Electro-Mechanical Systems Commons^™

Balsa Bridge, Caleb T. Lovett

All Undergraduate Projects

The problem presented throughout this report was to create a small-scale bridge made entirely out of balsa wood and glue, that could withstand substantial force, as well as perform a lifting/lowering cycle. Other requirements associated with the bridge were properties of weight, deflection, size, and shape. This problem presented a challenge that tested the mathematical side of engineering, being strongly reliant on statics, mechanics of materials, and mechanical design analyses.

To approach this problem, the first step was to complete in depth calculations of the chosen design. With this done, manufacturing and assembly was able to be completed. With a …

Nonlinear Guidance And Control Of Unmanned Aerial Manipulators For Delivering A Payload On A Moving Platform, Ravi Gyawali

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Unmanned Aerial manipulators (UAMs) are a class of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) equipped with a manipulator. By combining the aerial mobility of a UAV with a manipulator's dexterity, these hybrid systems can perform a wide range of complex tasks while reducing risks and costs. As a result, they are increasingly being utilized for military, industrial, and agricultural applications.

The thesis presents a novel approach for a multi-UAM system to collaboratively deliver a payload on a stationary or maneuvering platform. A sliding-mode-based guidance law, sourced from existing literature, is integrated with a combined control technique for the UAVs and their respective …

Electophorectic Deposition For Novel Nanodecorated Electrodes Towards Thermally Charging Supercapacitor (Tcsc), Ashish Thakur

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Thermally Self-Charging Supercapacitors (TSCS) are a promising new technology that can harvest waste heat to produce electrical energy. The Soret effect is exploited wherein ion separation due a temperature gradient leads to a potential difference. Here, we use electrophoretic deposition (EPD), a room-temperature, scalable, universal technique, to obtain CNT decorated electrodes for fabrication of such TSCS devices with ionic liquid electrolyte. We further show that precise control over deposition parameters can be used for optimization of TSCS performance metrics. TSCS devices were tested by several characterization standards, indicating the superior performance of nanodecorated electrodes obtained by EPD.

Rc Baja: Drivetrain And Chassis, Caden Harris

All Undergraduate Projects

The engineers in the CWU Mechanical Engineering Technology program were asked to design and manufacture a remote-controlled Baja car to compete in several different events. The car was required to compete in a drag race, slalom event, and Baja event against other cars created by engineering students. To compete at the highest level, the cars needed to finely balance ruggedness, weight, torque, and top speed.

This report is dedicated to the designing, manufacturing, and testing of the drivetrain and chassis that supported the RC car as it competed in the school-sanctioned competition; a partner was responsible for the steering and …

Development And Application Of Guided Mode Resonance Biosensor Platforms For Highly Sensitive And Real-Time Cell Killing Assays, Seyedmohsen Vaziri

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

In this work, we developed and investigated the cancer cell killing efficacy of different instances using real-time high-sensitivity measurements facilitated by Guided-Mode Resonance (GMR) sensors. The GMR biosensor technology detects shifts in the spectral peak caused by changes in the refractive index of the surrounding medium, offering a label-free method for monitoring cellular events.

A549 cell line wild type and HER2 knockout (lung cancer cells) were exposed to different concentrations of Triton X-100 and ADC (Herceptin with αHFc-CL-DMDM). The GMR-based cell killing assay demonstrated exceptional sensitivity and specificity, with shifts in wavelength exhibiting a robust correlation with cell viability and …

Fabrication Of Smooth Sac305 Thin Film Via Magnetron Sputtering, M. Ojha, A. A. Elmustafa

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

SAC305 (96.5 wt% Sn, 3 wt% Ag, 0.5 wt%Cu) solder is increasingly becoming popular due to its reliability good characteristics and performance in addition to the environmental concerns and regulations that restrict the use of lead in nano/microelectronic products. In nano/microelectronics, manufacturing smooth solder coatings free of defects such as voids and cracks, which can compromise joint reliability is crucial. Magnetron sputtering offers a high degree of control over film thickness and composition, resulting in films with excellent uniformity and adhesion. Despite these advantages, fabricating continuous and robust SAC305 films using magnetron sputtering remains a difficult task with limited research …

