Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Civilian Acquirer For Fire Safety (Cafs), Antara Das, Marcus Allen, Clark Shaver

Posters

The department of Electronics Engineering Technology (EET) of Pittsburg State University has designed a prototype of an autonomous rover to help firefighters to find lives trapped in a building during an event of fire. The rover prototype has been named CAFS, which is the abbreviated form for Civilian Acquirer for Fire Safety. This device intends to produce the first ever autonomous system to locate, record, and transmit people’s location from within a building to a user outside of the building. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), on 2017, 72% of the fire that happened in the USA was …

Extrusion Production Of 3d Printer Filament For Additive Manufacturing, Patrick Hardy, Cole Angermayer, Rhett Lokey, Rebeca Book, Jeanne H. Norton

Posters

Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is becoming a go-to production method for short production runs and rapid prototyping on a commercial scale. The growth of additive manufacturing is due to many fac­tors including development of concept modeling, product designing, prototyping, and customized parts. Pittsburg State University’s College of Technology strives to stay at the cutting edge of processing materials for additive manufacturing. The capability of making our own 3D-printer filament would allow students to work with new and different materials and would allow students to learn at the forefront of 3D printing technology. The Wayne Yellowjacket Extruder and …

Molybdenum Oxides For Energy Generation And Storage Using Efficient Clean Method, Camila Zequine, Pawan K. Kahol, Ram K. Gupta

Posters

To solve the growing energy issues, significant efforts have been focused on the search of earth-abundant ele­ments that can provide multifunctional behavior for both energy generation and storage. Due to the low-cost and rich chemical nature, transition metal oxide nanostructures have been used in the fabrication of energy devices, such as fuel cells and lithium batteries. In this work, nickel, cobalt and iron molybdates were synthesized via a simple hydrothermal method in order to fabricate electrodes for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and a superca­pacitor. FeMoO₄ required an overpotential of 294 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA/cm2 for …

Weighsted, Vince Heyman, Tatianna Schluep, Timothy Jaworski

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

The purpose of this design thesis is to outline and describe the design project; WeighstEd. WeighstEd, is a data collection, storage, and analysis system for food waste to help Santa Clara University’s Sustainability Center reach a quantifiable food waste reduction goal of 10% by 2020 by using data to make informed cafeteria changes. The report will outline the entire engineering design process from ideation to manufacture including analysis techniques and benchmark testing. This report will serve as a written documentation of three mechanical engineers Senior Design Project completed at Santa Clara University. WeighstEd will be implemented at on campus events …

Improved Molding Tool For Plastics Engineering Technology Injection Molder, Caleb Luthi, Tyler Burger, Andrew Huffman, Paul Herring, Jeanne H. Norton

Posters

Plastic injection molding is an extremely versatile, preferred method of producing plastic parts because it is ex­tremely efficient. In the business of injection molding, it is important to have machines and tools that work prop­erly to get the job done. One such tool is the mold, which forms high quality plastic parts. The main objective of this project is to refurbish the current Frisbee mold to create promotional products for PSU’s Department of Engineering Technology. Parts were created with the existing mold to determine what issues needed to be ad­dressed, including: excessive flash on the parts/runner, a poor runner/gate design, …

Electrocatalytic Properties Of Lanthanum-Based Perovskites For Water Splitting And Energy Storage Applications, Xavier R. Martinez, Khamis Siam, Pawan K. Kahol, Ram K. Gupta

Posters

Recent changes in global weather patterns have punctuated the need for mollification through a cleaner energy option. As part of the plan, hydrogen production for fuel cells offers substantial power without carbon emissions. Overall water splitting, with the aid of a low cost electrocatalyst could prove to be an abundant green fuel source. Utilizing readily available transition metals, three perovskite nanostructures were studied as a multifunctional material for hydrogen production as well as energy storage. LaCoO₃ (LCO), LaFeO₃ (LFO), and LaMnO₃ (LMO) were synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction and then dip coated onto nickel foam as electrodes in a …

