The program evaluators (PEVs) for our accreditation process will be with us from Sunday, October 20, 2013, through Tuesday, October 22, 2013. During this time they will be in and around the ABE building, but will also be tending to other duties across campus. Please make them feel welcome!

ABET serves as the accrediting body for the American Society for Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) and conducts a review of our degrees every six years. The purpose of this review is to ensure that we are succeeding in educating agricultural and biological engineers for the future. The accreditation adds value to the undergraduate degrees and also serves as a constant feedback loop to assist us in continually improving our programs.

The Indiana Biomass Energy Working Group will hold a session on October 15. The morning session will be held at Caterpillar, focusing on the biogas generator systems, and the afternoon session will be at the Throckmorton Purdue Ag Center (TPAC) south of town to visit bioenergy grass research demonstrations and harvesting. Questions or RSVP to Chad Martin, Renewable Energy Extension Specialist

In the crossroads of the United States we face economic and environmental struggles that are reflections of national and global problems, but nevertheless unique to our region.  We believe developing a strategy to confront these challenges at the regional level is key to securing a prosperous future. The strategy must be bold enough to do our part in solving national problems, yet grounded enough to preserve the resources and values of our region. Capturing Resilience is a summit to bring together leaders from government, industry, agriculture, and academia to begin the regional conversation to draft and implement this strategy.

Registration is free and open to the public:

http://www.gradschool.purdue.edu/ese/symposium/registration.cfm

Isaac Emery (PhD), "Direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from biomass storage: Implications for life cycle assessment of biofuels" September 18, 2013, 3:00 pm Lilly Hall 2-425 (Mosier)

Yan Jiang (MS), "Estimation of Watershed Nitrate Loads on Drained Agricultural Lands" September 25, 2013, 10:00 am ABE 301 (Frankenberger)

It is not too late to register for the Purdue Student Soybean Product Innovation Competition!

Check out the web page at:  https://engineering.purdue.edu/ABE/AcadmicsCompetitions/index_html for additional information and to register.  If you don’t have a team but wish to participate, register as an individual and we will try to find you a team.

The purpose of these competitions is to encourage students to exercise their knowledge and skills in creating new industrial products from soybeans.  The first place team will win $20,000 with the runner-up earning $10,000!  All teams who complete the competition will receive a nice completion award (last year’s completion award was a mini iPad).

Maha Abroad

Several Maha team members, including Drs. Ivantysynova and Vacca, are attending the ASME/Bath Symposium on Fluid Power and Motion Control in Sarasota, FL. The conference has been held every year alternating between Bath, UK, and US cities since 2009. This year, the conference was organized for the first time by the ASME Fluid Power Division with Dr. Monika Ivantysynova as chair of the organizing committee.

PhD students Andrew Schenk and Marco Zecchi, will present on “Accurate Prediction of Axial Piston Machine Performance through a Thermo-Elasto-Hydrodynamic Simulation Model”.

Sujan Dhar (PhD student) will present “A Novel Fluid-Structure-Thermal Interaction Model for the Analysis of Lateral Lubricating Gap Flow in External Gear Machines”. He will also present this research at the CCEFP conference explained below.

Ram Sudarsan (PhD student) will also represent Dr. Vacca’s team on “Design Potentials of External Gear Machines with Asymmetric Tooth Profiles”. He will also present on Variable Displacement Gear Machines for the CCEFP conference.

Finally, for the PhD Symposium, Naseem Daher is sharing “System Synthesis and Controller Design of a Novel Pump Controlled Steer-by-Wire System Employing Modern Control Techniques” (see the Maha in the News section for related information).

Additionally, ASME is also partnered this year with the NSF Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP); The CCEFP scheduled their annual conference to follow the Symposium in Sarasota.

Ashley Wondergem and Dan Mizell (PhD students) will present in the CCEFP poster competition on “The Impact of the Surface Shape of the Piston on Power Losses Along with the Aid of a Newly Developed Thermal Model” and “Effects of Material and Wear on Piston / Cylinder Performance”, respectively.

Enrique Busquets (PhD student) is presenting on “Pump Switching and Prognostics for Displacement Controlled Multi-Actuator Hydraulic Hybrid Machines”, a key project development in making hydraulic machinery more efficient.

Finally, Natalie Spencer (Master’s student) will present a main breakthrough in the 1B.1 CCEFP project regarding the successful thermal model developed which predicts outlet and case temperature in axial piston machines from known inlet conditions. This model is the only one of its kind and was created by principal investigators Marco Zecchi and Dr. Ivantysynova.

Maha in the News

Dr. Ivantysynova, Naseem Daher (PhD student), and Anthony Franklin (Lab Manager) were featured in a Product Design & Development article last month which discusses valve-less steering technology and control schemes used to increase efficiency and reduce fuel consumption. The article can be viewed at the following link:

http://www.pddnet.com/news/2013/09/steering-tech-heavy-equipment-saves-fuel-ups-efficiency

Mouse and Human Islets Survive and Function After Coating by Biosilicification. Jaroch DB, Lu J, Madangopal R, Stull ND, Stensberg M, Shi J, Kahn JL, Herrera-Perez R, Zeitchek M, Sturgis J, Robinson JP, Yoder MC, Porterfield DM, Mirmira RG, Rickus JL.Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Sep 3. [Epub ahead of print]