Engineering Commons^™

Trampoline And Bungee Fatigue-Test Machine, Andy Brock, Christopher D'Elia, Ryan Murphy

Mechanical Engineering

JumpSport, a Saratoga based recreational and fitness trampoline company, sponsored this senior project team towards the development of a fatigue-testing machine. The goal of this project was to iterate the previous machine JumpSport used for bungee cord, spring, and trampoline fatigue testing. Since minimal study had been conducted on these specific bungee cords, the fixture was designed to confirm the theoretical correlations for rubber and perform the final tests according to a strict protocol. Operating with a specific test protocol in mind will allow the data from multiple tests to be combined and analyzed statistically. With a design concept in …

Design Of A Sustainable Toilet, Meghan Pranger, Tommy Lauderdale, Joseph Benyon, Kyle Moore

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

In-Bottle Wine Aerator, Kevin Kesler, Patrick Lowry, Paul Woolworth

Mechanical Engineering

The proposal for Capitol Cultivators discusses and evaluates the development of an in-bottle wine aerator. It defines the problem and need for an aerator located inside the wine bottle. Additionally, it outlines requirements essential for an effective design and describes the engineering process that will be followed.

Subway Rail Car Filter Sampling Tool, Brian Hong, Julia Pollard, Philip Ybarra

Mechanical Engineering

The following design report has been prepared by Team Slice for both Cal Poly’s Mechanical Engineering Department and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This report provides an overview of the design ideation process of creating a subway rail car filter sampling tool. This cutting tool will take samples of HVAC filters from subway railcars in New York City, NY. These samples will then be used for processing in biological terror emergency response situations. This device will provide an easy, safe, and user friendly tool to cut filter samples. The current method of cutting is a pair of scissors or shears, which …

Design Of An Automatic Wood Trimming Machine, Van Ho, Nicholas Maskal, Andrew Rutland

Mechanical Engineering

This final design report, prepared for Sunrise Arts by the Cal Poly design team Mahogany Automation, details the year-long process in which the team of three engineering students designed and built an automated wooden -plank edge trimming machine that incorporates anti-jamming and continuous loading features. The team has examined current woodworking machines and features available on the industrial and commercial market, and used these as guides along with device requirements set by the project sponsor, Bruce Palmer. The focus has been on designing the simplest and most cost effective device that allows operators to make production runs of wooden slats …

Heat Transfer Experiment: Energy Conservation, Ben Ward, Brett Wallace, Ryan Waltman

Mechanical Engineering

This proposal, prepared for the Mechanical Engineering Department by the HTEC design team will redesign and replace the current energy conversion lab that is inaccurate and out of date. The team will evaluate methods of energy conversion, specifically using braking systems, as well as existing labs in order to design an accurate and relatable experiment for this lab. The project team will work with Professor Kim Shollenberger in order to design an experiment that demonstrates energy conversion through the first law of thermodynamics while utilizing a common device that is practical in student’s lives. The final result of this project …

Peripheral Artery Catheter Tracking System, Chris Blecher, Michael Lashore, Nhan Le

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Rifle And Shotgun Recoil Test System, Benjamin Canfield-Hershkowitz, Trevor Foster, William Meijer

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Sodhana Environmental - Final Design Report, Eric Taylor, Corissa Bellis, Cody Perez, Cameron Zeller

Mechanical Engineering

A fully designed cost-effective, sustainable, toilet for the developing world.

Low-Cost Scheffler Solar Concentrator For The Developing World, Darren Sholes, Jason Morgan, Nicholas Fuller

Mechanical Engineering

This report will outline an approach to design, test, and build a low-cost Scheffler solar concentrator to be used for safer, sustainable and cost effective cooking in the developing world. The function of Scheffler concentrators and a proposed method to create one in an economic, environmentally conscious manner is summarized. If successful, the design will be presented in a way that is readily and freely available to anyone in the world. The authors have examined existing technology and researched the availability and cost of different materials. Analysis was performed in order to verify the feasibility of the different design ideas …

Otto - The Wall Driving Platform, Cameron Venancio, Eric Mar, Kelvin Lei

Mechanical Engineering

A robotic wall-climbing robot.

