Engineering Commons^™

Universal Weight Machine, Oscar Andrade, Bibiana Koch, Robert Molloy, Haley Rentfro, Emily Woods

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this project is to design and build an inexpensive, universally accessible multi-station exercise machine for the physical and mental well-being of athletes of the Special Olympics and Pathpoint Life Education & Advancement Program. The machine has three sides tiered to higher resistance: the first station offers a minimal resistance aerobic exercise focused on moving the arms with an ergometer, the second station provides numerous locations to latch on resistance bands that will build strength in the athlete’s arms and chest, and the final station has a donated weight machine that offers lat pulldowns and flys with maximum …

Low-Cost Prosthetic Transfemoral Socket, Emelie Deans, Joshua Ledgerwood, Leah Moore, Shaina Jung, Kristen Temnyk

Mechanical Engineering

The goal of this senior project was to design and fabricate a low-cost adjustable prosthetic socket for above the knee amputees. This low-cost consideration was incorporated with the original intent to be used in Fiji, however, this changed to the Dominican Republic. It became clear that the need for an adjustable socket was more as a transitional socket. This transitional socket would be used for the first 6 -12 months upon amputation because this when the most amount of volume fluctuation occurs. The project sponsor, LIM Innovations, has already designed the Infinite Socket which contains four main functioning parts: baseplate, …

Automated Pintail Machine, Stephen Etheredge, Andrew Evans, Michael Fernicola

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Wind Tunnel Wheel Balance, Brady Hiob, Ryan Hamamura, Samuel Fleet

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Me 350 Air Conditioning Experiment, Joshua Baida, Ellie Hallner, Tyler Eschenbach

Mechanical Engineering

In keeping with Cal Poly's focus on physically applying the concepts learned in the classroom, our team of engineering students has compiled a laboratory experiment displaying the basic thermodynamic cycle found in air conditioning systems. This vapor compression cycle is displayed on a visualization board that features all four major components of the system: the compressor, the evaporator, the condenser, and the throttling valve. Students will take measurements of temperature and pressure at each stage in the cycle and also gauge the power draw from the compressor to gain an understanding of how performance and electricity cost come into play …

Micro Debris Generator, Gordan Bradaric, Ross Byers, Stephen Quanci

Mechanical Engineering

This senior project team at Cal Poly consisting of Stephen Quanci, Gordan Bradaric, and Ross Byers has been commissioned by Erik Brown of Lawrence Livermore National Labs to create a way to reliably and consistently entrain microscopic particles into the hot HTTU flow. These particles will be used to compare the loading rates of new HEPA filters by measuring the pressure drop across the filter. The generated particles would simulate typical conditions in which these HEPA filters are expected to operate, namely fine ash. The particles used for loading the filter are intended to simulate the particulate reaching the LLNL …

Modification Of Offset Hip Impactor, Anton Gebert, Michael Rumery, Mark Sidor

Mechanical Engineering

More than 300,000 total hip replacement surgeries are performed in the US each year. Minimally invasive total hip replacement surgery requires modified tools to access the smaller incision. An offset hip impactor was redesigned to improve tool lifetime, ease of use, and manufacturing cost. The redesigned tool had an increased lifetime and a significant reduction in the number of parts. The report contains detail drawings, a manufacturing plan, and physical testing results.

Prosthetic Socket Cooling System, Benjamin K. Kraw, Kathy Ha, Derek Piastrelli, Cuong Lai

Mechanical Engineering

A team of four senior-level undergraduate students in the Interdisciplinary Senior Project Design course in the Engineering Department of California Polytechnic State University: San Luis Obispo have worked to develop a prosthetic socket cooling system, namely for veteran Taylor Morris and exclusively for a transfemoral prosthetic socket, under the Quality of Life+ Laboratory. This cooling system will utilize the thermoelectric effect known as the Peltier effect to transmit heat generated from the residual limb to the surrounding environment by means of forced convection over small aluminum heat sinks. Two measurement devices have also been developed to, one, measure the heat …

Electromagnetic Motion And Tracking Peripherally Inserted Central Venous Catheter (Emmt Picc), Colton Aliff, Christopher Rini, Eunice Santiago, Victoria Spencer

Mechanical Engineering

The complete senior project report was submitted to the project advisor and sponsor. The results of this project are of a confidential nature and will not be published at this time.

