Engineering Commons^™

Design Of A Drug Delivery System Through The Gastrointestinal Tract, Kaixin Chen, Adel Husayni, Kayvon Mobarakeh, Ankit Soni

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) afflicts an estimated 5.3 million individuals and is the sixth leading cause of death in America. The drug delivery method of interest is an orally administered sustained-release delivery system that addresses the needs of the associated patient population. By augmenting drug delivery with a higher effective payload per dose compared to current methods, drug efficacy and bioavailability would improve. This will result in a decrease of the overall cost for medication as a greater percentage of the administered drug will be viable.

This design addresses the release of AD drug from the drug delivery system at the …

Suture Trainer: Improving Tissue Handling Technique, Albara Elshaer, Sindora Baddam, Veronica Peterkin, Millie Shah

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Tissue handling is fundamental to performing mechanical tasks of suturing and surgery on live humans and animals. While the mechanics of suturing can be taught, there is no available simulation product designed to specifically teach tissue handling skills. It is important as a future medical professional to gain better tissue handling skills in order to prevent unnecessary injury to the tissue via scarring. The suture trainer focuses on providing feedback in order to standardize tissue handling technique in order to prevent poor habits from developing. Our project deliverables included a model, working prototype, and test data collected from practicing physicians …

A Tilting System For Powered Wheelchairs, Liam Cornwall, Brandon Heath, Justin Mcdaniel, Alexander Stevenson

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The objective of our project is to create a wheelchair platform that can tilt a power wheelchair and its user back into a nearhorizontal position. The purpose of this is to allow a dentist to work on the patient in the manner and position with which they are most accustomed.

The device currently used by our sponsor, The Virginia Home, is the Versatilt platform. The Versatilt is capable of lifting a maximum weight of 750 lbs. and tilting patients back, up to 65 degrees. However, the platform is too small to accept the power wheelchairs used by the majority of …

Mri Hip Joint Traction Device, Rawan Alfadly, Carla Gomez, Sara Um

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Radiologists commonly use contrast agents to improve resolution and acuity when employing MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). Introducing MRI contrast agents to the tissue in the innermost part of the femoroacetabular joint is extremely difficult because the anatomy prevents the contrast agents from infiltrating those surfaces. Therefore, getting the ideal image resolution and making diagnosis of the hip is difficult. The objective was to design a product that would successfully distract one hip joint while also stabilizing the patient’s pelvis to improve visualization so that physicians are able to better diagnose the hip. The deliverables included a preliminary model that illustrates …

Marsupialization Catheter, Hamdi Abdeen, Ananya Mishra, Lucas Olson, Jacqueline Pinderski

Capstone Design Expo Posters

A significant issue among oral and maxillofacial surgeons is the treatment of cysts within the jaw. Cysts develop at random and in most cases asymptomatically. Therefore, they may reach enormous sizes before being diagnosed. Large cysts can cause severe damage to teeth and the surrounding bone. Doctors treat small cysts by surgically removing them. However, this approach is not ideal for large cysts due to the risk of surgical complications, the high expenses incurred, and the fact that it is often undesired by the patient. Current treatments include surgically opening the cyst and either suturing the tissue open or placing …

Computing Human Arm Stiffness For The Purpose Of Robotic Simulation, Nicholas Gehler, Philip Sesco

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

To replace a human during experiments, we've calculated the endpoint stiffness of a human arm to be simulated on a robot. The model used to calculate arm stiffness includes gravitational, short-range muscle, and muscle force-moment arm stiffnesses. The parameters of this model were estimated using data from the open source musculoskeletal MATLAB model, Dynamic Arm Simulator. The model will be used by a Barrett Proficio robot to simulate the stiffness of a human arm. The purpose of this human arm simulation is for experimentation during the development of a force sensing feedback system for functional electrical stimulation (FES). A robot …

Bent Knee Adaptor For Experimental Testing Of Prostheses, Santino Bianco

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Novel prosthetic devices must undergo testing as part of their development. Testing with amputees is problematic at the development stage due to safety and administrative burdens. A bent-knee adaptor allows able-bodied individuals to wear a prosthesis and facilitate prototype testing. An existing bent-knee adaptor was used as a basis to design an improved device. The existing adaptor did not preserve alignment between thigh and prosthesis, resulting in unnatural walking. 3D scanning and printing technologies were used to design the new adaptor. Solid modeling was used to verify that the new design would withstand the loads associated with walking. The device …

Sensing Movement In Endotracheal Tubes, Mary Anisa Kannan, Krista Powell, Navami Ravindra, Tiffany Wong

