Engineering Commons^™

Study Of A Symmetrical Llc Dual-Active Bridge Resonant Converter Topology For Battery Storage Systems, John K. George

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A symmetrical LLC resonant converter topology with a fixed-frequency quasi-triple phase-shift modulation method is proposed for battery-powered electric traction systems with extensions to other battery storage systems. Operation of the converter with these methods yields two unique transfer characteristics and is dependent on the switching frequency. The converter exhibits several desirable features: 1) load-independent buck-boost voltage conversion when operated at the low-impedance resonant frequency, allowing for dc-link voltage regulation, zero-voltage switching across a wide load range, and intrinsic load transient resilience; 2) power flow control when operated outside the low-impedance resonance for integrated battery charging; 3) and simple operational mode …

Cybersecurity Methods For Grid-Connected Power Electronics, Stephen Joe Moquin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present work shows a secure-by-design process, defense-in-depth method, and security techniques for a secure distributed energy resource. The distributed energy resource is a cybersecure, solar inverter and battery energy storage system prototype, collectively called the Cybersecure Power Router. Consideration is given to the use of the Smart Green Power Node for a foundation of the present work. Metrics for controller security are investigated to evaluate firmware security techniques. The prototype's ability to mitigate, respond to, and recover from firmware integrity degradation is examined. The prototype shows many working security techniques within the context of a grid-connected, distributed energy resource. …

Stay-At-Home Motor Rehabilitation: Optimizing Spatiotemporal Learning On Low-Cost Capacitive Sensor Arrays, Reid Sutherland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Repeated, consistent, and precise gesture performance is a key part of recovery for stroke and other motor-impaired patients. Close professional supervision to these exercises is also essential to ensure proper neuromotor repair, which consumes a large amount of medical resources. Gesture recognition systems are emerging as stay-at-home solutions to this problem, but the best solutions are expensive, and the inexpensive solutions are not universal enough to tackle patient-to-patient variability. While many methods have been studied and implemented, the gesture recognition system designer does not have a strategy to effectively predict the right method to fit the needs of a patient. …

Design Of Submicron Structured Guided-Mode-Resonance Near-Infrared Polarizer, Marzia Zaman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research is to design a larger submicron linear polarizer in the near-infrared wavelength range with a wide bandwidth which can be fabricated using the conventional thin-film microfabrication technology to reduce cost. For this purpose, a gold (Au) wire-grid transmission-type transverse-magnetic (TM) polarizer and a silicon (Si) wire-grid reflection-type TM polarizer, were designed using the guided-mode-resonance filter. The Au wire-grid TM polarizer of 700nm grating width and 1200nm grating period has 95% transmittance at 2400nm, more than 1000nm resonance peak bandwidth, and an extinction ratio (ER) of around 300 with a moderated level of sidebands. The 700nm …

Solution To Exide Technologies Inbatec Inefficiency, Mary Fairley, Reagan Gilker, Spencer Christian, Shixuan Hou, Covenson Latouche

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The inefficiency of the battery charging time in Inbatec Units 1 and 2 in the Exide Technologies Fort Smith was initially investigated by a student team in Fall 2019, and the investigation was continued into Spring 2020. The Exide Technologies facility in Fort Smith, Arkansas utilizes 13 Inbatec units to charge the lead-acid batteries.

The Inbatec systems circulate the sulfuric acid solution through a cooling tower to maintain to optimal charging temperature. Previous analysis of the charging process for Inbatec Units 1 and 2 show the cooling tower have the capacity to quickly remove the excess heat in the sulfuric …

Design Of A Shallow-Aero Ebb And Flow Hydroponics System And Associated Educational Module For Tri Cycle Farms, Julie Halveland

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tri Cycle Farms, whose main mission is to reduce food insecurity in their community, is a non- profit urban farm in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The “Tri” in their name refers to the three parts of their foundation: giving a third of their yield to volunteers, giving a third to local food pantries, and selling a third to sustain the farm and demonstrate the economy of local food production. They want to expand on the third part and have a vision of building a hydroponic greenhouse with the intention that it will create more crops to sell and give, as well as …

