On April 28th, 2017, the UConn School of Engineering held it’s 2017 Senior Design Demonstration Day. The Senior Design Demonstration Day allows for seniors in the UConn School of Engineering to present on projects that were given to them from various leading manufacturing companies, pharmaceutical and medical firms, consulting practices and utilities. These projects often pose a problem that students are required to research and analyze on. From this students then create alternative solutions in which they design or refine a particular device or method. Two CTNSBE members won first place with their groups in their respected categories. Ahmed Sugulleh in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Isaiah Williams in Environmental Engineering.
Ahmed Sugulleh’s group project was for a Smartwatch-like Device and Apps for Continuous Glucose Monitoring. The project was sponsored by Biorasis. Below is a short description of the project:
“This project utilizes the TinyCircuits Smartwatch kit to create a compact, energy-efficient design. The watch connects to a user’s phone over Bluetooth Low Energy to keep time and display phone notifications. Furthermore, a Kalman filter is used to process the frequency measurements to reduce noise and yield realtime blood glucose values. The firmware also monitors the user’s blood glucose and other parameters to produce alerts and alarms to indicate dangerous glucose levels or potentially harmful trends. The Kalman algorithm will need to be calibrated about once every 12 hours to improve estimation accuracy. Therefore, diabetic patients using this device can monitor their blood glucose continuously with only two finger-prick calibration tests a day. Eventually, this device could be used for closed-loop insulin control by interfacing it with an insulin pump.”
Isaiah Williams’ group project was for an Anaerobic Digestion of Bio-solids at Waterbury Wastewater Treatment Plant. The project was sponsored by the Waterbury Pollution Control. Below is a short description of the project:
“The University of Connecticut Department of Environmental Engineering senior design group is currently working with the Town of Waterbury to design upgrades in the Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF) located at 210 Municipal Rd. Waterbury, CT. The plant has a treatment capacity of 27 MGD municipal wastewater, but averages near 16 MGD. The wastewater treatment process consists of primary sedimentation, aeration tanks, secondary sedimentation and disinfection. Currently, the sludge produced are disposed of at a nearby incineration operation, however mounting costs, new regulatory requirements, and lack of environmental sustainability have forced plant staff to search for alternative solids handling methods. The WWTP is seeking our proposal for the installation of a new anaerobic digestion system and complimentary fuel cell array to offset increasing electric costs and eliminate the need for expensive incineration. Waterbury has plans to employ four 460 KW Doosan PureCell® model 400 fuel cells implemented by October 2017. Our design will give the Water Pollution Control Facility a basis of what to look into when deciding on a digester.”
Congratulations again to Isaiah Williams and Ahmed Sugulleh on their achievements!
CT•NSBE 