Engineering Commons^™

Performance Characteristics And Design Recommendations For Biomass-Burning Stoves Using Earthen Construction Materials , Nicholas H. Schreiner

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This report provides an analysis of the thermal performance and emissions characteristics of improved biomass stoves constructed using earthen materials. Commonly referred to as mud stoves, this type of improved stove incorporates high clay content soil with an organic binder in the construction of its combustion chamber and body. When large quantities of the mud material are used to construct the stove body, the stove does not offer significant improvements in fuel economy or air quality relative to traditional open fire cooking. This is partly because a significant amount of heat is absorbed by the mass of the stove reducing …

Retrofitting Boreholes Contaminated With Iron In Rural Uganda , Caleb T. Fader

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

During my Peace Corps service as a community health liaison in rural Uganda I noticed that many improved water wells in our area had been abandoned. The communities described the water in these wells as being reddish in color, having a foul taste and odor, discoloring clothes and food, and not able to produce lather for washing.

Personal investigations and an initial literature search suggested that the primary contaminant was iron. The water in these wells had a low pH and a rusty metallic smell. The water produced early in the morning appeared very red but the water became more …

Rural Water System Sustainability : A Case Study Of Community-Managed Water Systems In Saramaka Communities , Gwynneth Smith

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Worldwide, rural populations are far less likely to have access to clean drinking water than are urban ones. In many developing countries, the current approach to rural water supply uses a model of demand-driven, community-managed water systems. In Suriname, South America rural populations have limited access to improved water supplies; community-managed water supply systems have been installed in several rural communities by nongovernmental organizations as part of the solution. To date, there has been no review of the performance of these water supply systems. This report presents the results of an investigation of three rural water supply systems constructed in …

Tropospheric Ozone And Co Over North Atlantic For The Past Decade, Mark F. Weise

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

We investigate how declines in US emissions of CO and O3 precursors have impacted the lower free troposphere over the North Atlantic. We use seasonal observations for O3 and CO from the PICO-NARE project for the period covering 2001 to 2010. Observations are used to verify model output generated by the GEOS-Chem 3-D global chemical transport model. Additional satellite data for CO from AIRS/Aqua and for O3 from TES/Aura were also used to provide additional comparisons; particularly for fall, winter, and spring when PICO-NARE coverage is sparse. We find GEOS-Chem captures the seasonal cycle for CO and O3 well compared …

Development Of An Optimization Model For Biofuel Facility Size And Location And A Simulation Model For Design Of A Biofuel Supply Chain, Fengli Zhang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

To mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil, the United States (U.S.) is pursuing several options to create biofuels from renewable woody biomass (hereafter referred to as “biomass”). Because of the distributed nature of biomass feedstock, the cost and complexity of biomass recovery operations has significant challenges that hinder increased biomass utilization for energy production. To facilitate the exploration of a wide variety of conditions that promise profitable biomass utilization and tapping unused forest residues, it is proposed to develop biofuel supply chain models based on optimization and simulation approaches. The biofuel supply chain is …

Micro Combined Heat And Power Laboratory Development, Thomson Varghese

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Micro Combined Heat and Power (Micro-CHP) system produces both electricity and heat required for residential or small business applications. Use of Micro-CHP in a residential application not only creates energy and economic savings but also reduces the carbon foot print of the house or small business. Additionally, micro-CHP can subsidize its cost of operation by selling excess electricity produced back to the grid. Even though Micro-CHP remains attractive on paper, high initial cost and optimization issues in residential scale heat and electrical requirement has kept this technology from becoming a success. To understand and overcome all disadvantages posed my Micro-CHP …

Review Of Free-Space Optical Communications With Diverging Beam, Yuchi Zhang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The report reviews the technology of Free-space Optical Communication (FSO) and simulation methods for testing the performance of diverged beam in the technology. In addition to the introduction, the theory of turbulence and its effect over laser is also reviewed. In the simulation revision chapter, on-off keying (OOK) and diverged beam is assumed in the transmitter, and in the receiver, avalanche photodiode (APD) is utilized to convert the photon stream into electron stream. Phase screens are adopted to simulate the effect of turbulence over the phase of the optical beam. Apart from this, the method of data processing is introduced …

Design Of High Fidelity Building Energy Monitoring System, Hao Wang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Building energy meter network, based on per-appliance monitoring system, willbe an important part of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure. Two key issues exist for designing such networks. One is the network structure to be used. The other is the implementation of the network structure on a large amount of small low power devices, and the maintenance of high quality communication when the devices have electric connection with high voltage AC line. The recent advancement of low-power wireless communication makes itself the right candidate for house and building energy network. Among all kinds of wireless solutions, the low speed but highly reliable …

