Engineering Commons^™

Design Of Structural Stand For High-Precision Optics Microscopy, Sara T. Novell

Master's Theses

Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) is home to the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s largest and most energetic laser. Each of the 192 beamlines contains dozens of large optics, which require offline damage inspection using large, raster-scanning microscopes. The primary microscope used to measure and characterize the optical damage sites has a precision level of 1 µm. Mounted in a class 100 clean room with a raised tile floor, the microscope is supported by a steel stand that structurally connects the microscope to the concrete ground. Due to ambient vibrations experienced in the system, the microscope is only able …

Integrated Resource Plan For Portland General Electric (Pge), Mary Biswal, Alejandro Castelan

Master's Projects and Capstones

An integrated resource plan (IRP) for Portland General Electric (PGE) is developed in this master’s project. The IRP is based on capacity expansion modeling for zero-carbon emission scenarios. PGE is a public electric utility based in Oregon and serves around 887,000 customers across a territory of 4,000 sq. miles. The utility’s resource mix is currently heavily dependent on natural gas making up almost 50% of its capacity. While the state renewable portfolio standards (RPS) require Oregon power utilities to derive 50% of their generation from renewable sources by 2040, PGE plans to move rapidly into a clean energy mix by …

An Integrated Resource Plan For Arizona Public Service Electric (Aps), Irene Boghdadi, Randy Chiu

Master's Projects and Capstones

Our Masters Capstone Project is an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for Arizona’s largest electric utility, Arizona Public Service Electric (APS).

An IRP is developed by utilities to identify the optimal combination of demand- and supply-side resources needed to reliably meet forecasted demand for energy and capacity, including a planning reserve margin, over a future period.

In addition to APS’s obligation to serve the growing load in Arizona while minimizing costs, it is required by the state to adhere to the Renewable Energy Standard (RES) policy of 15 percent retail sales from renewable energy resources by 2025.

The analysis described in …

Large Scale Grid Integration Of Wind And Solar Power With Storage, Nicholas Moore

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

The current energy grid in the United States is dominated by carbon intense energy generation methods that are based on production when and where it is required. However, solar and wind power have proved themselves as the most promising carbon free energy generation sources. Due to the unpredictable and uncontrollable nature of energy production from solar and wind, large scale integration of these resources into the electric grid will require robust storage capacity. In this project, we model the energy grid of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) energy region with high concentrations of solar and wind power to analyze …

New Policies Give Solar Users An Economic Boost, Olivia Fowler

Marriott Student Review

The future looks bright for Solar Energy, as more States and Territories in the United States commit to moving to 100% renewable energy. What are the different states and territories committing to exactly, and what economic incentives are they bringing? Find out in this article by author Olivia Fowley.

Portable Calorimeter For Fire Experiments, Kayla Collins, Kara Hewson, Christopher Chen, Joel Keddie

Mechanical Engineering

Executive Summary

An oxygen consumption calorimeter works by measuring the heat release rate of a burning substance. This value is calculated by measuring the oxygen and byproducts in smoke from afire.In order to get these values two types of sensors were used. A non-dispersive infrared sensor (NDIR) that measured CO and CO2 and a zirconium O2 sensor were used to find their respective gas concentrations.The design to calculate the heat release rate is focused on maximizing sensor accuracy and portability while simplifying the manufacturing by using off-the-shelf components. The goal included making the system simple to recreate and package in …

A History And Status Of Wind Energy Potential In Arkansas, Pre And Post Covid-19, Will Blasingame

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Historically, wind-generated electricity has been the largest renewable energy sources in the United States. Wind-rich regions like Oklahoma and Texas have fueled growth and sold that electricity to electric utilities located in wind-poor states like Arkansas in the form of Power Purchase Agreements. Future technologies such as Vertical Axis Wind Turbines, small wind turbines, and Tesla turbines designed to generate electricity from wind show promise in unlocking more expensive wind resources in regions like Northwest Arkansas by mitigating concerns about low wind speeds and noise. However, more factors than just feasibility influence the growth of wind power. Governmental policies such …

Computational Analysis Of A New Planar Mixing Layer Flame Configuration To Study Soot Inception, Carmen Ciardiello

Honors Scholar Theses

The production of soot is omnipresent in society today. Soot is the product of many of the combustion processes that provide the bulk of the usable energy throughout the world. Furthermore, soot particulate poses a great danger to both the environment and all forms of life on Earth. It has proven to pollute ecosystems, foster health problems for human beings, and degrade air quality [1].

