Engineering Commons^™

Study Of Process Parameters In Conventional Powder Metallurgy Of Silver, S Amaranan, A Manonukul

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

Compaction, sintering and physical properties of silver powder were investigated. The silver powder was uniaxially compacted into a cylindrical specimen using compaction pressures of 13.79, 27.58, 41.37 and 55.16 MPa. Compacted parts were sintered at 700, 800 and 900°C in argon atmospheres. In addition, compacted parts were also sintered in vacuum at 900°C. For the sintering temperatures of 700 and 800°C, it was found that the sintered density increased as the compaction pressure increased below 40 MPa, while the sintered density decreased at a compaction pressure above 40 MPa. At the sintering temperature of 900°C, the sintered density decreased with …

Effects Of Replacing Binder With Powder Space Holder On Properties Of Metal Injection Moulded Foam, U Koikul, A Manonukul, S Suranuntchai

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

Metal foam can be produced using metal injection moulding with powder space holder. In this study, the effects of volume fraction of spacer holder on the foam properties were studied. Spherical poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) particles were used as a space holder material. The 30% volume fraction of stainless steel 316L powder was mixed with varied volume fractions of binder and PMMA. There were five volume fractions of PMMA, namely 30% to 50%, with an increment of 5%. The results showed that the volume fraction of PMMA affected the properties. As the volume fraction of PMMA increased, the number of …

Study Of Covering Conditions For Sintering Of Metal Injection Moulded Commercially Pure Titanium, N Muenya, A Manonukul

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

In metal injection moulding process, sintering for some specific materials is different from general materials. Titanium is a material that is not easy to sinter because it is a very reactive metal at high temperature. The high quality of the titanium component is difficult to control, especially so in point of the levels of carbon and oxygen, which have large effects on the mechanical properties. Commercially pure titanium was injected, debinded and sintered at 1150°C and 1250°C in high vacuum without a cover, and with a quartz cover, a mullite cover and an alumina cover, respectively. From the physical and …

The Utility Of Daily Large-Scale Climate Data In The Assessment Of Climate Change Impacts On Daily Streamflow In California, Edwin P. Maurer, H. G. Hidalgo, T. Das, M. D. Dettinger, D. R. Cayan

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering

Three statistical downscaling methods were applied to NCEP/NCAR reanalysis (used as a surrogate for the best possible general circulation model), and the downscaled meteorology was used to drive a hydrologic model over California. The historic record was divided into an “observed” period of 1950–1976 to provide the basis for downscaling, and a “projected” period of 1977–1999 for assessing skill. The downscaling methods included a biascorrection/ spatial downscaling method (BCSD), which relies solely on monthly large scale meteorology and resamples the historical record to obtain daily sequences, a constructed analogues approach (CA), which uses daily large-scale anomalies, and a hybrid method …

The Effect Of Service Installations On Structural Integrity Of Slabs In Buildings, Ladislaus Lwambuka

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

In building construction industry service installations, usually housed in conduit pipes, are commonly mounted inside reinforced concrete structural elements. This practice is adopted to attain aesthetical outlook at both interior and exterior surfaces of the buildings. Depending on the extent of service installations, the cross sectional area of the load bearing structural member is substantially reduced. However, the current structural design guidelines have no provision to accommodate the extent to which the existence of conduit pipes impairs the load bearing capacity of the structural element though reduced cross sectional area. This study has attempted to address this gap in structural …

Development Of Pilot Plant For Bio-Ethanol Processing, Emrod Elisante

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The paper outlines achievements obtained in developing a pilot bio-ethanol plant at the Department of Chemical and Mining Engineering (CME), University of Dar es Salaam. The pilot plant consists of: 30 L inoculums tank; 1,700 L fermenter; 1,500 L/day distillation column; and ancillary equipment. The prototype is a platform intended to be used for technology demonstration and research by graduate and undergraduate students studying the production of bio-ethanol using traditional and non-traditional raw materials like coffee mash, cashew fruit, and sisal inulin. The equipment has been developed using locally available engineering resources and the distillation column with 18 sieve tray …

Corrosion-Related Gas Measurements And Analysis For A Suite Of Coals In Staged Pulverized Coal Combustion, Todd A. Reeder

Theses and Dissertations

Eleven gas species, including CO, CO2, H2, H2O, H2S, HCl, NOX, O2, SO2, COS and SO3, were measured in a 150 kWth, staged, pulverized coal, down-fired combustor using a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, gas chromatograph (GC), and a Horiba PG-250 5-gas analyzer. Additional gases such as HCN, NH3, CH4, and other hydrocarbons were also measured. Seven coals of varying rank and composition were investigated. Measurements were obtained in reducing (S.R. = 0.85) and oxidizing (S.R. = 1.15) conditions. In particular, sulfur- and chlorine-containing species including H2S, SO2, COS, SO3, and HCl are discussed. In the reducing zone, all four …

