Month: October 2015

The ME-EM Graduate Seminar speaker on Thursday, October 29 at 4:00 in 641 Dow will be Dr. Robin Johnson-Cash, Lecturer, Eastern Michigan University and Technical Training Manager, Ford Motor Company

Title: The Discipline of Experimentation

Engineers design, build and maintain machines, communication systems and major public works. Without them, our technological society would collapse. The engineering discipline focuses on solving problems through applied physics. To find a solution, engineers study a problem, use mathematical models to understand it, model possible solutions and use well planned physical experiments to validate their proposed remedies. Throughout the entire engineering process, the engineer must maintain meticulous records. Reviewing detailed experimental notes provides insight into the nuances of a problem and helps optimize solutions. Once the experiment is complete, the records allow others to understand the nature of the problem and build upon what the engineer learned. This presentation will encourage you to develop the habit
of recording meticulous notes while you learn the art of experimental problem solving.

Robin Johnson-Cash is a native Detroit, Michigan. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Wayne State University. For the last 27 years, Robin has occupied positions of increasing responsibilities at Ford Motor Company. She began her career as a product design engineer and quickly became team leader and powertrain cooling and heat management supervisor. Currently, she is a Technical Training Manager. Throughout her career, Robin received many technical and diversity awards. She is a certified 6-Sigam Black Belt. Robin is also an adjunct professor at Tuskegee University, Lawrence Technical University, and Eastern Michigan University. She teaches classes in Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, and Fluid Mechanics.
Concurrently, Robin is Ph.D. candidate at Michigan Technological University. Her research focus is on the prediction of in-tube condensation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental validation. Robin is passionate about community service and is active in promoting education of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).

The ME-EM Graduate Seminar speaker on Thursday, October 22 at 4:00 in 103 EERC will be Dr. Gustavo Gutierrez from University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez.

The title of his presentation will be ‘Mathematical Mode of a Reluctance Accelerator (Coilgun)’.

Linear reluctance motors (or linear oscillating motors) consist of an iron bar, moving inside a coil. During the trajectory of the iron bar an incremental force appears opposing the movement of the bar. For that reason it is important to control the system and taking advantage of that behavior. Reluctance motors can have high power density at low cost, making them ideal for many applications, in particular a magnetic pumping is proposed as part of a flat heat pipe device for heat transfer applications.

This work presents a mathematical model and its numerical considerations to simulate a reluctance accelerator (coilgun) taking into account an RLC circuit coupled to an electromechanical system. A coilgun is proposed as a magnetic pumping device of a flat heat pipe panel. The piston motion (armature) is governed by the Newton’s Second Law. The driving force on the piston is a magnetic force, called the Kelvin Force (KF). In order to compute the KF it is necessary to solve the Maxwell-Ampere’s equation. We are interested in the dynamic of the piston as part of a heat transfer application.

The complete problem shows a Multi-Physics character. This presentation will focus on the mathematical modeling, numerical implementation and important considerations for the design of a coilgun.

Dr. Gustavo Gutierrez, obtained his Bachelor degree in Civil Engineering from National University of Cordoba, Argentina in 1991, his M.S. and Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1998 and 2002 respectively. Currently Dr. Gutierrez is a Professor at the University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez (UPRM). He held a Chair position from 2009 to 2012 of the Mechanical Engineering Department at UPRM. He received grants from DOD, NSF and NASA. He was an Invited panelist for NSF-CTS program, chair and cochair in technical sessions of National and International conferences and reviewer of the Journal of Heat Transfer and Journal of Fluid Mechanics. His areas of expertise include Computation Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer, Numerical Electromagnetisms and High Performance Computing.

The ME-EM Graduate Seminar speaker on Thursday, October 8 at 4:00 in 103 EERC will be Dr. Shi from Wayne State University.

The title of his presentation will be ‘Wireless Health: Opportunities, Challenges and Beyond’.

The fast development and deployment of wireless communication technologies, such as 3G/4G/5G, and mobile devices, including sensors, robots, smartphones and pads, have significantly changed the way we study, live and work. Wireless health and innovative health technologies create an ideal platform for global partnerships striving to improve health and wellbeing, Wireless health systems are now capable of real-time, constant and widespread monitoring at home, work, or medical institutions. Such health technologies not only facilitate early-detection and rehabilitation, but also supply assistance for prevention of illness. In this talk, Dr. Shi will talk about the opportunities of wireless health, and share their experiences and lessons learned on several wireless health projects in the past six years.

Weisong Shi is a Charles H. Gershenson Distinguished Faculty Fellow and a Professor of Computer Science at Wayne State University. There he directs the Mobile and Internet SysTems Laboratory (MIST) and the Wayne Wireless Health Initiative, investigating performance, reliability, power- and energy-efficiency, trust and privacy issues of networked computer systems and applications. Dr. Shi was on leave with the National Science Foundation as a Program Director in the Division of Computer and Network Systems, Directorate of Computer and Information Science and Engineering during 2013 – 2015, where he was responsible for the Computer and Network Systems (CNS) Core CSR Program, and two key crosscutting programs, including Cyber-Innovation for Sustainability Science and Engineering (CyberSEES), Smart and Connected Health (SCH). More information can be found at http://www.cs.wayne.edu/~weisong.