Engineering Commons^™

3 Day Emergency Dialysis Kit, Luke Fillingim, Aaron Marshall, Brandi Thielman

Biological Engineering

Following natural disasters, dialysis clinics are unable to provide treatment for their patients. Many city facilities and vital services, such as water and power, can remain damaged or unavailable for as many as a few weeks

In one instance, it was reported that after a natural disaster the five leading causes of dialysis clinics becoming inoperable were: damage to reverse osmosis systems, interruption of water supply, failure of electrical power supply, structural damage to buildings and failure of telecommunications³.

Unfortunately, patients with end stage renal disease have the potential to become very sick in a matter of days …

Wheelchair Automation And Instrumentation Platform, Brady Houston, Taylor Jones

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Problems

• Powered wheelchairs often fail to communicate their status to their users.
• Every chair is customized to a user’s needs, but this does not always work as it is hard to translate the commands to a different layout.
• Status of the chair is unknown to caretakers/clinicians (has to go to the factory to be analyzed).

Goals

• Provide an interface where one could read off easily basic data about the chair’s environment (altitude, pressure, humidity, etc.).
• Build an API to allow for the interfacing of basic movement of the chair itself; this way alternative methods of control would be easier to …

Aiaa Engine Design Team: Minidragon-950, Julie Bach, Jacob Bryan, Byron Peatross, Broch Reeder, Anthony Servedio, Kristofer Shawgo

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Background

• The purpose was to create a gas turbine generator for a hybrid electric UAV that performs better than the existing TPE331-10

Cycle

• The miniDragon-950 produces 949 horsepower with a Brake Specific Fuel Consumption of 0.33
• Improvements were made through the use of more compressor and turbine stages and the addition of a recuperator
• The largest improvement was the reduction of weight from 385 lbs to 148 lbs

Sae Baja Brakes, Aaron Holden, Byron Janke

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The brakes system is critical in the safety of the vehicle. If not designed correctly, the use of the vehicle could end in disaster. The brakes team had three requirements they needed to meet:

• Design a braking system that is capable of locking all four tires traveling 30mph
• Design a system to distribute braking force between rear and front
• Design and Manufacture mounts to attach brake system to vehicle

Sae Baja Drivetrain, Jacob Behan, Landon Droubay, Alexis Whiting

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The drivetrain is essential for the buggy to move. It includes all the components that transfers movement from the engine to the tires.

The main design component of the drivetrain is the gearbox. This year the gearcase, gears, and shafts were redesigned to create a smaller gearbox. to reduce weight, lower the center of gravity, and create a better angle for the CV axles. The team decided to use constant velocity (CV) axles as they retain more efficiency from the gearbox to the wheel than shafts.

Sae Baja Frame And Systems, Jason Gardiner, Kyler Coates

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Our overall goal for the Frame and Systems team was to design and build a frame that provides a safe, comfortable, and fun ride for the driver. Providing integration for each subsystem to optimize performance was also critical to be a competitive vehical at the Baja SAE California competition.

Key design goals:

• Wide cockpit for driver comfort
• 50/50 (%) front/back weight distribution

Sae Baja Suspension And Steering, Jordan Sanchez, Bron Mccall, Caleb Francks

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Suspension is a critical characteristic of the SAE Mini Baja vehicle. It determines the feel and ride of the vehicle while taking all sorts of impact from any incoming obstacles. Steering effects the handle and the agility of the vehicle. These two subgroups designed correctly can optimize vehicle performance.

• Wheel Travel- Our vehicle has a travel capacity of 10 inches.
• Steering-The vehicle can turn within a 15 ft radius.
• Ride Height- Our ride height allows for 10 inches of ground clearance to be able to ride over larger objects.

Suspension and steering mechanisms are complex. It includes …

Biological Agent Dispersal, Jake Israelsen, Chris Springmeyer, Will Wightman, Camiel Zorn

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

BIO-TERRORISM THREAT MITIGATION

Overview

• Understanding the importance understanding how airborne particles behave
• Computer models to describe open air release of Anthrax

Creation of 300 m x 100 m testing facility

• Determine distance traveled based on spore size and wind speed
• Determine important parameters for facility to safely control dispersion

Importance of the problem to society

• Immediate bio-terror-threat response training
• Contamination remediation for first responders
• Future response plans including timely contamination zone determination

This must be researched in order to plan for an undesirable event

Cleaning System For Pharma Manufacturing Process, Sydney Taylor, Daniel George, Travis Hotchkiss, Korbin Markos

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The scope of this project was to design a system for dosing Citric Acid and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) into GE Healthcare’s 4200 L bio-processing tank, as part of an automated cleaning cycle. The designed system is intended to:

• Minimize employee exposure to chemicals
• Dose the necessary amount of chemicals in 3 minutes or less
• Dose the necessary chemicals within a 0.5% tolerance
• Neutralize the cleaning solution to a pH level between 6 and 9
• Have a design-life of at least 10 years

Usu Filament Winder, Brennan Baer, Jeff Fonnesbeck, Joel Fronk, Josh Matthews, Cory Weber

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The USU Composites Lab needs a filament winder for creating composite tubes. The filament winder student team used the following guidelines to design and construct a filament winder:

• This winder will be available for students to use for future senior design projects and research.
• The winder needs to have a minimum of two axes for control and movement.
• The winder must support parts up to 36" long and 3" in diameter with an even larger capacity being desirable.
• The winder must wrap composite fiber at angles between 30° and 150°. 

