Electro-Mechanical Systems Commons^™

Surface Autonomous Vehicle For Emergency Rescue, Max Emerick, Ryan Shields, Christopher Feickert, Raymond Impara

Mechanical Engineering

The goal of this document is to clearly define the problem parameters and project objectives and to clearly describe the design process, planned final design, and manufacturing and testing procedures for the senior design project of Team 26: SAVER -- the Surface Autonomous Vehicle for Emergency Rescue. This is both for the purpose of project planning and for clear communication between all parties involved in the project.

The objective of the SAVER project is to develop a proof of concept for an autonomous maritime search and rescue vehicle for aiding in man-overboard missions. To accomplish this goal, a list of …

Mug For Tremors, Logan J. Smith, Allen Tecson, Jaret Wedow, Kai Workman

Mechanical Engineering

Melissa Oliver, an occupational therapist at McGuire VA Medical Center, works extensively with veterans who struggle with certain daily activities due to their hand tremors. Hand tremors caused by essential tremor, Parkinson’s Disease, or other physical or neurological impairments can greatly affect an individual’s ability to perform daily tasks. One of these tasks include the ability to handle beverages, as hand tremors can cause excessive sloshing and spilling of liquid. Melissa reached out to find a way to help veterans with hand tremors easily consume liquids. Our team, consisting of Logan Smith, Allen Tecson, Jaret Wedow, and Kai Workman, was …

Electromagnetic Actuator For Camless Engines, Nicholas Olesh, Charlie Thomas Glenwright, Tim Wills De Tone, Darya Daniel Darvish

Mechanical Engineering

This document summarizes the research, objectives, project plan, and design for developing an electromagnetic actuator valve for use in a camless internal combustion engine. While electromagnetic valve actuators have not been implemented into a working product to date, there have been many attempts to research and develop working prototypes. Similar products have been developed, but they do not use purely electromagnetic actuation. This research is significant because it shows the challenge that must be overcome and outlines potential design solutions to the problem. The objectives section highlights the problem statement and what is aimed to be achieved in this project. …

Optical Filter Selector, Camaryn Chambers, Joel Pitzer, Matthew Allen, Callen Schwefler

Mechanical Engineering

One of the many challenges with launching projectiles into space is predicting how the environment in space will affect the trajectory. One way to do this is to look at optical emissions, also known as airglow, which can only be seen from earth with sensitive equipment. By taking measurements of the light from the airglow, properties about the upper atmosphere can be inferred. This is important because variability in the atmosphere can cause variability in space that can affect astronauts and satellites. In order to accomplish this task, optical filters must be used to observe different bands of wavelengths of …

Sub-Lunar Tap-Yielding Explorer, Styx, Alexander J. Krenitsky, Ryan J. Locatelli, Aaron B. Erickson, Christoopher B. Boone, Westin R. Mchaney

Mechanical Engineering

To diversify the idea pool that NASA has to draw from for future manned and unmanned missions to the Moon and Mars, a design/build competition has been posed to collegiate teams across the country. The challenge is to reach, extract, and purify underground ice reserves in a setting analogous to mars. Along the way, teams will be collecting telemetry to mimic prospecting objectives on the moon.

The Sublunar Tap-Yielding eXplorer, STYX, is the team’s proposed design for the 2020 NASA RASC-AL competition. Some novel design features STYX will use are a rotary tool changer with swappable tools, a sleeve driving …

Control And Locomotion Of Inertially And Magnetically Actuated Multi-Scale Robotic Systems, Ehab Al Khatib

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

In this research, two actuation systems were introduced, inertial and magnetic actuation. In the inertial actuation, the robot used the transfer of momentum to navigate, and this momentum could be generated by spinning masses and wheels. Recent studies in our System Laboratory proved that a wide range of inertially actuated locomotion systems could be generated. This can be achieved by using a family tree approach, starting from a very simple system, and progressively evolving it to more complex ones. The motion diversity of these robots inspired us to extend their locomotion from a macro scale to millimeter and micro scales. …

