Engineering Commons^™

Dcpp/Polygait Inventory Control System, Logan Pace, Robert Garlinghouse

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This report discusses a proposed system to improve upon inventory management issues experienced in the M&TE Tool room for the PG&E Diablo Canyon Power plant. Effective inventory tracking and management is an important characteristic of any organization handling physical assets, and without the proper system in place, companies may lose expensive items and waste time by not having equipment available when needed. The tool room is experiencing inventory shrinkage of M&TE equipment nearing $100,000 per year largely because of an inefficient checkout system that fails to keep employees accountable for the tools they check out. Even more costly than the …

Quality Improvement At Patio Pacific, Petdoors, Tri Minh Nguyen, In Woo Suh

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Quality is key in manufacturing any type of product. Customer expectations only rise with time, and it has become more crucial than ever for companies to produce quality products to survive. This project sets out to improve quality of flagship products at Patio Pacific. This report contains the background of the company, Patio Pacific, the process of finding critical problems, and the methodology to solve them.

Customer returns and inquiries have the ability to eat up cash flow in any type of company. This senior project sets out with introduction of the project that explains how the project came about, …

Analysis Of Shear Strength Variance Of Ph 15-7 Mo Blind Rivet Stems For Aerospace Applications, Miles Macarthur, Kent C. Majewski

Materials Engineering

This project attempts to reduce manufacturing costs incurred to Cherry Aerospace by variance in material properties. To track and predict the shear strength of PH 15-7 Mo stainless steel rivet stems throughout the heat treatment process, samples were taken from several steps in the manufacturing process and experimental heat treatments were performed across a range of temperatures. The supplied rivet stems were heat treated for four hours at temperatures from 520°C to 560°C, in increments of 10°C. Double shear testing in accordance with ASTM 1312-13A revealed that there is no apparent correlation between the strength of the supplied wire and …

Effect Of Heat Treatment On The Mechanical Properties In Natural Bamboo, Austin Levy, Mackenzie Kirkpatrick

Materials Engineering

Previous studies have shown that heat treatments have the ability to improve mechanical strength and stiffness in hardwood species. Compared to structural hardwoods, bamboo is a more sustainable and globally viable renewable resource. Therefore, Bambusoides vivax (timber bamboo) culms were fabricated into flat, rectangular cross-section samples with varying cellulose content to be heat treated and tested for mechanical properties. All samples were heat treated (HT) twice. The first HT was a normalization of all samples at 103 +/- 3 °C. The second HT was performed at various times and temperatures ranging from 130°C to 170°C for 0.5 to 3 hours. …

Minimizing Sheet Resistance Of Organic Photovoltaic Cell Top Contact Electrode Layer: Silver Nanowire Concentration Vs. Conductive Polymer Doping Concentration, Caitlyn Cook

Materials Engineering

The top contact electrode layers of nine organic photovoltaic cells were prepared with two varying factors: three Silver nanowire (AgNW) densities deposited on a conductive polymer doped with three concentrations. Silver’s low sheet resistance of 20-Ω/sq is hypothesized to lower the sheet resistance of the anode layer and thus enhance the overall efficiency of the cell. Four-point probe measurements indicated that increasing AgNW density in the top contact electrode layer of an organic photovoltaic cell significantly reduces sheet resistance from 52.2k-Ω/sq to 18.0 Ω/sq. Although an increase in doping concentration of the conductive polymer reduced sheet resistance in low AgNW …

Printed Circuit Board For Introductory Animatronics Course, Preston Brown

Computer Engineering

For many years, freshmen Computer Engineering students at California Polytechnic State University have taken a course that introduces them to the “processes of electronics manufacturing. They are lectured on concepts such as CAD/CAM design, Design for Manufacture (DFM), documentation requirements, prototyping and production planning”. The laboratory portion of the course allows students to “use hands-on techniques to solidify knowledge of project planning, soldering, automation, hand tool usage and production methods” by manufacturing their own power supply, starting with aluminum sheets, a bag of components, and and an unassembled printed circuit board (PCB).

While the project is popular among students, department …

Roborodentia Robot 2015, Travis Stuever

Computer Engineering

The Roborodentia 2015 competition was a ring based challenge that had participants move PVC rings from one side of a course to another all within 3 minutes. In order to succeed in this competition there needs to be a good robotic design, thought out use cases, and good solid software.