Automated Bearing Press, David Baker, David Brock, Engelbert Diec

Mechanical Engineering

Our group was presented with a challenge to design an automated machine to replace Micro-Vu’s current manual pressing operation. We moved, planned, and scheduled our tasks for the three quarters we will be working on this project by using a Gantt chart. In designing the machine, we generated concepts and used analysis and prototyping to select the most promising ones. Our final design uses a pneumatic press to press the parts, and it includes magazines to hold the parts before pressing, pneumatic actuators to move the parts to and from the pressing location, and a lever to separate the defective …

Putter Measurement System, Bryan A.L. Hofferd, Yuzo Makitani, Jacob Phillips, Eric Stubben

Mechanical Engineering

This project is provided and funded by Callaway Golf Company for the Mechanical Engineering Department as a capstone project, also known as the Senior Project series: ME 428, 429, and 430. The title of the project proposal is "Putter Measurement System" in which our team must design, build, and test a system that meets the proposed objectives as stated by Callaway Golf. The need arises from the current systems’ inability to provide detailed and consistent measurements without tedious setup and calibration.

Compliant Air Skates, An Experiment, Samuel Feldtkeller, Cody Anderson, Kevin Daily, Eliana Stefani

Mechanical Engineering

There is currently a gap in the market of train levitation systems: wheeled trains and MagLev trains exist, but none utilize the low friction and high efficiency aspect of trains levitated by air skates. An air skate, is an air bearing that uses a pressure difference along its annular body to create a thin flow of air which is strong enough to "levitate" the weight of the skate. We have designed a compliant air skate that can glide over 0.04[in] defects in surfaces without touching down. After having made compliant skirts out of fiberglass and silicone, our setup of three …

What Time Is It? Deep Learning Approaches For Circadian Rhythms, Forest Agostinelli, Nicholas Ceglia, Babak Shahbaba, Paolo Sassone-Corsi, Pierre Baldi

Faculty Publications

Motivation: Circadian rhythms date back to the origins of life, are found in virtually every species and every cell, and play fundamental roles in functions ranging from metabolism to cognition. Modern high-throughput technologies allow the measurement of concentrations of transcripts, metabolites and other species along the circadian cycle creating novel computational challenges and opportunities, including the problems of inferring whether a given species oscillate in circadian fashion or not, and inferring the time at which a set of measurements was taken.

Results: We first curate several large synthetic and biological time series datasets containing labels for both periodic and aperiodic …

Testing Feasibility Of Inductive Power Coupling For Modern Applications, Andrew Burman

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This project takes two bifilar tesla coils and uses them to find a % efficiency of power transfer as distances between the coils decrease. The reason this experiment is being conducted is to find possible implications for wireless charging of vehicles using similar style coils. This project conducted experiments on 60 Hz, 400 Hz, and 1 kHz frequencies for a small input signal. The general conclusion is that as the frequency increases more power can be transferred and higher efficiency of power transfer is seen. This project also concluded that it could be possible to get higher efficiency at a …

Design And Construction Of A Motorcycle Drum To Disc Brake Conversion, Matthew Pekin

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This senior project discusses the design and construction of a motorcycle drum to disc brake conversion. The conversion involved creating a custom caliper mount and machining wheel spacers.

Design Of A Drip Irrigation System For 80 Acres Of Almonds In Arbuckle, California, Alexander E. Marsh

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This senior project discusses the detailed steps and calculations involved with the design of a dual line buried drip irrigation system. The system is specifically for an 80 acre orchard of almonds in Arbuckle, California. The new design distribution uniformity of the design in 0.92.

Design And Testing Of An Autonomous Ground Robot For Agricultural Applications, Lukas L. Hannemann

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This senior project discusses the design and testing of an autonomous ground robot for agricultural applications such as strawberries. The vehicle will feature a robotic arm that will be programmed to perform various tasks, such as collecting soil and leaf samples of the crop or measuring soil moisture and salinity. Various components were chosen to be implemented on the vehicle due its power requirements and operating environment. Finite Element Analysis testing was done on the frame of the vehicle to ensure the adequacy of the design.

Design, Construction, And Evaluation Of A Gas Forge, Spencer M. Davis

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This report covers the design, construction, and evaluation of a propane forge. The purpose for building this propane forge was to replace an old charcoal forge in order to improve upon certain points of performance such as adjustability of heat, portability, and fuel cost by being able to run the forge for any amount of time with an easy on/off control. The design of this forge consisted of a steel pipe body insulated with ceramic fiber blanket, and was heated by a single atmospheric burner.

A Low Cost Timing Generation Unit, Christopher Vochoska

Computer Engineering

No abstract provided.

Roborodentia Robot: Tektronix, Sean Yap

Computer Engineering

Tektronix is a robot created to compete in the 2016 Roborodentia Competition. This report details the full function and implementation of the robot.

Pinpoint: Location Beacon And Tracking, Ezequiel Lopez Iii

Computer Engineering

The purpose of Pinpoint was to create a device that can collect and transmit location information for multiple users on a wireless network. The device would be used to keep track of and communicate with other users nearby. The final design includes a touchscreen display as a graphical user interface (GUI), an XBee RF module for wireless networking, a GPS receiver for location tracking, and a Programmable System on a Chip (PSoC) to control the modules.

