Technical Papers Presented at IMECE 2021
By Victoria Birk Hill November 22, 2021
Two of our technical papers were presented at this year’s International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE). The first paper, Experimental Study of Heat Transfer Characteristics of Drying Process with Dielectrophoresis Mechanism, focuses on an energy efficient method to enhance the drying rate of porous materials. More details about the paper and its authors can […]
Annual Meeting Updates
By Victoria Birk Hill October 29, 2021
We had our annual voting meeting on October 21st and 22nd, 2021. The meeting was held virtually because of COVID. There were 18 presentations of current and future projects with technologies ranging from Electrohydrodymic, Ultrasound, and Plasma drying, to modeling and physics-based AI and Machine Learning proposals, along with new Sensor technologies. There were 80 […]
NSF Phase II Funding Allows CARD to Focus on Energy Reduction
By Victoria Birk Hill October 12, 2021
The National Science Foundation has approved Phase II funding for CARD. This will allow CARD to build upon five years of successful drying innovations in order to help reduce the considerable energy consumption by manufacturers across varying industries. According to Jamal Yagoobi, director of CARD and head of WPI’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, “The NSF’s […]
Shao Receives ASME Award
By Victoria Birk Hill July 30, 2021
We are pleased to share that Assistant Professor, Chenhui Shao of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign received the 2021 Chao & Trigger Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The award recognizes a young manufacturing researcher under 40 with potential for significant fundamental contributions to the science and technology of […]
CARD Research Featured on Cover of TAPPI
By Victoria Birk Hill June 15, 2021
The most recent issue of TAPPI Journal, an internationally recognized technical publication that publishes the latest research on forest products, features research by CARD. The project is called: “Fundamental understanding of removal of liquid thin film trapped between fibers in the paper drying process.” The team working on this project includes Jamal Yagoobi, Zahra Noori, […]
Shao Wins IISE Early Career Award
By Victoria Birk Hill May 25, 2021
The well-deserved achievements of Chenhui Shao, Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Science & Engineering department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign have earned him the 2021 Outstanding Young Investigator Award from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers Manufacturing & Design Division (IISE M&D). This award recognizes outstanding, early-career Manufacturing and Design (M&D) Division members […]
$87 million multi-institutional grant will help Illinois advance bioindustrial manufacturing
By mcomo December 7, 2020
U of I plays a key role in research collaboration funded by the Department of Defense The Department of Defense awarded $87 million over seven years to the BioIndustrial Manufacturing and Design Ecosystem, of which the University of Illinois is a governing member. An $87 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense matched by […]
WPI Receives Combined $4 Million Award from Department of Energy and Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
By mcomo September 15, 2020
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has received a $4 million award from the Department of Energy and Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to support innovative advanced manufacturing research and development with a special focus on energy efficiency in industrial drying. WPI will act as project lead and expand its “smart drying” work with colleagues at the University […]
Catalyzing Commercialization: Ultrasonic Dehydration of Protein Suspensions
By kasmith2 July 13, 2020
Today, consumer food choices, as well as food processing innovations, are driven by health, nutrition, and sustainability considerations. Plant proteins, a sustainable alternative to meat, are being used more frequently in foods from protein bars to pasta. At the heart of many food processes is drying. Proteins are routinely dried to improve storage stability, expand […]
Catalyzing Commercialization: Tiny Optical Fiber Sensors Offer Continuous, In situ Measurement of Humidity
By mcomo April 23, 2020
Humidity is a very important parameter to monitor and control when drying food products, pulp and paper products, chemicals, and other semi-moist, porous materials. It can impact drying optimization and, ultimately, product shelf life. However, humidity sensors can be unrealiable, especially when used in large industrial ovens that dry, bake, or de-water materials. Accuracy and […]