Improving Pv Module Efficiency Through Cooling, Harrison Dawson

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Solarbacks researched and designed a variety of cooling methods that could be used to improve the efficiency of photovoltaics. These cooling methods can be separated into two categories: active and passive methods. The active cooling method of hydraulic cooling and the passive cooling methods of heat sinks (fins), optical coatings, thermosyphons, phase change materials, and thermoelectric generators were all taken into consideration as potential cooling methods. Passive cooling methods were preferred because the use of electricity required for the cooling mechanism would reduce the net electricity and subsequent profit from the panels.

Two variations of hydraulic cooling were researched: …

Hydrolytic Degradation Study Of Polyphosphazene-Plga Blends, Riley Blumenfield

Honors Scholar Theses

The synthesis and in vitro degradation analysis of thin films of poly[(glycineethylglycinato)₇₅(phenylphenoxy)₂₅phosphazene]
(PNGEG₇₅PhPh₂₅) and poly[(ethylphenylalanato)₂₅(glycine-
ethylglycinato)₇₅phosphazene] (PNEPA₂₅GEG₇₅) blended with poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) was conducted to determine the blends’ potential for use as scaffolding materials for tissue regeneration applications. The samples were synthesized with glycylglycine ethyl ester (GEG) acting as the primary substituent side group, with cosubstitution by phenylphenol (PhPh) and phenylalanine ethyl ester (EPA) to make the final product [1]. Blends of 25% polyphosphazene, 75% PLGA and 50% polyphosphazene, 50% PLGA were …

Experimental Evaluation Of Heat Leak And Convective Heat Transfer In A Household Freezer., Catherine E. Berghuis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Heat leak into household refrigerated cabinets is a key driver affecting energy consumption and efficiency of the cooling system. Additionally, knowledge of heat transfer coefficients of internal surfaces is valuable in the development of cabinet and system level performance simulations. Several studies have examined heat leak of refrigeration units using heat flux sensors (HFS); however, no such studies have used heat flux measurements to derive convective heat transfer coefficients of the refrigerated unit walls. The goal of this study is to evaluate the use of HFS to quantify heat leak into a 490-liter freezer and determine the wall convective heat …

Gridhub: A Grid-Based, High-Density Material Handling System., Gang Hao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the past twenty years, the share of e-commerce has increased (FRED, 2019). Since more and more activities, such as picking and sorting customers’ orders, are done in warehouses, high efficiency warehouses are in demand. Furthermore, the efficiency of warehouses is related to customer satisfaction (Colla and Lapoule, 2012). Storage systems are key components in warehouses, which are related to the efficiency of warehouse operations. In this dissertation, we address an automatic puzzle-based storage system under decentralized control. We call this system GridHub. GridHub meets standards of Industry 4.0 (Lasi et al., 2014), and it features high throughput with parallel …

Computational Techniques In Medical Image Analysis Application For White Blood Cells Classification., Omar Dekhil

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

White blood cells play important rule in the human body immunity and any change in their count may cause serious diseases. In this study, a system is introduced for white blood cells localization and classification. The dataset used in this study is formed by two components, the first is the annotation dataset that will be used in the localization (364 images), and the second is labeled classes that will be used in the classification (12,444 images). For the localization, two approaches will be discussed, a classical approach and a deep learning based approach. For the classification, 5 different deep learning …

Influences Of Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing (Meam) Parameters And Additives On Polyvinylidene Fluoride (Pvdf) Properties., Niknam Momenzadeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Beyond the beneficial characteristics of smart polymers associated with all polymers such as flexibility and cost fabrication, smart materials exhibit multifunctional behaviors. The prospect of integrating structural and sensing/actuation capabilities into a single structure gives design engineers an ability to innovate highly novel, multi-functional creations. Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) is one of the widely used multi-functional materials which offers a variety of desirable material properties. It possesses exceptional chemical and UV resistance, biocompatibility, low processing temperature and affordable price making it a competitive choice for many commercial applications. In addition, among polymers, PVDF is simply the most dominant piezoelectric polymer. On …

