Engineering Commons^™

Improved Way To Affix Iv Components To Gurneys From Operating Tables, Corey Gilbert, Braulio Rosales, Jason Warren

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The current issue in the process of transporting a patient from the operating room (OR) to the intensive care unit (ICU) is the risks involved with the IV stand being top-heavy due to two or three IV pumps weighing approximately 15 pounds each. This can lead to injury to the patient, or other personnel, if an instance occurred where the IV stand were to tip over. Having a single person to manage both the IV stand and gurney during transport can increase this risk.

To remedy these problems, the project team established the goals of developing a working prototype, testing …

Design And Optimization Of A Molten Metal Loop Driven By An Electromagnetic Pump, Eric Mallon, Miguel Bustamante Perez, Joseph Keegan

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Liquid Metal Fast Reactor (LMFR) utilizing liquid metal as a coolant is still being considered for future nuclear energy. In this concept, transporting liquid metal still poses many challenges in engineering design and material detection and accountability. In this senior design project, the team has been exploring a design and optimization of a molten metal loop driven by an electromagnetic pump. Here, a manometer type solution was deemed the best method to achieve meaningful results. Transparent Pyrex tubing was selected for the manometers, as the visual column difference would indicate pressure differences. Tin was selected for the working fluid, and …

Emergency Glucagon Injection Device, John Corbett, Zachary Cullingsworth, Christopher Ducic, Ryan Meekins

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Glucagon is a drug administered to people with diabetes that are experiencing a seizure due to low blood glucose levels. The current method of injecting glucagon during a hypoglycemic seizure is lengthy and complicated when time equates to minimizing the effects of an emergency situation. This project is student created and the result of the design team recognizing a serious problem and deciding to find a better solution. The goal of this project was to streamline this process. Several working prototypes were developed and evaluated before a final design was chosen. Safety, durability and usability were all considerable factors. The …

Thermo-Regulated Device For Extremities Affected By Raynaud’S Disease, Jessica L. Bishop, Nathaniel P. Kirby, T. Ryan Beaver, Alisa B. Sverdlov

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Raynaud’s condition is a disease in which blood vessels in the extremities constrict in response to emotional stimuli and cold environments. This results in extreme discoloration and pain in the regions affected (Figure 1), and can cause permanent tissue damage. Although there is no current cure for this disease, there are several methods of pain mitigation including the use of drugs, gloves, avoiding exposure to cold weather, and using heating devices. However, these solutions are only temporary. Most gloves do not provide adequate insulation or have a short battery life.

This project is aimed at mediating the negative physiological effects …

Non-Destructive Testing Of Hardface Cladding, Hunter Andrews, Karson Clark, Jared O’Hara

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Valves, such as the ones shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2, are very common throughout Navy vessels in systems which transport various materials such as water, steam, and oil. Over their lifetime the valve Stellite seatings are rehabilitated by being ground down to create a smooth surface. If the seating surface is ground to a thickness lower than 3/32 in, the valve will be considered inoperable. It was necessary to design a portable device that can be used by Newport News Shipbuilding to measure the thickness of Stellite coatings on valve seating surfaces. A device that could be used …

Tapered Roller Bearing Accelerated Life Test Rig Design And Fabrication, Laith Naeem, Andrew Nguyen, Bryson Sin, Ramon Vargas

Capstone Design Expo Posters

L₁₀ bearing fatigue life testing is a costly and prolonged process, as the bearing is characteristically designed for durability and reliability. Within the current testing methods, faulty materials still have the potential of passing the test. However, with this life test rig, the bearing will be tested to failure, thus providing an indicator for its predicted life span.

The purpose of this project is to optimize and construct a L₁₀ life test rig for accelerated fatigue testing of the Association of American Railroad Class K, 6 ½ x 9-inch double-row tapered roller bearing to their maximum fatigue life …

Underhull Material Transport Rig: Aircraft Carrier Maintenance Processes, Hunter Alford, Christopher Brady, Michelle Runion, Spencer Trevisan

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The clearance under a ship in the Newport News Shipbuilding dry dock is approximately 62 inches. As a result, workers are either crouched or hunched over as they carry materials and equipment underneath the ship to their work zone. This can cause physical strain on workers’ bodies, leading to safety and health problems. This design project solves the problem by creating a transport system that uses a cart suspended from two trolleys that ride on a track attached to the bottom of the hull.

A working prototype was built, demonstrated, and tested. This prototype cart maneuvered through a straight and …

Robotic Inspection Of Geometrically Complex Tank Systems, Andrew Casalenuovo, Andrew Rubio, Charles Hockett, Peter Donaldson

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The goal of this project was to continue the development of a temporary rail system for a robotic tank inspection device. The tanks to be inspected are in a hazardous environment that is dangerous to work in and navigate. A remotely controlled robot could reduce the need for manual labor in the tanks to initial setup, final removal, and touch ups. Similar setups have been created for inspecting tanks, but they are permanent installations and are meant only for inspections.

