Engineering Commons^™

Application Of Lean Six Sigma For Improving Quality Laboratory Process, Sarmad Al Hilli

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Oftentimes, manufacturing companies concentrate on improving the production processes and neglecting other processes like purchasing, IT, quality control, etc. Just like production processes, uncontrolled and non-optimized of any of these processes could be main reasons of product defects, late deliveries, and high costs. Recently, an automotive OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) in the southeastern United States faces difficulties in performing quality control operations in a way that matches the production pace. This inadequacy has increased due to changes in customer requirements and launches a new assembly line for a new customer. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to apply Lean …

Automation Complacency On Humans And Cyber-Physical Systems In The Energy Sector, Shannon Olaveson

Cyber Operations and Resilience Program Graduate Projects

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) and the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) enable industrial systems and technology to work together to achieve increased connectivity and operational efficiency through the use of automation. Because automation requires less human interaction to run industrial tasks, a reliance may form on this integration to take over an otherwise manual process. This reliance can cause human behavior to affect operational safety and security, leading to unintentional outcomes or vulnerable areas of adversarial opportunity. The energy sector is one of the most critical infrastructure areas becoming a part of the rise to automation, resourcing gas, oil, and electricity …

Numerical Study Of Solar Receiver Tube With Modified Surface Roughness For Enhanced And Selective Absorptivity In Concentrated Solar Power Tower, Shawn Hatcher, Mathew Z. Farias, Jianzhi Li, Peiwen Li, Ben Xu

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Concentrated solar power (CSP) is a reliable renewable energy source that is progressively lowering its cost of energy. However, the heat loss due to reflected and emitted radiation hinders the maximum achievable thermal efficiency for solar receiver tubes on the solar tower. Current solar selective coatings cannot withstand the high temperatures that come with state-of-the-art CSP towers often needing to be recoated soon after initial operation. We intend to use Inconel 718 with different additive manufacturing (AM) practices to construct surfaces that allow for more light-trapping to occur. By adjusting printing parameters, we can tailor a surface to allow for …

Laser-Induced Forward Transfer (Lift) Based Bioprinting Of The Collagen I With Retina Photoreceptor Cells, Md Shakil Arman, Ben Xu, Andrew Tsin, Jianzhi Li

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study focuses on the 3D bioprinting of retina photoreceptor cells using a laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) based bioprinting system. Bioprinting has a great potential to mimic and regenerate the human organoid system, and the LIFT technique has emerged as an efficient method for high-resolution micropatterning and microfabrication of biomaterials and cells due to its capability of creating precise, controlled microdroplets. In this study, the parameters for an effective femtosecond laser-based LIFT process for 3D bioprinting of collagen biomaterial were studied. Different concentrations of collagen I solutions were tested and 0.75 mg/ml to 1 mg/ml collagen Ⅰ was identified as …

Estudio Termoquímico Asistido Por Computadora De Los Polifenoles Presentes En La Fresa [Thermochemical Computer Assisted Study Of Polyphenols Presented In Strawberry], Federico Lopez, Jeimmy Rocio Bonilla Méndez, Luis Ricárdez Sandoval, Hiram Moya, Daniela Mainardi, Arturo González Quiroga, Jeffrey Leon-Pulido

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Las fresas son un alimento importante en Latinoamérica debido a sus componentes químicos, puesto que son una considerable fuente de calorías y polifenoles. Estos elementos son útiles por su capacidad antioxidante y otras propiedades beneficiosas para la salud. Sin embargo, la presión y la temperatura pueden llegar a afectar la integridad molecular de estos componentes, por lo tanto, en el proceso de producción de diferentes productos basados en fresas, se requiere estudiar las propiedades termoquímicas de los diferentes polifenoles presentes en esta fruta. Para ello, se extrajeron datos de las principales familias de polifenoles, antocianinas, flavanoles, flavonoles, ácidos hidroxibenzoicos y …

Electrical Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Design And Operations, Yu Yang, Hen-Geul Yeh