These dangers make studying and understanding soot particulate paramount for improving the quality of life. Thus, this study introduces a new flame configuration for studying soot inception. Presently, various common flame configurations have been found …

An Assessment Of Renewable Energy Technology Implementation In Storrs, Connecticut: Emissions Reduction And Feasibility Of A Microgrid System At Uconn, Sophie Macdonald

Honors Scholar Theses

The purpose of this project is to design a clean energy-sourced microgrid for UConn’s main campus that would reduce the university’s energy emissions while remaining within the geographic boundaries of viable UConn-owned land. Economic cost was not considered in this analysis; instead, emissions and space constraints were the optimized measures of value and feasibility. Sources of energy that were considered include photovoltaics (PV), wind turbines, hydrokinetic systems, and fuel cells. Energy storage capacity was included in the analysis as well. The overall system was optimized first by ignoring space constraints and for a minimum of 10% reduction from the current …

Efficiency Analysis Of Harvesting Solar Energy To Perform Mechanical Work, Haden S. Bragg

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The majority of the world’s electricity is generated using fossil fuels; in fact, the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) states that the U.S. used fossil fuels to generate 62.7 % of its electricity in 2019 [1]. The goal of this research was to create a system that could perform mechanical work using only renewable resources. We built a solar charging station that uses two solar panels to generate electricity and an electric bicycle whose battery can be charged using the charging station. The efficiency for the type of solar cell used in this project is well established. Therefore, in …

The Application Of Evolutionary Algorithms In Multi-Objective Design And Optimization Of Air Cooled Heatsinks, Younis Osama Abdelsalam, Sajad Alimohammadi, Tim Persoons

Articles

Genetic algorithms (GAs) are considered to be one of the main types of evolutionary algorithms (EAs) and are being increasingly used in various engineering design applications. To a large extent, plate-fin heatsinks are used in the thermal management of compact electronic equipment and data centers. The shape optimization of the heatsinks is not rigorously investigated during the design process of high power electronics. Any improvements in the effectiveness of the heatsinks impact the energy consumed by large-scale information communication technology (ICT) facilities including data centers and telecommunication systems and promote a more sustainable use of raw materials. This paper investigates …

Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge, Jacob Torrey, Kayla Londono, Bryson Chan, Aaron Trujillo

Mechanical Engineering

The FPVC combines mechanical engineering disciplines to design and manufacture a vehicle that utilizes hydraulic power. The FDR covers the final manufacturing process and verification processes developed during the front end of research and analysis built upon the Critical Design Review (CDR) and the PDR (Preliminary Design Review). This report showcases the design decisions and extensive research that supports the continuing efforts by the Team Pump My Ride, to build upon the accomplishments of Cal Poly’s previous team, The Incompressibles. The FDR presents how Team Pump My Ride produced the design changes from the CDR and PDR to achieve improvements …

Effect Of Chromium Trioxide Coating On The Thermal Performance Of Solar Thermal Collector, Èkram Hadi Alaskaree, Osamah Raad Skheel Alkhafaji, Nizar F. O. Al-Muhsen

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

This paper compared the thermal performance of two solar collectors. The first collector is coated by a dark black absorbent solar collector, and the second one coated by the chromium trioxide. The results of the second collector show a better selectivity in terms of greater radiation absorption, and less emission compared to the first collector. At the minimum solar irradiance time, the absorbed energy is increased from 908.28J to 1221.5J, and the thermal efficiency is improved from 37.3% to 50.1% when the chromium trioxide coating is used. Besides, at the maximum solar irradiance time, the absorbed energy is increased from …

Dartmouth Formula Racing: Full Electric Battery System Design, Matt Gardner, Jacob Hagler, Ruthie Nordhoff, Otto Salmi

ENGS 89/90 Reports

Dartmouth Formula Racing (DFR) lacked an electrical energy storage system that was Formula Hybrid rules-compliant, optimized for FH events, safe, reliable, and integrated with the rest of their vehicle. Additionally, the team lacked the academic and professional resources required to bring a thorough, analytical approach to the design, testing, and documentation of the new storage system. Our team designed and built a Lithium-Ion battery pack (accumulator) containing energy storage, active cooling, battery management and temperature monitoring systems, and control circuitry compatible with DFR’s vehicle. Collaboration throughout design, fabrication, assembly and testing processes ensured effective knowledge transfer to the DFR team.

