2012 SR Design Booklet

D R E X E L
U N I V E R S I T Y
C O L L E G E
O F
E N G I N E E R I N G
S ENIOR D ESIGN PROJECTS 2012

SENIOR DESIGN

The Senior Design three-course sequence is intended to simulate a professional work
environment, to provide experience working in a group on an open-ended problem and to develop
information gathering and communication skills. Substantial interaction between students,
faculty and industrial and governmental institutions is an integral part of this experience.

Engineering students make up the majority of the senior design teams but the sequence is open to
seniors in any discipline. During the fall the students form their teams, select an area of interest,
then extract and explicitly state their design problems and methods of solution in formal
proposals to the Design Faculty. The teams develop their own solutions during the Winter and
Spring, the culmination of which is a formal report of the results. The faculty encourages the
students to place as much emphasis upon the process of defining the problems and developing the
solutions as is placed upon the actual end products. To reflect that concern, proposals, progress
reports and final reports are required in both written and oral formats.

This year more than 500 seniors formed approximately 135 design teams. There were over 100
faculty, industrial and governmental personnel serving as advisors. These projects demonstrate
the wide variety of interests and abilities of the seniors.

The Senior Design Final Presentations are our way of providing a forum in which the project
engineers (the students) can communicate their results to the community.

This Spring, eight groups will be selected as the best representatives of their department with at
least one group from each department. These students will compete at the Group Competition to
be held on June 6, 2012. Students will receive prize money and award certificates. The
competition will be held in the Bossone Research Center Auditorium from 9:00 a.m. 3:30 p.m.

Adam Fontecchio
Associate Dean
Senior Project Design Coordinator
College of Engineering

CAEE-01
CAEE-02
CAEE-03
CAEE-04
CAEE-05
CAEE-06
CAEE-07
CAEE-08
CAEE-09
CAEE-10
CAEE-11
CAEE-12
CAEE-13
CAEE-14
CAEE-15
CAEE-16
CAEE-17
CAEE-18
CAEE-19
CAEE-20
CAEE-21
CAEE-22
CAEE-23
CAEE-24
CAEE-25
CAEE-26
CAEE-27
CBE-01
CBE-03
CBE-04
CBE-05
CBE-06
CBE-07
CBE-08
CBE-09
CBE-10
CBE-11
CBE-12
SCHULYKILL RIVER TRAIL CROSSING AT GRAYS FERRY AVENUE

DELAWARE RIVER INTEGRATED WATERFRONT LINE
PILOT-SCALE SURFACE-POND BIO-REACTOR AT A MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE
LANDFILL
EXPANSION OF THE PROPOSED COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING DESIGN FACILITY
THE INTEGRATED DESIGN OF A GOVERNMENT OFFICE BUILDING LOCATED IN
OMAHA, NEBRASKA
ESTABLISHING WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS IN LOGNE, HAITI
SOUTH STREET PENNS LANDING PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE REDESIGN PROJECT
REDEVELOPMENT OF BUILDING 624 AT THE PHILADELPHIA NAVY YARD
MIRIMAR WATER DISTRIBUTION
GREEN REDEVELOPMENT OF DREXEL UNIVERSITY STUDENT RESIDENTIAL QUAD
POMPESTON CREEK BRIDGE RENEWAL PROJECT
THE LIFE TOWER
BIOGAS FACILITY LEOGANE, HAITI
A FRAMEWORK FOR THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL
SENSOR NETWORKS IN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS TO PROMOTE ENERGY
EFFICIENCY AND IAQ
QUARTERS A RETROFIT FOR SUSTAINABILITY
REDUCING THE ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT OF ALUMNI ENGINEERING LABS
AT DREXEL
FEASIBILITY STUDY TO INVESTIGATE THE NEED FOR A PUBLIC
TRANSPORTATION CONNECTION ACROSS THE DELAWARE RIVER WITHIN
BURLINGTON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
DESIGN OF A CENTRALIZED WASTE TREATMENT FACILITY FOR HYDRAULIC
FRACTURING WASTEWATER
REDESIGN AND RECONSTRUCTION OF THE DELAIR BRIDGE
REPURPOSING OF THE MANAYUNK BRIDGE AS URBAN GREEN SPACE
WARMINSTER COMMUNITY PARK - BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL COMPLEX
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT FOR UNITARIAN SOCIETY OF GERMANTOWN
KERR CLUB BOATHOUSE PROJECT
DREXEL PARK DORMITORY
REDEVELOPMENT OF MOYERS LANDFILL AS A LAND IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
RENOVATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS TO THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES
OF DREXEL UNIVERSITY
NORTHEAST EXTENSION OPTIMIZATION
LIQUID FLUORIDE THORIUM REACTOR
DRY-FRACTURING PROCESS
FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR LANDFILL GAS TO ELECTRICITY PLANT DESIGN -LMFGO-
GAS-TO-LIQUID (GTL) PLANT
MANUFACTURING HMBA FROM MMP
SARSINE INC
PRODUCTION OF ATACTIC POLYPROPYLENE THROUGH PROPYLENE-ETHYLENE
COPOLYMERIZATION
OLEFIN/PARAFFIN SEPARATION USING REACTIVE DISTILLATION
OLIGOMERIZATION OF OLEFINS TO MAKE POLYGASOLINE
THE REMOVAL OF NITROGEN- AND PHOSPHORUS-BASED COMPOUNDS FROM
ANIMAL WASTE
RENEWABLE DIESEL PRODUCTION FROM MICROALGAE
ALLYL ALCOHOL PRODUCTION VIA ISOMERIZATION OF PROPYLENE OXIDE
CBE-14
CBE-16
CBE-18
CBE-19
CS-01
CS-02
CS-03
CS-04
CS-05
CS-06
CS-07
CS-08
CS-09
CS-10
ECE-01
ECE-03
ECE-04
ECE-06
ECE-07
ECE-08
ECE-10
ECE-11
ECE-12
ECE-13
ECE-14
ECE-15
ECE-17
ECE-18
ECE-19
ECE-20
ECE-22
ECE-23
ECE-25
ECE-26
ECE-28
ECE-29
ECE-30
MEM-01
MEM-02
MEM-03
MEM-04
MEM-05
MEM-06
MEM-07
WASTE TRAP GREASE TO BIODIESEL

RECOVERY OF SULFURIC ACID FROM AMMONIUM BISULFATE
SUPPLY GAS SYNTHESIS FROM WASTE PLASTIC
REDUCTION OF BENZENE IN CATALYTIC REFORMING PROCESS
VisAssist
TEAM ANACONDA
INHERITREE
AUTONOMIC COMPUTING: SENSORS AND DETECTORS FOR APPLICATIONS, VMS,
AND HOST OSes
DEPLOYMENT OF LARGE-SCALE DATABASE FOR CROSS-FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
RESEARCH
DISTRO KON
ASTRAEUS
OPTIC RM
UNICONF
MATHDASH
ROBUST SECRET KEY GENERATION USING A RECONFIGURABLE ANTENNA
FORMULA HYBRID ELECTRIC CAR
DREXEL WIRELESS SYSTEMS LAB WiMAX APPLICATIONS TEAM
POWER AGILE COMPUTER
DESIGN OF FREE-SPACE OPTICAL TRANSMITTER AND RECEIVER MODULES FOR
HELMET MOUNTED BROADBAND fNIR SYSTEM
DIGITAL PHILADELPHIA CONNECTIVITY TEAM
CELLULAR PHONE RADIATION EMISSION EXPOSURE MONITOR
WIRELESS SERVO CONTROLLER
AIR QUALITY MONITORING SENSOR NETWORK
DYNAMIC TRAFFIC CONTROL
LOAD FLOW STUDIES
MAZE TRAVERSING ROBOT WITH EDUCATIONAL INTERFACE
NUCLEAR REACTOR SIMULATION UTILIZING MICROSOFT KINECT
INTELLIGENT POWER STRIP
POOL-SPECTRE
CHARACTERIZING DISTURBANCES IN SMART POWER DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS
AND LOADS
DROP-IN LED REPLACEMENT FOR INCANDESCENT VISUAL LANDING AIDS
AUTOMATIC TENNIS ASSISTANT TRAINER
AIR QUALITY MONITORING NETWORK - HARDWARE TEAM
CHARACTERISTIC CURVE TRACER WITH LabVIEW
DESIGNING AND TESTING OF AN ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM
ELECTRIC SOLAR CAR
MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKING FOR SOLAR APPLICATIONS
SMALL-SCALE THREE-DIMENSIONAL CELL PRINTING FOR POTENTIAL SPACE
APPLICATION
AERODYNAMIC PACKAGE FOR LOW ALTITUDE ORBIT CUBESAT
LEAK DETECTION IN WATER MAINS NAVIGATION
MEMS SHEAR STRESS SENSOR
FORMULA SAE: ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF AERODYNAMICS
SLOWEST MOTORCYCLE LAND SPEED RECORD
DETECTION OF LEAKY PIPES IN WATER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK AND METHOD
TO REPAIR USING A TRAVELING ROBOT (B)
MEM-08
MEM-10
KHR-4 HUBO FLEXIBLE TORSO

FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR THE USE OF PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIALS IN TRICKLE-
CHARGING ONBOARD SMALL SATELLITE POWER SYSTEMS
MEM-11
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A LINEAR MOTOR DRIVEN PULSE TUBE
CRYOCOOLER FOR INFRARED CAMERAS
MEM-12
BIO-TEMPLATED NANOSTRUCTURED ELECTRODES FOR CAPACITIVE
DEIONIZATION OF WATER
MEM-13
CHARACTERIZATION OF A HYDRAULIC DRIVE SYSTEM FOR AN ELECTRIC
MOTORCYCLE
MEM-14
DREXEL FORMULA HYBRID MECHANICAL
MEM-15
FSAE BRAKE AND SUSPENSION DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION
MEM-16
MICROFLUIDIC DEVICE TO SIMULATE BLOOD VESSEL DEVELOPMENT
MEM-17
PLASMA TREATMENT OF WATER FOR HOSPITAL APPLICATION
MEM-18
DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF A SOLAR CELL TESTING
MEM-19
DESIGN OPTIMIZATION FOR WASTE HEAT RECOVERY SYSTEM
MEM-20
SOLAR PANEL DEPLOYMENT MECHANISM FOR CUBE SATELLITES
MEM-21
MINIATURE PONTOON BOAT FOR BASS FISHING
MEM-22
CRASHWORTHY COMPOSITE SUBFLOOR INTEGRATION FOR ROTORCRAFT
MEM-23
DESIGN FOR DEVELOPMENT IN THAILAND
MEM-24
ENHANCEMENT OF FLAPPING MICRO AERIAL VEHICLE
MEM-25
DETECTION OF LEAKY PIPES IN WATER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK AND METHOD
TO REPAIR USING A TRAVELING ROBOT (C)
MEM-26
AUTOMATED NETWORKED TRANSPORT SWARM (ANTS) HARDWARE PROTOTYPE
DEVELOPMENT
MEM-27
VIRTUAL WESTERN BLOT LABORATORY FOR PROTEIN DETECTION
MEM-28
Nd:YAG PULSED LASER SYSTEM ENCLOSURE
MEM-29
ENGINEERED FLAGELLAR FOREST FOR OPTOFLUIDIC SENSORS
MEM-30/MSE-04
NOVEL CLASSROOM MECHANICAL TESTING DEVICE USING DIGITAL IMAGE
CORRELATION
MEM-32
AN IMPROVED GROWING ROD FOR THE TREATMENT OF EARLY ONSET SCOLIOSIS
MEM-101 DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF WINDLESS 'WIND TUNNEL' FOR SPACE
APPLICATION
MEM-102
POCKET DRIVER
MEM-103
THE CLEVER LEVER
MSE-01
AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE PREFERENTIAL GRAIN ORIENTATION ATTACK OF
SLIP BANDS IN ALUMINUM LITHIUM ALLOYS
MSE-02
TUNING THE BANDGAP OF LA1-X SRX FEO3 SEMICONDUCTORS
MSE-03
ANALYSIS OF THERMOMECHANICAL PROCESSING OF AA5083 FOR CORROSION
RESISTANCE
MSE-04/MEM-30)
NOVEL CLASSROOM MECHANICAL TESTING DEVICE USING DIGITAL IMAGE
CORRELATION
MSE-05
COPPER AND LEAD DETECTION UTILIZING FURAN-MODIFIED CHITOSAN THIN
FILMS
MSE-06
AFM STUDY OF MODEL SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELL CATHODES
MSE-07
PEROVSKITE OXIDE ETCHING CHARACTERISTICS
MSE-08
THIN FILM COLOR DETECTION OF GLUTARALDEHYDE
MSE-09
ALGINATE BASED FOAMS FOR THE PURPOSE OF CREATING SUSTAINABLE
BUILDING MATERIALS
BME-01
BME-02
BME-03
BME-04
BME-05
BME-07
BME-08
BME-09
BME-10
BME- 11
BME-12
BME-13
BME-14
BME-15

DESIGN OF AN EEG HEADBAND FOR DAILY IN-HOME USE OF THE P300 BRAIN-
COMPUTER INTERFACE
EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF HIGH IMPACT LOADING ON INTERVERTEBRAL DISC
DISTRIBUTED PRESSURE INSERT DEVICE FOR RIGID CERVICAL COLLARS
DESIGN OF IMPROVED SUCTION CATHETER FOR THE REMOVAL OF PARTICULATE
MATTER AND LIQUID PRIOR TO EMERGENCY INTUBATION
INSTRUMENT FOR EVALUATION OF AFFINITY CHROMATOGRAPHY SUBSTRATE
FOR ANTIBODY PURIFICATION
IN VITRO 3D MODEL OF TUMOR CELL COMPRESSION
A SUPPORT DEVICE FOR PATIENTS WITH CLASS IV AND V CEREBRAL PALSY
BIO-INSPIRED MUSSEL ADHESIVE ELECTRODE COATING FOR DRUG DELIVERY
APPLICATIONS
MICROFUIDIC DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR A BIOCHIP POINT OF CARE DIAGNOSTIC
DEVICE
NON-VIRAL GENE THERAPY USING ZINC SELENIDE QUANTUM DOTS
A B-TCP/RESORBABLE MESH BONE VOID FILLER WITH INCREASED STRENGTH
FOR IRREGULAR BONE VOID DEFORMITIES
EVALUATION OF CELL ADHERENCE/INFILTRATION OF CERAMIC BONE GRAFT
SUBSTITUTES USING A MODIFIED DIRECT-PERFUSION BIOREACTOR
APPLICATION OF QUANTUM DOT BASED ACTIVATABLE MOLECULAR PROBES FOR
VISUALIZATION OF AREAS WITH MMP2 ACTIVITY
3-D TISSUE ENDOMETRIUM MODEL FOR STUDYING BLASTOCYST IMPLANTATION
MECHANICS
CAEE-01
SCHULYKILL RIVER TRAIL CROSSING AT GRAYS FERRY AVENUE

Advisor:
Dr. Joseph P. Martin

Team:
Matthew Albracht
Civil Engineering
Robinson Eng

Civil Engineering
Connor Mueller

Civil Engineering
Richard Munns

Civil Engineering
Martin Williams

Civil Engineering

A pedestrian bridge crossing the Schuylkill River near the Grays Ferry Avenue Bridge is needed to
connect two sections of the Schuylkill River Banks Trail. The target is to cross the Schuylkill to
southwest Philadelphia and connect to the Bartram Gardens. The area has an abandoned railroad
bridge in place. An assessment of the condition of the bridge has been performed. Permitting and
acquisition of right-of-way will be a large part of the project.
The key engineering issue for this project is the production of a crossing over a navigable
waterway. In order to meet vertical clearances for ships, the crossing must be raised to a
minimum of 50 feet above the mean high tide of the river. The new design includes a new
structure crossing the river while incorporating the old truss into the design. The trail connecting
to Bartram Gardens will be finalized when the crossing is complete.
Sponsor: Schuylkill Banks

CAEE-02
DELAWARE RIVER INTEGRATED WATERFRONT LINE

Advisor:
Dr. Joseph Martin

Team:
Bridget Botchwey
Civil Engineering
Gananath Chandratilleke Civil Engineering
Kenny Chen

Civil and Architectural Engineering
Chelsey Weaver

Civil Engineering
Menelik Yilma

Civil Engineering

Philadelphia has several attractions that many residents and tourists are unfortunately unable to
enjoy due to the lack of access by public transit. Some of these major attractions include the newly
built Sugarhouse Casino, the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and Columbus Boulevards big-box stores,
bars, and restaurants. A transit line has been proposed to provide a public route to reach these
locations. Furthermore, this proposed transit could create a more convenient public transit
method to the Philadelphia stadiums and Philadelphia Navy Yard. A feasibility study of locations
has been administered to examine several possible constraints. Variables such as an attraction
market study and estimated ridership demographics have determined the best possible routes.
Interchanges evaluated include the Market-Frankford line, Broad Street line, and PATCO line.
Moreover, use of old rail utilities has been explored to determine workability, feasibility, and cost
effectiveness.

CAEE-03
PILOT-SCALE SURFACE-POND BIO-REACTOR AT A MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILL

Advisor:
Dr. Mira S. Olson

Team:
Carolyn Comer

Environmental Engineering
Erin Hughes

Ashley Mundackal
Civil Engineering
Matthew Wenrick

Excess liquid production from the compaction and decomposition of solid waste landfill must be
collected and treated prior to release to natural waters. This liquid, known as leachate, contains
not only significant amount of suspended solids, but also dissolved metals and high nutrient levels.
The transportation and treatment of over 40,000 gallons incurs an expense of $2500 per day. The
teams design evaluates the feasibility of pretreating the leachate with an open-pond algae
bioreactor onsite to reduce nutrient levels. Rainfall collection and effluent recycling is used to
dilute the leachate and also allows sunlight penetration for photosynthesis of the algae while
gentle paddle-wheel mixing ensures gas diffusion and prevents settling. Once a maximum
biomass is produced, the algae can be harvested to create a cost-offsetting biofuel. The final
design is approximately a 1/1000th pilot-scale, oblong-shaped, versatile bioreactor capable of
controlling environmental and hydraulic conditions to further the research of algae growth in a
landfill leachate medium.
Sponsor: EPA P3 Award, Delaware Solid Waste Authority

CAEE-04
EXPANSION OF THE PROPOSED COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING DESIGN FACILITY

Advisors: Dr. Robert Brehm, Dr. Eugenia Ellis (ARCH)

Team:
Julius Campanella
Architectural Engineering
Samuel Cocchia

Civil Engineering
Klaus Horsch

Civil Engineering
Michael J. Whelan
Alexander Yeganeh
Civil Engineering

In the original proposal, a building dedicated to the College of Engineering was created. When the
previous proposal was presented to the Dean, he felt that the site was not fully utilized due to the
elevation as well as the footprint of the building.
From this, the new proposal will be dedicated to the Department of Civil, Architectural and
Environmental Engineering. The structural as well as the architectural aspects are the main focus
of this project. This building will house offices, classrooms, laboratory spaces and auditoriums for
the CAEE Department. Space for students will be maintained by creating an updated and larger
Cad Lab area. A CAEE library will also be added for students to have better access to design
standards and relevant information and will also contain a space to display previous models or
projects like the Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge competitions.