Impact Of Magnetocaloric Material Properties On Performance Of A Magnetocaloric Heat Pump., Michael G. Schroeder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the field of magnetocaloric heat pumps much research has been performed around machine design and theoretical machines, but little has been researched around practical problems such as variability in material properties. The present work defines a simulation tool that has been proven with experimental data. Magnetocaloric material cascades were statistically analyzed and parameterized, such that they could be recreated parametrically using a split Lorentz function with normally distributed parameters. Correlated curve-defining values with standard deviations were used as input into the simulation tool to determine the effect of variation on cooling heat pump performance for a household refrigerator application. …

Advanced Mechatronics, Hao Su

Open Educational Resources

Project-based course on the design of mechatronic devices to address needs identified by hospital-based clinicians and industry. Students work in teams to develop a mechatronic prototype. The lectures will cover the design of medical devices and robotics including sensors, actuators, and robots. The students will communicate with customers to understand design needs, then conduct study on prior art, intellectual property, due diligence, and idea conceptualization. Students will present ideas in class and to a broad audience from local industry. Students will also write a publication-quality final report, which they will be encouraged for publication submission.

Engineering Design I, Hao Su

Open Educational Resources

Introduction to robotics

Stability Analysis, Dynamic Modeling, And Kinematic Analysis Of Hydraulically Amplified Dielectric Elastomer Actuators And Robot Manipulators, Amir Hosein Zamanian

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we have proposed a new dielectric elastomer actuator design and model that couples electrostatics, fluid mechanics, linear and nonlinear elastic deformations. The internal hydraulic pressure can amplify the structural deformation generated by induced electrostatic forces (Maxwell pressure), given the name of this class of actuators, hydraulically amplified dielectric elastomer actuators (HADEAs).

First, we developed novel lumped-parameter models (LPMs) using linear and hyper-elastic material models and second compared the LPM results with finite element analysis in quasi-static simulations. We analytically expressed the conditions for the snap-through instability in the HADEA, which appears after exceeding a certain voltage applied …

Characterization Of Reactive Ion Etch Chemistries Using Direct Write Lithography, Dylan T. Martin-Abood

Theses and Dissertations

The DoD requires a variety of COTS and number of custom microelectronics to provide important functionality to critical military systems. Photolithography and DRIE are two techniques commonly used in the development of deep anisotropic features for the fabrication and modification of microelectronics and MEMS. However, standard photolithography techniques are ineffective for unique substrate geometries and DRIE processes require a chemical passivation step only applicable to Si substrates. This work confirmed the capability of RIE using DWL to perform deep, highly selective, anisotropic etching on elevated, non-circular substrates.

Characterization Of Nanorod Lmo Li-Ion Battery Performance And Microstructure Degradation, Austin Gabhart, Hernando Gonzalez Malabet

Research Horizons Day Posters

No abstract provided.

Dartmouth Formula Racing: Full Electric Battery System Design, Matt Gardner, Jacob Hagler, Ruthie Nordhoff, Otto Salmi

ENGS 89/90 Reports

Dartmouth Formula Racing (DFR) lacked an electrical energy storage system that was Formula Hybrid rules-compliant, optimized for FH events, safe, reliable, and integrated with the rest of their vehicle. Additionally, the team lacked the academic and professional resources required to bring a thorough, analytical approach to the design, testing, and documentation of the new storage system. Our team designed and built a Lithium-Ion battery pack (accumulator) containing energy storage, active cooling, battery management and temperature monitoring systems, and control circuitry compatible with DFR’s vehicle. Collaboration throughout design, fabrication, assembly and testing processes ensured effective knowledge transfer to the DFR team.

