Engineering Commons^™

Ideomotion Gait Training Thigh Prompt, Kristin Schmidt, Elizabeth Peterson, Dalton Jennings

Biomedical Engineering

This document serves as our project report at its completion for developing thigh prompts to be used with the LiftWalker. In this document we outline our project from its beginning to end. We describe our process from understanding the background and our customer requirements, transforming these customer requirements into engineering specifications, performing the stage gate process, developing and evolving the design, testing the design, and finally drawing conclusions and making recommendations for the future.

Soil And Plant Moisture Monitoring Systems: Irrigation Consumer Bill Of Rights, Charles M. Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Cal Poly ITRC, together with various irrigation industry leaders and the Irrigation Dealers Association of California, plus with assistance from the California Energy Commission and Pacific Gas & Electric Co., developed the Irrigation Consumer Bill of Rights (ICBR) in 1994.

General: Irrigation Bill Of Consumer Rights, Charles M. Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Cal Poly ITRC, together with various irrigation industry leaders and the Irrigation Dealers Association of California, plus with assistance from the California Energy Commission and Pacific Gas & Electric Co., developed the Irrigation Consumer Bill of Rights (ICBR) in 1994.

Drip/Micro Irrigation: Irrigation Consumer Bill Of Rights, Charles M. Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Cal Poly ITRC, together with various irrigation industry leaders and the Irrigation Dealers Association of California, plus with assistance from the California Energy Commission and Pacific Gas & Electric Co., developed the Irrigation Consumer Bill of Rights (ICBR) in 1994.

Oiler For Vertical Pump Lineshaft Lubrication, Charles M. Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This document provides technical advice for controlling the dripping of oil for oil-lubricated vertical lineshaft pumps for irrigation.

Quantifying Proliferative And Surface Marker Heterogeneity In Colony‐Founding Connective Tissue Progenitors And Their Progeny Using Time‐Lapse Microscopy, Edward Kwee, Gerald M. Saidel, Kimerly Powell, Christopher M. Heylman, Cynthia A. Boehm, George F. Muschler

Biomedical Engineering

Connective tissue progenitors (CTPs) are defined as the heterogeneous population of tissue‐resident stem and progenitor cells that are capable of proliferating and differentiating into connective tissue phenotypes. The prevalence and variation in clonal progeny of CTPs can be characterized using a colony formation assay. However, colony assays do not directly assess the characteristics of the colony‐founding CTP. We performed large, field‐of‐view, time‐lapse microscopy to manually track colonies back to the founding cells. Image processing and analysis was used to characterize the colonies and their founding cells. We found that the traditional colony‐forming unit (CFU) assay underestimates the number of founding …

A Higher-Order Method Implemented In An Unstructured Panel Code To Model Linearized Supersonic Flows, Jake Daniel Davis

Master's Theses

Since their conception in the 1960s, panel codes have remained a critical tool in the design and development of air vehicles. With continued advancement in computational technologies, today's codes are able to solve flow fields around arbitrary bodies more quickly and with higher fidelity than those that preceded them. Panel codes prove most useful during the conceptual design phase of an air vehicle, allowing engineers to iterate designs, and generate full solutions of the flow field around a vehicle in a matter of seconds to minutes instead of hours to days using traditional CFD methods. There have been relatively few …

Cichlid Size Vs Flow Rate, Amy E. Naumovski

STAR Program Research Presentations

Cichlids are a diverse group of fish that are known for their prenatal and postnatal care of their eggs and frys (baby fish). This unique characteristic creates a limitation on the amount of eggs a cichlid can lay and protect, which is particulalry effected by the size of the eggs. Cichlids have a large variance in their egg size, which correlates to a large variance in their fry size. This project explores the trade offs cichlids make in egg size and fry size by specifically testing the ability of varying sized cichlids to swim in different flow rates. This could …

Scada Preventative Maintenance: Reducing The Potential Of Unexpected Failures, Kyle Feist, Zachary Markow, Charles M. Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Irrigation district infrastructure utilizing Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems can perform a critical service to irrigators, but also present the risk of damage to nearby property and humans in certain failure scenarios. It is therefore prudent to minimize the scope, frequency, and duration of SCADA component failure. However, it is typical for irrigation districts to focus on corrective (post-failure) SCADA maintenance activities, instead of investing in preventive maintenance.

