UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN

THE ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTH (106TH)

INAUGURAL LECTURE

This 106th Inaugural Lecture was delivered under

the Chairmanship of

The Vice-Chancellor
Professor Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede
B.A., M.A., Ph.D., P.G.D.E. (Ilorin)

ENERGY CONVERSION AND MAN

24th May 2012

By
PROFESSOR JOHN ADESIJI OLORUNMAIYE
B.Sc. (Ibadan); Ph.D. (Calgary); MNSE, MASHRAE, MAIAA

Professor of Mechanical Engineering

& Dean, Faculty of Engineering & Technology
University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.

TH

THURSDAY, 24
i

MAY 2012

Published by
The Library and Publications Committee
University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
ii

Dedication
This One Hundred and Sixth (106th) Inaugural
Lecture is dedicated to the memory of my late
father

Elder Joseph Olorunmaiye OLOYO

(1917-2012)
who gave up his own opportunity to go to school to
take care of his aged father and later sacrificed so
much to give me uninterrupted education.

PROFESSOR
N ADESI
JI OLORUNMAIYE
OLORUNMAI YE
PROFESSORJOH
JOHN
ADESIJI
B.Sc.B.Sc.
(Ibadan);
Ph.D.
MNSE,
MASH RAE,
MAIAA
(Ibadan);
Ph.D.(Calgary);
(Calgary); MNSE,
MASHRAE,
MAIAA
Professorof
ofMechanical
Mechanical Engineering
Professor
Engineering
&&Dean,
&Technology
Technology
Dean,Faculty
Facultyof
ofEngineering
Engineering &
University
Nigeria.
Universityof
ofIlorin,
Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.

iii

iv

Courtesies
Vice-Chancellor,
Deputy Vice-Chancellors,
Registrar and other Principal Officers of the University,
Provost, College of Medicine,
Dean of Faculties,
Deans of Postgraduate School and Student Affairs,
Directors of Units,
Professors and other members of Senate,
Heads of Departments,
Members of Academic Staff,
Members of Administrative and Technical Staff of the
University,
My Lords Spiritual and Temporal,
Members of my family: nuclear and extended,
Distinguished Invited Guests,
Gentlemen of the Print and Electronic Media,
Great Unilorites,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Preamble
I am grateful to God and the University
administration for giving me the opportunity to give the
106th inaugural lecture of this University.
For Faculty of Engineering and Technology which
started in 1978 this is the 11th inaugural lecture and for
Department of Mechanical Engineering, this is the second
one. The first one was given by Professor M. B. Adeyemi
on Industrial Growth through Research and Development
in 1995.
For our Faculty, inaugural lectures have been few
and far between (an average of one in three years) for a
number of reasons. Firstly, Professors are few compared to
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the other faculties. Secondly, work load is rather heavy for

engineering lecturers. Thirdly, some of us work in areas of
specialization that are relatively abstract and it becomes a
challenge to bring ones work to the level of popular
science which is of interest to the town and gown.
I am giving my inaugural lecture about 10 years
after the announcement of my promotion to the rank of
Professor with effect from 1997. However the thoughts of
giving an inaugural lecture have been on my mind since the
early 80s when as a postgraduate student I stumbled on
and bought a copy of the inaugural lecture delivered by
Henry Chadwick (Regius Professor of Divinity) before the
University of Cambridge on May 5, 1981, at the University
of Calgary Bookstore titled Frontiers of Theology.
It is also interesting that both the 105th and this
106th inaugural lectures have energy as the key word, the
former given by a physicist and the latter by an engineer.
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, permit me to rehash some
facts on inaugural lectures from the inaugural lecture of
Dotun Adepegba which he titled, The Prodigies of
Structural Engineering, delivered on December 7, 1979 at
the University of Lagos:
The history of inaugural lectures dates back to 1708
when Thwaites, an English Professor of Greek
delivered the first inaugural lecture; and
The inaugural lecturer may choose to focus on his
research work and his area of specialization or, he may
decide to discuss broad issues of his profession.
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, this evening I intend to do
the former. That is why the lecture is titled Energy
Conversion and Man.

