Engineering Commons^™

Templates To Transition: Making Solar-Generated Electricity Accessible For Lagos Residents, Adeola O. Adebajo

Senior Theses

According to the EPA, direct energy production results in at least 25% of the world’s emissions. This refers to emissions produced by burning coal, natural gas, and oil for electricity and heat. With the increasing effects of climate change, sustainable energy is becoming increasingly important as the world shifts away from fossil fuels. However, implementation of renewable energy sources is not as fast or as widespread as necessary. This paper aims to identify feasible solutions to the problem of renewable energy affordability in Nigeria especially in growing megacities like Lagos to ensure long lasting and climatefriendly energy sources. Two major …

Quadratic Neural Network Architecture As Evaluated Relative To Conventional Neural Network Architecture, Reid Taylor

Senior Theses

Current work in the field of deep learning and neural networks revolves around several variations of the same mathematical model for associative learning. These variations, while significant and exceptionally applicable in the real world, fail to push the limits of modern computational prowess. This research does just that: by leveraging high order tensors in place of 2nd order tensors, quadratic neural networks can be developed and can allow for substantially more complex machine learning models which allow for self-interactions of collected and analyzed data. This research shows the theorization and development of mathematical model necessary for such an idea to …

Space Exploration: Nasa Investment Into The Private Space Sector And Public Opinion, Brooke Ziegenhagen

Senior Theses

The space exploration industry has entered a new era with companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin leading the way to the privatization of space. This paper examines public opinion regarding the source of space exploration funding and proposes possible motivations for these sentiments. This is followed by an assessment on NASA’s investment trends into the commercial space industry. Both probes review the past decade, to reveal the public-private relationship in this new era and finally, conclude whether or not public opinion plays a role in the degree of NASA investment and what that role may be.

Lablineup: An Intuitive Web Application For Queueing Help Requests In Academic Labs, Graham Mcdonald

Senior Theses

LabLineup is a start-up project designed to address the needs of large, lab-based classes, where teaching assistants (TAs) struggle to assist students in the order in which they request help. LabLineup is a lightweight web application that allows TAs and professors to accept requests for help in order. LabLineup allows professors to view the requests for a lab and see frequently asked questions that can be addressed en masse rather than individually. LabLineup also allows students to provide TA feedback. LabLineup addresses issues arising from requesting help in large, lab-based classes in the most efficient manner possible.

Structural Design Of Pool House In The City Of Columbia, Nathan F. Gates

Senior Theses

This report presents a structural design for a one-story pool house in the City of Columbia. The most important part of the project was determining critical horizontal and vertical loads, and designing each member in accordance to those governing loads. The loads we analyzed were dynamic, dead, live and seismic. By means of the LRFD method, the greatest possible load combination was calculated, combining the previously mentioned loads. These load combinations were different for each analysis, as the loading pressures will change depending on what structural system is being analyzed. This comprises the large part of the report and of …

Hazard And Operability Analysis Of An Ethylene Oxide Production Plant, Samantha Ciricillo

Senior Theses

The purpose of this work was to evaluate potential hazards and failures as part of the design and economic analysis for a chemical plant that would produce 150,000 tons of ethylene oxide per year. The Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) method of analysis was used to accomplish this goal. This method of hazard analysis involves brainstorming potential errors in a system by examining each element of each process unit in full detail. This project was focused on the reactor unit because the reactor has several important parameters that could fail, resulting in safety issues within the system. Input for this analysis …

Bridgr: An Ios Application For Organizing And Discussing Long-Distance Carpooling, Harrison Engoren, Erik Zorn

Senior Theses

Bridgr is an iOS application that facilitates long distance carpooling. This application allows drivers to post destinations on an interactable map so that they can be linked with students that need a ride to a location within close proximity of the posted destination. The riders and driver are linked in a common chat board where they can discuss ride details among themselves. The goal of Bridgr is to allow drivers to utilize extra space in their car in turn for fellowship and/or gas money.

Cpu Cooling Pulse Device For Enhanced Heat Transfer, Hannah Farabee, Noémie L. Iñiguez, Hugo Nunez, Wendy Zwanka

Senior Theses

Ice Dragon Cooling is a company which researches thermofluids and heat transfer technologies. The company’s present research focuses on HVAC and computer applications, with an emphasis on nanofluid development. To support Ice Dragon’s mission, the company wants a product that enhances heat transfer efficiency in liquid-cooled CPU systems. The product is to be a pulse device which increases the turbulence of a liquid across a computer CPU cooling block, thereby expediting heat transfer away from the CPU.

