Engineering Commons^™

Micro Electromechanical Relays And Their Application In Variable Inductor Networks, Shifang Zhou

Dissertations

A family of microrelay devices together with integrated inductor networks has been designed, simulated, fabricated and experimental characterized. These switched networks utilize microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) as a fabrication technology and take advantage of the economies of semiconductor cleanroom batch-processing.

A new type of microrelay has been developed using a suspended TaSi₂/SiO₂ bimorph cantilever beam, gold-to-gold electrical contact, aluminum as sacrificial layer, and a combined thermal and electrostatic means of actuation. For the first time a micro variable inductor network which is digitally controlled by microrelays has been demonstrated. A test structure for electrical micro contact characterization has …

Numerical Study Of Three-Dimensional Free Convection From Semi-Enclosed Geometry And Discontinuous Heat Sources, Aklilu T.G. Giorges

Dissertations

Three-dimensional natural convection from three-by-three array of isoflux heat sources mounted on one vertical wall of semi-enclosed region has been numerically investigated. Detailed thermal information of this important engineering configuration is currently not available. The major objective of this study was to obtain this needed thermal and velocity information.

The semi-enclosed geometry can be viewed as a thin rectangular region with four closed and two open sides. The open surfaces are located at the top and adjacent side. For the fluid air, Pr = 0.71, the study covered a heat flux based Rayleigh number (Ra) range of (10² ≤ …

Dynamic Friction Measurement, Modeling, And Compensation For Precise Motion Control, Simon Cohn

Theses

In this thesis, measurements of dynamic friction in a hydrodynamic journal bearing were performed for varying sinusoidal velocity excitations, loads, and lubricants. The results indicate that the friction data displays a negative slope in the mixed region of friction vs. velocity (f-v) curves, and also shows that the dynamic friction is not just a function of current velocity, but also a function of velocity history (hysteresis). These results are in agreement with previous experimental investigations by other investigators in lubricated friction.

Secondly, a dynamic friction model is fully explored and partially extended to provide quantitative agreement to measured friction values. …

Kinematic Analysis Of A Swash-Plate Mechanism Using Transformation Matrices, David Edgar Evans

Theses

The swash-plate mechanism is used to transfer rotational motion into translational motion and vice versa. Using transformation matrices to describe each joint, the displacements of the swash-plate mechanism were analyzed. The general transformation matrix model for the plane joint, not previously developed using transformation matrices, was presented. The solution was tested using a computer program. Examples of three different swash-plate angles; 10, 45, and 25' were considered. The solution was found to agree with previous solutions while offering a more complete description of the mechanism. Future work in this area could include a complete static, velocity, and/or dynamic analysis of …

Investigation Of Optical Properties Of Inp, Ain And Sapphire For Applications In Non-Contact Semiconductor Process Monitoring, Rajasekhar Velagapudi

Theses

The objective of this thesis was to develop a reliable multi-wavelength pyrometer for simultaneous measurement of the wafer temperature and its optical properties in the wavelength range of 1 to 20 microns and temperature range of 30 to 1500° C. The spectral emissometer has been utilized for measurement of the temperature dependent optical properties of InP, AlN and Sapphire. The experimental results presented in this thesis showed that the measurement of high temperature optical properties could be performed reliably with a novel approach using the spectral ernissometer. The temperature determination capability of the emissometer was tested and verified using a …

Melt Hydroperoxidation Polypropylene With Potential Application In Pollution Control, Zeena Cherian

Theses

The primary objective of this study is to introduce tertiary hydroperoxide functional groups into polypropylene (PP) melt by injecting air. This was done first by mixing additive free polypropylene powder with air in a batch mixer. The influence of air flow rate, temperature, mixing time and rotor RPM on the concentration of hydroperoxide groups were studied. Iodometric analysis and fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis were the techniques used to detect and quantify the concentration of hydroperoxide groups. In the second phase of the study, hydroperoxide groups were introduced in polypropylene through reactive processing in a single screw extruder. It was …

Performance Enhancement Of Linear Robotic Workcell Using Dsp Based Control, Kedar Arvind Godbole

Theses

Robotic Controllers have for the major part been computer implementations of PID or similar controllers. In this thesis DSP based control of a Robotic Workcell is presented. The control algorithms used with the DSP based controller are Input Shaping and also State Feedback. Input Shaping is a Feed Forward strategy for eliminating vibration under certain conditions. In this thesis Input Shaping is applied to the performance enhancement of a linear robot system. Although feedback control strategies offer higher accuracy and are much more robust, feedforward strategies offer possibilities for improving the response time. Input Shaping is successfully applied to the …