Preventive SCADA maintenance requires budget and labor investment. However, it is anticipated that it is possible to balance the effectiveness and expenses of a preventative maintenance program with some strategic …

Conditioning Of Velocity Profiles In Pipelines, Charles M. Burt, Pascal Hellmann, Zachary Markow

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This paper reports on the testing of a relatively simple flow conditioner for pipelines. This research found that a pipeline velocity flow conditioner that is constructed with an internal cone, having an inside diameter of 80 percent of the pipeline ID, provided the best results. It provided good velocity conditioning at a distance of two diameters downstream of an obstruction. The minor loss is equal to the velocity head of the flow in the original pipeline diameter.

Ares Cleaning System, Andy Sagers, John Cunningham, Peter Greig, Jack Glynn

Mechanical Engineering

In this Final Design Review, the team outlines the general scope of the ARES Cleaning System project and the final design direction chosen and built. This team consists of a group of four mechanical engineering students who have been tasked with designing and manufacturing an autonomous ARES cleaning system to help their sponsor, Fracsun, better track soiling losses measured at large solar arrays. They designed, conceptualized, manufactured, and tested throughout the project as they looked to create a final, functioning product. In creating this Final Design Review, they have identified how the product will perform the desired functions and what …

Asphalt And Adhesive Flow And Level Control, Kajan V. Moorthy

Electrical Engineering

This project entails the design of a flow control system to manage flow rates of asphalt to maintain constant thickness on the fiberglass sheet. By using the proposed system, the amount of scrap created by extremely thick or thin deposits on the mat would be reduced. The design of the proposed system aims to produce a flowrate of 10 gpm while it is also capable of self-correcting and shutting down when unsafe conditions occur. Selection of various components of the control system took place which included the Allen Bradley PLC and Flex I/O, power supply, radars for level sensor, and …

Upright Sleep Device For Patients Required To Sleep Upright Post Surgery/Medical Procedure, Kristin J. Abele, Madeleine H. Hummel, Tayler R. Kastlunger

Biomedical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Surf Leg, Samantha Campbell, Oyundari Altansukh, Caroline Swanson, Kurtis Barth

Mechanical Engineering

The Surf Leg Prosthetic project team in conjunction with QL+ and Operation Surf designed a transtibial prosthetic to be used for surfing. The senior project team focused on the missions of QL+ and Operation Surf as they went through the design process during the 2018-2019 academic year. The problem solved was that a standard prosthetic for a transtibial amputee does not provide the flexibility in enough degrees of freedom for a user to squat and balance on a surfboard. The goal of this project was to create a device specifically designed to improve the user’s balance and control while surfing. …

The Influence Of Of Company Culture On Employee Satisfaction At Holder Construction: A Case Study, Callie Alexander

Construction Management

Since being founded in 1960, Holder Construction has grown to do work all across The United States and internationally as well. Today, repeat clients are what drive Holder’s core markets and provide eighty five percent of the work that Holder performs. The associates at Holder Construction believe their success stems from the company’s culture. The “Holder Way” is a slogan that encompasses all cultural attributes that Holder Construction expects their associates to embody. This case study evaluates Holder Construction’s effectiveness of their company’s cultural training in regards to employee satisfaction and fulfillment. Are these employees truly living out what is …

Osha-30 Interactive Laboratory Course, Matthew Bramlett

Construction Management

This course is aimed to give the students of the Construction Management (CM) department a more in depth knowledge on topics covered in the online OSHA-30 hour safety course. The online focuses on a wider range of topics that are covered in the OSHA-10 hour course that students are required to complete in CM 413: Jobsite Management, such as hazard communication, OSHA inspection procedures, industrial hygiene & bloodborne pathogens, and much more. The course will also include topics outside the scope of the 30-hour class such as: heavy equipment inspections, rigging safety and techniques, challenges of working in the marine …

Implementation Of Blockchain Technology In The Construction Industry, Steven Graham