Introduction
Engineering is the profession in which knowledge
of mathematics and natural sciences is applied with
judgment and responsibility to invent, design, construct,
operate and maintain machines, structures and systems
utilizing the materials and forces of nature economically for
the benefit of mankind1, 2.
Mechanical Engineering is the branch of
engineering concerned with the generation, transmission
and utilization of heat and mechanical power, and with the
production and operation of tools, machinery, and their
products. Mechanical Engineers have the following areas of
interest1:
Energy conversion from natural sources to other
useful forms of energy;
Designing and producing machines to make human
work easier;
Processing of raw materials to obtain useful
products; and
Relationship between technology and society.
Energy is the capacity of a body or a system to do
work. The different forms of energy can be divided into six
groups as shown in Table 1. The transitional and stored
forms of each group are also shown. Mechanical and
electrical forms of energy are considered high grade energy
because they can be converted to thermal energy efficiently
and easily. However thermal energy is considered to be low
grade energy because its conversion to other forms of
energy is limited by the second law of thermodynamics.
Mechanical Engineers are particularly concerned with
generation, transmission, utilization and conversion of
thermal energy.
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TABLE 1: CLASSIFICATION OF ENERGY FORMS

Energy Group
Mechanical
Energy

Electrical
Energy

Electromagnetic
Energy
Chemical
Energy
Nuclear Energy

Transitional energy
form
Work
Acoustic waves
in fluids or
solids
Surface waves
of liquids

Flow
of
electrons
through
a
conductor
Electromagnetic
radiation
None

None

Stored energy form

Gravitational potential
energy
Kinetic energy
Energy associated with
compressed fluid
Energy associated with
position of a substance
in an elastic strain field
Energy associated with
position
of
a
ferromagnetic material
in a magnetic field
Electrostatic-field
energy
Inductive-field energy
None
Energy released during
exothermic
chemical
reaction
Energy released during
nuclear reactions, e.g.
Radioactive decay
Fission
Fusion

The changing of energy from one form to another is

behind everything that happens around us. Man has
fulfilled the mandate to subdue the earth given by God in
Genesis 1:28 by inventing many devices for transforming
energy from one form to another energy conversion
systems. What man has been able to do with energy
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conversion is captured in the lyrics of a gospel song by B.J.

Thomas3:
Mans hands
And his plans
Have made this land
What it is today
Weve built sky high
Shiny towers
And fill our earth
With highways
...
Moving mountains
Not with faith
But with machines
And well always
Be looking for ways
To fulfill our
Earthly dreams
Energy consumption involves degradation of energy
ultimately to thermal energy in the ambient air. In the
history of man, advances in civilization have usually been
accompanied by increase in the rates of energy
consumption. Energy consumption by the early man was
estimated to be 8 11 kJ per capita daily. During the period
of primitive agricultural society, the rate of energy
consumption rose to 50,000 kJ per capita per day. Between
1850 and 1870, at the peak of industrial revolution, energy
consumption per capital per day was about 290,000 kJ in
Western Europe and USA. Nowadays, in developed
countries, the rate of energy consumption is between
900,000 1100,000 kJ per capita per day.
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Man as a power source is weak and

inefficient. Unlike conventional engines which can give
constant power output, the power output for human beings
tend to decrease with time as shown in Figure 1 below4.
Note that some of the data show the performance of
champion athlete and the maximum duration of any
experiment did not exceed 100 minutes.

IGURE 1: HUMAN POWER OUTPUT VERSUS TIME

The relationship between rate of doing work,

metabolic rate and heat exchange between man and his
environment in which he is doing work is given by the
equation5
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M W Q
where M =
W=
Q=

S=

metabolic rate i.e. rate at which the body is

producing energy
rate of doing work
rate of heat loss from mans body by
convection, radiation and evaporative heat
losses
rate of heat storage in mans body which is
either positive or negative

For condition of equilibrium, S = 0 and rate of heat

loss from the body

QM W M(1)
where =

thermal efficiency which has a maximum

value of about 20% according to Arora5.

The carbohydrates, fats and proteins in food consumed by

man are oxidized in the body to release chemical energy.
Lijedahl et al6 reported that human beings are
limited to less than 0.1 kW for continuous power output.
Thus man operates better as a controller of power rather
than as a power source and hence the need for man to
device energy conversion systems.
Figure 2 shows the block diagram of a generalized
energy conversion system. The input depends on the type
of energy conversion system being used. For example it
may be fossil fuel or biofuel or a mixture of the two. It may
also be some other forms of renewable energy source like
wind or solar radiation.
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Fossil Fuel,
Renewable
Energy input,
Electrical
Energy,
Energy
Nuclear Fuel

Propulsion energy
Electrical power
Other forms of
Mechanical Energy
Electromagnetic
Chemical Energy
Thermal Energy

Energy
conversion

FIGURE 2: BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE

GENERALIZED ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM
The output from the energy conversion process or
processes may be one or more of the possible different
types of output indicated in Figure 2. The energy
conversion may involve one conversion process or several
conversion processes from one energy form to several other
forms in succession.
Figure 3 contains a list of different types of energy
conversion systems. Also shown in the Figure are their
typical operational efficiencies and the different forms of
energy involved in the conversion processes7.

FIGURE 3: SOME TYPICAL OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCIES OF

ENERGY-CONVERSION SYSTEMS7.
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