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The objective of this project was to develop a device that would better secure endotracheal tubes (ETT), measure unwanted displacement, and notify caretakers when a dangerous amount of displacement has occurred. The project deliverables were as follows: a detailed design, a prototype, and a final demonstration of the prototype which shows successful ability to carry out the objectives stated above. The device needs to be small in size, expensive, flexible to allow for regular cleaning, yet strong enough to withstand stress. The final design consists of a small bite block holder and head straps to secure the device. The device …

Minimizing Loss Of Balance And Falls With Personal Walkers, Michael Berger, Galen Kellner, David Le, Anthony Renninger

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Falls within the Older Adult community lead to roughly 734,000 hospital admissions annually with 87% attributed to walker use. In order to reduce the amount of falls due to walker use our objective was to create a system that detects an increased likelihood of a fall occurring, notifies the user of improper positioning, and can intervene by application of an automatic braking system to stabilize the walker; effectively training the user to have a more proper walking form and posture reducing the risk of a fall. In order to accomplish this goal, final deliverables included a working prototype and validation …

Treatment Of Menorrhagia And Irregular Menstruation: Cryo-Fluid Ablation Of The Endometrium, Baha Endisha, Benjamin Green

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Menorrhagia and irregular menstruation, characterized as dysfunctional uterine bleeding (DUB), is a condition that affects 15 to 20% of reproductive and pre-menopausal women. Common treatments are invasive, painful, or have low success rates; there is a need for new treatment. A 2014-2015 senior design team developed a prototype treatment based on the hypothesis that if free fluid was circulated in the uterine cavity at temperatures between 0 and -15ᵒC, cell death of the 2cm reproductive endometrial layer in the uterine cavity could be achieved and induce long term amenorrhea. The current senior design team significantly modified the prototype to reach …

Improved Ballast Recovery In Water Treatment, Zach Canfield, Ruqaia Suleman, Jasmine Wang, James Westbrook

Capstone Design Expo Posters

SUEZ Environnement’s Densadeg XRC™ is a high throughput water clarification unit capable of removing total suspended solids (TSS) with the aid of a high density ballast material. The ballast material is separated from the waste solids through a hydrocyclone and recycled into the system. Separation is inefficient and the unit experiences loss of ballast at 7 to 14 lbs per million gallons of treated water through the overflow of the hydrocyclone. Currently, ballast must be added at the loss rate to maintain the proper concentration to remove TSS. This requires that water treatment plants must provide storage space for ballast …

Find: Framework For Intelligent Research Discovery, Clint Cuffy, Tej Mehta, Hengbin Li

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Computers are essential to research yet the different ways in which computers can automate or speed up research have not been fully explored. Researchers are publishing experimental results faster than ever before and the number of articles to read on a single subject now presents an overwhelming task. FiND aims to expedite this process through an extensible backbone infrastructure for the automated synthesizing of data. FiND includes a Web User Interface, Perl Core and MySQL Database developed using the software constraints of Perl, HTML, CSS, CGI and MySQL. FiND attempts to simplify this task by reducing time spent in exhaustive …

Educational Nuclear Reactor Simulator, Kevin Jeunang, Koueni Tchamambe, Mutasem Albulushi, Malcolm Breckenridge

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The VCU Reactor Simulator provides a solid technical and visual approach to simulating a commercial pressurized water nuclear power plant. The simulator provides several benefits for VCU including: a hands on learning instrument that can be used in nuclear engineering courses, an opportunity for students to gain experience in nuclear modeling and simulation, and a community outreach tool to expand the public’s knowledge of nuclear technology.

In the six years since its inception, the only prior major modification to the simulator was the replacement of in-house written LabVIEW coding as the calculation engine with the RETRAN- 3D code, a program …

Next Generation Diapers: Increasing Elastic Laminate Toughness, Taylor Atkinson, Dana Klein, Palmer Matthew, Austin Pleconis

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Disposable diapers are prone to accidental damage during use, since a caregiver may accidentally rip or puncture the elastic material. To reduce the incidence of material failure, the toughness of the apertured elastic trilaminate body paneling material needs to be improved without reducing the elasticity, breathability, and material cost. A “tougher” material was defined as a material with greater tensile strength and puncture resistance than standard, commercial product. The design team took a two-pronged approach to this problem. First, experiments were designed to quantify the effects of altering the die temperature, the resin blend, the cross directional stretch activation depth, …

Engineering News, Winter 2016, School Of Engineering

Engineering News

No abstract provided.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle For Vertically Profiling Ultrafine Particle Distribution, Ahmed Almutawa, Ola Saadeh, Mudaher Alkhawajah, Grant Carey

