Engineering Commons^™

Gaf Glass Mat Splice Table Improvements, Grant Haug, Kevin Lansang, Ronald Lam, Michael Mooney

Mechanical Engineering

The GAF asphalt shingle production line in Shafter, CA requires continuous operation in order to maximize production efficiency. The assembly line process begins with feeding a large roll of fiberglass web into an accumulator. However, once the fiberglass roll approaches the end, it must be spliced with a new roll in order to maintain continuous feed into the production line. The splicing process must be fast and reliable to prevent any delay of the production line. Currently, this process is performed by two workers who manually feed the new fiberglass roll, align the two mats, cut the mats, apply glue …

Child Carrier: Senior Project, Cordell Hollingsworth, Jacob Puppo, Drew Sapp

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Final Project Report: Heliostat-Concentrator Solar Cooker, Ian Davison, Devin Mast

Mechanical Engineering

This document is the full report for the senior project of Cal Poly Mechanical Engineering students Ian Davison and Devin Mast. The report encompasses the full project process, including background research, identification of need, design requirements, design development, proposed design, design realization, changes to proposed design, and design verification. We were tasked with the design and manufacture of a “dual mirror” solar cooker to verify a concept for a new type of off-axis parabolic solar cooker conceived by Dr. Pete Schwartz, the sponsor of the senior project and a physics professor at Cal Poly. Previously, off-axis parabolic solar cookers have …

Underwater Rope Fatigue Testing Machine, Napoleon Nino, Andrew Pimentel

Mechanical Engineering

The design and fabrication of an underwater rope fatigue testing machine meant to simulate the effects of an oceanic environment and the effects on rope.

Thermal Hydraulic Turbine Dynamometer, Ryan Baskett, Alexander Campbell, Andrew Puntorno-Carlberg

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Machine Components Test, Brandon Younger, Lauren Romero, Carlos Padilla

Mechanical Engineering

To enhance California Polytechnic State University’s Mechanical Engineering program, Dr. Schuster has sponsored Brandon Younger, Lauren Romero, and Carlos Padilla to design and develop a new lab for students in the Intermediate Design class to test real mechanical components. This report discusses the background and ideation process that lead to the development of the Educational Mechanical Breadboard for Transmission System Components (Machine Components Test). Additionally, detailed drawings, 3D modeling, testing plans, and analysis are included to show how the Machine Components Test design will work and be validated.

Squirting Balloon Toy, Rachael Schelley, Elizabeth Wilhelm

Mechanical Engineering

The main goal of the Squirting Balloon Toy project was to create a new toy that combined both a helium balloon and a squirting water component near the base of the balloon. The toy will be sold at theme parks, fairs, and to other retailers such as toy stores with the target audience of primarily children and their parents, or any individuals seeking a good laugh when they spray their unsuspecting target. As a result, the toy was designed to be both visually appealing and to have an element of surprise. After testing and analyzing four different conceptual designs, two …

High Temperature Hepa Filter Test Unit Upgrades, Alexander Krippner, Ian Corcorran, Michael Burlando

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Carbon Articulating Backpack Spine, Salvatore Monforte Iii, Darci Lawrence, Savan Patel

Mechanical Engineering

In the field, firefighters and Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) personnel need to transport variable loads efficiently, safely, and comfortably while simultaneously performing certain physical tasks. Current models of external and internal framed backpacks distribute the load of a pack efficiently, but do not allow for the natural movement of the wearer. Wolfpack Gear, Inc. proposed the need for a system which both effectively carries a load and allows for the unhindered natural movement of the user. The goal of this project was to design, build, and test an articulating backpack support system. The first stage of the project comprised …

High Speed Jet Turbine Test Final Report, Kenneth Enstrom, Cameron Naugle, Isaac Thomas, Cody Lee

Mechanical Engineering

At high flight altitudes and speeds, external airplane elements are subject to immense loads. External devices must be put through testing that simulates these loads to ensure safety of the device. Our system will subject a device in need of testing to a jet of air, similar to wind seen on the surface of an airplane. The High Speed Air Jet Turbine Test project team has been tasked to design, build, and test an apparatus capable of acquiring real world flight data for micro-ram air turbines (microRAT). The micro-RAT is a device that provides power to an electrical device by …

