Revista de Ciencias Tecnológicas (RECIT). Universidad Autónoma de Baja California ISSN 2594-1925

Volumen 6 (4): e325. Octubre-Diciembre. 2023. https://doi.org/10.37636/recit.v6n4e325

1 ISSN: 2594-1925

Case studies

Abstract. - In Mexico the development of remote laboratories is incipient, in 2020 the National Council of Humanities, Sciences,

and Technologies (CONAHCYT) created a network of virtual laboratories with nine of its public research centers in order to

create a virtual space that enables the development of experimental and research activities in a distance modality. However,

access to virtual laboratories is limited only to its members, and the platforms are still under development. With this motivation,

this article presents a multi-institutional project for the design, development, and implementation of a pico-hydraulic system

for small-scale power generation for teaching and training purposes with the aim of responding to the current need for distance

Resumen. - En México el desarrollo de laboratorios remotos es incipiente, en 2020 el Consejo Nacional de Humanidades,

Ciencias y Tecnologías (CONAHCYT) creó una red de laboratorios virtuales con nueve de sus centros públicos de

investigación con el fin de crear un espacio virtual que permita el desarrollo de actividades experimentales y de investigación

en la modalidad a distancia. Sin embargo, el acceso a los laboratorios virtuales está limitado sólo a sus miembros y las

plataformas aún están en desarrollo. Con esta motivación este artículo presenta un proyecto multi-institucional para el diseño,

desarrollo e implementación de un sistema pico-hidráulico para la generación de energía a pequeña escala con fines de

enseñanza y capacitación con el objetivo de responder a la necesidad actual de enseñanza a distancia o virtual de

conocimientos prácticos debido a la enfermedad coronavirus (COVID-19) causada por el virus SARS-CoV-2. Para el

desarrollo del sistema se utilizaron herramientas de innovación tecnológica (QFD, TRIZ), con las que se obtuvieron los

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The sustainability education relationship has

with respect to social responsibility, the

reduction of environmental impact, the

application of modern technology, and the use of

renewable energies where the experiential study

conventional or renewable energy sources,

energy inequality in society will require in the

short term that each household produce its own

energy for consumption. To meet this challenge,

it is necessary to have well trained professionals

with good management of theoretical and

practical concepts of renewable energy,

especially those related to fluids [6,7].

Currently, the most common self-sufficiency

more than 16% of the world energy matrix [9].

This power source can be converted into

electricity through a hydro turbine and electric

generator using large scale hydro resources to

maximize the efficiency of high head hydro

turbines [10].

The world trend of sustainable hydraulic energy

for electrical power generation is focused on the

use of very low head water resources due to (i)

capacity of 10MW or less; mini hydro plant

capacity is less than 1MW; micro hydro is less

5kW. A pico, micro, or mini hydroelectric plant

has a minimum water deposit, and its

implantation can be carried out in rivers,

irrigation canals, wastewater, or household water

role in the use of renewable energy, and while a

large infrastructure and technology for power

generation has been developed, the current

challenge is storing the energy produced.

Pumped hydropower is an efficient way of

temporarily storing energy and requires

temporarily storing a large volume of water in an

upper reservoir and releasing it through turbines

to the lower reservoir to produce electricity

during periods of high-power demand [15].

electricity, along with the scarcity of

professionals trained in these technologies [8].

Neither education nor renewable energies have

been exempted from the technological

development caused by the fourth industrial

revolution or Industry 4.0 [17,21]. Monitoring

energy production has been very important for

renewable sources, in addition to measurement,

transmission and data processing technologies

opportunity for future engineers to be trained

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IoT systems, an engineer may be able to gather

vast amounts of data from sensors and processes,

manufacturing processes and real time

monitoring and control applications [24,25]. The

inclusion of IoT projects focused on renewable

energy helps students to be prepared for

Education 4.0 in order to cover the need for

distance learning [19,20]. Within these efforts for

distance learning is the development of

augmented reality laboratories, virtual

laboratories, or remote laboratories in order to

provide future engineers with practical, technical

knowledge or training as an opportunity for

experience [16,18]. In Mexico, the development

of virtual laboratories is incipient, which

represents a challenge for the attention of

were used to develop the system. For the

monitoring of the system, IoT tools were used.