Mineta Transportation Institute

California aims to achieve five million zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) on the road by 2030 and 250,000 electrical vehicle (EV) charging stations by 2025. To reduce barriers in this process, the research team developed a simulation-based system for EV charging infrastructure design and operations. The increasing power demand due to the growing EV market requires advanced charging infrastructures and operating strategies. This study will deliver two modules in charging station design and operations, including a vehicle charging schedule and an infrastructure planning module for the solar-powered charging station. The objectives are to increase customers’ satisfaction, reduce the power grid burden, and …

Experimental Investigation Of Various Energy-Absorbing Layer Materials And Sodium Alginate Viscosities On The Jet Formation In Laser-Induced-Forward-Transfer (Lift) Bioprinting, Shuqi Zhou, Chaoran Dou, Jianzhi Li, Qiqi Zhang, Qilin Dai, Ben Xu

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Laser-induced-forward-transfer (LIFT) bioprinting technology has been viewed as a regenerative medicine technology because of its high printing quality and good cell viability. To stabilize the jet to achieve high-quality printing, an energy-absorbing layer (EAL) can be introduced. In this study, three materials (graphene, gelatin, and gold) were utilized as the EAL. The effect of each EAL on the jet generation process was investigated. Besides, the effect of graphene EAL thickness was addressed for various experimental conditions. The jet generation process using sodium alginate solutions with different concentrations (1 and 2 wt. %) was also discussed to investigate the effect of …

Experimental Investigation Of The Self-Healing Potential Of Bacteria For Sustainable Concrete Structures, Pitiporn Asvapathanagul, Simone Galano, Andrea Calabrese, Mehran Rahmani, Maggie Ly, Daniela Flores, Michael Hernandez, Nicholas Banuelos

Mineta Transportation Institute

Although concrete is the most widely used building material in the world, its limited tensile strength makes cracking a common phenomenon in concrete elements. This study investigates the potential of autonomous self-healing as an eco-friendly and lowcost method to increase the durability of concrete. The crack-healing potential of different types of high-alkaline-tolerant bacteria or calcite-precipitation microorganisms is investigated. High-alkaline-tolerant bacteria and calcite-precipitation microorganisms were used to retrofit lab-fractured concrete samples. The samples healed with each of these bacteria groups were cast and tested under compressive load up to failure to measure the compressive strength of the concrete samples. The outcomes …

The Development And Use Of The Probabilistic Financial Decision Model For A Company Expansion, Elizabeth Wiese

Senior Honors Theses

In the United States, companies are expanding constantly. However, in an industrial equipment dealership expanding into a new state, it is important to understand the industry, new market, and costs associated with expanding. With using financial statements of data-backed percentages for growth, research seeks to set up a financial model to see if expansion for an industrial equipment dealership into the state of North Carolina will be a financially wise decision. Wesley Worldwide, an industrial equipment dealership, is moving forward with the investment of expanding into North Carolina. However, it is vital to understand the financial predictions for profit return …

Naphtha Characterization (Piona, Density, Distillation Curve And Sulfur Content): An Origin Comparison, Aline Pioli Silva, Juliana Otavia Bahú, Renato Soccol Jr., Leonardo Rodriguez-Urrego, William Stive Fajardo-Moreno, Hiram Moya, Jeffrey Leon-Pulido, Víktor Oswaldo Cárdenas Concha

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Naphtha is an important distillation product of crude oil, and is used as a raw material for first-generation products such as ethylene, propylene, gasoline, xylene (BTX), and others. However, due to the different sources of crude oil, differences in naphtha composition impact the quality of conversion processes. Parameters such as pressure, charge flow, and temperature need to be adjusted for conversion efficiency. This work aims to compare naphtha samples from different origins, through the analysis of distillation curve (ASTM D86), density (ASTM D4052), total sulfur (ASTM D4294), and n-paraffins, iso-paraffins, olefins, naphthene, and aromatics (PIONA, ASTM D5134). Among these parameters …

Introduction To Bioaerosols Assessment And Control, 2nd Edition, Cheri Marcham, John (Jack) Springston

Publications

• Risk Assessment
• Assessment for the Presence of Bioaerosols
• Sampling
• Purpose/ Necessity
• Interpretation Controls
  • Ventilation
  • Other Controls