Fire Protection And Life Safety Analysis Of A Modern Distributon Facility, Nolan Mccarthy

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

Warehouse facilities are part of the backbone of American industry. The vast amounts of varying goods stored and distributed as part of American business has always driven the need for large, voluminous warehouses. And the increasing size of these facilities over the decades is very closely linked to the capabilities of and advances in fire protection knowledge and technology. Today’s modern distribution centers easily and often exceed one million square feet in area, and the heights are ever increasing. In the 1970’s and early 1980’s, most warehouse facilities were built to an approximate height of 30 feet; this, at the …

Fire Hazard Analysis Of Technical Area 53 Building 1, Los Alamos National Lab, Brett L. Noakes

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This is an analysis of a 1970’s vintage building as it is compared to current building codes and standards. The purpose of this document is to assess if the current, as found construction of an existing building could achieve the sometimes more restrictive modern building codes. Both a prescriptive analysis and a performance-based analysis were completed to verify life-safety concerns and criteria as well as construction criteria. The prescriptive analysis compared existing, as found construction to current codes and standards while the prescriptive analysis used modern fire modeling techniques to see how likely fire scenarios would challenge the structure, if …

Fire And Life Safety Analysis Bonderson Engineering Projets Center, Gary Dominguez

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

A Fire and Life Safety Analysis was performed as one of the requirements for the Master of Science Degree in Fire Protection Engineering from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo. The Fire and Life Safety Analysis consists of a prescriptive analysis as well as a performance based analysis. These analyses were performed on the Bonderson Engineering Projects Center which is part of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The prescriptive analysis consisted of the four following parts: Egress Analysis and Design, Fire Detection and Alarm Systems, Water-based Fire Suppression, and Structural Fire Protection. The purpose of the prescriptive analysis was …

Fire Protection Analysis Of Warren J. Baker Center For Science, Aric E. Carracino

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

A prescriptive and performance based analysis was performed on the Warren J Baker Center for Science on the California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo campus. The code based analysis included reviewing the building’s egress components, structural fire protection, fire sprinkler system, and fire alarm system. This included the requirements of the California Building Code, as well as applicable NFPA codes. Analysis of the egress components of the building revealed several dead end corridors within the building that exceed the maximum allowed length of 50 feet. In addition, the student workspace areas on Level 3 require two exits, but are only provided …

Fire Protection Engineering Analysis For Building 910 - Sandia National Labs/Ca, Mo Mosallaei

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This Fire Protection Engineering analysis was performed on Building 910 in Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, CA to examine the building’s fire safety and fire protection criteria which originally adhered to the 1985 Uniform Building Code. The object of this analysis is to determine the degree of compliance with the prescriptive codes in place today as well compliance with performance based analysis. For the prescriptive analysis consisted of evaluating the buildings occupancy classification, type of construction, egress design, fire detection and alarm systems, fire sprinkler system, Halon System, and structural fire protection are evaluated in terms of the life safety …

Tensile Test Design To Measure Interlayer Adhesion In Investment Casting Shells For Spalling Mitigation, Shelby Boyd, Alex Miller, Jameson Senger

Materials Engineering

We designed a tensile test fixture for a 112 lbf capacity Instron load frame that imparts a normal force on the face of a button epoxied to an investment casting shell sample, delaminating the shell area attached to the button. Using a green standard shell (Group 1), a partially fired standard shell (Group 2), and a green shell with a different third coat (Group 3), we verified that the fixture can measure differences in strength between sample groups. We attached steel buttons to leveled samples with 0.05 mL of Hysol-Loctite 9340 epoxy, let it cure for 48 hours, and tested …

Effect Of Time Delay Between Etching And Adhesive Bonding (“Outlife” Time) On Lap-Shear Strength Of Aluminum Alloys Using Environmentally-Friendly P2 Etch, Josh Barkhimer, Matthew Erich, Gokul Nair

Materials Engineering

Raytheon Company currently uses a Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) paste etchant for preparing aluminum surfaces for adhesive bonding, and FPL is a source of hazardous hexavalent chromium. The goal of this study was to evaluate a less-toxic P2 paste etchant as a possible replacement. Coupons of 2024-T3, 6061-T6, and 7075-T6 grades of aluminum alloy were solvent-degreased, abrasively cleaned, and etched at room temperature using P2 paste following a strict protocol adopted from Raytheon. Coupons were then left exposed to air for assigned time intervals (or “outlife” times) of 0, 1, 4, 8, 16, and 63 or 72 hours. The aluminum …