Automated Foosball Table Year 1: Final Project Report, Juan David Gutierrez-Franco, John Inlow, Jesse Graham, Larry Huang

Mechanical Engineering

This project is a first iteration of an automated foosball table designed and created using servomotors provided by Yaskawa to create an interactive tradeshow display where guests can play against the algorithms developed in the PLC (programmable logic controller) controlling the servomotors. There will be a second iteration of the project done by a different team directly following this one. The motion components were selected with the intent to be able to surpass the reaction times and speeds of expert human players. There are a total of eight servomotors, four controlling linear actuators for translation of rods, and four controlling …

Prototype Device For The Detection Of Subsurface Peach Pit Fragments, Colby Lippincott, Hamilton Little, Rick Hayes, Elliot Wenzel

Mechanical Engineering

Peach pits can break during processing into several small fragments and are difficult to see and remove from the peach. Wawona Frozen Foods is asking for a fully designed, built and tested prototype that can detect these pit fragments with ease and speed. Our design uses an array of needles that puncture into a peach half. A pressure sensor measures the force on the needles and determines whether or not each needle hit the peach flesh or a pit fragment. The array of needles consists of 313 needles each with a diameter of 0.6 mm with a total array diameter …

Computer Controlled Vegetable Oil Fuel System, Joseph W. Souza

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

A Finite Element Model Based On Coupled Refined High-Order Global-Local Theory For Static Analysis Of Electromechanical Embedded Shear-Mode Piezoelectric Sandwich Composite Beams With Various Widths, S.B. Beheshti-Aval, S. Shahvaghar-Asl, M. Lezgy-Nazargah, Mohammad N. Noori

Mechanical Engineering

In this study, a new theory for the accurate simulation of the shear-mode behaviour of thin or thick piezoelectric sandwich composite beams is developed. The effects of transverse normal stress and transverse flexibility of layers are considered in the development of the proposed formulation. In order to increase the computational accuracy, all kinematic and stress continuity conditions are satisfied at layer interfaces. Moreover, for the first time, both the electrically induced strain components and the transverse flexibility are taken into account in the proposed formulation. Despite the fact that the number of unknown mechanical parameters in this theory is only …

Twelve Days Of Christmas Mechatronic Display, Michael Beltran, Christine Hagerman, Katie Ruhm

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Workshop A - Implementing The "Design Your Process Of Becoming A World Class Engineering Student" Project, Steffen Peuker, Raymond B. Landis

Mechanical Engineering

Many students come into an engineering program lacking a strong commitment to stay in an engineering program and to graduate with an engineering degree. For students to accomplish the challenging goal of graduating in engineering requires a strong commitment, and behaviors and attitudes to follow through that commitment. To strengthen the commitment of the freshman engineering students an innovative project has been developed. The project challenges students to develop their process to become a "World-Class Engineering Student". Having freshman engineering students design their individually tailored learning process as part of a semester long project in the setting of a student …

Implementing Team Based Learning In Freshmen Engineering Courses, Steffen Peuker, Jennifer Peuker

Mechanical Engineering

Team Based Learning (TBL) is a specific pedagogical tool that emphasizes collaborative learning. Oftentimes TBL is confused with group activities and other active learning strategies involving student teams. TBL is distinct because it follows a prescribed sequence of individual work and group work, and includes immediate feedback as well as peer evaluation. TBL is widely used in medical, pharmacy and nursing schools and the use of TBL in engineering education is growing. The advantages of using TBL in the class room include: (1) students are held accountable for individual (pre-class) and group (in-class) work. (2) The responsibility for learning shifts …

Student Industry Cooperation For The Development Of Thermal System Design Teaching Laboratory Equipment, Steffen Peuker

Mechanical Engineering

In higher education, hands-on undergraduate education using state-of-the-art laboratory equipment is important to meet the quality standards expected in the engineering profession. However, the development of modern engineering laboratories is not only time consuming, but also budget constraints can hamper the development of needed laboratories for instructional purposes as Bidana and Billo state: "Development of state-of-the-art engineering laboratories is becoming an increasing problem in the University environment. Due to the greater variety and increased complexity of much state-of-the-art hardware and software, the cost and cycle time for development and startup of a modern engineering laboratory can be excessive. This, together …

Incorporating Active Learning Into A Thermal System Publications Lecture, Jennifer M. Peuker, Steffen Peuker

Mechanical Engineering

Many mechanical engineering departments offer a thermal system design (or similar) course for senior students. Some courses have a laboratory component, but many are a lecture only format. This paper demonstrates how active learning—through virtual labs, a semester long project, and in-class assignments—was incorporated into the lecture portion of a thermal system design course to enhance learning and provide the students a laboratory experience without a physical laboratory. These active learning ideas can also supplement the learning during lecture for those courses which have a designated laboratory time. Anecdotal evidence of the activities indicates that students were engaged and enjoyed …

