Browsing by Author "Weissbach, Robert S."

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    Collaborating With Writing Centers on Interdisciplinary Peer Tutor Training to Improve Writing Support for Engineering Students
    (IEEE, 2018-01) Weissbach, Robert S.; Pflueger, Ruth C.; Engineering Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
    Introduction: Faculty members have little time and usually lack expertise to provide writing feedback on lab reports. Sending students to a writing center, an existing resource on virtually all college campuses, could fill that gap. However, the majority of peer writing tutors are in nontechnical majors, and little research exists on training them to provide support for engineering students. Research question: Can peer writing tutors without technical backgrounds be trained to provide effective feedback to engineering students? About the case: Previously, sending students to the writing center was ineffective. The students did not see the value, and the tutors did not feel capable of providing feedback to them. To remedy this situation, an interdisciplinary training method was developed collaboratively by an engineering professor and the writing center director. Situating the case: Researchers have suggested that effective writing center help for engineering students is possible, and the authors have designed an interdisciplinary training method that has produced positive results. Supporting literature includes the use of generalist tutors, writing in the disciplines, genre theory, and knowledge transfer. Methods/approach: This was a three-year experiential project conducted in a junior-level engineering course. The assignment, a lab report, remained the same. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from students and tutors. Results/discussion: Tutor feedback and student satisfaction significantly improved. However, a few students who were satisfied overall still expressed interest in having their reports reviewed by a tutor with a technical background. Conclusions: Interdisciplinary tutor training can improve the feedback of peer writing tutors, providing support for faculty efforts to improve student writing. The method requires minimal faculty time and capitalizes on existing resources.
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    Correlation of Cloud Based Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations to Wind Tunnel Test Results for a NASCAR XFINITY Series Vehicle
    (2018-04-25) Catranis, Daniel; Borme, Andrew; Goodman, David W.; Weissbach, Robert S.
    The cost of setting up and maintaining a high performance computing cluster for large scale CFD usage is too expensive for many smaller motorsport organizations, and so the turn to cloud based computing resources is an attractive one. Cloud based computing centers allow users access to a shared computing cluster and charge based on the amount of resources used by each account. Efficient use of a cloud based computing center necessitates optimizing the CFD simulations to maximize accuracy and minimize cost due to the charge structure in place. This paper attempts to optimize steady state RANS simulations through systematically altering the refinement settings within the simulation mesh. These simulations are conducted using OpenFOAM on two NASCAR XFINITY Series vehicles and are validated using wind tunnel data. The effects of mesh refinement near the surface of the model and the refinement level within a bounding box around the vehicle on the aerodynamic forces of the vehicle are studied and related to the cost of running each simulation. A more computationally intensive transient simulation was also conducted and was not found to have a significant influence on the accuracy of the results beyond that of the steady state simulations.
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    Magnetic Levitation System: Senior Project Report
    (2021-05-05) Martin, Cody A.; Snyder, Zachary S.; Weissbach, Robert S.
    This magnetic levitation system is designed to levitate a steel ball using an electromagnet suspended above it. The project was sponsored by Dr. Robert Weissbach, Chair of the Department of Engineering Technology at the Purdue School of Engineering Technology at IUPUI. This project was undertaken by undergraduate students Cody Martin and Zachary Snyder. This magnetic levitation system uses closed loop control with a digital controller to accomplish levitation.
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    Quasi Self-Excited DFIG-Based Wind Energy Conversion System
    (IEEE Xplore, 2021-05) Akbari, Rasoul; Izadian, Afshin; Weissbach, Robert S.; Engineering Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
    This article introduces a new configuration of the doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind energy conversion system (WECS) employing only a reduced-size rotor side converter (RSC) in tandem with a supercapacitor. In the proposed structure, the grid side converter (GSC) utilized in conventional DFIG-based WECSs is successfully eliminated. This is accomplished by employing the hydraulic transmission system (HTS) as a continuously variable and shaft decoupling transmission unit. This transforms the conventional constant-ratio drives by providing an opportunity to control the power flow through the generator's rotor circuit regardless of the wind turbine's shaft speed. This feature of HTS can be utilized to control the RSC power and ultimately regulate the supercapacitor voltage without a need for GSC. The proposed system is investigated and simulated in MATLAB Simulink at various wind speeds to validate the results and demonstrate the dynamic performance of the system.