Metal-Doped Catalysts For Hydrogen Evolution Reaction, Tucker Morey, Ram K. Gupta, Pawan K. Kahol

Posters

The highly efficient electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) provides a promising way to solve energy and environment problems. In this work, various transition metals (Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Ag, and Pt) were selected to support on molybdenum carbides by a simple organic-inorganic precursor carburization process. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis results indicated that the ß-MO₂C phase was formed in all metal-doped samples. X-ray photo­electron spectroscopy analysis indicated that the binding energy of MO₂+ species (MO₂C) shifted to a lower value after metal was doped on the molybdenum carbide surface. Comparing with pure ß-MO₂C, the elec­trocatalytic activity for HER was improved by …

Implementation Of Solar Car Technology, Greg Mccartney, Marcus Allen, Dedrick Cooper, Lelan Delissa, Eric Mayer

Posters

Under the leadership of Dr. Erik Mayer, Pittsburg State University hosted the first Kansas Solar Race Competition. The purpose of this competition is to motivate students to learn about different aspects of solar car technology. The competition motivates students by bringing multiple teams together in a friendly competition to test out their uniquely engineered and constructed wireless cars. The cars will compete in different competitions such as an agil­ity competition and a drag race. After the competition, the students are able to learn from the ingenuity of other teams and spark a curiosity to continue to learn about solar car …

Almond Based Electrocatalyst For Fuel Cell Applications, Kinsey Morey, Tucker Morey, Brooks Neria, Khamis Siam, Pawan K. Kahol

Posters

Hydrogen is considered one of the cleanest energy sources. Water spitting is one of the efficient ways to produce hydrogen as a fuel at the industrial level. Water splitting via electrolysis requires an efficient electrocatalyst to reduce the voltage required for water splitting. Currently, precious metals such as platinum are considered as one of the most efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen production via electrolysis of water. The current challenge is to find a cost-effective alternative for this process. Molybdenum and carbon are low cost and abundant mate­rials which could be used for the synthesis of cost-effective electrocatalysts for hydrogen production. In …

Dmx Controlled Scenic Automation, Hannah Sisney, Tiernan O’Rourke, J. V. Ating

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

SwiftScene DMX Control is a safe, simple, and low-cost solution to automated scenery marketed to educational level and low-income theaters. The module is an 18” x 18” electrical enclosure that attaches to the underside of a stage platform and is fully controlled wirelessly via a light board. This is a scaled down prototype meant as a proof of concept and product viability. It is capable of rotational motion and limited linear motion. This prototype meets expectations of traveling at 1 ft/s with acceleration and deceleration at 0.5 ft/s², but speed and acceleration can be varied based on desired …

2019 Ieee Southeastcon Hardware Competition: A Systems Engineering Approach, Emily Sage

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Huntsville section invites college students to participate in their annual SoutheastCon Conference. Western Kentucky University sends a team of engineering students to the hardware competition, an opportunity for students to design and build autonomous robots. The 2019 hardware competition called for students to develop a robot that could collect and sort debris by color. This thesis outlines the project lifecycle of the WKU 2019 SoutheastCon robot with an emphasis on implemented systems engineering tools and techniques. Systems Engineering is an interdisciplinary approach to project management that focuses on treating the overall project …

Asme Student Design Competition, Marcus Todd

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

For the completion of my capstone project with the Western Kentucky University Honors College, the following document details my experience with the American Society of Mechanical Engineer (ASME) Student Design Competition. This project was completed in a two semester sequence through working with a team of four. One semester focusing primarily on the design and the other on fabrication and evaluation. The 2019 ASME competition was the Pick and Place Race. In this event, 46 teams were challenged to design and construct a device having the ability to pick up balls of varying size. Both the design and assembly process …

Cpu Cooling Pulse Device For Enhanced Heat Transfer, Hannah Farabee, Noémie L. Iñiguez, Hugo Nunez, Wendy Zwanka

Senior Theses

Ice Dragon Cooling is a company which researches thermofluids and heat transfer technologies. The company’s present research focuses on HVAC and computer applications, with an emphasis on nanofluid development. To support Ice Dragon’s mission, the company wants a product that enhances heat transfer efficiency in liquid-cooled CPU systems. The product is to be a pulse device which increases the turbulence of a liquid across a computer CPU cooling block, thereby expediting heat transfer away from the CPU.

