Techniques have been developed for measuring the
temperature, stable species concentrations, and atomic
radical concentrations during a transient combustion
event. They combine the features of direct sampling with
two spectroscopic techniques to produce relatively simple
diagnostic techniques to obtain time-resolved
measurements. In this study, a transient event was
provided by...
When trace quantities of an alkali element are added to a flame,
its optical and electrical properties change significantly. Addition of
alkali seed to both premixed and diffusion flames has been used in the
development of two new techniques, one for flame temperature measurement
and the other for enhanced mixing....
A continuous process for the production of ceramic materials has been studied.
This method reacted metal and oxidizer in a diffusionally controlled process,
demonstrated by reacting a magnesium particle stream and hot water vapor. Many small
rich hydrogen/air diffusion flames provide an atmosphere of hot water vapor, hydrogen,
and nitrogen...
A resonantly-coupled α-Stirling (RCAS) cooler was designed and constructed.
Tests on air and helium were performed with constant driving displacement over a range
of frequencies. The effects of changing driving amplitude and charged pressure were
studied.
The use of stainless steel bellows in place of pistons eliminated the problem of...
A phase sensitive measurement technique that permits the simultaneous determination
of two independent thermal properties of thin dielectric films is presented. Applying the technique results in a film's thermal diffusivity and effusivity, from which the thermal conductivity and specific heat can be calculated. The technique involves measuring a specimen's front...
A computational model for a resonantly coupled alpha free-piston Stirling cooler
is presented. The cooler consists of two isothermal working spaces for compression and
expansion connected by a regenerator consisting of a stack of narrow parallel channels.
The regenerator is assumed to have a linear temperature distribution along its axial...
A miniature reciprocating expander is being developed as part of a larger program to develop a heat actuated heat pump for portable applications. By utilizing the higher energy density of liquid hydrocarbon fuels relative to batteries, a heat actuated heat pump would be able to provide cooling for much longer...
The use of a permeable membrane to mechanically constrain a film of water with an area of 12 cm² and a thickness of 150 μm in a gas/liquid contactor was investigated. The membrane separated the vapor and liquid phases, and a stiffener
plate made from a gas-permeable material was used...
A unique channel surface enhancement technique via diffusion-bonding a layer of conductive fine wire mesh onto the heating wall was developed and used to experimentally study flow boiling enhancement in parallel microchannels. Each channel was 1000 μm wide and 510 μm high. A dielectric working fluid, HFE 7000, was used...
Hot engine exhaust and industrial process exhaust represents a resource that is often rejected to the environment without further utilization. This resource is prevalent in the transportation and industrial process sectors, but stationary engine-generator systems also typically do not utilize this resource. Engine exhaust is considered high grade heat and...
The organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is a versatile approach in the utilization of waste heat in the production of electricity, clean drinking water, and cooling. The efficiency of these cycles must be maximized to make them economical. Parameters for the optimization of ORCs such as evaporator and condenser temperature have...
Research in the miniaturization of thermomechanical systems in recent years has proven to be both rewarding and challenging. Micro-scale devices have tremendous technological potential but come with a new set of design problems. One such problem is energy storage. Heat actuated systems, driven primarily by thermal energy, take advantage of...
The current proliferation of portable electronic devices for personal
communication, business and entertainment has created a demand for high energy density
power supplies. A hydrocarbon fuel with a conversion efficiency of over
15% can provide greater energy density than current battery technology for these
applications. Current micro-scale heat engines do...
A Mixed Reactant Single Chamber (MRSC) Fuel Cell is a relatively recent concept in the field of fuel cell engineering originally developed in the late 1950’s. Typical fuel cells have separated reactants (a separated fuel and oxidizer) that react on their usually non-selective electro-catalytic materials. A mixed reactant fuel cell...
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RichardB. Peterson
A Mixed Reactant Single Chamber (MRSC) Fuel Cell is a relatively recent
The goals of this research were first to examine flame quenching in tubing smaller than the quench diameter, and then to place lower size limits on microcombustor and microreactor systems by studying a catalytic microcombustor burning propane. In the first set of experiments, flame quenching was examined as a function...
A microchannel heat exchanger was designed for diesel waste heat recovery and its performance was evaluated. The 21x15x8 cm unit was constructed from diffusion brazed stainless steel lamina and weighed 11 kg. Operating from a 13.4 kW generator with an exhaust temperature of 500 °C the unit delivered 11.1 kW...
