Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

The Design And Testing Of A Solar Autoclave With Broad Spectrum Sterilization Capabilities, Sarah S. Trabia

Honors College Theses

Energy is difficult to come by in developing countries and this interferes with the ability of doctors to provide good healthcare to their patients. Without decent sterilization, patients can become infected and diseases can spread throughout hospitals. This study involves designing a solar autoclave for developing countries that is as efficient as electrical autoclaves. The design is intended to not require any electrical input and to be affordable to those who cannot afford advanced medical equipment. Once the solar autoclave is designed, it will be tested to determine if it can sterilize equipment against a variety of different bacteria, including …

Environmental Impacts Of Stover Removal In The Corn Belt, Alicia English, Wallace E. Tyner, Juan Sesmero, Phillip Owens, David J. Muth Jr.

David J. Muth

When considering the market for biomass from corn stover resources erosion and soil quality issues are important to consider. Removal of stover can be beneficial in some areas, especially when coordinated with other conservation practices, such as vegetative barrier strips and cover crops. However, benefits are highly dependent on several factors, namely if farmers see costs and benefits associated with erosion and the tradeoffs with the removal of biomass. This paper uses results from an integrated RUSLE2/WEPS model to incorporate six different regime choices, covering management, harvest and conservation, into a simple profit maximization model to show these tradeoffs.

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Spring 2018, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

Energy Consumption And Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Commercial And Manufacturing Sectors Specific Studies On Hvac Equipment And Dairy Processing, Aik Jong Tan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Commercial and manufacturing sectors in United States consumed approximately 50% of the total End use energy in 2010. In 2009, 81.5% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted in the United States was energy related. From the broad aspects of commercial and manufacturing sectors; two relatively narrow and specific topics, commercial building's HVAC equipment and dairy processing were chosen to increase the understanding of the energy use and GHG emission in these two sectors. Few published studies related to these two specific areas are available. The first study in this thesis discussed the energy use and GHG emissions by HVAC equipment …

Improving Efficiency And Capacity Of Hydro-Turbines In The Western United States, Hoover Dam, Jonathan Sanchez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The goal for this thesis is to minimize clearances and tolerances, in order to prevent water leakage. A proper seal on the seal rings does not let excess water flow through the turbine runner, thus conserving more water and wasting less energy. Moreover, water leakage past worn wear plates allows for an extra load for the turbine when operating in condense mode. When the wicket gates are closed, water leakage past worn plates wastes mechanical energy in the water; thus, decreasing the efficiency of the Francis turbine, especially when operating at partial loads. Furthermore, the wicket gates also known as …

Buffering Pv Output During Cloud Transients With Energy Storage, Yacouba Moumouni

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Consideration of the use of the major types of energy storage is attempted in this thesis in order to mitigate the effects of power output transients associated with grid-tied CPV systems due to fast-moving cloud coverage. The approach presented here is to buffer intermittency of CPV output power with an energy storage device (used batteries) purchased cheaply from EV owners or battery leasers. When the CPV is connected to the grid with the proper energy storage, the main goal is to smooth out the intermittent solar power and fluctuant load of the grid with a convenient control strategy. This thesis …

Climate Change In Cyprus: Impacts And Adaptation Measures, Theodoros Zachariadis

Theodoros Zachariadis

No abstract provided.

Climate Change In Cyprus – Impacts And Adaptation Policies, Elpida Shoukri, Theodoros Zachariadis

Theodoros Zachariadis

This report provides a literature review of climate change facts and projections globally, for Europe, Mediterranean and Cyprus until the end of the 21st century. It focuses on climate change effects in Cyprus by sector and presents specific recommendations on the implementation of a proper adaptation strategy. The report is based on a review of the most important recent studies on climate change, including reports from international organizations as well as European and Mediterranean authorities and research institutions. The report has also benefited from information gathered through personal communication of the authors with public authorities, non-governmental organizations and researchers.

