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...
Diffusion bonded microchannels provide significant benefits by reducing space requirements while improving thermal efficiency when used in heat exchangers. In particular, these microchannels have potential to improve efficiencies for combining concentrated solar power with supercritical CO2 Brayton cycles, where structures operate at high temperatures (760 ˚C) and high pressures (25...
To improve energy efficiency of industrial processes, heat exchangers are used to transfer thermal energy between different process streams. The compact size and increased efficiency of microchannel based recuperators make them appealing in extreme environments where costly superalloys are mandatory. Due to the high manufacturing cost of microchannel heat exchanges...
Over the last two decades, the assembly of printed circuit boards (PCB) has generated a huge amount of industrial activity. One of the major developments in PCB assembly was introduction of surface mount technology (SMT). SMT has displaced through-hole technology as a primary means of assembling PCB over the last...
Metal Organic Framework (MOF) materials, consisting of metal ions with organic linkers, have a functional cavity structure which can be utilized in applications such as catalyst, micro sensing, and gas absorption. Due to MOF materials' selective gas adsorption property, interest in MOF materials has intensified in the last few years,...
Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing (AM) process that uses a laser beam to melt metal powder as it is spread onto the build surface using a roller or scraper, followed by rapid solidification to manufacture a 3D component, one layer at a time.
In SLM process, density...
Creating effective packaging is about finding a balance between product protection during shipping and time consumption in the design process. Given time and cost constraints, it is hard to produce sufficiently protective padding while having it not be thicker than it needs to be. This thesis describes a method to...
Large amounts of energy are wasted when conditioned air in buildings is exhausted to meet ventilation requirements. There are several technologies to recover some of this energy, including the recent development of membrane based energy recovery ventilators (ERVs). ERVs exchange sensible heat and moisture between incoming fresh and outgoing exhaust...
Manufacturing exists as a stronghold for continuous growth and development of economies, a trend that is likely to continue as the demand for commodities and products grow. Manufacturing drives innovation and productivity in developed nations, as well as promoting economic stability and development in developing nations. However, manufacturing activities pose...
The design of mobile wireless devices has always focused on reducing power, area, and cost. This dissertation proposes two techniques that are leveraged to save power and area and therefore cost. The first techniques reduces the noise in the receiver and results in a relaxed power requirement. The second technique...