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Recent epidemiologic studies show that ultrafine particles (UFPs) may play a definitive role in development of pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases, as well as cancer related mortality. In order to support the growing interest in understanding the effects of UFPs on human health, Dr. Chen has developed a miniaturized electronic ultrafine particle sizing device, or mini-eUPS. This device utilizes many of the functions of equipment currently used in laboratory environments to test and measure UFP levels in aerosols, but has been miniaturized to maximize mobility and ease of use. The small size and weight of the device allow a unique ability …

Transparent Furnace For Observing Electrochemical Separation Of Used Nuclear Fuel, Hoor Almazmi, Abbie Dewitte, Kelli Mckenna, Svetlana Ruseva

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Electrochemical separation of used nuclear fuel (UNF) operating at 500°C is confined within a furnace, making it difficult for a visual observation. Thus, flow characteristic predictions from the furnace are often calculated through advanced computational modeling methods. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an innovative idea, combining mechanical and chemical skill sets to design and build a transparent furnace that provides a clear visualization that can later be coupled with an optical flow-visualization method, such as Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA). Deliverables of the project include the complete design and illustration of the prototype operating up to 500°C. Challenges of the …

Electromechanical Robotic Platform For Patient Motion Management In Radiotherapy, Thomas Dwyer, Ross Cruikshank, Daniel Martinez, Melvin Rosario

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Head and neck cancer is often treated with radiation therapy. During this treatment, patient movement causes healthy cells to receive excessive radiological dose. We have designed an electromechanical robotic platform that enables compensation of patient movement during treatment. This project includes analysis of materials and motion of the system, design of the control system and model, and the functional prototype. The design of the robotic platform will be compatible with pre-existing head and mouth harnesses in order to keep a patient’s head steady while the patient’s headrest in motion. For radiotherapy, this system requires radio-compatible materials. Through the use of …

Continuously Expanding Mandrel, Cory Bleistein, Dylan Dawson, Anton Rabinky, Marshall Smith

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The purpose of this project was to develop a better, safer, more efficient system for Sealeze to manufacture spiral-wrapped strip brushes in a continuous fashion at a variable diameter. The end results produced a finalized drawing sheet for machining and production, numerous design variations within CAD drawings, and extensive mechanical evaluations and analyses proving the strength and capabilities of the proposed design. In production of these brushes, various different materials will be used for the core, backing, and filament, creating a need for a mandrel that will be strong enough to handle the most resiliant of materials while maintaining a …

Flow-Differential Pressure Test Rig, Stuart Jennings, David Keegan, Juan Ramonet, Nicholas Upton

Capstone Design Expo Posters

provider of filters for critical applications in various industries, Porvair Filtration Group often needs to validate the pressure drop across a given filter medium at various flow rates and to perform quality assurance prior to delivery. The Flow-Differential Pressure Test Apparatus will allow for a test cycle with significant savings in time and money for Porvair going forward.

The design uses high-purity deionized water as the test fluid and performs continual filtration to ensure consistent properties. Flow rates of 0-100 gallons per minute at pressures up to 100 psi gauge are achieved by controlling a pump with i) a variable-frequency …

People Counting In Open Spaces, Nick Reuter, Taylor Roberts, Chris Thomas

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The need addressed in this project is to accurately keep track of individuals in Richmond parks, and provide real-time actionable data for analysis and response. To do this, Satellite systems take pictures, perform object detection and send data to the Central Controller. Central Controller performs accuracy analysis and records end result. It also sends client commands to the satellite systems. Remote client gathers data from the central controller, and allows the user to change satellite system’s operation modes.

There were several constraints associated with the project 1) Supplied Power 2) Privacy protection 3) Number of satellite units (cost) 4) People …

Automatic Sorting Machine Using A Programmable Logic Controller, Tim Parker, Justin Webber, Josh Kirkham

Capstone Design Expo Posters

This project is designed to demonstrate the uses of programmable logic controllers (PLC’s). The end result of this project will be used to generate interest in VCU’s Industrial Controls classes with prospective students as well as employers. The project involves building a working demonstration showing how PLC’s are used to control manufacturing systems. This system will be mobile and able to be used in different locations including the PLC lab, where students in the Industrial Controls class can also use it to test their knowledge of PLC programming. The system consists of a conveyor belt and sensors that sorts different …

Rfid Based Navigation, Mengyu Bai, Andrew Sainz, So Kim

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) based Navigation System is built and designed to allow both commercial and recreational drivers to know and monitor traffic patterns while on the road. By using the RFID based Navigation System, drivers will receive real time data to aid navigation which is a major benefit especially in an emergency situation. Further studies of the RFID technology will potentially open doors to the development of autonomous vehicles. The RFID based Navigation application is available for Android devices, and it presents drivers with real time, current data to aid navigation across a terrain in the shortest possible …

Swummary: Self-Documenting Code, Keith Herbert, John Goldhamer, Dylan Ilvento

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Using Natural Language Summaries of Program Elements to Improve Code Search

There are countless people that are intimidated by reading computer programs, potentially driving away future engineers. Even current software developers, when moving from project to project, face downtime due to acclimating themselves with a new, poorly commented code base. Our project, which we call Swummary, strives to eliminate these problems by providing succinct natural language summaries of source code.