Beyond Business-As-Usual: Achieving A Paradigm Shift Towards Low-Carbon Transport, Theodoros Zachariadis

Theodoros Zachariadis

Transportation is responsible for a continuously rising share of global carbon emissions. Carefully designed regulations, supported by land use strategies, fiscal policies and local incentives, and enabled through targeted international development assistance, can reverse these unsustainable trends.

Climate Change In Cyprus: Impacts And Adaptation Policies, Theodoros Zachariadis

Theodoros Zachariadis

This paper provides an overview of facts and projections related to climate change in Cyprus until the end of the 21st century. It highlights the main climate change impacts foreseen and presents recommendations for the preparation of a national adaptation strategy. Coping with climate change is possible, provided that proactive actions are taken by both the public and the private sector. Public authorities need to set clear priorities and implement well designed policies. Most importantly, adequate monitoring mechanisms should be set up in order to provide much needed data which can send early warnings to policy makers and the public …

Landscape Management For Sustainable Supplies Of Bioenergy Feedstock And Enhanced Soil Quality, Douglas L. Karlen, David J. Muth Jr.

David J. Muth

Agriculture can simultaneously address global food, feed, fi ber, and energy challenges provided our soil, water, and air resources are not compromised in doing so. As we embark on the 19th Triennial Conference of the International Soil and Tillage Research Organization (ISTRO), I am pleased to proclaim that our members are well poised to lead these endeavors because of our comprehensive understanding of soil, water, agricultural and bio-systems engineering processes. The concept of landscape management, as an approach for integrating multiple bioenergy feedstock sources, including biomass residuals, into current crop production systems, is used as the focal point to show …

Improving Biomass Logistics Cost Within Agronomic Sustainability Constratints And Biomass Quality Targets, Kevin L. Kenney, J. Richard Hess, William A. Smith, David J. Muth Jr.

David J. Muth

Equipment manufacturers have made rapid improvements in biomass harvesting and handling equipment. These improvements have increased transportation and handling efficiencies due to higher biomass densities and reduced losses. Improvements in grinder efficiencies and capacity have reduced biomass grinding costs. Biomass collection efficiencies (the ratio of biomass collected to the amount available in the field) as high as 75% for crop residues and greater than 90% for perennial energy crops have also been demonstrated. However, as collection rates increase, the fraction of entrained soil in the biomass increases, and high biomass residue removal rates can violate agronomic sustainability limits. Advancements in …

Economics Of Residue Harvest: Regional Partnership Evaluation, David W. Archer, David J. Muth Jr., Jacob J. Jacobson, Douglas L. Karlen

David J. Muth

Economic analyses on the viability of corn (Zea mays, L.) stover harvest for bioenergy production have largely been based on simulation modeling. While some studies have utilized field research data, most field-based analyses have included a limited number of sites and a narrow geographic distribution. An Iowa case study is developed illustrating the use of data extracted from a database of geographically distributed field studies for a region-specific economic analysis. The analysis utilizes grain and residue yield and associated management information from two Iowa field research sites that are Sun Grant Regional Partnership locations associated with the Corn Stover Regional …

Ogólnotechniczne Podstawy Biotechnologii Z Elementami Grafiki Inżynierskiej Ćw., Wojciech M. Budzianowski

Wojciech Budzianowski

No abstract provided.

Materiały Odstresowujące, Wojciech M. Budzianowski

Wojciech Budzianowski

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of A Water Desalination Method Via A Humidification-Dehumidification Process Using Hvac Technology, Juan Antonio Cornejo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Potable water is becoming a scarce resource in many arid regions of the world. An experimental unit was designed and constructed to examine and characterize the production capabilities of a humidification-dehumidification (HDH) desalination process. An HDH cycle offers a viable, technologically light, alternative for producing fresh water from brackish water because the low relative humidity air is infused with water vapor through evaporation by means of conventional heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) components. The evaporation process effectively separates salts and suspended solids from the brackish feed-water. Desalinated water is subsequently recovered by extracting the water vapor from the moist …

Technical Feasibility Of Storage On Large Dish Stirling Systems, Charles E. Andraka, K Scott Rawlinson, Nathan P. Siegel

