Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Sequential Structural And Fluid Dynamics Analysis Of Balloon-Expandable Coronary Stents., David Martin

Doctoral

As in-stent restenosis following coronary stent deployment has been strongly linked with stent-induced arterial injury and altered vessel hemodynamics, the sequential numerical analysis of the mechanical and hemodynamic impact of stent deployment within a coronary artery is likely to provide an excellent indication of coronary stent performance. Despite this observation, very few numerical studies have considered both the mechanical and hemodynamic impact of stent deployment. In light of this observation, the aim of this research is to develop a robust numerical methodology for investigating the performance of balloon-expandable coronary stents in terms of their mechanical and hemodynamic impact within a …

Merging Creative Design And Cad Learning Activities In A Product Design Programme, Pearl O'Rourke, Colm O'Kane, Leslie Smith, Michael Ring

Conference Papers

Traditional learning and teaching methods for creativity differ from those used in a scientific context. Although the creative process can benefit from a certain level of prescription and structural constraint - with time allocated to research, problem definition, conceptualisation and idea development - flexibility and fluidity are necessary for creative innovation. In contrast, the more linear and rigid pedagogies associated with science and engineering education facilitate efficient learning of subjects such as those based on software packages, manufacturing and materials theory or mechanics. This paper describes the development of a project which aims to establish constructive links between the learning …

Do Middle Managers Contribute To Their Organisation's Strategy?, Tony Kealy

Conference Papers

This paper presents an empirical study on the contribution made by middle managers to the development of strategy in an organisation. The data was collected using semi-structured interviews with four managers in randomly-chosen companies. Two of the participant managers held senior management positions while the other two held middle manager positions. The data was analysed using a qualitative approach. Previous studies in this field were found to be wide and varied. An early study by Mintzberg (1978) found that strategy mainly forms from emergent influences at middle and lower levels of the organisation, as well as from deliberate influences emanating …

Small-Scale Wind Turbines: An Appraisal, Tony Kealy

Conference Papers

This research seeks to evaluate the economic benefits to be gained by installing a small-scale wind turbine for a customer with a three-phase electrical supply requirement. The evidence for the claims made in this paper is obtained by using actual data obtained from the installed equipment over a three year period. The objective is to accurately appraise the financial investment using real data. There appears to be limited studies conducted into this type of research, possibly because the renewable energy sector is in the infancy stage in the host country, Ireland. There are some wind energy installations with financial appraisal …

Design And Development Of A Low Cost Platform To Facilitate Post-Stroke Rehabilitation Of The Elbow/Shoulder Region, Stephen Curran

Masters

For post-stroke rehabilitation of the upper limbs, increased amounts of therapy are directly related to improved rehabilitation outcomes. As such, a low cost therapy platform is proposed suitable for facilitating active therapy and administering activeassist therapy to the shoulder/elbow region of the upper limbs of individuals post-stroke in a local clinic or domestic setting. Enabling a person to undergo intensive rehabilitation therapy outside of a rehabilitation hospital setting permits the amount of therapy administered to be maximised. While studies have shown that technological approaches to post-stroke rehabilitation do not produce better outcomes than equal amounts of traditional therapy in a …

Aspen Plus Simulation Of Biomass Gasification In A Steam Blown Dual Fluidised Bed, Wayne Doherty, Anthony Reynolds, David Kennedy

Book/Book Chapters

The efficient utilisation of biomass resources is of utmost importance. Biomass gasification offers much higher efficiencies than combustion. Gasification is a process in which a fuel is converted to a combustible gas (syngas). A dual fluidised bed gasifier known as the fast internally circulating fluidised bed (FICFB) was selected. It has been demonstrated at industrial scale and data is readily available for model validation. An Aspen Plus model was developed to simulate the FICFB gasifier. The model is based on Gibbs free energy minimisation and the restricted equilibrium method was used to calibrate it. The model has been validated and …

Heating Effects Through Harmonic Distortion On Electric Cables In The Built Environment, Kevin O'Connell

