Innovative Projects Realized

Performance analytics and monitoring in ice-hockey

In professional sports, sustained performance largely depends on having the best players healthy and free of injury. Player testing and monitoring has become a key area of development for many professional teams in order to track players’ health and performance. The purpose of this project is to build on the partner organization’s player monitoring program to identify key sport performance indicators and help in the team’s decision-making process. The project will be implementing new performance and musculoskeletal assessments and combine the results with various on-ice metrics to better understand variations in player’s performance and health status. The ultimate goal is to enhance the team’s performance while keeping the players healthy in order to have a long and successful career.

Analysis of Waste Heat Boilers using Computational Multiphysics

Waste heat boilers provide an important function in many industries, taking hot process flows and cooling them down while at the same time creating valuable steam which can be used to save power in other parts of the plant. This project will use Computational Multiphysics Simulations (CMS) to model the inner workings of these important boilers. CMS uses a mix of theoretical and experimental equations to model real world fluids, particularly how they move, boil, and spread heat. CMS field has seen major advances and adoption in many industries in the past decades helping to make more fuel efficient cars, aeroplanes, electronics, and now in our case, waste heat boilers. These more efficient systems help reduce both costs for the consumer and the carbon footprint of the goods produced, benefiting our wallets and environment.

Développement d’un outil d’analyse technico-économique des modes de restauration et évaluation de l’impact de la végétation sur le bilan d’eau des digues en stériles miniers du parc à résidus de la mine Canadian Malartica

Les mines à ciel ouvert produisent une importante quantité de rejets accumulés sur le site minier en période d’exploitation. Une fois les activités de la mine terminées, le site doit être restauré de manière à ne plus générer de contamination et à être remis dans un état visuellement acceptable. Afin d’assurer une restauration efficace des aires d’accumulation des rejets miniers, la mine Canadian Malartic teste directement sur son site, depuis quelques années, diverses méthodes de restauration pouvant être utilisées. Le stage réalisé sera une combinaison de 2 sous-projets : développer un outil d’analyse technico-économique des méthodes de restauration considérées et/ou testées par la mine Canadian Malartic et faire le suivi de cellules expérimentales mise en place pour évaluer l’effet de la revégétalisation sur le bilan hydrique d’une des aire d’accumulation de rejets à restaurer. TO BE CONT’D

Development of a continuous fluidized bed biomass torrefaction technology

There have been great interests on the utilization of biomass as a potentially renewable and sustainable energy source for greenhouse gas mitigation. In British Columbia and Quebec, abundantly available biomass residues are potential renewable energy sources if effectively utilized. In BC alone, there are estimated 32 million tonne per year of biomass residues available, but only about two million tonnes are made into pellets each year, with majority of them being exported to Europe due to the lack of effective biofuel conversion and pollution control technologies, preventing the development of a sustainable domestic biofuel market.
This proposed project will support our recent efforts in further developing a novel energy-efficient fluidized bed torrefaction process for the production of water-resistant, high energy density and durable torrefied wood pellets for domestic applications in thermal power plants. TO BE CONT’D

La perception du sens au travail chez les milléniaux

Le projet vise à expliquer comment la perception du sens au travail chez les milléniaux agit comme mécanisme d’influence de leurs attentes envers le travail et sur leurs comportements de retrait ou de fidélisation. Une meilleure connaissance quant à ce mécanisme permettra non seulement d’améliorer les pratiques managériales et organisationnelles existantes, mais aussi de développer de nouvelles pratiques mieux adaptées à cette main-d’oeuvre. Pour réaliser le projet, des entretiens semi-directifs seront menés auprès de milléniaux en emploi chez Promutuel Assurances. L’analyse des données en fonction de la théorie ancrée permettra de générer un modèle explicatif.

Synthesis of diamond and diamond-like films

This project is geared towards the development of a cost-effective method to fabricate thin films of carbon materials, such as diamond. The idea is to use solution-based methods coupled to electrochemistry to produce the films. Avenues for the deposition of the film on surfaces of arbitrary shapes will also be explored. Carbon based thin films, such as diamond-like films and conductive diamond films, have extraordinary mechanical and electrical properties that can be explored in several applications, including batteries, chemical sensors, protective coating in microelectronic industry and others. The company intends to commercialize this potential new technology by generating a new line of products and services.

