Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering News

Andrew Barnard (MEEM/APSRC) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $49,804 research and development contract from the University of Michigan. The project is titled “Demonstration of a Coaxial Thermophone for Active Noise Control in Vehicles.”

This is a seven-month project.

By Sponsored Programs.

Andrew Barnard (MEEM) was referenced in the article “Beaver Stadium can get as loud as a rock concert. How to cheer and protect your ears,” in Centre Daily Times. The story referenced research Barnard conducted as a graduate student at Penn State on noise levels at the university’s Beaver Stadium.

Beaver Stadium can get as loud as a rock concert. How to cheer and protect your ears

In the late 2000s, Andrew Barnard, former Penn State graduate student and current Michigan Technological University professor, measured the sound levels in Beaver stadium during games with sold-out crowds of well over 107,000 people. He measured sound intensity that occasionally reached levels louder than jack hammers. Think about that!

Read more at Centre Daily Times, by Bethany N. Tessitore.

Mo Rastgaar (MEEM/MuSTI) is the principal investigator on a project that has recieved a $680,182 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation. The project is titled “NRI: INT: COLLAB: Anthropomorphic Robotic Ankle Prosthesis with Programmable Materials.” This is a four-year project.

Extract

There are currently 2 million Americans living with an amputation; the majority of those amputations are of the lower limbs. Leg amputation is a significant life-altering event that has an overwhelmingly negative effect on many aspects of life, even years after the injury. Leg amputation can cost in excess of $1.8 million per individual. Most available prostheses are designed to replicate some aspects of normal ankle function during level-ground walking. These prostheses allow many individuals with below-knee amputation to return to basic daily activities. However, these devices are best suited for level-ground walking and many users experience difficulties during other important tasks, such as walking on slopes, stairs, or different terrains. Therefore, the general aim of this project is to address this gap in the design of existing powered ankle-foot prostheses by enabling new prosthetics that adapt to different environmental conditions commonly found in daily life.

In addition to advancing research, undergraduate and graduate students will be involved in research activities and will receive interdisciplinary education/innovation/outreach experiences. Outreach activities will allow the project team to engage diverse middle and high school students, especially those from underrepresented groups and low-income families. The findings from this project will be disseminated through publications, software sharing, and technology commercialization.

Read more at the National Science Foundation.

Mahdi Shahbakhti (MEEM) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $269,976 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation. Jeffery Naber (MEEM/APSRC) is the Co-PI on the project “Control-oriented Modeling and Predictive Control of Advanced Dual Fuel Natural Gas Engines.” This is a three-year project.

Extract

About 200 million internal combustion engines (ICEs) are produced in the world every year and used in energy, transport and service sectors. Furthermore, ICEs account for over 22% of the U.S. total energy consumption and produce the largest portion of CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas. Dual fuel natural gas (NG) engines in advanced low temperature combustion regimes represent the state-of-the-art ICE technology with some of the highest reported fuel conversion efficiencies and 25% lower CO2 emissions compared to conventional engines. However, achieving a robust and high-efficiency performance of these engines on a broad operational range using existing control technologies is not possible due to their highly nonlinear and uncertain dynamic behavior.

This project is a collaborative effort between Michigan Technological University, University of Georgia, and the industry partner, Cummins Inc.

Read more at the National Science Foundation.

Andrew Barnard (MEEM/GLRC) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $200,000 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The project is titled “PFI-TT: Using nanotechnology to create a proof-of-concept prototype for noise-canceling in building ventilation systems.”

The is a one-and-a-half-year project.

By Sponsored Programs Office.

Extract

Ventilation noise in hospitals is detrimental to patient recovery, in schools is detrimental to student learning outcomes, and in communities is detrimental to restful sleep leading to increased stress.

The proposed project will develop a prototype for a coaxial active noise cancelation device in ventilation ducts using carbon nanotube (CNT) thermophones.