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The goals of minimizing emissions and lowering operating costs by monitoring and controlling fuel efficiency have been a growing concern in the mining and construction industries. The largest single contributor of energy consumption in an open pit mining operation is haul trucks. At Goldstrike Mine, haul trucks accounted for approximately 67% of fuel used in 2010. By examining haul trucks in their operating environment, strategic changes in critical parts of the truck cycles can result in fuel savings. This project was a subproject of the Mine Traffic Optimization (MTO) project and is funded by MITACS and Barrick Gold Corporation. One objective of the MTO project was to examine how mine traffic affects fuel efficiency. Certain components of the haulage profile result in inefficient use of fuel, which results in increased operating costs and a larger environmental footprint. Monitoring the trucks in real time allows for the examination of various ways to modify truck’s behaviours in order to improve fuel efficiency. One critical component of the haulage cycle is intersections. An analysis was performed to gain a better understanding of efficient intersection layouts and travel speeds. Cycle time analysis was conducted to ensure that alterations to the haulage cycle would result in minimal impact to the overall productivity of the mine. Modifications to operating practices and simple coding changes to the dispatching program suggest possibilities for potential fuel savings, reduced mechanical degradation, and improved operation efficiency. / Thesis (Master, Mining Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-30 19:22:29.328

Biology is a good source of analogies for engineering design. One approach of retrieving biological analogies is to perform keyword searches on natural-language sources such as books, journals, etc. A challenge in retrieving information from natural-language sources is the potential requirement to process a large number of search results. This thesis describes two methods on improving the relevancy of the search results. The first method is inserting metadata such as part- of-speech, word sense and lexicographical data for each word in a natural-language. The second method is categorizing the search results, using WordNet relationships and Wikipedia structures as ontologies. Although this research is still exploratory, initial qualitative observations demonstrate successful identification and separation of biological phenomena relevant to either desired functions or desired qualities. The benefits of embedding metadata are demonstrated through a case study on the redesign of a fuel cell bipolar plate. A prototype was constructed with ability to passively prevent prolonged catastrophic flooding.

Biology is a good source of analogies for engineering design. One approach of retrieving biological analogies is to perform keyword searches on natural-language sources such as books, journals, etc. A challenge in retrieving information from natural-language sources is the potential requirement to process a large number of search results. This thesis describes two methods on improving the relevancy of the search results. The first method is inserting metadata such as part- of-speech, word sense and lexicographical data for each word in a natural-language. The second method is categorizing the search results, using WordNet relationships and Wikipedia structures as ontologies. Although this research is still exploratory, initial qualitative observations demonstrate successful identification and separation of biological phenomena relevant to either desired functions or desired qualities. The benefits of embedding metadata are demonstrated through a case study on the redesign of a fuel cell bipolar plate. A prototype was constructed with ability to passively prevent prolonged catastrophic flooding.

The proton exchange membrane is one key component of direct methanol fuel cells, which has double functions of conducting protons, separating fuels and oxidant. At present, the performance and price of sulfonic acid proton exchange membrane used in direct methanol fuel cells are deeply concerned. In order to reduce membrane 's cost and improve performance of Nafion membrane, three different kinds of membranes have been studied in this thesis. These membranes are SPEEK membranes, SPEEK/ZP composite membranes and Nafion/ZP composite membranes.

<p>Catalysts play an essential role in nearly every chemical production process. Platinum supported on high surface area carbon substrates (Pt/C) is one of the promising candidates as an electrocatalyst in low temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cells. Developing the activity of the Pt/C catalyst with narrow Pt particle size distribution and good dispersion has been a main concern in current research.</p> <p><br /> In this study, the main objective was the development and characterization of inexpensive and effective nanophase Pt/C electrocatalysts. A set of modified Pt/C electrocatalysts with high electrochemical activity and low loading of noble metal was prepared by the impregnation-reduction method in this research. The four home-made catalysts synthesized by different treatments conditions were characterized by several techniques such as EDS, TEM, XRD, AAS, TGA, BET and CV.</p> <p><br /> Pt electrocatalysts supported on acid treatment Vulcan XC-72 electrocatalysts were produced successfully. The results showed that Pt particle sizes of Pt/C (PrOH)x catalysts between 2.45 and 2.81nm were obtained with homogeneous dispersion, which were more uniform than the commercial Pt/C (JM) catalyst. In the electrochemical activity tests, ORR was confirmed as a structure-sensitive reaction. The Pt/C (PrOH/pH2.5) showed promising results during chemically-active surface area investigation, which compared well with that of the commercial standard Johnson Matthey Pt/C catalyst. The active surface area of Pt/C (PrOH/pH2.5) at 17.98m2/g, was higher than that of the commercial catalyst (17.22 m2/g ) under the conditions applied. In a CV electrochemical activity test of Pt/C catalysts using a Fe2+/Fe3+ mediator system study, Pt/C (PrOH/pH2.5) (67mA/cm2) also showed promise as a catalyst as the current density is comparable to that of the commercial Pt/C (JM) (62mA/cm2).</p> <p><br /> A remarkable achievement was attained in this study: the electrocatalyst Pt supported on CNTs was synthesized effectively. This method resulted in the smallest Pt particle size 2.15nm. In the electrochemically-active surface area study, the Pt/CNT exhibited a significantly greater active surface area (27.03 m2/g) and higher current density (100 mA/cm2) in the Fe2+/Fe3+ electrochemical mediator system than the other home-made Pt/C catalysts, as well as being significantly higher than the commercial Pt/C (JM) catalysts. Pt/CNT catalyst produced the best electrochemical activities in both H2SO4 and K4[Fe(CN)6] electrolytes. As a result of the characteristics of Pt/CNT, it can be deduced that the Pt/CNT is the best electrocatalyst prepared in this study and has great potential for use in fuel cell applications.</p>

<p>For a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), the proton exchange membrane must conduct protons and be a good methanol barrier. In addition to the high methanol permeability achieved by these membranes, they are very expensive and contribute greatly to theoverall cost of fuel cell set up. The high cost of the DMFC components is one of the main issues preventing its commercialization. The main objective of this study was thus to produce highly proton conductive membranes that are cheap to manufacture and have low methanol permeability.</p>

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