that is rural area, and the complexity of the data needed to provide accurate results. In this case, we first did a prediction using the propagation model equations in MATLAB using the parameters such as the antenna heights, gains and others which we obtained from SIGNET Uganda whereby we obtained the prediction values for Path loss. We then carried out field measurements where we obtained the received power, and given that we already know the transmitter power at Kololo, we calculated the path loss for the measured values at different distances from the transmitters. To note, these measurements were done at six different points in Luwero. We then compared the measured values of path loss with the prediction values. We obtained the difference between the measured and prediction values whereby Extended Hata model had a small deviation between these values, so we decided to modify the extended Hata model. In this modification, we obtained the Root Mean Square Error value which we added to the extended Hata equation. This RMSE is to cater for the environment of Luwero. We also looked at the derivation of the key parameters for TV Whitespaces. The key results include; we identified a significant amount of spectrum that can be used to provide extra mobile broadband connectivity in rural areas like Luwero, we assessed the accuracy of the three selected propagation models in predicting the TV signal, we modified the extended Hata model to suite the environment and which gives the best prediction of the TV signal in Luwero. Conclusion is that the project has achieved the propagation model for accurate prediction of DVB-T spectrum occupancy in Luwero. Recommendations are; the results from this study could serve as input for future regulatory decisions on the UHF band and cost-benefit analysis for deploying new systems to access this spectrum band. We also recommend the project to be taken up by government for database implementation.
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ItemDistribution transformer monitoring and automatic load sharing(Makerere University, 2018) Mwangi, Charles Nganga ; Kimbugwe, Simon PeterThe main electricity utility company in Uganda owns and operates over 10,000 Distribution Transformers and loses over 800 Distribution Transformers annually due to various reasons. At present, the distribution company uses a peak load analysis scheme to determine the transformer load conditions, which is a tedious task and doesn’t solve the problem of Distribution Transformer failure resulting from; load unbalance, over load among others. In this project we designed a system that monitors the voltage, current and ambient temperature of Distribution transformers and by using a standby transformer to perform automatic load sharing between the transformers when they exceed their rated value. We made a prototype that monitors important parameters of a single transformers i.e. the voltage, current and ambient temperature using voltage sensors, current transducers and temperature sensors. Readings from the sensors are processed by the microcontroller and the GSM module sends these parameters of the distribution transformer periodically to the respective service area engineers which are later relayed to the control center transformer database which contains the transformer ratings, GPS location and contact of engineer in charge. Secondly by using a standby transformer connected in parallel to the main transformer through a relay system with the main transformer supplying the loads and the other in stand-by mode, we set a reference load current value according to the transformer ratings. When the load goes beyond this value for the primary transformer, the standby transformer relay coil is powered to put the two transformers in parallel hence sharing the load equally.
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ItemCondition assessment and life cycle costing of concrete and steel footbridges in Kampala(Makerere University, 2018) Betungura, Arnold ; Deng, CharlesThe purpose of this study was to perform a condition assessment, determine the life cycle costs of a steel and a concrete footbridge in Kampala and propose the most economical option between the two. Footbridge maintenance is not a priority item on the agenda of different stakeholders in Kampala. This can be evidenced by the poor condition of the footbridges. Defects like cracks, efflorescence and corrosion have developed on concrete footbridges while elements of corrosion, wearing-off of paint and rubbish are associated with the steel footbridge. During the study, the condition assessment of the footbridges was performed to find out the current footbridge condition and the maintenance activities required. We performed a non-destructive test using a Schmidt rebound hammer on the concrete footbridge and a visual inspection on both of the footbridges. The footbridges were ranked according to their current conditions. Steel and concrete footbridges were designed for implementation at Queen’s way road and the life cycle costs of the footbridges determined. Life cycle costing involves; recurring costs which included maintenance costs and non-recurring costs that included design and construction costs. These values were projected by use of economy techniques to future values for a 50-year design life and hence the total life cycle cost was obtained. The results were compared between the steel and concrete footbridges to produce a conclusion on the most economical option. The concrete footbridge had a higher condition rating than the steel footbridge while the steel footbridge had a lower life cycle cost than the concrete footbridge. This therefore led to a conclusion that the steel footbridge is the most economical option of the two footbridges.