Engineering Commons^™

Applied Control Strategies At A Cogeneration Plant, Joseph William Burns

Master's Theses

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the effectiveness of “classical strategies for dynamic control” on authentic cogeneration processes. These strategies are applied to several processes at the University of Connecticut’s cogeneration plant. Case studies of their applications are presented in this paper. Strategies that are applied include the following:

1) The classical SISO feedback structure

2) The First Order Plus Dead Time (FOPDT) process model

3) The Internal Model Control (IMC) correlations for PI controller tuning

4) Static feed forward with feedback trim

5) Cascade Control

Determination Of The Surface Boundary Layer Using A Quadrotor, Andrew Haviland

Aerospace Engineering

Wind velocity data was taken by a quadrotor UAV using accelerometers, gyroscope, and a barometer. Data was taken at different altitudes over a single position to determine the boundary layer at the surface of the earth. The data taken was compared to the results from numerical methods to determine if this is a practice application for a quadrotor. A few weeks before the test was set to get underway, the quadrotor suffered a very hard crash while testing the GPS and altitude hold function and wasn’t able to completely recover from it. Theoretical results and experiment proposal are covered. 

Blood Vessel Segmentation In Magnetic Resonance Angiography Imagery, Samuel Peter Kozaitis, Raghu Chandramohan

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Small blood vessels may be difficult to detect in magnetic resonance angiography due to the lack of blood flow caused by disease or injury. Our method, which uses a block-matching denoising approach to segment blood vessels, works well in the presence of noise. We examined extended regions of an image to determine whether they contained blood vessels by fitting a Gaussian mixture model to a region's histogram. Then, dissimilar regions were denoised separately. This approach was beneficial in low-contrast settings. It can be used to detect higher-order blood vessels that may be difficult to detect under normal conditions.

Denoising Medical Imagery Using A Novel Framework, Samuel Peter Kozaitis, Jeetkumar M. Mehta, S. Ponkia

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

We proposed a novel framework that allows a method optimized for white noise to be used for denoising CT imagery. We considered low-dose x-ray CT imagery where lowering the dose of x-rays results in an increase in quantum noise. We first denoised an image independently several times using different parameters. Then, we selected pixels from those denoised images to form a final composite image. We produced results using blockmatching denoising, but in principle other methods could work within this framework, as well. The proposed method was able to better reproduce regions of low-contrast than the conventional BM3D approach.

Optimal Process Design For Recycled Pet Blends In Injection Molding, Perry H. Johnson

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This case study on optimization of blends with process variables shows how application of advanced tools of Design of Experiments can simultaneously optimize a mixture formulation and processing conditions, taking advantage of complex interactions in the system. The effect of recycled PET and virgin PET on tensile strength and stiffness was studied. The optimal amount of mixture components to produce maximum recycled-content products is determined. As the results of doing systematic experimentation, using mixture experiments, the quality of recycled plastic products can be improved and becomes more robust to variations at the optimal thermal operating settings. This is done through …

Microfiche Digitization And Process Improvement For Cal Poly Senior Projects, Kyle Gaunt

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This project addresses the need to digitize Senior Projects available on microfiche at the Cal Poly Robert E. Kennedy Library. Microfiche is an outdated document archival medium and is unfamiliar to most students, making Senior Project research inconvenient and frustrating to students. To make this process easier and more accessible to students, the University Library should consider digitizing its Senior Project collection and improving the current system in the mean time.

The Six Sigma DMAIC method was used to discover root cause problems of the current system, define performance metrics, and to develop data driven solutions for improving the current …

Design, Manufacturing And Testing Of An Environmentally-Green Bipropellant Thruster, Alex Bendoyro, Gabriel Sanchez, Erin Stearns, Phillip Takahashi

Aerospace Engineering

This project reviews the design, manufacturing and experimentation process of a green bi-propellant thruster designed to output 5 lbf. The goals were to successfully design, manufacture and test a thruster, while discovering the complications that arise through out the complete design process of a green thruster. The thruster was successfully designed using ideal rocket equations and the design was successfully confirmed using CFD and FEA. Manufacturing of the thruster was fully planned and revealed mild flaws in thruster design. For example some features were not manufacturable to the exact measurements desired. Testing of the engine gave results inconsistent with expected …

Quadruped Gait Learning Using Cyclic Genetic Algorithms, Gary Parker, William T. Tarimo, Michael Cantor

