Month: October 2015

The Science and Engineering of Developing Reliable Electronic Systems

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Friday, October 30 • 2:30 PM – UTEB, Rm. 175

The Science and Engineering of Developing Reliable Electronic Systems

Prof. Abhijit Dasgupta Jeong H. Kim

Professor of Mechanical Engineering Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE)

University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

Abstract: This presentation will focus on some of the interesting lessons learned at the CALCE Center over the past 30 years in the science and technology of material aging mechanisms and system degradation modes in complex electronic systems. Modern engineering systems are becoming extremely electronics-rich where the electronics are intrinsically multi-functional systems with highly multi-physics aging and degradation mechanisms under complex life-cycle environmental and operational stress combinations. At the same time, ever-increasing demands for miniaturization have extended the degradation physics into the nano-to-micro length scales, requiring rigorous multi-scale approaches. A few interesting examples of such multi-physics multi-scale degradation mechanisms include creep-fatigue in high-temperature interconnect metal alloys, ‘cold-welding’ in gold-gold interconnects by solid-state diffusion, leakage currents due to the electro-chemistry of dendritic growth in metallization, and dielectric breakdown due to quantum tunneling effects. This pressure for miniaturization, combined with the need for increased functionality and increased affordability, have placed tremendous pressure on the science and technology of achieving and assuring reliability in complex electronic systems. Conducting this type of application-driven fundamental and applied research in a university setting, within the context of graduate thesis and dissertation research, poses unique challenges and imparts special training and skills to the student researchers, to equip them for a very diverse employment landscape. An overview and a few selected examples will be provided during this presentation, with particular emphasis on important lessons that graduate students can take away on how to prepare for the modern-day multi-disciplinary work-place and research environment.

Biographical Sketch: Dr. Abhijit Dasgupta, Jeong H. Kim Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has been teaching at University of Maryland since he obtained his Ph.D. in Theoretical & Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 1988. His expertise is in the multi-physics, multi-scale constitutive behavior and damage mechanics of engineered materials, for applications in reliability assessment, for real-time health monitoring, and for accelerated stress testing of electronic/photonic systems, ‘smart’ structures, MEMS, and nanoscale structures. This research is funded by an international consortium of leading electronics manufacturers as well as by government funding agencies as NSF, ARL and ARO. He is an ASME Fellow and the current Chair of the Electronic and Photonics Packaging Division of ASME.
For additional information, please contact Prof. Xinyu Zhao at (860) 486-0241, xinyuz@engr.uconn.edu or Laurie Hockla at (860) 486-2189, hockla@engr.uconn.edu

A Quest for the Ideal Solution in engineering design. Five challenges of BTIPS.

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Friday, October 23 • 2:30 PM – UTEB, Rm. 175

A Quest for the Ideal Solution in engineering design. Five challenges of BTIPS.

Dr. Zbigniew M. Bzymek, University of Connecticut, Mechanical Engineering

Abstract: The nature of engineering is problem solving. The process starts with the problem definition and is followed by the search of a solution that satisfies the most requirements. Such a solution is an End Solution of the process and it changes into an Ideal Solution which determines the success of the design. So the starting point of the design process is the conceptual solution. Finding the right conceptual solution determines the success of the product. If the concept is not right, even the most sophisticated geometry and the most precise analyses will not lead to a successful product. Evident concepts are not hard to find. The real challenge occurs when engineers have to solve the problem with conflicting constraints that are described by antonyms as for example: “is there and is not there”, “close and far”, “hard and soft” and so on. BTIPS – a Brief Theory of Inventive Problem Solving is a method of conceptual design that is helpful in solving such conflicting constraints. BTIPS originated from Altshuller’s TRIZ1 and Invention Machine TIPS2 . It was developed from these two methods at the University Connecticut by introducing abbreviations, changes and additions based on the newest theoretical and practical achievements of Science and Technology. BTIPS was developed mainly for teaching but it is powerful enough to be applied in engineering practice. BTIPS, similar to IM TIPS, contains three modules: Principles, Effects and Prediction. During the research at UConn three were new principles were added to the PRINCIPLES module, several effects to the EFFECTS module and virtual elements to the PREDICTION module. In the solution process algorithm improvements of the sequence of modules was introduced. To confirm the Ideal Solution two tests of the End Solution were established. Five challenges were also added. as the introduction to BTIPS. The five challenges are: “Solve Impossible”,” Isolate Properly”, “Choose the Right Solution Tool”:”Separate Functions” and “Point the Ideal Solution”. Overcoming all five challenges would allow the designer to accomplish the Quest for the Ideal Solution. TRIZ1 – /ˈtriːz/; Russian: теория решения изобретательских задач, teoriya resheniya izobretatelskikh zadach, literally: “theory of solving of inventive problems”); TIPS2 – Theory of Inventive Problem Solving.