Construction Management

In general, the construction industry has been pretty resistant to change. While most industries have gained in productivity over the years through implementation of new technologies and other factors, construction industry productivity has been on a steady decline since the 1960s. Even though there are a multitude of reasons for this, including more complex building types and a decline in the workforce, the major problem holding construction back are project management issues and alienation of project stakeholders in the construction process. Some improvements have been made to help with collaboration between parties, like BIM (building information modeling) and project management …

Logistics And Funding Plan For The Simpson Strong-Tie Lab Crane, Arya Ghourchian

Construction Management

In the recent years, there has been interests regarding an overhead crane to be erected inside of Cal Poly Simpson Strong Tie Lab (Building 187). This under running single girder crane system will be used for construction classes, and to lift heavy equipment. The erection of this 2 Ton indoor crane will be crucial to provide modular pieces, for whom that lost their homes due to the California fires. Additionally, there has been previous senior projects researches; reference attached preconstruction services, and a full structural analysis of SST Laboratory. I am in charge of collecting information regarding: Bid Estimate, Advertisement …

Reducing Energy Use In Excavators With Biodiesel, Omeed Abolfathi

Construction Management

In assessing the life-cycle cost of a building, the operation energy and construction energy are considered. The operation energy constitutes 90 to 95 percent of the lifetime energy use of a building. Concern over reducing operation energy has led to advancements where many buildings can now be considered net zero. While considerable advancements were made in achieving net zero in the operation, construction energy use has largely remained the same. To achieve net zero for the entire life-cycle of the building, construction energy consumption needs to be reduced. Excavators are one of the most popular pieces of construction equipment. They …

Enhancing Group Social Perceptiveness Through A Swarm-Based Decision-Making Platform, David A. Askay, Lynn E. Metcalf, Louis Rosenberg, Gregg Willcox

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Swarm Intelligence is natural phenomenon that enables social animals to make group decisions in real-time systems. This process has been deeply studied in fish schools, bird flocks, and bee swarms, where collective intelligence has been observed to emerge. The present paper describes swarm.ai—a collaborative technology that enables swarms of humans to collectively converge upon a decision as a real-time system. Then we present the results of a study investigating if groups working as “human swarms” can amplify their social perceptiveness, a key predictor of collective intelligence. Results showed that groups reduced their social perceptiveness errors by more than half when …

Measuring Group Personality With Swarm Ai, Gregg Willcox, David Askay, Louis Rosenberg, Lynn Metcalf, Bryan Kwong, Richard Liu

Industrial Technology and Packaging

The aggregation of individual personality tests to predict team performance is widely accepted in management theory but has significant limitations: the isolated nature of individual personality surveys fails to capture much of the team dynamics that drive real-world team performance. Artificial Swarm Intelligence (ASI), a technology that enables networked teams to think together in real-time and answer questions as a unified system, promises a solution to these limitations by enabling teams to take personality tests together and converge upon answers that best represent the group’s disposition. In the present study, the group personality of 94 small teams was assessed by …

Assessing Endothelial Dysfunction Estimating The Differences Between 3 Minute And 5 Minute Reactive Hyperemia, Tamiko K. Saldin

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to define a lower standard cuff occlusion time to induce reactive hyperemia in assessing endothelial dysfunction. In this study, strong evidence was found by a novel technique that used oscillometric methods, which supported that 3 minute reactive hyperemia was sufficient to elicit a significant difference in arterial compliance from baseline. Twenty healthy Cal Poly students were assessed, (n=12 female, n=8 male) aged 22 years old with a standard deviation of 2.04 years. Arterial compliance was estimated by measuring the peak-to-peak oscillations for baseline, 3 minute reactive hyperemia, and 5 minute reactive hyperemia tests, with …

A Survey Of Virtual Network Architectures, Lenoy Avidan

Computer Science and Software Engineering

With the storage needs of the world increasing, especially with the growth of cloud computing, data centers are being utilized more than ever. The increasing need of storage has led to more use of virtualization to help intra and inter data center communications. The virtualization of physical networks is used to help achieve this goal, but with the creation of Virtual Networks, systems must be designed to create, manage, and secure them. A Virtual Network Architecture is the system design for creating and maintaining virtual network components and the resulting networks they create. Different companies design different Virtual Network Architectures, …