Reliability Assessment Of 2.5d Heterogenous Integrated Circuits, Cu-Cu Hybrid Bonded Interconnects & Thermo-Mechanical Assessment Of Substrates In Two-Phase Immersion Cooling, Akshay Boovanahally Lakshminarayana

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Moore’s law has predicted the growth of semiconductor industry for the last 50 years by providing a template for silicon scaling and homogenous system on chip integration of multiple circuits. Lately, this trend has been declining due to the increased power density and functionality and increasing chip size to accommodate this. Moving forward, heterogeneous integration of chiplets will improve the silicon yield by integrating multiple multi-functional chiplets that are of smaller area onto an interposer or a substrate in 2.5D, 3D or 3.5 D architectures. In this study, computational analysis is done on the impact of design parameters and material …

Pulse-Width Modulation Spray System Performance And Development Of A Novel System To Optimize Spray Use Efficacy, Prashanta Pokharel

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

The overarching objective of this research was to enhance our understanding of pulse width modulation (PWM) based nozzle control system and develop an intelligent nozzle control system for agricultural spray applications. This dissertation focused on measuring and analyzing the transient nozzle pressure characteristics and performance under PWM control. Additionally, it explored the development of an innovative multi-degree-of-freedom (DOF) nozzle control system for precise chemical applications in specialty crop systems.

The pressure dynamics of a PWM system were studied by developing an instrumentation system capable of operating a solenoid valve and recording pressure signals. A nozzle body and two manifolds of …

Development Of A Solidworks Api, Andrew Magyar

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With the current advancements in CAD software, and precision of modern motors, we believe that a new way to communicate from hardware to software is possible. This report details the steps we have taken to attempt just that. The essential idea behind this is that modern controls for robotics are not as user friendly as they can be. The general action taken is to create an API for SolidWorks that connects it to the other necessary controller software and makes it so that a robot, and its exact current position, can be changed simply and intuitively from SolidWorks. Furthermore, the …

Robotic Gutter Cleaner, Zachary Nopper

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Gutters redirect rainwater away from nearly every roof and home in America and Europe but build up debris over time and require constant maintenance. Manual gutter cleaning is unpleasant, time-consuming, and dangerous, with 80,000 injuries/year attributed to people cleaning their gutters and overreaching from ladders in the U.S. alone. This difficult situation implies that consumers would be interested in a method to make this process safer and easier. In an age of increasing automation of tasks, especially those that might be dangerous to complete, a gutter cleaning robot is a solution that could alleviate several of these problems at once. …

Development Of A Modular Solar Shingle, David Dye, Andrew Schmidt, Mitchell Cozzens

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this research project is to design, prototype, and test an array of solar roofing shingles using print-in-place principles using an automated circuitry printer and 3D printed components. The shingle shall emphasize ease of installation, maintenance, and affordability in contrast to the current market for solar roofing. The design goal is to develop a manufacturing process to be more cost and time effective than current manufacturing techniques. The prototype will consist of a roof with this system, demonstrating the durability, assembly, and ease of installation. Finally, material/design suitability will be implemented in conjunction with postprocessing techniques to create …

Schaeffler Icvd Coating Machine, Louis Mcgrath

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) is mutual technology used to deposit thin film through a gaseous phase by vaporizing the solid materials. This conventional process usually requires high thermal stability of the materials, which is not applicable for most of the polymeric materials. Therefore, a novel process, initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition (iCVD) is developed by introducing the gaseous monument and initiator to form the thin film in-situ. By adjusting the free-radical polymerization in the vapor phase, a variety of thin and uniform polymer films can be achieved. Depending on the chemistry, iCVD has many categories. This report explains the design …

3d Printed Drone (Body And Controls), Michael Dick, Hayden Pinkelman, Tanner Henderson, Logan Prince

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objective is to build a scaled down model of a 3D printed drone capable of carrying a payload scalable to 50 lbs. for a wide array of applications. Some applications of the drone could include delivering support materials during natural disasters, such as foam to put out fire or medical aid packs to provide aid to injured people, food or package delivery, or military applications. The project has been split up into two groups. One group will be focusing on the propulsion aspect of the project, such as the electric motors and airfoil. Simultaneously, this group will design the …

Development Of A 2-Dof Robotic Uterus Manipulator, Jeremiah Eggleston, Nicole Pishnery, Siddharth Navaneetha Raj