Rising energy demands and the continual push to find more energy efficient technologies have been the impetus for the investigation of waste heat recovery techniques. Diesel engine exhaust heat utilization has the potential to significantly reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and reduce the release of greenhouse gases, because diesel...
The performance of a combined Stirling-ORC power cycle is evaluated, and an integrated microchannel heat exchanger is designed as an annular cold-side heat rejector for a free piston Stirling engine. Reasonable designs for a combined cycle can increased power output efficiency by 3 - 9% compared to that of a...
A swing arm compressor was designed, built, and tested as an undergraduate senior design
project for Dr. Richard Peterson. The system developed, while not functioning entirely as
desired, gave some initial data and a good base of knowledge for a second iteration of the
project. This thesis describes in detail...
Novel fluidic devices that utilize an array of microchannels to achieve their designed purpose are discussed. Examples of devices include: fuel reforming using Microreactors, chip cooling using microchannel heat sinks, and microchannel devices used for biological applications. The devices that have directly contributed to this research include: a microchannel water...
This study sought to ascertain the degree to which the night sky of Corvallis is affected by light pollution by determining the limiting visual magnitude. Defined as the brightness of the dimmest star that can be seen with the averted naked eye, the limiting visual magnitude establishes a quantitative standard...
The thermal wave technique has been explored for the use of liquid thermal conductivity measurement and flow property diagnostics in this dissertation. For liquid thermal conductivity measurements, an experimental technique based on the thermal wave approach is developed. A stainless steel strip functions as both a heating element and a...
Driven by the need for high energy-density power sources, demand has
stimulated the development of small-scale engines. A small-scale engine
with a fuel supply could replace batteries and utilize higher energy-density
liquid hydrocarbon fuels; such an advance could deliver a new age of
portable devices. Currently, operable small-scale engines exist;...
Many economically important Pacific salmon fisheries along the west coast of North America are mixed-stock, recreational systems, in which managers strive to account for interactions between fish, anglers, and management policy while balancing fishery access against conservation of vulnerable stocks. Specific challenges facing fisheries managers include limited control over angling...
I compare the seasonal abundance variation, population dynamics, fecundity, egg hatching mechanism and success, and apostome ciliate parasites of the euphausiids Euphausia pac?fica and Thysanoessa spinfera from the Oregon coast, USA. Community structure and nearshore distributions were examined from bi-weekly oceanographic surveys (1970-1972). This region has a strong cross-shelf change...
Genetic code expansion (GCE) is a technology that allows us to incorporate noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs) site-specifically into recombinant proteins using engineered translational machinery. Typically, an orthogonal aaRS/tRNA pair is engineered by directed evolution to recognize the ncAA and incorporate it at a reassigned codon while not interacting with the...
Polyphenolic compounds found in foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and grains, are an integral part of the human diet. Within polyphenols, proanthocyanidins are referred to as condensed tannins and encompass procyanidins, propelargonidins and prodelphinidins. Among these, procyanidins are the largest group. Recent interest in these compounds is related...
Superwarfarins are anticoagulant rodenticides that are 100 times more potent and 15 times more persistent than warfarin. They have been used since the 1980s and cause over 10,000 cases of accidental and intentional poisonings per year. Apart from inducing uncontrollable bleeding, by inhibiting the vitamin K cycle, superwarfarins can disrupt...
Popular botanical dietary supplements marketed for management of menopausal symptoms, including hops (Humulus lupulus L.), red clover (Trifolium pratense) and licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis), were evaluated for their potential to alter CYP-mediated drug metabolism clinically and pre-clinically. Both hops and red clover had been reported to inhibit certain cytochrome P450 (CYP)...
The hump-shaped relationship that predicts highest species richness (species/unit area) at intermediate levels of productivity was examined for woody plants across the Pacific and Inland Northwest of the U.S. Many studies have examined this relationship at regional scales, but commonly use species range maps and surrogate measures of productivity (e.g....
Western redcedar, western hemlock, and Douglas-fir seedlings were transplanted into pots in one of two soils representative of high and low levels of available NO3 (and total N). The soils were collected from sites at Cascade Head (Oregon Coast) and Wind River (Washington Cascades). Whole plant and component relative dry...