Best Practices For Dealing With Price Volatility In Utah's Residential Construction Market, James Packer Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Price volatility is a consistent problem that affects all of the parties involved in the residential construction industry. The myriad factors that can have an impact on construction costs are such that it is extremely hard to anticipate upcoming changes in a timely and accurate way. When prices fluctuate during the course of a project, estimates become erroneous and completion of projects within expected budgets becomes difficult. Increasing prices typically leave contractors with the majority of the risk burden due to the enforceability of contracts that are likely to have been executed months prior. The risk associated with the owner's …

Comparison Of The Properties Of Portland Cement And Portland-Limestone Cement, Alex Lyatonga Mrema

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

A study was made in a cement factory in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where Ordinary Portland Cement (CEM I 42.5N) and Portland-limestone cement (PLC) which has the brand name Twiga Cement Extra (CEM II/A-L/32.5R) are produced and conforming to the Tanzania Standard TZS 727 (Part1): 2002, which is equivalent to EN 197 published by the committee for European normalization (CEN). A comparison was made between the two types of cements in terms of physical, chemical and mechanical properties. It was found out that they all complied with the standards, that there was no significant difference in their setting times and …

Gold Nanoparticles And Their Polymer Composites: Synthesis Characterization And Applications, Nidhi Joshi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Gold nanoparticles are excellent candidates for all the biomedical applications due to their size and shape dependent optical and physiological properties. In this study, gold nanoparticles were synthesized chemically for bio-application. It was observed that the size and shape of gold nanoparticles depend strongly on the concentration of chemical solution, type of reducing agent used in the reaction, temperature of the solution and stabilizing agent for reaction. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been used extensively to determine the size and shape of the gold nanoparticles. Optical properties of the size and shape selected nanoparticles were studied using UV-vis spectrophotometer in …

Microwave And Millimeter Wave Imaging System, R. Zoughi, Mohamed Ahmed Aboukhousa, Mohammad Tayeb Ahmad Ghasr, Sergey Kharkovsky, David Pommerenke

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A sensor array having a plurality of modulated slots for microwave and/or millimeter wave imaging. The locations of the slots in the array define a spatial domain away from an object for detecting an electric field from the object. Each of the slots outputs a signal representative of the measured field and the location of the slot. A processor decodes the signals and generates an image of the object.

Methods And Systems For Ordering Instructions Using Future Values, Soner Onder

Michigan Tech Patents

A method of ordering instructions. The method can include placing a first instruction that consumes a value of an object before a second instruction that produces the value of the object such that the first instruction is processed before the second instruction and a physical location is allocated to the value of the object upon processing the first instruction.

Flying Mobile On-Board Ellipsometer, Polarimeter, Reflectometer And The Like Systems, Blaine D. Johs, Ping He, Martin M. Liphardt, Christopher A. Goeden, John A. Woollam, James D. Welch

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

A substantially self-contained "on-board" material system investigation system for effecting relative translational and rotational motion between a source and detector of electromagnetic radiation and a sample, which system is functionally mounted on a three-dimensional locational system to enable positioning at desired locations on, and distances from, the surface of a sample, including the capability to easily and conveniently effect rotation and/or to change the angle-of-incidence of a beam of electromagnetic radiation onto a sample surface and/or to provide gas flow confined in a mini-chamber near the surface of a sample, at a location at which a beam having UV, VUV, …

The Structure And Stability Of Alpha-Helical, Orthogonal-Bundle Proteins On Surfaces, Shuai Wei

Theses and Dissertations

The interaction of proteins with surfaces is a major problem involved in protein microarrays. Understanding protein/surface interactions is key to improving the performance of protein microarrays, but current understanding of the behavior of proteins on surfaces is lacking. Prevailing theories on the subject, which suggest that proteins should be stabilized when tethered to surfaces, do not explain the experimentally observed fact that proteins are often denatured on surfaces. In an attempt to develop some predictive capabilities with respect to protein/surface interactions, it was asked in previous works if the stabilization/destabilization of proteins on surfaces could be correlated to secondary structure …

Best Practices For Dealing With Price Volatility In Utah Commercial Construction, Justin Earl Weidman

Theses and Dissertations

In the commercial construction industry, the problem of price volatility as it pertains to materials and labor is a consistent problem. The changing instability of market conditions presents a challenge for construction companies to accurately estimate and complete projects within budget. This volatility can lead to higher costs and more risk to suppliers, contractors, and owners which can cause financial distress for all parties involved in the construction process. As lump sum contracts are typically being used on many projects, the owners seem to have the upper hand and are forcing contractors to honor lump sum contracts even when prices …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Self-Assembly Of Gold Nanorods And Nanoprisms, Kristina L. Tran

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The unique properties of gold nanoparticles make them excellent candidates for applications in electronics, sensing, imaging, and photothermal therapy. Though abundant literature exists for isotropic gold nanoparticles, work on nanoparticles of different shapes has been gaining interest recently. Anisotropic gold nanoparticles, such as nanorods and nanoprisms, have tunable optical properties in the visible and near-infrared regions. Through synthesis and surface modification, the production of various shapes of these gold nanoparticles can be controlled to meet different applications.

