News

Low-income families spend 3 times more of their income on energy than the average family. What's being done to reduce these costs? A Purdue team, including Jim Braun (director of the Center for High Performance Buildings) is working on a solution that reduces these energy costs, while also reducing the environmental footprint of multifamily buildings (which make up a quarter of all housing in the US).

The premier conferences in Compressor Engineering, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, and High-Performance Buildings are coming to Purdue University on July 9-12, 2018. Hear from world-class experts in the field, tour the largest academic HVAC lab in the world, and make connections to people in your field. It's all coming to West Lafayette, Indiana in July 2018, so mark your calendars!

Several Herrick students received awards at Noise-Con 2017, the annual conference of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering held recently in Grand Rapids, MI.

Eckhard Groll was awarded the Peter Ritter von Rittinger International Heat Pump Award 2017. This award recognizes deserving individuals or teams that have distinguished themselves in the advancement of heat pumping technology applications, market development, as well as dissemination activities with lasting international impact. This award is named for Peter Ritter von Rittinger, an Austrian engineer credited with the design and installation of the first practical heat pump system at a salt works in Upper Austria in 1856. The award was given at a ceremony during the banquet of the 12th International Heat Pump Conference in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on May 17th.

Aswin Ramesh, Ph.D. student working with Prof. Greg Shaver, received the Ward A. Lambert Graduate Teaching Fellowship for 2017, which is for ME Doctoral students who have a strong potential and desire for an academic career. The Fellowship gives him the opportunity to teach a class, so he will be teaching a controls class in Fall 2017 under the guidance of Prof. Peter Meckl.

Jelena Paripovic, a Ph.D. student, was awarded the Outstanding Service Scholarship Award through the College of Engineering. This award is presented to engineering graduate students who have provided outstanding service to the graduate student community, the School, the College, and/or the University. She received the award at the CoE Graduate Student Award Luncheon held on April 19, 2017.

Consumer drones can hover and take photos, but they can't physically interact with their environment. The Boomcopter changes that. It's a tri-rotor, with an extra arm and propeller that allows it to move laterally, while performing a task with its arm. It can open doors, flip switches, and attach sensors onto walls -- all autonomously, using an array of sensors and cameras. In dangerous or inaccessible environments, the Boomcopter can perform tasks that would be too risky for humans. David Cappelleri is assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue, working with Ph.D. candidates Daniel McArthur and Arindam Chowdhury at Herrick Labs.

Francesco Danzi, visiting scholar working with Prof. James Gibert on topology optimization smart structure with internal resonance, won a SPIE Student Paper Award at the annual conference recently held in Portland, OR.

Shirley Dyke, Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, and her Post Doc, Chul Min Yeum are the first to combine computer vision and deep-learning technologies for rapid assessment of structural wreckage.

Purdue University is leading part of a national effort to reduce vehicle fuel consumption by 20 percent through automated systems that interconnect cars and trucks. Purdue leads a project focusing on Class 8 trucks (tractor-trailers), and will work with team members Cummins Inc., Peloton Technology, Peterbilt Motors Co., the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and ZF TRW.