Production Of Biofuel Intermediates From Woody Feedstocks Via Fast Pyrolysis And Torrefaction, Jordan Lee Klinger

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The main objective of this research was to investigate pyrolysis and torrefaction of forest biomass species using a micropyrolysis instrument. It was found that 30-45% of the original sample mass remained as bio-char in the pyrolysis temperature range of 500 - 700˚C for aspen, balsam, and switchgrass. The non-char mass was converted to gaseous and vapor products, of which 10-55% was water and syngas, 2-12% to acetic acid, 2-12% to hydroxypropanone, 1-3% to furaldehyde, and 5-15% to various phenolic compounds. In addition, several general trends in the evolution of gaseous species were indentified when woody feedstocks were pyrolyzed. With increasing …

Characterizations Of Partially Reduced Polyoxometalate Catalysts Using Ammonia Adsorption Microcalorimetry And Methanol Oxidation Studies / By Suresh Babu Bommineni., Suresh Babu Bommineni

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Phosphomolybdic acid (H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀) along with niobium,pyridine and niobium exchanged phosphomolybdic acid catalysts were prepared. Ammonia adsorption microcalorimetry and methanol oxidation studies were carried out to investigate the acid sites strength acid/base/redox properties of each catalyst. The addition of niobium, pyridine or both increased the ammonia heat of adsorption and the total uptake. The catalyst with both niobium and pyridine demonstrated the largest number of strong sites. For the parent H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀ catalyst, methanol oxidation favors the redox product. Incorporation of niobium results in similar selectivity to redox products but also …

Development And Testing Of An Asymmetric Capacitor With A Nickel-Carbon Foam Positive Electrode, Wen Nee Yeo

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Electrochemical capacitors (ECs), also known as supercapacitors or ultracapacitors, are energy storage devices with properties between batteries and conventional capacitors. EC have evolved through several generations. The trend in EC is to combine a double-layer electrode with a battery-type electrode in an asymmetric capacitor configuration. The double-layer electrode is usually an activated carbon (AC) since it has high surface area, good conductivity, and relatively low cost. The battery-type electrode usually consists of PbO₂ or Ni(OH)₂.

In this research, a graphitic carbon foam was impregnated with Co-substituted Ni(OH)₂ using electrochemical deposition to serve as the positive electrode …

Graphite Exfoliation By Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction, Chaiyaporn Wattanaprayoon

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Supercritical carbon dioxide is used to exfoliate graphite, producing a small, several-layer graphitic flake. The supercritical conditions of 2000, 2500, and 3000 psi and temperatures of 40°, 50°, and 60°C, have been used to study the effect of critical density on the sizes and zeta potentials of the treated flakes. Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (PCS), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area measurement, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) are used to observe the features of the flakes. N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP), dimethylformamide (DMF), and isopropanol are used as co-solvents to enhance the supercritical carbon dioxide treatment. As a result, the …

Modeling Of Diesel Particulate Filter Filtration And Regeneration For Transient Driving Schedules, Di Huang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Due to their high thermal efficiency, diesel engines have excellent fuel economy and have been widely used as a power source for many vehicles. Diesel engines emit less greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide) compared with gasoline engines. However, diesel engines emit large amounts of particulate matter (PM) which can imperil human health. The best way to reduce the particulate matter is by using the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) system which consists of a wall-flow monolith which can trap particulates, and the DPF can be periodically regenerated to remove the collected particulates.

The estimation of the PM mass accumulated in the DPF …

Time-Domain Modeling Of High-Frequency Electromagnetic Wave Propagation, Overhead Wires, And Earth, Nils Markus Stenvig

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Prediction of radiated fields from transmission lines has not previously been studied from a panoptical power system perspective. The application of BPL technologies to overhead transmission lines would benefit greatly from an ability to simulate real power system environments, not limited to the transmission lines themselves. Presently circuitbased transmission line models used by EMTP-type programs utilize Carson’s formula for a waveguide parallel to an interface. This formula is not valid for calculations at high frequencies, considering effects of earth return currents.

