Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Engineering Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Theses/Dissertations

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

2020

Discipline
Keyword
Publication

Articles 1 - 30 of 361

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Lead To Can Abrasion (Ltca) Test, Scott Mangin, Karthik Padmanabhan, Craig Icban Dec 2020

Lead To Can Abrasion (Ltca) Test, Scott Mangin, Karthik Padmanabhan, Craig Icban

Mechanical Engineering

Pacemakers are medical devices which regulate a person’s heartbeat through electric pulses delivered via an endocardial lead attached to the heart. When a pacemaker is implanted in a patient, there is usually excess length left on the lead. Surgeons will typically wrap the excess lead length around the pacemaker device and close the wound. However, wrapping the lead around the pacemaker outer surface can open the lead to abrasion and cause the lead’s vital electrical insulation to be compromised. This is currently tested using an existing abrasion fixture at Abbott. However, the current tester does not yield consistent data results …

Go to article

Deepsea Coral Sample Container, Sara Passantino, Andrew Noble, Casey Smith, Thomas Smith Dec 2020

Deepsea Coral Sample Container, Sara Passantino, Andrew Noble, Casey Smith, Thomas Smith

Mechanical Engineering

In order to better understand the health of our oceans and the species that inhabit them, scientists often collect samples for later analysis onshore. The demanding deep-sea environment makes this collection process a challenging engineering task. Samples must first be located, then removed from the seafloor and stored for transportation to the surface. The performance of the engineered solutions that complete each of these tasks is critical in allowing marine scientists to maximize the insight obtained from their expeditions. Marine Applied Research and Exploration (MARE) is an organization that performs such collection of organisms with the help of remotely operated …

Go to article

Experimental Testing Of A Lightly Reinforced Concrete Shear Wall, Jerry Hue Truong Luong, Rory Sebastian De Sevilla Dec 2020

Experimental Testing Of A Lightly Reinforced Concrete Shear Wall, Jerry Hue Truong Luong, Rory Sebastian De Sevilla

Architectural Engineering: Graduate Reports

This project report summarizes the findings of a half-scale laboratory test on a slender lightly reinforced concrete (LRC) shear wall subjected to cyclic loading. LRC shear walls, specifically those of pre-1980’s type design, have longitudinal and horizontal reinforcement ratios near the code minimum, while often lacking confinement in the wall end-zones. These walls are thought to exhibit brittle compressive failure mechanisms such as rebar buckling or concrete crushing based on observations from past earthquakes. Non-ductile concrete buildings are a large contributor to earthquake losses around the globe, as noted in the San Fernando (1971) and Christchurch (2011) earthquakes, to name …

Go to article

A.C. Moyer Eye-Cap Manufacturing, Thais Bertolus, Alexa Steidl, Hana Welsh, Jarod Kinney, Maya Willis Dec 2020

A.C. Moyer Eye-Cap Manufacturing, Thais Bertolus, Alexa Steidl, Hana Welsh, Jarod Kinney, Maya Willis

Mechanical Engineering

A.C. Moyer company has been making eye caps as a family business since 1947. Eye caps are a product used during the embalming process. Currently the machines being used to produce the eye caps are outdated and unsafe. We are a team of 5 mechanical engineering students tasked with either designing new machines or updating the existing machines to make the manufacturing process more efficient, automated, and safer. This document describes the design process, provides background, relevant research, establishes project objectives, and defines plans for project implementation.

Go to article

Smart Solar Charge Controller, Aria Pegah, Miclaine Emtman Dec 2020

Smart Solar Charge Controller, Aria Pegah, Miclaine Emtman

Electrical Engineering

The technology of photovoltaics has been quickly evolving as we move toward a future with more clean energy. Energy conversion efficiency is key to making these systems the viable option amongst other sources of power. This project proposes a way to increase the power yield from a solar system by implementing smarter algorithms in the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) component of the system. MPPT is critical because environmental conditions may vary significantly for any given system due to irradiance and shading. The proposed method for MPPT utilizes a controller that uses swarm intelligence to do the power tracking.. This …

Go to article

Dc-Dc Buck-Boost Converter Design For Energy Harvesting From Exercise Equipment, Nicholas Serres Dec 2020

Dc-Dc Buck-Boost Converter Design For Energy Harvesting From Exercise Equipment, Nicholas Serres

Electrical Engineering

This project aims to improve energy harvesting efficiency from an exercise machine. Exercise machine energy harvesting has a small immediate impact but can eventually have an immense impact. An elliptical exercise machine energy converter outputs 5V-60V whereas the microinverters require approximately 36V. The buck boost DC-DC converter bridges the gap between the microinverter and the elliptical machine. Increasing the buck-boost controller efficiency increases power production. Greater power efficiency gives the whole system more financial viability, and additionally makes it a greater sustainable energy source.