Effect Of Multiple Choice Testing On Student Performance In An Introductory Engineering Course, Jennifer M. Peuker, Jennifer Mcferran Brock, Steffen Peuker

Mechanical Engineering

This study aims to compare student performance on introductory engineering statics material by comparing the exam scores of students who are given both multiple choice (MC) questions and constructed response (CR) questions to see whether the type of exam question makes a difference in student performance and understanding. Seventy-five students in an introductory engineering course did either a MC version or a CR version of each statics problem, resulting in MC answers and a control group of CR answers to each statics problem. The students were also polled for feedback regarding their preferences of test question format at the end …

Loaded Shift Tester Sram, Nick Cox, Sam Shaffer, Michael Polka

Mechanical Engineering

This report details the design, manufacturing, and testing of a loaded shift tester for the SRAM Bicycle Corporation. The machine is used to perform developmental and qualification tests on various bicycle drivetrain components. Using SolidWorks, the design team created a solid model of the machine on the computer, then ordered and manufactured the parts required to build it. The machine was tested to ensure that all the parts worked together, and was finally delivered to SRAM when it was deemed ready.

High Temperature Filter Test Unit Upgrades, Blair Frandeen, Will Schill, Erick Shewmaker, Joshua Turgeon

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this project was to improve the existing High Temperature Filter Test Unit (HTTU) by optimizing performance and adding new features. These features include viewing ports and a camera system for observation of tests, a leak detection system, and a flame impingement system. Additional considerations included improving the current operation of the HTTU by reducing test time and energy loss. The HTTU is designed to test High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters at temperatures up to 1300 ˚F, creating conditions which simulate a fire in a chemical processing facility. The HTTU was originally built as a Cal Poly …

Adaptive Eating Device, Patrick Yale, Jillian Hiu, Jeremy Black, Kevin Farmer

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Mobybike Human Powered Hydrofoil, Steven Bieri, Tim Buckmaster, Kristen Heckman

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this project is to develop a human powered hydrofoil bicycle that uses the patented foil motion of the sponsor, Liquid Ideas, to generate lift and thrust to ride across the water. The bicycle will then be used to further develop and test the actuators that Liquid Ideas currently has. This report contains information from the concept design report on how the final design was chosen and detailed information on the final design, as well as plans for manufacturing, assembling, and testing the completed project.

Hvac Lab, Adrian Leon, Wes Allen

Mechanical Engineering

The Cal Poly Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Department was donated a fume hood so that it could be used for educational purposes in the lab. The fume hood was not fully set up and only ran in a constant volume mode; the fan ran at full speed with no feedback to reduce air flow. A fume hood can be opened or closed using the sash; air flowing through the sash opening must always be above a certain speed. As the sash is closed the opening grows smaller and the speed of the air increases. Two additional modes of …

Mercedes-Benz Oil Level Monitor, Emmanuel Camacho, Jonathan Manriquez, James Young

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this project is to develop an engine oil level monitoring system that will replace the current dipstick method during vehicle testing for Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America, Inc. (MBRDNA). Currently, MBRDNA test drivers check the engine oil level twice a day after two eight hour shifts each day. To measure the oil level, the driver parks on a level surface, waits five minutes for the oil to cool, and then manually checks the oil level with the dipstick. The goal of this project is to have a reliable, physical, working prototype that MBRDNA can use for …

Evs Sports Knee Brace Testing Machinefinal Design Report, Silvia Aguilar, Nick Mattison, Chris Mccarthy

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this document is to report on the development of a test machine for EVS’ Web and Axis knee braces. Between September 2012 and June 2013, Team CSN, comprising of Nick Mattison, Silvia Aguilar, and Chris McCarthy, have methodically planned, designed, built, and tested this machine. The overarching goal of this unique machine is to address the need for both hyperextension and fatigue testing. From here on out this report dives into details of the machine with an Appendix C reporting testing results of said knee braces.

Rocket Fuel Pressurization, Sean Green, Joe Marcinkowski, Andrew Nahab

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Rebounder Fatigue Test Machine, Caroline Reeves, Will Robertson, Ethan Flory

Mechanical Engineering

JumpSport, a company that designs and sells trampolines and trampoline accessories, has sponsored this senior project team to design, build, and test a trampoline fatigue test machine. The machine must simulate a person jumping on the trampoline to test the life of JumpSport’s fitness trampolines and kids’ trampolines. Partway through the design process, the objectives were altered and this senior project team was tasked with merging with another Cal Poly senior project group to create an all-inclusive test machine to accommodate both full-trampoline testing and individual bungee cord testing.

The final design is centered on a slider crank linkage driven …