CAEE-05
THE INTEGRATED DESIGN OF A GOVERNMENT OFFICE BUILDING LOCATED IN OMAHA,
NEBRASKA

Advisor:
Prof. James E. Mitchell

Team:
Bilal Baqai

Civil Engineering
Sara Beg

David Fratamico

Adrian Lu

Emily McNally

Architecture
Vaibhav Paritosh

Electrical Engineering
Dylan Short


CAUTELA Engineering is comprised of seven individuals specializing in various disciplines of
architectural engineering and building design working together to compete in the 2012 National
ASCE/AEI Student Competition sponsored by the Charles Pankow Foundation. The name
CAUTELA is derived from the Latin word for security, an overarching concept in the firms
integrated design of the architectural, structural, mechanical, and electrical systems of the
proposed LEED Gold government office building located on 601 Riverfront Drive in Omaha,
Nebraska. The 66,000 square-foot building is rated with a high-asset value and a high Homeland
Security Threat Condition. It is designed to house approximately 250 occupants. The buildings
most critical assets which are protected from terrorist attacks and local environmental hazards
include its occupants, valuable archives, and essential building functions. In addition to a security
design that provides both transparency and fortification, CAUTELA has developed a high-
performance design of building systems that are redundant, sustainable, cost-effective, and
innovative.

CAEE-06

ESTABLISHING WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS IN LOGNE, HAITI

Advisor:
Dr. Franco Montalto

Team:
Kristin ONeill

Brendan Quann

Bethany Shumaker
Civil Engineering

On January 7th, 2010 a massive earthquake occurred in the Republic of Haiti. The epicenter of the
earthquake occurred in the Logne Commune of Haiti, approximately 20 miles west of Port au
Prince. In response to this tragedy, unprecedented amounts of international aid have been
pledged to the rehabilitation of effected areas. The scope of this project is to establish a
sustainable drinking water system that services the unmet needs of the Logne population
through the investment of this pledged aid. The design incorporates an analysis of available
hydraulic resources to most efficiently service the community and limit future vulnerability.

CAEE-07
SOUTH STREET PENNS LANDING PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE REDESIGN PROJECT

Advisor:
Dr. Ivan Bartoli

Team:
Pat Callahan

Civil Engineering
Frank DiCianni

Kyle Jurgelewicz

Civil Engineering
Ian McEwing

Civil Engineering

Within the past decade, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission developed a
comprehensive plan to rejuvenate Philadelphias waterfront. The plan calls for development
throughout the riverfront area, which incorporates convenient access points from the city grid
directly to the waterfront. Since South Street is a heavily trafficked area of the city, its connection
to the waterfront is essential for igniting Penns Landing development.
Connecting two Philadelphia landmarks, South Street and Penns Landing, requires a landmark
bridge design. Therefore, the goal of this project is to engineer a pedestrian bridge that
symbolizes the gateway from Philadelphias grid to Penns Landing. The bridge selected for this
project is a cable-stay bridge. Designing the bridge was divided into two parts: defining the
structural parameters, and designing the individual bridge components. A structural analysis
model is also produced to analyze the bridge, as well as a construction schedule, sequence and
cost estimate.
Sponsors: Chris Menna, City of Philadelphia Bridge Department; Chuck Davies, PennDOT

CAEE-08
REDEVELOPMENT OF BUILDING 624 AT THE PHILADELPHIA NAVY YARD

Advisor:
Dr. Kurt Sjoblom

Team:
Steve Bartram

Civil Engineering
Daniel Culbert

Kyle Earthman

Civil Engineering
Jeff Weinberger

Anthony Wisniewski

The Grnwald Adaptive Reuse proposal includes the transformation of existing Building 624 at the
Philadelphia Navy Yard in to a dynamic mixed-use facility offering prime Class A retail, dining, and
office spaces. The park will have a large retention basin, as well as outdoor seating to compliment
various dining spaces proposed in The Grnwald. Within the building footprint, there will be a
core out of a large section from grade level to roof level to create a large courtyard.
This proposal includes several significant environmentally sustainability features on the site. A
green roof will be installed encompassing the buildings footprint to manage storm water. The
green roof will also contribute to the mitigation of the heat island effect and insulation within the
building year round. Additionally, a retention basin will be installed at the adjacent park area to
manage storm water from the parking lot. Some of the engineering solutions proposed include
filling the basement with aerated concrete and installing a truss system in the lobby. It is
estimated that the cost of this project will be $74 million.
CAEE-09
MIRIMAR WATER DISTRIBUTION

Advisor:
Dr. Joseph Martin

Team:
Brandon Hinman
Erik Mangan

Jake McCarthy

Anthony Nanfro

Tejas Patel


The town of Mirimar, El Salvador, does not have a sufficient system to provide clean water to its
150 residents. There are two public hand dug wells and ten private wells throughout the village,
but they contain high levels of fecal coliform and are unusable for drinking. The lack of knowledge
and skill to create a system to hydraulically pump water up to the elevation of the village is the
limiting factor.
The water will be retrieved from the river via a settling pond. From there the water, which is now
significantly cleaner due to the settlement of solids, will be transported to a high efficiency pump.
The pump will then bring the water from an elevation of 375 feet to an elevation of 675 feet and
empty it into a large storage tank which is connected to a nearby slow sand filtration system.

CAEE-10
GREEN REDEVELOPMENT OF DREXEL UNIVERSITY STUDENT RESIDENTIAL QUAD

Advisor:
Dr. Paul Block

Team:
Mashal Ali

Civil Engineering
Scott Jeffers

Matthew Ryan

Civil Engineering
Julian Safar


In conjunction with Drexel Universitys Planning Department, we have prepared a plan for
redevelopment of the residential square located between Drexel residential dormitories Calhoun
and Towers Hall. The plan takes into account three major design criteria most important to the
university. The first is the creation of a pathway system that connects to current pathways in the
residential area. The second is to design an aesthetically pleasing environment that encourages
the space to be utilized by students. The third is to manage stormwater runoff moving through the
area. Using these design criteria, we have created a plan for future development in the area.
Highlights of the plan include connective tree lined pathways linking together the dormitories of
the area, both grassy and bench seating areas, and a bioretention basin to manage stormwater
runoff.

CAEE-11
POMPESTON CREEK BRIDGE RENEWAL PROJECT

Advisor:
Dr. Emin Aktan

Team:
Simbarashe Jhamba
Civil Engineering
Jeffin Lukose

Civil Engineering
Dan Seeberger

Civil Engineering

The Pompeston Creek Bridge, owned by the Burlington County Bridge Commission, is in very poor
condition and beyond repair. Pennoni Associates has worked with T&M Associates on a
preliminary design for the new bridge, and it has been brought to JDS Associates for analysis and
design of alternative bridges. Obstacles in our design will include the railroad bridge that runs
parallel to the bridge in question. The railroad bridge and Pompeston Creek Bridge are
approximately 2 feet apart and share the same continuous abutment and foundation. Another
issue is the pile foundation that will be used to save on costs.
After extensive research JDS has elected to go with the CON/SPAN design, which is a precast
concrete arch system, due to not only its very simple and effective design, but also its cost savings.
This type of bridge follows all AASHTO and NJDOT requirements, fits in well with the surrounding
area and is very economical.

CAEE-12
THE LIFE TOWER

Advisor:
Prof. Louis DaSaro

Team:
Scott Macpherson
Civil Engineering
Peter Matthews

Thomas McGrew

Civil Engineering
Monika Mickute

Jennifer Shin

Architecture

Our senior design group is participating in the 2012 Chicago Mock Firm Competition. We have
created a mock engineering firm, Vector Collaborative, and designed a 100-story multi-use high-
rise building in Beijing, China, called the Life Tower, to compete in this competition. The Life
Tower is designed to accommodate retail, residential, commercial, and hotel uses. We have used
the International Building Code 2009 to design all aspects of the building, including the building
envelope and structural, HVAC, electrical, fire protection and plumbing systems. Our building and
site design incorporate sustainability, innovation, and the traditional Chinese philosophy of Feng
Shui. We have achieved a certified LEED Platinum rating in our design, demonstrating our
commitment to these principles. We have the backing of several sponsors to assist us with
competition fees and traveling costs to Chicago in May in order to present our project.

CAEE-13
BIOGAS FACILITY LEOGANE, HAITI

Advisor:
Dr. Patrick Gurian

Team:
Tyler Buecher

Civil Engineering
Daniel Hegarty

Ralph Hernandez
Mechanical Engineering
Martin Conor OToole
Chris Sokolowski

This Senior Design Capstone Project aims to resolve several issues that Leogane, Haiti is currently
experiencing after being stricken by a massive earthquake in 2010. The projects goals include
finding a sanitary alternative to the short-term latrines and pits currently in place, providing an
alternative fuel source to charcoal and wood, and reducing the spoilage rate of food by providing a
refrigeration unit to the local market. The project focuses on building an anerobic biogas facility
that will use waste matter to produce biogas from which a distribution system of usable fuel will
be readily available for the Haitian people. The biogas fuel alternative will resolve the current
problem of waste removal while providing a solution to the deforestation problem and providing a
source of fuel. The proposed facility will be modular in design, allowing for future expansion.

CAEE-14
A FRAMEWORK FOR THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL SENSOR
NETWORKS IN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS TO PROMOTE ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND IAQ

Advisor:
Dr. Michael Waring

Team:
Adams Rackes


Environmental sensor networks (ESNs) for routine monitoring of indoor air quality (IAQ) have the
potential to help reduce building energy use while protecting occupant health and comfort. The
project focuses on development of a framework for ESN design and implementation in commercial
buildings. The first stage of work included researching sensor characteristics, developing a
method for quantifying network performance, and establishing a Monte Carlo simulation
procedure for evaluating network designs. The second stage of work included building a complex,
time- and spatially-resolved model of an office in the multi-zone airflow simulation program
CONTAM, identifying initial possible sensor layouts and interpolation rules, and implementing the
Monte Carlo evaluation procedure in the context of these network designs. The third stage of work
included using empirical procedures, such as clustering and regression, to identify optimal
number of sensors and interpolation rules, given perfect information (i.e., highly resolved
concentration data), and then use similar techniques to predict or estimate the optimal network
design parameters, given the information customarily available to designers (e.g., design airflow
rates, spatial and HVAC zone topology).

CAEE-15
QUARTERS A RETROFIT FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Advisor:
Dr. Eugenia Ellis (ARCH)

Team:
Corey Griffiths

Asrah Khadr

Maria Sofia Sanguinetti
Environmental and Civil Engineering
Gozde Unkaya

Malin Viberg


Many residential houses and buildings in Philadelphia are very old and thus have many functional
problems. Generally these problems include leaky building envelopes, wet basements and
inefficient energy usage. This Senior Design Project is a framework on how to retrofit a
characteristic Philadelphia historic building to meet todays energy-efficiency goals for sustainable
architecture. To create this framework, a building was chosen as the pilot in order to work with
actual data and parameters. Quarters A is an historic building situated at the Navy Yard that
today is a high school called The Sustainability Workshop a program in which high school
students learn through project based learning. This design project was broken into four parts that
are typical problem areas for an old building in Philadelphia: electrical lighting, HVAC, building
envelope and stormwater management. In theory, this framework demonstrates reduced costs in
utilities and a better indoor air quality.

CAEE-16
REDUCING THE ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT OF ALUMNI ENGINEERING LABS AT DREXEL

Advisors:
Dr. Charles Haas, Dr. Eugenia Ellis (ARCH)

Team:
Thomas Bosc

Christina Giannascoli
Ryan Monkman

Matthew Shinton
Civil Engineering

This project is an effort to reduce environmental impact of the Alumni Engineering Labs by using
forefront green technologies in an effort to match Drexel Universitys sustainable movement and
incorporation of these technologies to reduce the energy consumption for the facility. The
incorporation of high performance fenestration, green roofing, storm water management, efficient
lighting and redesigned HVAC system to improve efficiency highlight the numerous design
improvements to the building. Consideration throughout the project has come from Philadelphia
green building guidelines, Philadelphia Water Department Storm water guidelines and
Department of Energy sustainable guidelines. Rather than perform a complete tear down and
redesign of Alumni Engineering Labs; this project is produced to serve as a University model of
sustainable renovations for use at Drexel University. As full demolition and redesign is costly to
the environment and character of the University.

CAEE-17
FEASIBILITY STUDY TO INVESTIGATE THE NEED FOR A PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
CONNECTION ACROSS THE DELAWARE RIVER WITHIN BURLINGTON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY

Advisor:
Dr. Franklin Moon

James Drogalis

Brandon Glencross
Neil Patel

Brandon Weaver

Charles Young


Residents of Burlington County, New Jersey currently lack an efficient public transportation
system. As a result, a significantly lower number of residents utilize public transportation than in
surrounding counties. A major reason why people are not using public transportation is
accessibility and convenience. In order for commuters to travel by rail from Burlington County to
Pennsylvania, they must cross the Delaware River. A feasibility study was conducted to assess
connecting the NJ Transit River LINE and the SEPTA Trenton line with a public transportation link
over the Burlington Bristol Bridge.
The feasibly study consisted of constructing a finite element model of the Burlington Bristol
Bridge to assess the loading carrying capacity and need for retrofit. This model allowed for the
consideration of several rail alignments. The outcome of this project was a recommendation to
the Burlington County Bridge Commission considering the recommended alignment and retrofits.

CAEE-18
DESIGN OF A CENTRALIZED WASTE TREATMENT FACILITY FOR HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
WASTEWATER

Advisor:
Dr. Charles Haas

Team:
Nathaniel Cain

Matthew Fritch

Edward Lennon

Christopher Nase

Hydraulic fracturing in the regions of Pennsylvania underlain by the Marcellus Shale poses a
significant problem when it comes to treating or disposing of produced wastewater from drilling
activities. The natural-gas industry must invest in a dedicated facility that can handle extremely
brackish water (total dissolved solids greater than 50,000 mg/L) as well as radioactive
byproducts that are naturally present in the flowback fluid. Our design choice is an elaboration on
the MVR evaporation plant that includes chemical treatment in order to produce a marketable
sodium chloride product by the addition of sodium hydroxide. Our goals are to design a facility
that will effectively treat the contaminated water according to state and federal standards, provide
a long-term, cost-efficient solution for natural gas companies, and reduce the environmental
impact of drilling activities in the Marcellus Shale.

CAEE-19
REDESIGN AND RECONSTRUCTION OF THE DELAIR BRIDGE

Advisors:
Dr. Kurt J. Sjoblom, Dr. Ivan Bartoli

Team:
Allyson Canestri

Lauren Reiter

Civil Engineering
Samuel Steffes

Civil Engineering
Daniel Usher

Civil Engineering

The Delair Bridge, built in 1895, crosses the Delaware River just south of the Betsy Ross Bridge. At
its completion, it was the first bridge connecting Philadelphia to southern New Jersey, and
replaced ferries as the main source of freight transport between the two locations. Other than an
addition of a movable lift span in the 1950s, the bridge has not been modified or updated since its
initial construction. Currently, the Delair Bridge services New Jersey Transit (NJT) passenger
trains and Conrails freight service. Structural analysis completed by the New Jersey Department
of Transportation has determined the severe need for both short and long-term investment in the
bridge, and its approaches in order to ensure its continued functionality. Additionally, major
structural work is needed to maintain the 286 kip freight capacity of the bridge necessary to
transport freight. An environmental assessment has been done on the bridge and surrounding
area. A redesign and reconstruction of this structure is being done with the following objectives:
improve structural quality of bridge and employ preventative measures of deterioration, improve
bridge reliability and functional flexibility, enhance capacity to meet current and future regional
freight and passenger demands, implement procedures to reduce environmental impact.

CAEE-20
REPURPOSING OF THE MANAYUNK BRIDGE AS URBAN GREEN SPACE

Advisor:
Dr. Sabrina Spatari

Team:
Colin Henner

Civil Engineering
Jonathan Hubler

Civil Engineering
Steven Squibb

Civil Engineering
Michael Thorley

Civil Engineering

The Manayunk Bridge was built in 1918 over the Schuylkill River to service the Pennsylvania
Railroad before being purchased by SEPTA in 1976 to connect the Cynwyd and Ivy Ridge regional
rail stations. However, the iconic arch bridge has not been used since 1986 due to concerns
surrounding the structural integrity of the rail and bridge. In the 1990s, a rehabilitation of the
bridge structure was performed, leaving the bridge underutilized and full of potential. With the
increasing demand for urban public green spaces, this bridge offers an interesting project to
repurpose an underutilized urban space for use as a public park. The redesigned bridge, which
connects Manayunk and the Cynwyd Heritage Trail, will provide a much-desired park trail for
cyclists, joggers, and walkers. The expected outcome of this project is to determine the most
sustainable practices and designs for the renewal of this abandoned rail bridge.

CAEE-21
WARMINSTER COMMUNITY PARK - BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL COMPLEX

Advisor:
Dr. Richard Weggel

Team:
Robert Hudson

Civil Engineering
Long Tran

Civil Engineering
Rebecca Small

Civil Engineering
Christopher Snavely

The township of Warminster, PA has requested the design for a baseball complex comprising of
five fields and a multipurpose building. The Warminster Baseball/Softball Association desires a
central location to hold tournaments and regular practices. The township has an area about four
acres in size that will be used for this complex. There will be one regulation size field, two little
league fields, and two softball fields. The building will have restrooms, an area for selling
concessions, and a second floor for announcing booths. This multipurpose building will be
installed with electric, water, and sewer utilities. There will be a two lane roadway intersecting
the complex and multiple parking lots to allow access to the fields. The complex will be equipped
with proper runoff drainage that will be connected to a detention basin. This complex will be
constructed with a three phase plan per the clients request.