Northrop Grumman Collaboration Project, Jose Leopoldo Roman Lujano

Computer Engineering

No abstract provided.

Roborodentia 2016: Scorpion, Tyler Whalen

Computer Engineering

This report showcases my entry into the Roborodentia 2016 competition, and my senior project. I chose this project because robotics has always interested me, and this was a great opportunity to jump in headfirst.

I will step through my design decisions and detail all information necessary for replicating this build.

Design And Implementation Of A Three Dimensional Printer Using A Cylindrical Printing Process, Brandon Hoy

Electrical Engineering

Many 3D printers utilize a Cartesian (XYZ) printing process. Implementing a polar coordinate printer providing a faster printing method and introduces new printing algorithms, increasing printing efficiency. This cylindrical 3D printer applies a circular-moving baseplate and a heating printer head (extruder) moving radially and vertically. A processor accepts pre-processed polar data points and transpose the appropriate programmed printing commands to the motors units. The extruder also has a control loop, keeping the temperature inside the desired range. This prototype prints using polylactic acid (PLA) filament. Additionally, a display screen updates every second the: printing time, extruder temperature, and status notifications.

Rapid Battery Exchange (Rbx), Daniel Rostom

Electrical Engineering

Electric vehicles have begun to hit the main stream market, with sales raising form under 20,000 in 2001 to over 110,000 per year since 2014 [1]. With new models hitting the market every year, and more people becoming conscious about their fossil fuel usage, this trend will only continue until there are more electric vehicles than combustion vehicles on the road. A major drawback of electric vehicles is their limited range, and relatively long recharge times. Even with advancements in battery charging speed, such as the Tesla super charger, able to provide up to 90 miles of range in just …

Automatic Water Pump Controller, Alam D. Salguero, Kyle Russell Marquez Weeks

Electrical Engineering

In countries including Indonesia, Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador, a city water authority supplies the clean water and pumps it into large ground-level storage tanks. A resident’s water pump then pumps the water to a water tank on top of his/her house. When the water level in the ground-level storage tank becomes too low, the pump siphons air and shuts down, requiring a resident to manually prime the water pump to get it running again. Residents struggle to monitor the water level of the tanks effectively and keep the pump running properly. To remedy the issue, the Automatic Water Pump …

Active Charge Balancing For Cardiac Stimulation, Maci Miri

Electrical Engineering

Worldwide, there are about 3 million people who have pacemakers, with 10,000 new implantations of ICD’s each month. [heart.org] Due to the gravity and importance of the function that ICD’s provide, these devices must be extremely reliable and highly effective. However, because of the high tolerances of IC manufacturing, stimulation circuits for pacemakers may be slightly unmatched and over time, may have a net DC charge applied to the tissues in the heart. Extra charge pumped into body tissues is dangerous for the patient’s health; the pH of the tissue can be raised and corrosion of the stimulating electrodes may …

A Stroke Therapy Brace Design, Evan Kirkbride

Electrical Engineering

Victims of stroke often have difficulty with rehabilitation. With limited movement on their affected arm, patients often do not want to move much for physical therapy. In this project, we design a robotic brace that helps stroke patients move their arm more effectively in a reaching or pulling motion. By giving patients more movement in their affected arm than they would have otherwise, patients gain more from rehabilitation. The brace also adapts to the patient’s needs, providing more inclination or resistance as needed for their physical therapy. This kind of therapy engages patients rather than relying on their likely dwindled …

Car Safe, David Van Workum

Electrical Engineering

The Car Safe project helps protect parents and caretakers from the dangers associated with leaving children in hot vehicles. The device supports parents through notifying them of the child’s wellbeing and status while within an automobile. Specifically, the device monitors the child’s ergonomic experience and the spatial proximity between the caretaker and child. Car Safe utilizes this information and determines if the child finds himself in a dangerous environment. Due to its compact design, the device functions independently of a specific car seat design, allowing customers to integrate Car Safe in the car seat environment of their choosing.

Analog Vlsi Circuit Design: Linear Voltage Regulator, Brett Colteaux, Kirstie Fung

Electrical Engineering

The project outlined in this report is the design, layout, and routing of a linear voltage regulator using Cadence VLSI (very-large-scale integration) software. The design specifications for this regulator are as follows: input voltage range of 5V + 1V, load current capabilities of 150mA, and output voltage range of 1.15V to 3.3V. Furthermore, the design of this circuit was broken into three main sub-circuits: an error amplifier, bandgap reference circuitry, and biasing circuitry for the bandgap. Together, these sub-circuits integrated to make the final design.

Research for different topologies for a voltage regulator was done and the Brokaw bandgap reference …