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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20181102T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20181102T110000
DTSTAMP:20260502T231443
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UID:10000633-1541149200-1541156400@mae.ncsu.edu
SUMMARY:MAE PhD Defense - Thomas C. Powers
DESCRIPTION:Title: Artificial Lumbered Flight for Autonomous Soaring \nAdvisor: Dr. Larry Silverberg and Dr. Ashok Gopalarathnam \nDate: Friday\, November 2\, 2018\, at 9 AM \nLocation: EB3 Rm.# 3115 \n  \nAbstract: \nSoaring strategies are redefining the flight capabilities of small-class fixed-wing UAVs. This dissertation presents an autonomous soaring strategy that exploits updraft energy independent of the classification of an updraft. The strategy employs an artificial lumbered flight algorithm (ALFA) that weighs near-field updraft estimates and mission priorities for the navigation. This work raises the question of ALFA’s ability to handle classified updrafts. Indeed\, ALFA does not explicitly consider the classification of the updraft. Instead\, ALFA measures updraft data along an aircraft’s flight path\, estimates updraft data ahead of the aircraft\, generates candidate flight-paths ahead of the aircraft for evaluation\, and then selects a best candidate flight-path based on a reward function. This dissertation describes the structure of ALFA\, the tuning processes for the updraft estimator and the decision function. Flight results demonstrate the ability of artificial lumbered flight to harness atmospheric energy and complete its objectives. The flight results are considered in more detail\, examining ALFA’s effectiveness when flying in and between classified updrafts. The results demonstrate the ability of artificial lumbered flight to navigate unclassified updrafts and harvest energy from thermal updrafts. Finally\, this work highlights that autonomous flight design and control of small-class aircraft in the soaring flight regime that extends from above the flapping flight regime up to the lower end of the cruise flight regime\, will be driven by the harvesting of energy from the atmosphere. \n  \nBiography: \nThomas Cornelius Powers was born on September 5th\, 1988 in Woodland California. After spending 10 years of his childhood in the Netherlands\, he attended Widefield High School in Colorado Springs\, and graduated in 2008. He attended Olivet Nazarene University\, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in 2012. After working for Case New Holland in the four-wheel drive tractor group for 14 months\, he enrolled in the direct-path PhD program at North Carolina State University in pursuit of Master and Doctoral degrees in Aerospace Engineering in 2013. He earned his Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering in 2018. His research interests include aircraft concept generation\, preliminary aerodynamic design\, and UAV applications.
URL:https://mae.ncsu.edu/event/mae-phd-defense-thomas-c-powers/
LOCATION:EB3-3115
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20180622T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20180622T113000
DTSTAMP:20260502T231443
CREATED:20180611T172550Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180611T172550Z
UID:10000498-1529659800-1529667000@mae.ncsu.edu
SUMMARY:MAE PhD Defense - Edward Chapman
DESCRIPTION:TITLE: Efficiency and Function: Design and Analysis of Smart Actuators and Systems using Fluidic Artificial Muscles \nADVISOR: Dr. Matthew Bryant \nDATE & TIME: Friday\, June 22\, 2018 at 9:30 AM \nLOCATION: EB3 – 3115 \n  \nABSTRACT:  \nThis work is comprised of three distinct contributions to the literature in the modeling and analysis of fluidic artificial muscles (FAMs) and systems which utilize them. First\, a fully-coupled electrohydraulic system with single FAMs is used to study design parameter effects on the efficiency of a quadrupedal climbing robot. Its results indicate that increased actuator efficiency does not necessarily lead to increased system efficiency. This indicates that it is necessary to consider the FAM as well as the whole system must both be considered in order to optimize system efficiency. Secondly\, the work explores the biomimicry of FAMs by presenting a novel way of controlling the activation of multiple FAM’s in parallel ‘bundles.’ It does so by taking advantage of elastic nonlinearities in FAM bladders to control the pressure at which a specific FAM is recruited; called ‘threshold pressure.’ Placing multiple FAMs with different threshold pressure under the control of a single throttle valve recruits some muscles before others. This is dubbed passive variable recruitment and is inspired by Henneman’s size principle\, which governs the activation of mammalian muscle. The study indicates that activating FAMs in this way is advantageous in variable output systems which operate primarily in low-load\, low-stroke regimes but require occasional outputs of large stroke and/or force. Lastly\, the work explores multiple fully coupled electro-hydraulic systems and addresses the design considerations for increased performance and efficiency of both variable recruitment bundles and a single FAM. We propose an analytic model for predicting the upper-limit of performance of a given FAM bundle recruitment level as a function of load\, FAM design parameters\, and motor and pump operating characteristics. \n  \nBIOGRAPHY: \nEdward M. (Ted) Chapman was born in Charleston South Carolina and grew up in Palm Harbor\, Florida. He graduated from Clemson University in 2008 with his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering\, attended Navy Officer Candidate School and was commissioned as an ensign in the Navy in September 2008. He served as aboard USS THE SULLIVANS (DDG 68) through two deployments before attending Nuclear Power School in Charleston\, SC. Upon completion of Nuclear Power School\, he qualified as Engineering Officer of the Watch at Nuclear Power Training Unit in Ballston Spa\, NY. He then served aboard USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71)\, qualifying first Propulsion Plant Watch Officer and then Nuclear Engineer before separating from active duty service in 2014 to begin his PhD studies. He begin his graduate studies at North Carolina State University in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering as part of the direct-track PhD program in August of 2014 under the direction of Dr. Matthew Bryant.
