Innovative Projects Realized

Development of Artificial Intelligence Algorithms For Improved Correlation of Sensor Responses to Ore Grade

The benefit of ore sorting is rejecting waste material prior to downstream processing. This results in reducing material handling costs and environmental liability, lowering energy consumption, and feeding more consistent and higher ore grades to the concentrator. Sorting allows for a lower cost bulk mining method resulting in lowering the cut-off grade and increasing the resource size. Despite the potential benefits, sorting is not widely applied due to barriers in the current technology. These relate to limited ability of sensors to discriminate between barren rock and valuable rock, and the low throughput capacity of available industrial machines. This project aims improve the use of sensors by developing an advanced AI algorithm applied in sensors to increase the throughput capacity of the sorter. In addition, a pilot scale sorter would be set up based on the advanced algorithm to validate the performance.

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 real-time voltage control and transmission loss minimization. The proposed method will be implemented in Enbala’s industrial control platform – Symphony Control, and will be tested using OPAL-RT real-time simulator in UBCO power lab. It is expected that the proposed real-time voltage control method will improve voltage quality and grid efficiency when large-scale non-dispatchable renewable energy, e.g. solar and winding generations, are integrated in power distribution grids. The research and development efforts will help Enbala maintaining its leadership in distributed energy resource management and smart grid technologies.

Investigation of Future Footprint Scenario Modeling Approaches in the Peace River Break

The Peace River Break in northeastern British Columbia is an important ecological connection along the Rocky Mountains. The region has a long and rich history of use and occupancy by Indigenous Peoples. In addition to being known for high agricultural, recreation, and tourism values, there is also a lot of industrial economic activity, particularly, forestry, mining and energy. With multiple large-scale resource development projects proposed or underway, the Peace River Break is under significant stress and conservation opportunities are limited. The purpose of this project is to investigate methods to model the future human footprint for the Peace River Break to help inform analysis of the conservation need in the area and land use planning.

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 will develop a schedule tool applicable to Structurlam’s facility and production process. The tool will provide the optimum wood panel production sequence. The project will also assess Structurlam‘s production methods, and suggest potential improvements. The scheduling tool will be in the form of a generalizable model, which can be used in similar facilities.

Improving Visibility Testing in Terrain Navigation

In this project, the intern will be tasked with improving the visibility testing algorithms in a

commercial simulation software product. In the software, a large number of entities (such as

military forces or emergency response personnel, including vehicles and people) are moving

around on a two-dimensional map. The inter-entity visibility (that is, which entities are visible

by any given entity) is crucial to the decision-making in the simulation, but the current solution

employed by the software is too time-consuming. The intern will explore and implement more

efficient algorithms for visibility testing. The expected benefit to the partner organization is

faster simulation speed.

Development of a single photon detector with a femtosecond time gate.

Quantum interference is the reason why we see an interference pattern in Young’s double-slit experiment even when sending a stream of single particles (photons, electrons, neutrons, etc.). It is also closely linked to quantum decoherence, one of the biggest issues currently holding back quantum computers. IPL is investigating Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) processes related to quantum interference using high intensity lasers. To this end, IPL is currently developing an extremely sensitive light detector capable of counting individual photons (light particles). The project’s two main objectives are first, to finish the design and testing of a preliminary version of the detector, and second, to integrate this preliminary version into an engineering prototype. This state of the art detection system will uniquely position IPL in the competitive optical characterization market.

Connections and Engagement Survey Analysis and Dissemination Project

The Connections and Engagement Survey Breakdown Project will provide a deeper understanding of relevant community health issues in the Metro Vancouver area by studying various elements associated with civic engagement and citizen participation. Using data collected by the Vancouver Foundation, this project will produce several reports on key issues of neighbourhood and community well-being and engagement and several reports pertaining to the engagement profiles of various cities in the region. This research will be publicly available and will inform future decisions made by the Vancouver Foundation and possibly other institutions in the region.

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 the beam configuration, fiber dosage, prestressing level, longitudinal reinforcement ratio, type of reinforcement (Glass, Carbon and Basalt FRP with and without pre-stressing) and type of concrete (light-and normal-weight concrete; fiber-reinforced concrete; ultra high-performance concrete). The experimental results will be the concrete strain, bar strain, crack width, curvature, and mid-span deflection. The mode of failure will be monitored throughout the load history. These results will be assessed with the available recommendations on the North-America’s codes and guidelines (ACI 440.1R-15 and CSA S806-12). TO BE CONT’D

An ethical evaluation of HIV dried-blood spot testing in research and access to results for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in Canada

Sex Now is a community-based health survey for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) in Canada. The next round of Sex Now will be conducted at LGBTQ Pride events in 8 Canadian cities and participants will be asked to provide small blood spot samples for HIV testing. This will majorly impact our understanding of HIV prevalence and prevention across the country, but, since this is the first time the Sex Now team is doing HIV testing as part of its survey, there are serious ethical concerns around how to give participants access to their test results and how best to follow-up with people who have a positive test result. Working with the Community-Based Research Centre for Gay Men’s Health, the intern will develop a way to give HIV test results to participants in Sex Now and evaluate its practicality in the research world.

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 development of research information that addresses the concerns of build designers. In this project the three technical concerns are floor diaphragm action, vertical shrinkage of building and floor vibration performance. An expected outcome of the project is the publication of a technical report that provides guidance on the use of PinkWood wood I-joists in mid-rise construction, thereby help fulfilling the market penetration objective of the company.

Milieux de vie en santé – À vos ruelles vertes

L’objectif général du projet est d’analyser la contribution des citoyens dans l’adaptation des milieux de vie en contexte de transformation de l’action publique et de l’action collective. Le projet s’intéresse particulièrement au contexte des ruelles privées de Québec et aux communautés de citoyens qui travaillent ensemble pour verdir et aménager leur milieu. Dans le cadre du projet À vos ruelles vertes de Nature Québec, le stage permettra à l’organisme de consolider les leviers d’une bonne mobilisation citoyenne. Les notions acquises seront transférables à plus grande échelle, dans le programme d’adaptation aux changements climatiques et de lutte aux îlots de chaleur Milieux de vie en santé.

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 the low pressure, volumetrically efficient, hydrogen storage solution.