TU ME News

A Note from the Chairperson

Jim Shih-Jiun Chen, Ph.D.

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Senior Design 

Dr. Robert Baren, Coordinator

    The senior design project course has had a successful start for the 2002-2003 academic year as twenty one teams from the three departments presented their proposals on October 30th. There are twenty more students and six more teams than last year. Senior design projects require the synthesis of the knowledge gained throughout the four years of the engineering curricula. The students gain experience working as members of an engineering team, which, in some cases, includes students from other disciplines and engineers from industry. The faculty suggest many of the projects, but several are sponsored by local engineering firms, technical societies or government agencies. The students develop and use many of the skills which are part of a professional work experience. These skills include, research, team-work, project organization, budgeting and written and oral communication.

   As mentioned, some of the design projects are motivated by contests sponsored by local or national technical societies. This year, Dr. Chen and Dr. Basu of the Mechanical Engineering Department are the advisors for a paper hang glider competition entitled ‘energy challenge 2003’. The three students involved have won a $2000 grant based upon the proposal they submitted. Dr. Helferty of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department is advising two groups of students who will design and build a robot for the 2003 FIRST Robotics competition. The two groups, from the Mechanical and Electrical engineering departments, will work together to coordinate the mechanical and electrical designs. Dr. Udo-Inyang is the advisor of a team of Civil engineering students who will design a child care center as part of a national contest.

   The final event of the year, the traditional senior design day, is on April 23^rd, 2003. On that day, the students will demonstrate the results of their projects in forty-five minute oral presentations. We will again invite our alumni to attend the presentations and a buffet dinner afterwards. We hope to see many of our former students on senior design day.

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Drs. Chiou and Chen Awarded NSF Research Grant

           Drs. Richard Chiou and Jim Chen are currently conducting a research project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for $152,699 (2001-2003).  The title of the project is “Investigation of Embedded Heat Pipes in Cutting Tools for Dry Machining.”  The objective of this research is to contribute to the fundamental understanding of heat transfer behavior in metal cutting in order to develop new embedded heat pipe technology that can effectively carry away the heat generated at the cutting tool in machining, thereby reducing tool wear and prolonging tool life. In particular, these techniques can effectively minimize pollution and contamination of the environment by cutting fluids and the health problems of skin exposure and particulate inhalation in manufacturing. One graduate student Lin Lu and two undergraduate students Ian Cole and Nirav Parikh are supported by the research program.  The research team is actively involved with industrial collaboration with Thermacore Inc. and Victoria Precision Inc. for cutting tool design, heat pipe application, and technology commercializing. 

The FEM simulations and experimental results in the present study demonstrate that the heat generated in machining can be effectively removed by the use of a heat pipe installed on a cutting tool insert.  These results also demonstrate the feasibility of using a heat pipe to reduce heat and limit the need for cutting fluids in machining. The team has prototyped a cutting tool with an embedded heat pipe. The graduate and undergraduate students are being exposed to cutting edge technology — encompassing both theory and implementation — related to the design and development of dry machining techniques with cutting tools embedded with heat pipes. The students are learning the state-of-the-art techniques in the areas of design, manufacturing, heat transfer, thermodynamics, mechanics, and environment. 

publication New!

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Summer Course for High School Students
Dr. Richard Cohen

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This past summer Dr. Richard Cohen taught Introduction to Mechanical Engineering - a two credit course for high school students. This is the second year that he has taught this course and this year he was ably assisted by Professor Soumi Basu, a new faculty in the ME department. This year we had eight students from area high schools and one ME undergraduate who signed up and were rewarded with five weeks of fun and learning. Dr. Chen's son, Jason, attended a few classes and participated in a team project.  The class concentrated on two areas. 

The first area was dynamics and materials. The students had a variety of radio-controlled trucks which they tested for dynamic behavior. One of the trucks had a changeable drive train as well as adjustable springs, shocks and steering. They had to choose a good mix of parameters to handle a simulated mini-Baja course. Finally they had to design a containment system for a passenger (a raw egg) which would have to travel the course on the truck.

 The second area was aerodynamics. The students learned about aerodynamics and tested various wings and body types of foam and balsa by making gliders. At the end of the class they had to test their designs for distance and accuracy. The kids passed all areas of the class with "flying" colors.

 This year we got media attention for our efforts through Temple's publicity offfice. Channel 6/ABC sent out a cameraman for the competition on the last day, resulting in a short piece on the evening news. Also, WRTI sent a reporter to do a story on our class and the competition at the end. We are going to offer the class again this year and hope to have more students enrolled. If you know of any high school students who might be interested in this course and getting two credits toward their college degree, call the ME office and we will send out information.