The needs for Ice Dragon Cooling were determined based on engineering knowledge and industry consultation. After further analysis, it was determined that increasing …

Process Design: Maleic Anhydride Unit, Valerie Kay, Jacqueline Phillips, Olivia Smithson

Senior Theses

Gamecock Chemical Company has proposed the construction of a maleic anhydride plant at its Houston refinery. The plant is to produce 40,000 metric tons per year of maleic anhydride from a mixture of excess butanes. This design team has been asked to produce a conceptual design, simulation, and profitability analysis for the proposed plant. The simulation software Aspen Plus by AspenTech was the primary software used to design the plant, and the CAPCOST program in Microsoft suite’s Excel was utilized for the economic review of the process.

Maleic anhydride is produced by the thermal oxidation of n-butane at an elevated …

Increasing Drug Delivery Efficacy Of Drug-Coated Balloons, Alexander Galan, Eric Bidinger, Franco Godoy, Shrusti Patel

Senior Theses

Peripheral artery disease (PAD), the narrowing of peripheral arteries located in areas such as the arms and legs, is a common disease that affects 12% to 20% of people over 65. Numerous therapies have been developed to treat PAD, the most recent technology being drug-coated balloons. Drug-coated balloons release drugs, such as Paclitaxel (PTX), into the arterial wall during balloon angioplasty to locally treat PAD. Current levels of drug transfer from the balloon to the vascular endothelium are at a low 10%-18%. Our Biomedical Engineering Senior Design project aims to increase drug delivery of drug-coated balloons by manipulating the clinically-controllable …

Economic Analysis Of Reactive Distillation In The Production Of Tert-Amyl Methyl Ether (Tame), Clayton Brandenburg

Senior Theses

Aspen HYSYS was used to make two flowsheets, one with plug flow reactors and distillation columns and another with a reactive distillation column, to see which flowsheet was better at producing tert-amyl methyl ether (TAME) and which one was more economically feasible. The goal was to produce 15,000 metric tons of TAME per year by reacting a naptha stream with methanol. It was found that both flowsheets were capable of producing the desired amounts of TAME and with product purities around 100%. The conversions of the reactive distillation was 93.93%, significantly higher than the 72.48% and 76.98% in the base …

Development Of Rule-Based Recognition Systems For Continuous Monitorization Of Pulse Oximetry, Brian Delehanty

Senior Theses

Pulse Oximeters provide a convenient, non-invasive method to quickly gather information about a patient's pulse rate (PR) and arterial blood oxygen saturation (SpO₂). Many pulse oximeters lack alert systems that notify caregivers if a patient's readings go outside the healthy range, and pulse oximeters that have these mechanisms are significantly more expensive. This project set out to write a program using LabVIEW that collects pulse oximeter data via Bluetooth and generates an alert when readings persist in the abnormal range for more than fifteen seconds. Due to privacy laws that allow pulse oximeter manufacturers to not disclose the …

Osteon Mimetic Scaffolding, Janay Clytus

Senior Theses

The purpose of this research is to provide an alternative to naturally derived bone grafts. There is a gap in the supply of donors and the demand of bone tissue. Artificial scaffold creation can work as an implant and decrease the shortage of bone grafts and increase the range of injuries that can be repaired. Current research focuses on optimizing mechanical properties such as porosity, improving vascularization using cells, and generating osteoconductivity. For osteodifferentiation, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can differentiate into mesodermal lineages such as chondrocytes, osteoblasts, adipocytes, and tenocytes by supplementing cultures with lineage-specific soluble factors (Marchetti). Co-culturing ECFCs …

Integration Of A Sensory Driven Model For Hand Grasp Function In 3d Printed Prostheses, Austin T. Hetherington

Senior Theses

My Honors Thesis was completed through the Biomedical Engineering senior design project I worked on. Our project took a mechanically operated 3D printed prosthetic hand and automated the process by which it makes a grasp. The purpose of this project was to provide an affordable, automatic prosthetic hand to those either capable and incapable of wrist flexion. The current 3D printed prosthetic models require users to bend their wrist to initiate a simple grasp. However, our design took an alternative approach by using an EMG sensor placed on the ventral side of the forearm to record muscle activity, which, upon …

