Browsing by Author "Dr. Ola L.A. Harrysson, Committee Member"

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    Microwave Sintering of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Materials
    (2008-05-13) Kapoor, Abhishek Surinder; Dr. Denis R. Cormier, Committee Chair; Dr. Ola L.A. Harrysson, Committee Member; Dr. Carl F. Zorowski, Committee Member
    The influence of sintering temperature and hold time on the microstructure of of a microwave sintered LSM-YSZ (lanthanum strontium manganate - yttria stabilized zirconia) cathode has been studied. For experimental purposes, a microwave furnace was designed and fabricated with a closed loop temperature feedback control system. A type R thermocouple was used to provide accurate temperature readings inside the microwave cavity. An Allen Bradley Micrologix PLC was used to control the system. This furnace was used as a test bed for experiments involving the rapid sintering of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) materials. The SOFC specimens were made by depositing LSM-YSZ cathode material onto YSZ-8 electrolyte buttons. The specimens were sintered for a variety of temperatures and hold times. The microstructure obtained through microwave sintering showed equal or better pore size distribution as compared to those obtained through conventional sintering. The sintered structure was found to be less dense and to contain smaller pores as the sintering temperature was reduced to 1100°C or lower. Rapid sintering of SOFC materials has potential advantages in terms of SOFC performance and offers potential energy savings when compared with conventional sintering. This research has demonstrated the feasibility of rapid sintering of porous SOFC materials. The next step is to optimize the microwave sintering schedule with respect to the electrical performance and the long term stability of the SOFC.
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    A Teaching Job Shop Control System with Real-time Inventory Management
    (2005-07-08) Maxwell, Andrew Charles; Dr. Ola L.A. Harrysson, Committee Member; Dr. Peter Bloomfield, Committee Member; Dr. Robert E. Young, Committee Chair
    This thesis presents a teaching job shop control system for running in assembly laboratories at colleges and universities in preparing Industrial Engineering students for challenges faced in real-world factories. Current techniques fail to encompass this idea of training for students like the proposed method does. Microsoft Access was used in creating a database that is the center point in this new system. Inventory is managed using this database system and added if parts are created in the manufacturing lab and moved to the assembly area. The system will stop if parts are low until new parts are created. In this new system, a pallet with an unfinished product on it moves down a conveyor system until it reaches the next workstation. At this station, the station operator scans a barcode on the pallet. This barcode contains what product is on this pallet. Based on this information, an ordered list of tasks appears on the workstation computer screen and must be done before the pallet can be moved on. When all tasks have been completed at a station, the station operator clicks 'done' on the screen and then can either move to the next pallet or end the run. Statistics are kept on the quality of the final products and parts as well as a work-in-process and on a goal percentage of good products out at the end of a one-hour time frame. Administrators will be able to assign tasks and parts to products and stations, as well as be able assign the goal ahead of time.