Engineering Commons^™

Flexible Capacitive Pressure Sensors And Triboelectric Energy Harvesters Using Laser-Assisted Patterning Process For Flexible Hybrid Electronic Applications, Valliammai Palaniappan

Masters Theses

This work focuses on the design, fabrication and characterization of novel flexible capacitive pressure sensors and triboelectric energy harvesters using laser-assisted patterning process for flexible hybrid electronic applications. Initially, the capacitive pressure sensor was developed by fabricating a set of polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMS) dielectric films with pyramid shaped micro-structures using a laser-assisted patterning process. The pressure sensor consists of two electrodes (top and bottom) that were fabricated by depositing silver (Ag) on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) using additive screen-printing process. Finally, the pressure sensor was assembled by attaching the top and bottom Ag electrodes to the smooth side of pyramid shaped …

Optimized System For On-Route Charging Of Battery Electric Buses And High-Fidelity Modelling And Simulation Of In-Motion Wireless Power Transfer, Yogesh Bappasaheb Jagdale

Masters Theses

Electrifying cars, buses and trucks is an attractive means to reduce energy use and emissions, because it involves minimal restructuring of the transportation network. Transit buses drive fixed routes, minimizing driver range anxiety by properly sizing energy storage system but the major challenge to fully electrifying transit buses, is the amount of energy they consume in a day of driving. To enable a full day of operation, batteries need to be large, which is expensive and heavy. This work utilizes real-world transit bus data fed to a battery electric drive-train model to co-optimize charger locations, charger power levels, and vehicle …

Ece Senior Design Project - Cost-Effective Diy Electrometer, Benjamin Hahn

Honors Theses

An electrometer is a critical electrophysiology instrument used to generate minuscule currents for intracellular stimulation of biological neurons. An electrometer also enables simultaneous measurement of the neuron membrane voltage response. This device is necessary to perform accurate stimulation of neurons. However, the cost of commercial electrometers, around $5000, is prohibitive to many researchers, particularly at the high-school or introductory college level. A recent Western Michigan University graduate student, Lucas Essenburg, designed a basic electrometer for $210. His thesis proved that quality electrometers can be constructed for a fraction of the price of commercial-grade equipment.

This project focused on the improvement …