CAEE-22
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT FOR UNITARIAN SOCIETY OF GERMANTOWN

Advisors:
Dr. Patricia Gallagher, Dr. Charles Haas

Team:
Glenn Aller

Matthew Carideo
Wei Chen

Civil Engineering
John Jones

Civil Engineering

In recent years, the City of Philadelphia has changed their billing of stormwater runoff from meter
based, to parcel-size based. The total area of impervious surfaces within the property is
responsible for the majority of the billing. The Unitarian Society of Germantown is one property
owner whose bill will be inflated by this new policy. The Philadelphia Water Department offers
credits for property owners who implement runoff prevention methods and/or devices. Some
such devices include porous pavement, green roofs, cisterns, stormwater basins, and rain barrels.
In working with the church and considering their budget, an appropriate design system will be
selected to minimize construction costs. With church approval, this design implemented on their
property will minimize the monthly stormwater charge. The proposed design will be compared
with Philadelphia Water Departments suggestions, to ultimately reduce the economic hardship
burdening the church.

CAEE-23
KERR CLUB BOATHOUSE PROJECT

Advisor:
Prof. James E. Mitchell

Team:
Kelly Downes

Marty Khait

Peter Schmidt

Jake Sloan

Civil Engineering

Drexel University has an exclusive outlet in Fairmount Park that is leased from Bachelors Barge
Club for use by the Universitys Crew Team. Unfortunately, the rent for this boathouse is growing
while the structure deteriorates. The crew team struggles to store eight 60 feet shells, four 40 feet
shells and four 30 feet shells in just one 80x18 bay. Drexel University is in search of a new
permanent and sustainable facility for use as a recreational address, an intercollegiate competitive
venue, and as a retreat to be used by those affiliated, to meet current standards among winning
programs.
The team will investigate a few solutions for this problem. They range from a buy-out and
renovation of the current location to building a brand new structure in several possible locations.
Case studies of similar structures and projects will also be used to guide the group in the right
direction.

CAEE-24
DREXEL PARK DORMITORY

Advisor:
Dr. Joseph Mullin

Team:
Yun Bai

Lemond Brown

Dmitriy Gorbachik
Civil Engineering
Sierra Tilton

Civil Engineering
Qian Wang

Civil Engineering

The multi-story dormitory building will house graduate and undergraduate students. The
proposed site for this new facility is located at 31st and Powelton St., which is currently known as
Drexel Park. The new dormitory will provide housing to 408 students, and is intended to mitigate
the overcrowding of the existing dorms. The dormitory will features suite style housing and takes
advantage of the expansive view of downtown Philadelphia. The design includes provisions for a
Wawa food market on the ground level and a green roof accessible for faculty, students, and staff.

CAEE-25
REDEVELOPMENT OF MOYERS LANDFILL AS A LAND IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

Advisor:
Dr. Sabrina Spatari

Team:
Brian Conzentino
Caroline Edwards-Mack
Justin Johnson

James Monahan

Eric Rice

Civil Engineering

We evaluated the feasibility of redeveloping the vacant Moyers Landfill brownfield located in
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. As a former landfill, the site has been remediated by the EPA,
and will be released for development in August of 2012. We finalized our design for a strip mall,
comprising of one large warehouse store, 8 smaller storefronts, and a parking lot to be built on the
site. Our group completed phase one and phase two geotechnical investigations and soil
summaries, evaluated site and water management plans, computed structural load requirements
for the buildings, designed a foundation system to support the structures, and created a detailed
cost estimate for the project. Our submission also includes a brief history of the site conditions at
the Moyers Landfill, and relevant parts of a 2007 progress report acquired through contacts as the
US EPA office.

CAEE-26
RENOVATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS TO THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF DREXEL
UNIVERSITY

Advisor:
Dr. Robert Brehm

Team:
Daniel Brown

Bryan Gilliam

Ryan Pinkowski

Civil Engineering
Adam Trosko


The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANS) was built in 1876, and has undergone
many renovations and additions between then and the present day. Today, the ANS is faced with
several challenges. First, many of the buildings heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC)
systems are beyond their economic lifespan. Additionally, the ANS staff has expressed the desire
for a new aesthetic scheme in the main exhibit area. Finally, the ANS wishes to create a new
exhibit highlighting an emergent technology in the field of environmental sustainability. The
group will attempt to solve these challenges by addressing each area. Supplementary air handling
units will be placed on the roof to provide adequate air supply to meet the buildings demand. The
original buildings atrium will be restored to create a more dramatic exhibit space. Finally, an
exhibit demonstrating the process of converting biomass to usable biofuel will be designed to
educate patrons.

CAEE-27
NORTHEAST EXTENSION OPTIMIZATION

Advisor:
Dr. Anu Pradhan

Team:
Erik Bagasevich

Civil Engineering
Patricia Bookh

Civil Engineering
Timothy Bratton
Civil Engineering
Matthew J. Schreffler
Civil Engineering

The 10.5-mile corridor of the Northeast Extension between the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) and
Rt. 63 is one of the most observable instances of traffic congestion in the area due to outdated and
overloaded roadway designs. Recently, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission approved plans
for a Total Reconstruction and Widening Project to begin construction in 2014 that would
transform the existing four-lane roadway into a modern, six-lane highway with three 12 lanes
dedicated to each direction.
In order to justify an alternative solution, a conceptual life-cycle design must prove more
beneficial than the approved plans. The current design features innovative concepts and emerging
technologies based on heavy research of traffic analysis and Intelligent Transportation Systems
(ITS). The benefits incurred through the use of multidirectional lanes, traffic analysis methods,
and ITS systems will prove a more adaptable, safe, and life-cycle cost effective design than the
currently approved plans.

CBE-01
LIQUID FLUORIDE THORIUM REACTOR

Advisors:
Prof. John Speidel, Dr. Christopher Peters

Team:
Peter Hunter

Chemical Engineering
Yakira Kirzner

Edith Monino

Khoa Van


Team Thorriors has designed a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) and surrounding
operating systems as a potential nuclear energy source. Energy is created when the uranium-233,
bred from thorium-232, fissions, releasing neutrons with large kinetic energies. Rather than using
solid core fuel, the LFTR utilizes molten salt LiF-BeF2. This molten fuel salt is continuously
purified in a salt purification system, and is additionally pumped to a heat exchanger system
where water is converted to steam and used to generate power. The entire LFTR plant is designed
to generate 100 MWe of power. The LFTR process includes a waste treatment system, as well as
several active and passive safety controls to mitigate possible runaway reactions. The plant has an
expected lifetime of 60 years. In the economic analysis, the plant was deemed to be profitable with
a discounted cash flow rate of return of 10.63% and a payback period of 10.13 years.

CBE-03
DRY-FRACTURING PROCESS

Advisor:
Prof. Gennaro Maffia

Team:
James Dierkes

Amanda Hoffman
Amanda Love

Morgan Tweed


In efforts to reduce the contamination and water depletion threats that the current hydraulic
fracturing process has on the environment, the FracKINGS Company provides an efficient
alternative process. This process is the dry fracturing of a well using liquid CO2 captured from
power plant flue gas. This fluid is mixed it with a proppant, sand, and injected into the well at high
pressure. The sand proppant holds open the fractures and remains in the shale, allowing the
release of the natural gas. The FracKINGS Company will make profit off the natural gas product
after it has been treated at a central facility. Wells treated with the CO2/sand proppant mixture
had an average cumulative gas production that was four times greater than the traditional
hydraulic fracturing methods. Even though it has a high initial investment, the FracKINGS process
has proved to be worthy of consideration in todays natural gas exploration needs.

CBE-04
FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR LANDFILL GAS TO ELECTRICITY PLANT DESIGN -LMFGO-

Advisor:
Prof. John Speidel

Team:
Kaycee Watkins

Marc Ragnauth

Matthew Novatnack
Mitchell Zelmanovich

Proposed is a system that treats and processes landfill gas extracted from the Fresh Kills Landfill
in Staten Island, New York and coverts it to electricity using a water-tube boiler and steam turbine
system. The plant filters and treats 400,000 m3/day of landfill gas to remove corrosive
compounds. The cleaned gas is then mixed with excess air and combusted in the shell of a water-
tube boiler. The heat of this combustion reaction is used to convert preheated feed water into high
pressure steam. Steam exiting the boiler powers turbines, producing approximately 20.9 MW of
electricity. The plants design includes optimization strategies to reduce capital and utility costs.
The bulk of raw material used will be methane, in the form of landfill gas, and is assumed to be
provided at no cost. River water will be used for cooling. Electricity produced will be sold to the
power grid.
The landfill gas to electricity plant proposed reduces the amount of hazardous greenhouse gases
emitted by the landfill to the atmosphere. This sustainability aspect makes the plants
implementation desirable.

CBE-05
GAS-TO-LIQUID (GTL) PLANT

Advisor:

Team:
Lynda Bui

Prina Chudasama
Ziheng Li

Chelse Prejean


This is a feasibility study of a gas to liquid (GTL) plant in Fairbanks, Alaska and is an alternative to
the proposed Alaskan pipeline project, costing an estimated $26 billion, from Alaska to Canada for
transporting natural gas. Due to the environmental concerns and high cost, U.S. and Canadian
governments opposed the project. The aim of this project is to convert natural gas into valuable
hydrocarbon liquids. A 400-mile natural gas pipeline will be built from Prudhoe Bay to Fairbanks.
The refinery at Prudhoe Bay removes the impurities from the natural gas so that the feedstock to
the GTL plant is pure methane. Octane, diesel, wax, hydrogen, and methane are produced using the
steam methane reforming, Fischer-Tropsch and Sabatier processes. The process has been
designed to minimize safety, sustainability, and environmental concerns and follows standards set
by OSHA. The net present value of the plant is $510 million and the discounted rate of return is
15.28%. This rate of return shows that the project will be profitable after 5.3 years.

CBE-06
MANUFACTURING HMBA FROM MMP
SARSINE INC

Advisor:
Mr. Steven Schon, Arkema

Team:
Alexandra Bartolomeo
Ronald Kayea

Samuel MacLean

Stephen Price


DL-Methionine (DLM) is an essential amino acid most commonly used as a supplement in poultry
feed stocks. The supplement is often added as the DLM hydroxyl analogue, or 2-hydroxy-4-
(methylthio)butanoic acid (HMBA), and converted to DLM in vivo. By supplementing HMBA in
feed stocks, poultry growth is expedited and time to slaughter is reduced significantly. Due to the
recent rise in the standard of living throughout Asia, chicken has become a commodity that can be
afforded by more of the Asian population. Designing an HMBA plant onto an existing MMP facility
in Asia is desirable due to the developing market for poultry and limited supply of HMBA in the
area. The current market for HMBA in Asia is approximately 1.5 billion pounds annually with a
growth rate of 6.5% annually. The following proposal entails design specifications and the
economics of a plant that produces HMBA from 3-(methylthio)propionaldehyde (MMP).

CBE-07
PRODUCTION OF ATACTIC POLYPROPYLENE THROUGH PROPYLENE-ETHYLENE
COPOLYMERIZATION

Advisors: Prof. John Speidel, Dr. Giuseppe Palmese

Team: Andrew Burns
Caitlin Keane

Tyler Perlenfein

Karen Rothschild

Atactic Polypropylene (APP) is a tacky substance most applicable for creating impermeable water
sealants. Demand for APP has increased due to newly discovered applications in the roofing
market. This project focuses on building an APP production plant to meet the rise in demand for
APP in the domestic housing market.
APP is produced through copolymerization of propylene and ethylene in a loop reactor in the
presence of a Ziegler-Natta catalyst. Ethylene is the copolymer to aid in strength and flexibility of
the product. The APP is recovered through a flash system, separating APP from unreacted
propylene. Special handling techniques must be used to package and ship APP due to its tacky
nature.
The APP plant is located in Baton Rouge, LA. The production capacity is 230,000 tonnes/year,
which will meet approximately 15% of the market demand projected through 2015. With the rise
of new housing markets, roofing material will be in heightened demand, causing an anticipated
increase in demand for APP.

CBE-08
OLEFIN/PARAFFIN SEPARATION USING REACTIVE DISTILLATION

Advisor:

Team:
Hang Kuen Lau

Aye Aye Min

Merlin Thomas

Laura Wu


This report details the conceptual design of a propylene/propane separation unit using reactive distillation
as a potential replacement for a conventional C3 splitter.
This separation unit is composed of three columns, two reactive distillation columns, where the reversible
esterification occurs, and a purification column to achieve the purity required for the polymer grade
propylene. First, the C3 mixture feeds to the first reactive distillation for separation of propane with an
esterification reaction. The bottom product of the first reactive distillation column feeds to the second
reactive distillation column to separate the propylene utilizing a de-esterification reaction. The third
purification column purifies the propylene from the second column to achieve the purity of 99.7% with
recycle.
Economic analysis shows the optimized process is a favorable investment for both a grass-root plant and
the replacement of an existing conventional C3 splitter. This reactive distillation design saves up to 24%
energy compared to the conventional C3 splitter. The return on investment is 42% with a payback period
of 2.52 years. The project with the optimized process is economically feasible. A patent is being applied for
to cover this technology.

CBE-09
OLIGOMERIZATION OF OLEFINS TO MAKE POLYGASOLINE

Advisor:
Dr. George Rowell

Team:
Tram Nguyen


Matthew Pennington
Rodolfo Santelises
Xiaomei Wei


The project under consideration is the construction of an olefin oligomerization plant for the production of
polygasoline. This process consumes olefin byproducts from the High Temperature Fischer-Tropsch
(HTFT) process used at the Sasol II Coal Liquefaction plant located in Secunda, South Africa. The primary
components of the olefin feedstock are propylene and butene, along with propane and butane, which do
not participate in reaction. The feedstock olefins are run over a Solid Phosphoric Acid (SPA) catalyst where
several oligomerization reactions occur simultaneously, producing a complex distribution of olefinic
hydrocarbons. The polygasoline product contains mostly hydrocarbons in the range of C8-C12. The plant
will consist of two trains (a 100 and 200 section) operating in parallel. The major equipment units of each
train will consist of 4 reactors operating in parallel and a debutanizer column that separates its feed into a
polygasoline product stream and a Liquefied Petroleum Gasoline (LPG) product stream. The production
capacity of the plant is 43,374 kg/hr of polygasoline and 24,824 kg/hr of LPG. The annual capacity of the
plant will be 351,000 metric tons per year of polygasoline and 200,300 metric tons per year of LPG.

CBE-10
THE REMOVAL OF NITROGEN- AND PHOSPHORUS-BASED COMPOUNDS FROM ANIMAL
WASTE

Advisor:
Dr. Richard Cairncross

Team:
Mekhana Abraham
Rashidi Butcher

Simi John

Andrew McCaughan

The removal of animal waste from farms and animal feeding operations is a major issue
worldwide. Livestock manure is considered to be a valuable resource for fertilizer nutrients to
increase crop production. Renu Manu, Inc. is a Waste and Energy Solutions Company that
produces low-nutrient nitrogen-, phosphorus-, and potassium- (N-P-K) based fertilizer, and
anhydrous ammonia from dairy cow manure.
Located in Nebraska, dairy cow manure from 5000 cows will be collected daily. The major steps in
the process are the decomposition of manure, and separation and purification of the products. The
manure is decomposed, producing a biogas and digested slurry in four identical horizontal plug
flow anaerobic digesters. The biogas produced is used as a source of energy for various processes.
The solids are separated from the slurry by rotary filtration and sold as low-nutrient N-P-K-based
fertilizer. The filtrate is sent to an ammonia stripper to produce commercial anhydrous ammonia.

CBE-11
RENEWABLE DIESEL PRODUCTION FROM MICROALGAE

Advisor:
Dr. Michael Grady, DuPont

Team:
Danielle Martin

Jade Teekhasaenee
Nigora Isamiddinova
Omer Hashmi


Algaenius, Inc. has conducted a feasibility study for the production of renewable diesel from algal
oil. Renewable diesel has superior qualities comparable to those of traditional diesel fuel, and
alleviates net greenhouse gas and particulate emissions. Microalgae are an attractive prospect for
renewable fuels as they have high growth rates and higher energy yields per area than terrestrial
crops, and they do not impact on food production demands. A full scale plant capable of producing
32 million gallons of renewable diesel per year energy-equivalent to a 55 million gallon ethanol
plant was designed. The marine microalgae, Nannochloropsis sp. are cultivated in raceway
ponds and harvested, and the oil is extracted and converted to renewable diesel via a hydrotreat
process. Flue gas and wastewater usage is integrated into the process to offset environmental
burdens. Based on our economic analysis, the project has an internal rate of return of 13 percent,
thus presenting an economically viable sustainable energy design.

CBE-12
ALLYL ALCOHOL PRODUCTION VIA ISOMERIZATION OF PROPYLENE OXIDE

Advisor:
Dr. George Rowell

Team:
Christopher Esucdero
Harriet Henry

Melat Mengistu

Veronica Ndegwa

Allyl alcohol is used as a chemical intermediate for specialty chemicals. It is mainly converted to
glycidol, which is then used to manufacture glycerol. This chemical process design explores the
production of allyl alcohol by isomerization of propylene oxide. The reaction occurs in a train of
five fixed bed reactors in series using 40 wt. % silica based lithium phosphate catalyst, with an
overall propylene oxide conversion of 80% and an allyl alcohol selectivity of 93%. This yields
production of 6283 kg of allyl alcohol per hour. LyondellBasell currently dominates the
production of allyl alcohol in America. 80% of the allyl alcohol they produce is for in-house use as
a chemical intermediate for other processes. The other 20% is commercially sold. This new
process plans to capture the remaining domestic market and 25% of the global market share by
producing 50 million kilograms per year upon entry.

