Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Semi-Automated Wine Barrel Filler, Elliot Jason Dejong, Carlo Caesare Deianni, Brady Emerson J. Leib

Mechanical Engineering

The proposed project is a semi-automated wine barrel filler. Currently, there is no streamlined and affordable method for smaller wineries to fill wine barrels without dedicating complete focus to the task. The primary use is controlled filling for white wine fermentation, during which an air gap must be left in the barrel to allow for expansion of the wine during fermentation. Tom Greenough, Saucelito Canyon’s head winemaker, and associate winemaker Bodie Ringhofer are the primary stakeholders in our project and want to consistently fill barrels at their winery to a fluid volume of approximately 50 gallons each. This project serves …

Desktop Dynamometer, Ryan Boister, Zachary Chung, Molly Koretz, Tyler Lum

Mechanical Engineering

This senior project presents the design and development of a desktop dynamometer for measuring the performance of small electric motors. The system integrates torque and speed measurement with data acquisition hardware to calculate power output and evaluate motor performance. The compact and cost-effective design provides a practical platform for engineering education, testing, and performance characterization of small-scale power systems.

25-26 Mecc: Magnetic Thread Wave Energy Converter, Adolfo Torres Flores, Maya Malay, Grayson Houghton, Chase Eavis, Ramyasree Kaja, Tyler Chin, Malia Merager, Chad Haines, Noah Borkum, Raina Moore

Mechanical Engineering

Remote coastal Alaskan villages face significant challenges accessing reliable and affordable electricity due to their geographic isolation and limited connection to central energy grids. These communities often depend on expensive and environmentally unsustainable diesel generators which are difficult to supply and operate. They require a new renewable, affordable, minimal maintenance power solution to decrease their reliance on fossil fuels and promote sustainable development in the region. Although several wave energy converters exist, none adequately suit the needs of these coastal villages, therefore a new design is required to support them. This project will be undertaken by three interdisciplinary teams made …

Smart Sleeve, Evan Abalos, Bright Jung, Owen Bowling, Wyatt Eberhart

Mechanical Engineering

Quantifying human arm muscle activity is essential for understanding human movements and helping individuals who suffer from motor or neurological impairments such as stroke or traumatic brain injuries. Today, these individuals, as well as clinicians, researchers, and athletes, face many challenges when using the traditional surface electromyography (sEMG) systems to monitor muscle activities, including complex setup, restricted mobility, discomfort, inconsistent placement of electrodes, and lack of accuracy. Therefore, a comfortable EMG sleeve device that accurately measures arm movement without interfering with daily tasks is needed, which the team will be designing, manufacturing, and testing as their senior project. In addition, …

Me Department Bespoke Coffee Cabinet, Mickie Clyne, Stephen Tamacheepjaroen, Samuel Johnson, Willem Gray

Mechanical Engineering

This senior project involved the design, fabrication, and testing of a custom coffee cabinet for the California Polytechnic State University Mechanical Engineering Department. The project addressed challenges associated with appliance organization, storage efficiency, accessibility, and maintenance within the department’s shared breakroom space. A human-centered design process was used to identify stakeholder needs and develop engineering specifications for the final product.

The completed cabinet integrates custom woodworking, steel pipe frame construction, dedicated K-Cup storage, organized appliance placement, and a rack-and-pinion sliding platform that improves access to the Keurig coffee maker for refilling and maintenance. Design decisions were informed through stakeholder feedback, …

Mobile Transfer Assist (Mta) Device, Ashley Homuth, Garrett Schnack, Will Bruner, Jacob Flores

Mechanical Engineering

The Mobile Transfer Assist (MTA) device was developed to assist caregivers with seated-to-seated transfers while reducing physical strain. The device uses a manually operated hand winch and pulley system to raise a user into a semi-standing position, allowing safe transfer between locations. The final design emphasizes portability, affordability, ease of use, and user safety through a modular frame, transfer sling, knee supports, and locking caster wheels. A verification prototype was fabricated and tested, demonstrating successful operation and compliance with project requirements established by VTC Santa Maria.