Side-By-Side Testing Of Solaire Solar Ac, Florida Solar Energy Center, John Sherwin

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The FSEC Energy Research Center performed a series of side-by-side tests to compare a heat pump system with a SolAire thermal collector against one without. The tests were performed in three phases: 1) baseline operation, 2) heat pump system operating with SolAire collector using collector manufacturer's wiring specifications, and 3) heat pump system operating with SolAire collector using Daiken/OEM wiring specifications. Each phase represented 5 full days of continuous operation during August of 2018 in Cocoa, Florida. Phase 1 baseline testing demonstrated that the two Daiken heat pump systems and test houses performed similarly and there were no differences between …

Reverse Osmosis; Addressing Freshwater Shortage With Sustainable Desalination, Jessica Savage

Sustainability Conference

Water security is an imperative part of high-functioning societies. Currently, large populations of the globe live in water-impoverished or water-stressed areas. With climate change and growing global populations, projections show more people being impacted by issues of water shortage.

One solution to water security is the implementation of desalination, specifically with reverse osmosis systems. This presentation walks through the history, capabilities, future work, and explanations on how reverse osmosis systems work. With continued research on improving desalination, communities in both developed and developing nations around the world can work towards total water security.

Residential Thermal Storage And Cooling, Joao Marcelo Rocha Belmonte, Jacob Anderson, Andrew Clarke, Daphne Forester, Bianca Hardtke, Josh Hartman, Marc D. Compere

Sustainability Conference

No abstract provided.

Solar Powered Parking Lot Lights, Jordyn Taylor

Sustainability Conference

Solar energy is a renewable resource growing exponentially around the country over the past few decades. Solar energy works through the use of photo-voltaic cells, which work to convert energy from sunlight into electricity. This is done within solar panels, which are then connected to batteries for energy storage to use as needed. As production has increased over past decades, the cost for solar panel hardware and installment has thus fallen to meet consumer need. While most common implementations include solar panels attached to one’s home or solar panel ‘fields’ for charging entire towns, there has been a steady rise …

Solar District Cup Competition, Qi Jiang, Kristen A. Holman, Benjamin F. Aulenbab, Adi Alharbi, Chenge Liu

Sustainability Conference

The Solar District Cup is a two-semester design competition sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Energy in which teams from across the nation compete to design the most efficient and cost effective solar plus storage system for a unique district case. The Embry Riddle team was tasked with designing such a system for New Mexico State University in Las Cruses, NM.

Speed Bump Power Generator, Sultan Alanazi, Osamah Abulgaith

All Undergraduate Projects

A large amount of energy is wasted by the vehicles on the speed breakers through friction. Energy can be produced by using the vehicle weight and speed. The team proposes a smart speed breaker that generates power (Speed bump power generator). The device allows vehicles to pass from both sides. The system makes use of mechanical assembly with metal sheets with linkages that press down with spring arrangement. Using the motion and weight of vehicles was the method that the team relied on to design the device. The mass of the vehicles allows the top plate to move the rack …

Dual-Axis Solar Tracker, Bryan Kennedy

All Undergraduate Projects

Renewable energies, and fuels that are not fossil fuel-based, are one of the prolific topics of debate in modern society. With climate change now becoming a primary focus for scientists and innovators of today, one of the areas for the largest amount of potential and growth is that of the capturing and utilization of Solar Energy. This method involves using a mechanical system to track the progression of the sun as it traverses the sky throughout the day. A dual-axis solar tracker such as the one designed and built for this project, can follow the sun both azimuthally and in …

Footsteps Power Generator, Faisal Alonazi, Mohammed Aljohani

All Undergraduate Projects

This project was motivated by the need for a device that would generate electricity from human motion, especially footsteps. Electricity is a very important resource in our daily life. There are numerous sources from which generate electrical energy. The major sources of energy include but are not limited to coal, natural gas, petroleum, and nuclear energy. Most of these sources have adverse effects on the environmental inclusion such as air pollution; for example, from coal energy generation plants which then cumulatively leads to effects such as increase in rates of global warming. This project seeks to establish an environmentally friendly …