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Generating walking gaits for legged robots is a challenging task. Gait generation with proper leg coordination involves a series of actions that are continually repeated to create sustained movement. In this paper we present the use of a Cyclic Genetic Algorithm (CGA) to learn gaits for a quadruped servo robot with three degrees of movement per leg. An actual robot was used to generate a simulation model of the movement and states of the robot. The CGA used the robot's unique features and capabilities to develop gaits specific for that particular robot. Tests done in simulation show the success of …

Fitness Biasing For Evolving An Xpilot Combat Agent, Gary Parker, Phil Fritzsche

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In this paper we present an application of Fitness Biasing, a type of Punctuated Anytime Learning, for learning autonomous agents in the space combat game Xpilot. Fitness Biasing was originally developed as a means of linking the model to the actual robot in evolutionary robotics. We use fitness biasing with a standard genetic algorithm to learn control programs for a video game agent in real-time. Xpilot-AI, an Xpilot add-on designed for testing learning systems, is used to evolve the controller in the background while periodic checks in normal game play are used to compensate for errors produced by running the …

The Effects Of Using A Greedy Factor In Hexapod Gait Learning, Gary Parker, William T. Tarimo

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Various selection schemes have been described for use in genetic algorithms. This paper investigates the effects of adding greediness to the standard roulette-wheel selection. The results of this study are tested on a Cyclic Genetic Algorithm (CGA) used for learning gaits for a hexapod servo-robot. The effectiveness of CGA in learning optimal gaits with selection based on roulette-wheel selection with and without greediness is compared. The results were analyzed based on fitness of the individual gaits, convergence time of the evolution process, and the fitness of the entire population evolved. Results demonstrate that selection with too much greediness tends to …

Comparison Of A Greedy Selection Operator To Tournament Selection And A Hill Climber, Lee Graham, John Borbone, Gary Parker

Computer Science Faculty Publications

A new deterministic greedy genetic algorithm selection operator with very high selection pressure, dubbed the "Jugate Adaptive Method" is examined. Its performance and behavior are compared to thoseof a canonical genetic algorithm with tournament selection, and a random-restarting next-ascent stochastic hill-climber. All three algorithms are tuned using parameter sweeps to optimize their success rates on five combinatorial optimization problems, tuning each algorithm for each problem independently. Results were negative in that the new method was outperformed in nearly all experiments. Experimental data show the hill climber to be the clear winner in four of five test problems.

Numerical Modeling Of The Cn Spectral Emission Of The Stardust Re-Entry Vehicle, Alexandre Martin, Erin D. Farbar, Iain D. Boyd

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Re-entry vehicles designed for space exploration are usually equipped with thermal protection systems made of ablative material. In order to properly model and predict the aerothermal environment of the vehicle, it is imperative to account for the gases produced by ablation processes. In the case of charring ablators, where an inner resin is pyrolyzed at a relatively low temperature, the composition of the gas expelled into the boundary layer is complex and may lead to thermal chemical reactions that cannot be captured with simple ow chemistry models. In order to obtain better predictions, an appropriate gas ow chemistry model needs …

Why Fuzzy Transform Is Efficient In Large-Scale Prediction Problems: A Theoretical Explanation, Irina Perfilieva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Tropical (Idempotent) Algebras As A Way To Optimize Fuzzy Control, Jaime Nava

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Fuzzy control is a methodology that transforms control rules (described by an expert in words of a natural language) into a precise control strategy. There exist several versions of this transformation. The main difference between these versions is in how they interpret logical connectives "and" and "or", i.e., in other words, what reasoning method a version uses. Which of these versions should we choose? It turns out that on different stages of control, different reasoning methods lead to better control results. In this paper, we describe the choice of reasoning methods that optimize control results in terms of smoothness and …

Change In Carbon Nanofiber Resistance From Ambient To Vacuum, Shusaku Maeda, Patrick Wilhite, Nobuhiko Kanzaki, Toshishige Yamada, Cary Y. Yang

Electrical and Computer Engineering

The electrical properties of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) can be affected by adsorbed gas species. In this study, we compare the resistance values of CNF devices in a horizontal configuration in air and under vacuum. CNFs in air are observed to possess lower current capacities compared to those in vacuum. Further, Joule heating due to current stressing can result in desorption of gas molecules responsible for carrier trapping, leading to lower resistances and higher breakdown currents in vacuum, where most adsorbed gaseous species are evacuated before any significant re-adsorption can occur. A model is proposed to describe these observations, and is …