CBE-14
WASTE TRAP GREASE TO BIODIESEL

Advisor:
Dr. Richard Cairncross

Team:
Alexander Gallagher
Sean Mauk

Shriram Raghu

Andrea White


A 10,000 gallon capacity transfer station collects, treats, and then disposes of trap grease.
Approximately 10-40% by volume of the trap grease is Free Fatty Acid (FFA) which can be
converted to Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) otherwise known as biodiesel. A feasibility study on
a process design to convert FFA to FAME was performed using aspen simulation software. The
design involves a pretreatment coalescer to separate FFA from trap grease. A bubble column
reactor then reacts FFA with methanol (MeOH) to produce FAME. A MeOH recovery flash drum
operating at 75.9C recovers and recycles unreacted MeOH. The product FAME is purified in a
standard vacuum Wiped Film Evaporator. The process generates an annual revenue of $2.8
million by producing 366 kg/hr of FAME and from picking up 1498 kg/hr of trap grease. The
discounted Cash Flow Rate of Return is 53.49% and the discounted payback period is 1.5 years.

CBE-16
RECOVERY OF SULFURIC ACID FROM AMMONIUM BISULFATE

Advisor:

Team:
Adwoa Coleman

Melissa Iwu

Kelvin Stubblefield II
Omasan Wyse


This report details the design and operation of a sulfuric acid (H2SO4) recovery plant producing
6,998,000 kg/yr. of pure ammonia (NH3) gas and 196,345,000 kg/yr. of 50 wt.% H2SO4 via
bipolar electrodialysis. Ammonium bisulfate (ABS) is a byproduct of hydroxymethylthiobutyric
acid (HMBA) production. ABS hydrolyses to form H2SO4, a raw material in HMBA production.
Conventional processes to recover H2SO4 and/or NH3 are often uneconomical. The goal of this
project is to explore an alternative, economical process to recover H2SO4 and/or NH3 from ABS.
The NH3 and H2SO4 provide a total yearly revenue of only $7,800,000. The process requires a
fixed capital investment of $22,600,000. Due to the high cost of utilities, the yearly cost of
manufacturing is $7,140,438. Based on a 15-year project life and a 2-year construction period, the
net present value of the project is a loss of $19,850,000 with no DCFROR. The plant was designed
as an adjunct to an existing HMBA facility in Malaysia to reduce the utility costs and eliminate
shipping costs. A sensitivity study on the cost of raw materials shows that the project may become
favorable if the cost of the products increase as projected.

CBE-18
SUPPLY GAS SYNTHESIS FROM WASTE PLASTIC

Advisor:

Team:
Brian Acquaviva

John Akerson

Alex Klemp

Steve Pribis


NASA is planning deep space missions to Jupiters moon Europa, to explore for possible life. Such a
mission requires would take approximately 10 years, with no way to refuel or resupply the ship
after launch. With all the required resources and such limited space, it is a necessity to create
robust recycling systems to convert wastes into a more usable form.
This project will address methods to deal with recycling the low density polyethylene (LDPE)
waste. This waste is from plastic bags and packaging used to preserve foods. With 262 g per
person per day of waste over ten years, 6694.1 kg of LDPE are generated during the mission. This
can be converted to a fuel source to power the ship and increase available space. With a hydrogen
source, approximately 6 tonnes of methane fuel can be generated over the course of the mission.

CBE-19
REDUCTION OF BENZENE IN CATALYTIC REFORMING PROCESS

Advisor:
Dr. George Rowell

Team:
Adam Daniels

Daniel Domin

Tyler Frazier

Taylor Myer


More gasoline capacity is required at the Balero refinery in Texas City, Texas. A study was done to
propose reforming FCC naphtha in a continuous catalytic regeneration (CCR) reformer to provide
more gasoline capacity. The catalytic reforming process restructures the naphtha hydrocarbons
into more complex aromatic molecules with higher octane ratings that can be blended with
gasoline. One of the aromatics produced is benzene. The focus of the study was to design a
reforming process that minimizes or eliminates benzene production. The project cost for installing
the new reformer is $17,770,000 and the projected discounted cash flow rate of return is 14.64%.
A CCR reformer processing 15,355 kg/hr of naphtha was modeled using ASPEN Plus. A benzene
recycle stream was added to return 90% of the benzene produced back to the reforming section to
drive the chemical equilibrium towards other aromatic components. This reduced the overall
benzene production by 28%.

CS-01
VisAssist

Advisor:
Prof. Jeff Salvage

Team:

Trevor Adams

Computer Science
Nate Bomberger

Computer Science
Tom Burdak

Computer Science
Shawn Busolits

Computer Science
Andrew Scott

Computer Science
Matt Stankiewicz
Computer Science
Nate Vecchiarelli

Computer Science

There are many tasks that visually impaired individuals struggle with on a daily basis. Mobile
applications can aid these individuals and enhance their quality of life.

The VisAssist software suite is targeted at individuals with visual impairment ranging from legally
blind to fully impaired. We worked closely with the Overbrook School for the Blind to develop
requirements in order to create a suite of mobile application to solve these problems. VisAssist
helps a visually impaired individual with accessibility of the device, navigation, color matching and
getting information about their environment. The targeted platforms are Android, iOS, and
Windows Mobile.

CS-02
TEAM ANACONDA

Advisor:
Dr. Yuanfang Cai

Team:
Nii Ashikwei

Computer Sciencse
Matt Bilyeu

Computer Science
Jordan Checkman
Computer Science
Michael Evans

Computer Science
William Luong

Computer Science
Aashish Vats

Computer Science

PowerPitch runs on Android devices, and communicates with a presentions Windows 7 computer
via Bluetooth or a local Wi-Fi network. This mobile application allows presenters using Microsoft
PowerPoint software to see low-resolution renderings of their slides, presentation notes, or both.
Improved navigation during presentations will be achieved by showing a grid-layout of all the
slides in a presentation. PowerPitch controls the slideshow remotely while also displaying
pertinent information, thereby freeing the presenter to move about and to deliver a more natural
and engaging presentation.

CS-03
INHERITREE

Advisor:
Dr. Werner Krandick

Team:
Firoze Abdur Rakib
Computer Science
William Fisher

Computer Science
Jeff Gelman

Computer Science
John Moran

Computer Science
Dave Ramirez

Computer Science

Inheritree is a learning tool allowing nursing students to create family health pedigrees that are a
standardized way to illustrate relevant genetic information in the medical field. Students are able
to generate professional quality pedigree charts that adhere to standards defined by the Pedigree
Standardization Work Group.
These charts are generated, through the use of a desktop application, allow students to save their
work and export their diagrams to a PDF document. They are also be able to submit their work to
their professors, who use a specialized version of the Inheritree software in order to view and
grade the students' work.
The focus of development is a rich, intuitive user interface that integrates into existing distance
learning systems used by the College of Nursing. Inheritree uses Microsoft Silverlight to provide a
polished, responsive interface.

CS-04
AUTONOMIC COMPUTING: SENSORS AND DETECTORS FOR APPLICATIONS, VMS, AND HOST
OSes

Advisor:
Dr. Spiros Mancoridis

Team:
Joe Brightbill

Computer Science
John Greco

Computer Science
Ethan Mullins

Computer Science
John Troy

Computer Science

Modern fault detection software suffers from high incidence of false positivity and false negativity.
This project will improve the fault tolerance and security posture of software systems. The project
will utilize software sensors implemented at multiple levels: hardware, host OS, virtual machine,
middleware, and application. The applications run on VMs, and the VMs run on Unix OS hosts.
Simple geometric models will be used to capture normal system behavior. By creating and
injecting faults and security attacks into the system, we will monitor whether the system state
exceeds the boundaries of the normal model of the system.

CS-05
DEPLOYMENT OF LARGE-SCALE DATABASE FOR CROSS-FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
RESEARCH

Advisor:
Dr. Spiros Mancoridis

Team:
Tejprakash Gill

Computer Science
Evan Haas

Computer Science
Patrick Lockner

Computer Science
Phil Maconi

Software Engineering
Jonathan Monteiro
Computer Science
Alexander Rybak

Computer Science

Hephaestus will be a project focused on storing, searching, and sharing data pertaining to
materials engineering research. It will allow users to upload information about their various
material samples and then specify how that data will be shared. The system will contain both an
API and a web front-end to facilitate storing, searching, and retrieving the data. Hephaestus will
expose a data model that will enable researchers to convert their various material samples to a
universal format. In addition, the API will include a set of commonly used tools to aid users in
analyzing the data. The web interface will contain social networking features for researchers to
discover each other and form collaborative teams. Finally, the web interface will provide access to
common API functionality, as well as visualization tools for exploring the data.

CS-06
DISTRO KON

Advisor:
Dr. Jeffrey Popyack

Team:
Klaidi Dhamo

Computer Science
Yen-Duyen Duong
Computer Science
Esin Gokgoz

Computer Science
Daniel Harbuz

Computer Science
Preston Hults

Computer Engineering
Daniel Van Pham
Computer Science

DistroKon is an evolution of the last years Computer Science Senior Design Final Four contest
winning project, DistroWhale. By expanding the core functionality of providing convention
organizers features to run their conventions on iOS and Android mobile platforms, we create a
more socially dynamic experience for both convention organizers and attendees.
DistroKons additional modules include: Interactive chat rooms (emulating & fostering the NDS
pictochat craze); User accounts expansion including friends lists and event sharing, alerts, and
ratings systems; Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ integration; Virtual passport system which
allows users to check into convention booths and events.
DistroKon also adds additional statistics tracking utilities for event organizers.

CS-07
ASTRAEUS

Advisor:
Dr. Jeremy Johnson

Team:
Daniel Iannuzzi

Computer Science
Alex Karagodov

Computer Science
Matt Marron

Computer Science
Mariyan Stoyanov
Computer Science
Dan Zollers

Computer Science

Computationally expensive scientific simulations are performed most cost-effectively on Graphical
Processing Units (GPUs). However, setup and management of experiments on a GPU cluster are
difficult to perform. Astraeus is a cross-platform framework to setup, monitor, visualize, and
analyze computationally expensive experiments on remote GPU clusters. Astraeus is designed to
be flexible. Through plugin interfaces, multiple job management systems and simulation libraries
may be used, although the Astrophysical Multipurpose Software Environment (AMUSE) is
targeted in this implementation. Features include fault tolerance, secure authenticated
connections, experiment permissions, and simulation result exportation.

CS-08
OPTIC RM

Advisor:
Prof. Jeff Salvage

Team:
John Klein

Computer Science
Garry Ledford

Computer Science
Roberto Vieras

Computer Science

The requirement to track business expenses is a burden to individuals as well as corporations.
Individuals must retain and organize their receipts in order to get reimbursed, while businesses
must collect, aggregate, and report expenses with proof of the transactions. With the current fiscal
hardship, the IRS is watching closer than ever before, making complete expense tracking essential.
Currently, most individuals collect paper receipts stuffed in wallets or purses and report their
expenses upon returning to the office, hoping they havent lost anything. The OpticRM Receipt
Management Application acts as the catalyst in transforming antiquated manual expense tracking
to the new wave of digital organization. OpticRM solves the problem of keeping paper copies of
receipts by gathering, analyzing with OCR, storing, categorizing and transmitting essential data
and imagery through a standard camera-enabled smart phone on the Android and Windows
Mobile platforms.

CS-09
UNICONF

Advisor:
Prof. Michael Kain

Team:
Ross Bower

Computer Science
Sajal Desai

Computer Science
MeiZhi Li

Computer Science
Phil Trinh

Computer Science
Jedi Weller

Computer Science

The popularity of mobile devices creates a unique opportunity for collaboration at conferences
and in the classroom. However, the wide variety of device platforms causes fragmentation issues
that make such collaboration difficult or impossible. Existing systems are limited to specific
platforms, isolating users from one another or contain very few features useful to conference
attendees. Powered by Unisys ePortal technology, UniConf provides a unified interface for
scheduling, collaboration and sharing across all devices. UniConf allows students or attendees to
actively participate.

CS-10
MATHDASH

Advisor:
Dr. Frank Lee

Team:
Keith Ayers

Computer Science
Matt Lesnak

Computer Science
Nicholas Taylor Mullen
Computer Science

Traditionally students learning to solve math problems in school are forced to sit down and
memorize common solutions. This approach has a fatal flaw, it unintentionally teaches our
children that theres only one right answer. MathDash is a game that aims to remove this
boundary by allowing a player to explore all possible solutions, by giving the player a continually
changing, limited selection of numbers. A user quickly learns that by trying to solve any problem
with only a single solution in mind wont always work.

MathDash provides a fast-paced, rewarding gameplay experience that reinforces math skills
taught to elementary aged students. It encourages players to approach problems from a different
perspective, giving them an intellectual advantage by teaching them to think outside the box. At
the same time, players of any age can enjoy the simple, engaging gameplay while competing for
the highest scores.

ECE-01
ROBUST SECRET KEY GENERATION USING A RECONFIGURABLE ANTENNA

Advisor:
Dr. Kapil Dandekar

Team:
Eugin Cherkansky
Alyssa DeMent

Josh Lawrence

Kevin Pietsch


Security is one of the most critical factors to consider in modern wireless networks. A wireless
exchange of information possesses a large number of vulnerabilities to security threats due to the
unbound nature of the wireless medium. This project develops a physical-layer based scheme for
improving the security of a wireless link by exploiting the capabilities of a reconfigurable antenna.
An algorithm was developed to ensure the security of a wireless link by generating a secret key
between two communicating parties. The multiple configurations of the reconfigurable antenna
provided channel diversity which supplied means for the collection of more channel data, thus
leading to the creation of a longer key and greater encryption strength. Several test scenarios were
designed to ensure the robustness of the algorithm against third party intruders, and to prove that
the algorithm was essentially unsusceptible to security breaches. The strength of the was
determined by a high entropy value.

ECE-03
FORMULA HYBRID ELECTRIC CAR

Advisor:
Dr. Kevin Scoles

Team:
Nathalie Capati

Norman Chan

Ian Gallagher

Adam Hollock

Vionna Lo


The Formula Hybrid International Competition is an annual automotive racing and design event
for students hosted in Loudon, NH by the IEEE and SAE. The competition challenges students to
design high-performance hybrid and all-electric vehicles, with an emphasis on fuel efficiency. The
Drexel 2012 team reused the 2011 chassis, but has designed entirely new electrical drive and
safety systems. Working directly with an MEM senior design team and the Formula Hybrid club,
the drivetrain has been redesigned to better utilize the frame space, and now includes
regenerative braking. All key systems have been designed to ensure high voltage isolation and
weatherproofing for driver safety. A new driver interface features a simple but optimized
dashboard and new pedal design. This interface will use data collected by the monitoring system
to provide speed and motor current to the driver. The vehicle also features new suspension,
braking and aerodynamics. In May 2012, Drexel Racing successfully competed in the Formula
Hybrid competition.

ECE-04
DREXEL WIRELESS SYSTEMS LAB WiMAX APPLICATIONS TEAM

Advisor:
Dr. Kapil Dandekar

Team:
Ankur Arora

Omar Kabeer

Nathan Lee

Ishita Singh


Wireless data communications have become an important part in todays mobile communication
landscape. WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is one of several 4G
wireless technologies which provides high data rates with a wider coverage area than the 802.11
WiFi standard. Working in conjunction with the Drexel Wireless Systems Lab, we have performed
detailed analysis of existing commercial WiMAX networks (e.g., CLEAR), collecting network
statistic measures such as throughput and signal strength. We visualize the data and form a
predictive model of the interference behavior caused by a future WiMAX base station installation.
Our analysis also draws theoretical correlations between signal strength and throughput,
developing experiments which will aid in characterization and troubleshooting of the new
installation.

ECE-06
POWER AGILE COMPUTER

Advisor:
Dr. Mark Hempstead

Team:
Andrew Cebulski
Justine Miller

Thomas Ozalas

Lloyd Ricks


The design of this project was to incorp-orate hardware and software to create a more energy
efficient computing device. With the push towards more mobile computing battery life plays a key
role in the development of new computing devices. Current solutions only allow for basic software
control like dimming a screen.
Our design incorporates a performance management system that can determine run-ning
applications and make power adjust-ments based on a compilation of past perfor-mance
measurements. The power data is obtained from a power management system that uses DC power
lines to take measure-ments and send measurements to the perfor-mance control software
through a micro-controller. The performance control soft-ware contains a user interface that
allows the program to get user input to determine the best power management for that specific
user. This combination of hardware and software management lets the user maintain
performance while saving battery life.

ECE-07
DESIGN OF FREE-SPACE OPTICAL TRANSMITTER AND RECEIVER MODULES FOR HELMET
MOUNTED BROADBAND fNIR SYSTEM

Advisor:
Dr. Afshin Daryoush

Team:
Li Hao Jian

Brandon Lally

Electrical and Computer Engineering
Peter Tran


Broadband and low power consuming optical transmitter (Tx) and optical receiver (Rx) modules
were designed and implemented for a custom designed helmet and headband mounted free-space
functional near-infrared (fNIR) brain imagining system, a low cost imaging replacement to MRI.
Many design innovations are made, such as functionality integration of integrated circuit (IC) in
TO-5 and TO-39 cans for a very small individual optical transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) that are
placed in key positions in contact with head. The proposed system fNIR system will perform
spectroscopic measurements of solid brain phantoms by switching among tri-wavelength vertical
cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) sources of 680nm, 785nm, and 850nm that are modulated
from 30MHz to 1000MHz. The diffused and scattered modulated photons are collected using 0.49
pitch graded index lens (GRIN) mounted on the optical Rx modules. The optical Rx is based on PIN
photodiode(s) integrated with single or differential trans-impedance amplifier (TZA) IC. Our team
was successful in improving the size and performance of the previous generation of optical Tx and
Rx modules.
Sponsored by: National Institute of Health

ECE-08
DIGITAL PHILADELPHIA CONNECTIVITY TEAM

Advisors:
Dr. Kapil R. Dandekar, Prof. Richard Primerano, Mr. Kevin Wanuga

Abhinandan Bhunia
Nisarg Patel

Dennis Tran


An innovative way for researchingnew networking technologies (like WiMAX) is to use a virtual
test bed. We used ORBIT Management Framework (OMF) along with the ORBIT Measurement
Library (OML) architecture for designing test beds for the WiMAX network that will be deployed
at Millennium Hall on Drexel Campus in the near future. The main motivation to use OMF/OML is
that they provide for a unified and standard way of performing network experiments and
collecting data. We described our tests in a domain specific high-level language OEDL (like Ruby)
and passed them on to OMF. The OMFs job is to allocate resources, deploy and execute the tests,
and store the results in the OML in real time. Thereafter, we extracted the results from the
database using data manipulation tools. We designed bittorrent tests to calculate link utilization,
RSSI, CINR; iperf tests etc to judge the performance of the WiMAX deployment at Millennium Hall.