Biographical Sketch: Zbigniew M. Bzymek, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UConn is a contributor to Design Theory, Designer and Constructor of Structures, Researcher and Educator of Engineers. He has received PhD in 1968, M.Sc. from Warsaw University of Technology in 1959 and M.Sc. from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1961. As a result of extensive research in Poland he put together several packages of computer programs for stress and deflection analysis of structures. He has published the first book in Polish on computer analysis of structures (translated to Hungarian), which also was one of the first in Eastern Europe. He has delivered over 50 invited lectures and seminars on the design and CAD of structures at universities, at computational centers as well as in design and consulting offices in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union, Germany, UK, US, China, Australia, Dubai, Mexico and Canada. He modernized the CAD and Manufacturing Automation courses taught at UConn and developed a CAD &CAM Laboratory – one of the most unique and significant on the East coast. For contribution to computer multicolor, multi-thickness line drawing he was awarded the title of Computer Graphics Pioneer in the United States. He has contributed to the conceptual design by introducing several principles. Together with his students he has received several recognitions and industrial design awards as well as the Second National ASME Design Award. He has published over 150 articles, conference papers, books and chapters. His conference papers were presented in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, Mexico, New Britain, Poland and other European countries. He is an Associate Member of Engineering Committee of the Polish Academy of Science and Member of the New York Academy of Science. He has been awarded an ASME medal and is an ASME Fellow.

For additional information, please contact Prof. Xinyu Zhao at (860) 486-0241, xinyuz@engr.uconn.edu or Laurie Hockla at (860) 486-2189, hockla@engr.uconn.edu

Learning-based High-speed Motion Control: Application to Scanning Probe Microscopy

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Friday, October 16 • 2:30 PM – UTEB, Rm. 175

Learning-based High-speed Motion Control: Application to Scanning Probe Microscopy

Prof. Qingze Zou

Rutgers University

Abstract: Iterative learning control (ILC) has demonstrated its superior efficiency, efficacy, and robustness in a broad variety of applications including high-speed, broadband motion control. A fundamental limitation of ILC framework, however, is that the applied operations need to be of repetitive nature with the desired motion (trajectory) fixed and known a priori. As a result, ILC cannot be applied in non-repetitive applications such as probe-based nanomanufacturing and nanomanipulation where the desired trajectory is not completely known a priori. Existing efforts to extend ILCs beyond repetitive operations to general motion control, however, are challenged by the limited applications and limited types of trajectories that can be tracked. In this talk, I will first use scanning probe microscope (SPM) as an example to illustrate a suite of recently-developed inversion-based iterative learning control algorithms in achieving high-speed SPM imaging, rapid broadband nanomechanical quantifications of soft and live biological materials, and high-speed probe-based nanofabrication. Second, I will present our efforts in extending the ILC beyond repetitive applications, by combining offline a priori learning via ILC with online synthesis, first for linear systems, and then for simultaneous hysteresisdynamics compensation in systems such as smart actuators.

Biographical Sketch: Dr. Qingze Zou is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Priorly he had taught in the mechanical engineering department of Iowa State University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA in 2003. His research interests include learning-based output tracking and control, control tools for high-speed scanning probe microscope imaging, probe-based nanomanufacturing, micromachining, and rapid broadband nanomechanical measurement and mapping of soft and live biological materials. He received the NSF CAREER award in 2009, and the O Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award from the American Automatic Control Council in 2010. He is the representative of the IEEE Control Systems Society in the IEEE Nanotechnology Council, a former Associate Editor of ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control, and currently a Technical Editor of IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

For additional information, please contact Prof. Xinyu Zhao at (860) 486-0241, xinyuz@engr.uconn.edu or Laurie Hockla at (860) 486-2189, hockla@engr.uconn.edu

Alumni, Scott B. Lowder

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Scott B. Lowder (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, ’98) joined Middle Atlantic Products, part of the Commercial AV division of Legrand, North America, as a senior product manager. The company manufactures support and protection products to mount integrated AV systems in residential, commercial, broadcast and security applications. In his role, Lowder will lead their growing power category. He earned an MBA from UConn in 2011.

Alumni, Lynwood F. Crary

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Lynwood F. Crary (B.S., M.S., Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, ’89, ’92, ‘04) joined General Dynamics Electric Boat (EB) Division as a principal engineer in the propulsion plant group in New London, CT. Prior to joining EB, Crary worked at TI Automotive for fifteen years, most recently as an engineering specialist in advanced technology. He serves as a selectman in the Town of Preston.  

