Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Preparations Of Nanostructured Silicide Bundles And Oxide Arrays, Hirokazu Tatsuoka, Wen Li, Erchao Meng, Daisuke Ishikwa, Kaito Nakane, Shingo Oda, Tomoji Matsushita, Natsuki Kurebayashi

Makara Journal of Technology

A variety of nanostructured silicide bundles and oxide nanowire arrays with abundant, non-toxic materials we are prepared. The CrSi2 nanowire and Mg2Si/MgO composite nanowire bundles were synthesized using a Si substrate and a SiOx nanofiber bundle, respectively. The hexagonal MoSi2 nanosheet bundles were also synthesized using a MoS2 layered material as a template. In addition, ZnO, CuO/Cu2O and a-Fe2O3 nanowire arrays were prepared on semiconductor or metallic substrates. The growth phenomena and the structural properties of the nanostructured materials awere investigated. In addition, the preparations of axial and radial nanowire structures weare examined.

Bioethanol Production From Iles-Iles And Sorghum Starch As Raw Materials (Effect Of Cacl 2 Addition And Saccharification Time), Kusmiyati Kusmiyati, Ali Mahmudi

Makara Journal of Technology

Bioethanol produced from agricultural sources is one alternative energy that has been developed to substitute for petroleum. However, the use of food sources such as corn and cassava to produce bioethanol still face obstacles that lead to the scarcity of food and an increase in food prices. The aim of this study was to produce bioethanol from sorghum and iles-iles, which are not used by humans as food, especially in Indonesia. For both materials, the variables studied were saccharification time (4, 8, 24, and 48 h) and concentration of CaCl2 added to the liquefaction slurry (0, 100, 200, 300, and …

The Effect Of Zephyr Layer Orientation On Zephyrboard Made From Oil Palm Petiole, Lusita Wardani, Muhamad Yusram Massijaya, Yusuf Sudo Hadi, I Wayan Darmawan

Makara Journal of Technology

It is very important to utilize oil palm petiole for the production of zephyr boards. This study aimed to analyze the effect of layer orientation on zephyr board quality. Zephyr boards were made with three coating patterns (A = cross perpendicular, B= combine A and C, and C= paralell) and five zephyr layers using urea formaldehyde adhesive. They were pressed for 20 min at a pressure of 25 kgf/cm² and a temperature 120 ºC, to a target density of 0.80 g/cm³ and a size of 300 mm X 300 mm X 12 mm. Our results showed that the physical and …

3d Simulation Of The Velodyne Hdl-32e Lidar Integrated With An Autonomous Marine Vehicle, Alecia A. Hurst

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

A 3D simulator is programmed for modeling the Velodyne HDL-32E LIDAR used on the WAM-V vehicle in the marine environment for obstacle detection. The model takes into account sensor integration, sensor error, and error correction. Theoretical analysis includes consideration of atmospheric refraction, time of flight error, UDP packet and timing, calibration parameter errors, depth spread error, field of view, accuracy, angular resolution, and points per second in the environment. The average distance error shows a variance of a 0.0127 m to 0.8128 m depending on the laser and the distance. Test results produce distance correction equations for each laser beam. …

Free-Piston Stirling Convertor Model Development, Validation, And Analysis For Space Power Systems, Jonathan F. Metscher

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The Advanced Stirling Convertor (ASC) is a free-piston Stirling engine coupled with a linear alternator currently being under extended testing at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). Using the Sage 1-D Stirling modeling software, a linear alternator model was developed using two separate methods and integrated with an existing ASC Stirling engine model. One used a simplified transducer method, while the other was developed from first principles. The combined models were tuned and validated against test data and then compared against each other. Both validated models are able to match test data within 7% or better. In addition, a MATLAB …

Design Of A Lean Manufacturing System For The Production Of Compliant Wind At Sparton Electronics, Arash Sabet-Rasekh

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Increased demands in production numbers and higher expectations for product quality in today’s manufacturing industries have led to initiatives to improve processes through lean concepts. This study was conducted to demonstrate how Lean Manufacturing tools and techniques can be used to redesign a production system. The study focuses on the production of the compliant wind at Sparton Electronics. The compliant wind is one of the key components of a sonobuoy and its primary function is to isolate electrical components such as hydrophones from movement of the surface buoy. The goal of the redesign process is to increase production by focusing …

Modeling And Experimental Investigation Of Parabolic Trough Solar Collector, Mohanad Abdulazeez Abdulraheem Alfellag

