Study on Natural Gas Vehicle Options Status and Needs

Natural gas use in transportation sector has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heavy truck, marine, light duty vehicles, and rail transport with a 20-30% reduction. It is proposed that a comprehensive scoping of research priorities related to natural gas vehicles and refueling infrastructure be undertaken. The outcome of this work would be […]

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Membrane filtration for reuse of greenhouse wastewater

Most operations of horticulture are intensive users of water and nutrients. Growers recognize the importance of water conservation and recycling, and environmental protection and significant research dollars have been invested to develop integrated pest-management systems to reduce pesticide use, to optimize water and nutrient use within the operation, and encourage recirculation. The proposed project seeks […]

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Power factor control in high voltage power supplies for microwave power amplifiers

EnWave is developing custom microwave power sources for their vacuum pressure dehydration microwave drying products. The custom microwave power sources are based on arrays of 1.2 kW magnetrons. The microwave power sources require high voltage power supplies in the range of 4 kV with supporting control circuits to adjust the output voltage. Each 1.2 kW […]

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Modeling Microwave Heating of Food

Small food pieces, typically less than one centimeter, have different properties when absorbing microwave energy. This affects the design of antennas used to heat the food. The project will measure dielectric properties of different food types and sizes and then do computer modeling to determine the optimum design of antennas which will deliver the microwaves […]

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Carbon-Nanotube Composite for Power Transmission Line & Inductor

The focus of this research project is possibilities of increasing the capacity of overhead power transmission conductors using Carbon Nanotubes (CNT). Current constraints to existing transmission conductors include: (i) high resistivity of the reinforcing steel strands; (ii) energy loss in the form of heat generated from this inefficiency; and (iii) and thermal expansion and increases […]

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Development of Load Case Model for the Design of Butt & Top Grapples

The sponsor company, Tigercat specializes in the design and manufacturing of premium quality forestry equipment and specialized off-road industrial equipment. This four months internship project will provide the company a set of load cases validated on a new design, optimized detail 3D and 2D models, selected material lists, and FEA simulation results of a tracked […]

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Risk-based Winterization of Assets Operating in Harsh Environments

The proposed project is an extension of an ongoing project with American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), which aims to develop a performance-based winterization guideline for assets operating in harsh environments. The project has led to a novel approach of assessing need of winterization and evaluating extent of winterization required to maintain assets in safe operating […]

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Sea spray icing and its Impacts on assets operating in harsh environments

Sea spraying icing is one of the ongoing problems in offshore operations. It may cause hazards and operational problems for both supply vessels and offshore drilling units. It is well known that spray icing leads to instant heat loss, sudden temperature drop, and rapid ice accumulation. However, there is lack of knowledge about the mechanism […]

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