MEEN Newsletter 2013 by UNT Department of Mechanical & Energy Engineering

Volume 1, Issue 1

May 2013

Mechanical and Energy Engineering MEEN QUICK FACTS:

C h a i r ’ s

 MEEN started in 2007 with 77 students, and it now has 499 Undergraduate students, 38 Master students and 13 Ph.D. students.  MEEN is the Nation‟s first Mechanical and Energy Engineering Department.

Welcome to the 2013 Mechanical and Energy Engineering Newsletter. I am so happy to share with you all the exciting news and activities outlined in this newsletter.

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S :

Faculty and Staff

Senior Design

Teaching Facilities

Industrial Advisory Board Members

Research and ZØE

Grants and Faculty Awards

Student Networking

Since we were established in 2007, our student enrollments have grown from an initial 75 to nearly 500 undergraduates, 38 Master students and 13 Ph.D. students. The Bachelor of Science in Mechanical and Energy Engineering degree has successfully completed the accreditation visit by the ABET team in 2012 and expects to receive an official announcement on accreditation from ABET in later summer 2013. With a selection of more senior elective courses, our students

M e s s a g e

have opportunities to focus their interests and apply their core knowledge to energy and related technical fields such as alternative energy, manufacturing, aerospace, renewable materials and control. Our senior class enjoys support from many industries for their capstone design projects, for example, Frito-Lay‟s biodiesel reactor project and general design project support from Verizon. All students benefit from their participation in student chapters of professional societies such ASME, SAE, ASHRAE, AEE, SWE, NSBE, SHPE and others. In 2012, four MEE students visited China and stayed in UNT‟s American House in Beijing as part of a summer course on alternative energy. Most of our faculty joined the department less than two years ago, and already their journal publication records placed them among the top peer departments in the nation. Our annual research expenditures in 2012 reached $1.37 M. We focus on solution -oriented research themes and

build multi-disciplinary team and funding support from both industry and government in such areas as sustainable building and energy, microelectronic reliability, petroleum, vehicle and transportation, and biomedical solutions. The state-of-theart research laboratories include Renewable Bioproduct Manufacturing lab, Advanced Tire Technology Lab, Polymer Mechanical and Rheology Lab, Impact Mechanics Lab, Smallscale Instrumentation Lab, and Texas‟s only Zero Energy Lab. Thank you for reading this newsletter, and stay tuned for more news from us. As always please let us know of any inquiries you might have.

Yong X. Tao, Ph.D., PE, FASME PACCAR Professor of Engineering Chair of Mechanical and Energy Engineering UNT Distinguished Research Professor University of North Texas

P a g e

M e c h a n i c a l

a n d

E n e r g y

Fac u lt y

Yong Tao, Professor and Chair

Nandika Dâ&#x20AC;&#x;Souza, Professor

Reza Mirshams, Associate Chair

Kuruvilla John, Professor

Vish Prasad, Professor

Jiangtao Cheng,, Associate Professor

Sheldon Shi, Associate Professor

Xun Yu, Associate Professor

Mihai Burzo, Assistant Professor

Tae-Youl Choi, Associate Professor

Aleksandra Fortier, Assistant Professor

Jaehyung Ju, Assistant Professor

Xu Nie, Assistant Professor

Xiaohua Li, Lecturer

Cherish Qualls, Lecturer

Staff

Douglas Burns, Lab Technician

Kathy Bomar, Administrative Coordinator

Kelli Gollmitzer, Student Worker

Heather Burrow, Academic Administrator

Emily Deacon, Student Worker

V o l u m e

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I ss u e

Senior 

P a g e

Design

2 013

Copper Filtration System, Sponsored by Encore Wire Corporation - Team Members—Derek Biggs, Jeffery McKee, Fernando Gamez, Chandler Smith, Siegmar Horsch