Two different types of gold nanorods were used in this thesis. The first type was stabilized with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and had aspect …

Software Defined Radio: Inexpensive Hardware And Software Tools, Thad B. Welch, Cameron H. G. Wright, Michael G. Morrow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

DSP topics such as software defined radio are more easily taught if appropriate demonstrations and laboratory experiences are provided. This paper describes a new, inexpensive software defined radio educational platform based upon MATLAB and the Texas Instruments C6713 digital signal processing starter kit. We describe the hardware and software issues and briefly describe recommended classroom use.

Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm For Robot Path Planning, Michael Brand, Michael Masuda, Nicole Wehner, Xiao-Hua Yu

Electrical Engineering

Path planning is an essential task for the navigation and motion control of autonomous robot manipulators. This NP-complete problem is difficult to solve, especially in a dynamic environment where the optimal path needs to be rerouted in real-time when a new obstacle appears. The ACO (Ant Colony Optimization) algorithm is an optimization technique based on swarm intelligence. This paper investigates the application of ACO to robot path planning in a dynamic environment. Two different pheromone re-initialization schemes are compared and computer simulation results are presented.

Developing A Lean Value Model For Product Development, Salik Yadav, Venkat Allada

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a value quantification model for multistage product development using lean principles. the proposed value model considers four main stages of product development (PD) including conceptual development, systems design, detailed design and prototyping. the model determines an optimal solution for each of the design variables to maximize the value at each of the PD stages. the value at each of the PD stages is formulated as a function of the six factors: (a) importance of customer requirements (b) cost of customer's ownership, (c) parts/service availability, (d) weighted average cost of capital, (e) information evolution and (f) risk reduction. …

Automated Residential Energy Monitoring: An Approach To Performance Comparisons, Christopher D. Wright, Robert B. Stone

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Techniques for residential energy usage monitoring is an emerging field that is currently drawing significant attention. This paper is a description of the current efforts to monitor and compare the performance of three solar-powered homes built at Missouri University of Science and Technology. the homes are outfitted with an array of sensors and a data logger system to measure and record electricity production, system energy use, internal home temperature and humidity, hot water production, and exterior ambient conditions the houses are experiencing. Data will be collected to measure the performance of the houses, compare to energy modeling programs, design and …

Validating Module Heuristics On Large Scale Products, Rachel Day, Robert B. Stone, Katie Grantham Lough

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Decreasing time and costs is a major objective in many businesses today. Including modularity in the early design phases can effectively decrease time spent on and costs associated with a project. the task of identifying modules within a product early in the design process (when decisions are less expensive) is made less daunting by using the techniques of functional modeling and module heuristics. This paper discusses the results of the initial efforts to verify the module heuristics on large products (products with functional models consisting of more than 30 sub-functions) since the module heuristics were originally developed on small products. …

Functioncad: A Functional Modeling Application Based On The Function Design Framework, Robert L. Nagel, Kenneth L. Perry, Robert B. Stone, Daniel A. Mcadams

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a functional modeling application, Function CAD, based on integrated functional and process modeling within the Function Design Framework. Function CAD provides for mixed, hierarchical models of environment, process and function with relationships represented via flows of material, energy and signal. This paper discusses the technical details of the Function CAD software including its two major components: (1) the library, libFCAD, for handling the internal representation of the model and (2) the GUI for user-Based model manipulation and visualization. the application of Function CAD within a computational, function- based conceptual design process is discussed along with the plugin …

Prediction Of The Transport Properties Of A Polyatomic Gas, Zhi Liang, Hai-Lung Tsai

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An Ab Initio Molecular Potential Model is Employed in This Paper to Show its Excellent Predictability for the Transport Properties of a Polyatomic Gas from Molecular Dynamics Simulations. a Quantum Mechanical Treatment of Molecular Vibrational Energies is Included in the Green and Kubo Integral Formulas for the Calculation of the Thermal Conductivity by the Metropolis Monte Carlo Method. using CO2 Gas as an Example, the Fluid Transport Properties in the Temperature Range of 300-1000 K Are Calculated Without using Any Experimental Data. the Accuracy of the Calculated Transport Properties is Significantly Improved by the Present Model, Especially for the Thermal …