A Design-For Retirement Rating Model For Environmentally Conscious Products, Xin He

Theses

Design-For-Retirement is a concept that allows one to design a product such that its retirement time and post-life treatment are optimized to lead to the minimum environmental impact and maximum financial gain. Retired product parts or subassemblies face three primary multi-lifecycle engineering treatments. The first one is to recondition them for reuse in the next lifecycle. The second one is to convert their post life parts into a material form for recycling back into new parts. The last is to dump or landfill them. Each option has a significantly different environmental cost-benefit ratio. Another important concern is the dismantling process …

The In0.75ga0.25as/In0.52al0.48as/Inp Hall Effect Magnetic Field Sensor, Oleg Mitrofanov

Theses

The magnetic field sensor is produced from III-V group semiconductor materials. The structure is designed for molecular beam epitaxy growth technique (MBE) on the semiinsulating InP substrate. The sensitive element is the In_0.75Ga_0.25As/In_0.52Al_0.48As heterostructure. The sensor uses the classic Hall effect in two-dimension electron gas (2DEG) formed at pseudomorphic strained epilayer of In_0.75Ga_0.25As. Properties of the 2DEG are preferential for the Hall effect sensor performance. Comparatively to bulk, electron mobility is higher. The device combines high magnetic field sensitivity and temperature stability. The sensor is designed for operation …

Impact Of Access Points On Multilane Highway Accidents, Tao Qu

Theses

This thesis presents an analysis of reported accidents on multilane highways and regression models that identify the primary explanatory variables that have a significant effect on accident rates midblock to signalized intersections. The analysis was based on traffic and reported accident data provided by New Jersey DOT. The access points per mile and the accident rates per million-vehicle-miles-traveled were analyzed based on a large number of roadway sections which were selected from five NJ State routes. Comparative accident analysis related with traffic and roadway geometric characteristics were performed. The analysis showed that approximately 30% of accidents occurred between intersections, which …

A Study To Analyze And Improve Mechanical And Electro-Mechanical Designs Using Design For Quality Manufacturability (Dfqm) Technique, Bhavani P. Veerapaneni

Theses

The competitive nature of modern manufacturing demands that an innovative approach be used to build advanced and robust designs. Shortening the product development time, which is the period from initial design to full production, is a priority to most manufacturers today. Design for Quality Manufacturability (DFQM) is a methodology to address manufacturing / assembly quality issues during product design. As a consequence DFQM helps shorten the product development time.

The DFQM methodology addresses the issue of quality manufacturability (QM) - the likely hood that defects will occur during the manufacture of a product in a standard plant. The DFQM architecture …

Design, Fabrication And Characterization Of The Infrastructure For A Two Part Non Volatile Ram, Suma Madapur

Theses

The present trend is to be able to develop cheaper and more convenient methods to design and fabricate non volatile RAM that will lead to an alteration of the computer architecture itself This will help replace the DRAM, which the computers currently have in their memory. The proposed NVRAM is designed to overcome the common difficulties faced with the use of ferroelectric materials used in the fabrication of NVRAM. The new idea essentially consists of fabricating the circuitry component separately and the substrate component separately and binding the two with the help of a conducting material. Electrical properties such as …

Introduction To Pollution Prevention Concepts In Freshman Chemistry Through Simulations And Hypermidia, Aniraban Bhaumik

Theses

As citizens of the 20th century, a key issue we all are aware of is degradation of the environment. In the interest of teaching the environmental issues to freshmen engineers, this study develops a computer aided learning/teaching (CAL/T) tool.

This CAL/T tool consists of Internet based multimedia courseware and intelligent simulations. The courseware assembles the fundamentals of chemistry associated with current environmental issues such as air pollution, stratospheric ozone layer depletion and environmentally sensitive or 'clean' manufacturing. The courseware targets early and comprehensive understanding of pollution prevention concepts with a focus on environmentally friendly manufacturing. The courseware includes: on-line text, …

Removal Of Vocs From Superfactant-Flushed Wastewater By Membrane Based Modified Pervaporation Process, Anirban Das

Theses

An aqueous solution of a volatile organic compound (VOC) e.g. trichloroethylene (TCE) is passed through the bores of hydrophobic microporous polypropylene hollow fibers having a plasma polymerized silicone coating on the fiber outside diameter; a vacuum is maintained on the shell side of the fiber to remove the VOC and recover it by condensation. Process performance has been obtained over a range of feed flow rates, concentrations of VOC and the surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)). In solutions without surfactant or low surfactant concentrations, the pores are not wetted and remain gas-filled. The VOC is stripped from the solution into …