Faculty Journal Articles

Dish-Stirling systems have been demonstrated to provide high-efficiency solar-only electrical generation, holding the world record at 31.25%. This high efficiency results in a system with a high possibility of meeting the DOE SunShot goal of $0.06/kWh. Current dish-Stirling systems do not incorporate thermal storage. For the next generation of non-intermittent and cost-competitive solar power plants, we propose a thermal energy storage system that combines latent (phase-change) energy transport and latent energy storage in order to match the isothermal input requirements of Stirling engines while also maximizing the exergetic efficiency of the entire system. This report takes an initial look at …

Low Energy Disruption Of Lipid Containing Biomass, Joaquin Rodriguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Lipid containing biomass from microalgae has received recent research interest as a renewable and sustainable feedstock for biofuel production. Algae is known to offer as much as 30 times the energy density than corn based ethanol, the current world standard for biomass based liquid transportation fuels. The development of large scale systems and methods of extracting lipids from microalgae is still in the early stages of development and significant increases in efficiency and reduction in costs are necessary to substantiate algae as a feasible alternative source of fuel. Traditional conversion of algae feedstock into a refineable feedstock for biofuel can …

Development Of The Control And Ignition Systems On A High Pressure Gas Turbine Combustor, Carlos Alejandro Valdez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The ignition and control systems of a laboratory scale high-pressure gas turbine combustor were developed in the present work. This work provides a detailed description of the design, development and testing of the remote control system developed for a High Pressure Gas Turbine Combustor (HPTC).

The combustor has the capability to operate at pressures up to 1.5 MPa and temperatures up to 2400 K. It is also designed for a maximum air and fuel flow rates of 81.93 g/s and 35.77 g/s respectively. The fuel used will be CH4 for the early experiments but it is designed to operate using …

Linear And Non-Linear Deformations Of A Wind Turbine Blade Considering Warping And All Aeroelastic Load Couplings, Fouad Mohammad Mohammad

Wayne State University Dissertations

The structural dynamics behavior of the blade of a horizontal axis wind turbine that reacts to the different components of the aerodynamic loading were studied by many researchers using different approaches and assumptions. In the present research, the author considered all the extensional, torsional and flexural loadings acting on the blade with their couplings, variable airfoil cross sections with warping effects, shear deflection, rotary inertia and with or without blade's pretwist for both the linear small deformation case and the nonlinear large deformation case. To the best knowledge of the author the simultaneous inclusion of all these factors has not …

Economics Of Residue Harvest: Regional Partnership Evaluation, David W. Archer, David J. Muth Jr., Jacob J. Jacobson, Douglas L. Karlen

Douglas L Karlen

Landscape Management For Sustainable Supplies Of Bioenergy Feedstock And Enhanced Soil Quality, Douglas L. Karlen, David J. Muth Jr.

Douglas L Karlen

Agriculture can simultaneously address global food, feed, fi ber, and energy challenges provided our soil, water, and air resources are not compromised in doing so. As we embark on the 19th Triennial Conference of the International Soil and Tillage Research Organization (ISTRO), I am pleased to proclaim that our members are well poised to lead these endeavors because of our comprehensive understanding of soil, water, agricultural and bio-systems engineering processes. The concept of landscape management, as an approach for integrating multiple bioenergy feedstock sources, including biomass residuals, into current crop production systems, is used as the focal point to show …

Cars And Carbon - Automobiles And European Climate Policy In A Global Context, Theodoros Zachariadis

Theodoros Zachariadis

No abstract provided.

Hydrogen Production From Biogas By Oxy-Reforming: Reaction System Analysis, Aleksandra Terlecka, Wojciech M. Budzianowski

Wojciech Budzianowski

Oxy-reforming is emerging as an interesting alternative to conventional methods of hydrogen generation. The current article characterises this process through analysis of individual reactions: SMR (steam methane reforming), WGS (water gas shift) and CPO (catalytic partial oxidation). Analyses relate to optimisation of thermal conditions thus enabling cost-effectivenes of the process.