Rotor Gearbox Housing Re-Design, Sponsored by Bell Helicopter - Team Members—Carey Cross, Chris Stallings, David Reilly Matthew Zaks, Chris Richardson

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Solwind Self-powered Portable Refrigerator - Team Members—Patrick Branson, Tony Rivera, Khan Pouch, Farhan Dohde, Petru Sarbu



Formula SAE Design Competition -Team Members—Fergus Reid, Rayner Wilmot, Mustafa Ismail

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Rapid Ascent Miniature Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (RAM-UAV) -Team Members—Ethan McMillan, Kyle Kayfus, Wesley Golden

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Biodiesel Team, Sponsored by Frito-Lay -Team Members—David Ayo, Mark Castaneda, Samantha Daugherty, Nabin Ma harjan, Javier Ramos, Kush Shrestha, Ramona von Niederhausern



Blade Inspection Device, Sponsored by CTI -Team Members—Matt Hart, Josh Goldstrom, Jeffery Hamilton, Randy Whitehead



Reactor Cooling, Sponsored by Comanche Peak -Team Members—Herbert A. Jones III, Matthew Gray, Tim Hickle, Christie Falwell, Pete White

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Spent Fuel Pool Cooling, Sponsored by Comanche Peak -Team Members– Kyle Gilliam, Jonathan Maslyk, Alejandro Moncada, Ross Russell

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Solar Powered Steam Generator -Team Members—James Nix, Michael Fierro, Karl Hunter, Andrew Hernandez

P a g e

Professors Jiangtao Cheng Tae- Youl Choi Nandika D'Souza Aleksandra Fortier Jaehyung Ju Reza Mirshams Xu Nie Sheldon Shi Xun Yu Mihai Burzo Kuruvilla John Xiaohua Li Cherish Qualls Yong Tao Vish Prasad

M e c h a n i c a l

Materials Mechanics Thermal

x x x x x x x x x

Fluids

x x

Vibrations / Control

E n e r g y

Energy

x x x x x

x x x

a n d

x x x

x x x x

Teaching Facilities

x x

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I ss u e

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Industrial Advisory Board The members of the Industrial Advisory Board played a vital role in providing students and faculty one of the most valuable and engaged experiences. They are actively involved the evaluation of curriculum and capstone design, as well as advising and conducting student feedback. Additionally they help students through their mentorship and connectivity to internships and job opportunities.

MEEN IAB Board Members: Tom Babb – Advanced Technology Complex

Scott Lee – BAE Systems

Russ Blum – Lockheed Martin

Jeff Marcel – Denbury Resources

Ed Boyce – Halliburton

Mike Marvin – Bell Helicopter

Matt Breaux – Schneider Electric

Randy Masey – General Dynamics

Lee Green – Goodson Engineering

Rohn Olson – Bell Helicopter

Vikas Gupta – Texas Instruments

Michael Page – Luminant Power

Syed Hamid – Halliburton

Carla Ruge – Advanced Technology Complex

Jung Han – PepsiCo

Don Schapker – Lockheed Martin

Jim Hockett – Sylvania

Landon Sproull – Peterbilt

Rakibul Islam – Weber Aircraft

Jeff Starcher – MP2 Energy

Majeed Kawar – Peerless Manufacturing

Jay Stell – Peerless Manufacturing

Billy King – Exide Technologies

Billy Wicker – TXU Energy

Doug Kirkley – Pepco Energy Services

Andrew Wong* – ARAMARK

Donald Lampe – Freese and Nichols

Mithat Yuce – Bell Helicopter

Finley Ledbetter – Group CBS

*IAB Chair

Recent Donations from Industries for Supporting Research and Education Frito-Lay:

$30,000

Verizon Foundation:

$25,000

TIDA:

$7,500

Industry Focused Forums: The Energy Rubber Group

The Energy Rubber Group of the American Chemical Society Founded in 1980 in Houston, Texas, with a membership of approximately 500 from the Oil and Gas Industry held a forum under the Focus on Oil and Gas Research Theme of the Mechanical and Energy Engineering, hosted by Nandika D‟Souza. The society made presentations and toured labs.