The goal of the current phase of the project was to employ a new concept for supporting the rail system, …

Highway 66 Structural Foundation Redesign, Devyn Borum, Joshua Clarke, Lorenzo Dingcong, Korey Smith

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The primary project goal was to reduce the cost per unit of the structural foundation (sublane) of the Route 66 miniature bowling lane by 10%. Additional project goals were: 1) reducing the cubic volume for shipping, (2) reducing the lane assembly time, and 3) maintaining current 10 to 15-year product life. Ten sublane sections are used to assemble two lanes of a Route 66 unit. The project constraints included: 1) maintaining outside height, width and length of the sublanes, 2) load bearing strength greater than or close to the current design and 3) no significant change in manufacturing processes. After …

Friction And Wear Measurements In Automatic Transmission Clutch, Steffen Harm, Dabin Kim, Jean Paulo Mulles, Eric Stavitzski, Hoang Tran

Capstone Design Expo Posters

In order to create alternate pathways to increase fuel efficiency, flexible ways to alter and test fluid properties are needed when transmission manufacturers change the operating conditions or components used in automatic transmissions. A prototype was fabricated to satisfy this need by reducing the cost, time of conducting tests while producing accurate results, and also increasing the amount of trials that can be conducted in a laboratory setting. The limitations of developing a new prototype are: safety, weight, ease of use, laboratory size, and establishing accurate results within the amount of time given. This project was approached using the Engineering …

3d Heart Model For Mapping Rf Ablation Sites, Danielle Corsino, Ashleigh Mims, Andrew Potter, Alejandro Rivera

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Electro-Cardiologists routinely insert radiofrequency probes into the heart and conduct targeted ablation procedures to correct irregular heartbeats. Current techniques are very experience and “touch” based, and require the novice cardiologist about 50 procedures to become proficient. There is a need for a functional heart model device that can be used to reduce the amount of procedures on human patients before cardiologist become proficient. Project constraints included limited software availability for segmenting accuracy, available 3D printing technology and materials, and cost to 3D print heart models due to the complex geometry. The team began with a CT scan, ITK SNAP and …

3d Printed Teeth: Anatomically Correct Primary Replicas, Anh Nguyen, Stefan Harris

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The current method of molding teeth, especially primary teeth, cannot accurately reproduce internal tooth structures. Therefore, there is a need for primary teeth to be made anatomically accurate on-demand with the ability to customize a model for specific patients. This project aims that any tooth extracted digitally from a Dental Cone Beam computed tomography (CBCT) scan of a child's mouth can be 3D printed into an accurate replicate with which dental students can practice. Constraints include viable materials that can be printed by a 3D printer, represent tooth anatomy and provide desirable mechanical properties compatible with the dental drilling operation. …

Adjustable Pipe Hanger: Newport News Shipbuilding, Ryan Fitzgerald, Ahmad Othman, Emily Holland, Zinullah Ghaznawi

Capstone Design Expo Posters

This senior design project is sponsored by Newport News Shipbuilding. The objective of this project is to design a pipe hanger system that could be installed during initial fabrication while still allowing adjustment when the pipe path deviates from the initial drawings. The design must be cheap and utilize already existing parts. One key constraint is to hold a load of 250 pounds and withstand a velocity between 100-120 inches per second. The original design created utilizes a C-channel track attached to the ceiling and a spring locking mechanism to provide flexibility. This final design eliminated the spring device with …

Super-Efficient Condiment And Detergent Storage Containers, Anurag Baral, Rehman Chaudry, Andree Cochran

Capstone Design Expo Posters

(1) unmet need - engineering problem being addressed: Approximately fifteen percent of ketchup, detergent and shampoo still remain on the walls of storage containers. Due to this problem, billions of dollars are wasted annually. (2) project deliverables: Models are created to represent working prototypes that are more efficeint for the products. (3) constraints: Glass bottles are less expensive to produce, but are more expensive to transport. (4) approach: Ketchup, shampoo and detergent droplets were placed onto plastics to test which plastic best suited the products. Then, the plastics were coated with candlewax, car wax, beeswax, Alkyl Ketene Dimer (AKD) and …

Tree Canopy Analysis: Improving Forest And Tree Health Through Aerial Spectral Measurement, Yaw Amoatin, Adam Hrycyk, Alex Yoon

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Richmond has a large quantity of trees which currently cannot be efficiently monitored for individual tree health. This lack of monitoring results in high mortality rates. It is to the benefit of the city financially that these trees are saved instead of having to be replaced. The solution includes the delivery of an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) with modified camera technology for image processing and log identification utilizing Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values as numerical indicators of health. A low-cost, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) compliant system was required for solution implementation and budget appropriations. It was decided aerial imagery …

Enhancing Fire Fighter Situational Awareness With Remote Uav Thermal Imaging, Jarett Chaine, Nathan Ellingson, Herve Iradukunda

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Fighting highly dynamic and unpredictable structure fires can be very challenging and dangerous for firefighters. They need full situational awareness of the fire as it evolves. In these situations, it is difficult for firefighters to gain insight on whether they are winning or losing the battle against the fire. By gathering thermal images of a burning structure, our Thermal Imaging System will be able to provide real time data to help first responders mitigate risks associated with unpredictable fire dynamics.