URL:https://mae.ncsu.edu/event/mae-phd-defense-edward-chapman/
LOCATION:EB3-3115
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170330T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170330T170000
DTSTAMP:20260502T231443
CREATED:20170320T183851Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170320T183851Z
UID:10000504-1490886000-1490893200@mae.ncsu.edu
SUMMARY:MAE PhD Defense - Christopher Elliott
DESCRIPTION:Title: Methods for Streamlined Firefly Optimization and Interpretation: Application to Engineering Design \n(Advisor: Dr. Buckner) \nBiography: \nChris was raised in Asheville NC\, and completed his undergraduate and graduate coursework at North Carolina State University.  He earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1998\, with a minor in mathematics\, and has worked at Caterpillar since then.  His responsibilities at Caterpillar have focused in four areas: machine noise control\, engine systems development and research\, hydrostatic transmission design optimization\, and control system development. For the past five years\, Chris has been pursuing his doctoral degree\, working under the direction of Dr. Gregory Buckner. His doctoral research includes electromechanical system design\, control system development\, and numerical methods for engineering design optimization. \nAbstract: \nThis research introduces a computationally efficient firefly algorithm (FA) tuned to find multimodal objective function minima and a new method for programmatically and visually identifying locally optimal solutions. A novel plot of distances between cost-sorted designs (the cost-sorted distance or CSD plot) is shown to reveal clusters of designs at minima; the best design associated with each cluster is readily apparent.  An investigation is made of the methods’ capability to address uncertainty in the design process.  Correlation between the percent of fireflies in clusters and robustness measures for associated designs is considered.  Finally\, A novel magnetorheological fluid device type is described and its design optimized using FA and CSD. \n 
URL:https://mae.ncsu.edu/event/mae-phd-defense-christopher-elliott/
LOCATION:EB3-3115
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170323T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170323T130000
DTSTAMP:20260502T231443
CREATED:20170317T120619Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170317T120619Z
UID:10000426-1490266800-1490274000@mae.ncsu.edu
SUMMARY:MAE PhD Defense - Scott Blackwelder
DESCRIPTION:Optimizing UAV Mission Performance Through Hybrid-Electric Powertrain \n(Advisor:  Dr. Klang) \nBiography: \n  \nWhen I was eleven\, while riding in the car with my Dad\, I asked him what he thought I should be when I grew up. As if he had been anticipating the question\, he immediately answered “Mechanical Engineer”. That question seeming easy enough\, I followed up by asking where I should go to study mechanical engineering. Again\, without hesitation\, my Dad answered “NC State”. Suffice to say\, that twenty second conversation with my Dad shaped how the following seven years of my life would unfold. \nIn high school\, eager to learn how things are designed and made\, I signed up for every drafting and metal shop class offered and was even reprimanded my senior year for bending the enrollment rules to take advanced studies metal shop two years in a row. When not in class I trained with the Asheville High dive team and earned a gold medal at the state championships my Junior year. \nI came to NC State in the fall of 2009 as a prospective member of the department of mechanical engineering and a recruited walk-on of the dive team. I spent the next four years diving and studying mechanical engineering. I graduated in the spring of 2009 during the height of the worst recession since before I was born. After a few months of various part-time jobs\, I took an internship as a manufacturing engineering at ABB Inc. in Pinetops North Carolina. \nMy internship at ABB afforded me the opportunity to work under the tutelage of my soon to be mentor and dear friend Don Richerson. Though Don did not have his engineering degree\, I admired and respected his laid back and pragmatic approach to solving engineering problems in addition to the forty plus years of experience he had gained since returning from the Vietnam War. I worked with Don on the specialty transformers product line until I was hired full time and was promoted to manufacturing engineer for the specialty transformers line while Don prepared for retirement. In January of 2012\, I was moved to manufacturing engineer of the OEM product line which widened my scope of knowledge of plant-wide operations in addition to affording me more opportunities for advancement. However\, after the unexpected death of a good friend’s father\, my newly deepened appreciation for how short life is lead me to the difficult decision to leave the company to complete my Master’s degree that I had been doing online since my hiring. \nWith 21 credit hours remaining\, I took an ambitious 12-hour course load in the fall of 2012 to put me on par to finish the following semester. Those 12 hours\, which included FEA\, design