Manufacturing Commons^™

All-Terrain Storage Surfboard Carts, Ben M. Kennedy, Danny Riedeman, Roberto Gonzalez

Mechanical Engineering

All Terrain Storage consists of three mechanical engineering students: Roberto Gonzalez, Ben Kennedy, and Danny Riedeman. The goal of All Terrain Storage is to design and create two portable storage devices for the non-profit organization AmpSurf. AmpSurf helps veterans, people with disabilities, and anyone else who could be helped through adaptive surfing and other outdoor activities. Their current method of storing and transporting equipment for events is carrying it from the trailer in the parking lot through the sand onto the beach. This document will provide: a more thorough introduction to AmpSurf and the project, the objectives, background information, the …

Reinventing The Wheel, Esther K. Unti, Ahmed Z. Shorab, Patrick B. Kragen, Adam M. Menashe

Mechanical Engineering

Reinventing the Wheel selected tires and designed wheels for the 2018 Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo Formula SAE combustion vehicle. Available tire options were evaluated for steady-state and transient performance as well as vehicle integration. A single-piece composite wheel with hollow spokes was designed to meet stiffness, strength, and tolerance requirements. A detailed study of wheel loading and geometric structural efficiency was performed. Finite element analysis was used to iterate the geometry and laminate. A two-piece male mold was designed and machined to manufacture the wheel. Removable silicone inserts were used to create the hollow spokes.

Single Arm Recumbent Bicycle, Alexander Borsotti, Ryan Westermann, Sean Liston

Mechanical Engineering

The goal of this report is to outline and cover the scope of work for the Single Arm Recumbent Bicycle Senior Project. The report will give an introduction of the problem, a background of the existing research or products relating to our project, the objectives of our project, our project management plan, our final design, manufacturing, testing, our project management, and final recommendations for improving the final design. The team is being supported by the Quality of Life Program, a non-profit organization that works to improve the lives of those injured in duty while serving our nation.

Up until now, …

Daimscale — 1:14th Tractor-Trailer For Testing Driver Assistance Technology, Christopher Marrale, Jase Sasaki, Devin Bodmer

Mechanical Engineering

Active driver assistance systems are becoming increasingly wide-spread throughout the automotive industry due to their potential for safer roads and decreased costs of transportation, but testing these systems on real trucks can be time consuming, dangerous, and costly. Testing these systems on a small-scale tractor-trailer combination will lead to faster and more efficient development of driver assistance systems and can be used by both engineers and students, leading to a larger field of experienced developers to improve these systems.

Our goal will be to design, manufacture, and build a scale 6x2 model of the tractor portion of a Daimler semi-truck …

Improving Sheet Molding Compound, Zebulon G. Mcreynolds

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Zebulon McReynolds

An important attribute of the compression molding process is the requirement of (Sheet Molding Compound) SMC. The fibers, commonly glass or carbon fibers, are impregnated with thermoset resin and collected in continuous form on a conveyor belt. The SMC charge is rolled between rollers to wet out the fibers with resin. The SMC charge is then compression molded to a desired part reflecting the designed mold. The part could be an automotive part or any other industrial applicable part. Compression molding with fibers and polymers is the largest component of most of the manufacturing industries in the world. …

Prove Endurance Car Front Suspension, Lauren A. Williams, Logan Simon, Justine G. Kwan

Mechanical Engineering

This document details the collaborative Mechanical Engineering Senior Project with Cal Poly PROVE Lab on PROVE Lab’s Project 2; an electric vehicle designed to travel 1000 miles on a single charge. Logan Simon, Justine Kwan, and Lauren Williams are given the challenge of designing an innovative proof of concept front suspension suspension for this vehicle.

After detailed research of new suspension systems, it was determined that the innovative nature could be in the form of unique manufacturing methods, materials use, or mechanical design. At this point in time, this vehicle is a purely conceptual design with no concrete requirements. Therefore …

Metal Foam Drying Process, Bryce Zander, Ethan Serpa, Daniel Moore, Michael Mullen

Mechanical Engineering

Design and construction of machine to increase the throughput of metal foam that ERG Aerospace produces.

Novelis Teaching Table, Phillip Laplante, Robert Hemker, Taylor Mcgriff, Juan Restrepo, Shelly Abraham

KSU Journey Honors College Capstones and Theses

Novelis is a company that specializes in metal casting, recycling, and rolling. They primarily focus on aluminum rolling for cans and car bodies but are an industry leader in numerous related areas. As the rolling process is not taught in most general engineering courses, Novelis periodically teaches new engineers and technicians about the specifics of this relatively mathematically complex process. Most of the current teaching methods are through PowerPoint presentations and group exercises, with minimal hands-on involvement. One of the most useful tools for teaching the rolling process is an actual jeweler’s rolling mill, which Novelis currently possesses, but is …

Exercise Machine Generator, Duane Harbick

All Undergraduate Projects

Exercise “spinning bikes” and bicycle training stands are common ways to maintain fitness and train for cycling. This exercise necessitates the user putting work into the machine by means of pedaling. In many instances the work put into exercise bikes and training stands is not taken advantage of. The objective of this project is an attempt to make use of some of the energy that a person would usually expend during exercise by building a generator that interfaces with multiple spinning bikes and training stands. It uses a synchronous pulley system to interface with the exercise machine and spin a …

Cassette Lockring Removal Tool, Kyle Wright

All Undergraduate Projects

Removal of a bicycle cassette requires additional tools to hold the cassette in place while loosening the cassette lockring. Typically a tool called a chain whip is used to stabilize the cassette, but is difficult to quickly and correctly apply to the cassette. Due to the need for an additional tool to hold the cassette, the user is faced with utilizing both hands while still needing to somehow hold the wheel in place. The lockring is torqued relatively tight and the overall combination of force, ergonomics, and number of tools required makes the task difficult to perform quickly. The objective …

Human Powered Vehicle Design Team: Speed Variable Steering Stabilizer, Eric Miller, Matt Kraml

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Human Powered Vehicle Competition (HPVC) is held annually by ASME at a few locations. The University of Akron has competed in the ASME-East and ASME-West competitions over the past handful of years against universities from all over the world. Objectives of each team for the competition are three-fold: vehicle design, racing performance, and innovation. Our senior design project involved working on the innovation concept for ASME-East 2018 held at Penn State University during the weekend of 4/13. Speed variable steering was decided upon by the entire HPVC team early in the design process as the innovation choice for this …