Engineering Commons^™

Second Law Of Thermodynamics Analysis Of An Internal Combustion Engine Fueled With Methane, Muataz Abotabik

Masters Theses

The second law of thermodynamics is a powerful tool for calculating the amount of energy that can be converted to work (i.e., the exergy or availability of a system), which cannot be predicted using the first law. The objectives of this research project are to quantify the availability during the compression, combustion and expansion processes of a spark-ignited engine fueled with methane; and to highlight differences in the thermo-mechanical availability of the ideal and spark-ignition (SI) engine cycles. A cooperative single-cylinder research engine was used to measure the data required for availability analysis at equivalence ratios ranging between 0.83 and …

A Statistical Analysis Of A 4.5 Mw Solar Energy Center, Archit Patnaik

Masters Theses

"This project helps a regional utility evaluate the performance of their 4.5 MW photovoltaic plant. The performance evaluation consists of characterizing the peak and average power and energy output of the plant over varying time periods. A characterization of the output power drops, or dips, is done by performing a statistical analysis of the photovoltaic plant output data. Dips are characterized by dip frequency, depth of dip, energy loss by dip, and dip duration. The results of this study will help the utility to select appropriate voltage regulating equipment on the basis of dip characteristics, and thus, optimize the performance …

Design, Scale-Up, Six Sigma In Processing Different Feedstocks In A Fixed Bed Downdraft Biomass Gasifier, Sai Chandra Teja Boravelli

Masters Theses

"This thesis mainly focuses on design and process development of a downdraft biomass gasification processes. The objective is to develop a gasifier and process of gasification for a continuous steady state process. A lab scale downdraft gasifier was designed to develop the process and obtain optimum operating procedure.

Sustainable and dependable sources such as biomass are potential sources of renewable energy and have a reasonable motivation to be used in developing a small scale energy production plant for countries such as Canada where wood stocks are more reliable sources than fossil fuels. This thesis addresses the process of thermal conversion …