Study Of The Graphene Energy Absorbing Layer And The Viscosity Of Sodium Alginate In Laser-Induced- Forward-Transfer (Lift) Bioprinting, Shuqi Zhou, Jianzhi Li, Ben Xu

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Laser induced forward transfer (LIFT) bioprinting has been viewed as a new and actively developed three-dimensional bioprinting technology due to its high accuracy and good cell viability. The printing quality is highly dependent on the jet formation and its stability in the LIFT bioprinting process. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of a graphene Energy Absorbing Layer (EAL) and alginate hydrogel (SA) (w.t. 1% and 2%) viscosity on jet generation in the LIFT bioprinting process. Since SA exhibits a shear-thinning behavior, it is a non-Newtonian fluid. The effect of EAL thickness and SA’s viscosity were addressed …

Queueing System With Potential For Recruiting Secondary Servers, Srinivas Chakravarthy, Alexander N. Dudin, Sergey A. Dudin, Olga S. Dudina

Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering Publications

In this paper, we consider a single server queueing system in which the arrivals occur according to a Markovian arrival process (MAP). The served customers may be recruited (or opted from those customers’ point of view) to act as secondary servers to provide services to the waiting customers. Such customers who are recruited to be servers are referred to as secondary servers. The service times of the main as well as that of the secondary servers are assumed to be exponentially distributed possibly with different parameters. Assuming that at most there can only be one secondary server at any given …

A New Course In Defense Manufacturing – An Introduction To Shipbuilding, Alley C. Butler

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper discusses the development and deployment of a new course in DMEI (Defense Manufacturing Engineering Innovation) titled, “Introduction to Shipbuilding.” This course has been taught using Zoom since 2021 at both the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, a Hispanic Serving Institution, and Virginia State University, a Historically Black University. After a brief literature review, an outline of the course is presented with topics including the maritime market for shipbuilding, economics of shipbuilding, the classification agencies, metallurgy and welding processes, ship structure and assembly, shipyard layout, accuracy control, and shipbuilding planning and scheduling. Difficulties in obtaining an appropriate textbook …

Higher-Order Effects In Biaxial Flexure Of Gfrp I-Section Beams, Zia Razzaq, Faridoon Z. Razzaq

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

A theoretical study of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) beams subjected to biaxial bending moments is presented with a focus on the influence of higher-order effects on maximum normal stresses. It is shown that the biaxial bending type of loading causes a dramatic increase in the maximum normal stress for a GFRP beam when induced torsional effects are included. The study demonstrates that the traditional first-order theory can grossly underestimate the maximum normal stress in a GFRP beam. Based on the numerical results presented using a higher-order theory which also accounts for induced warping normal stresses, the maximum normal stress …

Hierarchical Structure And Properties Of The Bone At Nano Level, Farah Hamandi, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Bone is a highly hierarchical complex structure that consists of organic and mineral components represented by collagen molecules (CM) and hydroxyapatite crystals (HAC), respectively. The nanostructure of bone can significantly affect its mechanical properties. There is a lack of understanding how collagen fibrils (CF) in different orientations may affect the mechanical properties of the bone. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of interaction, orientation, and hydration on atomic models of the bone composed of collagen helix (CH) and HAC, using molecular dynamics simulations and therefrom bone-related disease origins. The results demonstrate that the mechanical properties of …

Residual Properties Of Silicone (Med-4719) Lead With Leads From Retrieved Devices, Anmar Salih, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Leads are designed for in vivo applications, however, for a definite period of time. In-vivo environment affects the mechanical behavior of implantable devices, therefore, there is a need to evaluate the residual properties of implantable leads used with pacemakers, defibrillator and neuro-stimulators. Silicone (MED-4719) lead is widely used in cardiac implantable electronic devices made by different manufacturers. . We collected 150 devices (with or without leads) from Anatomical Gift Program of the Wright State University. The objective of this study was to investigate the residual properties of Silicone (MED-4719) lead with different in vivo exposure time and compare the properties …

A Retrieval Queueing Model With Feedback, Agassi Melikov, Srinivas Chakravarthy, Sevinc Aliyeva

Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering Publications

A multi-server retrial queuing model with feedback is considered in this paper.Input flow of calls is modeled using a Markovian Arrival Process (M AP) and the service time is assumed to follow an exponential distribution. An arriving call enters into service should there be a free server. Otherwise, in accordance to Bernoulli trials, the call will enter into an infinite orbit (referred to as a retrial orbit) to retry along with other calls to get into service or will leave the system forever. After obtaining a service each call, independent of the others, will either enter into a finite orbit …

Traumatic Brain Injury Biomarkers, Simulations And Kinetics, Celeste Hicks, Akshima Dhiman, Chauntel Barrymore, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper reviews the predictive capabilities of blood-based biomarkers to quantify traumatic brain injury (TBI). Biomarkers for concussive conditions also known as mild, to moderate and severe TBI identified along with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) that occur due to repeated blows to the head during one’s lifetime. Since the pathways of these biomarkers into the blood are not fully understood whether there is disruption in the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and the time it takes after injury for the expression of the biomarkers to be able to predict the injury effectively, there is a need to …

Therapeutic Efficacies Of Nano Carriers In Delivering Drugs, Bailey Krueger, Taylor Frazier, Sheila Galbreath, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

The drug release rates of poorly soluble medications such as doxorubicin has been investigated in this paper. Since the drug was fixed, different carriers used to deliver it and their release rates compiled from literature were evaluated in this paper. Even though targeting of drugs is very important in drug delivery, it is not within the scope of this paper. However, functionalization of the carrier may provide this benefit, those constructs are included for comparison in terms of hybrid constructs. Dendrimer, micelles and hybrid constructs used in the delivery of doxorubicin compared in this paper with respect to carrier size …

Therapeutic Efficacies Of Nano Carriers In Delivering Drugs, Bailey Krueger, Taylor Frazier, Sheila Galbreath, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

The drug release rates of poorly soluble medications such as doxorubicin has been investigated in this paper. Since the drug was fixed, different carriers used to deliver it and their release rates compiled from literature were evaluated in this paper. Even though targeting of drugs is very important in drug delivery, it is not within the scope of this paper. However, functionalization of the carrier may provide this benefit, those constructs are included for comparison in terms of hybrid constructs. Dendrimer, micelles and hybrid constructs used in the delivery of doxorubicin compared in this paper with respect to carrier size …

A Survey Of Smart Manufacturing For High-Mix Low-Volume Production In Defense And Aerospace Industries, Tanjida Tahmina, Mauro Garcia, Zhaohui Geng, Bopaya Bidanda

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Defense and aerospace industries usually possess unique high-mix low-volume production characteristics. This uniqueness generally calls for prohibitive production costs and long production lead-time. One of the major trends in advanced, smart manufacturing is to be more responsive and better readiness while ensuring the same or higher production quality and lower cost. This study reviews the state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies to solve these issues and previews two levels of flexibility, i.e., system and process, that could potentially reduce the costs while increasing the production volume in such a scenario. The main contribution of the work includes an assessment of the current solutions …

Safe Zones In Hip-Implant Designs To Resist Dislocation, Himanshu Bhatt, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Major contributing parameters to hip implant dislocation include preoperative, intra-operative and post-operative factors. Implant geometry are design as well as non-design related. Femoral and acetabular component design features causing dislocation and/or resisting it are elucidated. Twelve implants were designed during this investigation were analyzed for dislocation resistance. A safe zone, establishes combinations of implant dimensions, was analyzed for all the 12 implants where implants were dislocation resistant. Head diameters between 26 mm to 32 mm, neck diameters closer to 14 mm, and neck angle between 25 to 35º were examined to be the safest ranges for hip implant designs.