ECE-10
CELLULAR PHONE RADIATION EMISSION EXPOSURE MONITOR

Advisor:
Dr. Thomas Chmielewski

Team:
Carl Charlicomb

Philip Livecchi

Edward Thomas

Alan Yates


We have designed a low-cost and portable device for displaying received cell phone emissions as a
tool for those concerned with excessive phone usage. Monitored values are presented in common
terms via an LED display, thus aiding the user in metering their phone use. The device is branded
as the Cellular Emission Monitor (CEM).
The project goals were to design and build (3) CEM units to demonstrate functionality and
repeatability. The CEM receives and displays the accumulated RF emissions from a cellular phone
over time. The CEM needed to easily mount on a cellular phone and be inexpensive enough to
attract the consumer. Thus, the two most important criteria in our design were size and cost.
During phone calls, the CEM will monitor and record the energy received. The user at any time
may press a button to view the collective energy received by the CEM. Thus, the user can make an
informed choice to curb usage, utilize hands-free devices or substitute calls with emails or text
messages

ECE-11
WIRELESS SERVO CONTROLLER

Advisor:
Dr. Thomas Chmielewski, Mr. Daniel M. Lofaro

Team:
Allison Heisler

Xin Li

Brian Mizner

Phuc Nguyen


This project replaced wired, low power, quadrature encoder connections on a servo motor system
supplied by Siemens, with a wireless connection in such a way that performance of the system was
maintained. While the power cables for the motor and encoder remain in-tact, the encoder signals
(Channels A, B, and Index) are transmitted wirelessly in order to reduce the size of cable bundles
and noise in runs over 50 feet. The encoder signals are 5V TTL pulses which were converted to 3V
logic in order to interface to the wireless I/O of the Texas Instrument target boards. The signal
interface to the wireless devices was accomplished through our designed printed circuit boards
while software was coded to implement the wireless link between each encoder and the
controller. Funding for the project has come from the team members and Drexel, and equipment
was donated by Siemens Medical
Sponsor: Siemens Medical

ECE-12
AIR QUALITY MONITORING SENSOR NETWORK

Advisor:
Dr. Kapil Dandekar, Prof. Richard Primerano

Team:
Aakash Gautam
Alvin Ocloo
Lakshay Puniani
James Sebastian

We have designed an air quality monitoring wireless sensor network that records and analyzes
harmful gas concentrations in ambient air. In a request from the Clean Air Council and in
partnership with the Drexel EPICS program, we have designed a deployable network of low cost,
low profile sensors that are easily accessible through a simple web user interface.
As our final product, we have developed a software that wirelessly collects gas concentrations on a
base station. The data collected is stored both on the base station and an online database for
greater data redundancy. The data is then analyzed locally on a Graphical User Interface (GUI) in
real time and can be accessed via a web interface as well.
Sponsors: The Drexel EPICS program and Clean Air Council

ECE-13
DYNAMIC TRAFFIC CONTROL

Advisors: Prof. William Mongan (CS), Dr. Iman Salama

Team:
Steven M. August
Robert S. Calsamilia
Damien D. Duckrey
Richard J. Morrell

We have proposed a Traffic Control system based off of RF technology, along with a complex
algorithm to determine the most efficient traffic timing. The system will use long range RF sensors
that will detect cars, and transmit a signal to the receiver at the intersection. The sensors are solar
powered, and are mounted on poles along the side of the road. The wireless signal transmitted will
be used to send real time traffic data to the traffic light control box at the intersection.
We have developed an algorithm that uses the real time sensor inputs to dynamically alter the
timing of the traffic light. This algorithm stores and uses historical data to establish a base light
timing for the intersection. This base light timing is then altered by the real time sensor data.
The Dynamic Traffic Control System is cost effective over its competitors because it does not
require expensive hardware or costly labor. The benefit of the DTC system will be improved
intersection efficiency which will lessen travel times and save fuel.

ECE-14
LOAD FLOW STUDIES

Advisor:
Dr. Dagmar Niebur

Team:
Ahamed Masdook Saheed Electrical Engineering
Pavan Sajja

Rajat Singh

Mahesh Talampally

Power flow analysis is used by many electric utilities to analyze steady state behavior of the power
grid. The analysis requires solving electric power flow equations for bus voltage magnitudes and
angles. These non-linear equations are solved using iterative numerical methods such as Newton-
Raphson or Gauss-Seidel. Power system monitoring and analysis tools such as state estimation,
contingency analysis and optimal power flow rely on efficient computation of the power flows.
Therefore, a minor improvement of power flow computation time will have a significant impact on
many real-time power system tools.
This project investigates the inherent parallel processing capabilities of Graphical Processing
Units (GPU) that enhances computation time of linear solvers integrated in Newton-Raphson
algorithm for power system steady state analysis. The proposed linear solvers, Conjugate Gradient
and Gauss Elimination, were implemented on the CPU and the GPU for power systems of different
sizes and their respective computation speedups were then compared.

ECE-15
MAZE TRAVERSING ROBOT WITH EDUCATIONAL INTERFACE

Advisor:
Dr. Prawat Nagvajara

Team:
Katherine Desmet
Greg Felber

James Goerke

Nicholas Vaccaro

We have designed a software suite to teach middle-school students logical thought through the
use of flowcharts. This is done by providing a maze simulator that allows the students to construct
a flowchart of instructions to control a simulated robot. The flowchart includes basic commands
such as move forward, turn left, and turn right as well as conditional if statements and while
loops.
With the use of this tool, students are tasked with guiding the simulated robot through a variety of
mazes. The students can then create their own maze-solving algorithms after learning the basics.
Students can reference several preset algorithms to assist with their own design. The suite
includes a lesson on how to create and understand flowcharts as well as a tutorial on how to use
the software. We will be testing our product on middle-schools to gain feedback on how it can be
further improved.

ECE-17
NUCLEAR REACTOR SIMULATION UTILIZING MICROSOFT KINECT

Advisor:
Dr. Christopher Peters

Team:
Michael Lui

Paul Martin

Paul Rua

Joshua Waldman

We have produced a stand-alone computer program that simulates a nuclear reactor, utilizing
Microsoft Kinect-based motion gestures for input. The program is intended as a first exposure into
the theory and operation of a nuclear reactor to help garner interest and encourage students to
pursue a nuclear engineering degree. The system is designed to be affordable and portable, so that
it can easily be purchased and used in classrooms or at home.
The Microsoft Kinect is an affordable sensor suite capable of motion tracking. By implementing the
Kinect within the simulation, the user performs natural gestures in order to interact with the
control panel providing a more immersive and intuitive experience.
While running the simulation, the user has several visual feedback gauges, similar to what would
be found in a real reactor, to indicate the status of the reactor. In addition, the output power can be
graphed in real-time for analysis.
Acknowledgements: Exelon

ECE-18
INTELLIGENT POWER STRIP

Advisor:
Dr. Richard Primerano

Team:
Calvin Au

Prativa Kharel

Mark Musser

Jatish Patel


In the United States alone, more than $10 billion a year is spent on generating electricity, only to
be squandered via standby power. The amount of electricity being wasted can cause excess gas
emissions into the atmosphere with the burning of excess fossil fuels. Our project goal is to design
an Intelligent Power Strip that can measure power consumption, cost calculations and
automated master/slave control outlets. Data measured by this power strip is recorded and stored
to a PC for consumer convenience. Cost-effective is the most important constraint in this project.
Our controller utilizes the PSOC programmable board, which includes excess components that is
contributing to the cost of our device. If these smart power strips can be universally implemented,
not only will the awareness of standby power spread but also the world can be a greener place
with less electricity being generated. This can result in less air pollution and less utility costs for
both businesses and residential homes.

ECE-19
POOL-SPECTRE

Advisor:
Dr. Vasileios Nasis

Team:
Ryan Hall

Victor Martino

Scott Thiewes

John Zoltowski


We have designed an innovative way to relieve the hassle of general pool maintenance.
The Pool-Spectre was designed to cater to a new demographic of residential automatic chemical
balancing. Currently, pool owners must manually check their chemical levels themselves or call a
pool company. The Pool-Spectre was designed to create an easy solution
for users to keep their pools balanced.
Unlike current systems on the market today, the Pool-Spectre was constructed as an all-in-one
component. The chemicals and sensors are stored inside the housing along with the plumbing and
chemical pumps. A detailed description of the construction of the Pool-Spectre can be found in our
report.
Two sensors are used, ORP and a pH, which read the chemical levels. Then information is sent to
the microcontroller. A detailed logic algorithm determines the amount of chemicals to be added
into the system. Based on the information the pumps will be activated for a time period to
disperse the proper amount of chemicals; saving all owners time and money.

ECE-20
CHARACTERIZING DISTURBANCES IN SMART POWER DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS AND
LOADS

Advisor:
Dr. Karen Miu

Team:
David Andrews

Eric Endress

Thomas Regino

Jonathan Segarra
Vincent Zaccone


In an ideal world, power distribution systems should contain voltage and current waveforms
resembling a pure sinusoidal wave. However, various elements, like power electronic devices,
distort these waveforms. These distortions can de-rate and reduce the life of electric equipment as
well as cause nuisance tripping and lower reliability.
This project aimed to simulate such disturbances caused by power electronic devices, such as
plug-in electric vehicle charging stations (PEVCS) and solar power inverters (SPI) and to study the
effect of their increased usage on the distribution system. Simulink was first used to model several
distribution circuits. Hardware experiments were then set up to establish baselines for systems
with and without distortions. In our project, uninterruptible power supplies were interconnected
to mimic PEVCS and SPI. The finalized procedure was published in manuals that will be used for
student learning as well as to help answer questions regarding the increased usage of power
electronics.
ECE-22
DROP-IN LED REPLACEMENT FOR INCANDESCENT VISUAL LANDING AIDS

Advisors: Dr. Leonid Hrebien, Mr. Dave Peters (NAVAIR)

Team:
Joshua Edelman

Roberto Salom

Nicholas Silva


The product delivered is a replacement lighting unit that will be used on NAVAIR Lakehursts aircraft
carriers. Every time a light bulb burns out, missions must be stopped or delayed until it is replaced. A flight
deck crew member immediately goes out to change it, putting himself at high risk.
The new design is a longer lasting, LED light bulb that can match the legacy light bulbs light intensity and
spatial output.
Increasing the lifespan and durability of the bulb is the primary objective for this design. The current,
incandescent lighting units are cheaper to make, but only last up to 300 hours. The new landing aids use
LEDs to provide similar illumination for up to 50,000 hours.
These visual landing aids will decrease the number of times that the bulbs will need to be replaced. This
will further decrease the amount of times that the ship is operating with suboptimal illumination. While the
LED bulb will cost more than the incandescent bulb, the extended lifespan of the LEDs will lower the long-
term costs and thus save the NAVY and the US taxpayers money as well.
Sponsor: NAVAIR Lakehurst

ECE-23
AUTOMATIC TENNIS ASSISTANT TRAINER

Advisor:
Dr. Paul Kalata

Team:
Nicholas Andrew
Kyle Dooley

Alex Gruber

Tim James

Colin Masterson


We created a tennis trainer system that can track a tennis player and relay the players position to
a ball launcher. The intent is to use the system in conjunction with a ball launcher as a training aid
for tennis players of any level. By taking into account the position of the player, the system will be
able to provide more challenging play that simulates an actual tennis player.
The tracking component is a very important part of this project. We used computer vision to track
the player on the court. Instead of using a tennis ball launcher, we tested the effectiveness of our
tracking system using a Nerf gun mounted on a pan/tilt unit that allows us to adjust the position of
the gun.
To demonstrate the system, we created 2 programs: one that will launch at the player and one that
will launch somewhere on the court depending on where the player is.

ECE-25
AIR QUALITY MONITORING NETWORK - HARDWARE TEAM

Advisors: Dr. Kapil R. Dandekar, Prof. Richard Primanero, Mr. Kevin Wanuga

Team:
Hartej Arora


Abizer Nayeem

Sanyukt Sekhri


The high costs associated with current methods of monitoring particulate matter and harmful
chemical gases, as well as the difficulty in monitoring targeted locations, have resulted in a request
from the Clean Air Council (CAC) to design a deployable network of low-cost, low-profile sensors
that are easily accessible through a simple GUI on the base station.
From the hardware team, we will deliver a set of three fully-constructed nodes capable of sensing
harmful gases and particulate matter to detect natural gas leakage (default state). This is a plug-
and-play network wherein the sensors could be replaceable according to desired needs and
functionalities.
Each node will consist of a processor, sensors, battery pack and radios for transmission of data to
the base station.

ECE-26
CHARACTERISTIC CURVE TRACER WITH LabVIEW

Advisor:
Dr. Edwin Gerber

Team:
Michael (Jorge) Peifer
Jacob Goldstein


Programs utilizing software LabVIEW have been designed to help students engage in an active
learning environment for quick data collection of current and voltage characteristics of
semiconductor devices. The devices we are concerned with specifically are diodes, JFETs, and
NPN-PNP BJTs.
The curve tracer software has been designed to revolve around the student havin the best user
experience possible for studying the characteristics of these devices. Our idea will ultimately serve
the students well in the Drexels ECE laboratories. For different labs the program can be altered to
accommodate for these lab setups. The curve tracing unit will be designed to easily be used and
understood in a laboratory environment.
The software itself cost Drexel nothing and uses lab equipment already in place in all of the ECE
laboratories.

ECE-28
DESIGNING AND TESTING OF AN ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM

Advisor:
Dr. Karen Miu

Team:
Abhishek Garg

William DePasquale
Juxhin Jupi

Michael Francois
Sarabjit Singh


We have incorporated a Lithium-ion battery system in addition to the existing Lead Acid battery
system at Drexels Center for Electric Power Engineering lab. This was to conduct charge and
discharge tests on both battery types. Data collected during battery charging tests as well as data
obtained during discharge tests for fixed and variable loads was used to evaluate the performance
of each battery type. Data collected included voltage and current through the system and charge
level of the batteries at regular time intervals. For this project we used SimPowerSystems and
Simulink to build software simulation models to run simulations before assembling the hardware
and performing tests on the batteries. AutoCAD program was used to design the layout of the
hardware. The results of this project can be used to optimize the combination of existing energy
storage technology for various uses.

ECE-29
ELECTRIC SOLAR CAR

Advisor:
Dr. Adam Fontecchio

Team:
Ogedi Agoruah

Joe Forrest

Sean Fosmire

Chris Jao


Drexel University took part in the 2011 Shell-Eco marathon solar car competition. The Green
Dragon was only able to generate 25 percent of the energy that the vehicle used on the course.
Although Drexel emerged as the only prototype solar car to turn in a valid run, using 240
kilojoules to traverse the six-mile course from the produced 305 kilojoules of energy, none of the
cars including other competing Universities could break the barrier of producing more solar
power than it used.
This project was aimed to not only serve as a power source for the solar car but also one that is
able to utilize the generated solar energy to its peak. Thorough investigation on the combination
of solar panels, photovoltaic cells, energy storage and distribution were carried out and
implemented. The project aimed to achieve not only regulating the speed for the solar car using
the generated solar energy, but also maintaining the speed when solar input drops.
The project encompassed designing a charging, storage, and injection system into the circuitry and
drive of the car and testing the photovoltaic system for generating the power for the car.

ECE-30
MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKING FOR SOLAR APPLICATIONS

Advisors: Dr. Allon Guez, Oleg Fishman, Ulrich Schwabe

Team:
Joseph Dales

Dzmitry Ilyuk

Dan Shick


The goal is to implement maximum power point tracking for a solar cell string and dynamically
load it to ensure that maximum power is produced. Alencon Systems developed a design for
efficient solar farm that involves transmitting high voltage power to reduce loss. DC-to-DC
converter is used for solar cell loading.
The device takes current and voltage measurements from an array and maximizes the power by
changing the load. The converter is the H-Bridge with RLC string as a loading element. It is
operated at different frequencies to dynamically change the load.
A solar panel, H-Bridge, and perturb and observe tracking algorithm were simulated. A small scale
model of the system was constructed. Measurements and switching are handled by Cypress
microcontroller. The measurements are used to determine the change in power over time and
dynamically adjust the switching frequency. The model demonstrates the principle of MPPT,
resulting in optimized power generation.
Sponsor: Alencon Systems, Inc

MEM-01
SMALL-SCALE THREE-DIMENSIONAL CELL PRINTING FOR POTENTIAL SPACE APPLICATION

Advisors: Dr. Wei Sun, Qudus Hamid

Team:
Adrian Ambru

Darko Blai

Ashan Senaratne
Mickey Whitzer


Advances in additive manufacturing allow todays printers to print three-dimensional cell
structures for use in drug delivery testing and organ growth. The current cell printing systems are
large, expensive and require a degree of technical knowledge to operate. In order to increase the
availability of these systems, their size, weight and cost must be reduced. Additionally, several
entities expressed interest in a system that is capable of printing in a microgravity environment,
providing the avenue for research of cell viability and proliferation under such conditions. The
team has designed and fabricated a cell printer that costs under $2000, weighs less than 45 lbs, is
easy to operate, and has a gravity independent material delivery system. The cell printer is
12x12x12 in size, fits inside a custom designed casing unit, operates with a cell viability greater
than 70% and is capable of printing in a 3.5x5 area.

MEM-02
AERODYNAMIC PACKAGE FOR LOW ALTITUDE ORBIT CUBESAT

Advisor:
Dr. Jin Kang

Team:
Frank Arute

Jasen Carroll

Kelly Meighan

Daniel Zettler


Among military and academia there exists a desire to launch CubeSats into very low altitude orbits
for extended periods of time. This would make CubeSats more economical and attractive solutions
for optical data collection and low power signal transmission. Currently, CubeSats at altitudes of
approximately 250 km will remain in orbit relatively ten days. As launches are extremely
expensive, extending the mission of a spacecraft from ten days to upwards of three weeks would
yield a much higher return on that investment. To accomplish this feat, a simple solution was
contrived; add a deployable aerodynamic package to an existing CubeSat. The package is
comprised of a nose cone for the front of the satellite in the shape of a double wedge. The resulting
package, fabricated out of aluminum and steel, will increase the lifespan of a CubeSat to an
estimated 34 days (4.7 weeks), which exceeds the desired threshold for this project.