The needs for Ice Dragon Cooling were determined based on engineering knowledge and industry consultation. After further analysis, it was determined that increasing …

Magnesium Nanocomposites: An Overview On Time-Dependent Plastic (Creep) Deformation, Meysem Haghshenas, Manoj Gupta

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Magnesium (Mg) nanocomposites are created when nano-size particles are embedded into the Mg (or Mg alloy) matrix. The Mg nanocomposites, cited as high-strength energy-saving materials of future, are a group of emerging materials with excellent combination of strength and ductility and superior specific strength property (strength-to-weight ratio). Having said this, Mg nanocomposites are considered as promising replacement for other structural alloys (i.e. aluminum and titanium) wherever low density and high strength are required, i.e. transportation, aerospace, defense, etc. To be able to apply this group of materials for real components, different failure mechanisms at ambient and elevated temperatures under …

High Fidelity Dynamic Modeling And Nonlinear Control Of Fluidic Artificial Muscles, Jonathon Earl Slightam

Dissertations (1934 -)

A fluidic artificial muscle is a type of soft actuator. Soft actuators transmit power with elastic or hyper-elastic bladders that are deformed with a pressurized fluid. In a fluidic artificial muscle a rubber tube is encompassed by a helical fiber braid with caps on both ends. One of the end caps has an orifice, allowing the control of fluid flow in and out of the device. As the actuator is pressurized, the rubber tube expands radially and is constrained by the helical fiber braid. This constraint results in a contractile motion similar to that of biological muscles. Although artificial muscles …

A Comparison Of Static And Dynamic Functional Connectivities For Identifying Subjects And Biological Sex Using Intrinsic Individual Brain Connectivity, Sreevalsan S. Menon, K. Krishnamurthy

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Functional magnetic resonance imaging has revealed correlated activities in brain regions even in the absence of a task. Initial studies assumed this resting-state functional connectivity (FC) to be stationary in nature, but recent studies have modeled these activities as a dynamic network. Dynamic spatiotemporal models better model the brain activities, but are computationally more involved. A comparison of static and dynamic FCs was made to quantitatively study their efficacies in identifying intrinsic individual connectivity patterns using data from the Human Connectome project. Results show that the intrinsic individual brain connectivity pattern can be used as a ‘fingerprint’ to distinguish among …

Manipulating Transverse Photovoltage Across Plasmonic Triangle Holes Of Symmetry Breaking, Marjan Akbari, Jie Gao, Xiaodong Yang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The transverse photo-induced voltages generated by the photon drag effect under normally and obliquely incident circularly polarized light across the plasmonic symmetry-breaking isosceles-triangle holes and right-triangle holes have been characterized. It is observed that the sign of transverse photovoltage flips when the incident circular polarization is switched for both types of plasmonic triangle holes. However, the unbalanced photovoltage between two circular polarizations is achieved across the plasmonic right-triangle holes, compared to the balanced photovoltage in the plasmonic isosceles-triangle holes. Such manipulation of the sign and the amplitude of transverse photovoltage is enabled by the broken symmetries of the electric and …

Hybrid Laser/Arc Welding Of Difficult-To-Weld Thick Steel Plates In Different Joint Configurations: Issues And Resolutions, Nima Yazdian

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

Difficult-to-weld steels are ferrous alloys that are characterized by a low thermal conductivity, and large thermal expansion coefficient. These intrinsic features contribute to a high level of distortion and cracking susceptibility during joining of these types of steels. In an effort to address the issues associated with difficult-to-weld steels, highly concentrated beam spots like electron and laser beam welding were developed. Usage of tightly focused heat sources have been accompanied by several challenges. An extremely precise fit-up requirement was considered as the most significant issue corresponding to application of either laser or electron beam. Recently, it was found that the …