Hydropower Collegiate Competition 2026, Andres R. Arreola, Sammy D. Taporco, Kathryn E. Tinney, Ahmer S. Dhillon

Mechanical Engineering

The Hydropower Collegiate Competition (HCC) is sponsored by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) and is meant to offer university students an opportunity to solve complex hydropower challenges, build industry connections, explore career connections, and obtain a greater knowledge of hydropower’s potential in the United States. For this year’s competition, our team investigated a potential in-conduit hydropower site in California. Our work included creating a design package for a crossflow turbine related to our selected site and completing the community connections challenge. We also completed a siting and design report, community connections report, design and siting …

Clipped - A Clipless Bike Grip System, Colin P. Root, Jay Vaughan, Austin Mills, Oscar Weir

Mechanical Engineering

This bike grip system works by connecting a magnetic brace to magnetic pucks installed on handlebars to secure the rider. The brace is affixed inside a glove and connects to two retractable pucks to secure a rider using magnetic force only.

Process Improvement For Thermal Barrier Coating Masking Applications, Katherine Meezan, Aiden Senn, Saksham Giri, Katelyn Perez

Mechanical Engineering

Solar Turbines, a gas turbine manufacturer, needs a more efficient method to prevent the application of a thermal barrier coating (TBC) to select areas of their combustion liners during manufacturing. Currently, the process is labor, material, and time intensive: reusable masking tools should increase the efficiency of the TBC process.

This project is sponsored in full by Solar Turbines, and is under the guidance and administration of three Solar Turbines engineers: Chris Noone, Rick Rogers, and Carson Roff. The project is mentored by Cal Poly senior design Coach, Rick Lasko. This project will be completed by a team of four …

Me3328 Combined Loading Beam Bending Lab, Alejandro Islas, Viswesh Vancheeswaran, Owen Spencer, Henry Andrews

Mechanical Engineering

Serving as a new laboratory experiment for ME 3328 (Design for Strength & Stiffness), strain gauges were adhered, wired, and calibrated on a cantilever beam lab apparatus capable of undergoing pure bending, pure torsion, and combined bending.

Implementation Of A Line-Scan Camera Triangulation Sensor For A Ball Balancer, Jackson R. Mclaughlin

Master's Theses

Ball Balancer or Ball on Plate systems are used for education and research in control theory. These consist of a plate which can be actively tilted, with a ball rolling on the surface. Students are challenged to model the dynamics of the system and implement a control loop which is capable of stabilizing the ball by actuating the plate.  The mechatronics group at Cal Poly is developing hardware for one of these ball-balancer systems, for future use in the Mechanical Engineering curriculum.

The position of the ball relative to the plate must be measured in order to control and stabilize …

A Novel Hexagonal-Zigzag Cellular Infill Structure For Additive Manufacturing, Md. Saidur R Roney, Amm Nazmul Ahsan, Prosenjit Barua

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

The rigidity of the Additively Manufactured objects can be tailored by manipulating the infill lattice type and density. In this research, an island type novel infill structure termed as Hexagonal-Zigzag pattern is introduced, and its mechanical performance is investigated. In this pattern, the zigzag raster reflects the repeating hexagonal shaped cell constituting the parallel-oriented islands and 90° rotation of the pattern in each layer distributes the island span along both transverse and longitudinal directions of the printing contour. A mathematical model is established to illustrate the effect of the infill parameters on hexagon unit cell size and relative infill density. …

Electric Vehicle Charging Station Project, Fangling Zhu

2026 Spring Reports (Terre Haute)

The electronic vehicle (EV) charging station project was developed through a partnership between BUS 205 Business Statistics at Indiana State University and the City of Terre Haute as part of the Sustainable Cities Program. The city’s goal for this project is associated with the Theme: resilient infrastructure. The strategy RI-1 is to create a more resilient power grid. Terre Haute, aiming to advance sustainability and reduce emissions amidst growing EV adoption, faces challenges of limited charging infrastructure. Students work in four different groups and explore the optimization location for EV charging stations in the City of Terre Haute. The students …

Simulation Of Powder Spreading For Metal Additive Manufacturing, Florence Duff

Master's Theses

The powder recoating process for Laser Powder Bed Fusion requires iterative experimentation to develop the correct process parameters that will result in high quality parts. There currently lacks good spread quality metrics and models for optimizing spread quality. A machine that simulates the powder spreading process was built to streamline the process of selecting process parameters for specific types of powders without having to operate the full laser system. The parameters investigated were the layer thickness and spreading speed. The response variables were metrics developed to assess spread quality: the percentage of the build plate covered by powder and the …

Wind Power Turbine Pitching, Sierra Bindseil, Olivia Hoffsis, Izik Hingeley, Tucker Donahue

