Electrical and Electronics Commons^™

Accurate Circuit Model For Predicting The Performance Of Lead-Acid Agm Batteries, Wenxin Peng

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Energy storage technologies are becoming of great importance in many modern electrical systems. In particular, electrochemical batteries are rapidly gaining wide-spread application in transportation systems as well as in the electric utility sector, where they provide a means to convert non-dispatchable renewable resources into dispatchable generation sources. Hence, accurate battery models are needed during the design stage of such systems to forecast future performance.

A variety of models with a varying degree of complexity and accuracy currently exist that predict battery behavior. In the proposed paper, an existing battery model is modified to account for some battery irregularities while maintaining …

Interview With Adam Boesel, Green Micro Gym, 2011 (Audio), Adam Boesel

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Adam Boesel by Teresa Celestine at Green Micro Gym Portland, Oregon on July 29th, 2011.

The interview index is available for download.

Wireless Embedded Smart Cameras: Performance Analysis And Their Application To Fall Detection For Eldercare., Alvaro Pinto

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Wireless Embedded Smart Camera Networks has received a lot of attention from academia and industry because they are small in size and easy to deploy, and they offer a multitude of attractive applications. They can be used for embedded single unit applications, or can be networked for multi-camera applications.

We first analyze three different operation scenarios for a wireless vision sensor network wherein different levels of local processing is performed. A detailed quantitative comparison of three operation scenarios are presented in terms of energy consumption and latency. This quantitative analysis provides the motivation for performing high-level local processing and decision …

Miniature Mass Spectrometry: Rf Amplitude Control System Design, Matthew Allen Kirleis

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

This thesis covers the methods used to construct and characterize a custom digital RF amplitude control system. Many types of mass spectrometers exist, but few have been miniaturized as much as the Mini instruments developed at Purdue University. The goal of this research was to improve upon an earlier amplitude control system consisting of analog circuits first implemented in the Mini 11.5 mass spectrometer developed at Purdue University.

A custom set of control and data acquisition electronics were developed for testing the digital and analog control systems in a Mini 11.5 mass spectrometer chassis. A MATLAB Simulink simulation was done …

Simplified Design Of Thin-Film Polarizing Beam Splitter Using Embedded Symmetric Trilayer Stack, R. M.A. Azzam

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

An analytically tractable design procedure is presented for a polarizing beam splitter (PBS) that uses frustrated total internal reflection and optical tunneling by a symmetric LHL trilayer thin-film stack embedded in a high-index prism. Considerable simplification arises when the refractive index of the high-index center layer H matches the refractive index of the prism and its thickness is quarter-wave. This leads to a cube design in which zero reflection for the p polarization is achieved at a 45 degrees angle of incidence independent of the thicknesses of the identical symmetric low-index tunnel layers L and L. Arbitrarily high reflectance for …

Current Tracking Power Supply For Sensor Calibration, Joshua Brookley

Electrical Engineering

This report highlights the steps taken to design and develop a constant 5V power supply capable of tracking load current. The background of its previous design, its necessary specifications and steps taken to achieve specifications are highlighted throughout the report. The report also contains conclusions and final recommendations for the design chosen, including its strengths and drawbacks.

Imu Integration To The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator Power System, Wayland Chan

Electrical Engineering

The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator mimics the rotation dynamics of a spacecraft in orbit and acts as a test bed for spacecraft attitude control system development and demonstration. Prior to this project, the simulator measured its attitude dynamics from a total of seven sensors mounted on to the platform, including three micro-electromechanical system (MEMs) gyroscopes, and four motor encoders. This project entails the installation of an LN-200 high performance gyroscope, which will provide a greater measure of accuracy. The goal of this project is to design a power circuit that will integrate the LN-200 inertial measurement unit onto …

Heart-Rate Monitoring Control System Using Photoplethysmography (Ppg), Wesley Nguyen, Ryan Horjus

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Discrete Alarm Clock, Travis Moore, Collin Barth

Electrical Engineering

The standard alarm clock, as used daily by millions worldwide, has clear room for modification and improvement.  This paper documents an implementation that rectifies many of these flaws.  Improvements include adjustable snooze length, an IR remote for ease of use, and an RF headset for discrete alarm use or potential incorporation into a device much like a hearing aid.  The processes involved in creating a digital alarm clock, as well as the obstacles met in the implementation of the enhanced design, are detailed within.