Blokus Game Solver, Chin Chao

Computer Engineering

Blokus (officially pronounced as “Block us”) is an abstract strategy board game with transparent Tetris-shaped, color pieces that players are trying to place onto the board. However, the players can only place a piece that touches at least one corner of their own pieces on the board. The ultimate goal of the game is to place as many pieces onto the board as a player can while blocking off the opponent’s ability to place more pieces onto the board. Each player has pieces with different shapes and sizes that can be placed onto the board, where each block within a …

Comparison Of Organic And Inorganic Solar Photovoltaic Systems, Khulan Orgil

Electrical Engineering

This senior project report addresses the consumer’s need for accurate and easily accessible information when making a solar panel purchasing decision. Thus, the project analyzes and compares the costs and benefits of organic and inorganic photovoltaic systems during their life cycle. The cost comparison includes analysis of the environmental and economic costs of materials, production, installation, and disposal. The benefit comparison includes analysis of the economic, environmental, and social benefits accrued during the system’s lifetime. With the project’s data, consumers can make more informed decisions to fit their specific needs.

Gaf: Mechanical Paint Line Test Stand, Sidney Wong, Taylor Best, Aaron Fisher

Mechanical Engineering

The roofing manufacturer GAF located in Shafter, CA is in pursuit of a mechanism with the ability to improve the quality of paint lining applied on a dynamic roll of roofing shingles. The mechanism must consist of an alignment system along which a paint line applicator can be adjusted in the vertical direction and operate at a certain range of speeds. Other requirements for the mechanism demand that it is feasibly portable, reasonably durable, capable of accurate alignment, mountable to the ground, and within a budget of $15,000. With the customer's design requirements established and understood, a one-year project has …

Portable Thermoelectric Refrigerator, Cassandra Danielle Beck, Ryan Theodore Gelinas, Joshua Michael Dimaggio, Zachary David Wilson

Mechanical Engineering

This project created a versatile thermoelectric refrigerator that can be used via a wall outlet. The product is durable and effective. The refrigerator is functional in any ambient temperature, and uses thermoelectric cooling, and work from a standard 120V power outlet. By understanding existing products’ limitations and strengths, this project produced a product that outperforms what’s currently on the market. Many of the existing products’ operating temperature is dependent on the ambient temperature of the surroundings, which is a large drawback. Additionally, most of them take a long time to reach their lowest temperature, around 3 hours. One team member, …

Ultraviolet Imager Application For A Cube Satellite, Jason Grillo, Troy Hajjar, Brady Hill

Mechanical Engineering

This document serves as the final design review (FDR) report for the 2018 Cal Poly CubeSat Ultraviolet Imager senior project, sponsored by UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratories (SSL). SSL wants to monitor the ionosphere above Earth to gain a better understanding of its properties and particle interactions. Far Ultraviolet (FUV) imaging is a good way to obtain high quality images of the ionosphere and the Earth's auroras, and advancement in optic technologies have made cube satellites (CubeSats) an ideal vessel for a FUV imager, as they are relatively low-cost, lightweight, and can be repeatedly deployed. These CubeSat FUV imagers could …

Localization Using Convolutional Neural Networks, Shannon D. Fong

Computer Engineering

With the increased accessibility to powerful GPUs, ability to develop machine learning algorithms has increased significantly. Coupled with open source deep learning frameworks, average users are now able to experiment with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to solve novel problems. This project sought to train a CNN capable of classifying between various locations within a building. A single continuous video was taken while standing at each desired location so that every class in the neural network was represented by a single video. Each location was given a number to be used for classification and the video was subsequently titled locX. These …

Eye Pressure Monitior, Andrea Nella Levy

Computer Engineering

The document describes a mobile application that takes information from an attached device which tests eye pressure. The device consists of an IOIO board connected to a custom device that measures the frequency of a given waveform. The device was designed by another student for their senior project, which I am taking over. This device is connected to an IOIO board which is a board designed by a Google employee which works with an android phone in order to create applications that work with embedded systems. The board comes with an API and connects to the phone via a micro-USB. …