Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Quantitative Peel Test For Thin Films/Layers Based On A Coupled Parametric And Statistical Study, Maysam Rezaee, Li Chih Tsai, Muhammad Istiaque Haider, Armin Yazdi, Ehsan Sanatizadeh, Nathan P. Salowitz

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Articles

The adhesion strength of thin films is critical to the durability of micro and nanofabricated devices. However, current testing methods are imprecise and do not produce quantitative results necessary for design specifications. The most common testing methods involve the manual application and removal of unspecified tape. This overcome many of the challenges of connecting to thin films to test their adhesion properties but different tapes, variation in manual application, and poorly controlled removal of tape can result in wide variation in resultant forces. Furthermore, the most common tests result in a qualitative ranking of film survival, not a measurement with …

Generalized Ultrasonic Scattering Model For Arbitrary Transducer Configurations, Andrea P. Arguelles, Joseph A. Turner

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Ultrasonic scattering in polycrystalline media is directly tied to microstructural features. As a result, modeling efforts of scattering from microstructure have been abundant. The inclusion of beam modeling for the ultrasonic transducers greatly simplified the ability to perform quantitative, fully calibrated experiments. In this article, a theoretical scattering model is generalized to allow for arbitrary source and receiver configurations, while accounting for beam behavior through the total propagation path. This extension elucidates the importance and potential of out-of-plane scattering modes in the context of microstructure characterization. The scattering coefficient is explicitly written for the case of statistical isotropy and ellipsoidal …

System And Method For Determining Operating Deflection Shapes Of A Structure Using Optical Techniques, Javad Baqersad

Mechanical Engineering Patents

A system for measuring total operating deflection shapes of a structure includes one or more imagers, each including two cameras spaced apart from one another and each oriented and positioned to have corresponding fields of view of a different corresponding section of the structure, with the corresponding sections that may include overlap area of the structure within each of the different sections of the structure. Each of the cameras generates a corresponding data stream, which is communicated to a controller, which is configured to measure the response of the structure to an excitation, such as a vibration or an impulse. …

Synthesis And Connection Of Iridium Hydrogen Evolution Catalyst To Chlorella Vulgaris Photosystem I For Light-Driven Hydrogen Evolution, Anna Ramirez

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Hydrogen gas has been shown to be a promising energy source as options other than fossil fuels are being looked at in the face of anthropogenic climate change. It is known that anthropogenic climate change is caused by the production of greenhouse gases being let into the atmosphere, specifically a common reason for this is the burning of fossil fuels for energy. The overall goal of this project is to design a biochemical hybrid system that will be used to make H 2 gas and does not require the use of fossil fuels. Burning hydrogen as fuel produces only water …

Asme Design Challenge: The Jenga Stacker, Zachary Lin, Alex Chernauskas, Mitch Dorsey, Alex Remmers

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The 2020 ASME Design Challenge requires teams to build a compact engineering system capable of manufacturing a tower made exclusively from standard-sized sheets of paper. The validation of the design will include testing for manufacturing speed, height of tower, and ability to support a load. Our senior design project focuses on the stacking mechanism and is designed to stack a 4 in x 4 in tower out of prepared 4 in x 1.5 in x 1.75 in paper boxes from the ground up.

Improved Greens Harvester, Sharon Park, Khalil Clark, Millyn Brieschke

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This paper attempts to provide a prototype of the improved greens harvester. Some inconveniences of the users, including not able to cut greens at a constant length, greens getting clogged in between the brush and the basket, and the need to empty the basket a lot of times. This paper describes problem understanding, concept generation, concept selection, concept embodiment, working prototype, and design refinement. Through these analyses and processes, an improved greens harvester solving the inconveniences is designed. The improved greens harvester has a higher greens harvester with wheels that makes using the harvester less troublesome. Band saw is stuck …

Group A: Asme Student Design Challenge, Dakshi Jindal, Ashley Perry, Ben Liao

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This year's student design competition is termed "Building to the Sky." Student teams are required to build a compact engineering system capable of manufacturing a tower made of only standard-sized sheets of paper.

