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Electrical lnsulative Properties of Some Agro-Waste Material~.

Inegbenebor, A.O. and Adeniji, F. A (2007) Electrical lnsulative Properties of Some Agro-Waste Material~. West Indian Journal of Engineering, 30 (1). pp. 17-26.

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Abstract

Insulating materials are used in electrical power circuits to prevent leakages of current. This work investigates the possibility of using agro-waste materials: shells of coconut, mango endocarp, palm kernel, groundnut and bean as well as corncob and rice husk, as electrical insulators. Accordingly, electrical insulative properties: dielectric strength, resistivity, dielectric constant, moisture content and water absorption capacity of these waste materials were determined Each of the materials was washed, air dried for 2 weeks, ground into powder, and sieved with, the U.S Standard Sieve No. 40. It was then bound with a 200 gllitre aqueous solution of gum Arabic, and moulded into various shapes and thicknesses which were air dried for a week. Their dielef:tric strengths were tested thereafter, using a variable trarisformer tester; their resistivities measured with an i41sulation tester, while both moisture contents and water absoiption capacities were determined gravimetrically on dry weight basis. The results showed that the electrical insulative properties of these materials were C011Jparable with the known standard values. However, their moisture contents and water absorption capacities were relatively high, thereby limiting their usefulness as insulators in their ordinary states. Based on their dielectric constants and a standard table, coconut, palm kemel and groundnut shells, with dielectric constants range of 3.5-5.5 fall into high voltage applications; mango shell, corncob, rice lntsk and bean shell, with dielectric constants less than 3. 0, fall into the low voltage application category.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Agro-Waste, Electrical Insulative Properties, Moisture Content.
Subjects: T Technology > T Technology (General)
T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Divisions: Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics > School of Engineering Sciences
Depositing User: Mrs Hannah Akinwumi
Date Deposited: 14 Apr 2015 14:52
Last Modified: 14 Apr 2015 14:52
URI: http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/id/eprint/4998

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