“Our objective really was to make supplemental heating-cooling that would be a really low cost and also, green energy doesn’t need outside power,” Clark said. In the starting phases, Clark and his teammates spent much time connecting their coursework on thermodynamics and heat transfer to the actual design of their work.Ĭlark’s project centers around clean energy that can be produced in a feasible, efficient manner, and how the students can implement their project in real-life applications with the allocated funding given to them. Photos by Helder Mira.Ĭlark is working with two other students-Maalik McPherson ’23, physics and engineering major with a concentration in mechanical engineering and Eric Sinson ’23, engineering major with a concentration in mechanical engineering-to create a clean geothermal heating and cooling system that utilizes the consistent temperature of the ground a few feet below the surface. Kevin Clark ’23 received a grant from the NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium. With the support of their professors leading the course and advising each project, the students learn how their engineering studies in the classroom translate to fieldwork. The engineering senior capstone course serves as a culminating experience for students to gather all of their knowledge and skills from their time at Trinity to produce a professional design or research project. Clark received a $1,500 grant for his group’s project, “Geothermal Energy Systems,” and Swamy received a $1,075 grant for her group’s project, “Muscle Activation Visualization System for Microgravity Environments.” The CTSGC is a federal program that provides funding and internship opportunities for students and faculty in Connecticut.Īs the representatives for their projects, Clark-a physics and engineering major with a concentration in mechanical engineering-and Swamy-an engineering major with a concentration in computer engineering-submitted their grant proposals in October 2022. Working on their senior capstone projects this year, the students have the opportunity to develop innovative engineering projects with the help of their group members, project advisers, and now the added support of NASA grant funds. We start by discussing spontaneous processes and explain why some processes require work to occur even if energy would have been conserved.Trinity College engineering majors Kevin Clark ’23 and Ananya Swamy ’23 recently received student project grant awards from the NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium (CTSGC). Snow stating that the first law means “you can’t win.” He paraphrased the second law as “you can’t break even, except on a very cold day.” Unless you are at zero kelvin, you cannot convert 100% of thermal energy into work. In the chapter covering the first law of thermodynamics, we started our discussion with a joke by C. We cannot use internal energy stored in the air to propel a car, or use the energy of the ocean to run a ship, without disturbing something around that object. We cannot unmix cream from coffee without a chemical process that changes the physical characteristics of the system or its environment. Energy cannot arbitrarily pass from one object to another, just as we cannot transfer heat from a cold object to a hot one without doing any work. One such principle is the second law of thermodynamics, which limits the use of energy within a source. So some other thermodynamic principles must be controlling the behavior of physical systems. For example, when two bodies are in thermal contact, heat never flows from the colder body to the warmer one, even though this is not forbidden by the first law. But this cannot be the only restriction imposed by nature, because many seemingly possible thermodynamic processes that would conserve energy do not occur. (credit: modification of work by NASA/JPL)Īccording to the first law of thermodynamics, the only processes that can occur are those that conserve energy. The ion propulsion engine is the first nonchemical propulsion to be used as the primary means of propelling a spacecraft. Introduction Figure 4.1 A xenon ion engine from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory shows the faint blue glow of charged atoms emitted from the engine. 4.4 Statements of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
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