Fall 2020: ME 297 (free) Introduction to Data Science for Mechanical Engineers 1 credit
Category: Classes
IMPORTANT FALL 2020 REGISTRATION DATES
ATTENTION STUDENTS: The Registrar’s Office has made some changes to registration dates for the Fall 2020 Semester.
If you do not plan to return to campus for the Fall 2020 semester and will be taking courses online, you have until July 6, 2020. After this deadline, you will not be able to opt in to fully online.
OPEN REGISTRATION FALL 2020 DATES HAVE CHANGED
Open registration has been pushed back a and will now open July 24, 2020.
For the most up to date information, please refer to the registrar’s website: https://www.purdue.edu/registrar/index.html
Fall 2020: 3 Credit Hour ME 59700 Independent Project Opportunity
Title:
Combined Heating and Cooling for Agricultural Applications
Abstract:
The project is sponsored by Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA) as part of the chill challenge (https://www.ewb-usa.org/chill-challenge/) to provide affordable, off-grid refrigeration. This research will examine the potential for using a combined heating and cooling vapor compression system to produce ice and to dry crops. Vapor compression refrigeration systems have a high initial cost, and a combined system, which uses the evaporator capacity to create ice and the condenser heat to dry crops, may provide a way to offset that cost. The research will evaluate food drying and storage practices, including their prices and seasonality. Potential applications of the technology will then focus on locations that produce food items that command high value and/or are available throughout the year, as these will provide more benefits than seasonal food items. A food value map will be created based on literature and market review to help in selecting best dehydrator type for a given region and season. The project aims in building a system that generates 100-150 kg of ice per day, using a vapor compression cycle with R290 as the refrigerant and solar PV as an energy source. A simulation model will be built to evaluate the system performance and help the components selection for future prototype design. The prototype will be built and evaluated in the laboratory environment.
Main tasks to be performed:
Work as a member of the team with graduate students and professors to
- Learn and understand the working principle of vapor compression cycle
- Assistance in generating the food valve map
- Using the simulation model to perform parametric studies
- Components selection and prototype system design using 3D model software
- Help building and carry out performance testing on the system
* The tasks will be flexible based on the interests of the students and workload.
Contact info:
Principal Investigator:
- Eckhard A. Groll: groll@purdue.edu
Graduate Students:
- Akash Mukund Patil: patil26@purdue.edu
- Nicholas Salts: nsalts@purdue.edu
- Haotian Liu: liu1460@purdue.edu
Fall 2020: 3 Credit Hour ME 49700 Independent Project Opportunity
Title:
Cold Storage Battery for Domestic Refrigeration
Abstract:
The project is sponsored by Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA) as part of the chill challenge (https://www.ewb-usa.org/chill-challenge/) to provide affordable, off-grid refrigeration. This research will evaluate the use of heat from clay or brick cookstoves to drive an intermittent sorption cold storage battery, which requires no electricity to operate. The device is referred to as a cold storage battery because the generated refrigerant does not need to be immediately discharged, but can instead be stored and expanded later to provide cooling on demand. The design for the cold storage battery was inspired by the Crosley icy ball, which is a device that was popular in the Depression era USA and used fairly primitive technology to create a refrigerated unit. In charging mode, a heat source is used to generate refrigerant, which is condensed and stored for use during discharging. In discharging mode, the refrigerant is expanded to create cooling on demand. The cold storage battery is designed to be used alongside existing wood-fired cookstoves, although other fuel sources could be used, including solar thermal energy. The specific working pair for the sorption refrigerator will be identified as a part of this research project. A simulation model will be built to evaluate the system performance and help the components selection for future experimental design. A scaled laboratory cold storage battery as well as a prototype by combining insights from test-stand results and field-research will be built and evaluated.
Main tasks to be performed:
Work as a member of the team with graduate students and professors to
- Learn and understand the working principle of sorption cooling technology
- Assistance in building the simulation model and performing parametric studies
- Components selection and system design using 3D model software
- Help building and carry out performance testing on the system
* The tasks will be flexible based on the interests of the students and workload.
Contact info:
Principal Investigator:
- Eckhard A. Groll: groll@purdue.edu
Graduate Students:
- Akash Mukund Patil: patil26@purdue.edu
- Nicholas Salts: nsalts@purdue.edu
- Haotian Liu: liu1460@purdue.edu
Registration openings for VIP – Fall and Summer