Effects Of Composition And Solid Solution Strengthening On The Compression Strength Of Iron-Based Hardfacing Alloys, Tyler Wiggins, Samuel Garrison-Terry

Materials Engineering

Three iron-based hardfacing alloys were fabricated to have a tungsten strengthened matrix with varying compositions of 10-15, 20, and 30 wt% tungsten/chrome boride content. The fourth sample was fabricated to have a molybdenum solid solution strengthened matrix with 10-15 wt% W/Cr Boride content. This project focuses on the compressive strength of iron-based hardfacing alloys. Preliminary compression tests with Scoperta iron-based hardfacing alloys showed a need for sample dimension reduction due to compressive loads that could not be met by a 50 kN maximum capacity mechanical testing system. The preliminary tests showed compressive strengths exceeding 2340 MPa. Samples of the current …

Electrochemical Testing Of Aluminum-Lithium Alloys 2050, 2195, And The Current Aerospace Industry Standard 7075 To Measure The Galvanic Corrosion Behavior With Ti-6al-4v, Trent Duncan, Kevin Knight

Materials Engineering

This project aimed to characterize the electrochemical behavior of four different aluminum alloys, and determine how much galvanic corrosion would occur when each alloy was coupled to Ti-6Al-4V. The particular alloys tested were 2050-T3, 2050-T852, 2195-T852, and 7075-T7352. These alloys were tested to determine the effects of aging, and adding lithium, to the corrosion behavior of aluminum alloys. Potentiodynamic polarization curves were generated using the Parstat 2273 potentiostat in accordance with ASTM standard G5, and corrosion analysis software was used to produce Tafel fit lines, which determined the open circuit potential (E_corr) of each sample. Nine tests were …

Measuring And Increasing The Suspension Time Of Lanthanide Oxysulfide Particles With Modifiers Via Fluorescence For Use In Anti-Counterfeiting Applications, Joe Dei Rossi, Tyler Dinslage, Tyler Schelling

Materials Engineering

No abstract provided.

Mechanical Testing Of Multi-Construction Composite Tubes For Use In Fly Fishing Rods, Macormik Hopen

Materials Engineering

A testing protocol was established for measuring the flexure properties of thin-walled tubes constructed of a composite mixture of glass and carbon fibers and epoxy resin for use in Fly Fishing rods. Standard three point bend tests were conducted in accordance with ASTM standard D7329-13 with a span length of six inches. All samples were of the sample length and diameter, allowing direct comparison of the maximum loads reached before failure, which are directly indicative of the Modulus of Rupture (MOR). Two constructions were tested both containing the same unidirectional fiber but with different support structure. These tubes were tested …

Molecular Dynamics Investigation Of The Arabinan-Cellulose Interface For Cellulose Nanocomposite Applications, Luke Thornley

Materials Engineering

Atom level computer simulations of the arabinan and cellulose interface were performed to better understand the mechanisms that give arabinan-cellulose composites (ArCCs) their strength with the goal to improve man-made ArCCs. The molecular dynamics (MD) software LAMMPS was used in conjunction with the ReaxFF/c force field to model the bond between cellulose and arabinan. A cellulose nanocrystal with dimensions 51 x 32 x 8 Å was minimized with various weight percent of water, 0%, 3%, 5%, 8%, 10%, and 12%. After the system was equilibrated for at least 100,000 femtoseconds, an arabinan molecule composed of 8 arabinose rings was added …

Characterization Of Laser Deposited Ti-6al-4v To Nb Gradient Alloys, Clincy Cheung

Materials Engineering

An alloy was fabricated with Ti-6Al-4V and Nb powder using laser deposition (LD) to form a compositional gradient. The gradient was deposited, starting with Ti-6Al-4V powder, onto a forged Ti-6Al-4V substrate in an Argon environment. Niobium (Nb) composition increased by 4-at.% with each layer deposited until the composition reached 100-at.% Nb. This process yielded steep thermal gradients and affected the microstructure and mechanical properties across the compositional gradient. To observe the microstructural changes in the alloy, an etched gradient was viewed with optical microscopy at 1000x, where the grain structure was observed to be an acicular α phase at 100-at.% …

Custom Keys: Numeric Keypad Server-Client Android App, Cameron Hom

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Custom Keys is an app that consists of a server and an app which communicate through the network. This project explored a way to improve numeric keystroke input for users who do not have numeric keypads on their laptops or computers. I discuss many features and designs I used in Custom Keys to create the app and server. I also discuss some of the drawbacks to the design. Custom Keys was successfully created but more testing and research is needed to determine if it improves individual numeric keystroke's per minute.

