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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Analyzing Energy Use From Arkansas Public School Buildings, Oscar Morton May 2023

Analyzing Energy Use From Arkansas Public School Buildings, Oscar Morton

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Energy is a key global resource in society and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to the consumption of energy have detrimental effects on the planet. With energy consumption increasing, exponential population growth, and diminishing natural resources necessary for energy production, the relevance of energy efficiency is dramatically increasing. In this project, I analyzed energy usage data from a set of public school buildings from one school district in northwest Arkansas from 2018, before targeted energy efficiency practices were implemented, through 2022 to see if energy usage changed over this short period. The objectives of analyzing energy data were to determine …


Performance And Economics Of Solar Inverters And Module Level Power Electronics In A 1 Mw Photovoltaic System, Maxwell Criswell May 2021

Performance And Economics Of Solar Inverters And Module Level Power Electronics In A 1 Mw Photovoltaic System, Maxwell Criswell

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Photovoltaic solar panels convert sunlight to electricity in the form of direct current; therefore, a necessary component of every photovoltaic system is an inverter to convert the electricity to usable alternating current. There are various commercially available inverter technologies manufactured today such as microinverters, string inverters, and central inverters, as well as module level power electronic devices such as DC optimizers that are capable of improving system performance in string and central inverter systems. This thesis compares the performance and economics of five different inverter and module level power electronic systems through model simulation using Helioscope software. The five alternatives …


Design Of Control Logic And The Human-Machine Interface For A Demonstration Plant Growth Chamber Implemented On A Programmable Logic Controller, Rachael Koehler May 2021

Design Of Control Logic And The Human-Machine Interface For A Demonstration Plant Growth Chamber Implemented On A Programmable Logic Controller, Rachael Koehler

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This honors thesis covers the planning, development, and implementation of system controls and human-machine interface (HMI) for a demonstration plant growth chamber. The work is a continuation of an ongoing project to be used as an educational and recruiting tool manifesting the skills acquired from the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at the University of Arkansas’ College of Engineering. This work includes emergency controls, overall design interface, and controls for both the aeration and lighting subsystems of the growth chamber. Overall design interface controls established included development of two user modes, Administrator and Visitor. The Administrator user will have full …


Design Of Remote Datalogger Connection And Live Data Tweeting System, Zachary Wofford May 2019

Design Of Remote Datalogger Connection And Live Data Tweeting System, Zachary Wofford

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Low-Impact Development (LID) is an attempt to sustainably respond to the potential hazards posed by urban expansion. Green roofs are an example of LID design meant to reduce the amount of runoff from storm events that are becoming more intense and less predictable while also providing insulation to buildings. LID has not yet been widely adopted as it is often a more expensive alternative to conventional infrastructure (Bowman et. al., 2009). However, its benefits are apparent. The University of Arkansas Honors College awarded a grant to research the large green roof atop Hillside Auditorium. One part of this grant is …


Automated Control System Design Manual For Plant Growth And Support, Brooke Benham May 2018

Automated Control System Design Manual For Plant Growth And Support, Brooke Benham

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The “Automated Control System Design Manual for Plant Growth and Support” project contains a teaching manual for high school students and teachers to use to aid in teaching STEM subjects. Building confidence in students and encouraging the pursuit of STEM related fields is one of the primary functions. This project utilizes low cost instruments and freely available software to teach the construction, installation, programming, and application for an automated control system with emphasis on plant growth and regulation. The end result is a fully automated system that can be controlled wirelessly via an android application to monitor temperature, humidity, and …