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Bioengineering and Biomaterials laboratory
Director, Dr. George Baran 

Newsletter

    In 1999, a Bioengineering and Biomaterials laboratory was constructed in the College of Engineering. This 1200 square foot facility was designed to permit the development of bioengineering research in the College, with particular emphasis on biomechanics and biomaterials. George Baran, a professor in Mechanical Engineering, is in charge of the laboratory. Typically, the lab is staffed by two post-doctoral researchers and approximately three graduate students from the departments of Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry. College of Engineering funds were used for the laboratory's renovation and construction costs. Ongoing research in the lab is primarily supported by three research grants from the National Institutes of Health. The objective of one grant is to synthesize polymer-based particle-reinforced composites with engineered interfaces, and to model the strength and toughness of these composites using finite element analysis. These composites are typically used as dental restorative materials. The second grant studies ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, a polymer that is used as a bearing surface in hip and knee joint prostheses. This polymer wears during service, and the particulate debris is responsible for an inflammatory response that can lead to bone resorption and implant loosening. The third grant focuses on single crystal titanium as a potential implant material. Typically, polycrystalline titanium is used for implants; we hope that certain atomic planes will facilitate more rapid tissue attachment to metallic implants. 
    The laboratory continues to expand. The centerpiece of this facility is a MTS Mini-Bionix II mechanical testing machine capable of not only tensile and compressive load application, but torsional testing as well. Just recently we acquired a laser extensometer, which permits us to measure instantaneous strain in a non-contact mode up to extensions of 600%. This purchase was made necessary by the work with ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene.
    Additional instrumentation allows us to prepare organic matrix composites, silanate glass reinforcements, vacuum cure the composites, and determine the elastic constants of composites by ultrasound. Metals-related equipment includes a small induction casting unit and a metallographic polisher. We are interested in acquiring a high quality microscope as well as other equipment, and would like to hear from our alumni if they are ever in a position to donate instrumentation useful for our work! 
    The department has designed and recently submitted to the Graduate School a proposal for a MS degree program in Bioengineering. It is almost impossible these days not to hear about the latest advances in this field, and how employment opportunities for Bioengineers are widely available. (A good source for additional information is found at www.bmenet.org). In response to these trends, many universities have instituted degree programs in Bioengineering, and soon we will be among many other ME departments that offer courses and research experiences in Bioengineering. This program is interdisciplinary, and students will take courses in other departments, including Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chemistry, Biology, and in the School of Medicine. 

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Mechatronics Research Lab

    The Mechatronics Research Lab is located in the College of Engineering at Temple University. Mechatronics is the synergistic combination of mechanical and electrical engineering, computer science, and information technology, which include control systems as well as numerical methods used to design products with built-in intelligence. State-of-the-Art research activities performed at Mechatronics Lab encompass a number of areas, which include the analytical, numerical, and experimental studies addressing topics related to modeling, optimization, monitoring, control, and sensors for advanced manufacturing processes. The Mechatronics Lab facilitates the transfer of technology through interactions between the research group, the National Science Foundation, and the manufacturing industries. 

    Current research areas include: Investigation of Embedded Heat Pipes in Cutting Tools for Dry Machining, Analysis and Design of a Laser Assisted Magnetic Levitation System, Analysis of the Effect of Tension on Machining Stability, Development of a 6-Degree-of-Freedom Stable Rotary Magnetic Bearing, Tool Wear Analysis by Cutting Force Pulsation in End Milling, Design of a Power Adjustable Linear Motor, Pocket End Milling Force Modeling, and Integration of Mechatronics with Manufacturing Processes. Currently, a Ph.D. student, four master students, and a undergraduate student are working in these research areas. For more information, please contact Dr. Richard Chiou at Room 524, College of Engineering, 1947 N. 12th St., Philadelphia, PA 19122. Tel: (215)-204-3178 or (215) 204-4306, Fax:(215)-204-4956, Email: ychiou@nimbus.temple.edu 

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Thermal/Fluids Laboratory 

• Computational Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer software programs including ANSYS-FLOTRAN and CFX-TASCflow for determining 3-D flow field and heat transfer behavior. 

• Laser-based Particle Image Velocimetry for fluid flow measurements.

• Hot-wire anemometer for flow and turbulence measurements.

• Data acquisition system including surface thermocouples, heat flux sensors,

• Thermocromatic liquid crystal and infrared temperature sensors for temperature measurements.

• Heat pipes for cooling microelectronics.

• Thermoelectric cooling devices.

• Brookfield LVDV-III Cone/Plate Rheometer (0.1-100 cps) with computer interface.

• Julabo C-5B Circulating Constant Temperature Bath.

• HP 9000 workstations with Unix operating system.

• Pentium PCs with NT operating systems with color printers and plotters.

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Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME)

    The College of Engineering hosted a joint technical meeting with the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Philadelphia Chapter 15 on Thursday. September 20, 2001. Attendees included 15 engineering students and 12 SME members from the Philadelphia local chapter. Dr. Richard Chiou, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, gave a presentation entitled"Magnetic Levitation and Application," and gave a tour of the Mechatronics Research Laboratory, in which a laser feedback magnetic levitation system was demonstrated. The visitors also toured the Computer Center and the Particle Image Velocimetry ( PIV) facility.

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Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
FORMULA SAE RACECAR NEWS

    Temple University Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) is a professional society that participates in an annual design competition. The objective of the Formula SAE competition, organized by SAE national, Ford, GM, and Chrysler, is to construct a prototype formula style race car. Within a set of rules students can design and contruct the car based on their engineering knowledge and innovative ideas. All aspects of the engineering curriculum are encompassed by this project, from economic analysis to advanced thermodynamics. 

    Last year's group under the leadership of Mike Calabrese and Pat Rexing accomplished a number of significant goals, including several firsts for our team. To begin with, they designed and built a totally new car in only one year. In addition, Pat and his senior design group designed and constructed a turbocharger system for the car. When we went to Michigan we surprised ourselves by coming in well under the requirement in cost analysis and also doing better than ever before  in the design competition.

    This year's construction is already well under way and there are some significant changes from previous years. In particular, we are downsizing the engine to a 400 cc model in order to save weight and space. With a properly sized and tuned turbocharger and matching drive train, we expect to have more than enough power for the race.