Engineering Commons^™

Frostflex, Isaac Edmondson, Caleb Edmondson, Joey Esker, Nadine Salem

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Research has shown that the majority of heat lost during physical exercise leaves the body through the hands, feet, and the face. Our design project seeks to develop cooling glove technology to increase the rate at which heat leaves the body during recovery from physical exertion. The goal of this project was to investigate different ways in which heat absorption through various mediums can be manipulated and scaled into an adaptable, flexible design in which athletes of all levels, from recreational to professional, can improve their physical performance with the use of our gloves. Deliverables include a functional prototype, product …

The Life Of A Roundabout In Colorado Springs, Alexis M. Yoder

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Colorado Springs is an up-and-coming area where many people have decided to move to for multiple opportunities. With more people, comes more traffic flow and unfortunately, more accidents. Throughout the state, there is a large attempt to lower accidents, especially at intersections. One type of intersection that can be of great benefit is the roundabout. In fact, Colorado was an early adapter of the roundabout in order to improve traffic flow and decrease fatal accident statistics. When designing a roundabout, although good intentions are planned, complications can still arise. In most scenarios, roundabouts are able to reduce the number of …

Theoretical Design Of A 360 Degree Pendulum Ride, John William Elliott

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project uses several areas of study: mechanical physics/design of moving parts, electrical power, and human comfort. It is based on the pendulum ride at Cedar Point called "maXair." One of the goals with this project is to create a theoretical, simpler version of a 360 Degree Pendulum Ride that operates on the same principles of a conventional pendulum rides. The velocity, forces on the shaft in the middle of the ride, the accelerations, the g force on the riders, and all the other forces associated with the pendulum ride were analyzed as well.

Customizable Armor Set, Olivia Reedy

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project is intended to help people who make costume armor by reducing the amount of time and money it takes to create a set of armor. Making armor can take a lot of resources for beginners, and this project is intended to help hobbyists with that process. This customizable armor set goes through the engineering design process, from the initial design of the parts to creating the prototype using vacuum forming. The prototype armor can be painted and adhered to using acrylic paint and contact cement, respectively, and fits three sizes of small, medium, and large.

Camper Conversion, Owen Christian Hafler, Zebediah Paul Benedict Zehentbauer, Madilyn Beatrice Willis, Zachary Eli Owen, Justin Robert Nicholas

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021 has seen hundreds of thousands sequestered in quarantine for long periods of time. When quarantined in an urban setting, many cannot leave their respective apartment buildings which only adds to the strain of isolation. In the context of isolation, the design team of Hafler, Nicholas, Owen, Willis, and Zehentbauer personally sought to incorporate their individual enthusiasm for nature with the benefits of living off-grid. After initial research and deliberation, the team discovered the “Skoolie” community and the plans for a mobile tiny home began production.

The team outlined the design project as the full design, …

Prosthetic Hand, Nicholas Damiani, Eric Rassavong, John Zolton

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Development of a prosthetic hand for an above-the-wrist amputee. The hand will provide flexion and extension of the wrist, fingers and thumb. The device will be customized for each individual by utilizing an medical imaging of the amputation side stump and the normal arm/wrist as the input. An integral hand/wrist and socket will be 3D printed, and actuators will be mounted to the prosthetic to provide motion. The wrist will be a mirror-image of the normal hand. Materials utilized will be selected based on the medical image intensity for different tissue types (cartilage, bone, skin, fat, etc.) and will simulate …

Ideal Lacrosse Stick, Josh Beck, Tyler Skoloda, Noah Reed, Stanley Dembosky

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project is focused on the design of a new and innovative lacrosse stick. Our main points of focus will be the strength and durability of the head. As well as solving some of the problems that exist in existing equipment. These problems were identified by interviewing experienced players at the college level. Benefits would include a stronger head that is easier to use for a player on the field to do things like pass, catch, shoot, and field ground balls in an optimal manner. Normally players will have to purchase new heads every season as a result of warping …

