Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Development Of Light Actuated Chemical Delivery Platform On A 2-D Array Of Micropore Structure, Hojjat Rostami Azmand, Hojjat Rostami Azmand

Dissertations and Theses

Localized chemical delivery plays an essential role in the fundamental information transfers within biological systems. Thus, the ability to mimic the natural chemical signal modulation would provide significant contributions to understand the functional signaling pathway of biological cells and develop new prosthetic devices for neurological disorders. In this paper, we demonstrate a light-controlled hydrogel platform that can be used for localized chemical delivery in a high spatial resolution. By utilizing the photothermal behavior of graphene-hydrogel composites confined within micron-sized fluidic channels, patterned light illumination creates the parallel and independent actuation of chemical release in a group of fluidic ports. The …

Stress Analysis For Chip Scale Packages With Embedded Active Devices Under Thermal Cycling, Hyunwook Yeo

Dissertations and Theses

One of the main challenges in the electronics manufacturing and packaging development is how to integrate more functions inside the same or even smaller size. To meet the demand for higher integration, the interest toward passive and active component embedding has been increasing during the past few years. One of the main reasons for the growing interest toward embedded active components, in addition to demand for higher packaging density, is the need for better electrical performance of the component assemblies. However, it is little known how embedded IC and passives affect the reliability of IC packaging.

Solder joints have been …

Capillarity-Driven Droplet Ejection, Andrew Paul Wollman

Dissertations and Theses

Drop Towers provide brief terrestrial access to microgravity environments. When used for capillary fluidics research, a drop tower allows for unique control over an experiment's initial conditions, which enables, enhances, or otherwise improves the study of capillary phenomena at significantly larger length scales than can normally be achieved on the ground. This thesis provides a historical context for the introduction of a new, highly accessible, 2.1s tower design used for capillary research and presents a variety of demonstrative experimental results for purely capillarity-driven flows leading to bubble ingestion, sinking flows, multiphase flows, and droplet ejections. The focus of this thesis …

A Feasibility Study Of Model-Based Natural Ventilation Control In A Midrise Student Dormitory Building, Steven James Gross

Dissertations and Theses

Past research has shown that natural ventilation can be used to satisfy upwards of 98% of the yearly cooling demand when utilized in the appropriate climate zone. Yet widespread implementation of natural ventilation has been limited in practice. This delay in market adoption is mainly due to lack of effective and reliable control. Historically, control of natural ventilation was left to the occupant (i.e. they are responsible for opening and closing their windows) because occupants are more readily satisfied when given control of the indoor environment. This strategy has been shown to be effective during summer months, but can lead …

Phase Change Materials As A Thermal Storage Device For Passive Houses, Kevin Ryan Campbell

Dissertations and Theses

This study describes a simulation-based approach for informing the incorporation of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) in buildings designed to the "Passive House" standard. PCMs provide a minimally invasive method of adding thermal mass to a building, thus mitigating overheating events. Phase change transition temperature, quantity, and location of PCM were all considered while incrementally adding PCM to Passive House simulation models in multiple climate zones across the United States. Whole building energy simulations were performed using EnergyPlus from the US Department of Energy. A prototypical Passive House with a 1500 Watt electric heater and no mechanical cooling was modeled. The …

Direct Design Of A Portal Frame, Angel Fajardo Ugaz

Dissertations and Theses

This investigation was undertaken to develop plastic design aids to be used in the direct design of optimum frames. It uses the concept of minimum weight of plastically designed steel frames, and the concept of linear programming to obtain general solutions. Among the special characteristics of this study are: A. The integration of both gravity and combined loading conditions into one linear programming problem. B. The application of the revised simplex method to the dual of a parametric original problem. C. The application of A and B above in the development of design aids for the optimum design of symmetrical …