Engineering Commons^™

Nonlinear Ocean Energy Harvester, Dane Sequeira

Link Foundation Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation Fellowship Reports

The scientific community has worked to extend communication networks, human safety programs, and environmental monitoring systems across continents, but has struggled to accomplish these same goals beyond the shoreline. Lack of offshore power is the greatest barrier restricting us from exploring the ocean because it is difficult to operate sensors without a reliable power source. Wave energy harvesting has been investigated as a solution; however, current methods have many shortcomings. Traditional ocean energy harvesters (e.g. buoys) extract energy from ocean waves by capturing the change in potential energy as the buoy travels vertically along the wave. A linear design, this …

Extraction Of Phase-Resolved Wave Data From X-Band Radar Imagery, Alexandra Simpson

Link Foundation Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation Fellowship Reports

Typically, phase-resolved measurements of the sea surface are limited to single-point time series from in situ sensors, or arrays of multiple in situ sensors. The deployment of such devices is costly and time intensive, and the wave data they provide is limited in its spatial coverage and directional accuracy. Several remote sensing options, including optical video and X-Band marine radars, offer the possibility of full 2D reconstruction of the phase-resolved directional sea on spatial scales of kilometers. Ocean waves are visible in radar imagery as the ubiquitous backscatter from short wind ripples is modulated by the longer gravity waves. However, …

Manufacturing A Composite Wheel Prototype Using 3d Printed Molds, Steven Thuening

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Throughout the evolution of high performance racing, a large emphasis has been on reducing the weight of the vehicle in order to improve its performance. Over the years, new designs and materials have been introduced reducing weight in a variety of different locations. Comparing weight reduced in different areas has shown that some areas are more valuable to reduce than others are. Perhaps one of the most beneficial locations are the wheels. This is because the mass of the wheel is considered unsprung and rotational. Because of this, large improvements towards the reduction of wheel mass have been developed in …

Evaluation Of Elastic Modulus Of Fiber-Reinforced Concrete, Nakin Suksawang, Salam Wtaife, Ahmed Alsabbagh

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper determines the effect of discrete fibers on the elastic modulus of concrete and cement composites. Five types of discrete fibers consisting of steel, polypropylene, macro-polyolefin, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and basalt fibers were investigated. Results show that discrete fibers had little effect on elastic modulus for fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) with coarse-to-fine aggregate ratio (C/S) greater than 1. However, for FRC with C/S smaller than 1 and fiber-reinforced cement composites (FRCCs), discrete fibers reduced the elastic modulus. Accordingly, a new elastic modulus equation is proposed to better estimate the elastic modulus of FRC with a maximum fiber volume fraction of …

A Matched E-H Plane T-Junction For X-Band Applications, Ashmi Chakraborty Das, Santanu Dwari, Amit Bage

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This paper presents a method of moment-based analysis of an E-H plane T-junction to find its scattering parameters. The results show that the network is not matched at its ports. Therefore, matching networks have been included in the structure to establish matching at the ports. The matching structure includes an inductive window at the H-plane arm and a bisected funnel structure at the junction. Results of the modified structure show simultaneous matching at all the four ports at 9 GHz, which makes it suitable for X-band application.

L-Index Based Contingency Filtering For Voltage Stability Constrained Reactive Power Planning, Farid Karbalaei, Shahriar Abbasi

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

One of the most important objectives in reactive power planning (RPP) is maintaining required voltage stability margin under normal and single-contingency situations. For this, an optimization problem must be formulated considering N-1 contingencies constrained for a set of predetermined contingencies. Traditionally, all these contingencies must simultaneously be addressed in the optimization problem. This can dramatically increase the problem dimension and decrease the convergence ability of its solution for large scale applications. This paper uses an L-index based contingency filtering strategy to select a small number of contingencies to be addressed in RPP problem. For this, the predetermined set of all …

Operation Of Three-Level Single-Phase Half-Bridge Npc Inverter-Based Shunt Active Power Filter Under Non-Ideal Grid Voltage Condition With Sliding Mode Controller, Samet Biricik, Hasan Komurcugil, Tuan Ngo, Malabika Basu

Conference papers

In this paper, a new control method is presented for a single-phase three-level neutral point clamped half-bridge shunt active power filter with the aim of eliminating the grid current harmonics. It is shown that the proposed control me thod accurately detects the positive-sequence voltage component under distorted grid condition. With this feature, the performance of the single-phase active power filter under distorted grid voltage condition is improved considerably. Furthermore, the imbalance in the capacitor voltages which occurs in the half-bridge topology is eliminated by adding a feedback term to the current control loop.