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objective for our senior design project was to design a better uterus manipulator to assist with hysterectomies. We worked with our advisor Dr. Sam Song from the university’s Mechanical Engineering department. There are a variety of uterus manipulators on the market currently, each with unique design features to make the manipulator safer and more effective (van den Haak et al, 2015). Our group’s design modifies and sets itself apart from manipulators currently on the market. Going off others’ attempts to make a better manipulator (Fournelis, 2022), the key modifications our design incorporates are an additional degree of freedom (for …

Functional Verification Of Additively Manufactured Metallopolymer Structures For Structural Electronics Design, Nathan D. Singhal

Honors Undergraduate Theses

As an attempt to improve the overall cost-effectiveness and ease of structural electronics manufacturing, this study characterizes the mechanical and electrical responses of structures which are fabricated from a novel metallopolymer composite material by fused deposition modeling as they are subjected to quasi-static, uniaxial mechanical tension. Baseline values of tensile properties and electrical resistivity were first obtained via ASTM D638-22 standard testing procedures and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), respectively. A hybrid procedure to measure in-situ mechanically dependent electrical behavior was subsequently developed and implemented. The mechanical and electromechanical testing was followed by the derivation of stochastic values for several mechanical …

Investigation Of Mechanically Fatigue Low-Frequency Energy Harvesting Effects On Isotropic Materials, Daniel J. Meade

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This research project reports an exploratory investigation of energy harvesting effect on isotropic material that goes through low frequency mechanical fatigue. Energy harvesting is a growing field of study that can recycle ambient energy back into a system that would otherwise be lost. This is a significantly useful method for the ongoing energy crisis and provides an alternate route to design and upgrade systems to be more efficient and last longer than current system designs. However, it is time to investigate if there is any effect vibration-based energy harvesting has on the structure from which energy is being harvested. To …

Actuator Optimization And Control Of Pediatric Knee Exoskeleton For Community-Based Mobility Assistance: More Lightweight, More Affordable, And More Stable, Sainan Zhang

Dissertations and Theses

Lightweight and smart exoskeletons offer the potential to improve mobility in children. State-of-the-art pediatric exoskeletons are typically clinic-based since they are either tethered or portable but cumbersome, and their design is often not optimized across a range of environments and users. Child growth progressively alters key exoskeleton design requirements, yet no prior work investigated actuator optimization to accommodate child growth. Moreover, exoskeletons typically use the torque sensor or spring mechanics as exteroceptive feedback, but these torque sensing methods not only lead to extra cost and mass but also cause a small range of stable controller gains.

To facilitate pediatric exoskeleton …

Design, Testing And Neural Network Modeling Of A Low-Friction Wave Energy Converter Testbed, Vasu Bhardwaj

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Point absorber wave energy converters (WECs) transform water wave kinetic energy into other useful forms, typically electrical. While it’s possible to extract energy from passive WECs, more energy can be captured using active control where its power take-off (PTO) acts as both a generator and an actuator. Control strategies usually require accurate models often obtained during model-scale testing. Unfortunately, friction can dominate the dynamic response in small WEC models. A frictionless point absorber WEC testbed is described in this report which allows the researcher to focus on fundamental hydrodynamic behavior instead of friction. It uses air bearings for vertical motion …

Intelligent Thermoregulation In Personal Protective Equipment, Alireza Saidi, Chantal Gauvin

Études primaires

With the prospect of deploying intelligent thermal management in protective equipment, strategies for integrating heating and cooling actuators with modular temperature controls and automatic temperature regulation systems based on feedback from the individual’s personal and environmental parameters are discussed. © 2024 by the authors.

Railroad Condition Monitoring Using Distributed Acoustic Sensing And Deep Learning Techniques, Md Arifur Rahman

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Proper condition monitoring has been a major issue among railroad administrations since it might cause catastrophic dilemmas that lead to fatalities or damage to the infrastructure. Although various aspects of train safety have been conducted by scholars, in-motion monitoring detection of defect occurrence, cause, and severity is still a big concern. Hence extensive studies are still required to enhance the accuracy of inspection methods for railroad condition monitoring (CM). Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) has been recognized as a promising method because of its sensing capabilities over long distances and for massive structures. As DAS produces large datasets, algorithms for precise …