This thesis explains the challenges of developing such improved models, explores an approach to combining circuit-based and electromagnetics modeling …

Multi-Software Modeling Technique For Field Distribution Propagation Through An Optical Vertical Interconnect Assembly, Matthew D. Howard

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Embedded siloxane polymer waveguides have shown promising results for use in optical backplanes. They exhibit high temperature stability, low optical absorption, and require common processing techniques. A challenging aspect of this technology is out-of-plane coupling of the waveguides. A multi-software approach to modeling an optical vertical interconnect (via) is proposed. This approach utilizes the beam propagation method to generate varied modal field distribution structures which are then propagated through a via model using the angular spectrum propagation technique. Simulation results show average losses between 2.5 and 4.5 dB for different initial input conditions. Certain configurations show losses of less than …

Compressed Sensing Approach To Ultra-Wideband Receiver Design, Jodhbir Singh

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

One of the scarcest resources in the wireless communication system is the limited frequency spectrum. Many wireless communication systems are hindered by the bandwidth limitation and are not able to provide high speed communication. However, Ultra-wideband (UWB) communication promises a high speed communication because of its very wide bandwidth of 7.5GHz (3.1GHz-10.6GHz). The unprecedented bandwidth promises many advantages for the 21st century wireless communication system.

However, UWB has many hardware challenges, such as a very high speed sampling rate requirement for analog to digital conversion, channel estimation, and implementation challenges. In this thesis, a new method is proposed using compressed …

Fading Pdf Of Free-Space Optical Communication System With Pointing Error, Rui Liao

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

A free-space optical (FSO) laser communication system with perfect fast-tracking experiences random power fading due to atmospheric turbulence. For a FSO communication system without fast-tracking or with imperfect fast-tracking, the fading probability density function (pdf) is also affected by the pointing error. In this thesis, the overall fading pdfs of FSO communication system with pointing errors are calculated using an analytical method based on the fast-tracked on-axis and off-axis fading pdfs and the fast-tracked beam profile of a turbulence channel. The overall fading pdf is firstly studied for the FSO communication system with collimated laser beam. Large-scale numerical wave-optics simulations …

Direction Finding In The Presence Of A More Realistic Environment Model, Irfan Ahmed

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation is susceptible to errors introduced by the presence of real-ground and resonant size scatterers in the vicinity of the antenna array. To compensate for these errors pre-calibration and auto-calibration techniques are presented. The effects of real-ground constituent parameters on the mutual coupling (MC) of wire type antenna arrays for DOA estimation are investigated. This is accomplished by pre-calibration of the antenna array over the real-ground using the finite element method (FEM). The mutual impedance matrix is pre-estimated and used to remove the perturbations in the received terminal voltage. The unperturbed terminal voltage is incorporated in MUSIC algorithm …

Probe Studies Of A Hall Thruster At Low Voltages, Jerry L. Ross

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

No abstract provided.

Post Processing Of Multiple Gps Receivers To Enhance Baseline Accuracy, Eddy H. Trinklein

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Inexpensive, commercial available off-the-shelf (COTS) Global Positioning Receivers (GPS) have typical accuracy of ±3 meters when augmented by the Wide Areas Augmentation System (WAAS). There exist applications that require position measurements between two moving targets. The focus of this work is to explore the viability of using clusters of COTS GPS receivers for relative position measurements to improve their accuracy. An experimental study was performed using two clusters, each with five GPS receivers, with a fixed distance of 4.5 m between the clusters. Although the relative position was fixed, the entire system of ten GPS receivers was on a mobile …

Incorporating Environmental Engineering And Science Topics Into Elementary Education , Jessica G. Billings

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Technique For Achieving An Optimum Bsfc For Laf Engine, Shreyash S. Ukidave

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The reserves of gasoline and diesel fuels are ever decreasing, which plays an important role in the technological development of automobiles. Numerous countries, especially the United States, wish to slowly decrease their fuel dependence on other countries by producing in house renewable fuels like biodiesels or ethanol. Therefore, the new automobile engines have to successfully run on a variety of fuels without significant changes to their designs. The current study focuses on assessing the potential of ethanol fuels to improve the performance of 'flex-fuel SI engines,' which literally means 'engines that are flexible in their fuel requirement.'

