Engineering Commons^™

Charge Tracing For Determining Electrical Facility Effects On Electric Spacecraft Propulsion Systems., Joseph Backe

Honors Theses

Electric Propulsion Systems are the future of deep space travel. Since its design in 2016 Western Michigan University has been testing a Hall-Thruster from a previous Senior Design Group. One issue with Electric Propulsion Systems is tracing where the electrons go after being used to ionize propellant for spacecraft acceleration. Induced magnetic fields on Earth alter the electron paths found in the vacuum of space.

One solution is the EP TEMPEST. The EP TEMPEST is an electron tracer designed by the Air Force Research Laboratory. The goal of this project is to design an electron tracer like the EP TEMPEST …

Automated Form-Fill-Seal Loader, Amara Crosby

Honors Theses

Keystone Solutions Group requires a space, money, and time saving machine that can automatically load swabs and other similar sized devices into a new Multivac R245 form-fill-seal machine. Currently, Multivac “auto-loaders” are very costly and take up a great deal of space. A portable, easy-to-mount, automated swab loader was designed and initially prototyped. This design can be moved throughout the cleanroom with current material handling devices and contains enough storage to run continuously for upwards of a half an hour.

Hinging, Propping, And Latching Mechanisms For Sunseeker Solar Car, Zachary Ruppenthal

Honors Theses

In this project, designs for the hinging, propping, and latching mechanisms on the 2021 Sunseeker Solar Car were created. These designs allow for the car’s array of solar panels to be held at any desired angle to maximize collection of solar power and give the team access to the battery and driver compartment. Removable telescoping prop rods with pin attachments are used to set the array at a desired angle. The hinging mechanism allows for the array to be lifted vertically prior to rotation in order to avoid interference with the car’s roll cage. To accomplish this, two four-bar linkages …

Autonomous Vehicle Camera Mount Application, Yuan Sheng Sit

Honors Theses

Autonomous vehicles consist of many complex systems, an extensive set of hardware components, and various computing algorithms that constantly work in harmony to provide selfdriving capabilities to a vehicle. This project focuses on developing a universal mount for a ZED 2 stereo camera used in data collection for autonomous driving applications. The main purpose of the mount is to reduce dashboard, windshield, and lens glare that affect the quality of data collection for autonomous driving applications. Software such as Ansys and SOLIDWORKS are used to simulate stress, strain, and thermal distributions on the mount to better understand the strong and …