MEM-03
LEAK DETECTION IN WATER MAINS NAVIGATION

Advisor:
Dr. Young I. Cho

Team:
Gary Auer

Joseph Colman

Michelle Neese

Brian Wickersham

This project is focused on creating an autonomous leak detection device for a water distribution
system. We propose that an autonomous leak detection method can mitigate water and financial
losses more efficiently than the non-autonomous leak detection methods currently used in the
water industry. The project will be divided into 3 focus areas; with this team developing the
subsystem to continuously determine and record the devices position in the water system.
Deliverables for this project include the subsystems working code in the Arduino programming
language, examples and analysis of the codes recorded position data with and without filters, and
a prototype of the subsystem hardware; consisting of 3 positioning sensors an Arduino
Duemilanove microcontroller, and a MicroSD storage device. The accuracy of the subsystems
localization data is reliable up to the maximum speed of the transport device, and has a leak
positioning error at least equal to the accuracy of the leak detection subsystem.

MEM-04
MEMS SHEAR STRESS SENSOR

Advisor:
Dr. Mathew McCarthy

Team:
Katie Brown


Adam Ryan

Evan Sauder


Marcin Szafran


Nick Tromba


As a fluid flows over a surface, the interaction between the fluid and the surface causes the fluid
particles to slow down. This phenomenon is known as shear stress and is dependent upon the
viscosity, velocity, and the cross sectional area it is flowing through. The ability to minimize shear
stress (also known as drag) is necessary in many applications, e.g. ground and air vehicle design or
blood flow through arteries. A MEMS (Micro-electromechanical System) sensor allows for a local
reading to be taken at an exact point. The sensor was modeled and optimized using COMSOL
Multiphysics and fabricated by using micro-fabrication techniques. To calibrate the sensor, a
parallel plate chamber was designed to create a known value of shear stress along the walls of the
chamber. The MEMS shear stress sensor was able to read desired shear stress values in the range
of 1-2 Pascals.

MEM-05
FORMULA SAE: ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF AERODYNAMICS

Advisor:
Dr. John Lacontora

Team:
Evan Dimmerling
Thaddeus Fidura

Christine Gallagher
Joseph Gruber

Erik Smith


Formula SAE is an annual student design competition run by the Society of Automotive Engineers
(SAE) where universities from around the world engineer three-quarter scale, combustion engine
race vehicles. In order for the Drexel University FSAE team to remain competitive, the
aerodynamic package was completely redesigned and manufactured for the 2012 competition in
Lincoln, Nebraska. This included exploring recently discovered tubercle technology in an
automotive application and utilizing analysis software for more comprehensive designs. The
objective was not only to improve vehicle performance, but to provide the Drexel FSAE team with
research for future designs as well. The final package includes a nose cone, side pods, undertray,
front wing, and multi-element rear wing. Simulations and testing show a total vehicle downforce
of over 100 ft-lbs at 35 mph, results that indicate significant improvement over vehicles designed
by the Drexel FSAE team in years past.
Sponsors:
CD-adapco, Mastercam, SolidWorks, Boeing, Owens Corning

MEM-06
SLOWEST MOTORCYCLE LAND SPEED RECORD

Advisor:
Dr. John Lacontora, Ryan Miller

Team:
Erik Argueta

Bernard Callahan
Tyler Douglas

Johann Schlager

David Sharp


The Southern California Timing Association hosts an event every August, Speedweek, at the
Bonneville Salt Flats during which individuals and teams bring their purpose-built vehicles to
compete with hopes of setting a new world land speed record. This project consists of the design,
fabrication, and testing of a motorcycle qualifying for the class A-F-100. The objectives of this
project are to design and fabricate a 100cc motorcycle consisting of a nitrous oxide system and a
custom frame, an optimized drive train, a cooling system, and a shifting system enabling gear
selection from different riding positions. During testing, the engine did not overheat during a five-
minute trial, and the rider was able to shift the motorcycle from an aerodynamic riding position.
The completed motorcycle showed a power increase of over 15% and a drag force reduction of
over 30% compared to the stock configuration, with estimated top speed over 100 mph.

MEM-07
DETECTION OF LEAKY PIPES IN WATER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK AND METHOD TO
REPAIR USING A TRAVELING ROBOT (B)

Advisor:
Dr. Young Cho

Team:
Brandon Burkey

Vincent Greco

Michael Lanza

Sean McDonald

Kevin Wiley


Millions of dollars in lost water are accrued annually across the globe thanks in large part to an
aging and degrading water distribution infrastructure. City budgets are drained constantly and are
fiscally unable to respond to the growing need for new systems, inspections, and replacements or
repairs. Repairs seem viable, but are often too late as there is little advancement in the detection
of leaks before a pipe bursts. This design solution proposes a mechanical device that can travel
through live water mains while detecting cracks and leaks within the piping. The pipe rover has
been designed, manufactured and now tested in a dry six inch pipe. In the future, the prototype
must be modified to be water tight in order to maintain effectiveness when submerged. In
conjunction with the two other groups and through the direction of Dr. Cho, the three designs will
be combined into a singular detection mechanism.

MEM-08
KHR-4 HUBO FLEXIBLE TORSO

Advisor:
Dr. Paul Oh

Team:
Roy Gross

Brittany Nutt

Richard Vallett


The articulation and flexibility of humanoid robots is an essential consideration in the
development of robust platforms with human-like ranges of motion capable of operating within
human environments. Crucial human tasks, such as balancing, require full body coordination
through spinal bending; a feature lacking in modern humanoid robots like the KHR-4 Hubo. The
project design objective involves designing and manufacturing an analogous spinal joint to insert
at the waist of the Hubo between the upper and lower torso without altering existing components.
A skewed-plane rotary joint design was chosen, which makes use of the existing waist yaw joint
and allows additional pitch and roll of the upper body independent of the lower body. A virtual
joint model was created in the OpenRAVE simulation environment and controlled using MATLAB
to solve joint trajectories, showing the increased flexibility of the new design. A physical model
was created and tested to verify the results of the virtual testing.
Sponsor: Drexel Autonomous Systems Lab (DASL) in conjunction with the National Science Foundation (NSF) federal
grant number 0730206.

MEM-10
FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR THE USE OF PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIALS IN TRICKLE-CHARGING
ONBOARD SMALL SATELLITE POWER SYSTEMS

Advisor:
Dr. Jin Kang

Team:
Kelly Collett

Christopher Elko
Danielle Jacobson

Battery health of small satellites is a concern due to requirements for systems to be completely
powered down during launch. There is also the possibility of a 2-3 month gap between handoff
and launch, during which battery power may trickle out and render systems useless upon delivery
into orbit. This project, coordinated with the RockSat-C Cansisterized Satellite Program, tests the
feasibility of using piezoelectric materials to convert the mechanical vibration energy of a launch
vehicle into usable electric potential and mitigate this concern. The experimental payload tests
four configurations of piezoelectric cantilevers to determine the optimal orientation for power
generation. Workbench level tests included vibration tests to prove the generation of electrical
current and structural stability. Flight level tests, conducted at NASA Wallops Flight Facility,
proved function and stability under the combined effects of sustained G-loads and spinning. All
incorporated payload systems meet constraints outlined in the RockSat-C Users Guide.

MEM-11
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A LINEAR MOTOR DRIVEN PULSE TUBE CRYOCOOLER FOR
INFRARED CAMERAS

Advisor:
Dr. Bakhtier Farouk

Team:
Michael Kapp

Yash Nagarsheth

Keola Williams


Cryocoolers are the devices used to reach cryogenic temperatures (<120 K) by cycling gases like
helium and nitrogen. The pulse tube cryocooler is a developing technology that emerged largely in
the early 1980s. The pulse tube cryocooler can be made without moving parts in the low
temperature part of the device, making the cooler suitable for many applications including the
cooling of infrared camera sensors. The design construction and operation of coaxial type pulse
tube cryocooler (for possible use in infrared cameras) is presented. Scaling the pulse tube
cryocooler to the low temperatures and cooling power required while still fulfilling the
geometrical specifications for infrared cameras is a challenge. The coaxial pulse tube cryocooler
was designed using DELTAEC, a thermoacoustic apparatus design tool. The cryocooler
components are being built at the time of writing this abstract. The results of initial testing and
performance of the assembled cryocooler will be presented.

MEM-12
BIO-TEMPLATED NANOSTRUCTURED ELECTRODES FOR CAPACITIVE DEIONIZATION OF
WATER

Advisor:
Dr. Matthew McCarthy

Team:
Charlie Garmel

Craig Hollish

Kevin Knehr

Liam ONeill

Alexander Rinaldi

A large limiting factor of capacitive deionization (CDI) for water purification is the lack of high
surface area, low cost, electrodes. Recently, electrodes coated with the tobacco mosaic virus
(TMV) (to increase surface area) have produced promising results for use as low cost alternatives
to synthetic electrode architectures for batteries. The project objective is to demonstrate the
viability of TMV coated electrodes for capacitive deionization of brackish water. To accomplish
this, the design team has i) developed a set of electrodes whose surface area has been enhanced
with TMV, ii) designed and constructed a static test cell for electrode characterization, and iii)
designed and constructed a functioning CDI system that is used to test electrode performance in a
flowable configuration. Electrode performance yields data such as electrode capacitance,
degradation, and water purity. This CDI system also required the design of a conductivity sensor,
used to measure and record water purity.

MEM-13
CHARACTERIZATION OF A HYDRAULIC DRIVE SYSTEM FOR AN ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE

Advisors:
Dr. Jack Zhou, Dr. John Lacontora

Team:
Erica Feldscher

Brian Garvey

Daniel Ku

Nijel Manatharyil
Michael Petruzzo

Within motorcycle racing, there are many unexplored options, as many racers opt to take a tried-
and-true track that will definitely work within competitive racing guidelines. Innovative
Motorcycle Research, however, was founded to think outside the box and come up with new
variations on a motorcycle aiming to increase speed and efficiency at the same time. One method
of research chosen was to partner with a Drexel senior design team to design and build a
hydraulic circuit to power a dirtbike to determine if it is a worthwhile design to pursue. The team
designed and built a prototype to be powered by a continuous-duty motor to determine if the
utilization of a hydraulics system could increase the performance and efficiency of a dirtbike and
eventually a motorcycle.
Sponsor: Innovative Motorcycle Research

MEM-14
DREXEL FORMULA HYBRID MECHANICAL

Advisors: Dr. Tein-Min Tan, Dr. Kevin Scoles (ECE)

Team:
Ryan Garis

Nik Heid

Ahmad Hijazi

John Lang

Marwan Mahfooz

Student interest in renewable technology is key to solving one of the twenty-first centurys great
engineering problems: sustainable transportation. The Formula Hybrid SAE competition
challenges college students to design, innovate, build, and race a hybrid-electric or all-electric
vehicle. This year's club, composed of one mechanical team, one electrical team, and several
undergraduates, worked together to design and build a functional all-electric racecar with a lower
weight compared to years past. The mechanical team, specifically, redesigned most of the
components on the vehicle using 3D modeling software to draft parts and analyze stress
distribution under racing conditions. Attention was paid to lowering the vehicle weight without
compromising driver and crew safety. Certain tasks required a joint effort to make sure sensitive
components were both mechanically and electrically reliable. The project culminates in a four-day
competition in New Hampshire where teams are judged on design, marketability, and dynamic
performance.

MEM-15
FSAE BRAKE AND SUSPENSION DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION

Advisor:
Dr. Tein-Min Tan

Team:
Tyler Buono

Steve Pierson

Pradeesh Shivaji

Bradley Wasson

Wenyu Zheng


The Drexel FSAE race car over the past few years, has had a very sturdy suspension and braking
system which has not yet failed during competition. For this reason, the team was convinced that
these components could be redesigned by performing a thorough analysis on the braking and
suspension components and present an optimized design solution which primarily focused on
weight reduction. The 2011 race car was equipped with strain gauges on the suspension arms and
pressure gauges in the break lines. Dynamic tests were conducted on the track to record the forces
and pressures during different driving scenarios. These results were analyzed in conjunction with
theoretical models for validation and also to determine failure modes. From these results, it was
concluded that the wall thickness of the suspension members could be cut down to 0.028 inches
and the brake rotor thickness reduced to 0.125 inches. This resulted in an overall weight
reduction of 15%.

MEM-16
MICROFLUIDIC DEVICE TO SIMULATE BLOOD VESSEL DEVELOPMENT

Advisor:
Dr. Alisa Morss Clyne

Team:
Don Reed


Blood vessels develop in a dynamic environment in the body, yet most biological experiments for
blood vessel development take place in static tissue culture. Blood flow has been shown to play an
important role in blood vessel growth for 50 years. Capillary growth increased in vessels with high
blood flow, whereas capillaries regressed when flow blood ceased in a frog model. In limited
laboratory studies, pre-exposure of cells to shear stress enhanced markers of blood vessel
development in both 2D and 3D models. However, very few studies have tested blood vessel
development at the same time cells are exposed to shear stress, and the mechanism by which fluid
flow initiates blood vessel development is unknown.

MEM-17
PLASMA TREATMENT OF WATER FOR HOSPITAL APPLICATION

Advisors:
Dr. Danil Dobrynin, Dr. Gregory Fridman (BMES)

Team:
Ray Eveland

Ryan Lally

Marlin Miller III

Zach Mohn, MEM
Charles Schafer


Hospital faucet systemsespecially some automatic systems originally intended to reduce the
spread of bacteria provide an excellent environment for the incubation of bacteria, including L.
pneumophila. The objective of this project was to neutralize the bacteria as close to the faucet
outlet as possible, thus minimizing the potential for infecting patients with weakened immune
systems. The goal was to create a device which would attach to a faucet spout and use plasma
energy discharges to inactivate the harmful bacteria. Various bacteria concentrations were tested
until ideal power requirements were realized for sufficient inactivation. Test results showed one-
to two-log reductions in concentration from initial bacterial concentrations of 101 CFU/mL to 104
CFU/mL. These results proved that plasma generation can occur in flowing water, revealed the
optimal power requirements, and culminated in the creation of the necessary power supply.

MEM-18
DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF A SOLAR CELL TESTING

Advisor:
Dr. Ying Sun

Team:
Jared Harbin

Zekai He

Christopher Mannion
Kunal Shah

Neer Shah


The solar cell fabrication process undergoes multiple stages before finally being fabricated and
utilized. This project is aimed at aiding two steps of this procedure. The first area of our interest is
to manufacture a machine that will dip a small glass substrate into various solutions, with
humidity control capabilities and adjustable dip and dwell times. The second stage of interest
comes in the last step of the process, where we will fabricate an apparatus to effectively test a
finished solar cell. This setup must have lateral movement capabilities and should be able to
produce accurate results of a current versus voltage graph In order to analyze the efficiency of the
cell.

MEM-19
DESIGN OPTIMIZATION FOR WASTE HEAT RECOVERY SYSTEM

Advisor:
Dr. M. Ani Hsieh, Caglan Kumbur

Team:
Satyam Satyam

Nidhi Sinha

Derya Teoman


As the fuel prices rise, there is a high demand to find new ways to improve fuel economy. One of
the approaches taken towards increasing the fuel economy is the Waste Heat Recovery (WHR)
system. It is analogous to a power plant. However, the size, weight and cost of developing and
installing this system along with the duty cycle of the engine itself limit its applicability to heavy
duty engines. The goal of the project is to increase the overall efficiency of an existing WHR
system. A detailed thermodynamic and heat transfer analysis is performed to select the working
fluid and generate trade-offs for different design modifications. The performance of the system is
evaluated for three different driving cycles of a heavy-duty diesel engine. The results show an
approximate of 2% increase in the thermodynamic efficiency of the cycle in steady state condition,
assuming 85% efficiency of the individual components.

MEM-20
SOLAR PANEL DEPLOYMENT MECHANISM FOR CUBE SATELLITES

Advisor:
Dr. Jin Kang, Dr. Jack Zhou

Team:
Christian DeCastro
Benjamin Smith

Timothy Wilwert

Since the initial CubeSats that were launched nearly one decade ago, the design specifications for a
standard picosatellite have not progressed. Namely, CubeSat solar panel systems have hardly
advanced. Photovoltaics are undoubtedly ideal for powering a satellite; but current systems rely
on fragile, wafer-like, rigid solar panels that monopolize the structures surface area and limit
power generation. Recent developments in thin-film solar cells have made it possible to
manufacture affordable, versatile flexible photovoltaic panels. Flexible panels can generate the
same power as their more costly rigid competitors. In order to implement thin-film systems in
CubeSats, it was necessary to develop a mechanism that deploys a flexible solar array. Our design
safely stores a furled flexible array within the CubeSat frame, while consuming only 32% volume,
and then successfully deploys it once in orbit. It is both cost and volumetrically competitive with
other university and industry designs.

MEM-21
MINIATURE PONTOON BOAT FOR BASS FISHING

Advisor:
Dr. John Lacontora

Team:
Chad Espenshade
Derek Graham

Christian Heaps

Thomas Ziman


Due to an increased awareness of humans environmental impact, specifically in aquatic areas, and
the need for human safety, state regulators have placed new restrictive legislation how watercraft
are built and operated. These new regulations often restrict the usability of the craft. The goal of
this design project was to build a water craft to meet all state regulations within the Mid-Atlantic
region of the United States and maintain a high level of usability for operators. Using a pontoon
boat design, the team calculated all necessary equations for the buoyancy and functionality of the
craft, and then rendered the design with multiple CAD software packages. Using this design the
team constructed a prototype from the materials selected in the design process. The prototype
was tested using both computer modeling and live tests. Testing of the prototype verified that the
design met all regulations and user demands.

