College - Author 1

College of Engineering

Department - Author 1

Biomedical Engineering Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BS in Biomedical Engineering

Date

3-2019

Primary Advisor

Michael Whitt, Christopher Heylman

Abstract/Summary

Carbon dioxide accounts for a large amount of global greenhouse gases released into the environment. Because plastic degradation emits carbon dioxide, there has been interest to investigate how much carbon dioxide various plastics generate as they degrade. We have been tasked to create a dehumidifier and carbon dioxide sensor assembly for an accelerated wear testing apparatus that degrades plastic. Several products and literature currently exist that share similarity with our assembly but have not been manufactured to achieve the same combination of measurements we are expecting of our accelerated wear testing device. The following report shall introduce these products and literatures, highlight customer requirements, detail the design process, and discuss project management for our accelerated wear testing apparatus.

It has been shown with 95% confidence that our sensors output accurate results for CO2, relative humidity, and temperature for the range of values that are expected to be encountered during the course of accelerated age testing of plastics inside a bioreactor. Additionally, it has been confirmed that the dehumidifying chamber can be used to dry a gas sample to a level that is appropriate for the sensors being used within this device.

Next steps for this device include, interfacing with a bioreactor, automation of sampling, a continuous method of drying the desiccant within the dehumidification chamber, along with machined parts to replace rapid prototyped components.

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