A new adhesive bonding method is introduced for microlamination architectures, for producing low-temperature microchannel arrays in a wide variety of metals. Sheet metal embossing and chemical etching processes have been used to produce sealing bosses and flow features, resulting in approximately 50% fewer laminae over traditional methods. These lamina designs...
Advances in electronics fabrication, coupled with the demand for increased computing power, have driven the demand for innovative cooling solutions to dissipate waste heat generated by these devices. To meet future demands, research and development has focused on robust and stable two-phase heat transfer devices. A confined impinging jet is...
The performance of a combined vapor-compression cycle/ORC is evaluated using waste-heat from a diesel generator. A flat plate microchannel heat exchanger is employed to provide energy exchange between the diesel exhaust stream and an oil loop, which provides energy to a boiler. This study finds an increased diesel duty corresponds...
Coordination is essential to achieving good performance in cooperative multiagent systems. To date, most work has focused on either implicit or explicit coordination mechanisms, while relatively little work has focused on the benefits of combining these two approaches. In this work we demonstrate that combining explicit and implicit mechanisms can...
Wave Energy Converters (WECs) promise to be a viable alternative to current electrical generation methods. However, these WECs must become more efficient before wide-scale industrial use can become cost-effective. The efficiency of a WEC is primarily dependent upon its geometry and ballast configuration which are both difficult to evaluate, due...
Current life cycle assessment tools are often deficient in assisting design for sustainable manufacturing efforts. Integrating an improved assessment method into a decision support framework will provide a means for designers and engineers to better understand the impacts of their decisions. A unit process modeling-based sustainability assessment method is presented...
What constitutes a quality solution to an authentic task from industry? This study seeks to address this question through the examination of two expert solutions to an authentic engineering task used in the Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering curriculum at Oregon State University. The two solutions were generated by two...
A new material system was developed for fabricating the combustion engine of an unmanned aerial vehicle. The material system consisted of a mixture of nanoscale and microscale particles of silicon nitride. Magnesia and yttria were used as sintering additives. The powders were mixed with a paraffin binder system. The binder-powder...
For robotic manipulation tasks in uncertain environments, research typically revolves around developing the best possible software control strategy. However, the passive dynamics of the mechanical system, including inertia, stiffness, damping and torque limits, often impose performance limitations that cannot be overcome with software control. Discussions about the passive dynamics are...
Interest in accounting for environmental impacts of products, processes, and systems during the design phase is increasing. Numerous studies have undertaken investigations for reducing environmental impacts across the product life cycle. Efforts have also been launched to quantify such impacts more accurately. Life cycle energy consumption and carbon footprint are...
Several standardized courses for Formula SAE (FSAE) testing are introduced and described with sufficient detail to be reproduced by any Formula SAE team. Basic analysis methods for the courses are given as well as explanations of how those analyses could be used. On-car data from the Global Formula Racing (GFR)...
Microchannel process technology (MPT) offers several advantages to the field of nanomanufacturing: 1) improved process control over very short time intervals owing to shorter diffusional distances; and 2) reduced reactor size due to high surface area to volume ratios and enhanced heat and mass transfer. The objective of this thesis...
This paper combines two research publications working toward the development of an integrated framework for commercial sustainable building design. Current methodologies utilize a traditional architectural top-down approach to sustainable building design practices that consumes financial and temporal resources early in the design process. By identifying the array mechanical subsystems required...
Engineers have long been inspired by nature's flyers. Such animals navigate complex environments gracefully and efficiently by using a variety of evolutionary adaptations for high-performance flight. Biologists have discovered a variety of sensory adaptations that provide flow state feedback and allow flying animals to feel their way through flight. A...
In this work we present a multiagent Fleet Coordination Problem (FCP). In this formulation, agents seek to minimize the fuel consumed to complete all deliveries while maintaining acceptable on-time delivery performance. Individual vehicles must both (i) bid on the rights to deliver a load of goods from origin to destination...
A gap exists in the methods used in industry and available in academia that prevents customers and engineers from having a voice when considering engineering risk appetite in the dynamic shaping of early-phase conceptual design trade study outcomes. Current methods used in Collaborative Design Centers either collect risk information after...
While many organizations claim to "put safety first," safety is rarely considered early in the design process when system-level architectural decisions are made. Instead, system design follows an abstraction-to-detail process to first meet functional and then performance requirements. Following this process, safety assurance occurs in the later stages of design...
Identifying material parameters in composite plates is a necessary first step in a variety of structural applications. For example, understanding the material parameters of carbon fiber composite is important in investigating sensor and actuator placement on micro-air-vehicle wings for control and wing morphing purposes. Knowing the material parameters can also...
