Live Line Maintenance and Inspection Robotics Manipulation

This project aims at working closely with Manitoba Hydro, to examine existing techniques and further develop new tools that allow remote access to live transmission lines equipment that cannot be out of service. More specifically, we aim to employ robots to partially substitute for, and work cooperatively with, crew directed at service interruption free maintenance […]

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Mobile Robotic Platform for Autonomous Data Collection on Large Complex Construction Projects

Autonomous data collection on construction sites has increasing potential to replace manual surveying methods, which are expensive, non-scalable, and potentially dangerous for the workers involved. In the proposed research the intern will work with industry partners Veerum and Clearpath Robotics to advance the technology which is needed to conduct autonomous data collection on large construction […]

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New graphene thermoplastics nanocomposites with improved mechanical, electrical properties and EMI shielding effectiveness

In a prior project, promising results were obtained showing the possibility of using graphene/polymer composites as advanced materials having superior properties than the conventional carbon black loaded polymers. The composites obtained presented electrical conductivities with values of about 10-2 S/m when the percolation threshold was exceeded, an increase of more than 12 orders of magnitude […]

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Characterization and Strength of New High-Strength GFRP Bent Bars by Developing New Testing Protocol

Corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete structures caused by aggressive environment in northern climates compromises the structure’s integrity and threatens the public safety. In Canada, the estimated infrastructure maintenance due to steel corrosion was approximately 57 billion dollars, while in Québec the infrastructure maintenance in 2014 amounted $1018.8 million dollars. The use of glass-fiber-reinforced polymer […]

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Hydrogen Storage and Fuel Cell for UAV Integration

The joint objective of the consortium is to undertake R&D necessary to produce a scalable, cost-effective combined hydrogen storage and fuel cell solution for UAV’s that addresses weight and volume and improves refueling logistics. The novel hydrogen storage system will be combined with a high-power density optimized fuel cell stack for UAV’s that integrates with […]

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Investigation of Wood I-joists for Floor Applications in Mid-rise Wood Construction

PinkWood Ltd of Calgary is the largest wood I-joist producer in Western Canada. To-date it has been supplying primarily to the low-rise residential construction market. With the increased interest in mid-rise wood buildings up to 6 storeys, PinkWood is interested in expanding into this market segment. Penetrating into this non-traditional market segment will require the […]

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Design and Testing of Innovative Precast Concrete I-Beams using FRP Reinforcement and Fibre-Reinforced Concrete

This research addresses the feasibility of using FRP reinforcement in concrete beams taking into consideration the effect of fiber dosage and prestressing level in order to enhance the structural performance, time efficiency and optimised-cost. Full-scale precast concrete I-beams will be tested as simple beams to determine their flexural and shear capacity. The test parameters include […]

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Innovative solutions for industrial process management: Process efficiency and delivery sequence improvement for CLT products at Structurlam

Structurlam, a construction-wood products manufacturer located in Penticton, BC, needs to optimize their cross-laminated panels production line, aiming to increase machinery productivity, and minimize time and unnecessary shuffling of finished panels. The purpose of this project is to define equations and rules representing the production process of wood panel to enhance the productivity. The researchers […]

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Research and development of real-time voltage control and loss minimization method in power distribution grids using micro-PMU and distributed reactive power generation

Enbala Power Networks Inc., a Canadian leader in distributed energy resource management, and the University of British Columbia, Okanagan have teamed up to develop real-time voltage control and loss minimization method for power distribution grids integrating large-scale renewable energy sources. The proposed method uses micro-Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) and distributed reactive power control to achieve […]

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