Development And Characteristics Of Carbon Nitride Thin Solid Films For Advanced Coating Applications, Muhammad A. Hussain

Theses

Carbon nitride films were synthesized on silicon substrate by reactive magnetron sputtering of graphite target in an environment of Ar and nitrogen gas. The performance of a negative carbon ion source was also investigated to use the source in negative ion-beam-assisted deposition. These films were synthesized at room temperature at a constant pressure of 5 mtorr and at 300 Watts R.17 power, but at different composition of nitrogen in Ar-N₂ gas mixture ranging from 0-53 percent. The films deposited were microscopically smooth, amorphous and their properties found to be varied with nitrogen composition in plasma. The deposition rate was …

Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition Of Boron Nitride Thin Films From Triethylamine Borane Complex And Ammonia, Narahari Ramanuja

Theses

Boron nitride thin films were synthesized on Silicon and quartz substrates by low pressure chemical vapor deposition using triethylamine-borane complex and ammonia as precursors. The films were processed at 550°C, 575°C and 600°C at a constant pressure of 0.05 Torr at different precursor flow rates and flow ratios.

Several analytical methods such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x- ray photo-electron spectroscopy, ultra-violet/visible spectrophotornetry, ellipsometry, surface profilometry and scanning electron microscopy were used to study the deposited films. The films deposited were uniform, amorphous and the composition of the films varied with deposition temperature and precursor flow ratios. The stresses in …

Design And Implementation Of Generalized Adaptive Neural Filters, Chun Yip Tam

Theses

Generalized Adaptive Neural Filters (GANF) are a class of adaptive non-linear filters. This thesis presents a hardware implementation of GANF. Two designs are considered: the single neuron implementation and the multi-neuron implementation. The GANF design includes the window generator, threshold decomposer, training and filtering unit. The designs are verified through a logic design/simulation tool, Logic Works.

Voc Removal From Nitrogen By A Membrane-Based Combined Absorption-Stripping Process, Boya Xia

Theses

A regenerative membrane-based absorption process has been extensively studied to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from air/N₂ using silicone oil as absorbent. The absorbent liquid is regenerated by applying vacuum in a membrane-based stripper. In this process, there are no flooding, loading and entrainment, which limit the gas/liquid flow rate in the traditional absorption process. In the present study, attention has been focused on the removal of volatile component(s) from binary gas mixtures such as methanol-N₂, and toluene-N₂, and from a model multicomponent mixture of gasoline vapor constituents and nitrogen. The process performance was tested …

Modeling And Numerical Analysis Of Beam Matrix Plasma Display System, Jingwu Zhang

Theses

This research investigates a new display device - Beam Matrix Plasma Display Panel (BM PDP). The scan of a PDP in such a system is accomplished through two electrical-beam guns instead of semiconductor switches.

The BM-PDP eliminates the expensive semiconductor switches in the current plasma display device systems. Its drive circuit has only three parts: electron beam guns, resistors and capacitors. During the operation of BM PDP, first a switch cell is turned on by a selection gun (X gun). Then another electron gun (Y gun) emits electrons onto column electrodes and capacitors. When the voltage over the corresponding luminous …

Design Of A Communications Interface For A Very High Performance Computer, Jesse Boyd Zydallis

Theses

PetaFLOPS computing power is the newest goal of Federal Government agencies, in the increasingly active supercomputer field. To obtain this performance goal by the year 2007, sophisticated parallel processing designs are required. To effectively create network interfaces/routers for interprocessor communications in such computer systems, it requires optimal hardware and software codesigns.

An interface is presented for the NJIT New Millennium Computing Point Design, a system that targets 100 TeraFLOPS performance by the year 2005. The router handles store-and-forward switching and wormhole routing for the system.

Optimal Synthesis Of A Planar Four-Bar Function Generator Based On Imderect Measure Of Structural Error, Robert Ellis

Theses

A novel technique for optimal synthesis of a planar four-bar function generator is presented. An indirect measure of structural error is used to formulate an objective function which, along with its derivatives, is straightforward to evaluate and results in an elegant and robust algorithm. Lagrange multipliers are used to incorporate the loop closure constraint into the objective function.

In this thesis, the formulation of the objective function and the minimization algorithm are described, examples are presented, and the virtues and shortcomings of the algorithm are discussed.

Evaluating The Communications Capabilities Of The Generalized Hypercube Interconnection Network, Sanjay Krishnamurthy

Theses

This thesis presents results of evaluating the communications capabilities of the generalized hypercube interconnection network. The generalized hypercube has outstanding topological properties, but it has not been implemented in a large scale because of its very high wiring complexity. For this reason, this network has not been studied extensively in the past. However, recent and expected technological advancements will soon render this network viable for massively parallel systems.

We first present implementations of randomized many-to-all broadcasting and multicasting on generalized hypercubes, using as the basis the one-to-all broadcast algorithm presented in [3]. We test the proposed implementations under realistic communication …

Parameter Optimization For Curl Distortion In Building Parts Using 3-D Laser Stereolithography, Laurel A. Hanesian

Theses

The curl distortions in rapid prototyping using 3-D laser stereo lithography occur as the top layers shrink after being drawn and attaching to the bottom layers. The amount of curl is dependent upon the how much shrinkage the layer has finished prior to adhesion. It is also dependent on how deep the cure of the top layer amounts to as it adheres into the bottom layer. This thesis investigated the effect of build parameters on the distortions associated with the diagnostic 'Letter-H' shaped test part. The same parameters were also considered in a time optimization study, using calculated, predicted results …

Crosstalk In Passive Matrix Polymer Led Displays, David Braun

Electrical Engineering

Passive matrix displays based on polymer and organic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) suffer from crosstalk, the emission of light from pixels other than those selected. This article explores the topic of crosstalk both with an approximate but analytic model and by means of more exact circuit simulation in order to explain the causes of crosstalk and to quantify the consequences. We conclude that crosstalk has implications for display power consumption.

Nebraska Tractor Test Museum Committee Minutes January 20th, 1998, Tractor Museum

Lester F. Larsen Tractor Museum: Planning and Development Documents

Roof Repair Big Red Convention Dedication Ceremony

Method For Reducing The Generation Of Wear Particulates From An Implant, David A. Pienkowski, Kwon-Yong Lee

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Patents

A method is provided for reducing the amount of wear particulates generated by a total joint orthopaedic implant. The implant consists of two matched articulating components wherein at least one of the components is made of polymer or other material with similar physical properties. The method includes the steps of placing the total joint orthopaedic implant in a fluid bath and articulating the implant in the fluid bath for at least 1,000 cycles. The articulation may be performed in three stages. In the first, the implant is articulated under a load of substantially 0.1-500 Newtons with sliding speeds of substantially …

Leaking Electricity: Individual Field Measurement Of Consumer Electronics, Florida Solar Energy Center, David Floyd

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Leaking electricity or "parasitic load" is energy wasted by electronic devices when they are not performing any useful function, typically in an "off" or "standby" state. Before this study, little was known about the magnitude or source of this waste. While whole house losses have been estimated to be approximately 50 watts, little data has been available to quantify energy waste from individual loads. This paper summarizes measurements of over 600 consumer electronic devices taken by researchers at both the Florida Solar Energy Center and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Combined they form the largest data set of consumer electronic loads …

Critiquing Critiques Of Profiling In Aviation Security Screening Programs: Why The Aclu Has It Wrong, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article provides commentary on the American Civil Liberty Union's (ACLU) criticisms of the Computer Assisted Passenger Screening System (CAPS) that was developed under the auspices of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to support aviation security.

Electroluminescent Device Comprising A Transparent Structured Electrode Layer Made From A Conductive Polymer, Aemilianus G. J. Staring, David Braun

Electrical Engineering

An electroluminescent (EL) device is (1) composed of polymeric LEDs comprising an active layer (7) of a conjugated polymer and a transparent polymeric electrode layer (5) having electroconductive areas (51) as electrodes. Like the active layer (7), the electrode layer (5) can be manufactured in a simple manner by spin coating. The electrode layer (5) is structured into conductive electrodes (51) by exposure to UV light. The electrodes (9) and (51) jointly form a matrix of LEDs for a display. When a flexible substrate (3) is used, a very bendable EL device is obtained.

Daylighting: Measuring The Performance Of Light Shelves And Occupant-Controlled Blinds On A Dimmed Lighting System, Florida Solar Energy Center, Danny Parker

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The design of a daylighted space is both an art and a science. The biggest challenge facing the lighting designer is to admit only as much light as necessary and distribute it evenly throughout the space without introducing glare or heat. In warm climates such as Florida, it has become common practice in windowed spaces to specify blinds and glazing with high shading coefficients to control glare and minimize heat gain. However, this practice reduces the effectiveness of lighting systems that dim automatically. Improved systems are needed to capture natural daylight and distribute it uniformly throughout a space while controlling …