optimization\, mechanical design assembly\, and advanced solid mechanics\, backed up what I had learned about the difference between theory and practice while at ABB and reinforced the importance of simplicity and pragmatism. While completing my final nine hours the following semester\, another conversation that lasted less than a minute set up how the next several years of my life would unfold. While talking with my friend Jonx\, I mentioned that I thought it was cool that he was part of a research team that forwent sleep to design and build a hybrid car. He replied to my comment by suggesting I join the team as they were short staffed and drastically behind schedule. I agreed\, not knowing at the time the significance of that forty second conversation. The objective was clear\, redesign\, build and integrate mounting structure for the vehicle’s energy storage\, traction\, and range extension systems in addition to a custom trailer hitch\, exhaust\, and cooling system. With six weeks until competition I got to work. I designed components and ran analyses at night\, went to class\, studied\, did homework\, and sometimes slept during the day. At one point\, our shop manager Will pulled me aside and said\, “Scott\, I appreciate how hard you’ve been working; But you have a final Thursday and if I see you in the shop before then\, I’m going to punch you in the face!” I graduated with my Master’s in April of 2013\, slept for two days\, and left with the EcoCAR team for competition. The competition was unreal. Though we didn’t place very high\, the look on people’s faces when they saw the amount of quality work we had accomplished in such a short amount of time truly made me proud of the part I played. \nAbstract: \nHybrid-electric powertrain leverages the superior range of petrol based systems with the quiet and emission free benefits of electric propulsion. The major caveat to hybrid-electric powertrain in an airplane is that it is inherently heavier than conventional petroleum powertrain due mostly to the low energy density of battery technology. \nThe first goal of this research is to develop mission planning code to match powertrain components for a small-scale unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to complete a standard surveillance mission within a set of user input parameters. The second goal is to promote low acoustic profile loitering through mid-flight engine starting. The two means by which this will be addressed is through reverse thrust from the propeller and a servo actuated gear to couple and decouple the engine and motor. \nThe mission planning code calculates the power required to complete a mission and assists the user in sourcing powertrain components. The weight of the selected components is added to the initial mass of the system and the power requirement calculations and component sourcing will be rerun until the system weight is minimized. Reverse thrust engine starting involves characterizing an off the shelf variable pitch propeller and using its torque coefficient to calculated the advance ratio required to provide sufficient torque and speed to start an engine. Geared engine starting works like the starter in a conventional automobile. A servo actuated gear will couple and decouple the motor to the engine to start it. \nReverse thrust engine starting was unsuccessful due to limitations of available off the shelf variable pitch propellers. However\, reverse thrust engine starting could be realized through a custom larger diameter propeller. \nGeared engine starting was a success\, though the system was unable to run fully as intended. Due to counter-clockwise crank rotation of the engine and the right-hand threads on the crankshaft\, cranking the engine resulted in the nut securing the engine starter gear to back off as the engine cranked. A second nut was added to secure the starter gear but at the expense of removing the engine drive pulley. Removing the engine pulley meant that the starter gear must remain engaged to transmit torque to the pro shaft as opposed to the engine pulley. This issue can be resolved using different hardware\, however changing the mounting hardware would require additional modifications to the associated component which time did not permit. \nThough battery technology still proves to be the main constraint of electrified powertrain\, careful design and mission planning can help promote the benefits of electrified powertrain while minimizing the weight penalties incurred. The mission planning code adds to the existing research by eliminating the assumption of a blended climb and comparing the weight penalties of a blended climb versus an engine only climb and selecting the lightest option. The code also takes fuel weight into account and iterates to ensure the components selected to ensure the lowest weight penalty. Though reverse thrust engine starting proved unsuccessful\, the success of geared engine starting now allows the engine to be shut off during loiter reducing both acoustic profile and fuel consumption during loiter.
URL:https://mae.ncsu.edu/event/mae-phd-defense-scott-blackwelder/
LOCATION:EB3-3115
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