Customer Tracking Through An Affordable Consumer Device Array, Daniel Nishi

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Commercial person tracking systems that use wifi packet analysis is currently very costly. In order to reduce the barrier of entry and allow small businesses to reap the benefits of indoor trilateration systems and monitor consumer traffic patterns, I am building out a system that will run on low-cost hardware and be deployable without a monthly service fee. By using consumer hardware, we are able to collect and analyze wifi management packets from smartphone sources and use it to extract actionable business information.

Cp Maps – An Interactive Cal Poly Map Ios Application, Brian Fung, Carl Lind Iii

Computer Science and Software Engineering

According to Forbes magazine, Cal Poly ranks No. 9 among Califor- nia’s public universities and is the top-ranked California State University for this past year[7]. More than 55,000 undergraduates seek admission for Fall 2015[11]. These visiting students and their families and as well as 20,000 cur- rent students, faculty and staff need an convenient way of navigating around campus[8]. Our iOS app—CP Maps—was built from the ground up to address the difficulty of navigating around campus.

Enterprise Smart Outlet - Ios Application, Riley Mcgovern

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The Enterprise Smart Outlet is a system made up of a smart outlet, a Node.js server, and a companion iOS application. It builds on the already existing market of smart power outlets and aims to bring that type of functionality fully scaled up to the enterprise level. The smart outlet connects to the Node.js server and sends its power readings. The iOS application connects to the Node.js server to receive all power readings from all the connected smart outlets and can also toggle the power on and off for each outlet.

Greenplace: A User Driven Marketplace For Perishable Goods, Nicolas Higuera

Computer Science and Software Engineering

As the world population grows, food vendors need to be increasingly efficient in the distribution of their products. Products with short shelf-lives need to be distributed as quickly as possible in order to maximize potency. Existing technologies allowing the sale of goods from peer to peer lack key features to optimize usage for perishable goods. GreenPlace provides some of the essential features necessary to distributing perishable goods and managing those orders in an effective manner.

The Struggle Of The Rubiniumite Wars, Timothy Mendez, Evan Peterson, Darren Huang, Kyle Lozier

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The Struggle of the Rubiniumite Warsis a browser-based, one- to two-player, simultaneous turn-based strategy game set amongst the stars. It uses WebGL and Three.js for 3D graphics in the browser, Node.js for game engine and artificial intelligence design on the backend, and Socket.io for networking using websockets. The development group’s inspiration, motivation, and reflections are discussed. Additionally, details on the development of the game engine, database integration with Parse, user registration with Nodemailer, graphics with Three.js and HTML/CSS, and audio with HTML5.

Semi-Automated Test Generation With Spest, Adam Mozek

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Automated black box test generation is a useful tool for developers that allows them to

quickly generate a large number of tests with a wide range of values tested. The current most

popular tool for black box test generation in Java, JML, is lacking in a number of features.

SPEST aims to improve upon existing tools, and provide a black box test generation tool that

can create human readable tests from simple pre and post conditions added as comments to

the Java source code.

X264 Video Encoding Frontend, Alvin Lam

Computer Science and Software Engineering

x264 is a free video codec for encoding video streams into the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format. It has become the new standard for video encoding, providing higher quality with a higher compression than that of XviD. x264 provides a command line interface as well as an API and is used in popular applications such as HandBrake and FFmpeg. Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is a very popular audio coding standard for lossy digital audio compression. AAC provides a higher sound quality than MP3 at similar bitrates. This senior project describes the design and implementation of a x264 video encoding frontend that uses …

Universal Uav Payload Interface, Nolan Reker, David Troy Jr, Drew Troxell

Computer Engineering

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology is becoming increasingly accessible for civilian use. Both open-source and commercial-purpose UAVs can be obtained affordably or even built. However, the platforms available are very segmented in their customization to a specific application (i.e. land surveying, payload delivery). This project aims to create a Universal Payload Interface (UPI) mounted to the underside of multi-rotors or other UAVs to enable the attachment of customizable sensor payloads. These payloads allow a single UAV to be rapidly reconfigured to perform a multitude of tasks.

The Universal Payload Interface facilitates communication between the payload, onboard flight controller, and operator …

Pre-R: Making Healthcare Healthier, Timothy Acorda, Ryan Foletta, Winifred Lee, Thomas Nguyen, Isabella Sarmiento, Brian Truong, Marek Zhang

Computer Engineering

No abstract provided.