PROJECT: Development of Research Station for Novel Electric Machines Design for
Electrified Transportations and Renewable Energy Applications
PI: Maher Al-Badri, Assistant Professor, UAF
In industrialized countries like the U.S. and Canada, electric motors utilize nearly two-thirds of the electricity generated. This is an indication to their significant number and importance in industry. On the other hand, it is an indication to their contribution to the global environmental problem represented by the emission of greenhouse gases and climate change. This negative impact is due to the power loss that is inherent to those machines. This impact becomes more significant by running inefficient motors, especially motors with high power ratings. Actions that can significantly help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and protect ecosystems are to design and manufacture more efficient electric machines, integrate more renewable energy-based electric generators into electric power grids, move towards electrified transportation [1], and most importantly monitor and evaluate electric machine efficiency used in those applications to help make the appropriate decision of whether to repair or replace inefficient machines. Therefore, having a tool which accurately characterizes and evaluates the performance of electric machines is an important part of this monitoring-improvement process. Such a tool is essential to continue research work on improving machine design for electrified transportation, micro-grids and other industrial applications. Hence, the purpose of this project is to establish an infrastructure for quality research on electric machine design for electrified transportation, micro-grids for Alaska remote communities, and other renewable energy applications at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). This includes a test-bench where a dynamometer is mounted to act as a mechanical load coupled to a torque transducer to provide measurements for both applied torque and speed, this setup is necessary to determine the mechanical output power of an electric machine under testing, which is required to accurately determine the efficiency of the electric machine under test. This research tool can also help characterize and thoroughly analyze prototypes of novel electric machines. This project will produce highly qualified personnel to support and sustain Alaska’s industry. This project will also increase the number and broaden the participation of Alaska First Nations undergraduate and graduate students, and students from other underrepresented groups, in research on new technologies and gain quality hands-on experience and skills they need to be equipped with for their future careers.
PROJECT: Pixel Walking: Ground-truth validation of NASA’s MODIS greening estimates in northwest Alaska
PI: Roman dial, Professor, APU
“Pixel walking” is a large-scale (100s to 1000s of km), low-cost method of remote wilderness ground-truthing that addresses questions raised by data collected using sensors on-board NASA’s Landsat and Aqua/Terra satellites (MODIS). The method uses smartphones carried by field workers on month-long expeditions to record geo-located transitions in vegetation classified by changes in canopy and understory. It was developed by Alaska Pacific University faculty and students during May-September 2020 in the Chugach Mountains and Brooks Range in response to an invitation for collaboration by NASA Ames Research Center scientist Christopher Potter.
Because Arctic mountain climates are changing faster than anywhere on earth, vegetation there appears to be “greening” as observed by satellite imagery recording spectral reflectance over the last two-three decades. However, it remains unclear what plant functional groups are involved, because most validation studies rely on field plots on the scale of 100s-1000s of m2, in contrast to satellite scales of 100s-1000s of km2. In Alaska’s remote Arctic mountains, the western Brooks Range—where treeline may be advancing fastest, shrubs expanding most rapidly, and stream chemistry changing most dramatically than elsewhere in the American Arctic—this mismatch of scales requires boots-on-the-ground to connect satellite scenes to on-Earth observations. Having developed pixel-walking after research and development over 100km in the Chugach Mountains and 600km in the Brooks Range last year, we propose a 1000km mega-transect across the western Brooks Range and Noatak basin in 2021. If successful, we will submit a larger, multi-year, multi-personnel proposal to NASA or NSF in 2022 that applies the methodology elsewhere in Alaska.
PROJECT: Space Emergency Medicine: Drug Development at an Inflection Point
PI: Kelly Drew, Professor, UAF
Hypobaric hypoxia that can occur in space and at high altitude results in permanent neuronal damage to the human brain and cognitive deficits that persist even after returning to normoxia. More severe hypoxia can lead to cardiac arrest which produces extreme deficits in oxygen and blood flow to the brain and subsequent death or disability due to brain injury. Astronauts as well as residents of many rural and remote communities across Alaska and other areas of the US have limited access to emergency care where transport to tertiary care facilities can take days to weeks. In consultation with NASA scientist, Dr. Yuri Griko and Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) scientist, Dr. Emmanuel Urquieta we have identified targeted temperature management (TTM) as a medical intervention to develop for space. Targeted temperature management protects the brain from low oxygen by decreasing core body temperature to 32-36°C and is currently standard of care for cardiac arrest patients. Efficacy of TTM after cardiac arrest is limited however by the body’s cold defense response (for example shivering). As a post-doc in Kelly Drew’s laboratory at UAF I optimized a method of blocking the cold-defense response by mimicking the process used by hibernating animals to suppress metabolism and lower body temperature. We have tested this method against the standard of care drugs used after cardiac arrest. Results show better suppression of cold-defense response with more precise control of target body temperature and lower metabolic rate, however, results did not show improved survival after cardiac arrest compared to standard of care. Overall, results did not meet proposed success metrics and instead indicated that additional feasibility-stage work needs to be done. Towards that goal, here I propose to optimize the drug formulation to minimize hemodynamic side effects, and to optimize PID feedback control mechanisms to prevent overcooling and temperature oscillations that may have contributed to poor survival after cardiac arrest. These seed data will support a patent application and enhance feasibility of meeting milestones proposed in an application planned in response to the Biomedical Research Advances for Space Health (BRASH) 2101 solicitation released by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), a NASA partner.
PROJECT: Data-Driven Motion Planning and Control of Planetary Exploration Rovers on Deformable Terrains
PI: Chuan Hu, Assistant Professor, UAF
Hypobaric hypoxia that can occur in space and at high altitude results in permanent neuronal damage to the human brain and cognitive deficits that persist even after returning to normoxia. More severe hypoxia can lead to cardiac arrest which produces extreme deficits in oxygen and blood flow to the brain and subsequent death or disability due to brain injury. Astronauts as well as residents of many rural and remote communities across Alaska and other areas of the US have limited access to emergency care where transport to tertiary care facilities can take days to weeks. In consultation with NASA scientist, Dr. Yuri Griko and Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) scientist, Dr. Emmanuel Urquieta we have identified targeted temperature management (TTM) as a medical intervention to develop for space. Targeted temperature management protects the brain from low oxygen by decreasing core body temperature to 32-36°C and is currently standard of care for cardiac arrest patients. Efficacy of TTM after cardiac arrest is limited however by the body’s cold defense response (for example shivering). As a post-doc in Kelly Drew’s laboratory at UAF I optimized a method of blocking the cold-defense response by mimicking the process used by hibernating animals to suppress metabolism and lower body temperature. We have tested this method against the standard of care drugs used after cardiac arrest. Results show better suppression of cold-defense response with more precise control of target body temperature and lower metabolic rate, however, results did not show improved survival after cardiac arrest compared to standard of care. Overall, results did not meet proposed success metrics and instead indicated that additional feasibility-stage work needs to be done. Towards that goal, here I propose to optimize the drug formulation to minimize hemodynamic side effects, and to optimize PID feedback control mechanisms to prevent overcooling and temperature oscillations that may have contributed to poor survival after cardiac arrest. These seed data will support a patent application and enhance feasibility of meeting milestones proposed in an application planned in response to the Biomedical Research Advances for Space Health (BRASH) 2101 solicitation released by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), a NASA partner.