Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Design And Preliminary Evaluation Of A Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Brayton Cycle For Solar Dish Concentrator Clean Energy Production, Danielle Nobles-Lookingbill

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As we move toward energy independence and more ambitious clean energy goals, solar energy research must push the efficiency limits of traditional energy generation systems. Increases in efficiency can be achieved by increasing the hot temperature of the power cycle. Recent research demonstrates the potential for increased efficiency and a vastly smaller component size when supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton power cycles are used. Concentrated solar and nuclear heat sources are capable of achieving the high working fluid temperatures needed for significant efficiency gains. This NSF EPSCoR funded, experimental research system is designed to exploit the uniquely immense solar irradiance of …

What Can I Do As A Student To Make A Positive Impact On The Environment?, Tammy Guthrie, Greg Herzig, Kathy Prophet, Cassie Kautzer

Middle School Lesson Plans

Students discover ways they can make a positive impact on the environment.

Non-Covalent Functionalization Of Graphene Films For Uniform Nanoparticle Deposition Via Atoic Layer Deposition, Ty Seiwert

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Graphene functionalized with platinum (Pt) and palladium (Pd) has proven to be highly effective as a hydrogen sensor. Deposition methods such as Atomic layer deposition (ALD) can be further enhanced by pretreating the graphene with a non-covalent surfactant prior to nanoparticle deposition. In this study, graphene-based sensing devices will be fabricated by ALD deposition. The graphene will be non-covalently functionalized using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) anionic surfactant prior to ALD deposition. The aim of this study is to test the deposition pattern achieved by varying the amount of time that graphene is treated with the SDS surfactant. Initially, ALD deposition …

Automated Cfd Optimization To Maximize Wind Farms Performance And Land Use, Rafael Valotta Rodrigues

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this research, a computational system was designed to analyze and optimize the layout of wind farms under variable operational conditions. At first, a wind turbine computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was developed covering the near wake. The near wake flow field was validated against near wake velocity data from the MEXICO experiment. The CFD simulation demonstrated that the tip speed ratio and the pitch angle greatly influence the near wake behavior, affecting the velocity deficit and the turbulence intensity profile in this region. The CFD model was extended to cover the far wake, aiming to become a computational tool …

Offshore Wind Energy: Simulating Local Offshore Wind Turbine, Ian P. Aquino

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Dominion Virginia Energy is looking at the possible creation of an offshore wind plant as a renewable source of electricity to be located off the coast of Virginia Beach. This thesis reports on a computer simulation based on local wind conditions and possible single wind turbine installation.

The National Buoy Data Center keeps records of the local wind conditions gathered in real time and available to the public. These data give a general overview of the wind conditions in Virginia Beach which is used to simulate atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flow conditions and is subsequently used as input data for …

Multiscale Approaches Toward Advanced Lithium-Ion Battery: From Nano To Meso Scale, Susmita Sarkar

Masters Theses

“Battery performance and its degradation are determined by various aspects such as the transport of ions and electrons through heterogeneous internal structures composed of constituent particles, kinetic reactions at the interfaces, and a corresponding interplay between mechanical, chemical, and thermal responses. Further, modern battery materials require a variety of engineering processes such as coating, doping and mixing. As a result, in order to fully understand the behavior of the battery material and improve battery performance, it is necessary to understand and control the individual particle behavior and then connect it to the electrode. This study elucidated the physical phenomena associated …