Doctoral

Under ideal circumstances, electric power supply voltage and current waveforms should be sinusoidal. However, this is very seldom the case in the built environment, due to the proliferation of non-linear loads. Examples of non-linear loads are those containing switched mode power supplies, reactors and electronic rectifiers/inverters. Common devices such as personal computers, fluorescent lighting, electric motors, variable speed drives, transformers and reactors and virtually all other electronic equipment are examples of non-linear loads. Non-linear loads are the norm in the built environment rather than the exception. Such loads produce complex current and voltage waves and simple spectral analysis of these …

The Effects Of Physical Activity On Greenhouse Gas Emissions For Common Transport Modes In European Countries, Aidan Duffy, Robert Crawford

Articles

This paper applies a life cycle methodology to estimate activity-related contributions of transport modes to GHG emissions. The methodology uses national input-output tables, environmental accounts, household budget data and nutritional data to derive food-sector GHG coefficients of consumption for ten European countries. The food energy requirements for each mode of transport are estimated taking account of the modal activity level and energy requirements. Walking, cycling, driving and bus travel are considered. Typical national food energy-related emissions for walking, cycling, and driving ranged from 25.6 - 77.3 gCO2-eq/pass.km, 10.4 - 31.4 gCO2-eq/pass.km and 1.7 - 5.2 gCO2-eq/pass.km; passenger transport was found …

State Of The Irish Housing Stock - Modelling The Heat Losses Of Ireland’S Existing Detached Rural Housing Stock & Estimating The Benefit Of Thermal Retrofit Measures On This Stock, Ciara Ahern, Philip Griffiths, Micheal O'Flaherty

Articles

Ireland’s housing stock has been identified as being amongst the least energy efficient in Northern Europe. Consequently, atmospheric emissions are greater than necessary. Government funded schemes have been introduced to incentivise the uptake of thermal retrofit measures in the domestic Irish market. A study of Ireland’s housing highlights the dominance of detached houses (43%), 72% of which are rurally located and are predominantly heated with fuel oil. This paper investigates the economic and carbon case for thermal retrofit measures to the existing detached, oil centrally heated, rural housing stock. The study found the case for energy efficiency measures to be …

Transient And Quasi-Steady Thermal Behaviour Of A Building Envelope Due To Retrofitted Cavity Wall And Ceiling Insulation, Aimee Byrne, Gerard Byrne, Anna Davies, Anthony Robinson

Articles

Accurate understanding of the thermal behaviour of building components is essential for predicting heat-ing or cooling needs and facilitates the implementation of more successful energy saving strategies and retrofits. This paper focuses on a specific measure commonly introduced through the residential energy efficiency retrofit programmes in Ireland–insulation. Traditionally, assessments of the performance of building envelopes have been based on assumed thermal resistances of the materials involved, labora-tory tests and computer modelling. The aim of the present work is to investigate the in situ thermal behaviour of a case study building and its components under transient and quasi-steady environmental conditions, comparing …

Modification Of Luas Heating And Ventilation Systems To Reduce Energy Consumption, Eogan Sweeney, James Brunton

Conference Papers

Luas is a state of the art light rail system operating in Dublin Ireland. Being electrically powered, energy is a major operating cost for Luas. One component of rolling stock identified by this research that consumes a disproportional amount of energy is that of the heating and ventilation systems. The heating and ventilation systems fitted to Luas vehicles consume as much as 60% of total vehicle power, and under certain conditions can consume more than that of the traction motors. This paper explores solutions to reducing the energy consumption of Luas heating and ventilation systems. The identified software modifications and …

Development And Implementation Of A Simplified Residential Energy Asset Rating Model, Daire Reilly, Aidan Duffy, David Willis, Michael Conlon

Other resources

In accordance with national and European policies, the provision of financial assistance to residential energy consumers has led to a greater awareness of and interest in energy retrofit technologies. However, at present Irish energy consumers have no appropriate advice on the future performance of retrofit options available to them. This is a significant limitation to decision making and technology uptake, since this group need to know whether their investment is likely to be worthwhile.

The asset rating methodology developed for the certification of energy performance of buildings is the current industry standard of prediction of energy demand and post retrofit …