Month: October 2020

NEW CONSOLE INSTALLED AT U’S TRIGA REACTOR

October 29, 2020

In 1975, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineer at the University of Utah got a TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) Reactor to further research regarding Nuclear Engineering. Since then, the Nuclear Engineering program at the U has collaborated with various entities to conduct research using the reactor.

Faculty within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering received grants to upgrade the reactor systems. Starting in mid-October 2020, the TRIGA’s console was replaced.  “This is a major modification; the system was paid for by a reactor development grant from the Department of Energy awarded in 2017-2018, and required a major design implementation to preserve analog control of all safety related control channels, augmented by digital data and displays.” Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Glenn Sjoden said.

The new reactor console will be installed early November 2020.

CVEEN AND ECE IMPROVE SAFETY OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS WITH NSF AWARD

October 23, 2020

CvEEN Assistant Professor, Abbas Rashidi

In 2018, more than 100 industrial workers died on the job each week, according to the United States Department of Labor. ECE Assistant Professor, Armin Tajalli alongside the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s Abbas Rashidi has been awarded $250,000 from the National Science Foundation to change ECE Assistant Professor, Armin Tajallithat.

The funding from the Partnership for Innovation program will allow these researchers to develop advanced monitoring and tracking electronics systems to enhance the safety of mega-structures and industrial manufacturing workshops.

ECE Assistant Professor, Armin Tajalli

Tajalli and Rashidi will be implementing and empirically testing low-power sensing and communications systems based on the “Internet of Things” principle. The IoT principle refers to a system of internet-connected objects which are able to wirelessly gather and transfer data without the intervention of humans. Collected information will then be processed to evaluate the environmental conditions including position, noise level, and temperature to ensure the safety of the working environment.

Through this process, researchers will also be developing advanced sensing, recognition and tracking algorithms.

“The final aim of this project is to enhance the quality and safety of workers in industrial Environments,” Tajalli said. They are also hoping that this research will lead to an industrial product.

 

 

Original Story from ECE Website