Group E: Improved Greens Harvester, Paige Grittner, Paul Harding, Ned Curran, Jennifer Mata

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The Improved Greens Harvester is a project designing an improved machine that will be used to harvest crops by our client, EarthDance Organic Farm School in Ferguson, MO. The goal of our design was to provide a simple, easy-to-use, and easyto-fix machine that would cut and collect baby green leaves as the user walks along the plant bed. We first sought to address issue with the client’s current machine including low cutting accuracy, strain on the user’s body, frequent jamming, and low efficiency. Our initial design was a cart design that included: an oscillating blade for cutting, a rotating rope-shaft …

Group S- Arliss Project, Preston Bailey, Zach Stelwagon, Cal Reynolds, James Hardy

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Our project was the ARLISS competition project, more specifically the second part of the project where the vehicle must survive a drop and drive to a known location over rough desert terrain. We interviewed our professor, Dr. Potter, who had previous experience with the project to understand what was required in our design. The project started with creating concept ideas and deciding on one, which initially was an airplane to avoid designing a landing mechanism and having to drive over rough terrain. However, this design proved to have too many flaws and was scrapped. The new design was a small …

3d Chocolate Printer Bed Design, Dean Oken, Jacob Margolin, Ben Hartmann, Sam Grossman

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The client wished for a device to gain the interest of young undergraduate students into basic thermal science and fluid dynamics concepts. A 3D printer bed was created from concept to prototype design and paired with chocolate dropper teams to complete the project and accomplish the client's goals.

City Of New Smyrna Beach Solar Feasibility Assessment, Florida Solar Energy Center, Charles Withers, Jr.

FSEC Energy Research Center®

At the request of the City of New Smyrna Beach, the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) assessed rooftop solar and building energy efficiency improvement potential for 17 city-owned facilities. The intent has been to assist City leaders in identifying opportunities to reduce the City's overall electricity consumption and increase its use of renewable energy.

The FSEC team conducted Level 1 energy audit activities and site assessments including:

On-site assessment

• Solar feasibility measurements and characterization including orientation, roof shading (adjacent structures, encroaching trees, etc.), available roof area, system output, annualized savings
• HVAC characterization
• Lighting survey
• Occupancy density, schedule, thermostat settings

Post …

Mems 411 Group L (Fall 2019) - Speedy Seeder Final Report, Michael Morrow, Christopher Nelson, Ross Frame

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The Speedy Seeder or ”SS” is a device designed to decrease the time it takes to fill one seed plot by hand to roughly sixteen percent of the time. The customer of the SS is EarthDance Organic Farms School. EarthDance fills a large number of plots each year by placing a seed in every single compartment which come in three sizes: 32, 72, and 128 compartments per plot. Filling a single plot by hand can take roughly 8 minutes. The SS makes filling a plot much easier and faster, allowing a single plot to be filled in under 75 seconds. …

Experimental Study Of Condensation In A Thermoacoustic Cooler With Various 3d Printed Regenerators Using Water Vapor As The Working Fluid, Aibek Bekkulov, Andrew Luthen, Ben Xu

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Thermoacoustics (TA) deals with the conversion of heat into sound and vice versa. The device that transfers energy from a low temperature reservoir to a high temperature one by utilizing acoustic work is called TA cooler (TAC). The main components of a typical TAC are a resonator, a porous regenerator (e.g. stack of parallel plates) and two heat exchangers. The thermoacoustic phenomenon takes place in the regenerator where a nonzero temperature gradient is imposed, and interacts with the sound wave. The low temperature at the cold end of TAC can be used to condense water from the humid air and …

T-Shirt Strip Dispenser, Maxwell Dimgba, Syeda Mohsin, Sabrina Nguyen

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

There is a massive amount of waste around the textile industry. New garments are constantly being made and old garments are consistently finding themselves in landfills. This project aims to cut down on this waste. Mary Susan RuppertStroescu of the Sam Fox School at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a process to turn old garments into new ones in a practice known as up-cycling. By cutting old garments into half-inch strips, laying and adhering them flat on a sheet of dissolvable paper, and sewing over them in interesting patterns she is able to create extraordinary new designs. This …

Group M: Arliss Canister Vehicle, Greyson Bourgeois, Eleanor Macklin, Romail Dawani, Rachel Sample

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This project is a dicycle designed for the ARLISS Canister Competition. In this competition, the device is loaded into a rocket which is then launched to about 12000 ft before releasing the device. Then it must safely land and autonomously navigate to a predetermined GPS location on the ground. Due to the fact that this is a mechanical engineering design project and the time restrictions of this class, we focused on the physical aspect of the project, such as building a device that can survive the launch and landing and traverse several kilometers through the desert, forgoing the autonomous navigation …