Go to article

Online Platform For Construction Management Internship Reviews - Continued, Michael F. Dunne Iii Dec 2020

Online Platform For Construction Management Internship Reviews - Continued, Michael F. Dunne Iii

Construction Management

The purpose of this paper is to outline and explain the origin, process and outcome of my goal to create a website where Construction Management students have the capability to review their internships. The aim was to continue to progress Cal Poly alumna Erica Zetterquist’s senior project and her idea to create an online platform similar to “PolyRatings”, a website where Cal Poly students are able to review and rate their professors. This website is essentially the same thing as “Polyratings”, but for internships instead of professors, hoping to help students with their job search process. Based off a series …

Go to article

Tanzanian Concrete Masonry Walls, Edward J. Kaminski Dec 2020

Tanzanian Concrete Masonry Walls, Edward J. Kaminski

Architectural Engineering

Walls that replicate masonry walls used in Tanzania are constructed and tested. The results from testing was compared with the respective predictions made using code guidelines from ASCE 7 and TMS 402.

Go to article

Programmable Battery Management System, Jason Erbert Dec 2020

Programmable Battery Management System, Jason Erbert

Electrical Engineering

Lithium batteries provide excellent energy storage capabilities at a relatively high density; however, precautions must be taken with these high energy devices to ensure safe operation. A battery management system (BMS) provides protection by monitoring cell and pack voltage levels and maintaining them in a specific range. They limit the output current and disable the output in extreme conditions. Most devices in the targeted power range (<1000W) do not allow the user to manipulate the values for maximum current, cut-off voltage, or other limits. This project introduces the Programmable BMS (PBMS), which instead allows the user to select these values through a physical interface. The interface displays measurements including pack voltage and output current, and it reports additional characteristics of interest such as the battery’s temperature, state of charge, and cumulative number of charge cycles. This level of access and control permits users to receive the maximum performance and safety from common lithium battery packs.

Go to article

Smart Motor Syringe System, Conard Chan, Jenny Chiao Dec 2020

Smart Motor Syringe System, Conard Chan, Jenny Chiao

Electrical Engineering

Syringe pumps are widely used in many research applications especially in the applications that need precise control. Today most medical research utilizes syringes to control the fluid being pumped to the experiment objects. In most cases microscopic or nano-scopic motion control is required to acquire optimal results, such application includes purification of DNA/RNA from contaminants[1]. The high precision required to control the syringe pump makes it difficult to perform manually. This paper focuses on the design of an intelligent syringe pump motor control system to achieve reliable and precise control for biomedical experiments. This project improves medical research quality with …

Go to article

Diversity And Inclusion In The Workplace: A Comparative Analysis Between A Large And Small Company, Andrew K. Hernandez Dec 2020

Diversity And Inclusion In The Workplace: A Comparative Analysis Between A Large And Small Company, Andrew K. Hernandez

Construction Management

The construction industry in recent times have seen an increase in inclusivity and diversity among the workplace. The industry seems to make improvements and steps to create an overall accepting workforce. However, there is still a need to produce a more inclusive work environment. There are many organizations and legal requirements that push for improving diversity throughout companies, but still the industry struggles to do so. Improving diversity in the workforce can reach out to more personnel with talent and skill to possibly attack the trade labor shortage in this industry. Analytical research methods in these reports were used to …

Go to article

Users Background And Perception Of Robotic Demolition Equipment, Matthew Elston Jones Dec 2020

Users Background And Perception Of Robotic Demolition Equipment, Matthew Elston Jones