Yielding Brace System for Concentrically Braced Frame Structures

The goal of this research project is the detailed design and optimization of a series of 10 Yielding

Brace System (YBS) connectors that will eventually be made commercially available as a higher

performance, earthquake resistant building system. The intern will design and optimize each

connector, focusing on both the local behaviour of the device, through non-linear finite element stress

analysis, and the global behaviour of the building system as a whole, through non-linear time history

analysis of a sample building. Upon completion of the project the partner organization will have a

series of connectors that will be ready to begin the regulatory approval process and the researchers

will have an enhanced understanding the system behaviour of a building using the YBS as its primary

lateral force resisting system.

Development of Computer Vision-based Intelligent Control System for Drones

In recent years, the small-scale drones have gained a growing interest in industry and in academia since they are widely available and have many potential applications. The integration of intelligent camera into drone systems broadens the range of potential drone applications and enhances the performance of the drone. However, how to design and implement the computer vision-based control algorithms on the drone with limited computational resources is very challenging. In this project, the university team and the partner organization will work together to develop the computer vision-based control system for the drone system. The results of the project will fulfill the requirements from the company’s drone customer and further improve the competiveness of the company.

Sustainability Planning and Performance Assessment in the District of North Vancouver

The Centre for Sustainable Development at Simon Fraser University is a leader in sustainable development theory and practice. The Centre conducts sustainable development research in BC and worldwide; carries out sustainable development projects in partnership with communities and agencies, and facilitates effeicient use of university resources in responding to requests for assistance on sustainable development issues. The North Shore Community Foundation envisions a healthy and vital community with enhanced quality of life for all. The main objective of this project is to help achieve this vision by assessing the sustainability of the District of North Vancouver and assisting the Foundation, the District, and citizens in making decisions grounded in sustainability and long-range planning. The North Shore Community Foundation will be provided with a customized sustainability performance framework that will guide the community on its path toward sustainability.

Developing a microfluidic lung-on-a-chip model for accelerating the discovery of novel therapeutic targets for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an inflammatory disorder of the lung, and one that affects 2.6 million Canadians and 380 million people worldwide. The current therapies are very imprecise and none modifies disease progression or mortality. There is a pressing need to discover novel targets to enable precision health, promote new therapeutic discoveries, and ultimately improve the care and health outcomes of patients with COPD. However, this process is hindered by the use of outdated cell culture systems and animal models. Therefore, the overall objective of the proposed research project is to design and build a microfluidic-based lung-on-a-chip device that better mimics the human small airway. The proposed collaboration between the biomedical engineering intern and Providence Health Care (PHC) biologists and physicians will lead to a device that can be heavily used in the novel COPD therapeutic target discovery pipeline.

Development and Commercialization of a Novel Catalyst System for Advanced Electrochemical Oxidation of Industrial Wastewater Pollutants

The aim of this project is to develop a novel catalyst system for treatment of organic and nitrogen containing pollutants in wastewater generated by various industrial sectors. Development of such system is necessary as the discharge regulations are becoming increasingly restricted. The research focuses on electrode design and fabrication that treat toxic wastewater, with an emphasis on the catalyst material, i.e. platinum group metals (PGM) alloys, and mixed metal oxides (MMO). Design and manufacturing of Ultra High Surface Area (UHSA) materials, and improvements to fabrication method of the electrodes is a goal of this research. Development of advanced electrochemical oxidation catalyst into a 3D patterned electrode structure will provide substantial improvements to the removal rate of pollutants, as well as catalyst lifetime, which further lowers the operative costs and eliminates the need for additional secondary oxidants. TO BE CONT’D

Prototype de « chatbot » pour aider les jeunes face à l’anxiété occasionnelle

Les problèmes de santé mentale (anxiété, dépression, etc.) touchent aujourd’hui plus de 650 millions de personnes à travers le monde. Les premiers symptômes apparaissent habituellement entre 14 et 24 ans. Bien que les solutions humaines et technologiques existent, il est difficile de trouver la bonne solution au bon moment. Le projet est de proposer un agent conversationnel (chatbot) basé sur l’intelligence artificielle, disponible sur Facebook Messenger. Celui-ci aura pour but d’aider ces générations à faire face à leurs anxiétés et à trouver des voies vers une solution correspondant à leurs besoins.