Sae Baja Dynamic Loading, Ryan Flatland, Christian George, Nick Bonafede

Mechanical Engineering

Cal Poly’s SAE Baja team undertook a project to measure the loads applied to an offroad buggy via the ground, including any obstacles. Originally, the ground loads pertaining to suspension, drivetrain, and chassis were based on rough estimates and historical part failures. This led to large safety factors, overbuilt parts, unknown part life, and improperly designed points of failure. In order for the team’s designs to advance to the next level of competition, an accurate set of loading cases were required. The main focus of the project was the suspension loads measured with strain gauges and a shock potentiometer, however …

Cookie Dough Portioning Tool, Alex Haughton, Courtney Shipp, Grant Wittenberg

Mechanical Engineering

The Brown Butter Cookie Company (BBCC) is located in Cayucos, California. They sell handmade cookies made without eggs. After a batch is made, dough pieces must be portioned by hand. This process is time consuming, labor intensive, and limits the number of cookies they can make.

Our task was to design a machine to replace or improve this step of the process. After talking with the members of the BBCC and creating a list of specifications for our device, the team has formulated a detailed design of a cookie dough portioning tool for the BBCC. This report includes information on …

Final Design Report For An Automatic Diffraction Grating, Timothy Jung, Edlin Garcia, Kelly Rorden

Mechanical Engineering

The Automatic Diffraction Grating project explored using said technology to measure the angular separation between binary stars. This system would be a dramatic improvement from the current, fixed and manually adjusted diffraction gratings in use, increasing the capability of observatories to conduct autonomous studies of binary systems. Ideally, realizing such a system would be accomplished using a simple design and off the shelf parts, so that the project could easily replicated. The design of this system was approached with a broad look at the possible mechanisms that could be used to effectively construct an Automatic Diffraction Grating, as well as …

Solar Cal Poly Active Hvac Project, James Cornish, Jake Cosmo, Patrick Weston

Mechanical Engineering

For this project, the goal was to conceptualize, design, test, and implement an active HVAC system to be used in the Solar Cal Poly house competing in the Department of Energy’s 2015 Solar Decathlon. With many house iterations, it was decided to use a split system with an outdoor heat pump and indoor air handler, paired with a HRV for ventilation. Through system modeling using Design Builder and Energy Pro 6.5, the cooling load of the house was determined along with the cooling schedule. The foreseen safety precautions and limited construction time guided the entire project, along with the active …

Mechanical Prosthetic Hand For Navy Seal, Ryan Burke, Michael Friedman, Jose Lemus, Heather Martin

Mechanical Engineering

Quality of Life Plus has been improving the lives of many wounded servicemen and first responders around the country. Its mission is to foster and generate innovations to aid and improve the quality of life for those injured in the line of duty. This project is the fifth iteration of designing a prosthetic hand for an active duty Navy SEAL. The first iterations have been myoelectric systems where sensors are attached to the user’s muscles to actuate the prosthetic. However, the most recent has been a purely mechanical system, and was shoulder actuated. The design was more robust, it was …

Mini-Hand Extension, Aulivia Bounchaleun, Haden Cory, Scott Onsum, Zack Phillips

Mechanical Engineering

Lam Research supplies equipment for manufacturing silicon wafers used in semiconductor manufacturing. Their equipment is highly sophisticated and therefore costly, both in time and money, to repair. Much of the time and money spent to service those machines when they require maintenance or repair is spent on disassembly, so Lam seeks a faster way to service their equipment. Al Schoepp, a Senior Technical Director at Lam Research, came to Cal Poly seeking a team of students to design and build a device that could emulate the human hand well enough to handle hardware and thread nuts and bolts but also …

Team Solar Sip, Patrick Fillingham, Wesley Goodson, Kenneth Li

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Solar Cal Poly Water Systems, Jake L. Morris, Zachary F. Yasuda, Lauren P. Jones

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Veloelectric: Creating A Device That Harvests Energy From Bicycles, Austin Hall, Daniel Stohr, Tj Fox

Mechanical Engineering

Long distance mountain bikers, bike-packers, and many bikers in developing countries rely on electrical devices for safety and communication. These specific groups of people operate in areas with little to no electricity, and often times have no power to sustain their devices. The purpose of this Cal Poly senior project, VeloElectric, was to design, build, and test a kinetic energy harvester for bicycles that can be used to charge common mobile devices via USB. This senior project team created a device that attaches directly to a bicycle and uses vibrations to generate energy, which in turn powers a variety of …

