FEST4U

LAST DATE:- 25th April 2009.

WEBSITE:- http://www.rc.ssn.edu.in/SSNRC.pdf

Email Address:- rcoffice@ssn.edu.in

A nationwide project contest for college students will be held by SSN Research Centre, the cutting edge science and technology research laboratories of SSN Institutions http://www.rc.ssn.edu.in . SSN Research Centre, established in 2007, is focused on research in important areas related to

o Increased efficiency in energy generation and utilization,

o Advanced materials to enable new technological applications and

o Embedded microprocessor integration in operational and safety critical applications.

The National Science and Technology Project Contest – 2009 is open to all graduate and post-graduate level college students who are currently on the rolls of recognized science / engineering / technology / management universities and institutes in India. Contestants must submit a Project Study on either of the topics: “Design of a LAN using 50 Hz power wiring in a building” Or “Design of a Solar Powered House”. A brief write up on each of the topics is given below.

LAN Using 50 Hz Power Wiring

Staying ‘connected’ at home or office or an institution has become a necessity rather than a luxury. While today connectivity is through dedicated LAN or Wi-Fi with investments in additional infrastructure, data communication using existing infrastructure like electrical wiring in a building provides an attractive alternative. Use of transmission lines for data communications to monitor and control the grid is a practice in vogue for some time. However, data communication using electrical wiring in buildings has not been considered seriously. For home or office networking, existing methods are either too slow for tasks other than simple automation, or are very fast with a higher cost than necessary for the desired function. The objective of this contest is to encourage engineers to analyse the problem and come out with a theoretical design of power line based data communication system for use at home/office/departmental store/college building which costs less than the traditional methods and provides adequate data rates for home/office networking Prima facie, power line communication looks like a good option because of the availability of power outlets in every room of a building. However, the wiring is done solely for the purpose of distributing electrical power. This wiring exhibits high attenuation for data signals. In addition, the impedance of this wiring is not controlled and RF shielding is another issue. Furthermore, many of the 50 Hz loads produce radio frequency interference that impedes data communication

OR

Designed of a Solar Powered House

Thomas Edison told his friends Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone: “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.” 1931

It looks as though we are waiting for Thomas Edison’s apprehension to come true! One major consumer of energy is the house in which we live. Most of today’s houses are not designed for energy efficiency. Can a house be designed to do away with air conditioning in summer and heating in winter? Can the electric power needed for running the household appliances be derived solely from solar or other renewable source of energy energy? Can we harvest all the solar radiation that falls on the house and store it for use at night and cloudy days? We need to build houses which are energy efficient and sustainable. The contest is aimed at challenging the young budding engineers to come out with novel ideas in designing an energy efficient house with least or no dependence on the power grid. The design should be for a modest Indian home located in the plains and plateaus of India.

SSN Research Centre gives you an opportunity to pit your intellect against these scientific and technological challenges. You can also win attractive cash prizes plus opportunities to be research interns. College students in India are invited to submit concept and design outline studies for ‘LAN using power wiring in a building’ or ‘Design of a solar powered House’.

National Science and Technology Project Contest Rules:

• Project Study must have significant originality in concepts and details. It must not be a large scale reproduction of information already in public domain. References to information published on or relevant to this subject earlier must be properly cited and acknowledged.

• Project Study should be written in English and must not exceed 4000 words (10 single space typed pages approximately) in addition to drawings, pictures, tables, bibliography and references.

• If the Study is carried out jointly by more than one student, the number of credited authors must not exceed three (3).

• Title page of the Study must contain only the title of the essay, name(s) of author(s), educational institution and level (e.g. 5th semester, B Tech, Mechanical. Engineering, XXX college of Engineering….), date of submission along with a mandatory declaration to be signed by the author(s) as follows: “I / we hereby declare and certify that this Project Study submitted to SSN National Science and Technology Project Contest – 2009 is a result of my / our original work and does not contain prior work done elsewhere except as cited in the Study”

• Name and affiliation of the author(s) should not be mentioned in any other page of the Study.

• Project Study must be submitted as an electronic copy only (in PDF format, as attachment to e-mail).

• A hard copy of the title page only, duly signed by the author(s) and countersigned for correctness of the declaration by an authority of the college/ university/ institute (Head of Department / Principal/ Dean/ Registrar/ Director), should be posted or couriered separately to the address given below.

• Studies will be evaluated for their technical soundness, depth and breadth of understanding, originality of ideas as well as clarity of expression, by a panel of experts.

• A limited number of contestants whose Studies are considered by the panel to have greater merit may be required to make an oral presentation of their Studies. In such a case, SSN Research Centre will reimburse the cost of their travel to and from Chennai by train.

• SSN Research Centre will have full rights to publish any or all the Project Studies submitted for the contest and use information contained therein with due acknowledgement of the original authors. The authors are also free to publish their studies and use the results contained in them, as they deem fit.

• The decision of the panel of experts will be final and no appeals will be entertained regarding the evaluation of the Studies.

• Following prizes will be awarded. First Prize: Rs. 25,000/-, Second Prize: Rs. 15,000/- and Third Prizes (2): Rs. 5,000/- each.

• Prize winners will also be extended invitations to work as interns in SSN Research Centre for a period of 6 to 8 weeks during their college vacation months in 2009. During internship they will be provided train fare to travel to Chennai and back as well as free accommodation in SSN campus.

• All entries must be sent by e-mail to rcoffice@ssn.edu.in and the countersigned title page posted to reach The Director, SSN Research Centre, Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR), Kalavakkam, Via Chennai, Tamilnadu – 603 110,