Comparison Of Grid Array And Microstrip Patch Array Antennas At 28 Ghz, Zeeshan Ahmed, Patrick Mcevoy, Max Ammann

Conference papers

A millimeter wave Grid Array Antenna for fifth generation (5G) communications is presented. The 20 cell, nearly-rhombic, 40×40 mm2 Grid Array Antenna structure is simulated and fabricated on a Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 substrate with thickness of 0.25 mm. The grid array has |S11|

Interoperable Ocean Observing Using Archetypes: A Use-Case Based Evaluation, Paul Stacey, Damon Berry

Conference papers

This paper presents a use-case based evaluation of the impact of two-level modeling on the automatic federation of ocean observational data. The goal of the work is to increase the interoperability and data quality of aggregated ocean observations to support convenient discovery and consumption by applications. An assessment of the interoperability of served data flows from publicly available ocean observing spatial data infrastructures was performed. Barriers to consumption of existing standards-compliant ocean-observing data streams were examined, including the impact of adherence to agreed data standards. Historical data flows were mapped to a set of archetypes and a backward integration experiment …

Sliding-Mode And Proportional-Resonant Based Control Strategy For Three-Phase Two-Leg T-Type Grid-Connected Inverters With Lcl Filter, Necmi Altin, Saban Ozdemir, Hasan Komurcugil, Ibrahim Sefa, Samet Biricik

Conference papers

In this study, sliding-mode and proportional-resonant based control strategy is proposed for three-phase two-leg T-type grid-connected inverter with LCL filter. The sliding surface function is formed by using the inverter current and capacitor voltage errors. When the inverter current and capacitor voltage feedbacks are included into the control loop, the active damping requirement is automatically resolved. The PR controllers are employed in cascaded manner to generate the references for inverter current and capacitor voltage. The use of PR controllers ensures zero steady-state error in the inverter current, capacitor voltage and grid current. In addition, since the proposed three-phase inverter has …

Generalized Configurations For The Synchronization System Based On Transfer Function Approach, Tuan Ngo, Tuyen Vu, Samet Biricik

Conference papers

This paper presents our research on deriving all the generalized forms for the grid synchronization system of an inverter in the grid-connected applications. The transfer function approach is introduced in order to obtain the generalized second-order and third-order synchronization systems. This approach is based on the orthogonal property of two outputs from the second-order generalized-integrator (SOGI) technique that these two outputs are always 90° difference in phase but only equal in magnitude at the grid frequency. The proposed approach then can provide the generalized forms of any high-order synchronization system, including the second-order and the third-order systems. It is interesting …

Block-Based Classification Method For Computer Screen Image Compression, Kai Wu, Richard Gahan, Patrick O'Friel

Conference papers

In this paper, a high accuracy and reduced processing time block based classification method for computer screen images is presented. This method classifies blocks into five types: smooth, sparse, fuzzy, text and picture blocks. In a computer screen compression application, the choice of block compression algorithm is made based on these block types. The classification method presented has four novel features. The first novel feature is a combination of Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and colour counting classification methods. Both of these methods have only been used for computer image compression in isolation in previous publications but this paper shows that …

Day Laborers & Extreme Heat: Recommendations For Reducing Heat Stress, Sandra Mena

REU Final Reports

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has various Global Climate Models (GCM). One of them, models three greenhouse gases. The increasing amount of greenhouse gases are just a fraction of factors that fuel global climate change. According to the IPCC 2014, climate related extremes such as heatwaves are likely to occur more regularly and are likely to increase in duration. Since 1979, there has been over 9000 deaths that occurred from heat-related incidents in the United States (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2016). Which brings attention to population groups who are exposed to hot temperatures on a frequent basis due …

Photonic Grating Coupler Designs For Optical Benching, Eng Wen Ong

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background: Silicon Photonics has been rapidly developing as a field. The primary reason for this is its lower operating costs and faster switching rates for use in big data centres. Instead of microns-wide copper lines to transmit signals, silicon photonic chips use waveguides, usually of silicon or silicon nitride. Photonic signals bypass the issues of resistive-capacitance lag (RC-lag) and resistive-heating encountered by copper lines. Additionally, a single waveguide may transmit multiple signals along different carrier wavelengths.

Technology Development For Detection Of Circulating Disease Biomarkers From Liquid Biopsies Using Multifunctional Nanomaterials, Mustafa Balcioglu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Despite the advance health care, devastating health conditions such as cancer and infectious diseases that affect populations worldwide are too often not diagnosed until morbid symptoms become apparent in the late phase. Obtaining an early and accurate diagnosis that reveal a hidden lethal threat before the disease becomes complicated may dramatically reduce the severity of its impact on the patient’s life and increase the probability of survival. For example, in the case of ovarian cancer, which is the fifth most common malignancy and the fifth leading cause of cancer mortality in women in the US, the 5-year relative survival is …

