Digital Commons Network^™

Synthesis And Characterization Of Non-Pgm Catalysts For Fuel Cell Applications, Sudharsan Sridhar

Masters Theses

Fuel Cells convert the chemical energy of a fuel and an oxidizing agent into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells convert (efficiency-60%) hydrogen and air to power the electric motors with zero emissions, facilitating the development of environmentally friendly and sustainable automobile technologies. One of the major obstacles for larger commercial viability of Fuel Cells for automobile applications is their cost-effectiveness. Currently, fuel cells use platinum as a catalyst material, which is prohibitively expensive for commercial automobile applications. The development of non-Platinum Group Metal (non-PGM) catalyst materials with similar electrochemical performance to that …

Development Of A Finite Element Model Of The Stamping Process To Predict The Natural Frequencies Of Dimpled Beams, Varad Vasudeo Pendse

Masters Theses

Creating dimples on beams has been proven to be an effective way of altering their vibrational behavior. The objective of this research is to simulate the process of stamping using the finite element (FE) method to create a model of a dimpled beam. This dimple has non-uniform thickness, so it shows close agreement with its real-life counterpart.

ANSYS® Parametric Design Language (APDL) is used to build a three-dimensional (3-D) finite element model and simulate the process of stamping used to create the dimple. The structural simulation is validated by calculating the thickness and width of the deformed geometry of the …

Comparison Of Optimal Energy Management Strategies Using Dynamic Programming, Model Predictive Control, And Constant Velocity Prediction, Amol Arvind Patil

Masters Theses

Due to the recent advancements in autonomous vehicle technology, future vehicle velocity predictions are becoming more robust which allows fuel economy (FE) improvements in hybrid electric vehicles through optimal energy management strategies (EMS). A real-world highway drive cycle (DC) and a controls-oriented 2017 Toyota Prius Prime model are used to study potential FE improvements. We proposed three important metrics for comparison: (1) perfect full drive cycle prediction using dynamic programming, (2) 10-second prediction horizon model predictive control (MPC), and (3) 10-second constant velocity prediction. These different velocity predictions are put into an optimal EMS derivation algorithm to derive optimal engine …

Fatigue Damage Characterization By Surface Roughness And Instrumented Micro – Hardness Measurements, Suraj Sanjay Nikam

Masters Theses

Fatigue is an essential consideration in the design of high performance, safety-critical structures, and components, as fatigue failure constitutes more than 70% of failures in dynamically loaded components. This research aims to shed light on the effect of surface roughness on the micro-hardness in metals through experimental techniques (Part 1), the correlation between the traditional fatigue testing and instrumented cyclic micro-hardness testing to determine the material properties modeled by Ramberg - Osgood relationship(Part 2), and the effect of the fatigue damage on micro-hardness and surface roughness (Part 3).

For this research, Al 7075 - T651 and Al 6061 - T651 …