Bioimpedance Sensor, Ryan Byo, Kevin Libertowski

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A bioimpdance senor to measure the impedance of a human body. Completed as part of the engineering Senior Design Project

All-Wheel-Ukraine, Sofiya Rakovska, Hannah Mcculloch, Andrey Garasimchuk, Ahmad Alsaihati

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

We are working with a non-profit organization in Ukraine that provides wheelchairs/strollers to families of disables children who cannot afford them. Their current preferred solution is a baby stroller. The organization asked us to create a wheelchair that is cost efficient, light and collapsible to be used for children ages up to thirteen years old. We will be creating an alpha prototype wheelchair by modifying a basic wheelchair that we purchased. This modifications include adding a headrest that is adjustable and provides a sufficient support for children within the age group given to us and diverse levels of disabilities. We …

Tabletop Mechanical Tester, Jamie Dombroski, Brian English, Richard Leffler, Andrew Shirk

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The need for hands-on and face-to-face experiences in the engineering classroom is very great. The equations, principles, and concepts can all be learned, but without the visual and tactile application, these don’t always sink in or become concrete. A small-scale tensile test machine was designed, sourced, manufactured, and tested for the purpose of being applied in classroom settings to provide this experience to engineering students. Extensive research was performed concerning tensile machines on the market, the essential elements of which are the load cell, grips, crosshead, extensometer, motor, and frame. The raw materials for the frame were purchased and drawings …

Mini Baja Frame Analysis, Jacob Swanson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of our senior design project is to optimize the Baja frame to reduce its weight and material cost while keeping the required rigidity. Through force analysis we will be able to determine if any rigidity is lost by removing a set of tubes (figure 1), along with the other forces seen by the frame. If it is found that the frame rigidity is still within the determined factor of safety, 2, then we will be able to reduce the frame weight and the number of tubes that make up the frame. Along with force analysis, we will use …

A Survey Of Education In Civil Engineering, Tyler Fuller

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper provides an overview of the current education requirements in the field of civil engineering. This is achieved through means of an anonymous survey sent to civil engineering academics and data gathered from the published curricula of ten existing civil engineering programs. These ten programs were selected by means of a random number generator from the list of institutions the survey was sent to. Such an overview is important for gauging the effectiveness of civil engineering education for current and future students.

Prosthetic Foot/Ankle Inversion & Eversion Enhancement, Jason Wiebrecht, Maddison Grimes

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Modify a prosthetic foot/ankle, that currently has power at the ankle joint, for dorsiflexion/flexion so that it supplies power across a simulated subtalar joint, making the joint capable of inversion/eversion.

Development And Exploration Of A Z-Shaped Foot And Ankle Internal Fixation Plate, Rhaz Shaghaghi Paul, Ian Hames, Sean Rich

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper will detail the design process of developing a Z-shaped foot and ankle internal fixation plating system. Group 6: Plates for the Sole was made up of 5 team members, who worked together to accommodate their client’s request to complete a biomechanical analysis of a Z-Plate design and a construct a prototype. The Z-Plate’s purpose is to provide podiatrists with a new solution that can fit nicely on the small, irregular bones of the foot, while also remaining strong enough to withstand the forces and torques of the foot.

Understanding Effects Of Engineering Outreach On Elementary Students, Thomas Cobb

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Currently, there is a desire to increase engineering understanding held by elementary students. As such, there needs to be a way to stimulate not only engineering, but other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics in a young student’s lifestyle. One way to emphasize the importance of STEM while also showing how fun it can be is through different hands on activities led by individuals partaking in undergraduate studies or the industry. While having the students participate in the activities, it is important to understand what the students are learning and how the activity overall is viewed. With the help …

Easy Adjustable Protective Helmet, Ryan Balash

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Akron Children’s Hospital and The University of Akron’s Biomedical Engineering Design Team Engineering Forward have paired together to improve medical adapted helmets for post-operative and disabled patients. An issue is the helmets are only produced in a couple of sizes. Also, it is a tedious process to constantly adjust the pressure on the patient’s cranium within a trial-and-error process. Engineering Forward plans to improve the effectiveness of this helmet by creating an adjustable helmet that can read the pressure on a patient’s head. The caregiver can then make the necessary adjustments to the helmet to accommodate the patient. Documents of …