Mechanical Engineering

It is crucial that wind turbines are able to control the angle of their blades relative to the wind for optimal performance, efficiency, and safety [1]. This project will design a pitching mechanism for the Cal Poly Wind Power turbine that will compete in the Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC). Currently, for full scale wind turbines, the industry standard design includes the pitch of each blade being controlled by its own individual motor [2]. Because of the smaller scale of Cal Poly Wind Power’s turbine, along with power usage constraints, three separate motors are not a practical approach. Cal Poly Wind …

Cal Poly Fluid Powered Vehicle Challenge 2025/2026, Ethan Malachi Nejame Zeiset, Christian Anthony Cuamani, Daniel Chacon-Bizarro, Marcus Minera, Bradley Hansell

Mechanical Engineering

In this Final Design Report, the Cal Poly Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge Contending Team competed in Sun Hydraulics’ 2026 Fluid Powered Vehicle Challenge. The objective of the competition is to expose college students to the fluid power sector, the “hidden giant” of the engineering industry. Specifically, student teams are tasked with the development of a human-powered, fluid-driven vehicle for use in various competitive settings. The team prioritized the optimization of an existing prototype for simplicity, ease of maintenance, and reliability during the competition. The existing prototype exhibited issues related to the main frame’s deflection under load, a lack of gear …

Off-Grid Cabin Hydroelectric Generator, Keller Feltman, Lance Savatgy, River Perino, Jesse Valencia

Mechanical Engineering

This project developed a portable hydroelectric generator intended to provide low-power electricity generation for an off-grid cabin in Alpine County, California. The system was designed to utilize naturally occurring creek flow to generate electrical power while remaining portable, durable, and environmentally conscious.

The final system consists of an axial-flow turbine, belt-driven generator subsystem, waterproof electronics enclosure, aluminum support frame, and integrated wildlife protection screening. Engineering analysis was performed to estimate hydraulic power availability, turbine performance, drivetrain requirements, and component lifespan. These analyses guided the selection and development of the final design.

Throughout prototype testing, several design modifications were required. Initial …

Multi-Ton Bin Transport Device, Cole Kramer, Ruth Stirrup, Fabian Ruiz, Daniel Ramirez

Mechanical Engineering

This project sought to solve a problem at the Water Resource Recovery Facility in San Luis Obispo with the transportation of multi-ton bins on-site. Their current solutions prove ineffective, as they damage their equipment and the concrete pad, as well as pose major safety risks to the operators moving these bins. The Facility requires the bin transport design to be low-cost, effective, and without risk of damage to the bins or surroundings, while maintaining the integrity of the bins. This project presents a conceptual design that is similar to a scissor lift, integrated into a trailer which will connect to …

Elastic Actuator For Robotic Leg, Bruce Berg, Allan Pham, Madeline Slater, Sofie Zalatimo

Mechanical Engineering

The Cal Poly Legged Robots Group (CPLRG) is developing a 12 degree of freedom robot with the goal of eventually performing highly dynamic movements such as jumps and flips. During such movements, large impact forces will be experienced by the leg, potentially resulting in damage to physical components such as the motors. The scope of this project is to integrate elastic elements into the quadruped legs to reduce shock loads on the motors and improve the efficiency of the legs through energy storage. The key stakeholders for this project are Professor Charlie Refvem and Dr. Simon Xing. Other stakeholders include …

Enhanced Triboelectric Effect Using Functionalized Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube-Coated Fiber Mats For Biomechanical Energy Harvesting, Fernando Viesca, Diego De Leon, Kevin Alejandro, Rigobert Ybarra Jr., Md. Wasikur Rahman, Victoria Padilla, Horacio Vasquez, Karen Lozano, M. Jasim Uddin

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have emerged as a cutting-edge technology for developing self-powered wearable electronic devices. In this study, TENGs were fabricated using two fiber mats: forcespun polytetrafluoroethylene (FS-PTFE) microfibers and electrospun polyvinyl alcohol (ES-PVA) nanofiber (NF) mats. The FS-PTFE mats were coated with functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Functionalized MWCNTs were dispersed in water-based solutions containing three different surfactants—sodium dodecyl sulfate, sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate, and Triton X-100 to enhance fiber interaction. The NF mats were subsequently immersed in aqueous systems. The surfactant facilitated the uniform deposition of COOH-MWCNTs onto the FS-PTFE fibers, serving as a negative layer, while ES-PVA mat …