Construction Management

Robotic demolition equipment or demolition robots are robots that resemble excavators without the cab, that can be controlled by an operator at a safe distance. This equipment can access hazardous environments and provides versatility in the demolition methods possible. Robots have become a popular choice for contractors looking for a competitive advantage. Currently there is little research about the demolition robot market and how the industry views the technology. This research first seeks to answer background questions on the users and their experience with demolition robots. The research also answers perception questions such as the benefits, drawbacks, and reasons for …

Go to article

Implementation Of Bluebeam To The Fundamentals Of Construction Management Course, Kirk Arena Dec 2020

Implementation Of Bluebeam To The Fundamentals Of Construction Management Course, Kirk Arena

Construction Management

This project based senior project was brought about by Paul Weber and Matty Reed and was originally intended to take the paper-based binders from the Fundamentals to Construction Management course and organize these binders in Bluebeam. Bluebeam is an industry standard for nearly all construction projects, and an early adoption of the software could allow students to familiarize themselves with a tool that they will use after college or during internships. After deliberating with Paul, we concluded that we could better educate students by creating exercises that allow students to learn the tools available in Bluebeam through interactions in the …

Go to article

An Exploratory Study Of Pulse Width And Delta Sigma Modulators, Logan B. Penrod Dec 2020

An Exploratory Study Of Pulse Width And Delta Sigma Modulators, Logan B. Penrod

Master's Theses

This paper explores the noise shaping and noise producing qualities of Delta-Sigma Modulators (DSM) and Pulse-Width Modulators (PWM). DSM has long been dominant in the Delta Sigma Analog-to-Digital Converter (DSADC) as a noise-shaped quantizer and time discretizer, while PWM, with a similar self oscillating structure, has seen use in Class D Power Amplifiers, performing a similar function. It has been shown that the PWM in Class D Amplifiers outperforms the DSM [1], but could this advantage be used in DSADC use-cases? LTSpice simulation and printed circuit board implementation and test are used to present data on four variations of these …

Go to article

Video Based Automatic Speech Recognition Using Neural Networks, Alvin Lin Dec 2020

Video Based Automatic Speech Recognition Using Neural Networks, Alvin Lin

Master's Theses

Neural network approaches have become popular in the field of automatic speech recognition (ASR). Most ASR methods use audio data to classify words. Lip reading ASR techniques utilize only video data, which compensates for noisy environments where audio may be compromised. A comprehensive approach, including the vetting of datasets and development of a preprocessing chain, to video-based ASR is developed. This approach will be based on neural networks, namely 3D convolutional neural networks (3D-CNN) and Long short-term memory (LSTM). These types of neural networks are designed to take in temporal data such as videos. Various combinations of different neural network …

Go to article

Virtual Recruiting: The Impact Of Virtual Interviews & Hiring Events On Construction Students, Abram G. Briones-Colman Dec 2020

Virtual Recruiting: The Impact Of Virtual Interviews & Hiring Events On Construction Students, Abram G. Briones-Colman

Construction Management

Recruitment from college construction programs was drastically altered by not being allowed to gather in person in large groups for the majority of 2020. Companies could no longer recruit in person as they had at past college events, and instead connected and communicated with students virtually. The construction management department at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), bridged this gap between recruiting companies and current students, at a virtual career fair using a collaborative hub built on Microsoft Teams. Data was gathered from students via a survey after attending this first departmental virtual fair, to measure impacts …

Go to article

An Analysis Of The Cost Impacts Experienced By Drywall Subcontractors During Covid-19, Brenden Schow Dec 2020

An Analysis Of The Cost Impacts Experienced By Drywall Subcontractors During Covid-19, Brenden Schow

Construction Management

Covid-19 has presented issues in many forms for the drywall tenant improvement (TI) industry due to regulations and restrictions instilled in the Bay Area, California. This report details appropriate implementation of force majeure clause in contracts, stay-at-home orders with regard to construction and updated OSHA requirements. It then goes into analysis on cost impacts observed by various drywall companies operating in the Bay Area and how they are created and controlled. This analysis is supported by interviews conducted with representatives from six different drywall subcontractors who are involved in the estimating and bidding process. Interviews consisted of eight open ended …

Go to article

Oasis Church: Designing And Building A Pergola For The Discipleship Home, Logan Keil Smith Dec 2020

Oasis Church: Designing And Building A Pergola For The Discipleship Home, Logan Keil Smith

