Author: Orlando E

2012 D. E. Crow Innovation Prize Winners

2012 D. E. Crow Innovation Prize Winners

Thirteen student teams competed for  20,000 of prize money on May 10, 2013 presenting their proposed projects and inventions to a panel of seven judges.

A Portable water purification system (First Place Prize)

Team  Members: Saeid    Zanganeh  (ECE),  Navid  Zanjani  (ME)

Nanotechnology   has   the   potential to   impact   many   aspects   of   food and   agricultural   systems.   A   high yield   fabrication   of   a   unique morphology   of   ZnO   nanoparticles in  the form  of  a  thin  film  has  been conceived   which   has   a   big  potential   for use   in   the   public health   and   food   industry.   As   the first   part   of   this   project,   the antibacterial   and   antimicrobial activities  of  this  thin  film  in  a  liquid media   has   been   investigated.   The objective   of   this   study   is   to fabricate a   low   priced   water purification  system  using  this  new  morphology  of  zinc  oxide  to  help  people  who  do  not have  access  to  a  safe  and  permanent  water  purification  system.

Energy Star Retrofit  (Second Place Prize)

Team  Members: Nishang  Gupta  (ME,  BUS),  Dana  Boyer  (CEE)

Appliance   repair   is   a   dying   art since  it  is  cheaper  to  buy  a  new appliance   than   to   get   an   old one   repaired.   We   aim   to reinvigorate   this   dying   art   by flipping   the   business   model upside  down  and  seek  to  have  a constant   stream   of   repairable appliances   coming   to   repair. Using   small   appliance   retail  stores   that   offer   appliance removal   services   for   their customers  as  our  supply  chain, we   can   streamline   the   entire appliance   repair   process.  With   a   streamlined   repair   process   that   saves   on   labor  time, this  model  will   be  able   to   not   only   repair   broken  appliances,   but   to  also   retrofit   them with   energy   efficient   parts   for   Energy   Star   certification,   to   reduce   US   energy consumption  by  600  million  kWh  annually.

 Clamp and Pivot Sawstop (CAPS) System (Third Place Prize)

Team  Members:  Stephen  Harmon (ME)  Sam  Masciulli (ME)

The  implementation  of  large  windows  in  commercial  building  projects  is  fueling  a  billion dollar  business  for  industrial  glazing  companies  across  the  country.    Window frames  arefabricated  in  a  machine  shop.  Currently,  aluminum frame stock  is  braced  against  a   rail which  runs  the  length  of  the  table.  All  the  cuts  of  one  length  must  be  completed  before the  footing  is  relocated  for  the  next  cut.  When  the  stock  length  is  not  evenly  divisible  by the  working  cut  length,  there  is a  large  “drop  piece”  remaining.  The  CAPS  system will eliminate non3scrap  drop  pieces  from  the  operation  and  the  need  for  a  working stockpile,  replacing the  time  consuming  and  arduous  job  of  handling  drop  pieces with the quick and easy lift3and3pivot operation of the CAPS system.

Symbolhound (Third Place Prize)

Team  Members:  Thomas  Fedtmose  (BUS),  David  Crane   (CSE)

This  project  entails  a  search  engine  specifically  designed  for  programmers  that  enable searching  for  nonValphanumeric  characters  on  web  searches.

UConn Formula SAE places in the top group in the International Competition

UConn Formula SAE places in the top group in the International Competition by Timothy Thomas, B.S., ME 2014, UConn SAE Team Leader

After an eighteen hour trek across the country and a days rest thereafter, the downloateam began the four day Formula SAE Competition at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. The Formula SAE® Series competitions challenge teams of university undergraduate and graduate students to conceive, design, fabricate and compete with a small, formula style, competition vehicle. To give teams the maximum design flexibility and the freedom to express their creativity and imagination there are very few restrictions on the overall vehicle design. Teams typically spend eight to twelve months designing, building, testing and preparing their vehicles before a competition. The international competitions themselves give teams the chance to demonstrate and prove both their creation and their engineering skills in comparison to teams from other universities around the world. The University of Connecticut has fielded a vehicle in the largest of these competitions, Formula SAE Michigan, located at the Michigan International Speedway since the team began just seven years ago. With over 120 colleges and universities registered, Formula SAE Michigan is the largest of its kind. Over the course of four days, the cars are judged in a series of static and dynamic events including: technical inspection, cost, presentation, and engineering design, solo performance trials, and high performance track endurance. These events are scored to determine how well the car performs. Come close of competition the team executed an incredible performance placing 20th overall out of the 120 teams in attendance at one of the most competitive events of the year. This milestone places UConn Formula SAE amongst the elite, solidifying that they are a force to be reckoned with. In the midst of teams with decades of experience, a sizable team base, and much larger budgets, UConn Formula SAE is still considered in its youth as building a successful vehicle involves extensive growth in both engineering and team dynamics. With the continuing support of sponsors and the department of mechanical engineering, UConn Formula SAE is working towards even greater success with the refined design and manufacture of the 2014-2015 vehicle already underway.