Hail Damage Test Process Design Usaf, Allen Crapo, Dallin Krebs, Janelle Miller

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Wing dimpling due to hail damage can result in costly aircraft reskin efforts

Objective: Determine the aerodynamic effects of hail damage on a NACA 0012 wing section

• Angle where the aircraft stalls
• The maximum lift of the aircraft
• The drag on the aircraft due to dimpling

Long Endurance Multi-Rotor Drone, Trenton Griffiths, Jacob Kaiser, Zachary Nelson, Patrick Ollerton, Zachary Page

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Develop a multi-rotor drone with the following characteristics:

• Has a 2 hour flight time
• Can carry a 5 kg payload
• Fuel source readily available
• Autonomous flight capabilities
• Easily transportable by pickup truck

Special Needs Tricycle - Lower Cost Alternative, Liz Housley, Nathan Linville, Conner Toone, Zachary Wilson

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

There are thousands of children across the country who are not able to ride a standard bicycle due to physical disabilities. There are special tricycles that exist to accommodate such riders, but cost between $1500 and $4000 and have limited adjustability. The goal of this project was to design a functional and repeatable tricycle that that would meet the needs of these children at a much lower price.

Autoliv Testing Buck, Derek Hatch, Presli Hutchinson, Mckay Ogden

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The purpose of this project is to build a testing buck to test airbags for out-of-position passengers.

Autoliv is the world's largest automotive safety supplier. Their vision as a company is to save more lives and reduce serious injuries. This fixture is helpful in achieving their vision and continuing to make advancements in airbags for everyday vehicles.

The fixture replicates various sized cars and passengers. The testing buck will run airbag tests on mannequins ranging in size from a small child to a small statured woman.

Ease of use is highly emphasized throughout the project. The components of the fixture …

Thermal Battery, Jake Miles, Cody Barrie, Daniel Pratt, Cody Petterborg

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The objective of the Thermal Battery Project was to design an energy storage tank with an energy capture device for a greenhouse. The design would release the captured energy into the greenhouse to warm the greenhouse and extend the growing season of day-neutral strawberries.

These greenhouses often do not receive enough sunlight to maintain optimal interior temperatures for the strawberries during colder and darker months. Farmers must rely on various heating methods to keep their greenhouses warm. Most of these methods require the use of nonrenewable energy to maintain a desired temperature range.

The problems addressed by the thermal battery …

University Rover Competition Manipulation Sub-Team, Merrill Hall, Kyler Hendrickson, Kaden Ledbetter, Rachael Paskett, Nicholas Wallace

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The rover was designed to complete the tasks laid out in the 2019 Mar’s Society University Rover Challenge (URC) competition rules.

1. Science mission- The rover must conduct an in-situ analysis to determine the presence of life, either extinct or extant, at designated sights.
2. Extreme retrieval and delivery- The rover must pick up and deliver objects in the field while traversing a wide variety of terrain no further than 1 km.
3. Equipment servicing- The rover must perform operations on an equipment system after traveling up to 0.25 km.
4. Autonomous traversal mission- The rover must autonomously traverse between …

University Rover Competition Navigation Sub-Team, Seth Horne, Kaden Archibald, Derek Workman

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

University Rover Competition (URC) Navigation Requirements:

1. The rover shall be an off the grid mobile platform that is controlled by operators in a command station.
2. The rover must autonomously navigate between start and end markers, while performing object detection.
3. The rover must be able to recognize a tennis ball end marker and signal when it is within 2 m of the tennis ball.

University Rover Competition Power/Drive Sub-Team, Cleon Horne, Brady Kalt, Mason Moore

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The rover was designed to complete the tasks laid out in the 2019 Mar’s Society University Rover Challenge (URC) competition rules.

1. Science mission- The rover must conduct an in-situ analysis to determine the presence of life, either extinct or extant, at designated sights.
2. Extreme retrieval and delivery- The rover must pick up and deliver objects in the field while traversing a wide variety of terrain no further than 1 km.
3. Equipment servicing- The rover must perform operations on an equipment system after traveling up to 0.25 km.
4. Autonomous traversal mission- The rover must autonomously traverse between …

University Rover Competition Science Sub-Team, Samuel Parastino, Tyler Wallentine, Brandon Kenison

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The University Rover Competition is held annually near Hanksville, UT at the Mars Desert Research Station. Each team must design and build a rover compete in four different tasks:

1. Science Mission. The rover is required to conduct an in-situ analysis to determine the presence of extinct or extant life at designated sites
2. Extreme Retrieval and Delivery. The rover is required to pick up and deliver objects in the field while traversing a wide variety of terrain no further than 1 km from the base station.
3. Equipment Servicing. The rover is required to perform operations on an equipment system after traveling …