The FAA is currently modifying and creating more regulations to address integrating UAVs with the existing aviation network. This makes …

Dynamic Cg Display For Recovery Cranes, Tariq Haddad, Steven Lemasters

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The objective of this project is to give recovery crane operators the ability to visualize the crane's center of gravity, while picking up a load. With this ability, the operators will know when the crane is close to tipping over. Currently, no system dynamically calculates the center of gravity. This is especially important for recovery cranes, which typically work on un-level ground. This system can save a recovery crane company millions in damage to the crane, and prevent injuries to the operator or support personnel on site. Also by storing the data it can help in determining fault if a …

Electric Power Quality Monitoring And Control Of The Soe Clean Room, Bart Thompson, Gabriel Knight, Aubrey Buckner

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The senior design team was presented with a challenge of addressing power quality issues in the School of Engineering’s clean room. Discussion with the faculty involved in the operation of the room indicated that some power quality issues such as periodic outages and brownouts posed serious potential damage to computer equipment, and solving these issues would save the university money and lost time. The senior design team used Eagle Power Quality Meters to monitor and record voltage waveforms on multiple 120V AC phases for three months and also collected real-time data of current and consumed power from the room. Based …

3d Immersive Visualization: Expanding Human Sensation, Megan Davis, Francisco Gonzalez, Connor Waters

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Unmet Need: The constant push for better and more interactive data visualization aids: the Oculus Rift replaced a two-dimensional fixed monitor with head tracking and a three-dimensional virtual space to explore; the Novint Falcon replaces two-dimensional pointing tools with a haptic sensor with force feedback and three degrees of axial freedom.

Deliverables: A demonstration of the technologies involved, in the form of an Oculus- and Falconenabled physical simulation of a room containing several objects that can be handled and manipulated in three dimensions.

Constraints: The hardware is expensive and difficult to acquire, and it requires a beefy computer to run. …

Data Network Visualization, Marcangelo Dilinila, Carl Miranda, Chase Keech

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Data visualization is an essential component of any data analysis. A visual image can aid in more in-depth analysis of any researched data. Although there are data visualization products that already exist on the market, such as Gephi, yEd Graph editor, and OmniGraffle, they are platform-dependent and can be difficult for novice users to install and get started. Data Network Visualization eliminates these weaknesses by being fully accessible through the web, while having a less cluttered user interface. This allows a user to take advantage of a variety of visualization tools without the need to download a program.

To achieve …

Cryptocurrency: Proof Of Purchase, Adam Johnson, Robert Breckenridge, Kara Lucord

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The original purpose of this project was to research the capabilities of a relatively new cryptocurrency platform known as Ethereum. Extensive research brought to light Ethereum’s wide range of developmental capabilities and shifted our focus to the consideration of how the features that Ethereum offers can be used to improve some of the flaws within the world of cryptocurrency. Some cryptocurrency users find these systems useful, because it gives them a means of anonymity. This makes it pretty easy to launder money, make illegal purchases, and double spend. Our solution solves all of these issues, by tying a digital currency …

Will Wade’S Team Camp: An Online Registration Service For Will Wade’S Basketball Team Camp At Vcu, William Slattum, Melissa Nierle

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Virginia Commonwealth University(VCU) has made a name for its self on the national stage of NCAA Men’s Basketball. Success on the court has brought attention to the many programs VCU has to offer. One of these popular programs is Will Wade’s summer basketball camp. Teams come from all over the Atlantic region to attend the daylong team camp. With such wide-spread interest in the camp and about 50 teams signing up to participate annually and growing, how can VCU Athletics best handle and keep all of the information organized? The project deliverable was an online system that both registers teams …

Restful Api Framework: Golang Proof Of Concept, Gerard Briones, David Igou, Aaron Throckmorton

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Capital One has embarked on a journey of exposing useful services as RESTful APIs that can be utilized seamlessly by applications and clients. The purpose of this project was to develop an API framework that can be easily molded and deployed to reinforce this endeavor, standardizing the access and use of these services for every developer. This framework was built with a modern programming language, Golang, and excels in performance, scalability, and efficiency. A working prototype and proof of concept serve as the deliverables for this project, with notable constraints in the type of architecture (REST) used for the framework …

