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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
The Musical Water Fountain, Amy Nielsen
The Musical Water Fountain, Amy Nielsen
Honors Theses
An affordable musical water fountain was designed over the course of one year. The target consumers for this fountain are middle to upper class homeowners. Based on the design parameters and research found on the topic, the fountain presents an aesthetically pleasing light and water show for residential neighborhoods. The design was sought to be competitive on the market with preexisting fountains. Since it must play music and perform a water and light show all in synchronous, there was confidence in the unique features to sell with today’s consumers. SolidWorks was used extensively to design and model the fountain and …
The Collegiate Aviation Student Guide To Success; A Flight Student’S Perspective, Stephan Jansen Van Vuuren
The Collegiate Aviation Student Guide To Success; A Flight Student’S Perspective, Stephan Jansen Van Vuuren
Honors Theses
This thesis aims to guide incoming students on how to make the most of their time in collegiate aviation and how to increase their chances of success. The primary source of information was my own experience as a flight student at Western Michigan University from 2019 to 2022. Entering aviation as a pilot can be extremely difficult given the high barriers to entry; the most common being the money, know-how, and number of flight hours required to work as a professional airline pilot. It is important to make the right choices given the multitude of decisions professional pilots in training …
Regional Airline Pilot Profession Post Colgan 3407, Brett Maas
Regional Airline Pilot Profession Post Colgan 3407, Brett Maas
Honors Theses
Colgan Air Flight 3407 was a devastating aircraft accident that resulted in the loss of 50 lives (Beresnevicius, 2019). Multiple factors played into the accident, such as pilot credentials, pilot experience, weather, and fatigue. As a result of the accident, the regional airline pilot profession was changed entirely. Changes that spurred because of the accident were both regulatory and compensatory in nature. Regulatory changes include the introduction of the Pilot Records Database (online database that stores pilot training histories), increased flight experience requirements to become a First Officer at an air carrier, and the introduction of proactive rest rules with …
Understanding Cnc Capacity Through Production Time Estimation, Kaitlin Bluhm
Understanding Cnc Capacity Through Production Time Estimation, Kaitlin Bluhm
Honors Theses
Landscape Forms is a high-end outdoor furniture company. This thesis was completed at the Landscape Forms woodshop located in Kalamazoo, MI. Landscape Forms initially reached out regarding their CNC machines being the bottleneck and it was determined that the current product standards and capacity of the CNC machines at Landscape Forms were not accurate. This causes issues when planning and scheduling their incoming orders. During this thesis, two tools were developed over the course of two semesters. The first tool helped to create accurate product standards for their CNC machines depending on the different product types and second, a CNC …
The Positive Effects Of Study Abroad On Education, Brooke Semler
The Positive Effects Of Study Abroad On Education, Brooke Semler
Honors Theses
Education, especially at the collegiate level, can be influenced in many ways. Traveling, especially in the form of study abroad allows individuals to experience different cultures firsthand and broaden their perspectives of the world. Study abroad and education have a very strong correlation. When examining all students that attended Western Michigan University from Summer of 2011 to the 2017-2018 school year, students who studied abroad have higher educational success than students who don’t. Most students who completed study abroad show a higher GPA after completing their study abroad course. Furthermore, students who studied abroad have a higher graduation rate than …
Subdivision Site Design In Antwerp Township, Peyton Smith
Subdivision Site Design In Antwerp Township, Peyton Smith
Honors Theses
Design and development of a subdivision on an empty plot of land off Red Arrow Highway in Antwerp Township, MI.
Subdivision Site Design In Antwerp Township, Alec Denbraber
Subdivision Site Design In Antwerp Township, Alec Denbraber
Honors Theses
Design and development of a subdivision on an empty plot of land off Red Arrow Highway in Antwerp Township, MI.
Electromagnetically Propelled Garage Door, Connor Seifert
Electromagnetically Propelled Garage Door, Connor Seifert
Honors Theses
Garage door systems are loud and energy inefficient given their many contact points and need for continual maintenance. Most garage door systems use a loud, bulky electric motor to pull the garage door up and down using a chain. To reduce noise and energy loss due to friction from the electric motor and chain, electromagnetic forces used in Electromagnetic Suspension (EMS) trains were researched and adapted to a garage door system. The electromagnetically propelled garage door (EPGD) system was designed and validated using SOLIDWORKS and ANSYS simulation with significantly less contact points due to non-contact electromagnetic propulsion (EMP). The design …
Western Michigan University Main Campus Parking Garage, Brendan Graham
Western Michigan University Main Campus Parking Garage, Brendan Graham
Honors Theses
Student parking when attending class seems to be an issue at most universities. At Western Michigan University, it is a particular issue near the Haworth College of Business and Rood Hall. Students regularly struggle to find parking spaces in a timely manner when attending class in this area. Parking in this area currently consists solely of asphalt parking lots. It was our goal to both increase parking capacity and green space in this area. We will do this by designing a multi-level parking garage that will provide a more efficient use of parking space. As you will see later on, …
Investigation On The Effect Of Binders On The Performance Of Si-Based Anodes Of Lithium-Ion Batteries, Christopher Rohen
Investigation On The Effect Of Binders On The Performance Of Si-Based Anodes Of Lithium-Ion Batteries, Christopher Rohen
Honors Theses