We were tasked with developing a functioning prototype of a natural language source code summarizer, based on the frameworks SrcML and Software Word Usage Model (SWUM), as well as the …

Hybrid Call Center: Amc Technology Llc, Tejas Trivedi, Joshua Stephens, Daniel Kim

Capstone Design Expo Posters

AMC Technology wanted to add voice over IP (VoIP) functionality to Salesforce.com (Customer Relationship Management system). As it is currently, Salesforce.com does not have voice functionality, in that you cannot place or receive calls using Salesforce. Adding voice functionality to Salesforce is incredibly useful because it eliminates the need for hardware phones and allows for a more modern and efficient approach to calling for companies that have/rely upon call centers, such as customers of AMC Technology whose products connect CTIs (Computer Telephony Interface) and CRMs. We used a voice service called Twilio to provide functionality with Salesforce. AMC Technology wanted …

Capital One Mobile Authentication: Authentication Using Biometric, Anh Dang, Hunter Miller, Matthew Mosca

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Capital One, a large US bank, is currently providing customers with a mobile servicing experience. One of the features of the mobile servicing app is easy and convenient access to account information. Capital One currently allows users to authenticate using a traditional username / password, their registered SureSwipe feature and even their finger on supported devices. The project's goal is to evaluate the viability of retinal recognition as a new method for biometric authentication.

By successfully developing this project, the application could offer retinal recognition as an additional biometric authentication option to customers. This can be used to help eliminate …

Phosphate And Selective Anion Removal Of Waste Water In Industrial Systems, Daniel Dillon, Campbell Mccolley, Laura Strukl

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Phosphorous is an essential nutrient for a functioning water ecosystem, however, heightened levels caused by waste water and agriculture can be damaging. High levels of PO43- cause toxic algae blooms, which kill wildlife and contaminate drinking water supplies. Therefore, cheap, efficient phosphate removal systems are beneficial for commercial settings in order to meet governmental standards. Similar research and technology can aid in the removal of toxic heavy metals in industrial waste water. Using a packed column with solid supported media, both phosphate and other selective anions were successfully removed from water. This was confirmed by inductively coupled plasma analysis. Constraints …

Low Cost Sterilization, Karima Abutaleb, Mahreen Azam, Eric Lara, Sarah Tracy

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The lack of proper surgical tool sterilization is an increasing issue in developing countries. Inadequate sterilization leads to disease transmission, infection and even death. While autoclaves, the current golden standard for sterilization, are effective, they are often rendered useless after breaking as the cost to repair and maintain them is incredibly high. This leads to the dependence on insufficient techniques such as the use of diluted bleach. Diluted bleach, while effective for disinfection, leads to the destruction of surgical tools over time, does not destroy spores, and is unsustainable, as it loses potency over time which leads to its otherwiseunnecessary …

Improved Device For Passive Foot Dorsiflexion For Prevention Of Dvt, Stephen Vinoba, Nigal Shah, Shreya Vatsala, Jawahar Baddula

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Postoperative patients are often too fatigued to walk around and often lay in bed for extended periods of time. This could lead to the development of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). DVT is a condition where blood accumulates in the veins instead of being pushed back to the heart. This can cause the formation of blood clots that can eventually lead to pulmonary embolism resulting in death. DVT is a condition that affects about 900,000 people in the United States. Since it is such a prevalent condition, it is important to develop methods of prevention for this condition.

The aim of …

Remote Control Aircraft, Thomas Gutema, Catherine Jones, Judy Liang, Kendall Moore

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The purpose of the RC aircraft design was not to address a problem that has not been solved, but to redesign an aircraft with the intent to understand the practical applications of the building process. Our approach to completing this project involved two phases; the planning phase and the building phase. In the planning phase, we made selections for the airfoil, wing, fuselage, tail, elevators, and ailerons. These choices were made using aeronautical engineering concepts and theory. For the building phase, we focused on materials selection, fabrication, and testing.

During our design process, a lot of time went to choosing …