Wireless Sensor Network For Energy And Environmental Monitoring: Helping Old Buildings Go Green, Jacob Power

Electrical Engineering

Today, the rising cost of energy and social trend of “going green” has put increasing pressure on commercial property owners to improve the efficiency of their investments.  There is good reason for this, too.  In the State of California, office buildings represent the single largest user of energy in the commercial sector.  This project consisted of the design, implementation, construction, testing, and deployment of a wireless sensor network for energy and environmental monitoring in retrofit commercial office installations.  The analyzed data generated by this system can be used by building management and owners to identify areas of inefficiency within the …

A Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave-Based Boundary Detection System For Determination Of Monitoring Region For An Indoor Ultra-Wideband Short Range Radar-Based Eldercare Monitoring System, Wilson Tang

Master's Theses

Falls are a cause of concern for the elderly since it can render a person immobile. A monitoring system can summon immediate aid by the automatic detection of fall events. The application of ultra-wideband (UWB) signals for a monitoring system was chosen due to its unique characteristics such as wide spectrum, immunity to interference, penetrability, and application for the detection of people. Part of this monitoring system is boundary detection with the purpose of isolating the location of fall events and to function as a mask to define an area of interest. A study of various localizing methods using measurements …

An Investigation Into Ultrasonic Communication For Near-Body Networks, Eric Joshua Escudero Jr., Gursewak Singh Rai

Electrical Engineering

The following report presents a study of body-area, free-space ultrasonic communication system. Two analog communication systems are investigated. The initial communications system setup relies upon the amplitude modulation (AM) techniques to transmit the signal. Such a system is prone to noise since the amplitude of the signal is directly affected by distance and the signal strength will deteriorate. The secondary communication system involves utilizing frequency modulation (FM). This method avoids the issue of losing information due to amplitude deterioration, but encounters delay issues. The main hardware components used in the approach outlined include ultrasonic transducers (UTs) used for both transmitting …

Programmable Household Led Light Fixture, Jordan Locano

Electrical Engineering

This report details the development and construction of a LED light fixture to be used for household lighting. This document details background information, design ideas, project specifications, production, assembly, testing, and conclusions involved with this project. The goals of this project is to design and build a cost-effective replacement for traditional room lighting that can perform better and last longer than traditional methods.

Rem Sleep Alarm, Shaun Kelsey, Brendon Soltis

Electrical Engineering

This paper explores the REM Sleep Alarm project that deals with the sleep cycle of the average human, and how it affects our ability to function when waking up in the morning.

The purpose of this project is to build a device that has the ability to wake a person up when they will feel the most rested. From research done, it appears that most people feel the most rested when woken up during the REM stage of their sleep cycle. Our goal is to have the device detect when the user is in this stage of sleep, determine how …

Variable Dc Voltage Wall Outlet For The Dc House Project, Michael Detmers, Tyler J. Blauvelt

Electrical Engineering

This senior project report will focus on explaining the design and operation of a variable DC wall outlet for use in the DC house. Testing will include the use of various loads using different input DC voltages not exceeding a maximum output of 90W.

The most important aspects of the outlet are to have a highly-efficient converter efficiency as well as system isolation from the main DC bus on the input. This report will outline the purpose and way of achieving isolation through use of a Flyback DC-DC converter. The user interface is the second significant aspect and details of …

Laser Cursor, Michael Liman

Electrical Engineering

A user controls a cursor on a computer screen using a laser pointer.  A camera picks up the laser pointer’s position and sends the data to the computer to move the cursor in the correct position.

Exercise Bicycle Dc-Dc Converter For The Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machines Project, Ryan Rickard, Logan Stowe

Electrical Engineering

Project is a continuation of previous projects that seek an efficient DC to DC converter for the existing exercise bicycle system created by Mechanical and Electrical Engineering students. This DC-DC converter is to integrate with the wide range of DC voltages produced by the bicycle in order to produce a constant optimal voltage for charging a car battery. This converter will boost voltages when the bicycle outputs below the optimal voltage and buck voltages when above. The converter will take EHFEM one step closer to its overall and final goal of harvesting energy from the exercise machines in Cal Poly’s …

Programmable Solid State 12ax7 Triode Gain Stage, Ian Campbell

Electrical Engineering

This project demonstrates the viability of vacuum tube replacements made from solid state technology and programmable logic. A collection of operational amplifiers, digital converters and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) achieve this goal. The project emulates a 12AX7 vacuum tube triode as it would operate in a Fender Champ guitar amplifier. While the prototype works specifically with the Fender Champ, minor modifications could provide the versatility for operation in different amplifiers, including high end vintage hi-fi equipment. The addition of a micro controller into these amplifiers allows for the use of digital filtering and effects while not requiring modifications …

One-Pin 32 Khz Low-Power Crystal Oscillator, Aaron Plata-Ruiz

Electrical Engineering

This design is a one-pin, 32 kHz, low-power, crystal oscillator suitable for battery-operated systems. The design is based on a design published by Ali E Zadeh, “A Micropower, Battery-Operated, One-Pin Crystal Oscillator”, but redesigned for standard positive power supply configuration, which is suitable for typical n-well CMOS process.

Solar Powered Backpack, Saagar Sabharwal, Tom Poonsopin

Electrical Engineering

One popular motto in electrical engineering today is “going green.” This project will convert the sun’s energy into reusable energy. The purpose of this senior project is to develop a solar powered backpack that can charge certain portable USB devices for students. Many students walk around campus with an iPod or cell phone, which has surely died or ran low on batteries at least once when needed most. This backpack will allow students to charge their devices “on the go.” When students walk or bike around campus, the solar panels attached to the backpack will allow recharging of their portable …