Size-Dependent Inhibitory Effects Of Antibiotic Nanocarriers On Filamentation Of E. Coli, Preeyaporn Songkiatisak, Feng Ding, Pavan Kumar Cherukuri, Xiao-Hong Nancy Xu

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Multidrug membrane transporters exist in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and cause multidrug resistance (MDR), which results in an urgent need for new and more effective therapeutic agents. In this study, we used three different sized antibiotic nanocarriers to study their mode of action and their size-dependent inhibitory effects against Escherichia coli (E. coli). Antibiotic nanocarriers (AgMUNH–Oflx NPs) with 8.6 × 10², 9.4 × 10³ and 6.5 × 10⁵ Oflx molecules per nanoparticle (NP) were prepared by functionalizing Ag NPs (2.4 ± 0.7, 13.0 ± 3.1 and 92.6 ± 4.4 nm) with a monolayer …

Evaluation Of The Dynamic Behavior Of Steel Staircases With Concrete Filled Pan Treads, Tyler Sondag

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Vibration serviceability of staircases has been a growing challenge for structural engineers due to changing materials and structural forms. In order to prevent or correct serviceability problems due to structural vibrations, structural engineers should be able to predict the dynamic performance of a staircase structure. However, there are few technical guides available for designing steel staircases, and the ones that do exist are often limited in their applications. Currently, there is a lack of research on staircases that are less prone to vibrations, such as staircases with concrete filled pans that are composed of face and wall stringers. Therefore, the …

Application Of An Ultrasonic Sensor To Monitor Soil Erosion And Deposition, Jessica E. Johnson

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While erosion and deposition are naturally occurring processes, these processes can be accelerated by human influences. The acceleration of erosion causes damage to human assets and costs billions of dollars to mitigate. Monitoring erosion at high resolutions can provide researchers and managers the data necessary to help manage erosion. Current erosion monitoring methods tend to be invasive to the area, record low frequency measurements, have a narrow spatial range of measurement, or are very expensive. There is a need for an affordable monitoring system capable of monitoring erosion and deposition non-invasively at a high resolution. The objectives of this research …

Utilization Of Recycled Filament For 3d Printing For Consumer Goods, Alexa Peterson

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

The 3D printing market has been used in a wide variety of manufacturing industries including textile and apparel. Many consumers can now own a personal 3D printer at home for recreational printing. There are even websites dedicated to 3D printing patterns made by consumers. However, the materials used in the 3D printing process pose a problem for the environment due to their plastic-based nature. 3D printing is a layered process with each layer being printed depending on the layer below it for strength and stability. During the 3D printing process, great amounts of waste are produced as a result of …

Electrical And Chemical Characterization Of A Helium-Air Non-Thermal Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet, Adam Zandani

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Plasma is one of the most complicated, yet promising fields in physics due to its high efficiency and multitude of crucial applications such as biological sterilization, polymer modification, surface treatments, etching, agriculture, and facilitation of selective catalytic processes to name a few. With these advantages, mysteries still remain. With this in mind, in order to accurately gauge the total influence of the plasma applied in various processes, understanding what is being produced and how the production occurs is vital. To understand this, optical emission spectroscopy was used to gauge how the species generated are influenced by operation parameters such as …

On The Advantages Of The Disabled In Space., Samantha R. Timmers

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Since the start of the astronaut program in the 1960s, candidates have had to prove to be in prime physical shape before being granted clearance to fly, whereas those with physical disabilities such as blindness or deafness are automatically disqualified. The stigma that disabled persons are less qualified to succeed in a physically alien environment has persisted, though little research exists in revisiting the difficulties posed by allowing this group into the space program. This paper aims to reconsider the advantages and disadvantages of a disability-friendly space program, to include cost considerations, potential challenges, and the unique benefits posed by …