Project "Auxilia" - Jaiden's Prosthetic Arm, Christopher Halley, Lindsay Jaros, Autumn Young

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The main objective of this project was to create a prosthetic arm for a 15 year old boy named Jaiden Foden. Jaiden was born with only one fully developed limb as a result of a genetic disorder, Hanhart Syndrome II. His right arm becomes a residual limb below the elbow, but has two fingers which act in a “claw-like” movement. Jaiden’s left arm becomes a residual limb above the elbow, and his left leg becomes a residual limb above the knee. The goal of the arm was to increase Jaiden’s overall independence and to help in completing daily tasks, such …

Reactive Archey Target Design Team "Mimic", Brandon Croyle, Jacob Boss, David Rodgers, Austin Wivell

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This design project will aim to provide archery hunters with a platform to simulate shooting at string jumping deer. String jumping refers to a spooked deer hearing the snap of a bow string and instintivly ducking up to ten inches. This often results in wounded or missed deer. We will design and build a control system that uses the sound of a bow string as a trigger to operate a mechanical target system. A sound sensor will mimic a deer’s hearing in close range hunting and then send a signal to the mechanical system to replicate the dropping motion of …

Recumbent Bicycle Balancing Aid, James Hager

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For our senior design project, our team will be consulting to create a balancing aid system intended for the recumbent bicycle shown below in Figure 1. The owner of the bicycle is Robert Henderson, a former United States Navy sailor from Northeast Ohio who picked up biking and skiing while he was stationed in Maine in the late 80’s. While there, he took to the mountains on the rugged terrain and brought this passion of biking back home to share with his wife, Johanna once he completed his service to his country. Biking became an integral part of the …

Instruction Pamphlet Insertion Machine, Jim Griggs, Scott Miller, Michael Kubala

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Weaver Industries in Akron, Ohio provided us with our senior design project. Weaver Industries seeks individuals with disabilities and provides them with job opportunities. One of their products is a “Kong” dog toy. As of now, the instruction pamphlet that comes with this dog toy is placed into each piece of packaging individually by hand. We are tasked with automating this process. Two years ago, a group of students worked on this project, but the reliability of their prototype was only around 60-70%. Then last year, another group of students worked on this project, but again, the reliability of their …

System For Workout Information Management, Mark Archual, Ethan E. Schweinsberg

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Power racks are a weight machine used by swimmers to provide resistance while they swim away from a wall toward the center of the pool. The objective of this project is to build a modular data system that can be added to these machines to record and log quantitative information during their use. This information will be stored on a web server, and made available to the user for analysis and visualization through a web application. Workout data can also be downloaded and interpreted at a later time, independent of the web application. The data system should be water resistant, …

Foley Catheter Priming Device, Melissa A. Boswell, Landon Davis, Renee Horn, Tyler Grubb, Jason Green

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A lack of a pressure gradient throughout the catheter prevents urine flow from the bladder and through catheter system in a condition referred to as “air-lock.” The purpose of this project was to design a device that could be utilized by person with a catheter faced with the problem of air-lock to restore urine flow and normal functioning of the catheter system. After a prototype was created, the device was put through a series of tests to insure proper functioning, absence of leakage, and durability. The device created can be added in-line with the catheter system, inconspicuously under the user’s …

Power Soccer Footguard Attachment System, Allison Hubbell, Vivian Kontoveros, Andrew Mcclain, Lauren Monsanty

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this research project was to develop a new method of attaching a footguard to the front of a power wheelchair to be used in the adaptive sport, power soccer. Completion of this project was requested by Adaptive Sports Program of Ohio (A.S.P.O.). It was requested that Limitless Sports Solutions, a team of Biomedical Engineering students, create a new design which would be more efficient, have less moving parts, and be easier to attach overall than the system currently being used by A.S.P.O. During the scope of this project, research was conducted on other existing systems and several …