Economics Of R&D Specialization In The Semiconductor Industry, Kyun Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Starting in the 1970s, specialized suppliers have entered the semiconductor industry to supply capital equipment, or tools, used in semiconductor manufacturing to downstream semiconductor companies. After the entry of these external suppliers, semiconductor chip producers began to rely in varying degrees on them for the R&D to improve the quality of capital equipment, while they themselves began to focus on design and production of chips. In my dissertation, I conduct an empirical and theoretical investigation to support my hypothesis that the difference in R&D incentives between the upstream suppliers and downstream chip manufacturers was the important reason for the emergence …

Dna Functionalized Nanoparticles In Nanobiosensor And Sensor Array Development For Molecular Diagnostics And In Vitro Identification Of Biomolecules, Mustafa Salih Hizir

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Nucleic acid technology along with vast variety of nanomaterials has demonstrated a great potential in many applications from biosensing studies to molecular diagnostics, from biomedical and bioanalytical research to environmental analysis. Especially short single stranded (ss) DNA molecules, called oligonucleotides, are extraordinary biopolymers featuring diverse functionality on the nanoparticles thanks to their high degree of programmability, target-specific binding or cleavage, molecular recognition ability, structure-switching capability, and unique interactions at the bio-nano interfaces. Among those, there have been many biosensing applications utilizing ss DNAs and numerous nanomaterials through various detection techniques such as fluorometric, colorimetric or electrochemical methods. Although many groundbreaking …

Investigation Of The Ms2 Bacteriophage Capsid As An Mri-Capable, Brain-Targeted Nanoparticle Platform, Stephanie M. Curley

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Novel methods are needed to traverse the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and deliver drugs to specific targets in the brain. To this end, MS2 bacteriophage was explored as a multifunctional transport and targeting vector. The MS2 capsid exterior was modified with two different targeting moieties for delivery across the BBB and targeting specific regions of interest in the brain. Successful modification of MS2 capsids with a brain targeting peptide and NMDAR2D-targeting antibody was confirmed by immunoblotting and fluorescence detection. To measure transport efficiency of MS2 particles across an in vitro BBB model, a highly sensitive RT-qPCR protocol was developed and implemented. …

Radiation Effects In Tantalum Oxide-Based Resistive Memory Devices, Joshua Stuart Holt

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

There is an increasing need for radiation-hardened electronics as space programs grow in number and scope. Scientific interest in long-term exploration, particularly in high-radiation environments such as Europa, as well as commercial interest in establishing permanent outposts, requires high tolerance of radiation effects. A flash memory device might survive for several years in low Earth orbit, but only a few days in orbit around Europa due to the extremely high levels of radiation encountered there. Meanwhile, commercial interests, including asteroid mining and building a base on the moon or Mars would require electronic systems that could survive for long periods …

The Microfluidic Intravital Window : A Tool For Manipulation And Imaging Of The Tumor Microenvironment, Logan William Butt

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a heterogeneous collection of both healthy and pathological cells, whose complex interactions hold the key for understanding and overcoming cancer. Metastasis leverages these complex interactions into a sophisticated process by which single cells from the tumor disseminate into the blood and form new colonies in other organ systems. Subsequent formation of tumors throughout the body, as a direct result of metastatic events, is responsible for most deaths related to cancer, making metastasis a necessary target for cancer therapy.

Development And Simulation Of Germanium P-I-N Infrared Detectors, Caitlin Rouse Philippi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Important factors for infrared photodetectors are that they are high-performing, low-cost devices. The performance can be characterized through the quantum efficiency, speed and device noise. Germanium (Ge) on silicon (Si) offers a comparable alternative to conventional groups III-V infrared detector materials such as InGaAs, InSb and HgCdTe in order to develop near-infrared (NIR) photodetector devices that operate with a high responsivity and a relatively low dark current without being cooled. As a Group IV material, Ge is compatible with Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) manufacturing which allows for a high-quality, high-throughput device for minimum cost. As a result of a thermally induced …

Growth Of Epitaxial Graphene On Single Crystal Copper Surfaces By Chemical Vapor Deposition, Tyler Rutley Mowll

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Graphene is of significant interest due to its unique properties, such as high carrier mobility, mechanical strength, and thermal conductivity. Potential applications include next generation transistors, interconnects, biological and chemical sensing devices, and super capacitors. The research presented here addresses unresolved questions regarding the nucleation and growth of graphene by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on the high index surfaces of copper single crystals. While much CVD graphene growth has been performed on copper foils, the polycrystalline nature of the foils renders large-scale single domain growth of graphene difficult. For this reason, many groups seek to reduce the nucleation rate of …

Impact Of Spiro Ammonium Electrolytes On Electric Double Layer Capacitors, Donald Derosa

