Silver and bronze in NRIC 2017

UTAR’s five Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Petrochemical Engineering final year students made a big splash at the Novel Research & Innovation Competition (NRIC) 2017, winning a silver and a bronze medal. It was held at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) from 15 to 17 August 2017.

The winning research projects consisted of two teams, titled “Mimusops Elengi Seed Shell Powder as a New Bio-filler for Thermoplastic Composites” and “Form Stable Phase Change Material (FOSTPCM) for Photovoltaic Cooling” from the Department of Petrochemical Engineering parked under the Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology (FEGT). The teams bagged a silver medal and a bronze medal respectively.

Joining the competition for the third time upon the invitation of the USM Student Representative Council, each research team was supervised by an FEGT lecturer. The participants were required to present their research work to the audience and to the selected panel of judges. The two research projects from UTAR stood out amongst a total of 82 research projects ranging from engineering to applied sciences by final year students from 61 local universities and 14 foreign universities. 

Themed ‘Revolution through the Decade’s Novelty’, NRIC 2017 aimed to instil the importance of research and development among students and to give them a platform to put their talents and creativity in action to enable the next generation of innovators. It was also a golden opportunity for the participants to share their research knowledge and ideas. NRIC 2017 saw a participation of more than 300 participants from both local and international. The competition was organised by the Student’s Representative Council of USM and supported by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. The competition was opened to all final year undergraduates and diploma students of local and international institutions of higher learning.

From left: Rajvinder and Eng

The silver-winning project titled “Mimusops Elengi Seed Shell Powder as a New Bio-filler for Thermoplastic Composites” is about the characterisation and testing of Mimusops Elengi Seed Shell powder as a potential new source of Bio-filler in polymer composite production.   

The students in the silver-medallist team were I.S Rajvinder Singh and Eng Boon Kiat. They received a medal and a certificate each. Their team was led by FEGT’s lecturer Dr M. Mathialagan.

One of the silver winners, Rajvinder enthused, “I joined this competition because it is indeed a good platform for me to show and present my project. I believe my project have the potential to be commercialised. I also gained plenty of new exposures and knowledge from other competitors’ project. Winning the silver medal was definitely overwhelming for me and I am thankful for the opportunity to represent UTAR in this competition.”

He added, “Our research was on developing natural filler, in which Mimusops Elengi seed shell powder was used as filler for polypropylene. We were able to improve the properties of the polymer composite formed by using this filler up to a certain loading level. The education I obtained from UTAR helped me to complete my research. The advice and help given by my research supervisor, Dr Mathialagan, aided in the completion of my research.”

From left: Yu, Nagarathanam and Ariff

The bronze-winning project titled “Form Stable Phase Change Material (FOSTPCM) for Photovoltaic Cooling” is about increasing the efficiency of photovoltaic module by reducing the heat using FOSTPCM.

The bronze-medallists were R. Nagarathanam, Yu Gen Qian and Ariff bin Abdul Latif. They received a medal and a certificate each. Their team was led by FEGT’s Head of Petrochemical Engineering Department Assoc Prof Dr M. Yamuna.

The bronze-medallist Nagarathanam said, “I joined this competition to share about this innovation and also to gain new experience of participating in an international level competition, participated by local universities and universities from our neighbouring countries. It was overwhelming when UTAR was announced as the Bronze medal winner. All credits go to our advisor Dr Yamuna for her support and guidance. The skills that I have learnt in UTAR such as the laboratory skills, analytical skills and presentation skills were very helpful for me to complete my research.”

She explained, “Our research focused on the heat that reduces the efficiency of photovoltaic module (PV) by 10 to 25 percentage. Studies were carried out to evaluate the effect of cooling using various cooling agents such as water, heat pipes and phase change material (PCMs) on PV. However, the practical applications of these methods were not that feasible because the energy required for the pump will complicate the piping, wiring and corrosion effect. Our project FOSTPCM was developed to be applied to the rear part of the PV to reduce the temperature of the module. FOSTPCM is a passive system which requires simple assembly without any piping and wiring. It does not leak, non-toxic and very stable over 1000 thermal ageing cycle. FOSTPCM absorbs heat from the rear part of the PV module and goes through a phase change from solid to liquid. Due to its high latent heat, it could absorb a large amount of heat from the PV module and reduce the temperature of the PV. Compared to other available PCM, FOSTPCM is coated with a rubber-like material which ensures the stability of PCM without leakage and volume change during the melting and cooling cycle.”

Another bronze-medallist said, “I joined this competition because it's a whole new experience for me. It's hard to have such a rare opportunity to represent the university. I am humbled and honoured to represent UTAR and we are very grateful to win a Bronze prize, which is a bonus to the team. We would like to thank the university and our supervisor for the guidance and support. The education standard of UTAR is on par with other public and private universities, which encouraged students to show competitiveness and innovative thinking. This helps me to undergo my research in a more creative and innovative direction.”