Analytical And Experimental Study Of Laser Cladding Of Ni/Wc Metal Matrix Powders Reinforced With Rare Earth Elements Using A High Power Direct Diode Laser, Mohammed Sayeed

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

The corrosion and wear are major limiting factors for steel in the harsh environments and can be controlled by depositing protective passive coatings. Nickel based alloy cladding of steel offers a solution by enabling better corrosion and wear resistance, and high bonding strength. The laser surface cladding of steel was conducted using a high power direct diode laser. Layers of tungsten carbide in Ni (40%Ni-60%WC) combined with 1% and 2% Lanthanum Oxide (La₂O₃) and Cerium Oxide (CeO₂) were deposited on ASTM A36 steel substrate. The X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were employed to …

Experimental Investigations Of Bio-Syngas Production Using Microwave Pyrolysis Of Uae’S Palm Date Seeds, Mahmmoud Muhammed Syam

Mechanical Engineering Theses

From the start of the industrial revolution, the continued need for energy has been the most crucial issue in human history. An energy crisis started at the beginning of the 1970s when the number of machines, which became an essential part of our life, increased rapidly. Scientists made a huge effort to discover new sources of energy, with ‘biomass’ being one of the main focuses of researchers as a new renewable source of energy. In this thesis, a non conventional method of heating, using microwave power in a pyrolysis process of biomass waste from palm trees (Allig’s date seeds) for …

Modeling And Simulation With Optimal Gear Ratio For A Forward-Looking, Velocity-Driven, Power-Split Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Sonal Babasaheb Kanap

Masters Theses

Increases in vehicle demand and fossil fuel consumption are major contributors to environmental problems, such as air pollution and climate change. This has led to research on alternative, energy-efficient vehicle technologies. Automobile users are now preferring comfortable vehicles with minimal fuel consumption and with more efficient engines. Hybrid cars are becoming common because of their advantage of running cleaner and with better gas mileage. A hybrid car runs on the power of both an electric motor and a gasoline engine. This mechanism helps cut fuel consumption and conserve energy. An additional advantage is a regenerative braking system that helps recharge …

Fatigue Strength Evaluation And Fracture Behavior Of Joined Dual Phase Steel/Aa6061-T6 Aluminum Alloy, Ruben Perez Mora, Celso Eduardo Cruz Gonzalez, Saul Daniel Santillan Gutierrez, Jaime Taha-Tijerina, Benjamin Vargas Arista, Arturo Barba Pingarron

Informatics and Engineering Systems Faculty Publications

The fatigue strength evaluation and fracture behavior for a dual phase steel-AA6061-T6 bonded joints with three different adhesives (DC-80, Betamate 120 and MP55420) are presented in this paper. Single lap shear tests were used to determine maximum shear loads, for the single lap shear testing for 5.0 mm overlap length were 2 to 3.5 times higher in comparison to the 12.7 mm overlap length specimens. The results for the strain measurement revealed that higher strain-stress were developed in the 6061-T6 aluminum alloy adherend and in all cases they were lower than the adherends yield strength. Fatigue testing was carried out …

Towards A Pre-Processing Algorithm For Automated Arrhythmia Detection, Sarah Miller

Honors Theses

There are a variety of different wearable fitness/cardiac monitoring devices that are currently used in many people’s day to day life. The primary cardiac function of these devices is to monitor heart rate, however we believe that they could be utilized to detect different forms of arrhythmia. In order to categorize and identify different forms of arrhythmia, we are utilizing published EKG data sets from existing databases as a basis for machine learning. The challenge that comes from the existing data sets is that the format they present the data in does not lend itself to machine learning, which requires …

Training Set Density Estimation For Trajectory Predictions Using Artificial Neural Networks, Zachary Reinke

Masters Theses

Demand on earth orbiting surveillance systems in increasing as more equipment is put into orbit. These systems rely on predictive techniques to periodically track objects. The demand on these systems may be reduced if object trajectory data to develop scalable training sets used for training artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict trajectories of a dynamic system. These methods use multi-variable statistics to analyze data energy content to provide the ANN with low density, feature-rich, training data. The developed techniques have been shown to increase ANN prediction accuracy while reducing the size of the training set when applied to a linear …