Construction Management

The senior project idea for building a pergola, fire-pit, and paver hardscape was designed and executed by Andreas Rasmussen and Logan Smith. With the necessary background knowledge in landscape construction and the required funding, the Discipleship Home in Oceano, California, gave these two construction management students the opportunity to build an outdoor aesthetic area for residents of the Discipleship Home. This document provides information regarding the design, acquired funding, construction process, lessons learned and conclusion after the project was finished. The purpose of the project is to provide a peaceful place in which the residents of the Discipleship Home can …

Go to article

Covid-19 Impact On Construction Companies And Responses To The Pandemic, Justin Kyle Reno Dec 2020

Covid-19 Impact On Construction Companies And Responses To The Pandemic, Justin Kyle Reno

Construction Management

The end of 2019 and throughout 2020 brought along the COVID-19 pandemic which majorly impacted the construction industry. For construction work to continue through the pandemic, adjustments to procedures and protocols were made that satisfied city and state requirements to reduce the virus spread. Since the virus is deemed highly contagious it is much easier to contract than a common flu, making containment for any potential spread a high priority. Understanding different companies’ responses to the pandemic at the construction jobsite level provides opportunities to implement procedures to stop the spread of the virus. Using in-depth interviews, this paper examines …

Go to article

Organize, Prepare, And Painting Project: Pismo Beach Lions - Club, Luis Badillo Dec 2020

Organize, Prepare, And Painting Project: Pismo Beach Lions - Club, Luis Badillo

Construction Management

This paper explains the management process and execution of a project based senior project painting for a nonprofit. The main aim of the project was to give back to a charity organization that offers their time and energy to support their local community. This project occurred during the COVID 19 pandemic, and appropriate safety protocols were used including in communicating with the club representatives. The Pismo Beach Lions Club building was weathered and in need of fresh paint. The original color logo of the Lions Club is blue and white and was preferred that the building remain the same colors. …

Go to article

The Feasibility Of Real Time Location Systems In Construction, John O. Brouse Iv Dec 2020

The Feasibility Of Real Time Location Systems In Construction, John O. Brouse Iv

Construction Management

The construction industry is becoming increasingly sophisticated by implementing new computer-based technologies to improve safety, efficiency, accountability, and many other aspects. One new type of technology that is becoming increasingly popular in other labor based industries is real time locating systems. These systems allow for managers to keep accountability of a variety of assets in a manufacturing facility or industrial center. Recent research has shown the benefits and potential uses of these systems on construction jobsites. This paper seeks to analyze the potential for Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) to be used on construction jobsites and compare the different RTLS …

Go to article

Analysis Of Working From Home Vs Working At The Office, As A Construction Company In The Bay Area, Kyle M. Ruff Dec 2020

Analysis Of Working From Home Vs Working At The Office, As A Construction Company In The Bay Area, Kyle M. Ruff

Construction Management

In 2020, working from home has become an increasingly popular trend amongst construction offices across the Bay Area to combat the spread of COVID-19. This meant that employees who used to commute were now able to work from home. This paper analyzes the impacts working from home has on the productivity, work-life-balance, and overall well-being of a Bay Area construction office employees . A survey was issued to the estimating department of a large general contractor in the Bay Area, with the intent of finding the impact working from home had on the three aspects of working life, as previous …

Go to article

Towards On-Device Detection Of Sharks With Drones, Daniel Moore Dec 2020

Towards On-Device Detection Of Sharks With Drones, Daniel Moore

Master's Theses

Recent years have seen several projects across the globe using drones to detect sharks, including several high profile projects around alerting beach authorities to keep people safe. However, so far many of these attempts have used cloud-based machine learning solutions for the detection component, which complicates setup and limits their use geographically to areas with internet connection. An on-device (or on-controller) shark detector would offer greater freedom for researchers searching for and tracking sharks in the field, but such a detector would need to operate under reduced resource constraints. To this end we look at SSD MobileNet, a popular object …

Go to article

Returning To Learn By Doing, Jeremiah W. Miller Dec 2020

Returning To Learn By Doing, Jeremiah W. Miller

Construction Management

The objective of my senior project was to help return the Cal Poly SLO Construction Management Department to their hands-on labs after the COVID-19 Pandemic forced all learning to go virtual. To return to hands-on labs, I needed to create a set of protocols that faculty and staff could use before, during, and after the labs to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These protocols needed to be simple enough that professors could use them every day and effective enough to make students feel safe to continue attending in person labs. If these protocols were to be accepted, they would need …