Cell Line-Specific Differences In Guided Differentiation Of Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Towards Smooth Muscle Cells, Sherly Makar

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a population of stromal cells found traditionally in the bone marrow and adipose tissues. They can also be found in other tissues including fallopian tube, core blood, peripheral blood, fetal liver, and lungs. Mesenchymal stem cells have profound effects in regenerative engineering, tissue repair and drug discovery owing to the excellent properties such as proliferation, self-renewal, and multipotency generating multiple cell types including adipocytes, osteocytes, cardiomyocytes (CMs), pericytes (PCs), and chondrocytes. MSCs are used as immunomodulators in generating progenitor cells to be used for transplantation, creating engineered organs, and preventing graft vs. host disease (GVHD). …

Characterization Of Oxone Mediated Tempo-Oxidized Nano Cellulose Mixed-Matrix Membranes During Ultrafiltration And Hemodialysis, Kristyn Robling

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The ninth leading cause of death in the United States is kidney disease, and hemodialysis is the process most commonly prescribed for treatment. It utilizes a selectively permeable membrane filter to remove toxins such as urea from the blood and retain necessary protein levels. However, traditional filters, such as cellulose triacetate, used during dialysis can be inefficient in terms of separation performance and reduction of fouling. Recent exploration of nanoparticles has resulted in the creation of Oxone Mediated TEMPO-Oxidized Nano Cellulose which has properties that are believed to increase hydrophilicity, increase tensile capacity, decrease membrane resistance and lower fouling, making …

Comparative Genomics Of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells And Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Derived Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells, Samia Ismail

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

As of 2017, vascular diseases contributed to 23.1% of all deaths in America. To address the need for more effective and sustainable treatment options for these ailments, stem cell differentiation and implantation has emerged as a viable alternative to standard bypass and graft insertions. A completely autologous treatment can be achieved by extracting adult stem cells, differentiating them into vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), and then reimplanting these cells at the affected tissue site. This study aims to investigate the efficiency of the VSMC differentiation from human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) by comparing 4 cell lines of untreated hMSCs with …

Design Optimization Of An Elastically Supported Multi-Beam Rotordynamic System To Minimize Flexural Response With Considerations For Robustness, Bret R. Hauser

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Modern rotating machines are often required to operate with a small physical footprint and/or overall weight; necessitating that they utilize wide-ranging shaft speed to accomplish needed power levels. It is not uncommon that these designs also be required to support operation through a speed range encompassing multiple Critical Speeds while also limiting flexural vibrations to acceptable levels. Design optimization of this class of problem can be particularly difficult in that responses can be highly multi-modal and, when coupled with Finite Element (FE) solvers meet the conditions of a High Dimensional, Computationally Expensive Black Box (HEB) system. Because of this, some …

Examining Current State Of Practice Of Enhancing Visibility Of Winter Operations Vehicles, Wasiq Ameen

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Despite precautions taken by the operators of maintenance vehicles, insufficient visibility of winter operations vehicles cause many collisions in the United States. Numerous methods have been developed to enhance the visibility of winter operations vehicles. Although the visibility of winter operations vehicles has enhanced through these methods, the consistency in the implementation of the methods for enhancing their visibility is critical to avoid collisions. The inconsistencies in the implementation of the methods confuse the public who are traveling in winter conditions when visibility is low. The confusion leads to a delay in perception time and response time of the drivers …

Toward A Seismic Resistant Steel Staggered Truss Framing System (Stf), Ra'ed Al-Mazaidh

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The Staggered Truss Framing (STF) system is a type of steel structural system used in mid- to high-rise buildings. It was initially developed in the 1960s in order to create a steel framing system that has low floor-to-floor height (9 to 10 ft.) and wide column-free space (60 to 80 ft.). This system consists of a series of story-high trusses spanning the total width between two rows of exterior columns and arranged in a staggered pattern on adjacent column lines. Due to the staggered layout, lateral seismic force transfer in the STF system is also in a staggered manner from …