P a g e

M e c h a n i c a l

Focused

research

a n d

E n e r g y

partnerships

Individual, cross-college, University and global partnerships are organized along research themes. Federal grants, Industry contracts, and senior design projects with undergraduate student themes are all underway. Topical forums in the research themes bring engagement and win-win partnerships as industry and academics pose and answer the critical questions: “What are the needs?” “What are the limits to the current solutions?” and “How we can do better?” The department has hosted the following research forums: a Building and Energy Forum, International Estonia forum, Microelectronics Reliability forum, Biomaterials Interest Group (BIG-DFW), and Energy Rubber Group. For more information about research forums, contact Dr. Nandika D‟Souza at Nandika.DSouza@unt.edu.

Professors

Nandika D'Souza Aleksandra Fortier Jaehyung Ju Yong Tao Xun Yu Mihai Burzo Jiangtao Cheng Tae-Youl Choi Kuruvilla John Reza Mirshams Sheldon Shi Xu Nie

Vehicle Environmental Electronic Renewable & Oil and Sustainability/ Biomedical Device Energy Transporta- Gas Buildings Reliability tion x

x x

Survey Response

x x

x x x

x x

Z e r o The lab is a state-of-the-art facility – the only one of its kind in Texas – designed specifically to test various energy technologies and systems in order to achieve a net-zero consumption of energy. Net-zero consumption means different building systems, such as solar, geothermal and wind systems, can produce enough energy to power a building and in many cases even create excess

“Students like the UNT MEE program because it pays attention to students with small lecture and lab classes.”-Student

E n e r g y

energy to return to the power grid. The structure has a number of advanced energy technologies integrated into its 1,200 square-foot space, including a geothermal heat pump, a radiant heated floor slab, solar panels, a building energy monitoring and control system and a rainwater collection system, to name a few. Outside, the facility has a residential-scale wind turbine and an electric vehicle

L a b

“I love coming to Discovery Park. The focused environment and areas to work in teams keeps me very engaged with what I’m learning.”Student Survey Response

charging station. Dr. Yong Tao, chair of the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering at UNT believes, “There are very few places for students to get hands-on experience working with the green technologies that will power our future. The Zero Energy Research Laboratory is now one of those locations.”

Front of the ZØE Lab

V o l u m e

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I ss u e

Gr ants

P a g e

and

Contracts

Sustainability/ Buildings

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“PFI: Farmer-Academic-Industry Partnership for the Development of Sustainable, Energy Efficient, Multifunctional Bioproducts for the Built Environment”. National Science Foundation (NSF), Nandika D’Souza, Yong Tao, Vish Prasad and Michael Allen. $600,000. 2011-2013

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“Rider 8 FY 2011 Project: Corpus Christi Ozone Near Non-Attainment Area Air Quality Research Activities”. City of Corpus Christi, Kuruvilla John. $513,750. 2011-2013

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“US-China Workshop for Cyber-Enabled, User-Oriented, Interoperability Modeling for Engineering Sustainable Built Environments Beijing, China. NSF, Yong Tao. $59,552, 2011-2013

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“Impregnated inorganic nanoparticle at the natural fiber-thermoplastic polymer interface”. NSF CMMI. Sheldon Shi. $116,881, 2011-2013

Oil and Gas

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“Bioinspired Nanocomposite Coatings for Corrosion Protection”. Qatar University. Nandika D’Souza and Teresa Golden. $275000. 20122015

Renewable Energy

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“Carbon Nanostructure-Based Transparent Conducting Film for Electronics and Energy Applications”. Top Nanosys, Tae-Youl Choi.