Optical Transportation And Accumulation Of Microparticles By Self-Accelerating Cusp Beams, Weiwei Liu, Xiaodong Yang, Jie Gao

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Most of the self-accelerating beams have monotonous single-channel bending structures, which greatly limit their applications in many fields such as microscopic imaging and particle manipulation. In this paper, the self-accelerating cusp beams with variable numbers of multichannel bending structures are generated to demonstrate the optical transportation and accumulation of micrometer polystyrene particles. The transportation velocity and optical force profiles of the microparticles moving along the bending channels of cusp beams are analyzed. Parallel particle transportation and particle accumulation manipulation from all the bending channels are further demonstrated. These results will inspire a lot of promising applications for self-accelerating beams especially …

Optimal Energy Management For Forward-Looking Serial-Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle Using Rule-Based Control Strategy, Abhijit Bhaskar Jadhav

Masters Theses

In today’s sophisticated era of technology, resolving environmental problems is a matter of grave concern. Developing hybrid electric vehicles is a good step towards environmental preservation, since they use less fuel compared to conventional vehicles because of the combination of electric and mechanical energy. A hybrid electric vehicle reduces dependence on fossil fuels and hence lowers emissions. Specifically, a hybrid powertrain that includes a conventional gasoline engine and a brushless DC motor offers great potential to meet stringent CO₂ regulations and fuel economy requirements. This thesis focuses on the effects of initial state of charge (SOC) stored in Hybrid …

Human-Centered Electric Prosthetic (Help) Hand, Jamie Ferris, Shiyin Lim, Michael Mehta, Evan Misuraca

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Through a partnership with Indian non-profit Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti, we designed a functional, robust, and and low cost electrically powered prosthetic hand that communicates with unilateral, transradial, urban Indian amputees through a biointerface. The device uses compliant tendon actuation, a small linear servo, and a wearable garment outfitted with flex sensors to produce a device that, once placed inside a prosthetic glove, is anthropomorphic in both look and feel. The prosthesis was developed such that future groups can design for manufacturing and distribution in India.

Global Estimation Methodology For Wave Adaptation Modular Vessel Dynamics Using A Genetic Algorithm, Marco Alan Schoener

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Determining parameters for a system model for marine vessels becomes more difficult as the model is made more complex. Work has been done to determine the equations of motion, but not to fully define how to estimate all of the system parameters. This work utilizes a global optimization methodology for estimating the system parameters using a genetic algorithm. The optimizer uses training data sets created from a set of ship maneuvering standards to minimize the error in the 3 degree-of-freedom equations of motion. The model has been optimized using a “No Surge-Yaw” model (minimal surge coupling) and a “Full” model …

Finite Element Model Validation And Testing Of An Off-Road Vehicle Under Dynamic Loading Conditions, Mackenzie Susan Cunningham

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In the vehicle design life cycle, validation tests consume a significant portion of the available development time. With a short, one-year design cycle, the Embry-Riddle Baja Team leverages computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools to simulate critical test cases whose loading conditions can be accurately represented by a series of static loads and constraints. Using these conditions, a Finite Element Model (FEM) can be employed to accurately predict the effects of the loading conditions in the components. During the initial design of the front suspension, one major load case was determined to be the main failure load. However, after validation testing the …

A Study Of Thermal Energy Storage Of Phase Change Materials: Thermophysical Properties And Numerical Simulations, Kyung-Eun Min

Dissertations and Theses

A Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system is meant for holding thermal energy in the form of hot or cold materials for later utilization. A TES system is an important technological system in providing energy savings as well as efficient and optimum energy use. The main types of a TES system are sensible heat and latent heat. A latent heat storage is a very efficient method for storing or releasing thermal energy due to its high energy storage density at constant temperatures, and a latent heat storage material can store 5-14 times more heat per unit volume than a sensible heat …