Welcome To Willowtree: Come Take A Closer Look, Shahim-Abdul Satar, Kent White, Ayesha Zafar

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The demand for more workers in tech related fields has given students the opportunity of choosing between multiple job offers and students can now be more deliberate about the jobs that they accept. Because of this employers also need to set themselves apart from other companies. Many companies do this is by sending out brochures, PDFs, and other information that may be outdated by the time it goes out. Our solution to this problem was to make an application which would provide relevant data to the user as well as provide insight into the company. The end result is a …

Champions’ Summer Defense: Manufacturing All-Natural Equine Spray, Brooke Riggs, Peter Rinaldi, Zach Taylor

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Research was conducted in 2014 and 2015 for the development of Champions’ Summer Defense, an all-natural product to protect horses from irritating and potentially harmful summer elements. This formulation provides sunscreen to protect the horses from sunburn and reduces coat bleaching. In addition, this spray acts as a conditioner and leaves the horse’s coat shiny by fighting dry skin and moisturizing the coat. Champions’ Summer Defense’s unique formulation is naturally antimicrobial, eliminating the need for a preservative and allows the product to be 100% natural. The antimicrobial property will also help prevent skin irritations from insects and will keep the …

Polyether Product Recovery: Salt-Induced Water-Polymer Separation, Carolina Andrea Mercado Buelvas, Chance Parrish, Rohit Sharma

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Evonik Industries currently loses approximately 50 tons of polyether product to wastewater washes annually. Evonik has requested an industrially viable solution to maximize the recovery of the lost product in the current process. It was required that the solution have a one year payback period, and be in compliance with current regulatory policies. Literature sources showed that salt is a commonly used agent to force the separation of polyether-water mixtures. Using this information, a method was developed using a salt already present in the process to induce a phase separation and to recover the polyether. An empirical multilinear refractive index …

Smart Medication Disposal: Subcritical Water Oxidation Of Pharmaceutical Compounds, Sharon Veeravalli, Charles Fricke, F. William Ronnau

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Disposal of unused or expired pharmaceuticals is neither safe nor environmentally-friendly. Current regulations for pharmaceutical disposal do not prevent environmental contamination. Industrial methods of disposing of waste medications can generate toxic compounds through incineration, or generate large volumes of waste through use of physical adsorbents. Medium sized providers (pharmacies, small clinics) typically hire expensive hazardous waste removal or dispose of these medications improperly.

The project goal is to deliver a safe, sustainable process, suitable for retail pharmacies and the like, for rendering pharmaceuticals chemically inactive. This project encompasses the development of a degradation process via testing of 5 model pharmaceuticals …

Development Of A Tabletop Soft Gel Encapsulation Machine, Amanda Carter, Lara Hamid, Harini Muralikrishnan, Bethlehem Solomon

Capstone Design Expo Posters

This VCU Chemical and Life Science Engineering student team is designing a tabletop gel encapsulation machine to produce ~50 capsules per minute enabling rapid changeover for research and development purposes for Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. The preliminary design is based on reverse engineering of the large-scale encapsulation machine. Building from an initial prototype that included die rolls with variable rotation speed control and temperature control, the team identified and designed additional components to produce soft gel capsules: (1) producing gelatin ribbons from molten gelatin, (2) synchronizing the injection of medicine and capsule formation, and (3) ensuring that the capsules seal properly. …

Nanoparticles As Lubricant Additives, Jacob Miller, Rayyan Alsinan, Zainab Suwaiket, Samuel Wojcicki

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Nanoparticles have generated interest in the oil industry as potential additives. Many nanoparticles have been shown to improve fuel economy and engine efficiency. However, there are an infinite number of nanoparticle formulations, and to test all these would be impossible. The objective of this project was to develop a predictive model which demonstrates the impact of factors such as size, concentration, and hardness on the performance of nanoparticles as oil additives.

The concentrations tested were 0.01% and 0.5% by mass in PAO4 base oil. The sizes tested were 5-15nm and 20-50nm. Using four compositions to approximate hardness, a 4 x …

Pulmonary Patency Stent, Kranthidhar Bathula, Suraj Kandalam, Akhil Kolluri, Roshni Malik

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Patients with malignancies in the central airways often experience significant breathing difficulties due to occlusion of the airways. One common palliative treatment option for this is a stent placement procedure. While patients often experience immediate symptom relief, long term use can result in the formation of granulation tissue, causing restenosis of the airway. The objective of this project is to design and prototype a modification to the Boston Scientific Ultraflex partially-covered stent in order to reduce granulation tissue and maintain airway patency. Deliverables include the detailed design, a working prototype, and supporting data. The main product specifications include effectiveness in …