The project consists of research into a technology that overcomes the shortcomings and deficiencies of the existing pain detection device. This approach modifies and improves pain detecting instruments by adding more intelligence and advanced designing techniques to the existing instrument. The existing design has too much wear & tear of the probe sensor, so our aim of the project is to overcome it by providing a disposable and replaceable probe. For this various moldings techniques, flexible circuit technology would be experimented and researched.

Pacific Coast Terminals (in Port Moody, BC) is a highly-automated terminal for the transshipment of bulk materials from railcars to cargo ships. A rotary dumper empties the bulk material in the railcars by tipping their contents onto a conveyor system, in preparation for subsequent shipment. The dumper requires three people for operation: the dumper operator remotely controls the positioning of the railcars from an operator’s cab, and two switchmen serve to break and couple the railcars on adjacent incoming and outgoing tracks.

In another project directed by Carmanah, the engineering intern devised a strategy that would maximize the operating efficiency of the LEDs over the life of the product they were integrated into. The net effect would be to maintain a brightness that complies to the end user's expectations while broadening the number of sites the product can be deployed into. With better operating efficiencies, it would be possible to install solar powered marine lanterns at higher and lower latitudes than was previously possible.

Miniaturization and microintegration is well known for their potentials in providing microsystems and sensors with unmatched performance, reliability, and lower costs. Current technologies in implementation of microsensors, however, span a large variety of platforms. It is thus common for microsensors measuring differing parameters to exist on different combinations of substrates, not to even mention the associated signal conditioning, processing, and data communication electronics.

Voltage-source converters (VSC) that use self-commutated valves have been used for such applications as electric motor drives. Recently with the development of switches with high voltage and current ratings, these converters have been considered for high-power transmission as well. This internship with Manitoba Hydro, Manitoba’s major energy utility, aims at developing accurate computer simulation models for DC transmission systems using voltage-source converters.

At the NRC Institute for Biodiagnostics, a developer of non-invasive medical devices and techniques to increase prospects for prevention, earlier diagnosis, improved treatment and prognosis of diseases, a new optical imaging technology is being developed for detecting early dental decay. In collaboration with Dr. Reza Fazel’s group at the University of Manitoba, a suite of image processing and image analysis methods will be developed to extract out clinically relevant parameters from the images.

In an Eastern Canadian paper mill, there are often pitch and wood-related deposits on the processing equipment, in particular, the supercalender rolls. Such problems not only have negative impacts on the product qualities but also on the economical performance due to the increased downtime to clean-up the rolls. It is, therefore, important to minimize or even eliminate deposits in the production process in order to improve the efficiency of operation.

The project with Revolution Engine Corporation, a development stage company striving to commercialize a novel internal combustion engine, will simulate the airflow into and out of the expansion and compression of cylinders of the revolution engine. As a secondary objective the research will model the stresses and temperatures in the engine header through which the air flows. These tasks will require dynamic modelling of the reciprocating pistons and tappet valves. As a result the project will require considerable human expertise and computing resources.

Hydraulic fracturing technology is one of the most used and efficient methods of oil reservoir stimulation. A way to improve this technology is the consequent pumping of several different fluids containing different concentrations of different proppants (solid spherical particles). This project with Schlumberger, one of the largest international companies in oilfield services, aims at developing a mathematical model describing this technology. The numerical model will predict the fluids’ and proppants’ location is reduced to formulating and solving numerically a different equation.

The project is aimed at the development of mathematical models and algorithms to optimize the supply chain network configuration for Dainty Foods, a food processing, packaging and storage company. The partner wants to optimize their current supply chain network through the management of their internal warehouse space and how it relates to external warehousing and cross-docking.