Go to article

Reintroduction Of Skilled Trade Programs For High School Students, Cristian Ayala-Quirino Dec 2020

Reintroduction Of Skilled Trade Programs For High School Students, Cristian Ayala-Quirino

Construction Management

The curriculum that incorporated skilled trades has vanished from many high schools, and more students are encouraged to attend college instead of pursuing trades. People view construction labor positions as jobs instead of careers. The construction industry is facing a substantial labor shortage amongst skilled laborers throughout the whole industry. Not enough people know how beneficial a career in the construction labor force can be. If more people knew about these career opportunities, they might have a greater interest in pursuing a career as a skilled tradesperson. To comprehend students’ understanding of the construction industry and examine where we can …

Go to article

Pre-Construction Documents For A Mobile Food Assembling & Distribution Station, Winnie He Dec 2020

Pre-Construction Documents For A Mobile Food Assembling & Distribution Station, Winnie He

Construction Management

On Christmas Eve of 2018, Jessica He Liu, a chef in Los Angeles opened her home to friends and family to volunteer and help assemble food boxes and personal hygiene products and distributed these goods out to those in need. What started off as a goal to spread kindness during the holidays, became a yearly traditional non-profit volunteering event for those families involved. In March 2020, the deadly COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise, causing a copious amount of social distancing guild lines to be formed and enforced. Although there was still a slight hope that the pandemic would …

Go to article

Application Of Autonomous Equipment In Heavy Civil Construction, Roman J. Ruffino Dec 2020

Application Of Autonomous Equipment In Heavy Civil Construction, Roman J. Ruffino

Construction Management

The prevalence of autonomous vehicles in our everyday lives is continually growing. Automobile manufacturers such as Tesla have made great strides in building a car that can safely navigate the world around it and respond to sudden changes. There is great potential in the heavy civil construction industry for equipment such as bulldozers, scrapers, and transport vehicles to add another level of safety and efficiency to the worksite. The goal of this research will be to determine whether a contractor would actually apply this technology, or if it isn’t practical for everyday use. This paper will examine the current state …

Go to article

Should Teamwork-Based Content Be Taught In The Cal Poly Construction Management Curriculum?, Matthew J. Sharman Dec 2020

Should Teamwork-Based Content Be Taught In The Cal Poly Construction Management Curriculum?, Matthew J. Sharman

Construction Management

At California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), in the Construction Management (CM) curriculum, there is a lack of teamwork-based content. This content includes negotiation, conflict resolution, and fundamental skills for working collaboratively with others such as social-emotional intelligence, empathy, and communication. The nature of the Cal Poly CM Program is to teach students about the aspects of the construction process, however what is missed is teaching how to work effectively in teams. They fail to teach this because of the strict curriculum of focusing on learning objectives rather than teaching individuals how to be effective construction managers. …

Go to article

Blockchain Technology In The Construction Industry, Marco C. Reza Dec 2020

Blockchain Technology In The Construction Industry, Marco C. Reza

Construction Management

The construction industry has not advanced as quickly as other industries in the aspects of time, cost, and quality; but Blockchain could be the solution. While there have been improvements in the construction sector such as BIM or Prefabrication, nothing compares to those in other industries. This brings the search for a new technology that would boost construction to a new level of productivity. One technology that could potentially do this is Blockchain. Blockchain, defined in a big picture, is like a shared google sheet where anybody could add information but nobody could delete it. This technology could change the …

Go to article

The Discipleship Home Pergola And Firepit Area, Andreas V. Rasmussen Dec 2020

The Discipleship Home Pergola And Firepit Area, Andreas V. Rasmussen

Construction Management

This report illustrates the complete process of the implementation of an outdoor space consisting of a hardscaped firepit area covered by a pergola in the backyard of the Discipleship Home in Oceano, CA. This project was carried out by two construction management students, Andreas Rasmussen and Logan Smith. Logan Smith’s primary focus was the pergola while I was in charge of the hardscaping and natural gas firepit directly underneath the structure. The project was completed in December of 2020 with the use of quality materials purchased from local businesses and the help of local equipment rental store, Grover Tool & …

Go to article

Next Last