 

PV, EV and Your Home: How Transportation and Grid Infrastructures Work Together

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Friday, October 9 • 2:30 PM – UTEB, Rm. 175

Joint ME & CBE Seminar

PV, EV and Your Home: How Transportation and Grid Infrastructures Work Together

Dr. James Fenton

Director of Solar Energy Center University of Central Florida

Abstract: There are over 20 models of electric vehicles (EV) (350,000 vehicles on the road) that are so efficient that they cost the gasoline equivalent of $0.99 a gallon to operate, based on the national residential electricity average of 11.88¢/kWh. The levelized cost for residential “rooftop” photovoltaics (PV) in much of the U.S. is the same as the cost of electricity “out of the wall.” PV electricity is at cost parity with grid energy, and gasoline parity is a long distance in the rearview mirror. As prices for solar and EVs continue to decrease, consumer adoption rates for both technologies will increase dramatically, resulting in an integration of solar energy and electric transportation infrastructure. Will we get out in front and surf the wave created by the solar and EV tsunami or will we drown? This presentation will introduce the concepts that allow the transportation and grid infrastructures to work together, so that PV, EVs and energy efficient buildings can significantly decrease our dependency on fossil fuels, mitigate climate change, provide mobile backup power, and increase energy and transportation security. The seminar is largely based on articles that examine EVs, energy efficient homes, photovoltaics, the smart grid and EV charging; published in the Spring 2015 Interface magazine “PV, EV and Your Home” of the Electrochemical Society.

Biographical Sketch: Professor James M. Fenton is the Director of the University of Central Florida’s Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), where he leads a staff of 100 in the research and development of energy technologies that enhance Florida’s and the nation’s economy and environment and educate the public, students and practitioners on the results of the research. FSEC leads national programs funded by the U.S. Departments’ of Energy and Transportation in: “Building America” energy efficient homes, Photovoltaic Manufacturing, Hot-Humid PV testing of large-scale PV to show bankability, train-thetrainers education for solar installations, programs to decease the soft-costs of PV installation, Electric Vehicle Transportation (U.S. DOT’s only EV Transportation Center) and “Clean Cities” (alternative fuel transportation). Florida Utilities have funded FSEC’s SunSmart program which has placed 10 kW of PV with battery back-up at more than 100 schools to provide power to emergency shelters and education demonstrations for students. Prior to joining FSEC, Dr. Fenton spent 20 years as a Chemical Engineering Professor at the University of Connecticut. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1984 and his BS from UCLA in 1979. He is an Electrochemical Society Fellow and received the Research Award of the Electrochemical Society’s Energy Technology Division in May 2014 for his work on Automobile Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells. He is the author of over 200 publications.

For additional information, please contact Prof. Xinyu Zhao at (860) 486-0241, xinyuz@engr.uconn.edu or Laurie Hockla at (860) 486-2189, hockla@engr.uconn.edu

Thermofluidic and interfacial dynamics of spark-ignited metallic droplets

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Friday, October 2 • 2:30 PM – UTEB, Rm. 175

Thermofluidic and interfacial dynamics of spark-ignited metallic droplets

Dr. Sukalyan Bhattacharya

Texas Tech University

Abstract: In the first part of this talk, an intriguing experimental observation is discussed where highspeed imaging captures thermofluidic dynamics of spark-ignited nano Aluminum powder. The phenomenon consists of initial detachment, subsequent pulsation, occasional fragmentation and eventual explosion of molten metallic masses separated from the original bulk resting on a copper plate. We provide a phenomenological description elucidating every aspect of the entire process. The key consideration in constructing the explanation is recognition of the anomalous frequency value of interfacial oscillation of the metallic droplets revealing important details of their opaque interior. This leads to the second part of the talk where a novel theory shows how wave features at a drop surface can be exploited to quantify size and position of bubbles or solid particles inside the liquid domain. Such in-vivo diagnostic capability has similarity to atomic spectroscopy or application of Bragg’s law in crystallography, and can be useful in a wide range of fields including combustion technology and material processing. •

Biographical Sketch: Dr. Bhattacharya received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Yale University in 2005. Prior to that, he obtained his Bachelor’s degree from Jadavpur University in 1997, and obtained his Master’s degree at University of Connecticut in 2000. Upon Ph. D. graduation, he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas Tech University as an assistant professor, and became an associate professor in 2011. His research interest includes low Reynolds number hydrodynamics, turbulence, turbulent scalar transport, and statistical mechanics.

For additional information, please contact Prof. Xinyu Zhao at (860) 486-0241, xinyuz@engr.uconn.edu or Laurie Hockla at (860) 486-2189, hockla@engr.uconn.edu