ETHIOPIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY-

MEKELLE

MEKELLE UNIVERSITY, MKELLE, ETHIOPIA

Proposal on:

Maintenance and functional testing of Cold Room

located at Mekelle University Main Campus

Date: May-02-2020

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 1. Executive Summary
As per our first visit to the Cold -room located at Mekelle university main campus near Momona,
we have observed that the whole system was not functional, the circuit breaker was tripping while
we try to turn it on, the cables are installed over the roof of the room in a very complicated way
and exposed to rain water, wind and sun light and trees are shading around the room.

So as electrical engineers the areas of intervention that we will participate are:

1. Problem Identification
 In this stage we will check the detailed electrical drawings of the system and the
connections in the room.
2. Electrical installation and testing.
 During this test, we will start overall electrical connections and feeding appropriate power
for the chiller to test the functionality.
3. Troubleshooting and Maintenance
 In this stage we will identify the defective components, such as burned devices, missed
components, open circuit and we will put a solution for them to be functional.

2. Background
Mekelle University Specifically Ethiopian institute of Technology-Mekell (EiT-M) as one of the
higher academic institutions in Ethiopia is striving with significant early success, to meet
international standards. The institute is engaged in highly ambitious effort to realign its system in
order to contribute more directly to its national strategy for economic growth, good governance
and poverty reduction. Among the main objectives of the institutes is providing community
service and scaling up the knowledge of engineers and/or technicians working in different
governmental and nongovernmental offices and industries every time.

Cold-room is one of the essential tools in the area of science and technology for qualitative and
quantitative research products, and to achieve quality education. The available cold-room in CNCS is
designed in two independent warehouses size with different temperature. The two cold-rooms have a
temperature of -5 °C to +15 °C for chiller rooms and Freezer room -6 °C to -60 °C. It is used as a
distributing center for research samples, for physical, chemical and biological sample preservation. In
order to obtain adequate and accurate experimental results appropriate sample processing and storage

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are critical once. The main purpose of the cod-room is for bio preservation of sample into a state of
suspended animation allowing for its retrieval in fully functional condition.

The ultimate goal or benefits of the cold-room is for preservation of a variety of sample types
including: cells, tissues, bacteria, viruses (like COVID-19), seeds, plant specimens and isolated sub-
cellular components (organelles, DNA, RNA, proteins).

The principle of cold-room storage system is by:

 Decreasing in available energy and metabolic activity of contaminates.

 Slowing of metabolism and biochemical pathways of contaminates.
 Activation of stress response pathways.

The cold-room is located in a place where difficult for operation and utilization which is surrounded
by big trees. Due to the inappropriate location of the cold-room, the electromechanical parts of the
system are covered with dust which will lead to shorten the life time of the cold-room system and
failure to the electromechanical parts. The other big problem observed externally in the cold-room is
a very bad electrical installation which is exposed to short and/or open circuit.

Figure: 1 dust accumulated on the cooling system of the cold-room

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Figure 2: bad electrical wiring

Figure 3: giant trees surrounding the cold-room

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Figure 4: Top view of the cold-room and its bad electrical installation crossing over the roof

3. Objective
The main objective of this proposal is to bring the Cold-room to its regular operation with its
designed capacity and to reduce machine down time.

3.1. Specific objective

 To conduct the functionality system testing

 To Study the detailed electrical drawings of the system
 Troubleshooting and maintenance of electrical boards
 To redesign and install the electrical connections of the system
 Prepare operational and maintenance manual for the system

4. Methodology
Studying and evaluation data is a cornerstone for performing efficient maintenance and repair of
cold-room. The presence of these data is main input for developing scheduled preventive
maintenance and repair. The study consists of

 Investigation, data collection of the cold-room.

 Detail data collection including by parts of those machines

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  Study safety of electrical installation requirements for the failed cold-room.

 Analysis and interpretation to ensure maintainability

 Reserve of spare parts and soon.