Sustainability has been the focus of intense discussions over the past two decades, with topics around the entire product life cycle. In the manufacturing phase, research has been focused solely on environmental impact assessment or environmental impact and cost analysis in its assessment of sustainability. However, few efforts have investigated...
Recent work has shown humanoid robots with spinal columns, instead of rigid torsos, benefit from both better balance and an increased ability to absorb external impact. Similarly, snake robots have shown promise as a viable option for exploration in confined spaces with limited human access, such as during power plant...
The problem of determining whether a crack impinging on an interface will penetrate into the substrate or deflect along the interface is vital to the effective design of layered and composite material systems. Of particular interest is the transition between crack propagation by penetration through an interface and deflection along...
Natural stream systems contain a variety of flow geometries which contain flow separation, turbulent shear layers, and recirculation zones. This work focuses on streams with dead zones. Characterized by slower flow and recirculation, dead zones are naturally occurring cutouts in stream banks. These dead zones play an important role in...
Natural fibers are gaining popularity as reinforcement materials for thermoset resins over the last two decades. Natural fibers are inexpensive, abundant, renewable and environmentally friendly. Kenaf fibers are one of the natural fibers that can potentially be used for reinforcing unsaturated polyester (UPE). As a polymer matrix, UPE enjoys a...
This work proposes a framework of concept generation and evaluation that takes into consideration the benefit of creativity and innovation in current market trends. By educating engineers in how to increase creativity in concept design and assess it quantitatively, the next generation of designers will be a step ahead of...
Hydrogen has been shown to be a promising replacement for fossil fuels for use in light duty vehicles because it is a clean, renewable and plentiful resource with a high gravimetric energy density. However, in order to obtain an acceptable volumetric energy density, densification of the hydrogen is required. Adsorptive...
This research is aimed at obtaining a better understanding of the impact of the use of collaborative and simulation sessions for learning lean principles and methods. Study participants were enrolled in a Lean Manufacturing System Engineering (IE436/536) course at Oregon State University or at three other business and engineering universities...
Wind energy is a promising alternative energy source due to its environmental, economic, and social benefits and, as such, has garnered public support and government incentives for its development and implementation. With the growing number of wind parks in Oregon, a life cycle assessment (LCA) study for a representative new...
A lightweight carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) c-channel beam was previously designed using analytical theory and finite element analysis and subsequently manufactured through a pultrusion process. Physical testing revealed the prototype did not meet the bending and torsional stiffness of the beam model. An investigation revealed that the manufactured prototype...
More than 1.2 million people worldwide require regular hemodialysis therapy to treat end stage renal failure. In the United States alone, there are 300,000 patients and the National Kidney Foundation predicts that this number will double in the next 10 years. Currently most dialysis patients receive treatment at a dialysis...
Microchannel process technology (MPT) components are chemical unit operations which exploit highly-parallel arrays of microchannels to process large fluid volumes for portable and distributed applications. Microchannel heat exchangers (MCHXs) have demonstrated 3 to 5 times higher heat fluxes when compared to conventional heat exchangers resulting in proportionate reductions in size...
There are many options available when selecting a computational model for
two-phase flows. It is important to understand all the features of the model
selected, including when the model is appropriate and how using it may affect
your results. This work examines how volume displacement effects in two-phase
Eulerian-Lagrangian models...
Characterization of local boiling trends, in addition to the typically reported area-averaged trends, is essential for the robust design and implementation of phase change technologies to sensitive heat transfer applications such as electronics cooling. Obtaining the values of heat fluxes corresponding to locally varying surface temperatures has been a challenge...
When using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to model notched composite panels, the values of certain material properties can have a great effect on the outcome of the simulation. Progressive damage modeling is used to model how a composite structure will fail, and how that failure will affect the response of...
Among the many safety hazards facing chainsaw operators, the phenomenon known as kickback is the most dangerous. Kickback occurs when the chain at the tip of the chainsaw is caused to stop abruptly, and transfers the energy of the cutting chain to motion of the saw. The saw will rotate...
Understanding the mechanical behavior of composite materials requires extensive knowledge of fracture behavior as a crack approaches an interface between the bulk material and the reinforcement structure. Overall material toughness can be greatly influenced by the propensity of an impinging crack to propagate directly through the substrate or deflect along...
Porous media flows are encountered in many natural and man-made systems such as gas adsorption, filtration, heat exchangers, combustion, catalytic reactors and groundwater hydrology. This study experimentally investigates these flows as function of pore Reynolds number, Re[subscript pore]. The pore Reynolds number is based on the porous bed hydraulic diameter,...