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Electric Double Layer Capacitors (EDLC) are high power (103 W kg-1), durable (>500,000 cycles) energy storage devices that are promising candidates for Hybrid Energy Storage Systems (HESS) , automotive and smart grid applications. EDLCs when coupled with lithium ion batteries in HESS configurations for hybrid vehicles have been shown to reduce capacity related degradation by a factor of 2 and impedance related degradation by 5.9. Despite these promising advantages, the adoption of EDLCs has been hampered due to concerns regarding the low volumetric and gravimetric energy density of these devices. Researchers have attempted to address these concerns through the …

Zno Nanowires For Advanced X-Ray Source Applications, Vance Scott Robinson

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

X-ray system technology trends tend towards simpler, smaller and more efficient devices. A broad range of applications are driving contemporary efforts in X-ray source miniaturization: Portable and/or remote nondestructive evaluation; High throughput protein crystallography, invasive radiotherapy; monitoring fluid flow and particulate generation in situ; and portable radiography devices for battle-front or large scale disaster triage scenarios. Most of the x-ray sources for these applications follow a top-down approach focused on improving portability, and reducing mass and/or size.

Genetically Engineered Polypeptides As Biomimetic Light Harvesting Optical Antenna, Jason P. Seeley

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Natural resources useful for the generation of energy are limited. The development of efficient materials capable of utilizing the abundant free solar radiation is of considerable interest. Utilization of otherwise wasted energy sources, including solar radiation, is a progressive step in the quest for sustainable energy. Solar radiation incident upon the earth’s surface exceeds current energy requirements and motivates scientists to investigate and develop functional devices and nanomaterials including light harvesting complexes (LHC) capable of capturing solar radiation for energy conversion and storage.

Inhibition Of Apoptosis Exacerbates Fatigue-Damage Tendon Injuries In An In Vivo Rat Model, R. Bell, M. A. Robles-Harris, M. Anderson, D. Laudier, M. B. Schaffler, E. L. Flatow, N. Andarawis-Puri

Publications and Research

Tendinopathy is a common and progressive musculoskeletal disease. Increased apoptosis is an end-stage tendinopathy manifestation, but its contribution to the pathology of the disease is unknown. A previously established in vivo model of fatigue-damage accumulation shows that increased apoptosis is correlated with the severity of induced tendon damage, even in early onset of the disease, supporting its implication in the pathogenesis of the disease. Consequently, this study aimed to determine: (1) whether apoptosis could be inhibited after fatigue damage and (2) whether its inhibition could lead to remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and pericellular matrix (PCM), to ultimately improve …

Anomaly Inference Based On Heterogeneous Data Sources In An Electrical Distribution System, Yachen Tang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Harnessing the heterogeneous data sets would improve system observability. While the current metering infrastructure in distribution network has been utilized for the operational purpose to tackle abnormal events, such as weather-related disturbance, the new normal we face today can be at a greater magnitude. Strengthening the inter-dependencies as well as incorporating new crowd-sourced information can enhance operational aspects such as system reconfigurability under extreme conditions. Such resilience is crucial to the recovery of any catastrophic events. In this dissertation, it is focused on the anomaly of potential foul play within an electrical distribution system, both primary and secondary networks as …

Extending Maneuverability Of Internally Actuated Underwater Gliders, An Attempt To Develop An Open Platform For Research And Education, Saeedeh Ziaeefard

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Increasing maneuverability of internally actuated Underwater Gliders (UGs) is inevitable due to high demands in underwater surveillance and reconnaissance missions where agility and stealthiness are the keys to success. High maneuverability is needed to provide the opportunity for optimal trajectory planning, planar motion smoothness, and re-planning adapting to the dynamic environments.

This work explores extending the maneuverability of underwater gliders through coupled improvement in mechanical design, efficient use of internal actuation, and motion planning strategy utilizing flight concatenation. The existence of five flight patterns ``advanced flight", inspired by air gliders, enabled solely by utilizing internal actuation are investigated: Circle, Oval …

Modelling And Analysis Of Chevy Volt Gen Ii Hybrid Vehicle In Electric Mode, Kaushik Surresh

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The technical report discusses the high fidelity modelling of the powertrain of Chevy Volt Gen II Hybrid Vehicle in the Electric Mode. The overall objective of the powertrain model was to predict total energy consumed within 5% of experimental data for different drive cycles in Charge Depleting Mode. The following powertrain elements were modelled in Matlab and Simulink using parameters and performance maps provided by General Motors: battery, E-Motor, TPIM power electronics, transmission auxiliary pumps and spin losses.

An electric circuit based dynamic model of the Li-ion battery was developed. Static models of the E Motor, TPIM inverter, transmission auxiliary …

Deformation And Stress Averaging For Statistical Ensembles Of Particle Aggregate Mesoscale Models, Gerald Pekmezi, David Littlefield

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 4: Materials; pp. 104-111