This paper presents an evaluation of wind energy potential in the northern and southern region of Nigeria on the basis of Weibull and Rayleigh models. The aim of this study is to know which of the locations in the regions would have more wind power density where wind energy conversion system (WECS) could be installed for electricity generation in Nigeria with excellent percentage of clean energy. From the analysis of the wind speed data collected from Nigeria meteorological station, Abuja at 10m height from years (1990-2006) the locations in northern region of Nigeria that were found quite viable for electricity generation are (Jos, Kano, Sokoto and Maiduguri) while for the southern region of Nigeria are (Lagos and Enugu). These locations were found to have wind power density above 100W/m 2. The Weibull model was found to be more applicable in estimating the power density because it returns a lower percentage error than the Rayleigh model. Probability density function in the northern region has a peak value of 1.01795 and 0.2937 in Bauchi for both Weibull and Rayleigh respectively while for the southern region the probability density function has a peak value for Weibull as 0.8347 in Calabar and Rayleigh as 0.2341 in Rivers southern region of Nigeria.

A basalt-based automobile brake pad was developed through optimization of the volume fractions and manufacturing parameters, a mathematical model was developed based on rule of mixture for the optimization of the volume fraction and the solution obtained using excel solver is as follow; basalt 38%, cast iron chips 26%, bronze 12%, glass fibre 12% and phenolic resin 12%. The manufacturing parameters were design using full factorial design of three levels and three factors, twenty-seven runs were obtained from the design, consequently twenty-seven samples were produced by compression moulding. The constituent materials were properly mixed to obtained homogeneous mixture and compressed into a mould with a cavity similar to the shape of the friction pad this was done at different moulding pressures of 30MPa, 27MPa and 24MPa, the curing temperatures were 1800C, 2000C and 2200C and the curing of 5minutes, 10minutes and 15 minutes as obtained from the factorial design. The samples produced were subjected to tests, the results showed that the basalt brake pad has the following properties; compressive strength of 137mPa, coefficient of friction 0.476, hardness 70HRB, density of 2768kg/m3 thermal conductivity of 0.66W/mK, water absorption of 0.377%, oil absorption of 0.25%, void content of 18.93%, wear rate of 9.0X10 -4g/m and the TGA result shows that the basalt-based brake pad is thermally stable up to a temperature of 5000C. The properties of the basalt-based brake pad are within the acceptable range and can satisfactorily substitute basalt.

In this study, wind characteristics and techno-economic analysis in six selected locations in the northern (Jos, Kano, Sokoto and Maiduguri) and southern (Lagos and Enugu) regions of Nigeria using wind speed data at 10m height collected over a period of seventeen years (1990-2006) were analyzed. The techno-economic evaluations of electricity generation from four commercial wind turbine models used for electricity generation located at these sites were evaluated. The wind speed data analysis shows that the sites evaluated are good locations for wind potential in electricity generation from wind. The yearly energy output, the capacity factor and the wind energy cost per unit of electricity generated by the selected wind turbines are calculated. In terms of energy production, the results show that Plateau is best location for harnessing wind power for electricity generation with an average wind power density of 713.95W/m 2. The maximum energy output was obtained for De wind 48 turbine model. The capacity factor values are found to vary from a minimum of 21% to maximum of 28% for this research work. The results also shows that the cost per kWh of electricity generation using these turbines is between 0.493-0.606$kWh.