Radio Frequency Identification Classroom Management System, Andrew W. Wright

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Professors who manage large classes are unrealistically expected to grade each student fairly and accurately. Even with all of the technological advancements that have occurred in the past thirty years, very little progress has been made in classroom management, and as a result, professors are not equipped with enough tools to successfully manage large class sizes. Because radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is making its way into student issued identification cards, there is an opportunity to use it as a tool to aid professors in the classroom. The focus of this paper is to discover an effective system that can …

New Product Development Project Construction, Implementation And Continual Improvement: A Case Illustration From Semiconductor Manufacturing, Philip Daniel Walker

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Successful projects are the backbone of companies that lead their respective fields. Failed projects for one reason or another are more often than not the reason some companies fall further and further behind their counterparts. Projects are becoming more technologically advanced. Projects are more expensive and are receiving less funding than they used to due to a highly competitive economic climate. The projects in the second decade of 2000 have to meet the triple bottom line of cheaper, faster, and better than ever before. Due to these reasons projects have continued to fail at an alarming rate (nearly 70% in …

Setup Reduction Time At A Batch Manufacturing Plant, Mario A. Aguilar

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This project documents the efforts to reduce setup times at a batch manufacturing culture media production plant. The company is one of the leading producers in medical and laboratory supplies, including culture media. In the production of culture media, the production line requires to switch between solutions once or twice a day depending on the production schedule.

The report provides the production plant with a concrete analysis of their current changeover method, which tends to be lengthy and complicated, and suggest alternatives in short and long term periods of time to reduce setup time.

After analyzing the time studies of …

Ms Access Database Designed For Community Service Office, Juan P. Ojeda Pedraza

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The purpose of this senior project is to reduce the number of data entry errors in the community service worker system at the EcoSLO office. EcoSLO is a community service office located in San Luis Obispo, CA that seeks to better the environment through various events and programs such as recycling projects and environmental clean-up projects. Currently the EcoSLO office uses Microsoft Excel to store and keep track of community service workers. A Microsoft Access database will be designed to help minimize data entry errors and to make it easier to generate reports that must be submitted to the San …

A Database Design For Cvs Pharmacy's Patterson, California Distribution Center, Jason Kenneth Okajima

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

CVS Pharmacy’s Patterson, California Distribution Center did not have an efficient and cost effective method for auditing shipped out products. The purpose of this project was to create a new system and procedure for the Patterson Distribution Center to audit shipped out container totes. The distribution center’s original method was slow, inefficient, and involved paper waste, considerable travel time, and several manual procedures. This project was meant to develop a new process and database system to provide a solution to their problem. The end goal of this project was to implement the designed method and system of auditing for daily …

Antique Aircraft Avionics Modernization: Process And System Design For A Transponder Installation In A 1946 Luscombe 8a, Nicholas Camacho

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The general aviation population is full of vintage aircraft. Built in the heyday of personal aviation, these machines embody the spirit of aviation; freedom afforded from the everyday monotony of earthbound people. As technology advanced and air traffic became more congested, new requirements were set forth by governing bodies to ensure the safety of aircraft. These regulations limited the capability of vintage general aviation aircraft. This report was commenced to understand the necessary steps required to add modern technology to old aircraft, as well as design a system that would enhance the capability of vintage aircraft while keeping their antique …

Chevrolet Upper Control Arm Re-Design, Christopher Mclean

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The purpose of this project is to design and manufacture an improved upper control arm for a 1988-1998 Chevrolet K2500 truck. This component controls the suspension of a vehicle and will be redesigned to improve the many shortcomings of the current design. The objectives of this project were met by redesigning the stock upper control arm, designing and manufacturing a weld fixture, manufacturing a prototype component, and performing a cost analysis. This component was designed to improve performance, reliability, serviceability and strength while maximizing manufacturability. The fixture and upper control arm were manufactured using computer aided design, CNC methods and …

Processing Interval Sensor Data In The Presence Of Outliers, With Potential Applications To Localizing Underwater Robots, Jan Sliwka, Luc Jaulin, Martine Ceberio, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Measurements are never absolutely accurate, the measurement result X is, in general, different from the actual (unknown) values x of the corresponding quantity. In many practical problems, we only know upper bounds D on the measurement errors d = X - x. In such situations, once we know the measurement result, the only conclusion that we can make about the actual value x is that this value belongs to the interval [X - D, X + D]. There exist many efficient algorithms for processing such interval data. However, these algorithms usually assume that all the measurement results are valid. In …