Exploring The Effects Of Meaningful Tactile Display On Perception And Preference In Automated Vehicles, Kimberly D. Martinez, Gaojian Huang

Mineta Transportation Institute

There is an existing issue in human-machine interaction, such that drivers of semi-autonomous vehicles are still required to take over control of the vehicle during system limitations. A possible solution may lie in tactile displays, which can present status, direction, and position information while avoiding sensory (e.g., visual and auditory) channels overload to reliably help drivers make timely decisions and execute actions to successfully take over. However, limited work has investigated the effects of meaningful tactile signals on takeover performance. This study synthesizes literature investigating the effects of tactile displays on takeover performance in automated vehicles and conducts a human-subject …

Analysis Of A Queueing Model With Map Arrivals And Heterogeneous Phase-Type Group Services, Srinivas R. Chakravarthy

Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering Publications

Queueing models have proven to be very useful in real-life applications to enable the practitioners to optimize the limited resources to conduct their businesses as well as offer services efficiently. In general, we can group such applications into two sectors: manufacturing and service. These two sectors cover everything we deal with on a day-to-day basis. Queues in which the services are offered in blocks (or groups or batches) are well established in the literature and have a wide variety of applications in practice. In this paper, we look at one such queueing model in which the arrivals occur according to …

Ultrafast Laser Direct Writing Of Conductive Patterns On Polyimide Substrate, Ishrat Jahan Biswas, Enrique Contreras Lopez, Farid Ahmed, Jianzhi Li

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Laser direct writing (LDW) is a fast and cost-effective method for printing conductive patterns in flexible polymer substrates. The electrical, chemical, and mechanical properties of polyimide (PI) make it an attractive material choice for laser writing of conductive circuits in such polymer. Electrically insulating PI has shown great potential for flexible printed electronics as LDW enables selective carbonization in the bulk of such material leading to the formation of conductive lines. However, existing studies in this area reveal a few key limitations of this approach including limited conductivity of written structures and fragility of carbonized PI. Therefore, more research is …

A Numerical Study On The Powder Flowability, Spreadability, Packing Fraction In Powder Bed Additive Manufacturing, Yeasir Mohammad Akib, Ehsan Marzbanrad, Farid Ahmed, Jianzhi Li

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The powder bed fusion (PBF) process is widely adopted in many manufacturing industries because of its capability to 3D print complex parts with micro-scale precision. In PBF process, a thermal energy source is used to selectively fuse powder particles layer by layer to build a part. The build quality in the PBF process primarily depends on the thermal energy deposition and properties of the powder bed. Powder flowability, powder spreading, and packing fraction are key factors that determine the properties of a powder bed. Therefore, the study of these process parameters is essential to better understand the PBF process. In …

Synthesizing And Printing Of Tin Oxide Nanoparticles Using A Single Ultrafast Laser System: A Feasibility Study, Enrique Contreras Lopez, Farid Ahmed, Jianzhi Li

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In laser-based manufacturing, processing setup customization is one of the popular approaches used to enhance diversity in material processing using a single laser. In this study, we propose setup design modification of an ultrafast laser system to demonstrate both Tin Oxide (SnO2) nanoparticle synthesis from bulk metal, and post printing of said nanoparticles using Laser Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT) method. Using the Pulse Laser Ablation in Liquid (PLA-L) method, nanoparticles were synthesized from a bulk tin metal cube submerged in distilled water. Such nanoparticles dispersed in water can form colloidal ink that can be used for different printed electronics applications. …

Turning Of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (Cfrp) Composites: Process Modeling And Optimization Using Taguchi Analysis And Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm, S. M. Abdur Rob, Anil K. Srivastava

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composites have been widely used in aerospace, automotive, nuclear, and biomedical industries due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, durability, and excellent thermo-mechanical properties in non-oxidative atmospheres. Machining of CFRP composites has always been a challenge for manufacturers. In this research, a comparative study was performed between the optimal machining parameters of coated and uncoated carbide inserts obtained from the Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm during turning of CFRP composites. It was found that coated carbide inserts provide lower tool wear and surface roughness, but higher cutting forces compared to those of uncoated carbide inserts …

Automated Posture Positioning For High Precision 3d Scanning Of A Freeform Design Using Bayesian Optimization, Zhaohui Geng, Bopaya Bidanda

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Three-dimensional scanning is widely used for the dimension measurements of physical objects with freeform designs. The output point cloud is flexible enough to provide a detailed geometric description for these objects. However, geometric accuracy and precision are still debatable for this scanning process. Uncertainties are ubiquitous in geometric measurement due to many physical factors. One potential factor is the object’s posture in the scanning region. The posture of target positioning on the scanning platform could influence the normal of the scanning points, which could further affect the measurement variances. This paper first investigates the geometric and spatial factors that could …