$214,994. 2011-2014

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“Evaluation of the Application Options of CCTS Carbon Powders”. Carbon Component Tech Services, Sheldon Shi. $62,500. 2012-2014

Biomedical

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“An Innovative Hearing Loss Prevention Approach in Infant Incubator”. Xun Yu. $142,252. 2011-2013

Vehicle and Transportation

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“RUI: Self-sensing Concrete Pavement”. University of Minnesota. Xun Yu. $66,700.60. 2011-2012

Microelectronic Reliability

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“Boron Nitride Thermally Conductive High Temperature High Dielectric Strength Interface Materials Semiconductor Research Corporation”.

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Nandika D’Souza and Tae-Youl Choi. $240000. 2013-2015 “ARI-R2: Modernization of Multi-Scale Characterization, Analysis, and Synthesis Facility for Materials and Devices: Remote Access, Visualization and Public Engagement”. NSF, Vish Prasad, Mohammad Omary, Raj Banerjee, and Thomas Scharf. $1,046,053. 2011-2013



“Compressing Communication”. Samsung Telecommunications of America LLC. Mihai Burzo and Rada Mihalcea (UNT Department of Computer Science & Engineering). $150,000. 2013-2014

Fa c u l t y

Awards



Reza Mirshams, Outstanding Service to MEE (2012)

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Xiaohua Li : UNT Honors day (2013)

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Yong Tao : University Distinguished Professor (2013)

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Jaehyung Ju : Young Engineer of the Year (ASME North Texas Chapter) (2012)

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Nandika D’Souza : Research Leadership Award (2012— 2013)

Student 

Awards

Outstanding MEE Graduate Student 2012: Joseph Koruth and Carlos Alberto Peña Sánchez 2013: Donley Antoine

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Outstanding Undergraduate Student 2012: Cody Beck and Maggie Deatrick 2013: David Reilly and Ethan McMillan

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Outstanding Teaching Assistant (2013): Ying Qiu

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Sheldon Shi, George Marra, Excellence in Writing Award, Society of Wood Science & Technology (2012)

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Vikranth Gullapalli: ASME North Texas Section Graduate student award 2013

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Nandika D’Souza, Fellow Society of Plastics Engineers (2013)

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Megan Brown: ASME North Texas Section 2013

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Carlos Alberto Peña Sánchez: Vestas Winnovation Case Challenge 2013—Grand Prize winner 2012

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Joseph Koruth, Vestas Winnovation Case Challenge Runner-up

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U N I V E R S I T Y O F N O R T H T E X A S Mechanical and Energy Engineering 115 Union Circle Suite F101 Denton, Texas 76203-5017 Phone: 940-565-2400 Fax: 940-369-8617 https://engineering.unt.edu/ mechanicalandenergy/

S t u d e n t P r o f e s s i o n a l O r g a n i z a t i o n s a n d N e t w o r k i n g ASME: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is a 120,000-member professional organization focused on technical, educational, and research issues of the engineering and technology community. ASME conducts one of the world's largest technical publishing operations, holds numerous technical conferences worldwide, and offers hundreds of professional development courses each year. ASME sets internationally recognized industrial and manufacturing codes and standards that enhance public safety. The UNT Chapter of ASME is a project-based organization competing in ASME sponsored events. UNT ASME is the largest engineering organization at the University of North Texas composed of undergraduate and graduate student members. Our purpose is to provide members with educational and career opportunities outside of what students obtain in the classroom through innovative training, networking, tours, professional development, and industry outreach. SWE: The Society of Women Engineers UNT chapter has been led by an outstanding board, President: Samantha Daugherty, MEE „2013. Students were mentored by the Fort Worth professional section to develop their communication skills and map their careers. They attended national and regional conferences. SHPE: Society of Hispanic Engineers, UNT chapter has engaged MEE students. They have received recognition as an “Outstanding small chapter of the year”. SPE: The Society of Plastics Engineering grew by 300%. They were involved with polyolefins, and conducted trips to Encore Wire. Scholarships were awarded to ten people and tuition reduction to two.