Thesis (Ph.D.)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: John Papapolymerou; Committee Chair: Manos Tentzeris; Committee Member: Gordon Stuber; Committee Member: John Cressler; Committee Member: John Z. Zhang; Committee Member: Joy Laskar

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: William D Hunt; Committee Member: Bruno Frazier; Committee Member: Dale Edmondson; Committee Member: Marie Csete; Committee Member: Peter Edmonson; Committee Member: Ruth O'Regan

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Electrical and Computer Engineering." Includes bibliographical references (p. 150-157).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Electrical and Computer Engineering." Includes bibliographical references (p. 142-149).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xvii, 169 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-155).

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-143). Also available via World Wide Web.

M.Ing. / The aim of Spoornet is to provide a minimise predictable service. In order to provide a predictable service, it is necessary to move trains safely and effectively from the place of departure to their destination. The keywords here are safely and effectively. Although support functions such as infrastructure and train control procedures are vital in moving the train, the train or rolling stock as it is generally known, warrants some attention. Defects on the rolling stock are very costly to Spoornet. This is mainly due to the fact that a defect on the rolling stock that goes undetected can cause damage to the rolling stock and the infrastructure. This damage can eventually lead to derailments. Considering that a derailment can cost Spoornet millions of rand and cause delays to the services, it is only logical to spend time preventing derailments. It is for this reason that a workgroup was formed to investigate and solve the problem of defects causing derailments and delays by developing an early warning system. The need for an integrated train condition monitoring system became apparent when considering an early warning system. The objectives of the integrated train condition monitoring system are to provide train condition information to different users, and alarms on detection of emergency or dangerous conditions. Various train defects that may cause damage or derailments were identified. One of them being a flat wheel on a rail vehicle. A flat wheel is characterised by the flattening of the wheel on one or more positions on its circumference, so that the wheel does not have an even and completely round profile. Flat wheels are mostly caused by the wheels of a vehicle becoming locked during braking, and sliding along the rail track. The friction created by this action grinds a flat spot on the wheel. The flat wheel leads to a decline in the riding quality of the rolling stock and a rise in the levels of vibration and noise is evident. But more importantly, the flat spot causes the wheel to roll unevenly, creating impacts on the rail on some points. It is these impacts that can cause damage to the rail and the rolling stock. Depending on the length of the flat spot, the vehicle type and speed, the stresses may be sufficient to cause final failure of the rail or initiate fatigue cracks in the rail. Severe flat wheels are a safety hazard and can in some cases, cause derailments and consequent delays to trains. Smaller flat spots contribute to track deterioration and so increase maintenance costs by damaging the rails, sleepers and ballast. Flat wheels can thus be very costly to Spoornet and its public image. In addition to safety and economic considerations, wheel flats reduce the comfort levels in the passenger coaches and the noises they make is annoying. In an attempt to restrict the damage caused by flat wheels, most railway administrations place a limit on the length of the flats that may stay in service. But to effectively find a flat wheel on rolling stock is currently a very expensive exercise. Flat wheels can be detected by an audible knocking sound when standing next to the rail. This sound is impossible for the driver to hear and therefore goes undetected. Normally flat wheels are detected by random inspection of the rolling stock or when they are brought in for a routine service. The service cycle on rolling stock can be up to 24 months in Spoornet. Considering that a flat wheel has an impact roughly every 3m, a serious flat generates roughly 160 000 impacts on a single trip on the coal heavy haul export line. It is therefore clear that a flat wheel can cause a considerable amount of damage between service cycles. The severity of the problem is however not accurately defined in Spoornet, because up to a few months ago there was no detection system in use to determine the distribution of flat wheels. The research department of the Deutsche Bundesbahn however considers rail fractures due to the flat wheels to be a serious problem with a significant annual replacement cost. There are thus sound safety and economic reasons for wishing to understand the mechanisms of flat wheels and to develop an early warning system using an automatic detector.

No description available.

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices are a solution for today’s ever growing need for passive wireless sensors. Orthogonal frequency coding (OFC) together with time division multiplexing (TDM) provides a large number of codes and coding algorithms producing devices that have excellent collision properties. Novel SAW noise-like re- flector (NLR) structures with pulse position modulation (PPM) are shown to exhibit good auto- and cross-correlation, and anti-collision properties. Multi-track, multi-transducer approaches yield devices with adjustable input impedances and enhanced collision properties for OFC TDM SAW sensor devices. Each track-transducer is designed for optimum performance for loss, coding, and chip reflectivity. Experimental results and theoretical predictions confirm a constant Q for SAW transducers for a given operational bandwidth, independent of device and transducer embodiment. Results on these new NLR SAW structures and devices along with a new novel 915 MHz transceiver based on a software radio approach was designed, built, and analyzed. Passive wireless SAW temperature sensors were interrogated and demodulated in a spread spectrum correlator system using a new adaptive filter. The first-ever SAW OFC four-sensor operation was demonstrated at a distance of 1 meter and a single sensor was shown to operate up to 3 meters. Comments on future work and directions are also presented

The concept of a compact sound source driven by piezoactuators is experimentally investigated, and analytical design tools are developed. The sound source, consisting of a thin, cylindrically curved aluminum panel and a pair of collocated, surface-bonded piezoceramic actuators, was developed with the objective of employing it as a secondary sound source in the active control of turbofan blade interaction inlet noise. The sound source was fitted in an experimental duct representative of an aircraft engine inlet, and the interior and exterior sound pressure levels generated by the source were measured. The effects of excitation voltage, excitation frequency, duct length, and downstream termination of the duct were investigated. It was found that the source is capable of generating relatively high acoustic levels at its fundamental frequency (over 130 dB at maximum voltage input). Techniques for analytically predicting the acoustic levels are investigated. A commercial code for numerical modeling of structural-acoustic radiation was utilized. Results show generally good agreement with experimental measurements for the case of the short duct. It is believed that the model accuracy can be further improved through additional refinements in the modeling techniques. / Master of Science