Engineering Commons^™

Study For Solar Seasonal Storage System In Transition Season, Liu Long

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The COP (Coefficient of Performance) of the GSHP system has decreased gradually year after year caused by imbalance energy loads especially in heating-dominated climate zones. The solar thermal energy storage system in transition season can solve the problems effectively. The practice of solar seasonal storage was carried out and supplied by a practical project. TRNSYS 16 was used to simulate the solar energy storage experiment process. The correctness of the model was verified by the experimental data and the simulation results were corrected. Results shows that the simulated results and the measured data were well matched with …

Robotic Manipulator's Visual Servo Control Based On Echo State Networks, Guoyou Li, Xiafei Su, Xiaolei Qin, Xiangxue Shi

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The inaccuracy in robotic manipulator modeling, which due to the nonlinear and strong coupling of robotic manipulator itself, cannot be ignored on the study of the robotic manipulator control problem. Aiming at the inaccuracy in robotic manipulator modeling, this study led echo state network in the visual servo control system of robotic manipulator. In order to achieve the robotic manipulator positioning control, this study used the echo state network to identify inaccurate item and compensates the uncertainties of the model in the control law. The simulation model of the simulated system was built with MATLAB simulation software. The …

Identification Of Messenger Molecule Between Mammalian And Bacterial Cells, Anna Fraser-Philbin, Alexander Heiler

Bioengineering Senior Theses

The rapid escalation of the antibiotic resistance crisis has brought attention to the decline in efficiency of antibiotics which have long been a cornerstone of modern medicine. This project aims to provide novel drug targets for the creation of anti-infective immunotherapies that can treat drug-resistant infections. The identification of said drug target(s) (Molecule X) will allow for the development of an antibody based drug that will neutralize bacterial virulence rather than killing the bacteria. Molecule X will be bound using the protein Sortase A (SrtA). SrtA is a surface protein that controls the virulence of gram positive bacteria by anchoring …

Brainwave Classification For Eeg-Based Neurofeedback, Brent Baculi, Stuart Cansdale

Bioengineering Senior Theses

The aim of this project was to find a way to differentiate active and rested brain signals in a patient using tasks without bodily movement to provide extremely motorly disabled patients a method of control for robotic devices that enable them to move independently of a caretaker. Although many control methods exist for less severely motorly impaired patients, this method would improve quality of life for all patients by allowing for movements to be controlled exclusively using the brain. The three steps for our project were to define the tasks and collect data, process the signals, and run the processed …

Math Anxiety In Female And Underrepresented Minority Students A Literature Review, Anne M. Lucietto, Meher Rusi Taleyarkhan, Therese M. Azevedo, Natalie Hobson

School of Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Educators have noticed that some students respond to exercises requiring mathematical calculations with numerical answers that are not correct and far from realistic. These student solutions are often given without further comment or calculation by the students and seem to such avoidance by the students to engage with the numerical calculations. Anecdotal evidence, by these educators, suggest that such responses are more prevalent from female and underrepresented minority groups — raising the question of whether demographics play a role in a students’ approach to numerical problems. Researchers have searched for existing work in this area and find that there are …

Public Perception Of Engineering Technology: A Literature Review, Anne M. Lucietto, Shelly Tan, Liza Ann Russell, Mary E. Johnson

School of Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Engineering technology describes a field closely related to engineering in which practical application of learned concepts is emphasized over theoretical knowledge. Although an increasing amount of emphasis is being placed on the importance of this experiential learning in all engineering curricula, and the specifics of engineering technology’s place among engineering and technical fields is becoming clearer, there are still significant gaps in our understanding of several key aspects of this field. One of these aspects is its perception by the general public, which is important in, among other things, determining the employability of engineering technology program graduates and encouraging the …

Evaluating Student Conceptions Of Technology Majors: Development Of Assessment Keyword Tables, Matthew Turner, Rustin Webster

School of Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the continuation of research on student conceptions related to technology majors (TMs) and careers using the Aspirations, Interests, and Confidence (AIC) survey. For four years, first-semester students at Purdue New Albany, a statewide location for the Purdue Polytechnic, were surveyed in order understand their conceptions of TMs and job titles they associate with them. Prior work reported on dominate terms used by students to describe TM and careers including: Computer Graphics Technology (CGT), Electrical Engineering Technology (EET), Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET), and Manufacturing Engineering Technology (MHET). This paper presents the results of an online survey that asked …

Advancing High School Stem Education: Implications For Engineering Technology, Anne M. Lucietto, Mesut Akdere

School of Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

A novel STEM education approach focused on competency-based education was implemented in a college preparatory high school. This high school is intended to provide students access to a nearby higher education institution, with the intent of aiding the students in obtaining STEM based education. This program prepares the students to move into the university environment by encouraging faculty collaboration with the high school, coursework promoting creativity and problem-solving skills, and the use of case studies in classroom instruction. These case studies are grounded in real-life scenarios students can expect to encounter in a professional setting. This study focuses on the …

Analysis And Design Of An Off-Grid Residential Power System, Christopher Rotsios

Master's Theses

This thesis aims to provide a recommended power system design for optimal efficiency, reliability, and cost in off-grid applications. The power system examined in this project is a residence in an off-grid community called Quail Springs that generates its energy from roof mounted solar panels. The existing system was analyzed to see what equipment can remain, what needs to be upsized, and what needs to be added to the system. Two power systems are considered for the residence: a fully AC power system and a hybrid AC/DC power system. Simulations were run in PSCAD to compare the efficiencies of the …

Safety Management System Implementation Planning, David Thirtyacre

Publications

No abstract provided.

A Review Of The Latest Insights Into The Mechanism Of Action Of Strontium In Bone, Daniella Marx, Alireza Rahimnejad Yazdi, Marcello Papini, Mark R. Towler

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Interest in strontium (Sr) has persisted over the last three decades due to its unique mechanism of action: it simultaneously promotes osteoblast function and inhibits osteoclast function. While this mechanism of action is strongly supported by in vitro studies and small animal trials, recent large-scale clinical trials have demonstrated that orally administered strontium ranelate (SrRan) may have no anabolic effect on bone formation in humans. Yet, there is a strong correlation between Sr accumulation in bone and reduced fracture risk in post-menopausal women, suggesting Sr acts via a purely physiochemical mechanism to enhance bone strength. Conversely, the local administration of …

The Role Of Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) In Management Of Bone Loss And Infection In Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Review, Leyla Hasandoost, Omar Rodriguez, Adel Alhalawani, Paul Zalzal, Emil H. Schemitsch, Stephen D. Waldman, Marcello Papini, Mark R. Towler

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is widely used in joint arthroplasty to secure an implant to the host bone. Complications including fracture, bone loss and infection might cause failure of total knee arthroplasty (TKA), resulting in the need for revision total knee arthroplasty (rTKA). The goals of this paper are: (1) to identify the most common complications, outside of sepsis, arising from the application of PMMA following rTKA, (2) to discuss the current applications and drawbacks of employing PMMA in managing bone loss, (3) to review the role of PMMA in addressing bone infection following complications in rTKA. Papers published between …

Possible Solution To Housing Problem: Long Term Housing Investment Plan, Tucker Reed

Construction Management

The purpose of this paper is to provide young men and women entering the work force with the ability to invest towards acquiring a large plot of land to live on. In the current housing condition, Americans, more exactly those living in large urban populations are finding it difficult to find a permanent home in the same city as their workplace. This is particularly true for those whose professions require frequent relocation. The research conducted is meant to provide a person with little to no knowledge of construction with the conceptual understanding of the correct channels to purchase land and …

Numerical Study On The Temperature-Dependent Viscosity Effect On The Strand Shape In Extrusion-Based Additive Manufacturing, Behrouz Behdani, Matthew Senter, Leah Mason, Ming-Chuan Leu, Joontaek Park

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A numerical model that incorporates temperature-dependent non-Newtonian viscosity was developed to simulate the extrusion process in extrusion-based additive manufacturing. Agreement with the experimental data was achieved by simulating a polylactic acid melt flow as a non-isothermal power law fluid using experimentally fitted parameters for polylactic acid. The model was used to investigate the temperature effect on the flow behavior, the cross-sectional area, and the uniformity of the extruded strand. OpenFOAM, an open source simulation tool based on the finite volume method, was used to perform the simulations. A computational module for solving the equations of non-isothermal multiphase flows was also …

Detection Of Hydroxyl Radicals Using Cerium Oxide/Graphene Oxide Composite On Prussian Blue, Surachet Duanghathaipornsuk, Sushil R. Kanel, Emily F. Haushalter, Jessica Ruetz, Dong-Shik Kim

Faculty Publications

A composite sensor consisting of two separate inorganic layers of Prussian blue (PB) and a composite of cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeNPs) and graphene oxide (GO), is tested with •OH radicals. The signals from the interaction between the composite layers and •OH radicals are characterized using cyclic voltammetry (CV). The degradation of PB in the presence of H₂O₂ and •OH radicals is observed and its impact on the sensor efficiency is investigated. The results show that the composite sensor differentiates between the solutions with and without •OH radicals by the increase of electrochemical redox current in the presence …

Impulse And Performance Measurements Of Electric Solid Propellant In A Laboratory Electrothermal Ablation-Fed Pulsed Plasma Thruster, Matthew S. Glascock, Joshua L. Rovey, Kurt A. Polzin

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Electric solid propellants are advanced solid chemical rocket propellants that can be controlled (ignited, throttled and extinguished) through the application and removal of an electric current. This behavior may enable the propellant to be used in multimode propulsion systems utilizing the ablative pulsed plasma thruster. The performance of an electric solid propellant operating in an electrothermal ablation-fed pulsed plasma thruster was investigated using an inverted pendulum micro-newton thrust stand. The impulse bit and specific impulse of the device using the electric solid propellant were measured for short-duration test runs of 100 pulses and longer-duration runs to end-of-life, at energy levels …

Log Truck Value Analysis From Increased Rail Usage, Sangpil Ko, Pasi Lautala, Kuilin Zhang

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Over the past several decades, the transportation of raw materials (logs) has increasingly shifted from the railway to trucks. However, the long-term sustainability of this shift is being questioned due to the shortage of truck drivers, fluctuation of fuel prices, and changes in hours of service laws. The industry is interested in the possibility to shift more logs back to the railway but the impact of such a shift on truckers has not been investigated. This study attempted to quantify the impact of such a change on the operations of log truckers by calculating time efficiency (percentage of daily hours …

Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Modeling Over The Maritime Continent: A Review, Pengfei Xue, Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli, Jun Wei, Elfatih A.B. Eltahir

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The Maritime Continent (MC) plays a vitally important role in the Earth's climate system from both oceanic and atmospheric perspectives. While the critical role of ocean-atmosphere coupled dynamics over the MC has long been recognized, development of two-way coupled regional climate models for this region is still in its early stages. In this work, the authors review recent progress in two-way coupled ocean-atmosphere regional climate modeling. Development of coupled models and their applications in the MC are summarized. Model performances are discussed with a focus on regional oceanic and atmospheric characteristics. Through a critical review of modeling advances and limitations …

Contrasting Lifestyles In Commercial And Heavy Civil Construction, Michael Rios

Construction Management

The construction industry has different sectors that students can apply for when it comes to acquiring the chance for an internship or a full-time job. The two main sectors many students from the construction management department apply for are commercial construction and heavy civil construction. Information about each sector is provided in each lab, such as what type of projects each sector builds, the type of environment the project can be in and the magnitude in scale of each project. One thing that seems to be a high influence on which industry the students decide to work for is the …

User-Rated Comfort And Preference Of Separated Bike Lane Intersection Designs, Christopher Monsere, Nathan Mcneil, Rebecca Sanders

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Improved bicycle infrastructure has become increasingly common in the United States as cities seek to attract new riders, including the demographic who do not feel comfortable riding with motor vehicle traffic. A key tool in designing low-stress networks is the use of separated or protected bicycle lanes, and intersections are the critical links. This paper presents an analysis of the perceived level of comfort of current and potential bicyclists from 277 survey respondents who rated 26 first-person video clips of a bicyclist riding through mixing zones, lateral shifts, bend-in, bend-out, and protected intersection designs. A total of 7,166 ratings were …

Flexible Fault Tolerance For The Robot Operating System, Sukhman S. Marok

Master's Theses

The introduction of autonomous vehicles has the potential to reduce the number of accidents and save countless lives. These benefits can only be realized if autonomous vehicles can prove to be safer than human drivers. There is a large amount of active research around developing robust algorithms for all parts of the autonomous vehicle stack including sensing, localization, mapping, perception, prediction, planning, and control. Additionally, some of these research projects have involved the use of the Robot Operating System (ROS). However, another key aspect of realizing an autonomous vehicle is a fault-tolerant design that can ensure the safe operation of …

Conceptual Design Of A South Pole Carrier Pigeon Uav, Kendrick M. Dlima

Master's Theses

Currently, the South Pole has a large data problem. It is estimated that 1.2 TB of data is being produced every day, but less than 500 GB of that data is being uploaded via aging satellites to researchers in other parts of the world. This requires those at the South Pole to analyze the data and carefully select the parts to send, possibly missing out on vital scientific information. The South Pole Carrier Pigeon will look to bridge this data gap.

The Carrier Pigeon will be a small unmanned aerial vehicle that will carry a 30 TB solid-state hard drive …

Design Of Structural Stand For High-Precision Optics Microscopy, Sara T. Novell

Master's Theses

Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) is home to the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s largest and most energetic laser. Each of the 192 beamlines contains dozens of large optics, which require offline damage inspection using large, raster-scanning microscopes. The primary microscope used to measure and characterize the optical damage sites has a precision level of 1 µm. Mounted in a class 100 clean room with a raised tile floor, the microscope is supported by a steel stand that structurally connects the microscope to the concrete ground. Due to ambient vibrations experienced in the system, the microscope is only able …

Indoor Positioning Using Acoustic Pseudo-Noise Based Time Difference Of Arrival, Nicholas J. Luong

Master's Theses

The Global Positioning System (GPS) provides good precision on a global scale, but is not suitable for indoor applications. Indoor positioning systems (IPS) aim to provide high precision position information in an indoor environment. IPS has huge market opportunity with a growing number of commercial and consumer applications especially as Internet of Things (IoT) develops. This paper studies an IPS approach using audible sound and pseudo-noise (PN) based time difference of arrival (TDoA). The system’s infrastructure consists of synchronized speakers. The object to be located, or receiver, extracts TDoA information and uses multilateration to calculate its position. The proposed IPS …

Modeling Artificial Groundwater Recharge In The Santa Rosa Creek Watershed, Alexander J. Murray

Master's Theses

The Santa Rosa Creek Watershed is an approximately 48 mi2 large watershed located on the central coast of California. This watershed drains to the Pacific Ocean through Santa Rosa Creek as it passes through agricultural land and the town of Cambria. Historically the groundwater within the Santa Rosa Creek Watershed has been used for irrigation, municipal and domestic uses, and the creek is critical habitat steelhead trout. During dry years, there is less water for all uses. When low groundwater levels occur, water can be drawn out of the creek and into the soil, drying out steelhead habitat. Seven agricultural …

Thermal Modeling And Testing Of The Blue Thermal Vacuum Chamber, Madeline R. Jensma

Master's Theses

The Blue Thermal Vacuum Chamber (TVAC) located in the Space Environments Laboratory at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), may be used for thermal vacuum testing of test articles that fit with in the semi cylindrical test section that has a radius of approximately 18 cm and a length of 61 cm. The potential test articles include CubeSat systems and subsystem. The Blue TVAC can also be used for educational and research purposes. The goal of this thesis project is to develop a thermal model of the Blue TVAC to predict and analyze the thermal response of …

Design Of A Printed Circuit Board For A Sensorless Three-Phase Brushless Dc Motor Control System, Joshua Castle

Master's Theses

The use of brushless motors has increased in recent years due to superior performance characteristics compared with alternatives. The operation of a brushless motor is dependent upon a separate controller which is often in the form of a printed circuit board. As such, the size and performance capability of the controller can restrict the performance of the overall motor control system so advancements of these controllers further the potential use of BLDC motors. This project outlines the design of a PCB based, sensorless motor controller for operation of a three-phase BLDC motor powered by a 24 V, high current external …

The Design, Testing, And Analysis Of A Constant Jammer For The Bluetooth Low Energy (Ble) Wireless Communication Protocol, Aiku Shintani

Master's Theses

The decreasing cost of web-enabled smart devices utilizing embedded processors, sensors, and wireless communication hardware have created an optimal ecosystem for the Internet of Things (IoT). IEEE802.15.4, IEEE802.11ah, WirelessHART, ZigBee Smart Energy, Bluetooth (BT), and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) are amongst the most commonly used wireless standards for IoT systems. Each of these standards has tradeoffs concerning power consumption, range of communication, network formation, security, reliability, and ease of implementation. The most widely used standards for IoT are Bluetooth, BLE, and Zigbee. This paper discusses the vulnerabilities in the implementation of the PHY and link layers of BLE. The link …

Optimization And Longevity Of Functionalized Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube-Enabled Membranes For Water Treatment, Madeleine Michael Isabella White

Master's Theses

Water scarcity is a growing concern at the global scale. Large scale water reuse is growing both in necessity and popularity. Before water reuse can be performed efficiently on a large scale or be used for potable supply, even indirectly, contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) will need to be treated at the full scale. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are a form of advanced water treatment capable of treating a wide range of CECs. This study contributes to the growing field of AOPs and more specifically AOPs using ozone combined with functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Ozonation of MWCNTs has been …

A Study Of The Standard Cirrus Wing Lift Distribution Versus Bell Shaped Lift Distribution, William H. Bergman

Master's Theses

This thesis discusses a comparison of the differences in aerodynamic performance of wings designed with elliptical and bell-shaped lift distributions. The method uses a Standard Cirrus sailplane wing with a lift distribution associated with the induced drag benefits of an elliptical distribution (span efficiency = 0.96) as the basis of comparison. The Standard Cirrus is a standard class sailplane with 15-meter wingspan that was designed by Schempp-Hirth in 1969. This sailplane wing was modeled and analyzed in XFLR5, then validated against existing wind tunnel airfoil data, and Standard Cirrus flight test data. The root bending moment of the baseline wing …