MEM-22
CRASHWORTHY COMPOSITE SUBFLOOR INTEGRATION FOR ROTORCRAFT

Advisors:
Dr. Jonathan Awerbuch, Dr. Tein-Min Tan

Team:
Joshua Fairley

Donald Fehlinger
Pavel Parfenov

Zachary Schwartz

The subfloor structure of rotorcraft is a critical component in protecting occupants in the event of
a crash. To reduce the energy transmitted to the occupants, the subfloor can be reinforced with
lightweight composites. Studies have been done on optimizing the structures that yield the highest
energy absorption, but none have been done on integrating these structures into the rotorcraft.
The purpose of this project is therefore to investigate the effects of different rivet configurations
on the failure behavior of composite stanchions in compression. Three layup configurations were
used in this investigation. Failure mechanisms and specific energy absorption were used to
quantify the performance of each configuration. Results show that varying the rivet configuration
and specimen layup can cause significant changes to the behavior of the stanchion. A validated
computational model was developed in LS-DYNA which can be used to further investigate the
behavior of various layups and rivet configurations.
Sponsor: The Boeing Company

MEM-23
DESIGN FOR DEVELOPMENT IN THAILAND

Advisor:
Dr. Alexander Moseson

Team:
Magid Bdeir

Emmanuel Georganas
Jorye Gross

Mande Keita


Hannah Olin

Graphic Design
Nicholas Padovani
Biomedical Engineering

For 700 years, the 30,000 people of Bo Klua Thailand have subsisted on rice grown by hand on
steep, rocky slopes. Growing enough rice is challenging and traditional methods of farming often
lead to chronic musculoskeletal pain. The 2011-2012 Drexel Thai Harvest team addressed these
issues by developing a sustainable ergonomic weeding tool. Through a rigorous Technology
Seeding product design process, farmer participation was integral to creating a functioning tool
and an open-source pictorial manual and poster. The tool, similar in form to a planter earlier
developed by the program, reduces pain by at least 50% while maintaining traditional efficiency
levels. The design relies on affordable materials and capabilities available in northeast Thailand.
More importantly, the manual and poster empower farmers to design, adapt, build, and control the
technology.

MEM-24
ENHANCEMENT OF FLAPPING MICRO AERIAL VEHICLE

Advisor:
Dr. Min Jun Kim

Team:
Woo Jin Bak

Timothy Garbarino
Thomas Hayden

Joseph Parente

Mark Zebley


The goal of this project was to redesign and enhance a biologically inspired flapping-wing micro
aerial vehicle created by previous senior design teams. The inspiration for the design comes from
the Allomyrina Dichotoma, a beetle typically found in Eastern Asia. This insect was chosen for its
ability to hover as well as fly forward; it is also beneficial since it is approximately the same size as
a typical micro aerial vehicle, thus no scaling is necessary. The final design is a dual motor
platform to allow for the control of the wings independently of one another. The motors are
attached to a crank mechanism for the wings. 100% of the requirements for a micro
classification were met, and 50% of the requirements for a nano classification were met. Flapper
performance was analyzed using particle image velocimetry and high speed video. Controlled
flight was beyond the scope of this project.

MEM-25
DETECTION OF LEAKY PIPES IN WATER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK AND METHOD TO
REPAIR USING A TRAVELING ROBOT (C)

Advisor:
Dr. Young Cho

Team:
Michael Dougherty
Bryan Jenkins


Ryan Jones

Michael Loftus

William Rasmussen

Water loss is a huge issue in major cities all over the world. Of all the treated drinking water that
enters the distribution pipes, 20-40% of it is lost due to leaks. In order to help remedy this
problem we have designed a means to locate the leaks within a threshold of 6 inches. The average
leak in a water main with a pressure of 60 psi emits sound frequencies between 50 and 200 hertz.
Using this information we set the high and low pass filters to remove all ambient noises simulated
by the frequencies outside this range. With the use of a hydrophone and high and low pass filters,
we can find the source of a sound within the desired threshold.

MEM-26
AUTOMATED NETWORKED TRANSPORT SWARM (ANTS) HARDWARE PROTOTYPE
DEVELOPMENT

Advisor:
Dr. John Lacontora

Team:
Jeffrey Stabb

Evan Rosen

Darrin Scardelli


Cheng-hua Wang


Aboard Aircraft Carriers a significant portion of the crew is utilized to transport weapons
throughout the ship. The objective of the Automated Networked Transport Swarm (ANTS)
Hardware Capstone is to design and build a prototype to assist in the transport of weapons within
an Aircraft Carrier, focusing on an inexpensive and modular design. The ANT must be capable of
transporting assembled weapons through the physical obstructions within the ship. Through
numerous design iterations, with input from the end users and stakeholders, this project has
resulted in a conversion kit for the existing weapons mover, the MHU-191 skid with the kit
containing everything needed to transform the MHU-191 into a self-motorized, human steered
skid. The project has culminated in a prototype that demonstrates the core requirements of this
project; namely, weapons payload, locomotion, safe operation, and a modular inexpensive design
to assist the sailors in weapons movement.
Sponsor: NAVAIR
Acknowledgments: NAVSEA Code 972; Baldor; Precision Systems

MEM-27
VIRTUAL WESTERN BLOT LABORATORY FOR PROTEIN DETECTION

Advisor:
Dr. Alisa Morss Clyne

Team:
Sezin Alagoz

Christopher Chin
Michael Heffner

Sean Lavery

Christopher McManus

The Western Blot experiment is a useful tool in a variety of tests which include HIV identification.
The experiments educational value in the classroom and laboratory is significant as it
demonstrates several important processes including the separation of cell proteins by gel
electrophoresis. The objective of this project is to focus on the development of a virtual lab for a
Western Blot experiment while reducing cost, time, and maintaining education value. A
mechanical system was designed that incorporates band formation, separation, transfer, analysis,
and detection similarly to an actual Western Blot while eliminating the high cost and lengthy time
associated with performing an experiment. A series of experiments and calculations that test
various properties of ferrofluids and magnets were performed to identify critical components of
the virtual lab. Utilizing the collected experimental data, the analyzed results, and the critical
components, a mechanical device was designed, fabricated, and tested.
MEM-28
Nd:YAG PULSED LASER SYSTEM ENCLOSURE

Advisor:
Dr. David Miller

Team:
Joshua Gonzalez

Patrick Nolan

Vincent Pappert

Timothy Schlindwein

The Nd:YAG Pulsed Laser System Enclosure senior design team will design a solid structure
capable of containing and controlling the temperature and humidity of the Pulsar Laser System
equipment in the Hess building lab. The modular structure will be conceptualized utilizing
computer automated design programming. After load and structural testing has been successfully
completed, final drawings will be used to build the physical unit. Once the unit has been
completed, a thermal analysis with an integrated HVAC unit will determine that the environmental
goals of the equipment have been met. Deliverables for the project include the fully functional
structure and data backed proposals for HVAC unit selection.

MEM-29
ENGINEERED FLAGELLAR FOREST FOR OPTOFLUIDIC SENSORS

Advisor:
Dr. Min Jun Kim

Team:
Gabriel Graves

Rory LaRocca

Joshua Lehman

Setu Saxena


This project involves the harvesting and culturing of flagella from the bacteria Salmonella to use as
a biomechanical sensor. Flagella are biological proteins that aid in cellular movement and can
sense and detect differences in a chemical environment. We observed and gauged how the flagella
structure responds to changing environments by arranging the flagella in a highly concentrated
forest array upon a silicon surface. Results were obtained using a fluorescent microscope, which
detects the difference in light intensity before and after the environment has changed. We have
developed a fully functional flagella forest that is able to sense and react to changes in its chemical
environment. With this prototype, we hope to advance the field of biomechanics by introducing a
new class of biological sensor. Since these sensors are meant be calibrated to each respective
medium that they are designed to detect, the possibilities of its applications are virtually endless.

MEM-30
NOVEL CLASSROOM MECHANICAL TESTING DEVICE USING DIGITAL IMAGE CORRELATION

Advisors: Dr. Antonios Kontsos, Dr. Richard Knight, (MSE)

Team:
Hashir Ahmad

Venkat Iyer

Materials Science & Engineering
John ODriscoll

Materials Science & Engineering
Mary Potvin


The objective of this Senior Design Project is to design an educational lab product that would be
able to perform uniaxial mechanical tests incorporating Digital Image Correlation (DIC)
technology. DIC provides continuous in-situ strain measurements, as well as information about
crack propagation, identification of high strain areas, and allows for a real time strain map of the
materials surface. We propose to use DIC to provide visual data of changes associated with
deformation and damage progression (i.e. necking, crack growth), as well as in-plane
measurements of axial and shear strains. In addition to a prototype of such a product, the team
will design the educational material needed to demonstrate the theory, use and post-processing of
the results of such an innovative design, which is further expected to create an academic standard
for educational and training purposes. The deliverable will be a working prototype of the
proposed device.

MEM-32
AN IMPROVED GROWING ROD FOR THE TREATMENT OF EARLY ONSET SCOLIOSIS

Advisor:
Dr. Sorin Siegler

Team:
Claudia Hill

Christopher Judd
Thomas Mayer


Early-onset scoliosis is a rare and progressive spine deformity that presents with abnormal
sagittal-plane curvature of the spine and is generally diagnosed by age five. If left untreated, it can
result in a variety of painful disorders, severe deformities, and in some cases, morbidity. Most
existing treatments are not applicable to young patients as their spines are still growing. While
there are growing rod systems available, they require semiannual surgeries in which the rods are
manually elongated. The objective of this project is to design a growing rod system that
drastically reduces the number of surgical procedures required relative to comparable systems.
While other implant systems have limitations regarding patient ambulation and preservation of
spinal anatomy, our design aims to solve these problems while offering similar deformity
correction. The new system was designed, validated, and manufactured based on extensive
research and finite element analysis.
Acknowledgements: Sawbones, Dr. John Caggiano

MEM-101
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF WINDLESS 'WIND TUNNEL' FOR SPACE APPLICATION

Advisor:
Dr. Suk Jin Kang

Team:
Will Burns

Scott Edwards

Scott Holden

Steve Rehn


Satellites have been around for decades and have been providing very useful information about
earth and beyond. As technology advanced, satellites have been getting smaller and more efficient
at collecting data. They have been also playing an ever increasing role at lower altitudes.
However, at very low earth orbit, the atmosphere behaves more like individual particles than like
a fluid. Due to these conditions, regular wind tunnels cannot be used to test the aerodynamics of
the satellite.
The objective of this project was to design, build, and test a windless wind tunnel for the use of
testing very low earth orbit satellites. Its design is based on conservation of momentum and
shoots small plastic balls at the satellite to deliver an equivalent amount of momentum transfer.
The resulting drag coefficient values were compared to ones determined from computer
simulations and were found to be true. Final verification will occur when Drexel's Dragon-Sat 2
satellite is launched and compared against other satellites in space.

MEM-102
POCKET DRIVER

Advisors:
Dr. Roger Marino, Dr. Jin Kang

Team:
Brett Mainor

Markand Patel

Timothy Perry

Xavier Santos


The Pocket Driver is a modified version of the normal screwdriver. It features multiple
screwdriver bits that are easily accessible. The simple design of the Driver allows for one-handed
operation, portability, and ease of use for a wide range of potential customers- from craftsmen to
hobbyists. Our group will be involved in every aspect of the design process, including sketching,
prototype fabrication, testing, manufacturing, environmental impacts, and patent approval. We
plan to design the Driver using fracture analysis, based on CAD drawings and detailed sketches,
for optimal performance. It will be fabricated using inexpensive metals and plastic to allow for a
low production cost, but will be sturdy enough to endure consistent use.
Sponsor - James Tarmin Engineer

MEM-103
THE CLEVER LEVER

Advisor:
Dr. Roger Marino

Team:
Valerie Cavanaugh
Kris Karbach
Scott Reithmeier
Joe Scafisi

The main objective of The Clever Lever was to develop a creative solution to help people clear
their properties of the snow during the winter season. Advantages of the design allow the user to
move more snow per shovel pass and require much less physical work and stress to perform the
task. The Clever Lever design allows the user to move the shovel in all normal degrees needed to
pick up the snow and drop it where desired. Through testing and research this device was proven
strong enough to move even the heaviest snow in a convenient manner for the user as well as be
easy for users of all ages and sizes. The design was altered, improved, and evolved to provide all of
the desired advantages and capabilities and is easy to use and durable.

MSE-01
AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE PREFERENTIAL GRAIN ORIENTATION ATTACK OF SLIP
BANDS IN ALUMINUM LITHIUM ALLOYS

Advisor:
Dr. Mitra Taheri

Team:
Grady Bentzel

Materials Science and Engineering

A form of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in aluminum lithium alloys, termed slip band corrosion
by Alcoa, has been observed to lead to preferential attack of certain grains. Samples were provided
by Alcoa, and corrosion was induced using a solution of 5.7 % sodium chloride in water with an
added 1% hydrogen peroxide, according to ASTM G110. A study was conducted by taking
scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electron backscatter detection (EBSD) images of the
corroded areas within Al-Li samples with varying aging treatments. By using orientation imaging
microscopy (OIM) analysis software, the orientations of the attacked grains was determined.
Transmission electron microscope images were captured of precipitates forming on the slip
bands. Through a thorough analysis of these images, the cause of the corrosion was determined.

MSE-02
TUNING THE BANDGAP OF LA1-X SRX FEO3 SEMICONDUCTORS

Advisor:
Dr. Steven May

Team:
Spencer L Dustin


Lanthanum ferrite (LFO) is an orthorhombic perovskite oxide semiconductor; strontium ferrite
(SFO) is a metallic conductive perovskite. Substituting strontium in LFO directly changes the
optical properties, primarily the bandgap. Because LSFO does not have any rare or toxic
elements and the bandgap can be tuned to the ideal 1.1-1.3 eV, it may be a photovoltaic candidate.
LSFO films were grown using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) with varying compositions and
growth parameters. The films optical properties were determined using ellipsometry. To extract
the optical properties and bandgap, FilmWizardTM was used to fit the ellipsometry data. An
annealing study was performed on doped samples; each sample was oxygen annealed for 4 hours
at 650 C. It was found that the growth pressure and annealing of LFO did not affect the optical
properties in as-grown films. The addition of strontium did not change the bandgap of as-grown
films, however, annealing significantly decreased the bandgap.

MSE-03
ANALYSIS OF THERMOMECHANICAL PROCESSING OF AA5083 FOR CORROSION RESISTANCE

Advisor: Dr. Mitra Taheri

Team:
Joseph Hsieh


The 5xxx series of aluminum alloys are widely used in the marine industry because they are
weldable, have moderate strength, light weight, and offer good corrosion resistance. It is known,
however, that a sensitization effect can occur in 5xxx series Al, resulting in the formation of -
phase precipitates (Al3Mg2) at the grain boundaries. These precipitates are susceptible to
corrosion, which can ultimately lead to stress corrosion cracking. Thermomechanical processing
has been shown to play a role in reducing the degree of sensitization in marine applications for
AA5083-H116, which could extend the materials service life. AA5083 is an aluminum-magnesium
alloy containing 4-4.9 % Mg, as well as other insoluble elements and is non-heat treatable, with its
strength resulting from solid solution hardening, dispersion hardening, and work hardening.
Because thermal mechanical processing affects these attributes, it is important to understand the
role that strain reduction and annealing have upon AA5083 to maximize the benefit of the
thermomechanical processing.

MSE-04 (listed as well as MEM-30)
NOVEL CLASSROOM MECHANICAL TESTING DEVICE USING DIGITAL IMAGE CORRELATION

Advisors: Dr. Antonios Kontsos (MEM); Dr. Antonios Zavaliangos; Dr. Vasileios Nasis

Team:
Hashir Ahmad

Venkat Iyer

John ODriscoll

Mary Potvin


The objective was to design an educational laboratory product able to perform uniaxial
mechanical tests while incorporating Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technology. DIC provides
continuous in-situ strain measurements, as well as information about crack propagation,
identification of high strain areas, and allows for a real-time strain map of the material surface. It
was proposed to use DIC to provide visual data of changes associated with deformation and
damage progression (e.g. necking, crack growth), as well as in-plane measurements of axial and
shear strains. In addition to a prototype product, the educational materials needed to demonstrate
the theory are also being designed, including use and post-processing of the results, which is
further expected to create an academic standard for educational and training purposes.
Sponsor: Trilion Optical Test Systems

MSE-05
COPPER AND LEAD DETECTION UTILIZING FURAN-MODIFIED CHITOSAN THIN FILMS

Advisor:
Dr. Caroline Schauer

Team:
Kristoffer Jones


The ability to detect heavy metal ions such as lead and copper is of particular importance due to
their well-documented environmental hazards and detrimental health effects. Metal pollutants
often find their way into the surrounding environment due to improper disposal of materials and
are unfortunate remnants of industrialization. While detection does not directly reduce what is
already present, it provides a way to monitor the current status. Chitosan, the de-acetylated
derivative of chitin, is a naturally occurring polysaccharide that has been utilized to create thin
films. Chitosan is an attractive polymer due to its selectivity and sensitivity to heavy metal ions in
solution. Chitosan was selected for modification and investigation because of its abundance and
renewability. Furthermore, chitosan has been proven in various experiments to be a known
chelator of metal ions and exhibits thickness changes and color changes (frequency shifts) when
exposed to metal ions. The viability of a furan-modified chitosan and its potential sensitivity and
selectivity is being assessed.

MSE-06
AFM STUDY OF MODEL SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELL CATHODES

Advisor:
Dr. Steven May

Team:
Drew Konrady


Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have been studied for decades and have finally started to be used
commercially. They are very stable, more efficient than combustion engines, and emit less harmful
by-products. One aspect being focused on is the degradation occurring at the cathode/ electrolyte
interface. Due to the size of normal cells it is difficult to determine the cause of the degradation or
where the reactions begin. The interface has thus been scaled down to the nanometer scale to gain
greater control over the environment and to pinpoint what causes the degradation and determine
what might be done to slow or prevent it. Films of Lanthanum Manganate, a common cathode
material, were grown on Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) substrates of three different orientations,
a common electrolyte material. Operating conditions were modeled and each sample was
analyzed using atomic force microscopy (AFM) at different time points to characterize the extent
of the degradation.