Finally, the results show the degree of student

involvement and learning and identified areas of

opportunity to improve the curricula.

2. Materials and methods

2.1 Quality function deployment

(QFD)

QFD promotes the interaction of design

users, vendors, etc. The QFD approach is based

on the deployment of user expectations (the

parameters (the ''How'') for the new product. This

process is represented by a succession of double

entry ''What/How'' tables that enable identifying

and prioritizing the correlations between the

(HoQ) and consists of the rows that contain the

relevant information for the client, and the

columns, which contain the corresponding

technical translation of their needs. In addition to

the "What/What" correlations, this matrix

facilitates integrating elements related to the

analysis of competencies and the identification of

contradictions among different product features

[28]. The main activities within the construction

of the HoQ are the documentation of the

directly influence the satisfaction of said needs.

Typically, design teams have to base their

estimates on their own experience, intuition, and

determination [29].

2.2 Theory of inventive problem

The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving

(TRIZ) is the result of extensive research carried

of new systems and the improvement of existing

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to understand the problems and detailed

techniques for systems analysis [32].

The theoretical basis of the classic TRIZ is the

Patterns of Technological Evolution. Altshuller,

based on this discovery, developed a set of

Patterns that describe the evolution of

identify contradictions and ineffective, excessive

and harmful relationships in and around a

system. Among the main tools of TRIZ are the

following: i) 40 inventive principles, ii) nine

windows, iii) eight evolution trends of technical

systems, iv) Function analysis and substance

field analysis, v) 39 parameters of engineering,

vi) matrix of contradictions, and vii) ARIZ, the

Algorithm for Solving Inventive Problems,

among others [30-32].

and future. Altshuller's idea was to combine the

technical evolution of a system from the past

through the present to the future or thinking about

time and scale to contextualize a problem and

find solutions [32]. This technique consists of

setting up a table with nine entries forming a 3x3

matrix, separated into three categories:

supersystem, system and subsystem in the three

time periods. The first step is to fill in the cells

with the descriptions corresponding to the

progression. With the above, the temporal

considered, and the work group is required to

define and reconcile the system’s future

2.4 Functional analysis

The functional analysis aims to analyze the

analysis helps bring to light hard to recognize

issues in problems. To formulate the problem

with the TRIZ approach, it is convenient to make

a functional description of the system under

development to define innovation directions

based on areas of opportunity identified for

improvement. The functional analysis technique

involves defining the primary useful function of

the product, that is, what the product is going to

do. The main function is then broken down into

Contradictions are a key point in TRIZ theory

when trying to increase the main function of a

system. They are considered the main agents of a

system’s technological evolution. These

contradictions can be arranged in a table called a

contradiction matrix used to resolve technical

contradictions through the 40 principles of

invention. This matrix is formed by relating the

referring to the principles of invention that can be

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found within the matrix. The use of the

contradiction matrix is intuitive and efficient for

40 Altshuller inventive principles used in the

contradiction matrix.

research

QDF and TRIZ integration for problem solving

has been widely reported in new product design

areas, among others [36-38]. The main advantage

identified [37]. With the above, the contradiction

matrix can be used to resolve these design

conflicts through the 40 principles of invention.

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elaborated. The following figure shows the

UAMRA). Each academic program mentioned

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the development of this project.

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will help the work team to identify the

requirements that can be included when

reflections on the possible solution. These results

are found in the last column where the

hypothetical future for the hydraulic system for

power generation is located. Analysis of this

under supersystem there are features such as a

focus on sustainability, incidence of global

knowledge, unlimited number of work groups,

among others. Without a doubt, technology and

development have caught up with us, and many

of the elements considered in the hypothetical

future of the system are currently being

generalized way, which offers an opportunity to

consider them for this work.