Tadpole Tandem Electrically Assisted Tricycle, Austin Frederickson, Anthony Jacques, Kris Lawrence, Preston Mcelroy

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this senior project was to investigate the possibility of making bikes (as a regular mode of transportation) look much more appealing to the general public. To that end, an electric motor assist system was added to make it easier for the operators of the vehicle. A fairing was added to protect the rider from wind and rain, and an electrical subsystem consisting of a microcontroller and many other components was also added. The electrical subsystem was meant to store the information of different riders, calculate calories burned using a heart beat sensor, and increase visibility using strategically-placed …

Compact Tire Tester, Jess Mccafferty, Daniel Rodman, Michael Schuster, Connor West

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Cal Poly Sae Formula Electric Chassis, Brandon Stitt, Rachel Brooks, Christopher L. Pell

Mechanical Engineering

The Cal Poly Formula Electric team has been in need of a chassis redesign, making that a logical choice for a senior project. The original goal of the project was to build the lightest possible frame while still maintaining adequate strength and stiffness. The existing frame made a good starting point. The steel tube spaceframe weighed a colossal 105 lb. There was ample room for improvement, even with a similar spaceframe design. The greatest potential to reduce weight lay in submitting designs under the Alternative Frame (AF) rule set. This could avoid the added weight of many required tubes. The …

Smart Water Meter, Jeff Hufford, Eric Adler, Garrett Hall

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Sapien3 Comb Stitch Improvement For Edwards Lifesciences, William Harley, Thomas Pluschkell, John Mctigue, Garrett Reed

Mechanical Engineering

The complete senior project report was submitted to the project advisor and sponsor. The results of this project are of a confidential nature and will not be published at this time.

Active Fog Catcher, Michael Giglio, Carson Hand, William Beechinor, Kai Zhang

Mechanical Engineering

The active fog catching senior project team has been asked to develop a device that will harvest water from the atmosphere, namely fog, using active means. The project will be centered on maximizing water collection rate, with efficiency as a secondary concern. The final design utilizes a refrigeration system in which fans pull air across the cold evaporators inside of a duct. Water condenses on the evaporators and drain into a collection container. It was decided to focus on maximizing water collection at the cost of efficiency because the feasibility of actively harvesting fog must be proved before trying to …

Solar Decathlon Plumbing Subsystem Final Design Report, Robert Burtt, Chris Lutze, Tyler Dunaway

Mechanical Engineering

The U.S. Department of Energy announced it will be hosting an international public competition called the Solar Decathlon in Irvine, CA during October 2015 to showcase high-efficiency houses. Cal Poly students created a team – Solar Cal Poly – to participate. Three mechanical engineering students joined the team to work on the plumbing section of the competition. The team completed multiple iterations and designs of the plumbing system within the Solar Cal Poly house as the house was designed and redesigned. The construction and final design of the plumbing system will be decided by the construction crew and architecture team …

Cable Drag Test, Alex Powers, Brandon Sadiarin, George Rodriguez Iv, Torey Kruisheer

Mechanical Engineering

The Smooth Shifters is a team composed of Alex Powers, Brandon Roy Sadiarin, George Rodriguez, and Torey Kruisheer. We are four senior mechanical engineering students at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, California that are working on a senior design project for Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc. located in Morgan Hill, California. We will be under the advisement of Professor Sarah T. Harding of the mechanical engineering department at Cal Poly.

Specialized, one of today’s leading bicycle companies, is in need of a test setup that measures brake and shifter cable drag. High performance cyclists using time …

Transcatheter Heart Valve Subassembly Device, Adam Aslam, Matthew Bezkrovny, Daniel Degree

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Solar Decathlon 2015, Solar Cal Poly; Solar Cal Poly Project Engineers, Cristina Paquin, Julien Blarel, Sanchit Joshi

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Forest Sign Maker, Victor Espinosa Iii, Kevin Ly, Lisa Yip

Mechanical Engineering

Executive Summary:

The Inyo National Forest is arguably one of the most beautiful locations in California, containing natural masterpieces such as Mount Whitney and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. Despite its magnificence, the Inyo National Forest can be a treacherous region. The Friends of the Inyo take pride in being able to facilitate the viewing experience for all outdoorsmen by maintaining the mountain trails, which includes providing adequate trail signage.

Unfortunately, there is a fundamental issue with the recent state of trail signage in the Inyo National Forest: the rate at which signs are being vandalized or naturally destroyed is …