Another important area …

Implementation Of The Conjugate Heat Transfer Code In Kiva-4, Edward Ng

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

KIVA is an open Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) source code that is capable to compute the transient two and three-dimensional chemically reactive fluid flows with spray. The latest version in the family of KIVA codes is the KIVA-4 which is capable of handling the unstructured mesh. This project focuses on the implementation of the Conjugate Heat Transfer code (CHT) in KIVA-4. The previous version of KIVA code with conjugate heat transfer code has been developed at Michigan Technological University by Egel Urip and is be used in this project. During the first phase of the project, the difference in the …

Local Degradation Of Structural, Mechanical, Electrical And Chemical Properties Of Membrane Electrode Assembly In Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell, Nishith Parikh

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEMFC) is promising source of clean power in many applications ranging from portable electronics to automotive and land-based power generation. However, widespread commercialization of PEMFC is primarily challenged by degradation. The mechanisms of fuel cell degradation are not well understood. Even though the numbers of installed units around the world continue to increase and dominate the pre-markets, the present lifetime requirements for fuel cells cannot be guarantee, creating the need for a more comprehensive knowledge of material’s ageing mechanism. The objective of this project is to conduct experiments on membrane electrode assembly (MEA) components of PEMFC …

Simulation Of Four Stroke Engine Cycle For A 4 - Valve Pentroof Engine In Kiva 3vr2, Yu Chen

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The main purpose of this project is to understand the process of engine simulation using the open source CFD code called KIVA. This report mainly discusses the simulation of the 4-valve Pentroof engine through KIVA 3VR2. KIVA is an open source FORTRAN code which is used to solve the fluid flow field in the engines with the transient 2D and 3D chemically reactive flow with spray. It also focuses on the complete procedure to simulate an engine cycle starting from pre- processing until the final results. This report will serve a handbook for the using the KIVA code.

Stochastic Knock Detection Model For Spark Ignited Engines, Yashodeep Lonari

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This report presents the development of a Stochastic Knock Detection (SKD) method for combustion knock detection in a spark-ignition engine using a model based design approach. Knock Signal Simulator (KSS) was developed as the plant model for the engine. The KSS as the plant model for the engine generates cycle-to-cycle accelerometer knock intensities following a stochastic approach with intensities that are generated using a Monte Carlo method from a lognormal distribution whose parameters have been predetermined from engine tests and dependent upon spark-timing, engine speed and load. The lognormal distribution has been shown to be a good approximation to the …

Synthesis Of Computations And Experiments For Obtaining Pulsatile Gas Flow Rates From Dynamic Pressure Difference Measurements Across An Orifice-Plate Meter, Nikhil Ajotikar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The use of conventional orifice-plate meter is typically restricted to measurements of steady flows. This study proposes a new and effective computational-experimental approach for measuring the time-varying (but steady-in-the-mean) nature of turbulent pulsatile gas flows. Low Mach number (effectively constant density) steady-in-the-mean gas flows with large amplitude fluctuations (whose highest significant frequency is characterized by the value f_F) are termed pulsatile if the fluctuations have a direct correlation with the time-varying signature of the imposed dynamic pressure difference and, furthermore, they have fluctuation amplitudes that are significantly larger than those associated with turbulence or random acoustic wave signatures. …

Tracking A Non-Cooperative Target Using A Doppler Radar Wireless Sensor Network, Michael K. Blaser

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Tracking or target localization is used in a wide range of important tasks from knowing when your flight will arrive to ensuring your mail is received on time. Tracking provides the location of resources enabling solutions to complex logistical problems. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) create new opportunities when applied to tracking, such as more flexible deployment and real-time information. When radar is used as the sensing element in a tracking WSN better results can be obtained; because radar has a comparatively larger range both in distance and angle to other sensors commonly used in WSNs. This allows for less nodes …

Detection Of Complex Point Targets With Distributed Assets In A Mimo Radar System, Ishtiaque Amin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The report explores the problem of detecting complex point target models in a MIMO radar system. A complex point target is a mathematical and statistical model for a radar target that is not resolved in space, but exhibits varying complex reflectivity across the different bistatic view angles. The complex reflectivity can be modeled as a complex stochastic process whose index set is the set of all the bistatic view angles, and the parameters of the stochastic process follow from an analysis of a target model comprising a number of ideal point scatterers randomly located within some radius of the targets …

Atp Modeling Of Internal Transformer Faults For Relay Performance Testing, Elizaveta O. Egorova

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Transformers are very important elements of any power system. Unfortunately, they are subjected to through-faults and abnormal operating conditions which can affect not only the transformer itself but also other equipment connected to the transformer. Thus, it is essential to provide sufficient protection for transformers as well as the best possible selectivity and sensitivity of the protection. Nowadays microprocessor-based relays are widely used to protect power equipment. Current differential and voltage protection strategies are used in transformer protection applications and provide fast and sensitive multi-level protection and monitoring. The elements responsible for detecting turn-to-turn and turn-to-ground faults are the negative-sequence …