Now, we analyze the main functions required

when using hydraulic system for power

generation to draw up a hierarchical diagram of

functional requirements. With the above, the

teachers and students, and the essential activity

was energy production and teaching. The

functional analysis is shown in the figure below.

Like the nine windows of TRIZ, by identifying

the main functions of the system, it will be

possible to include everything that a user or

system needs to be included in the requirements

to increase the ideality and functionality of the

design proposal by the work team.

With the information collected from the 9

windows technique and the functional analysis, it

was possible to determine the needs and

requirements of the clients (students and

teachers). The procedure to establish the

requirements is a dynamic analysis and a team

activity, for which the entire work team (5

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team, the quantified weight was assigned to each

of the requirements considered in order to rate

the design stage. To qualify the weight of the

requirements, importance values of 5, 3 and 1

were proposed as established by the QFD

methodology, 5 being the most important and 1

validate the requirements established by the work

team, since the information gathered is firsthand

requirements are shown in table 5.

For technical or engineering requirements, the

work team translates the client's needs into an

engineering language. This is done so that, at the

include them as technical requirements. These

parameters are undoubtedly very general, but

some can be considered for this study. For

example, the small-scale power production

Revista de Ciencias Tecnológicas (RECIT). Volumen 6 (4): e325.

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It was possible to design, build and implement a

pico-hydraulic power generation system which

has the requirements requested by users (students

and teachers) verifying the effectiveness of the

proposed methodology process. In addition, IoT

accessories were used to measure the variables of

interest in the system, which are versatile and

inexpensive, such as Arduino systems, with

which can be used to visualize the data measured

power and Uchiyama.T [13] et at. developed

micro hydro turbine with excellent performance

in passing foreign matter included in the water

flow. Some studies on pico- hydro power have

been conducted such as Williamson, S. J [49] et

al. where they study pico- hydro power at low

head deriving six key experimental parameters

for a Turgo turbine and demonstrating that these

systems can be used efficiently at low head in a

variety of site conditions, Bozorgi, A [46] et al.

pico-hydro systems concluding that an axial

empirical design of a low-cost pico-hydro power

plant for distributed power generation

applications. The most developed area currently

is design where Yahya, A. K [44] et al. developed

a pico-hydro generation system which is the

effective way to help remote communities by

generating electricity using water as the main

source to be used for small capacity equipment

such as motors and light bulbs, Cobb, B.R. [47]

et al. built a laboratory scale test device to test the

Zainuddin, H [48] et al. describe the design and

development of a pico-hydro generation system

using distributed household drinking water by

developing a small-scale hydroelectric

generation system using distributed household

drinking water as an alternative source of

electrical power for residential use and Gallego.

E [44] et al. designed a low-cost Turgo turbine

for a low head hydro system and experimentally

evaluated the operating parameters.

Most of the works that report pico-hydraulic

Revista de Ciencias Tecnológicas (RECIT). Volumen 6 (4): e325.

implementations that in general seek the design

of new turbines, optimization of design or

is the design of a pico-hydraulic power

generation system that responds to the new

current context of distance education by COVID

19 and the use of renewable energies that are

mechanics, energy, and instrumentation, where

the system can play an important role in learning.

power generation system with respect to the

practice was measured through the questionnaire

shown in table 11. All the participants involved

in the project answered the questionnaire

4.1. Principal contributions

We believe that well trained professionals in the

above topics will have a great impact on the

4.2. Research scope and limitations

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economical by using common materials, sensors,

and instruments. The designed system can be

conditions of pressure, flow or load demand. In

addition, it was found that a major limitation is

the manual operation of the hydraulic circuit

control valves, and there is still no data storage

4.3. Applicability for teaching and training

parameters of the pico-hydraulic energy

generation system, such as pressure, flow, and

voltage obtained in the electric generator, to

students and professors from the five

participating universities. The designed pico-

hydraulic power generation system is functional,

low cost and can be easily reproduced to be used

for teaching purposes.

The above limitations may be considered in