Violin Bow-Hand Prosthetic, Jonathan Smith, Jonathon Azziz, Shawn Pavey

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The violin bow hand prosthetic was designed for a young violin player seeking to upgrade the functionality of his current violin prosthetic device. His current device is rigid, forcing him to play mostly with his shoulder. Since the strength of his wrist was unknown, we designed a prosthetic with enough brace flexibility to enable the user to control the bow motion with his own wrist. We also added an axis of rotation and spring mechanism to supplement this motion and provide him the equivalence of fine finger adjustments. The full design process of the prosthetic is documented in this report, …

Violin Bow-Hand Prosthetic, Ron Hayes Jr, Kc Cook, Romario Lobban, Muriel Drexler

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The violin bow-hand prosthetic aims to mimic the natural hold and motion of a violinist’s bow-hand. The prosthetic is for a violinist who is missing the majority of their hand, but still has full range of motion in the wrist. Focusing on maintaining a natural playing style greatly influenced the design of the device to be user safe, durable, comfortable, easy to use, inexpensive, and practical. Many of these features were achieved by using 3D printed plastic and foam composites. These materials were selected based on strength and deflection analyses of 3-D simulations performed in SolidWorks and the ease of …

Group N: Fluid Flow Testing Apparatus, Jonathan Fleming, Braden Kerr, Abel Soloman

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

A fluid flow testing apparatus was needed to accurately test valves relative to the conditions seen in the factory of a local St. Louis brewery. After concept generation, a rotating track that toggled the valve between open and closed was decided on by the team. Construction of an initial prototype was done over 3 weeks with a total budget of 400 USD. The initial prototype satisfied almost all of the performance goals: capable of cycling 200 times without intervention, 1 paper-towel of leakage at most, and upper reservoir level consistency within 10 percent. To improve the initial prototype, the team …

Energy Performance Certification: Misassessment Due To Assuming Default Heat Losses, Ciara Ahern, Brian Norton

Articles

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are issued when dwellings are constructed, sold or leased in the EU. Where the cost of obtaining the required data is prohibitive, EPC assessors use nationally applicable default-values. To ensure that dwellings are not assigned a wrongly-higher EPC rating, a standardised thermal bridging transmittance coefficient (Y-value) is typically adopted for all existing dwellings while worst-case overall heat loss coefficients (U-values) are used. Default U-values are applied to a specific building element type (roof, wall, floor etc.) based on building codes and regulations applicable at time of construction. Due to significant building fabric upgrades, default U-values are …

Lupd - Leisure Underwater Propulsion Device, James Abraham, Tanner Nordell, Holden Schmidt, Noah Trimark

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The main objective of this Design Project was to create a hands-free, wearable underwater propulsion device. The target consumer is leisure divers, so managing cost was important. Current products on the market do not allow divers to be hands-free while diving and are very expensive. The design process began with an interview with Josh An, a Masters Degree candidate at Washington University in St. Louis. Josh is an avid diver and wanted to see if it was possible to develop a cheap underwater jet pack for leisure diving. After multiple design concepts and mock up prototypes, our team decided on …

Sweet Spot Demonstration, Andrew Amend, Mitchell Smith, Ian Fish, Curtis Hoffman

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Our goal was to design and build an exhibit for the St. Louis Science Center to serve as a teaching tool to help explain the unintuitive concept of a baseball bat’s sweet spot to a typical children museum’s visitor, a 5th grade student, in an interesting and visually pleasing way. The sweet spot of the bat is colloquially known as the place that makes the best contact with the ball, and it is determined by a combination of the center of percussion and location of vibrational nodes. We focused on showing how the location of bat-ball impact affects the vibration …

Sweet Spot Demonstration, Keval Amin, Beau Allen, Kieran Lenssen, Ricardo Del Olmo Parrado

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The purpose of this project was to create a sweet spot exhibit for the St. Louis Science Center to demonstrate the basic dynamic and vibrational theory behind the game of baseball. This demonstration focuses on the dynamics of batting and the effects that induced bat vibrations have on the energy transfer from the bat to the ball. Through this demonstration, the vibrational nodes within a baseball bat can be measured based on the ball’s contact with the ”sweet spot,” or the area on the barrel of the bat that induces the least amount of bat vibration. The project went through …

Automated Whiteboard Eraser, Trent Houpt, Tyler Polasek, Kenny Huang, Rocky Luo

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The Automated Whiteboard Eraser is a product designed to erase whiteboards with the touch of a button. With this product students and teachers will be able to save time and energy as they can continue to work without having to stop and erase. From our research others have attempted to construct similar products. We intend to improve these thoughts and designs in order to build a better and more efficient product.

