This paper presents a case study of the integration of virtual instrumentation in the development of engineering projects in undergraduate electrical engineering education, regarding a Data Acquisition and Interface Systems (DAIS) course. The DAIS course is part of the undergraduate curriculum in electrical engineering degree of Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG). This course is very important in the training of students who will work in the area of electronics, and uses LabVIEW as an educational tool to carry out practical activities. In the semester course, the teacher and the monitor followed up the student teams that proposed engineering projects to be developed during four milestones of the DAIS course. Statistical analysis of the collected data is done by semester course and by academic year. For each milestone, LabVIEW tutoring sessions and educational assessment are performed with student teams, who had great facility in learning the tool. In the final presentation of engineering projects, the students demonstrated domain about the content of the DAIS course and they were fully satisfied with LabVIEW. From the results, the students considered the virtual instrumentation tool with 96% of usefulness during the academic year and 100% recommendation to be applied in other engineering projects.

Installation of hybrid systems with storage is a way to maximize the amount of energy generated through exploring the complementarity of different sources. Understanding hybrid power plant (HPP) operation is crucial for optimizing new systems and reconfiguring existing plants, to their enhance efficiency. Alongside technical aspects, economic feasibility is also a fundamental feature. This study simulated an off-grid HPP to consider the energy consumption of Casa Nova in Bahia, Brazil. The methodology consisted of the selection of energy sources, choosing a reference location, acquisition of generation and operational data, modeling and simulating the system in different scenarios, and a financial analysis. HOMER Pro software Version 3.16.2 was used to optimize the plant configuration, and the outputs were evaluated using the perspectives of levelized cost of energy (LCOE), simple payback, and power load fulfillment. As a result, scenario 3 was the most competitive, emphasizing that the use of different energy sources increased the system generation capacity. However, the addition of battery energy system storage (BESS) resulted in a high LCOE when compared to individual sources, which demonstrated that the cost of battery integration is not yet nationally competitive. Moreover, the results highlighted the importance of research investments, energy governance, and regulation in promoting hybrid system adoption.

The vast expanses of remote onshore areas in oil-producing countries are home to a network of flow and collection pipelines that are susceptible to leaks. Most of these areas lack the infrastructure to enable the use of remote monitoring systems equipped with sensors and real-time data analysis to provide early detection of anomalies. This paper proposes a proof of concept for a monitoring system based on the Internet of Things (IoT) for real-time detection of pipeline leaks in onshore oil production fields. The proposed system, based on a thermal imaging leak detection method, informs the operator of the system’s operating status via a web page. The leak detection system communicates via a Zigbee network between the IoT devices and a 4G mobile network. The results of the tests carried out show that a visual and automatic IoT-based leak detection system is possible and plausible. The proposed leak detection system enables supervisors at remote stations and field workers to monitor the operating status of pipelines via computers, tablets, or smartphones, regardless of where they are.

Keywords Rotary blood pump; Ventricular assist device; Centrifugal flow pump; Lumped parameter model; System identification

This paper presents a 0D model for the pulsatile pediatric Ventricular Assist Device (pVAD), as well as its characterization and test results obtained by using an experimental hydraulic system that provides operational conditions close to the physiological conditions observed in pediatric patients. The measurements of the physical quantities used in characterization of the pVAD have been obtained by using the LabVIEW platform. The air chamber pressure signal is used to model the pneumatic actuation system behaviour, whereas the pressure-volume relationship inside the blood chamber is applied to model the pVAD compliance. The set of test and validation results demonstrated the correctness of the proposed model.