University Rover Competition, Nicholas Huld

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The Mar’s Society University Rover Challenge (URC) is a robotics competition held annually in the desert of Southern Utah. The competition tasks the engineers with building a remotely operated rover to accomplish four primary missions:

1. Science mission- The rover must conduct an in-situ analysis to determine the presence of life, either extinct or extant, at designated sights.
2. Extreme retrieval and delivery- The rover must pick up and deliver objects in the field while traversing a wide variety of terrain no further than 1 km.
3. Equipment servicing- The rover must perform operations on an equipment system after traveling …

High Intensity Uv Light, Kelsey Payne, Ryan Reid, Travis Smith

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

“Mechanics at Extreme Temperatures” is Dr. Berke’s lab. His experiments involve observing specimens at extreme temperatures (i.e. 1500°C) under various load states to simulate jets in hypersonic flight, reentry of spacecraft, and other aerospace applications.

Redesign Of 900 South: 900 East To 1300 East In Salt Lake City, Ut, Kam Eslinger, Josh Fallon, Tom Hill, Jackson Sagers, Seth Thompson

Civil and Environmental Engineering

The purpose of this project was to improve the current road conditions found at 900 South, from 900 East to 1300 East in Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake City’s three main goals for this project included:

• Improvement of the current road structure
• Redesign of the five-way intersection
• Addition of a separate bicycle path

Smart Rc Car Controller, Stephen Dennis

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Problem:

• Autonomous vehicles require expensive sensors.
• Control from the robots point of view is limited.

Solution:

Create an autonomous controller that uses cameras to provide control based on line of sight.

Benefits:

• Lower cost
• No sensors needed on the robot
• Better point of view for control

Spinning Pixel Display, Paden Thompson

Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Spinning Pixel Display (SPD) uses a quickly rotating screen to give the illusion an entire image is being displayed all at once.

Purpose:

• Implements a technology prototype using a small amount of pixels for a high-quality image.
• Provides a positional image selector that is safe to be spun by hand (unlike LED fans).

Project Iris, Rachel Wall, Trent Wall

Electrical and Computer Engineering

We set out to develop a device that plugs into your phone and works with an app to without communication without cell phone service or WiFi. This would be useful if you are going on vacation to a cruise or service-less area outdoors and want to communicate with family or fellow travelers across long distances.

We implemented the hardware portion of this project by using a researched Xbee chip set that has the ability to broadcast signal approximately a mile away. This chip set was rigged to interface with the audio jack of a phone.

We implemented the software phase …

Smart Trailer, Brett Jepsen, Craig Saunders

Electrical and Computer Engineering

What is the Smart Trailer?

• Helps those with trailers have a fast, convenient way to use them.
• Actively monitors the tire pressure and alerts the user through an app if low pressure is detected.
• The Smart Trailer will check if all the lights on the trailer are working properly.

Utah Code 73-3-30, Utah State Legislature

All In-stream Flows Material

73-3-30 Change application for an instream flow.

The Internet Of Energy: Architectures, Cyber Security, And Applications, Kun Wang, Yan Zhang, Song Guo, Mianxiong Dong, Rose Qingyang Hu, Lei He

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The energy crisis and carbon emissions have become two critical concerns globally. As a very promising solution, the concept of Internet of Energy has appeared to tackle these challenges. The Internet of Energy is a new power generation paradigm developing a revolutionary vision of smart grids into the Internet. The communication infrastructure is an essential component for implementing the Internet of Energy. A scalable and robust communication infrastructure is crucial in both operating and maintaining smart energy systems. The wide-scale implementation and development of Internet of Energy into industrial applications should take into account the following challenges:

Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Precipitation And Effective Rainfall Using Gauge Observations, Satellite, And Gridded Climate Data For Agricultural Water Management In The Upper Colorado River Basin, Mahyar Aboutalebi, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, L. Niel Allen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Accurate spatial and temporal precipitation estimates are important for hydrological studies of irrigation depletion, net irrigation requirement, natural recharge, and hydrological water balances in defined areas. This analysis supports the verification of water savings (reduced depletion)from deficit irrigation of pastures in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The study area has diverse topography with scattered fields and few precipitation gauges that are not representative of the basin.Gridded precipitation products from TRMM-3B42, PRISM, Daymet, and gauge observations were evaluated on two case studies located in Colorado and Wyoming during the 2014–2016 irrigation seasons. First, the resolution at the farm level is discussed. …

Validating The Satisfaction With Travel Scale As A Measure Of Hedonic Subjective Well-Being For Commuting In A U.S. City, Patrick A. Singleton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The relationships between transportation and well-being are of increasing interest to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Stakeholders seeking to improve quality of life and traffic safety require valid and reliable ways of gauging the emotional states of travelers. Psychological scales exist for measuring subjective well-being (SWB), but these instruments have rarely been applied to the travel domain. The Satisfaction with Travel Scale (STS) is a nine-item measure of travel-related hedonic SWB, capturing core affect (emotions) and cognitive evaluations of overall satisfaction associated with personal transportation. Although the STS has been used in an increasing number of studies, questions remain regarding its …