National Green Energy challengers
Six YSU students placed second nationally in the 2011 Green Energy Challenge in both their team project presentation and the poster competition, winning a total of $2,800 for their accomplishments.
For the national competition, the team traveled to San Diego in late October as one of three finalist teams to present their project, which involved a full-scale energy audit and upgrade to YSU’s Cafaro House dormitory.
The team beat out several others from Purdue, Texas A&M, Oregon State, Southern Polytechnic University, and more in the initial round of judging in May. It’s the second year in a row that a team from Youngstown State University placed within the top three teams in the nation for the competition.
The 2011 Green Energy Challenge invited student teams to conduct a realistic energy audit of a dormitory at their university. An energy audit is an inspection and analysis of the power a building uses — identifying what electrical systems are using the most energy and determining if there are ways that those systems can operate more efficiently and use less power. This year’s audit included a focus on lighting systems, opportunities for overall dormitory energy efficiency, and student/campus energy awareness.
Based on their energy audit findings, 11 participating student teams submitted in March a preliminary design of an energy retrofit that could include alternative energy sources. Teams also prepared reports of their audit findings and design proposals from the perspective of a design-build contractor.
This year’s team, from left to right, includes:
David Wright (electrical engineering technology), Ethan Parks (electrical engineering technology), Justin Hosseininejad (electrical engineering graduate studies),Jason Nutt (electrical engineering technology), Jarrett Scacchetti (electrical engineering and applied mathematics), and Michael Sammartino (electrical engineering).
Read more on the final round of this year's challenge, and check out the 2010 success below.
· 10-Nov-2011Published work
Department students Ben Detwiler and Geoff Trees are two of several coauthors who published with James J. Carroll, YSU professor of Physics and Astronomy, in Physical Review Letters. The paper is titled "Discovery of highly excited long-lived isomers in neutron-rich hafnium and tantalum isotopes through direct mass measurements" and appears in the October, 2010, issue.
Abstract: "A study of cooled 197Au projectile-fragmentation products has been performed with a storage ring. This has enabled metastable nuclear excitations with energies up to 3 MeV, and half-lives extending to minutes or longer, to be identified in the neutron-rich nuclides 183,184,186Hf and 186,187Ta. The results support the prediction of a strongly favored isomer region near neutron number 116."
· 23-Nov-2010
Brittany Stillwagon
Students win Green Energy contest; advance to nationals
A team of six YSU engineering students competed as a national finalist for the 2010 Green Energy Challenge in Boston on Oct 2, 2010.
The team qualified for the finals by winning the Challenge’s first‑round competition against 12 universities. In the finals, YSU competed against the Milwaukee School of Engineering and last year’s winner, the University of Washington, for an $8,000 award.
“We are thrilled to be selected as a finalist,” said YSU team captain Brittany Stillwagon, who graduated recently with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. “When you consider that we were chosen over such schools as Purdue and Penn State, it reinforces the quality of our education here at YSU.”
Three members of the YSU Green Energy Challenge team stand with Mike Garvey, president of M‑7 Technologies, inside M‑7’s manufacturing facility in Youngstown. From the left are Juren Raske, Chris Barcey, Mike Garvey, and Justin Hosseininejad.
This was the first year YSU entered the Challenge, sponsored by ELECTRI International and the National Electrical Contractors Association.
Other team members included: Chris Barcey, Justin Hosseininejad, and Juren Raske (electrical engineering); David Wright (electrical engineering technology) and Josh Mashburn (civil engineering).
The Challenge required teams to run an energy‑use audit on a local business and create an in‑depth proposal for alternative energy options. The YSU team chose M‑7 Technologies in Youngstown. With only two months to perform the analysis, formulate a plan and prepare a 50‑page submission, the team produced a winning final report that M‑7 Technologies President Mike Garvey called “exciting, informative and extremely well presented.”
For more information, go to the Sept. 17, 2010 YSU e-Update.
· 08-Oct-2010
Capstone work ECEN 4899 May 2009
"Prototypical Power and Control System for an Electrical Vehicle"
J. Ashburn, A. Campbell, D. Cerzosimo, N. McKinney, and J. Stan
Abstract: The purpose of this project is to design a prototypical power and control system for an electric vehicle starting from its theoretical concept to an end-user application. This project will not only test our understanding of the concepts that we have learned throughout our undergraduate studies in the electrical engineering program at Youngstown State University, but also will challenge our abilities to apply what we have learned in a team environment. Lithium ion batteries are used to provide the main system power as well as auxiliary power to two isolated control circuits. In order to reuse the batteries, a charging circuit was designed that has the capability to charge sixteen Lithium ion batteries simultaneously. The control circuit consists of three parts: the variable frequency drive; the inverter circuit and the human interface module. The aforementioned control subsystems were designed individually and integrated into one complete system. The complete system was then successfully implemented by fitting the system onto a cart chassis.
· 16-Oct-2010
Capstone work ECEN 4899 May 2008
"Design of a High Voltage Audio System Incorporating a Plasma Sonic Tesla Coil and Plasma Tweeter"
J. Airhart, A. Foutz, A. Ptichkin, and F. Alshafei
Abstract: The purpose of this project is to design a high voltage audio system which will incorporate a Plasma Sonic Tesla Coil and Plasma Tweeter. The project will serve as an electrical demonstration for potential electrical engineering students, alumni, and administration. The project encompasses the understanding of the group as learned in the undergraduate electrical engineering program and will abide by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers code of ethics. The result will be a distinguished project for professional demonstration to be exhibited by the university.
· 22-Oct-2010 · 10-Nov-2011