Probing Nanoelectroporation And Resealing Of The Cell Membrane By The Entry Of Ca2+ And Ba2+ Ions, Wenfei Bo, Mantas Silkunas, Uma Mangalanathan, Vitalij Novickij, Maura Casciola, Iurii Semenov, Shu Xiao, Olga N. Pakhomova, Andrei G. Pakhomov

Bioelectrics Publications

The principal bioeffect of the nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) is a lasting cell membrane permeabilization, which is often attributed to the formation of nanometer-sized pores. Such pores may be too small for detection by the uptake of fluorescent dyes. We tested if Ca²⁺, Cd²⁺, Zn²⁺, and Ba²⁺ ions can be used as nanoporation markers. Time-lapse imaging was performed in CHO, BPAE, and HEK cells loaded with Fluo-4, Calbryte, or Fluo-8 dyes. Ca²⁺ and Ba²⁺ did not change fluorescence in intact cells, whereas their entry after nsPEF increased fluorescence within <1 ms. The threshold for one 300-ns pulse was at 1.5–2 kV/cm, much lower than >7 …

Route Choice Behaviour And Travel Information In A Congested Network: Static And Dynamic Recursive Models, Giselle De Moraes Ramos, Tien Mai, Winnie Daamen, Emma Frejinger

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Travel information has the potential to influence travellers choices, in order to steer travellers to less congested routes and alleviate congestion. This paper investigates, on the one hand, how travel information affects route choice behaviour, and on the other hand, the impact of the travel time representation on the interpretation of parameter estimates and prediction accuracy. To this end, we estimate recursive models using data from an innovative data collection effort consisting of route choice observation data from GPS trackers, travel diaries and link travel times on the overall network. Though such combined data sets exist, these have not yet …

Command, Control, And Telemetry For Utah State University's Scintillation Prediction Observation Research Task (Sport) Mission, Jordan Haws

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Scintillation Prediction Observation Research Task (SPORT) is a joint United States of America (USA) and Brazil small satellite mission to address the further understanding of the preconditions leading to equatorial plasma bubbles. Utah State University (USU) is supplying four instruments towards this SPORT mission. These four instruments will allow measurements of the electric field and plasma density in the ionosphere which will help understand what gives rise to plasma bubbles in the ionosphere.

This thesis will discuss the command, control, and telemetry communications needed to operate the SPORT USU instruments. It will cover an overview of the instruments involved, …

Modified Stent Design For A Coronary Bifurcation Lesion, Abigail Nowell

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Currently, 18.2 million adults aged 20 and older are diagnosed with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) (Benjamin et al., 2019). Stenosis is the most common intervention. However, when a patient has a bifurcated artery, treatment becomes more difficult and is often unsuccessful. This project created a new stent and balloon complex that was tested in vitro using a gel phantom artery model. Two separate prototypes have been created and tested so far, with improvements made upon each. Testing is still underway with Prototype 2.

Towards Gross-Pitaevskiian Description Of Solar System & Galaxies, Florentin Smarandache, Victor Christianto, Yunita Umniyati

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this paper, we argue that Gross-Pitaevskii model can be a more complete description of both solar system and spiral galaxies, especially taking into account the nature of chirality and vortices in galaxies. We also hope to bring out some correspondence among existing models, e.g., the topological vortex approach, Burgers equation in the light of KAM theory, and the Cantorian Navier-Stokes approach. We hope further investigation can be done around this line of approach.

Investigation Of Honey As The Electrolyte Gate Dielectrics Of Field Effect Transistors, Binghao Wang, Kuan Yew Cheong, Chih Fang Huang, Feng Zhao

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The paper reports on the investigation of honey as the electrolyte gate dielectrics of graphene field effect transistors. Transfer and output characteristics of graphene transistors were collected at room temperature and 40 °C under open air. Typical behaviors such as Dirac neutrality point and linear relation of drain current with drain-source voltage at low field and various gate bias voltages were achieved. In addition, cleaning and reapplication of honey on transistors only show slight changes in those characteristics.