Towards A "Generic" Notion Of Genericity: From "Typical" And "Random" To Meager, Shy, Etc., Ali Jalal-Kamali, Ondrej Nebesky, Michael H. Durcholz, Vladik Kreinovich, Luc Longpre

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many application areas, it is important to study "generic" properties, i.e., properties which hold for ``typical'' examples. For example, if we know the probabilities of different events, we can consider a "random" object -- i.e., an object that, crudely speaking, does not belong to any class of "unusual" events (i.e., to any class with a small probability). In other cases, "typical" may mean not belonging to an "unusual" subset which is small in some other sense -- e.g., a subset of a smaller dimension. The corresponding notion of "typicalness" has been formalized for several cases, including the case of …

Is It Possible To Have A Feasible Enclosure-Computing Method Which Is Independent Of The Equivalent Form?, Marcin Michalak, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

The problem of computing the range [y] of a given function f(x1, ..., xn) over given intervals [xi] -- often called the main problem of interval computations -- is, in general, NP-hard. This means that unless P = NP, it is not possible to have a feasible (= polynomial time) algorithm that always computes the desired range. Instead, interval computations algorithms compute an enclosure [Y] for the desired range. For all known feasible enclosure-computing methods -- starting with straightforward interval computations -- there exist two expressions f(x1, ..., xn) and g(x1, ..., xn) for computing the same function that lead …

Multi-Field Visualization For Biomedical Data Sets, Thomas Wischgoll

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Development Of Wearable Sensors For Body Joint Angle Measurement, Saba Bakhshi Khayani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the development of three different methods for body joint angle measurement using wearable sensors. Continuous monitoring of patients' movements and activities has recently become one of the active research areas in the field of body sensor network and telehealth monitoring. For many medical and rehabilitation applications, a continuous monitor of the patients' daily activities at home without visiting the hospital is desirable. This type of monitoring is beneficial for the therapists and physicians as it does not require patients' physical presence. Traditionally, measuring the range of motion (ROM) is performed in hospitals by utilizing standard tools such …

Design, Fabrication, And Testing Of An Electromagnetic Rail Gun For The Repeated Testing And Simulation Of Orbital Debris Impacts, Jeff Maniglia, Jordan Smiroldo, Alex Westfall, Guy Zohar

Aerospace Engineering

An Electromagnetic Railgun (EMRG) was designed, built, and tested, capable of firing a projectile a 1 gram projectile at 650 m/s muzzle velocity. The EMRG utilizes an injector, a high voltage power supply, a capacitor bank, inductors and rails. The injector fires 2300 psig Nitrogen gas into the system to provide an initial velocity. The high voltage power supply charges the capacitor bank. The capacitor bank discharges the electric potential built up through the projectile while inside the rails in order to create the EMRG’s force. The inductors are used to pulse form the capacitor bank in order to get …

Linking Cyclic Stress And Cyclic Strain Based Methods For Assessment Of Cyclic Liquefaction Triggering In Sands, J. A. Schneider, R. E.S. Moss

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Contradictory conclusions may arise when assessing liquefaction resistance of sands based on penetrat1on tests and shear wave velocity. To provide a more unified analysis framework, th1s letter couples cyclic stress and cyclic strain based analysis of liquefaction triggering using site-specific correlations between penetration resistance and small strain shear modulus from shear wave velocity using the seismic cone tests. Cyclic strain theory provides a robust lower limit to liquefaction resistance, and analyses indicate that relatively high ratios of small strain stiffness to penetration resistance lead to high liquefaction resistance at relatively low cyclic stress ratios_ The increased resistance to liquefaction from …

The Effects Of Cure Schedule On Properties Of Glass-Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Matrix Composites, Trevor J. Lee

Materials Engineering

Two different two-component resin systems were cured, via Differential Scanning Calorimetry, for the times recommended by their respective manufacturers. The resin cure schedules were designed to simulate typical and attainable processing conditions; they were cured at 120°F, 140°F, and 160°F, and in-mold post-cured at 200°F, 230°F, and 260°F. The resulting scans were then compared to a baseline cure for each resin system, consisting of two heating-cooling cycles at a constant rate of temperature change. These baseline cures were then used to determine the percent cure of each sample and the shift in glass transition temperature between the baseline cure and …