4.1 The main goal of this work

a. To reduce the degree, purchase to maintain the normal activities of the department.
b. To provide a better maintenance and repair Cold-room with relevant information regarding
college’s interest.
c. To assist specially the operators in how to use cold-room effectively and maintain them.
d. To give better maintenance/repair after failure and preventive/service maintenance before
failure.
e. To provide a continues checkup of every machinery and maintaining if any comment is
raised by the user during the maintenance duration.
f. To scale up the knowledge and experience of the operators.

5. Obligation of the client

To ensure the completion of the services and maintenance the client shall immediately upon the
requirements of the qualified personnel of the notice to proceed with the work from the client, be
responsible for

1 Providing necessary repair and maintenance materials like motor rewinding, filling of
refrigerant gas and equipment purchasing.
2 To collaborate with the maintenance person during data collection, repair and maintenance
time.
3 To provide materials to be replaced as per the maintenance person suggestion.
4 To process and facilitate payments as agreement reached.

6. Obligation of the team

The task is performed by qualified personnel with skill, care and diligence in compliance with the
rules and regulations of technology practice:

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 1. To collect necessary data that enable proper repair and maintenance.
2. To set up communication with clients for proper maintenance and repair.
3. Maintaining those machines to their working capacity
4. Providing recommendations to the client.

7. Service price
The minimum service price for conducting maintenance of cold-room is given in the table below.
Your office up on its convenience can prioritize the tasks of the assignment from the activity and
details of the cost break down summarized below.

Table 1: Maintenance cost

No Activity Estimated Cost in birr Remark

activity
hours
1 Problem 120 120*3*300 = 108,000 Hours*professions*rate in birr
identification
2 Installation 80 80*3*300 = 72,000 Hours*professions*rate in birr
3 Maintenance 120 120*3*300 = 108,000 Hours*professions*rate in birr
4 Skilled Labor cost 4*40*200 = 32,000 No. labor*days*rate in birr
5 Unskilled labor cost 3*40*60 = 7,200 No. labor*days*rate in birr
6 Local travel cost 8,000
7 Communication Cost 9,000
Sub-Total 299,200
Overhead cost (10%) 29,920
Total 329,120

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8. Material Cost

No Item description Unit/length Quantity Unit cost(Birr) Total

1 3-phase contactor pcs 5 1000 birr 5,000.00

2 Cable tranck pcs 35 250 bir 8,750.00

3 Breaker 63A PCS 4 700 birr 2,800.00

5 Electrical cable meter 100 m 300 birr/m 30,000.00

4*10mm

6 Phase sequence 2,000 3 2000 birr 6000.00

relay

7 Wire Connectors psc 20 20 birr 400.00

and splicers

Total 52,950.00

Table 2: Time schedule

No Activities Week1 Week2 Week3 Week4 Week5 Week6

1 Problem identification
2 Installation
3 Maintenance and
functionality test

9. Profile of the team

1. Mahder Girmay (Principal Investigator)
 MSc. in Electrical Engineering with Control systems engineering
Specialization
Experienced in;
 Relay circuit installation
 Siemens PLC programming and interfacing
 Microcontroller Programming and interfacing
 Electrical installation design using AutoCad
 SCADA Design for Industrial Processes and Power Distribution Networks

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 2. Amanuel Amare
 MSc. in Nanoelectronic systems
 PLC Logo Certified
 PLC Step-7 certified
Experienced in
 Relay-contactor installation
 MAT Lab programming
 Electrical motor rewinding and designing
 Electrical machine maintenance
 PLC programming
 Microelectronic device maintenance
 Kitchen equipment maintenance
3. Girmay Abreha

 MSc. In communication engineering

 PLC Logo Certified
 PLC Step-7 certified
Experienced in
 Relay-contactor installation
 Electrical motor rewinding and designing
 PLC programming
 Microelectronic device maintenance
 Kitchen equipment maintenance

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