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In this thesis, a mathematical model is applied to study the performance of a parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC). The proposed model consists of three parts. The first part is a solar radiation model. In this section, the amount of solar radiation incident upon Earth is estimated using equations and relationships between the sun and the Earth. The second part is the optical model. This part has the ability to determine the optical efficiency of PTSC throughout the daytime. The last part is the thermal model. The aim of this section is to estimate the amount of energy collected by …

Plastic Deformation Of Steel Plates Under High Impact Loading, Brendan O'Toole

NSTec UNLV Symposium

• UNLV Two-stage Light Gas Gun
• Experimental Measurements
• Physical Results of Impact on Target Plates
• Research Objectives
• Computational Analysis Methods
• Material Models used in Computational Analysis
• Simulation Comparison: Crater and Deformation
• Simulation Comparison: Free Surface Velocity
• High Speed Video of Experiments
• Microscopy of Failure Surface: Is Phase Change an Issue?
• Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) of Failure Surfaces
• On-going Plans and Future Work

Identification Of Markov Process Within A Wind Turbine Array Boundary Layer, Matthew Scott Melius, Murat Tutkun, Raúl Bayoán Cal

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Markovian properties within a wind turbine array boundary layer are explored for data taken in a wind tunnel containing a model wind turbine array. A stochastic analysis of the data is carried out using the mathematics of Markov processes. The data were obtained using hot-wire anemometry thus providing point velocity statistics. The theory of Markov process is applied to obtain a statistical description of longitudinal velocity increments inside the turbine wake. Comparison of two- and three-scale conditional probability density functions indicates the existence of Markovian properties in longitudinal velocity increments for scale differences larger than the Taylor microscale. This …

Investigation Of The High-Temperature Redox Chemistry Of Sr2Fe1.5Mo0.5O6-Δ Via In Situ Neutron Diffraction, Daniel E. Bugaris, Jason P. Hodges, Ashfia Hug, W. Michael Chance, Andreas Heyden, Fanglin Chen, Hans-Conrad Zur Loye

Faculty Publications

Crystallographic structural changes were investigated for Sr₂Fe_1.5Mo_0.5O_6−δ, an electrode material for symmetric solid oxide fuel cells. The samples of this material were heated and cooled in wet hydrogen and wet oxygen atmospheres, to simulate the reducing and oxidizing conditions experienced under actual fuel cell operating conditions, and their structures and oxygen contents were determined using in situ powder neutron diffraction. The existence of a reversible tetragonal to cubic phase transition was established to occur between room temperature and 400 °C, both on heating and cooling in either oxygen or hydrogen. The …

Aerial Rendezvous Of Small Unmanned Aircraft Using A Passive Towed Cable System, Timothy Mclain, Randall W. Beard, Joseph W. Nichols, Liang Sun

Faculty Publications

A method for aerial rendezvous of small unmanned aircraft systems is proposed. The system includes placing a passively towed drogue into an orbit that is suitable for a small unmanned aircraft systems to follow, and a seeker guidance method for use with a monocular camera mounted on the centerline of the unmanned aircraft systems. The principle contributions of the work include a method for controlling the drogue path in moderate winds by manipulating the mothership orbit and airspeed, and a vision-based nonlinear pursuit tracking method that uses pitch rate and roll commands to guide the unmanned aircraft systems to an …

Understanding The Global Energy Crisis, Eugene D. Coyle, Richard A. Simmons

Purdue University Press Books

We are facing a global energy crisis caused by world population growth, an escalating increase in demand, and continued dependence on fossil-based fuels for generation. It is widely accepted that increases in greenhouse gas concentration levels, if not reversed, will result in major changes to world climate with consequential effects on our society and economy. This is just the kind of intractable problem that Purdue University’s Global Policy Research Institute seeks to address in the Purdue Studies in Public Policy series by promoting the engagement between policy makers and experts in fields such as engineering and technology.

Major steps forward …

Process Development For The Fabrication Of Spheroidal Microdevice Packages Utilizing Mems Technologies, Ryan M. Dowden

Theses and Dissertations

Sub-mm³ spherical microrobots are being researched as a path towards reconfigurable wireless networks and programmable matter. The microrobot design requires a spheroidal microdevice package compatible with solar energy collection, wireless sensing, and electrostatic actuation mechanisms to be developed. Throughout this research, a variety of MEMS fabrication techniques were evaluated with regards to their applicability to the packaging process. SF6-based plasma was determined to be a preferable alternative to wet HNA etching when producing repeatable bulk isotropic etches in silicon. The effect of silicon crystal orientation on etch variance and anisotropy was also investigated. HNA polishing was demonstrated as an …