R/C Mini Baja Car: Drive Train And Steering, Carlton R. Mcdonald

All Undergraduate Projects

The purpose of the Baja R/C Car is to compete in the ASME eFX competition in a series of events to prove the functionality of the vehicle. This series of events includes the Slalom, Drag, and Baja race, The Slalom is a test in the steering capability of the vehicle, the Drag is a test in the acceleration of the vehicle in a straight line, and the Baja puts all factors together in a race to test every component of the vehicle. This project is about building an R/C car that not only functions, but also has maximum performance capabilities …

A Reduced Model For Microbial Fuel Cell, Dina Aboelela, Moustafa A. Soliman, Ibrahim Ashour

Chemical Engineering

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are a group of microbial electrochemical cells (bioreactors) that are used to generate energy from organic waste found in wastewater. MFCs represent a promising method of waste disposal and production of electricity. Scaling up the use of MFCs requires extensive analysis and detailed grasp of the required processes. The current work aimed to study a model of an MFC, and find the optimum parameters needed for maximum energy production. The process was simulated and validated on continuous-flow MFCs with a Columbic efficiency of 162% and 35% COD removal. Sensitivity analysis of the model was performed. The …

Design Of An Annular Disc-Shaped Heat Pipe For Air-Cooled Steam Condensers, Ahmad Saleh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Limitations on water utilization are turning into an expanding issue for the power and electricity generation industry. As a contribution to the solution of water consumption problems, utility companies are shifting toward using air-cooled condensers (ACC) in replace to the typical water-cooling methods of once-through cooling and the surface condenser/wet-cooling tower combination. Although the ACC is a dry cooling method, the industry is quite hesitant to switch over to ACC mainly for three reasons: (a) lower power output, (b) higher capital cost, and (c) larger physical footprint. All these drawbacks are because of the high overall thermal resistance of condensing …

Engineering The Surface Chemistry And Surface Conditions To Optimize The Heat Removal Rate Of Various Surfaces, Thomas Germain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

As the demand for more powerful and smaller electronics rise, the need for creative cooling solutions to prevent burnout becomes increasingly paramount. In response to recent cooling needs, new cooling techniques, such as jet impingement cooling, spray cooling, and heat pipes, have risen in popularity for their simple design and efficiency in thermal transport. This interest has risen in both industry and academia, where research has been conducted to optimize the heat transfer performance for these systems and how these systems can be implemented in new technologies. One method that has risen in interest is affecting the surface, through physical …

Generation Of Premix Laminar Flame Speed Library, Sai Prashanth Kumar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Laminar flame speed is an essential parameter in measuring turbulent premixed combustion applied in Spark ignition engines. Instead of using power-law correlations, which is valid only for particular ranges, the procedure for generating a premixed laminar flame speed library is defined using MTU – Master mechanism for a wide range of charge mixture conditions inside an engine combustion chamber: Temperature (300 – 700 K), Pressure (1 – 70 bar) and reactant mixture composition of equivalence ratio (0.4 – 2.0) Laminar flame speed library is generated for methane. The mechanism's performance was improved by adjusting the pre-exponential factor of the …

Development Of An Eco Approach And Departure Application To Improve Energy Consumption Of A Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle In Charge Depleting Mode, Brandon Narodzonek

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A recent study at Michigan Technological University as part of the NEXTCAR DOE APRA-E Project was conducted to determine the potential energy savings of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) equipped with various Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Technologies. One aspect of this study focused on the development of an Eco Approach and Departure (Eco AnD) Application that would further reduce the energy consumed around a signalized intersection.

Many modern intersections are equipped with traffic signals that can broadcast Basic Safety (BSM), MAP, and Signal Phase and Timing (SPaT) message sets that contain intersection ID, location, current phase, and cyclic …

Energy Efficiency And Alternative Energy Generation In Existing Buildings On A College Campus, Sameer Keshavan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Universities and colleges are looking for ways to be sustainable and save energy costs on their campuses. In terms of raw dollars, “America’s colleges and universities spend almost $7 billion a year in energy and utilities”. Campus buildings consume more than 80% of the energy utilized by the universities and it is often used in the form of electricity for lighting, ventilation, air-conditioning, and natural gas for heating. By reducing energy use, it will translate into cost savings that could be utilized towards student programs, facility improvements, and other university initiatives. This can be achieved by energy conservation efforts and …

Test 2217: Kubota M8-181, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …