Engineering Commons^™

Scada System Maintenance: An Often Overlooked Necessity, Charles M. Burt, Kyle Fesit

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

The design and implementation of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system is typically undertaken by expert engineers and integration contractors. In order to provide a robust and reliable SCADA system, good design and installation practices are required. Preserving the initial SCADA system reliability requires good maintenance. Unfortunately, SCADA maintenance is often overlooked or underestimated. There are two potential providers for SCADA maintenance activities. Some SCADA maintenance activities are best provided by the developer or installer of the SCADA system, before closing out a project contract. Other SCADA maintenance requirements are best provided by the irrigation district or SCADA …

A New Approach To Vfd System Specifications And Rebates, Kyle Feist, Randall Cole, Charles M. Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Variable frequency drives (VFDs) are used to provide flexibility and efficiency enhancements for agricultural pressurized irrigation systems. Standard 6-pulse VFDs commonly used for agricultural pumps can also create real problems with the pump motor and nearby electrical systems, unless mitigated by special equipment.

With support by the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) Irrigation Training and Research Center (ITRC), Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) recently began a new rebate program for installing VFD systems for pressurized irrigation. A major component of the new rebate program is the requirement to comply with a detailed set of minimum VFD system design …

Size, Charge And Dose Dependent In-Vitro Kinetics Of Polystyrene Nanoparticles, Yasmine Abdellatif

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the study described herein is to quantify the in-vitro kinetics of internalization of polystyrene nanoparticles (PS NPs) by cells. We used different charges, sizes and doses of fluorescently labelled PS NPs. Nanoparticles were characterized with UV-Vis, Fluorescence emission Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Zeta potential for knowing their absorption, fluorescence spectra, size, charge, respectively. Additionally, cell viability was tested to know the toxicity of PS NPs. The quantitative uptake, the kinetics profile and rate of uptake were studied by using a new in-vitro fluorescence assay. This was achieved quantitatively and qualitatively by fluorescent plate reader and confocal …

2017-2018 Che Newsletter, Department Of Chemical Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Chemical Engineering Newsletters

Table of Contents

• Department
• Convocation
• Student News
• Faculty
• Alumni & Friends

2018 Civil And Environmental Engineering Department News, Department Of Civil And Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering Newsletters

Table of Contents

• External Awards
• Faculty Feature
• Student Features
• Outreach
• Alumni Feature
• CEE Academy
• Internal Awards
• Donors

Riverbank Filtration Impacts On Post Disinfection Water Quality In Small Systems—A Case Study From Auburn And Nebraska City, Nebraska, Matteo D'Alessio, Bruce Dvorak, Chittaranjan Ray

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Small water systems can experience a fluctuating quality of water in the distribution system after disinfection. As chlorine is the most common disinfectant for small systems, the occurrence of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) represents a common problem for these systems. Riverbank filtration (RBF) can be a valuable solution for small communities located on riverbanks. The objectives of this study were to evaluate (i) the improvements in water quality at two selected RBF systems, and (ii) the potential lower concentrations of DBPs, in particular, trihalomethanes (THMs), in small systems that use RBF. Two small communities in Nebraska, Auburn and Nebraska City, using …

Flow Analysis Through Collector Well Laterals: A Case Study From Sonoma County Water Agency, California, Matteo D'Alessio, John Lucio, Ernest Williams, James Warner, Donald Seymour, Jay Jasperse, Chittaranjan Ray

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

The Sonoma County Water Agency (SWCA) uses six radial collector wells along the Russian River west of Santa Rosa, to provide water for several municipalities and water districts in north-western California. Three collector wells (1, 2, and 6) are located in the Wohler area, and three collector wells (3, 4, and 5) are located in the Mirabel area. The objective of this paper is to highlight the performance of the three collector wells located in the Mirabel area since their construction. The 2015 investigation showed a lower performance of Collectors 3 and 4 compared to their original performances after construction …

Benchmarking Environmental Efficiency Of Ports Using Data Mining And Rdea: The Case Of A U.S. Container Ports, Yong Shin Park, N. Muhammad Aslaam Mohamed Abdul Ghani, Fesseha Gebremikael, Gokhan Egilmez

Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

This study provides step-wise benchmarking practices of each port to enhance the environmental performance using a joint application of the data-mining technique referred to as Kohonen’s self-organizing map (KSOM) and recursive data envelopment analysis (RDEA) to address the limitation of the conventional data envelopment analysis. A sample of 20 container ports in the U.S.A. were selected, and data on input variables (number of quay crane, acres, berth and depth) and output variables (number of calls, throughput and deadweight tonnage, and CO2 emissions) are used for data analysis. Among the selected samples, eight container ports are found to be environmentally inefficient. …

Flow Energy Harvesting Based On Oscillating Passively-Deforming Airfoils, Firas F. Siala

Link Foundation Energy Fellowship Reports

The rising global trend to reduce dependence on fossil fuels has provided significant motivation toward the development of alternative energy conversion methods and new technologies to improve their efficiency. Recently, the idea of using oscillating airfoils has been gaining a wider scope of attention as a means of extracting kinetic energy from streams, rivers, tidal flows and wind (Xiao & Zhu 2014). A large contribution to the existing knowledge has come through the studies of animal flight and swimming (Drucker & Lauder 1999; Triantafyllou et al. 2000; Sane 2003; Ho et al. 2003), where the oscillatory/flapping motion of wings or …

Rc Baja Car Drivetrain/Steering Assembly, Douglas Erickson

All Undergraduate Projects

ASME hosts an annual competition between students to test various abilities of RC Baja cars under certain restraints. To compete, two members must coordinate to manufacture a suitable RC Baja car according to the parameters set by ASME. The objective of this project is to design and manufacture the drivetrain and steering mechanism. The other teammate will concurrently design and manufacture the chassis and suspension assembly. The drivetrain consists of two main assemblies, the transmission and the differential. The transmission houses the initial gear reduction as well as the motor and is manufactured using ABS printed plastic. The differential mates …

Foundry Flask Punch-Out Machine, Nolan Stockman

All Undergraduate Projects

In the green sand molding process olivine sand is compacted into flasks that are used for the molding and pouring process in a foundry. These sands are difficult to remove after the pour has been made. In Central Washington University’s foundry the sands are currently being removed with handheld rams. To improve on this process a Foundry Flask Punch Out machine was designed. The machine was designed to utilize a wall mounted rack and pinion style press. The supporting elements of both the flask and press were engineered with deflection requirements in mind. The machine was made to fit into …

Rc Baja Car Suspension, Tyler Martin

All Undergraduate Projects

This year the Mechanical Engineering Technology Department at CWU is holding an R/C Baja car competition using the same rules as the ASME competition. The designed car must compete in three separate events: the slalom course, drag race, and obstacle course. By not only completing, but also being competitive in each of the events, the car will be deemed a success. Suspension and steering are two essential components of any R/C car, and was the main focus for this report. The suspension must be able to support the car in the event of impacts. In addition, the steering must be …

Pressure Regulator For A High-Altitude Balloon, Kala Brown

All Undergraduate Projects

High altitude balloons are large latex balloons filled with gas that carry payloads to near space. They provide a convenient way to study the Earth’s atmosphere. Per Boyle’s Law, the pressure and volume of a confined gas are inversely proportional. Thus, as the balloon ascends and the atmospheric pressure decreases, the gas inside the balloon expands. This pressure difference allows the balloon to ascend, but it also causes it to continuously expand until it bursts. For some observations, one might want their balloon to remain at constant altitude for a period of time. One way to achieve this is to …

Senior Project Hauff Tree Pruner, Brian Woolery

All Undergraduate Projects

Neil Hauff, a business owner and entrepreneur from the Yakima valley challenged a team of engineering students from Central Washington University to design a motorized apple tree pruner. This report will discuss the engineering and construction that went into creating the housing of the tree pruner. The housing component needed to be able to protect the moving parts of the pruner, while withstanding the rotational torque produced by the Makita power drill used to drive the pruner. The biggest constraint in designing the housing was to keep the weight of the housing component under 1.5 lbs, while still keeping the …

Repurposing Carbon Fiber Composite Through Mechanical Means, Jason Morrow

All Undergraduate Projects

Composite waste from the 777 aircraft is a growing concern for Boeing and amounts to an excess of 600,000 pounds of highly valuable carbon fiber being thrown away. Reclaiming this material has been a long sought-after goal of Boeings as the current solution is ever expanding landfills. The two current methods of recycling composite waste are chemically and mechanically processing. The focus of this paper will be demonstrating the feasibility of mechanically processing composite waste to increase storage efficiency before chemically treating to reclaim the actual carbon fibers. This paper provides a two-stage solution for the recycling question. The first …

Yz250 Lhrb, Ethan Di Loreto

All Undergraduate Projects

YZ250 LHRB

A Left Hand Rear Brake (LHRB) means that a motorcycle can not only have the rear brake operated by the foot pedal that comes standard on all bikes, but it can be actuated by a lever located on the handlebar as well. The purpose of this engineering project is to design a bracket that can hold two brake calipers while not hindering stock handling. It should also add braking usability and power.

The device is to be made of mild steel for the first models, this will allow for ease of prototyping, fitment testing, and finalized design testing. …

Plastic Injection Mold, Ryan Heaton

All Undergraduate Projects

The engineering department at Central Washington University is equip with three different plastic injection presses. Two of which are not being used because of various reasons, one being a lack of quality molds. This project’s purpose was to design and fabricate a quality mold that could be used in one of the injection presses as a teaching aid. The design for this project is based off of existing molds that are currently being used in the plastic injection industry along with many analyses such as; calculating speeds and feeds for machining, calculating tolerances, material strength, and a material’s heat conduction …

Structural Cyber-Physical Systems: A Confluence Of Structural Health Monitoring And Control Technologies, Rosana E. Martínez-Castro, Shinae Jang

CEE Articles

Many bridges in the nation’s transportation infrastructure network have been found to be structurally deficient. In face of a natural or man-made disaster, this poses a serious threat to the execution of emergency respondent logistics, as the failure of such structures could disconnect communities from the necessary provisions and services that must remain accessible after a disaster. To predict such an eventuality, dependable information on structural status for decision-making can be obtained from structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. However, the avoidance of such a situation is preferred. Structural control systems offer an option to improve structural response during extreme loading …

A Half-Yearly E-Newsletter Of The Department Of Computer Science And Engineering Manipal Institute Of Technology, Ashalatha Nayak

Faculty work

No abstract provided.

Overview Of Smart Manufacturing In West Virginia, Thorsten Wuest, Patrick Schmid, Brian Lego, Eric Bowen

Bureau of Business & Economic Research

The manufacturing sector is currently reinventing itself by embracing the opportunities offered by the industrial internet, automation, and machine learning, just to name a few. This development is commonly referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Smart Manufacturing. While Smart Manufacturing can be observed around the globe, there are distinct differences in how it is adopted and embraced between countries, industries, and companies of different sizes. Small- and medium-sized manufacturers are generally understood as the backbone of the manufacturing sector. However, these manufacturers face specific challenges when it comes to the transition toward Smart Manufacturing. This report presents the …

Superelastic And Ph-Responsive Degradable Dendrimer Cryogels Prepared By Cryo-Aza-Michael Addition Reaction, Juan Wang, Hu Yang

Chemical and Life Science Engineering Publications

Dendrimers exhibit super atomistic features by virtue of their well-defined discrete quantized nanoscale structures. Here, we show that hyperbranched amine-terminated polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer G4.0 reacts with linear polyethylene glycol (PEG) diacrylate (575 g/mol) via the aza-Michael addition reaction at a subzero temperature (−20 °C), namely cryo-aza-Michael addition, to form a macroporous superelastic network, i.e., dendrimer cryogel. Dendrimer cryogels exhibit biologically relevant Young’s modulus, high compression elasticity and super resilience at ambient temperature. Furthermore, the dendrimer cryogels exhibit excellent rebound performance and do not show significant stress relaxation under cyclic deformation over a wide temperature range (−80 to 100 °C). The …

Machine Learning Provides Predictive Analysis Into Silver Nanoparticle Protein Corona Formation From Physicochemical Properties, Matthew R. Findlay, Daniel N. Freitas, Maryam Mobed-Miremadi, Korin E. Wheeler

Bioengineering

Proteins encountered in biological and environmental systems bind to engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) to form a protein corona (PC) that alters the surface chemistry, reactivity, and fate of the ENMs. Complexities such as the diversity of the PC and variation with ENM properties and reaction conditions make the PC population difficult to predict. Here, we support the development of predictive models for PC populations by relating biophysicochemical characteristics of proteins, ENMs, and solution conditions to PC formation using random forest classification. The resulting model offers a predictive analysis into the population of PC proteins in Ag ENM systems of various ENM …

A Survey Of Digital Systems Curriculum And Pedagogy In Electrical And Computer Engineering Programs, Hector A. Ochoa, Mukul V. Shirvaikar

Faculty Publications

Digital Systems is one of the basic foundational courses in Electrical and Computer Engineering. One of the challenges in designing and modifying the curriculum for the course is the fast pace of technology change in the area. TTL chips that were in vogue with students building physical circuits, have given way to new paradigms like FPGA based synthesis with hardware description languages such as VHDL. However, updating a course is not as simple as just changing the book, and changing the syllabus. A large amount of work needs to be done in terms of selecting the book that will accommodate …

A Preliminary Study Of Smithport Plain Bottle Morphology In The Southern Caddo Area, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

This study expands upon a previous analysis of the Clarence H. Webb collection, which resulted in the identification of two discrete shapes used in the manufacture of the base and body of Smithport Plain bottles. The sample includes the Smithport Plain bottles from the Webb collection, and four new bottles: two previously repatriated specimens in the Pohler Collection, and two from the Mitchell site (41BW4) to test whether those specimens align morphologically with the Belcher Mound or Smithport Landing specimens. Results indicate significant allometry and a significant difference in Smithport Plain body and base shapes for bottles produced at the …

The Future Of Groundwater In California: Lessons In Sustainable Management From Across The West, Christina Hoffman Babbitt, Katherine E. B. Gibson, Scott Sellers, Nicholas Brozovic, Anthony Saracino, Ann Hayden, Maurice Hall, Sandi Zellmer

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) created, for the first time and on an unprecedented scale, a mandate to change how groundwater is managed statewide in California. While enacting SGMA was a tremendous step forward, communities and water districts now face the considerable challenge of creating successful groundwater management programs. This report is aimed at helping California’s water managers, public water agencies, county commissioners, city planners, and others better understand the suite of tools and approaches that can be used to enhance the sustainable management of groundwater. Specifically, we consider four categories of management tools—regulatory, incentive-based, agency supply augmentation …

Color Removal Of Dye And Milk Wastewater Using Peanut Hull By The Process Of Adsorption, Venkatesh Kummarakuntla

ETD Archive

Dairy industry is one of the major industries from which organic wastewater is produced and released into the water bodies. Textile industries also generate considerable amount of dye wastewater that effect the water quality standards. Various treatment techniques are adopted to treat the wastewater. Adsorption is one of the low-cost treatment processes to treat the textile and milk wastewater. This thesis focuses on the treatment of combined dye and milk wastewater using the process of adsorption. The treatment process is carried out by using three different types of low cost adsorbents Peanut-hull, Banana peel and Activated carbon. The effectiveness of …

Treatment Of Dye Wastewater Using Dehydrated Peanut Hull, Nikitha Shamirpet

ETD Archive

The release of dye waste water into environment causes harm to aquatic life when they reach drains or other water sources. They pollute the soil and causes change in cycles of plant and animal life through bio-accumulation and nutrient cycle. Dyes which form residue or precipitate causes mutations or changes in the DNA of living organisms in and around the area of release of the dye into atmosphere. In this thesis, several runs were attempted to treat the synthetically prepared dye waste water using dehydrated peanut hull. The initial dye waste water samples were all collected and checked for absorbance, …

Evolutionary Optimization For Safe Navigation Of An Autonomous Robot In Cluttered Dynamic Unknown Environments, Arash Roshanineshat

ETD Archive

We present a path planning approach based on probabilistic methods for a robot to navigate in a cluttered, dynamic, unknown environment. There are dynamic obstacles moving around and static obstacles located in the map. The robot does not have any prior information about them but should be able to navigate through the map beginning from a known starting point and safely ending at a known target point. The only information the robot has is the location of the starting point and the target point and it uses sensory information to collect information about its surroundings. Our method is compared to …

From Blockchain To Internet-Based Voting, Elham Akbari

ETD Archive

Blockchain has been one of the hottest topics among the state-of-the-art technologies. As the enabling technology for Bitcoin, the pioneering cryptocurrency, blockchain is an append-only distributed ledger that is virtually impossible to attack. Hence, blockchain holds great promises as the fundamental technology to enable Internet-based electronic voting. However, Internet-based voting has additional requirements than what monetary transactions such as Bitcoin have to offer. In this thesis, we discuss the key differences of a blockchain-based voting system with digital currencies. In this context we also highlight the requirements, review existing proposed solutions, and outline possible improvements. Specifically, we propose several schemes …

Kinetics And Ensemble Dynamics Of Colloidal Ellipsoids Near An Ac Electrode, Jiarui Yan

ETD Archive

The manipulation of colloidal particles via applying electric fields has been studied over the past 30 years due to the unique properties associated with the fabricated colloidal crystals. Most works in this field focused on utilizing an alternating current (AC) electric field with spherical particles. However, utilizing spherical colloidal particles as building blocks for complex microstructures has been challenging. Consequently, more recent work has shifted to employing complex colloids (anisotropic in nature) as building blocks for advanced materials. In our work, the phase diagram and the kinetics of assembling colloidal polystyrene ellipsoids under an AC electric field at low frequencies …