Thermal Characterization Of The Air Force Institute Of Technology Solar Simulation Thermal Vacuum Chamber, Daniel M. Hatzung

Theses and Dissertations

Although predictive thermal modeling on CubeSats has previously been accomplished, a method to validate these predictive models with terrestrial experiments is essential for developing confidence in the model. As a part of this effort, AFIT has acquired a new Solar Simulation Thermal Vacuum Chamber. This research analyzed the thermal environment to which a test article is exposed within the AFIT Solar Simulation Thermal Vacuum Chamber. A computational model of the thermal environment in the chamber was created and then validated using an experimental buildup approach through thermal balance testing of the empty chamber and an aluminum plate. First, the modeled …

Development Of A Detonation Diffuser, Christopher A. Stevens

Theses and Dissertations

This research includes an investigation of the mechanisms of diffraction and reinitiation that enable a detonation diffuser. It describes a set of geometric parameters necessary to design a diffuser for a given detonable mixture and initial channel height. Predetonators with channel height less than the critical height are ineffective because detonations in small channels decouple into separate shock and combustion fronts when the channel height increases. A detonation diffuser allows the channel height to increase by utilizing the decoupled shock wave to reinitiate detonation. In the diffuser, a detonation initially decouples into separate shock and combustion fronts, and then the …

Operational Characteristics Of An Ultra Compact Combustor, Christopher J. Damele

Theses and Dissertations

Ultra Compact Combustors offer unique solutions to minimize engine size and weight. They accomplish this by reducing the number of components in the engine core and perform the combustion in a circumferential cavity that encircles the core flow. Within this cavity, the fuel is injected rich. Burning continues to occur in the vane passage beneath the circumferential cavity which must be completed in a controlled manner prior to the inlet plane of the turbine rotor. Furthermore, the temperature distribution at the exit of the vane passage must be controlled to generate high work extraction from the turbine. The primary metrics …

Technical And Business Solutions For Zero Net-Energy Ready And Zero Net-Energy Homes In The Hot Humid Climate, Florida Solar Energy Center, Eric Martin

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The Department of Energy's Challenge Home program provides a standardized platform for application and marketing of Building America innovations in new residential construction and is intended to facilitate delivery of zero net-energy ready and zero net-energy homes that also meet goals for durability, quality, affordability, and comfort. The Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction, one of the Building America research team leads, has partnered with several builders in the hot-humid climate, as they work through the process of adopting Challenge Home. This paper serves to identify viable technical pathways to meeting the Challenge Home criteria in this region and …

Automated Tracking And Estimation For Control Of Non-Rigid Cloth, Marc D. Killpack

Faculty Publications

This report is a summary of research conducted on cloth tracking for automated textile manufacturing during a two semester long research course at Georgia Tech. This work was completed in 2009. Advances in current sensing technology such as the Microsoft Kinect would now allow me to relax certain assumptions and generally improve the tracking performance. This is because a major part of my approach described in this paper was to track features in a 2D image and use these to estimate the cloth deformation. Innovations such as the Kinect would improve estimation due to the automatic depth information obtained when …

Autonomous Indoor Localization Via Field Mapping Techniques, With Agricultural Big Data Application, Yan Cui, Kartik Ariyur, Benjamin D. Branch

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

This joint collaboration between the library, the Mechanical Engineering department shows the current research of localizing an Android smartphone using big data collection and sensor fusion techniques. The original work is Autonomous Indoor Localization via Field Mapping Techniques which primarily designed as indoor fire and safety aid.

For Agricultural Big Data Use, the Android smartphone is being applied to in indoor greenhouse fire, safety and data knowledge design. Such may aid big data tool value to greenhouse fire and safety design and any data that may be important fieldwork considerations.

The indoor agricultural mapping application may be application to greenhouses …

A Recreation And Ballistic Evaluation Of Otto Schneeloch's Firearm Curiosity - The .307 Triangular, Amber Nicole Shukitis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Otto Scheeloch's U.S. Patent No. 134,442 of 1872 describes a unique firearm that uses triangular bullets. The current research effort evaluates the ballistic performance of Otto's disclosure for the very first time. To achieve this goal it was necessary to seek out surviving artifacts and scour the historical record in search of all the parameters needed to meticulously recreate the curious triangular cartridges and the corresponding gun barrel, with its matching twisted triangular bore. Every aspect of the resulting reproduction ammunition was made to be as authentic as possible, including the use of vintage civil war era bullet lead, bullet …