Optimization Of Microfluidic Chip Fabrication Via Femtosecond Laser Ablation, Kenneth Aycock

Senior Theses

Microfluidic devices have become staple tools in biomedical research and have a promising future as low cost, point-of-care (POC) diagnostic devices. Despite the advancements in microfluidic device technology, the manipulation and fabrication of these systems can be tedious and expensive. Repeatable techniques in which computer-aided designs are translated into microfluidic systems in a matter of minutes are highly desirable both for researchers and manufacturers. Laser ablation of tape substrates has shown promise in producing cost-effective, rapidly manipulable devices, but the work done thus far has utilized continuous wave lasers that perform suboptimally due to the relatively short wavelengths used and …

Children's Law Center Site Redevelopment, Caroline Olivia Haggard, Javonte Isaac, Joshua Joslin, E'Lexus Nelson, Ana Vieira, Adrien Williams, David Zalla

Senior Theses

Soda City Engineering and Consulting was contracted by the USC School of Law to redevelop the Children’s Law Center site in Columbia, SC. Currently, the site does not comply with current standards and specifications. The objective of this project is to completely redevelop the site with a new annex building and ensuring everything is up to code, while still allowing the historic structure to maintain its use throughout construction.

Analyzing Potential Benefits Of Heat Integration Designs For A Dtbp Production Plant, Paul Stanzione

Senior Theses

This thesis looks at the implementation of various heat integration designs for a ditertiary butyl peroxide (DTBP) production plant. Heat integration, also known as process integration, is a common industrial practice in the chemical process industry to reduce utility costs. Heat integration is commonly analyzed using pinch technology, which focuses producing a heat exchanger design that pairs hot streams with excess energy with cold streams that need to be heated. These designs usually cut utility costs, but they also require the building of more heat exchangers to place within the process.

Beer, Booze, And Biofuels: An Introduction To Chemical Engineering, Kayla Revelle, Jacob Lambert, Kelly Kopchak

Senior Theses

The goal of this thesis project was to provide the layout, curriculum, and scheduling for an introductory course regarding chemical engineering for non-majors. Throughout the course of our studies in chemical engineering and engineering in general it had come to our attention that there were many myths regarding the classes and curriculum. We had heard countless times things such as “I am glad I’m not an engineering major”, “those classes seem so hard and boring”, or “It’s all math”. The purpose of this project and class was to dispel those myths and show non-majors what chemical engineering is all about. …

Sec-Butanol From Crude Butene Feedstock Plant Design, Samantha How, Jacob Przywara, Bryce Robbins, Gavino Valdez

Senior Theses

Sec-butanol, C4H10O, is a flammable alcohol that is widely used as a fuel additive or as a reactant to make butanone, an industrial solvent. A hydration reaction between n-butenes and water, catalyzed by sulfuric acid, is a commonly used process in producing sec-butanol. However, a more challenging reaction and separation scheme is presented with a crude feedstock of butenes because of the abundance of azeotropes produced by side reactions. The development of a new plant design is relevant to industrial chemical plants that produce large amounts of crude butene side products, and can be useful by increasing plant efficiency and …

Evaluation And Modeling Of The Different Material Properties Of The Captive And Wild Diets Of Carnivores, Jill Den Outer, Bethany Janos, Elizabeth Mccourt, William Molair

Senior Theses

Specific to captive BFFs, the most significant changes in cranial morphology are related to an increase in zygomatic arch width. The zygomatic arch region is the area along which the masseter muscle (a critical muscle of mastication for carnivores) is stretched3 . Mechanical stability of muscular tissues has been shown to be closely related to the structural integrity of the surrounding bones. In mice, mechanical unloading of the hind legs has been shown to induce muscular atrophy, which led to increased porosity and fragmentation in the femur and tibia4. As less force is required for a captive ferret to fully …

Dynamic 3d Zverse Models On The Web, Alexa Ann Breeland, Ming Wong

Senior Theses

ZVerse is a 3D printing company that is responsible for converting 2D objects into 3D objects. This company specializes in generating 3D collegiate products. Whenever a customer orders a 3D model, such as an alumni brick, it is often helpful to allow customers to see what the object looks like before the purchase. Unfortunately, previewing the brick at runtime is quite a challenging task. The purpose of our project is to create a shopping website that models the existing ZVerse company website and incorporates dynamic 3D rendering of the brick model with the user­input text. The project can be divided …

Orthopedic Drill System With Screw Length Measurement And Heat Sink System, Hunter Wilcox Rafoth, John Patrick Metz

Senior Theses

Most orthopedic drills currently on the market are rudimentary tools that serve only one purpose: to drill holes through bone. Biosphinx envisions a more versatile orthopedic drill that could serve multiple purposes in the operating room. This report outlines Biosphinx’s solution to design a new orthopedic drill system that would include several key features to improve bone screw length measurement, increase patient safety, and reduce time spent in the operating room.