Jet Beluga: Diver Propulsion Wearable, Jacob Graham, Bernardo Amaral Neves, Ethan Genter

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Scuba diving is a physically and mentally challenging task performed in both recreational and professional settings. Recreational divers seek to experience the marine world for extended periods of time without buoyant resistance. Rescue divers, military personnel, and underwater construction workers train to execute complicated tasks in a limited time period. Diver propulsion vehicles can improve the quality of recreational diving as well as the effectiveness of diving as performed in professional settings. The following report describes the design and motivations for a wearable diver propulsion device that provides the benefits of increased speed and mobility while limiting the amount of …

Violin Prosthetic, Justin Kransdorf, Julia Rifkin, Hayden Reynolds, Payal Hukeri

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Sam, an 11-year-old violin player was born without fingers or a thumb on his right hand. In order to learn the basics of violin, he currently uses a custom made prosthetic that allows him to hold a violin bow. However, his current prosthetic does not allow for the bow angle to change relative to his wrist, and thus, he cannot perform many techniques that are important to him furthering his violin skills. Specifically, his prosthetic allows Sam to use only a small percentage of the bow. For this project, a prosthetic was designed for Sam with the goal being to …

Ice Cream Dispensing Machine, Katie Bahnck, Rachel Lockwood, Marie White, Simone Raeth

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Each August, Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) welcomes hundreds of new engineering students to its McKelvey School of Engineering. Historically, during orientation activities, WashU’s Engineering Student Services (ESS) serves dessert bars to the new students, where they must line up and make their own desserts manually. To make the dessert bar more interactive and give students a primer for what their engineering studies hold, we would like to introduce an ice cream sundae making machine to the spread. A semi-automated ice cream machine would allow students to customize their ice cream sundae while observing the everyday mechanics required to …

Asme 2020 Design Challenge, Anthony Acosta, Justine Alandy-Dy, Michael Lorberg, Nathan Vaska

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Our project was to build a machine that would fulfill the requirements for the ASME 2020 design challenge, which was called, ”Building to the Sky.” The rules of the challenge were to build a machine that would take ordinary 8.5” x 11” sheets of paper and stack them into a tower. To accomplish this task, we decided to make our paper tower out of accordion-shaped folds that would be placed on top of each other, alternating in 90 degree orientations. Our device is divided into various sub-components, each which manipulate the paper in various ways. We first have a mechanism …

3d Chocolate Printer Dropper, Jessica Jimenez, Jacqueline Pielli, Shuhan Zhang

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The Mechanical Engineering Department at Washington University in St. Louis is working to stimulate interest in the fields of fluid dynamics and thermal sciences, as students are not typically exposed to these topics within the first two years of school. Dr. Okamoto, Jeff Krampf, and Dr. Weisensee of the Mechanical Engineering Department would like to remedy this situation by developing a laboratory experiment for first year students that utilizes a 3D chocolate printer to teach thermal-fluid concepts in a fun and engaging manner. The goal of this project is to build a chocolate droplet dispensing system, which is a part …

Board Erasing Device, Mark Fernandez, Christopher Sheffels, Joshua Miller

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The Board Erasing Device is a portable automatic device designed to streamline a university lecturer’s board writing process by automatically erasing whiteboards while they are writing notes on adjacent boards. Our goal during this project was to design, build, and test a portable, automatic, and aesthetically pleasing device compatible with most standard whiteboards on Washington University in St. Louis’ Danforth campus. To that end, with a budget of $400, we created a prototype device to accomplish just that. Our prototype includes a felt eraser, pressed into the whiteboard via magnets. The eraser piece spans all eight feet of width on …

Diver Propulsion Wearable, Joseph Lucca Paletta, Andrew Kessler, Andrew Beukelman, Nico Topulos

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This project was proposed by Jin Hwan (Josh) An, a current undergraduate student in the Olin Business School at Washington University in St Louis. Given his interest in diving and his experience with current diver propulsion vehicles, Josh has challenged us to design a hands-free diver propulsion wearable (DPW). While Josh has left the project rather open-ended for the engineers, the main challenge is to create a design that can propel the diver using a hands-free control system. Having a hands-free controller will allow the user to engage in other tasks while gliding underwater. Ideally, this design would be useful …