Methodology For Selection, Sequencing, And Deployment Of Activities In A Capstone Design Course Using The Tidee Web-Based Assessment System, Jay Mccormack, Steve Beyerlein, David F. Feldon, Denny Davis, Howard Davis, Zachary Wemlinger, Robert Gerlick, Susannah Howe

Engineering: Faculty Publications

Assessment of design process, design products, team process, and professional practice are natural fits in an engineering capstone design course. In order for instructors and students to fully experience the value of capstone course assessment activities, the activities must not only be carefully developed but must also be deployed in an appropriate manner. Course designers must choose an optimal set of assignments based on local needs, while balancing time intensive design project activities with professional growth experiences. Instructors must facilitate the complete cycle of usage of a single assignment in order to ensure that the value is understood before and …

Sorting Results Of Automated Concept Generators Based On Design For Manufacture And Assembly, Kerry R. Poppa, Robert B. Stone

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Early in the design process, it is desirable to produce a large number of potential solutions. Completely exploring a problem's solution space is an unreasonable expectation for an unaided designer or design team. Computational tools have emerged to help designers more fully explore possible solutions. These automated concept generators use knowledge from existing designs and the desired functionality of the new product to suggest solutions. Existing automated concept generation methods produce many candidate solutions, but often provide unmanageably large sets of solutions. Techniques are needed to organize the set of concepts into smaller groups, more easily parsed by the human …

A Natural Language To Component Term Methodology: Towards A Form Based Concept Generation Tool, Matt Robert Bohm, Robert B. Stone

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Over the last few decades design researchers have put forward theories and proposed methodologies that increase the chance that a design team will reliably arrive at the optimal solution to a given design problem. Studies, however, bear out that theories and methodologies alone will not guarantee an optimal or even good design solution. Instead, a breadth of knowledge across multiple engineering domains and the time and tools to thoroughly evaluate the design space are as important as any prescriptive design method. This work presents one of the underlying engineering technologies needed to leverage artificial intelligence approaches to thoroughly search the …

Validation Of Methods For Adjusting Construction Cost Estimates By Project Location, Adam Martinez

Civil Engineering ETDs

Location factors are used to adjust conceptual cost estimates by project location. Presently, the construction industry has adopted a simple, proximity-based interpolation method which uses the “nearest neighbor” location factor to estimate unknown location factors. Although this approach is widely accepted, its validity has not been statistically substantiated. This study assessed the current method of adjusting conceptual cost estimates by project location. An evaluation of 14 alternative spatial estimation methods was also conducted. These methods were based on different approaches for combining 4 criteria: proximity, state boundary, home value, and income. This study used the 2006 RSMeans city cost index …

Flammability Limits, Flash Points, And Their Consanguinity: Critical Analysis, Experimental Exploration, And Prediction, Jeffrey R. Rowley

Theses and Dissertations

Accurate flash point and flammability limit data are needed to design safe chemical processes. Unfortunately, improper data storage and reporting policies that disregard the temperature dependence of the flammability limit and the fundamental relationship between the flash point and the lower flammability limit have resulted in compilations filled with erroneous values. To establish a database of consistent flammability data, critical analysis of reported data, experimental investigation of the temperature dependence of the lower flammability limit, and theoretical and empirical exploration of the relationship between flash points and temperature limits are undertaken. Lower flammability limit measurements in a 12-L ASHRAE style …

Piezoresistive Nano-Composites: Characterization And Applications, Thomas B. Hyatt

Theses and Dissertations

Innovative multifunctional materials are essential to many new sensor applications. Piezoresistive nano-composites make up a promising class of such materials that have the potential to provide a measurable response to strain over a much wider range than typical strain gages. Commercial strain gages are currently dominated by metallic sensors with a useable range of a few percent strain at most. There are, however, many applications that would benefit from a reliable wide-range sensor. These might include the study of explosive behavior, instrumentation of flexible components, motion detection for compliant mechanisms and hinges, human-technology interfaces, and a wide variety of bio-mechanical …

Intelligibility Of Electrolarynx Speech Using A Novel Actuator, Brian Madden, Mark Nolan, Ted Burke, James Condron, Eugene Coyle

Conference Papers

During voiced speech, the larynx provides quasi-periodic acoustic excitation of the vocal tract. Following a laryngectomy, some people speak using an electrolarynx which replaces the excitatory function of the absent larynx. Drawbacks of conventional electrolarynx designs include the buzzing monotonic sound emitted, the need for a free hand to operate the device, and difficulty experienced by many laryngectomees in adapting to its use. Despite these shortcomings, it remains the preferred method of speech rehabilitation for a substantial minority of laryngectomees. In most electrolarynxes, mechanical vibrations are produced by a linear electromechanical actuator, the armature of which percusses against a metal …