Hybrid Sulfur Process For Solar Production Of Hydrogen, John Jacob Isenhower, Katherine Cross Henderson, Nicholas Joseph Eigenbrot

Senior Theses

Lowering dependence on fossil-based fuels has become a major area of focus in research, especially in transportation fuels. One particularly interesting field is that of hydrogen production. Hydrogen is promising because it has the potential to emit no greenhouse gases when used as fuel and is an excellent vessel for energy storage. Because traditional methods for its generation are inefficient and require nonrenewable fuel use, researchers have begun to focus on thermochemical cycles.

Thermochemical cycles are systems that require heat transfer intrinsically and do not consume fossil fuels nor emit greenhouse gases if renewable energy is used for heating. The …

Next Generation Electrode, Joseph Daniel Bivona, Samuel Scott Dacus, Mary Harrell, James Frederick Weber Pike

Senior Theses

This senior thesis involves the results of a biomedical engineering senior design project where the group worked with Rhythmlink International LLC. The project involved the improvement of the manufacturing process of the Invisa Electrode, a CT compatible electrode sold and manufactured by Rhythmlink. The design of the electrode pin was altered to have a hollow center, where the lead wire can be inserted and heat welded, eliminating two key components of the original design and reducing production time and cost. The type of plastic used in the electrodes was also altered to be a 40% carbon loaded conductive plastic.

Thermal Stability And Crystallinity In Sputtered Scandia Stabilized Zirconia Thing Films, Patrick Mackenzie Barboun

Senior Theses

This senior thesis project studies the synthesis of solid oxide fuel cell electrolytes using magnetron sputtering. Materials used in bilayer electrolytes were studied individually for phase stability.

Momentum Of Particles From Time-Of-Flight Measurements, Joseph Best

Senior Theses

In order to find the momentum of particles from time of flight measurements, I used a program called Geant4 to simulate experiments. I made a simple two detector setup, and I recreated a real world experiment. I spent a lot of time learning to code in C++ so I could use Geant4 correctly. I simulated these experiments shooting electrons, muons, and pions through the geometry and measured the time at two points in their flight. Subtracting the second time from the first gave me the time of flight distribution for each particle. I used ROOT to draw histograms of the …

Project Labyrinth: Exploration Of Modulating Guitar Signals, Joseph Andrews, Andrew Patterson

Senior Theses

The overall objective of this project is to create a guitar pre-amplifier in the casing of an effects pedal. The pedal must be able to modulate amplitude and pitch. More specifically, the design for this pedal will include floating frequency filtering, phase shifting, and amplitude modulation.

Heat Integration Of An Aniline Production Process To Optimize Cost Savings And Reduce Energy Usage, Dillon Ashby

Senior Theses

The purpose of this project was to individually complete a heat integration optimization for my group’s senior design project, a process for the large-scale production of aniline.

New Design Of Nasogastric Decompression Tube That Incorporates A Self-Cleaning Brushing Mechanism, Nichole Abla, Lindsay Rucker, Paige Schroder

Senior Theses

Many hospitalized patients require the removal of secretions that accumulate in the stomach and must be removed by a nasogastric tube, which unfortunately clogs often. This project outlines the redesign of the nasogastric tube that will ideally prevent nasogastric tube clogging by incorporating a brush mechanism and a contracting tip mechanism, to act as preventative measures against clogging.

Evoking History Through Sound: A Soundscape Concept For Ghosts Of The Horseshoe, Connor Patrick Bain

Senior Theses

Sound has always been treated as a second citizen in our society. Our society places so much emphasis on the visual that hearing, a sense that we cannot ever shut out from our minds, is taken for granted. This thesis argues that you can never ignore sound and proposes a design cycle for creating a soundscape for a critical interactive, then implementing that cycle for "Ghosts of the Horseshoe."