Dr. Cheryl Xu of NC State University

Mechatronics systems have been applied in different areas of applications, e.g., mechanical, aerospace and defense industry. In this presentation, we will introduce two practical case studies of how the synergistic integration of sensors, actuators and microcontrollers, and how these systems are controlled to tackle a variety of scenarios. The first case study is autonomous jet noise reduction. The jet noise of tactical jet aircrafts dominates over other noise sources while being a strong function of the jet exhaust velocity. It is difficult for jet noise reduction when the source is distributed over a region downstream with a very high sound amplitude. The flow is highly turbulent and is difficult to control due to the high velocity and high temperature in the jet. Through experiment, we have implemented an efficient piezoelectric actuator system which is capable of withstanding the extreme mechanical and thermal stresses of tactical aircrafts. The second case example is a suite of wireless passive temperature, pressure and strain sensors for engine health monitoring. Internal combustion and turbine engines are vital complex propulsion systems and are primary and essential sources for vehicle propulsion. They often supply power for various safety critical subsystems of the vehicle in terms of electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic power. A set of wireless passive sensors have been developed along with experimental demonstration in turbine engine systems for online, real-time temperature pressure, and strain monitoring. 

Biography:

Dr. Cheryl Xu is currently an Associate Professor in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at NC State University. Her research interests are multifunctional ceramic composites, high temperature wireless sensing, and artificial intelligence (AI) for process modeling and real-time control. Dr. Xu is active in conducting research in the field of advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence (AI). Her research work has been supported by both government agencies and large defense companies that include Office of Naval Research (ONR), Army Research Office (ARO), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), and General Dynamics, etc. She has graduated eight Ph.D. and seven M.S. students. Most of her graduated students work in major manufacturing industries, such as Google, SpaceX, GE, Lockheed Martin, Siemens, Honda, Mercedes Benz, etc. 

Dr. Xu has co-authored a textbook (Intelligent Systems: Modeling, Optimization and Control, CRC Press, 2008) and has written seven book chapters. She has published 65 peer-reviewed journal articles and more than 30 refereed conference proceedings. She has 13 US and international patents and patent applications. 

Dr. Xu is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). She served on the Fellows Committee in IEEE Education Society since 2014 and chaired NSF 1^st National Wireless Research Collaboration Workshop in 2015. She won the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award and was awarded the Society of Manufacturing Engineering (SME) Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award in 2011. She was the only recipient of the IEEE Education Society Teaching Award in 2015. She serves as an Associate Editor of ASME Transactions, Journal of Micro- and Nano- Manufacturing 2015-2019.