MSE-07
PEROVSKITE OXIDE ETCHING CHARACTERISTICS

Advisor:
Dr. Steven May

Team:
Max Levy


It is expected that various nano-devices will be fabricated from perovskite oxides. A fundamental
step in the processing of nano-devices is patterning and etching. The etching process for
perovskite oxides must thus be developed in order to realize commercial production of these new
nano-devices. Smooth substrate surfaces terminated with a single atomic plane are essential for
perfecting the epitaxial growth of transition metal oxide films. In order to determine the
processing procedures required to develop perovskite devices this work investigated the etching
characteristics of various wet etch processes on perovskite films. Additionally the combination of
chemical etching and thermal annealing was investigated to achieve single termination. Samples
produced to investigate these goals have been examined via atomic force microscopy (AFM) to
determine etch rates and roughness, respectively, and to define the required procedures.

MSE-08
THIN FILM COLOR DETECTION OF GLUTARALDEHYDE

Advisor:
Team:
Daniel Stewart


Glutaraldehyde is the leading cause of occupational asthma. However, there are no current
techniques to detect glutaraldehyde in real-time without the use of expensive laboratory
equipment. In this work, a colorimetric polymer thin film sensor has been designed to change
color in the presence of glutaraldehyde vapors. Using poly(allyl amine) as the colorimetric base of
the sensor, thin films were tested at different glutaraldehyde concentrations and time points.
Sponsor: MetPro

MSE-09
ALGINATE BASED FOAMS FOR THE PURPOSE OF CREATING SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
MATERIALS

Advisor:

Team:
Ebony Thompson

Polystyrene foam, commonly referred to as StyrofoamTM, has negative health and environmental
effects. Studies have shown that polystyrene can take up to 70 years to biodegrade in a landfill and
has been reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen. These problems would be eliminated
by creating a foam from alginate, a non-toxic natural polymer.
The goal of this project was to successfully design and create sodium alginate based foam building
materials, with compression strengths and insulation properties comparable to those of
polystyrene, in order to functionally replace polystyrene building materials.
The project seeks to create a comparable alginate foam by optimizing the alginate concentration in
solution and type of crosslinker used. These factors have been explored via a series of
experiments.

BME-01
DESIGN OF AN EEG HEADBAND FOR DAILY IN-HOME USE OF THE P300 BRAIN-COMPUTER
INTERFACE

Advisors:
Dr. Hasan Ayaz, Dr. Terry Heiman-Patterson, DUCOM

Team:
Sean Dowd

Lauren Scull


Sherri Swayne

Laura Toth

ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that causes progressive paralysis, locked-in state, and death
from respiratory failure within 2-5 years. The P300 Brain Computer Interface (BCI) was
developed in order to enable patients in a locked-in state to communicate via EEG waves.
However, the current EEG cap of the P300 BCI system is difficult to setup, use, and maintain,
causing distress for both the caregiver and ALS patient. Here we present a newly designed three
component system for use with the P300 BCI, which includes a two-tiered flexible thermoplastic
headband allowing for accurate electrode placement and maintenance of contact pressure, an
updated electrode montage, and an adapter to a biosignal amplifier. The newly designed system
has a predicted EEG recording accuracy of 94%, which is within 1% of the accuracy range of the
current cap. We anticipate that the P300 headband will greatly ease the use of this system while
still maintaining acceptable P300 recording accuracy and overall patient comfort.

BME-02
EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF HIGH IMPACT LOADING ON INTERVERTEBRAL DISC

Advisor:
Dr. Michele Marcolongo, MSE; David Jamison IV

Team:
James Havrilla

Mir Hussain

Sneha Patel

Daniel Visco


Low back pain in U.S. Navy high speed boat (HSB) operators is more prevalent than in the general
population. This is a result of the harsh loading conditions that are experienced in these boats.
Previous experimental models have been unable to replicate high impact loads in a laboratory
setting, which would allow a better understanding of the effects of these loads on the
intervertebral disc and begin to provide a connection to the high incidence of low back pain
amongst HSB operators. There are three main aims of the solution. First, signal processing of the
collected accelerometer data in HSB which is required for data input into the available
servohydraulic testing machine. This will mimic the HSB impact loads on the spine. The other
objectives allow measurements during the loads and therefore allow observation of biomechanical
changes. The measurements are intradiscal pressure and displacement of the disc. This will be
done using a pressure transducer and an extensometer placed at the last disc.

BME-03
DISTRIBUTED PRESSURE INSERT DEVICE FOR RIGID CERVICAL COLLARS

Advisor:
Dr. Fred Allen

Team:
Maureen Campbell
Peter Gallo

Bianca Pulido

Kelly Sanger

Olga Zielinska

The current method of treatment for neck pathologies is wearing a rigid cervical collar, which
causes pressure sores in 55% of patients. Pressure sores result in varying degrees of skin
breakdown costing up to $30,000 in additional medical care. Pressure applied by the collars can
be 107 mmHg in the peak pressure hot spots around the chin and occipital bones. In order to
reduce the pressure in these areas, a soft insert was designed that allows for the contact force on
the skin to be more widely distributed along the area of the collar. The goal is to reduce the
pressure on the contact area to 21mmHg, a threshold for skin irritation, in order to decrease the
risk of pressure sores. The insert accommodates the most commonly utilized cervical collars, the
Miami J and Philadelphia Collar. Customized fit to the collars with the largest sales will reach the
broadest target market for the product. Introducing the device to the cervical collar community
projects to lower the frequency of pressure sores and its associated health care costs.

BME-04
DESIGN OF IMPROVED SUCTION CATHETER FOR THE REMOVAL OF PARTICULATE MATTER
AND LIQUID PRIOR TO EMERGENCY INTUBATION

Advisor:
Dr. Kenneth A Barbee

Team:
Zahra Ahmed

Peter DAntonio

Elise Krogman

Katelynn Montgomery

In emergency airway management, fast and effective intubations are critical in preventing serious
complications. Patients receiving emergency intubations often lack neurological reflexes putting
them at risk for aspiration, mucosal damage and even hypoxemia. Aspiration occurs in 4% to 20%
of emergency intubations and can result in mortality rates as high as 70%. Clogging of the suction
catheter by particulate matter is the major cause of suction failure, leading to increased
evacuation times. Therefore, there is a need for a device that can fully remove obstructing
materials and accompanying liquid in an appropriate amount of time while counteracting
clogging. The improved design should be able to clear the oropharyngeal cavity of particles up to
0.25 inches in diameter and fluid with viscosity ranging from 1-14 centipoise, in less than 15
seconds. Our prototype outperforms the current clinical standard of the Yankauer in terms of
clearance times. In addition, the increased ability of the device to suction larger particulate matter
addresses a recognized need in the current clinical setting.

BME-05
INSTRUMENT FOR EVALUATION OF AFFINITY CHROMATOGRAPHY SUBSTRATE FOR
ANTIBODY PURIFICATION

Advisor:
Dr. Dianne Rothstein

Team:
Sean Eyler
Adam Kozakov

Bhanu Trehan
Colin Valentis Biomedical Engineering

Monoclonal Antibody (mab) Purification is a crucial process in the production of several drugs
that are currently available on the commercial market. This process allows for the separation of
antibodies from a stock solution in which it is grown, thus allowing them to be purified for the
production of pharmaceuticals. It is estimated that the purification process accounts for 80% of
the manufacturing costs. In addition, it is projected that there will be a significant increase in the
number of antibody based therapies in the coming years. The purpose of this project was to create
a low-cost purification method which will allow for comparison between the performances of
different Protein A infused substrates. The performance metrics taken into account are the flow
rate at which the substrate performs optimally and the Dynamic Binding Capacity (DBC) of the
substrate. Using these metrics, different substrates were compared to determine the efficiency of
each along with its ability to be scaled up for manufacturing purposes.
Sponsor: Prime Synthesis Inc

BME-07
IN VITRO 3D MODEL OF TUMOR CELL COMPRESSION

Advisor:
Dr. Adrian Shieh

Team:
Dmytro Kyryliouk Biomedical Engineering
Alicia Morgano

Poonam Sharma
Phillip Tomezsko Biomedical Engineering

The effect of compressive strain on the tumor microenvironment is a growing area of cancer
research that merits more study. There is a need for a cost-effective, live cell microscopy in vitro
research tool that applies compressive deformation to a 3D gel containing cancer cells. The device
must apply a range (0-50%) of deformation to a 3D gel in a chambered cover glass slide. The
design must be biocompatible and maintain cell culture pH. It must fit within the Leica DMI6000B
microscope stage area without obstructing the light path, allow for 200l of gel and cell volume,
and for controls and experimental samples. The prototype is manufactured from stainless steel
316 and aluminum. It interfaces with the slide by fitting on the side of the well, and includes a
platen moved by turning a marked thimble that applies deformation to the gel. The design
includes a custom aluminum microscope stage adaptor and an acrylic lid to maintain the culture
environment over a 48 hour testing period.

BME-08
A SUPPORT DEVICE FOR PATIENTS WITH CLASS IV AND V CEREBRAL PALSY

Advisors: Dr. Sri Balasubramanian, Megan Schaefer (CHOP)

Team:
Vanessa Lin

Sneha Narasimhan
Tara Stebelski

Jacqueline White

Class IV and V cerebral palsy (CP) patients exhibit a decreased ability in head and neck control
which hinders daily activities. For instance, classroom learning and wheelchair-assisted mobility
becomes difficult when a patients head is in an anatomically neutral position. Currently, the
commonly used tilt-in-space wheelchair modifications are primarily used to keep the patients
airways open, and less so to address the line of vision issue. Neck braces used to treat CP patients
have static designs which prevent any form of rotational and flexion-extension movement. The
goal of this design is to restore the CP patients head to an anatomically neutral position and allow
for rotational movement of 120 degrees. The prototype is constructed primarily of ABS plastic
material and weighs less than 3 lbs. Other features of the design include spring-loaded pistons and
a roller bearing assisted track.

BME-09
BIO-INSPIRED MUSSEL ADHESIVE ELECTRODE COATING FOR DRUG DELIVERY
APPLICATIONS

Advisors:
Dr. Yinghui Zhong

Team:
Paul Chialastri

Marko Dimiskovski

Yogin Dixit

Dave Forney


The insertion of chronic neural electrodes can lead to the activation of the immune system, which
is characterized by the formation of nonconconductive glial scars. This negatively impacts the
functionality of the electrode and eventually necessitates replacement. Neural electrodes are
made of many types of different surface materials. Furthermore, layer-by-layer techniques can be
applied, which release anti-inflammatory drugs to extend the life of the implanted electrode.
Current layer-by-layer techniques are unable to attach to the majority of modern neural electrode
surface materials. For this reason, there is a demand for a layer-by-layer design capable of
adhering to multiple electrode surfaces.
Our group aims to implement an additional layer that can adhere to multiple electrode surfaces as
well as the layer-by-layer, anti-inflammatory release system.

BME-10
MICROFUIDIC DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR A BIOCHIP POINT OF CARE DIAGNOSTIC DEVICE

Advisors: Dr. Ryszard Lec, Dr. Johann deSa, Dr. Qiliang Zhang

Team:
Jeremy Bauknight Biomedical Engineering
Joshua Ho

Lea Landsmann
Chris Zachariah

Incorporating lab-on-a-chip into point of care devices has become increasingly prevalent in
medical diagnosis. These systems provide the possibility of rapid test time, inexpensive
production, low sample volume requirements, automation and consistent reproducibility. The
team aimed to incorporate a previously designed biochip into a two part reusable microfluidic
delivery system that will pump a sample over the biochip to promote antigen-antibody binding. To
make a lab-on-a-chip diagnostic system viable in patient settings, the permanent pumping system
must be separated from the disposable cartridge which contains the sample and the biochip. This
disposable cartridge system will utilize a diaphragm pump check valve system to flow appropriate
solutions or solvents across machined channels. The system will be able to pump from two
different reservoirs individually.

BME- 11
NON-VIRAL GENE THERAPY USING ZINC SELENIDE QUANTUM DOTS

Advisors: Dr. Wan Shih, Dr. Wei-Heng Shih (MSE)

Team:
Neenu Baby

Arpit Gandhi

Shruti Karambelkar
Ashley Twitty


Researchers are currently investigating various non-viral approaches for gene therapy
transfections that could deliver the potential benefits of gene therapy without its side effects and
risks associated in using viral vectors. While some of the current research mechanisms deal with
use of lipoparticles, gene gun, cationic polymers such as Polyethyl eneimine(PEI)s as non-viral
methods of gene delivery, most of them face the challenge of low transfection efficiencies
compared to the viral methods or possess cytotoxicity issues preventing them from being applied
in living tissues. The team focused on developing a non-viral gene carrier using non-cytotoxic
complex of Zinc- Selenide quantum dots capped with 3- mercapto-trimethoxy silane (MPS)
attached to Polyethyleneimine (PEI)s vectors. The overall size of the carrier designed is less than
30 nm in order to pass through the nuclear pores successfully.

BME-12
A B-TCP/RESORBABLE MESH BONE VOID FILLER WITH INCREASED STRENGTH FOR
IRREGULAR BONE VOID DEFORMITIES

Advisor:
Dr. Margaret Wheatley

Team:
Kenny Furdella

Jordan Gorczynski

Cathleen Kerr

Erica Louie


Abnormally shaped bone voids caused by bone cysts cannot be treated with current pre-shaped
bone void fillers (BVF). BVFs with the ability to fill abnormal shapes have no strength. The team
aimed to design a fully synthetic BVF to fill abnormal bone defects with adequate strength to avoid
dissociation and fill the needs of sponsor, Kensey Nash Corporation. The device is composed of B-
TCP, a variety of polymers, and a resorbable mesh. It must have tensile strength of 312Newtons to
mimic the pull out strength of the hand and 80% porosity to allow the filler to be compressed
during implantation. The device is manufactured in a long rectangular mold in order to allow the
BVF to be coiled into abnormal defects. It will be validated using tensile testing procedures as well
as reinsertion procedures. The new BVF will allow for a stronger product and better healing for
bone void patients.

BME-13
EVALUATION OF CELL ADHERENCE/INFILTRATION OF CERAMIC BONE GRAFT
SUBSTITUTES USING A MODIFIED DIRECT-PERFUSION BIOREACTOR

Advisor:
Dr. Margaret Wheatley

Team:
Joseph Bilikiewicz
Drew Clearfield

Dmitry Dymarsky
Sonny Sheth


Annually, many orthopedic device companies develop numerous formulations of synthetic bone
graft substitutes. These grafts are tested in vitro, for cell response, using static conditions or
dynamic culture systems, particularly direct perfusion bioreactors, which are more accurate.
However, commercially available bioreactors are only able to deliver one media flow rate,
preventing the simultaneous evaluation of grafts with different physical properties, e.g., porosity
and pore size. The team sought to develop a direct perfusion bioreactor that is able to deliver two
different flow rates to samples with varying pore sizes. This will induce similar shear stresses on
the cells within the scaffold, thereby improving accuracy of the observed cell response. A dual-
pump system was designed to provide two different flow rates to 6 scaffolds in series. Ideally, this
prototype will show greater cell infiltration of the scaffolds and greater osteoblast activity than
static three-dimensional culture. Once perfected, this design could improve the accuracy and
efficiency of in vitro evaluation of orthopedic materials.
Sponsor: Stryker Orthobiologics; Ted Clineff, Marissa Darmoc, Stephen McIhenny, Kristi Reuss, Jordan Sangerman

BME-14
APPLICATION OF QUANTUM DOT BASED ACTIVATABLE MOLECULAR PROBES FOR
VISUALIZATION OF AREAS WITH MMP2 ACTIVITY

Advisor:
Dr. Wan Y. Shih

Team:
Gaelle Hector

Regina Lee

Meghal Patel

Max Shestov

Tulu Tekmen


Cancer is an overgrowing problem and current detection and visualization methods are slow and often
have trouble distinguishing the boundary between healthy and cancerous tissue. As such surgical
intervention can leave in cancerous tissue or remove healthy tissue. We propose a proof of concept for
a quantum dot (QD) based activatable molecular probe that will enable better visualization of tissue
areas with specific cancer markers. In our design the targeted cancer marker is Matrix
Metalloproteinase-II (MMP2). The criteria for this proof of concept is a fluorescence contrast ratio of
2:1 between normal and cancerous tissue, and an intensity of 500,000 1/s for high visibility. The
prototype will consist of 3 major elements which are the quantum dots, the Dark Quencher and the
cleavable peptide. The QD and the quencher are held in close proximity by the uncleaved peptide, thus
blocking the the QD emissions. When the cleavable peptide is cleaved by MMP2, QD is free to fluoresce
thus providing live visualization of the cancerous tissue. The functionality of the probe will be
measured by the analysis of fluorescence and the quenching efficiency.

BME-15
3-D TISSUE ENDOMETRIUM MODEL FOR STUDYING BLASTOCYST IMPLANTATION
MECHANICS

Advisors: Dr. Michele Marcolongo (MSE), Rob Yucha

Team:
Paige M. Bailey
Kritika Katiyar
Weili Ma
Joseph Mathew
Helly Shah

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a medical treatment for women who are considered infertile or have
trouble conceiving. Although it is a common procedure today, the rate of successful attachment of the
blastocyst to the endometrium remains below 50%. The cause of low success rates has been
pinpointed to problems in the attachment of the blastocyst to the uterine wall. Initial attachment of the
blastocyst depends on the binding between the L-selectin protein on the blastocyst and its sialyl lewis
x (sLex) sulfated ligand on the endometrial layer of the uterine wall. An in-vitro 3D model of the
endometrium that mimics both physical and biochemical properties of the natural tissue is proposed.
The primary objective is to develop a model in which sLex expression levels on the surface of Ishikawa
human endometrial carcinoma cells can be modulated in order to study binding mechanics. This was
done by culturing Ishikawa cells with RL-929 fibroblast cells to mimic the bilayer structure of the
endometrium and produce a 3D model to allow for future blastocyst attachment studies.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA 19104
3141 CHESTNUT STREET
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DREXEL UNIVERSITY

2012 SR Design Booklet

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2012 SR Design Booklet

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D R E X E L

S ENIOR D ESIGN PROJECTS 2012

SCHULYKILL RIVER TRAIL CROSSING AT GRAYS FERRY AVENUE

WASTE TRAP GREASE TO BIODIESEL

KHR-4 HUBO FLEXIBLE TORSO

Sponsor: Trilion Optical Test Systems

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA 19104

3141 CHESTNUT STREET

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