Analysis of Convection in the Presence of Apparent Slip

Friday, November 6 • 2:30 PM – UTEB, Rm. 175

Analysis of Convection in the Presence of Apparent Slip

Marc Hodes

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts

Abstract: A liquid flowing over a structured surface in the form of, e.g., ridges parallel to the flow, may be suspended in the unwetted (Cassie) state. I will introduce the physical principles and micro/nanotechnology that are exploited to trap a liquid in this state, where the no-slip boundary condition does not apply. This complicates the solution of the Stokes (or Navier-Stokes) equations for the velocity profile as it imposes different types of boundary conditions along the solid-liquid interface and the liquid-gas interface (meniscus). The vast majority of previous research on such flows considered them adiabatic. We study them in the presence of heat transfer, where the thermal energy equation is too subjected to non-standard boundary conditions. We have solved a variety of diffusive “inner” problems in the vicinity of the structures, where a boundary condition that the flow or temperature field is 1-dimensional infinitely far away from the structures may be imposed. These yield expressions for the apparent hydrodynamic and thermal slip lengths that manifest themselves as Robin boundary conditions on the outer problems that span the whole domain, e.g., a parallel plate channel. Additionally, in the outer thermal problems, advection must be considered. I will present our conformal map and convolution theory-based analytical solution to an inner thermal problem that captures the effects of evaporation and condensation along menisci. Then, I will discuss our analytical results for the Nusselt number (Nu) governing an outer thermal problem where arbitrary and asymmetric hydrodynamic and thermal (apparent) slip are imposed on a thermally-developing Couette flow. Nu is in the form of Airy and exponential function-containing infinite series, where the first term corresponds to the thermally-developed flow limit. Lastly, I will discuss our present work on the effects of thermocapillary stress and meniscus curvature on both types of apparent slip lengths.

Biographical Sketch: Marc Hodes received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota, where he performed research on dielectric liquid cooling of microelectronics. In 1998, he received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his research addressed salt deposition (fouling) in supercritical water oxidation reactors used for the destruction of hazardous organic wastes. After holding a succession of appointments from Postdoctoral Member of Technical Staff to Manager over a 10 year period at Bell Labs, he joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at Tufts University in the Fall of 2008 as an Associate Professor. Professor Hodes’ research interests are in heat and mass transfer and, over the course of his career, four thematic areas have been addressed, i.e., 1) the thermal management of electronics, 2) mass transfer in supercritical fluids, 3) analysis of thermoelectric modules and 4) analysis of convection in the presence of apparent slip. Current research is in two areas. First, analytical solutions for apparent hydrodynamic and thermal slip lengths for liquid flows over diabatic structured surfaces that capture the effects of curvature, thermocapillary stress or evaporation and condensation at menisci are being developed. Secondly, enhanced aircooled heat sinks are being developed by deriving semi-analytical optimization formula for longitudinal-fin geometry heat sinks that capture the effects of non-uniform heat transfer coefficients and by developing manufacturing methods for novel “three-dimensional” geometries. Students conducting research with Professor Hodes enroll in part of all of his 4 course sequence of undergraduate fluid mechanics, undergraduate heat transfer, thermal management of electronics and graduate heat transfer. Since joining Tufts University in the fall of 2008 Professor Hodes’ research has been supported by the Department of Energy, NSF, DARPA, Science Foundation Ireland, the Wittich Energy Sustainability Research Initiation Fund, Tufts University and domestic and foreign industrial partners.

For additional information, please contact Prof. Michael T. Pettes at (860) 486-2855, pettes@engr.uconn.edu or Laurie Hockla at (860) 486-2189, hockla@engr.uconn.edu

The Science and Engineering of Developing Reliable Electronic Systems

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.

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

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

s-b-lowder

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

 

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.