Autonomous Soaring Using Real-Time Wind Estimation

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Mark J. Cutler and Dr. Timothy McLain, Department of Mechanical Engineering Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are obtaining increasing utilization in many applications. Their small size (0.5-4m wingspan) allows them to fly close to the ground, providing useful observation and tracking data. This small size, however, comes at the expense of flight time. As UAV […]

Critical Component Selection for Implementing Barriers to Reverse Engineering

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Shane K. Curtis and Dr. Christopher Mattson, Mechanical Engineering Main Text Reverse engineering is a prominent design strategy in industry, employed by many to uncover the enabling technologies of innovative products. Unfortunately, there is little motivation for original designers to create new products if competitors can reverse engineer these products and reproduce them at a […]

Economic and Environmental Justification of a Thermoelectric Waste Heat Recovery System

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John Christiansen and Dr. Matthew Jones, Mechanical Engineering Department Introduction In recent years, the concepts of energy, energy production, effects of energy consumption on the environment, and sustainable development have become increasingly significant as members of society become more aware of their level of energy consumption. However, in energy production for home, commercial, or industrial […]

High-Speed Full-Spectrum Interrogation of Fiber Bragg Gratings for Composite Impact Sensing

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Spencer Chadderdon and Dr. Richard Selfridge, Electrical and Computer Engineering Fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) sensors are useful for static and dynamic event monitoring which make then suitable for a wide variety of applications. Dynamic interrogation of FBG sensors has primarily been performed using peak-tracking methods that have repetition rates approaching the megahertz range. However, tracking […]

Dynamic Loading on Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blades

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Christopher Brinkerhoff and Professor Julie Vanderhoff, Mechanical Engineering Introduction Currently, there is much interest involving technologies dealing with clean and renewable energy sources. The current goal in the United States is to produce 20% of its electrical needs by wind power by the year 2030. Wind energy is seen as a viable option for further research […]

High Temperature Water Gas Shift Catalyst Kinetic Evaluation

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Rupak Bajagain and Dr. Morris Argyle, Chemical Engineering Introduction The purpose of this project was to develop water gas shift catalysts that are more stable and active than the existing ones. Stable catalysts last longer and are more efficient, which is important to economics and to gain widespread application. Currently the demand for hydrogen as […]

Peru Wind Turbine: Electrical

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Devin Athey and Dr. Randy Lewis, Chemical Engineering Main Text This project focused on the design of electrical components for a low-cost, low-speed wind turbine in Peru. The electrical components include the charge controller and the three-phase AC rectifier. These parts, if purchased from retailers, cost $100 and $30 USD respectively. The wind turbine was […]

Industry Based Multimedia Education

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Cameron Wilson and Dr. Geoffrey Wright, School of Technology My goal was to study how the cinematographic industry teaches multimedia and digital production, and compare that with how Utah schools teach multimedia and digital production. The outcome was somewhat of a surprise to me. I thought that public school teachers, having proper pedagogical training, and […]

Research and Testing of PVC Solvent Bonding Methods

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David Williams and Dr. William Pitt, Department of Chemical Engineering Abstract The purpose of this research project was to determine the optimal method to solvent bond polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pieces together. Understanding how to create a strong solvent bond in PVC is important to a related prosthetic leg project that has been performed at BYU. […]

Boiling Heat Transfer on Superhydrophobic Surfaces

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Nathan Tulett and Dr. Daniel Maynes, Department of Mechanical Engineering Background In the last few years a great deal of attention has been given to superhydrophobic surfaces and their impact on drag reduction in fluid flow dynamics. Such surfaces are now employed as self-cleaning substrates and it is expected that their use in the coming […]