For the production of lithium-ion batteries with the different binders, a few things must be considered. The process of production has several steps. First is the preparation of the slurry with the composition of 70/10/20, 70% active material, 10% carbon black and 20% selected binder. Then, the bar coating of the slurry into a copper sheet is required. After drying in the oven, the sample in the cooper sheet, a few holes on the sample are made and the half-cell assembly. Lastly, the cell is assembled and its subject of rigorous testing to determine performance and stability; A few of …
Cost Efficient 3d Printed Mold For Thermoforming, Julianna Buck
Cost Efficient 3d Printed Mold For Thermoforming, Julianna Buck
Honors Theses
Traditional machined thermoforming molds are extremely expensive to produce. For small business owners who will have a very low volume of production this is not always a viable solution. To counteract this, the 3D thermoforming mold team strives to create a detailed manuscript complete with all the necessary information on how to produce a quality thermoforming mold through 3D printing. This manual will include information on producing a mold with parameters such as time to 3D print, type of printing materials, a cost analysis of producing the mold, and pre- and post-processing of the mold in preparation for production. The …
Fsae Vehicle Instrumentation And Validation, Alexander Anthony
Fsae Vehicle Instrumentation And Validation, Alexander Anthony
Honors Theses
Formula SAE is a student chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Each year SAE hosts a collegiate competition for teams of university students to design, build, and compete with a formula-style vehicle. Students from all around the world collaborate to engineer and manufacture a competition worthy racecar. Each component of the vehicle is designed from scratch, using calculated load cases to optimize weight and strength. Once the car is built, students will test and validate their vehicle. Not every team has the opportunity to validate the critical load cases the vehicle is designed around. This senior design project …
Thermal & Efficiency Analysis For A High-Speed Gearbox, Austin Owen
Thermal & Efficiency Analysis For A High-Speed Gearbox, Austin Owen
Honors Theses
The aim of this project was to design and build a test stand to validate a thermal model of a high-speed gearbox developed by Western Michigan University’s (WMU) Center for Advanced Vehicle Design and Simulation (CAViDS) consortium. At the completion of this project, the experimental results measured from tests will be compared to those from a Siemens Amesim model of the same gearbox. For these tests, an electric inverter/motor/gearbox package was connected to an intermediate transmission for the purpose of output speed matching to an electric dynamometer. This dynamometer applied a load to the motor/gearbox to replicate its designed running …
Roundabout Design At Clare Ave And Us 127, Clare, Mi, Elise Olson
Roundabout Design At Clare Ave And Us 127, Clare, Mi, Elise Olson
Honors Theses
For our senior design project, we conducted an intersection improvement in Clare Michigan. On the north end of Clare at the interchange of US-127 and Clare Avenue, the Michigan Department of Transportation has been working with the Clare County Road Commission in an effort to redo this interchange. The ideal interchange will be a roundabout that includes the entrance and exit ramps of NB US-127, NB and SB Clare Ave, and Colonville Road. With the assistance of AutoCAD, PTV Vistro, and Microsoft Project, our team conducted a full roundabout design and park & ride redesign. Our team then developed an …
The Impacts Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Airport Demand Forecasts And Critical Aircraft For Commercial Service Airports Serving Southwest Michigan, Matthew Wietstock
The Impacts Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Airport Demand Forecasts And Critical Aircraft For Commercial Service Airports Serving Southwest Michigan, Matthew Wietstock
Honors Theses
The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered the aviation industry and the nature of how airports predict their future use. This paper conducts a new analysis of the various prediction methods regarding airport demand forecasting using the commercial service airports serving Southwest Michigan. Primarily, the methods researched include time-series analysis using regressions, market-share analysis, and an examination of socio-economic factors. While no one method prevails over the other, the market-share analysis has proven to be the most realistic predictor in three of the four airports analyzed, with time-series analysis predicting the other. A thorough analysis of these forecasting methods can help …
Comparison Of Bio-Mass To Bio-Oil Reactor Systems: Direct Conversion Vs. Companion Coal Gasification, Luci Evans
Comparison Of Bio-Mass To Bio-Oil Reactor Systems: Direct Conversion Vs. Companion Coal Gasification, Luci Evans
Honors Theses
The purpose of this project was to define, design, and optimize the economic feasibility of the production of bio-oil from a direct conversion of biomass to bio-oil using fast pyrolysis and a secondary side reaction of the production of a syngas from coal gasification. In the end, a combined process of these two was created to show the new strengths and more efficient options to produce a desired product within a budget. The main objectives of this project were to research the economic feasibility of the biomass and bio-oil industry, obtain a market survey, design two process flow diagrams showing …
Design, Optimization, And Construction Of Flexure, Optical, Damping, And Leveling Systems For Electric Propulsion Thrust Stand, Logan Hefferan
Design, Optimization, And Construction Of Flexure, Optical, Damping, And Leveling Systems For Electric Propulsion Thrust Stand, Logan Hefferan
Honors Theses
An Thrust Stand is a device that uses the basic principles of torsion and displacement to experimentally measure and calculate the thrust generated by an Electric Propulsion (EP) Thruster. Western Michigan University is host to three organizations that work with electric propulsion thrusters currently without a way of obtaining direct experimental thrust data. For this Senior Design Project, the flexure, optical sensing, damping and leveling systems for a thrust stand originally designed by Hannah Watts in her WMU Honors Thesis: Design of A Thrust Stand for Electric Propulsion [13] will be constructed. The four subsystems will be redesigned, optimized, and …