Cal Poly Supermileage Dynamometer, Jacob Randall, Nate Deffenbaugh, Kyle Milgram

Mechanical Engineering

Our senior project involves designing a chassis dynamometer capable of simulating variable loads for the Cal Poly Supermileage Vehicle (SMV) team. The chassis dynamometer we are developing uses an alternator to develop additional resistance that the vehicle will have to overcome while testing. To implement a control system for the variable load, we use an Arduino Nano paired with multiple sensors and drivers. This control system allows the user to select different levels of resistance that correlate with different road grades. We designed a custom Printed Circuit Board (PCB) that will contain all the electrical components needed for the control …

Dual-Axis Solar Tracker, Bryan Kennedy

All Undergraduate Projects

Renewable energies, and fuels that are not fossil fuel-based, are one of the prolific topics of debate in modern society. With climate change now becoming a primary focus for scientists and innovators of today, one of the areas for the largest amount of potential and growth is that of the capturing and utilization of Solar Energy. This method involves using a mechanical system to track the progression of the sun as it traverses the sky throughout the day. A dual-axis solar tracker such as the one designed and built for this project, can follow the sun both azimuthally and in …

Quaternary Hydrides Pd1-Y-Zagycuzhx Embedded Atom Method Potentials For Hydrogen Energy Applications, Chaonan Zhang

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The Pd-H system has attracted extensive attention. Pd can absorb considerable H at room temperature, this ability is reversible, so it is suitable for multiple energy applications. Pd-Ag alloys possess higher H permeability, solubility and narrower miscibility gap with better mechanical properties than pure Pd, but sulfur poisoning remains an issue. Pd-Cu alloys have excellent resistance to sulfur and carbon monoxide poisoning and hydrogen embrittlement, good mechanical properties, and broader temperature working environments over pure Pd, but relatively lower hydrogen permeability and solubility than pure Pd and Pd-Ag alloys. This suggests that alloying Pd with Ag and Cu to create …

A Preconditioned Lattice Boltzmann Flux Solver For Steady Flows On Unstructured Hexahedral Grids, Brendan Walsh, Fergal Boyle

Articles

The lattice Boltzmann flux solver (LBFS), first introduced by Shu et al. (2014) on structured meshes, allows fluid flow problems to be solved on unstructured meshes discretised by the finite volume method. The solver calculates the macroscopic fluxes at the cell interfaces from a local reconstruction of the lattice Boltzmann solution. In this paper the LBFS is extended to three-dimensional unstructured hexahedral meshes and a preconditioned lattice Boltzmann flux solver (PLBFS) is presented. The PLBFS involves applying the preconditioning technique proposed by Guo (2004) to the LBFS and is achieved by modifying the equilibrium distribution function used to calculate the …

Footsteps Power Generator, Faisal Alonazi, Mohammed Aljohani

All Undergraduate Projects

This project was motivated by the need for a device that would generate electricity from human motion, especially footsteps. Electricity is a very important resource in our daily life. There are numerous sources from which generate electrical energy. The major sources of energy include but are not limited to coal, natural gas, petroleum, and nuclear energy. Most of these sources have adverse effects on the environmental inclusion such as air pollution; for example, from coal energy generation plants which then cumulatively leads to effects such as increase in rates of global warming. This project seeks to establish an environmentally friendly …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Nickel Plated Micro-Resonators For Noncommutative Orientation Control In Microrobots, Marc Manheim

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

This thesis describes a procedure for fabricating arrays of microstructures out of SU-8 photoresist and nickel, which was developed with the goal of yielding microrobots capable of 1D rotation byway of magnetically-induced beam vibration that could be used for non-commutative orientation control. Several multi-layer geometries were designed, fabricated, tested and refined. In this process, micro-adhesion of multiple SU-8 layers was also studied. A method for depositing nickel via electroless plating was also developed, tested and characterized. While no microrobots were shown to produce rotation, the final results included beams that were capable of magnetically-induced vibration when subjected to an AC …

The Optimum Design Of A Vacuum-Compatible Manipulator To Calibrate Space Based Ultraviolet Imagers, Jason L. Grillo

Master's Theses

Recent discoveries in geospace science have necessitated the design of compact UV imaging instruments to make space-based observations from multiple vantage points. The miniaturized ultraviolet imager (MUVI) instrument from the Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) at UC Berkeley is under development to facilitate such discoveries on a wider scale. This thesis documents the design, integration, and characterization of a vacuum compatible manipulator to calibrate the MUVI instrument inside the UV thermal vacuum chamber at SSL. Precision linear and rotation stages were implemented with custom mounting plates to achieve four degrees of freedom. Optical components were installed to imitate the MUVI instrument …