Engineering Commons^™

Impact Force Helmet Device For Concussion Monitoring, Patrice Mulligan, Karina Mealey, Zack Borthwick, Benjamin Fick

General Engineering

To track head trauma in football, our device is placed inside a football helmet to measure both linear and gyroscopic (rotational) accelerations. These measurements are taken using an ADXL375 linear accelerometer and an LSM6DSOX accelerometer and gyroscope. The data from these sensors is processed and transmitted wirelessly by a SparkFun Thing Plus microcontroller to another SparkFun Thing Plus microcontroller connected to a laptop on the sidelines. Our program on the laptop stores the acceleration impact data into a .csv file for each player. If a likely concussive impact is detected, the program displays a popup warning. Testing results were promising …

Smart Manufacturing For Cal Poly's Ime Curriculum, Grace L. Guarraia, Eric F. Ledesma

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) takes pride of supporting one of the nation’s strongest undergraduate Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering programs. However, as industry evolves to accommodate advancing computing power, improved manufacturing algorithms, and improved robotics, it is imperative that Cal Poly’s curriculum evolves in parallel. Smart manufacturing is the future of the manufacturing industry, and Cal Poly is searching for the ideal method to teach and integrate Smart Manufacturing into its classes. With its upcoming switch to the semester system, coupled with its “Learn by Doing” motto, the department is at an ideal period for the …

Two-Story Dod Office Building, Jacob Ost

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This report is a comprehensive analysis of the fire protection and life safety components for an administrative office building designed for the Department of Defense. The owner of the facility has requested that all identifying information, including name and location, not be included in this report and has since been removed from the documents.

The building was designed in 2019 and is currently under construction. The building is two stories with a total area of approximately 125,000 square feet. The building is primarily used as office space for administrative personnel and consists of open and single-user office space, conference rooms, …

Student Center Building, Mark Slonina

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

The new Student Center (SC) is planned as a 140,000 GSF four (4) story building with a basement. The program for the building includes classrooms, an auditorium, fabrication & assembly, glass blowing, student organizations that build & test vehicles, meeting rooms, demonstration kitchen, café, retail, and a lounge. An exterior courtyard is planned on Level 2 which allows for outdoor assembly spaces.

This report identifies major code requirements for means of egress, structural fire protection, fire suppression, and fire alarm systems. The report also identifies the major fuel loads in the building. A performance-based assessment is provided for roof construction …

Rover On A Chip (Roach) Debris Utility & Solar Shell Technology (Dusst), Joshua Aaron Tuttobene, Jacquelyn Rose Banh, Nathan Christopher Chapman, Tanner Casey Wells

Mechanical Engineering

The Rover on A Chip project’s Debris Utility and Solar Shell Technology team’s final design is outlined in this document. Starting with the design of our system, this document highlights important progress made since the Critical Design Review and fully describes our final design and verification of our final prototype. We then justify these design choices by testing multiple functionalities and conditions to ensure they will meet all of our specifications. Next, we describe in detail our procurement manufacturing method for the project. Lastly, we wrap up by discussing recommendations and the next steps for the project moving forward.

Since …

3d-Printed Remote Controlled Aircraft, Sebastian Bessoudo, Jose Ramirez, Manny Ruiz, Andrew Edwards

Mechanical Engineering

The Senior Project for the 3D Printed Aircraft presents a compelling challenge to the team: design and fabricate an aircraft for the Cal State LA 3D-Printed Fixed-Wing Aircraft Competition, comprising three distinct events: Flight, Design, and Simulation. The objective of the flight competition is to achieve the longest flight duration, while the design event emphasizes innovation and originality. In the Simulation contest, our aircraft's CAD model undergoes Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis to assess its aerodynamic performance. These competitions are slated for May 2024.

While building the aircraft has its limitations due to the source of our construction being only 3D …

Snap It & Send It, Samantha Gonzales, Brienne Berger, Kelsea Clays, Jessica Schmok

Mechanical Engineering

This report details the final design, manufacturing and assembly, testing procedures and results, as well as future design recommendations of a device aimed at enhancing the mountain biking experience for individuals with limited thumb strength. This project particularly focused on the experience of our sponsor, Cal Poly Mechanical Engineering Professor Andrew Kean. Our team's objective was to create a secure, ergonomic handlebar grip system that does not require thumb strength and is adaptable to various mountain bike models. The final design utilizes a rigid hook that snaps onto mountain bike handlebars with a long, flat piece that slides into a …

Automated Expanding Fireplace, Fermin Moreno, Eduardo Hernandez, Wilbert Quiterio, Ben Hoefer

Mechanical Engineering

The Final Design Review (FDR) encompasses information regarding the final design verification prototype (FVP), manufacturing, testing, and future recommendations for the Expanding Fireplace Senior Project sponsored by the SLO Civic Ballet. The project aims to create the frame of an expanding fireplace set piece for The Nutcracker production at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center in December 2024. The current set piece being used has unfavorable features that will be addressed with the new design. The current set piece being used has unfavorable features that have been addressed with the new design we have developed. Our sponsors have proposed several …

Miniature Train Engine, Jason Patrick Lacson Del Castillo, Renato Andrew Dilauro, Sophia Theresa Tiu, Robert John Pallares Iii

Mechanical Engineering

This report details the redesign of the Mini Train Prop for the SLO Civic Ballet’s The Nutcracker, aiming to create a lighter, more user-friendly, and easily maneuverable train. The Final Design Review (FDR) includes the design process, manufacturing plan, and justifications for decisions made. Key improvements are reducing the train's weight, automating the fake wheels, and enhancing maneuverability with a neutral pin and lever system. In this report we detail the significant changes since the Critical Design Review (CDR). The implementation covers procurement, manufacturing, and assembly, while design verification ensures compliance with cost, weight, turn radius, and structural integrity specifications. …

Facility Thermal Balance And Transport, Giovanni V. Minnite, Silas O R Goldfarb, Cole J. Houston, Dominique Aguilera, Cole M. Silva

Mechanical Engineering

This Final Design Review (FDR) report outlines the senior design project completed by a team of five mechanical engineering students at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo for Senior Industrial Engineer, Mr. Tom Bass, of Entegris, Inc. The team developed an innovative system to address the issue of ice accumulation on cryogenic vaporizers at the Entegris facility. Ice buildup, caused by the extremely low temperatures of the cryogenic fluid, reduces the efficiency of vaporizers and places additional stress on the system. To combat this, the team designed and constructed a prototype that utilizes a thermal transport loop to transfer …

F21 - Variable Damper, Harrison Pomerantz, Anthony Mendoza, Owen Wilks

Mechanical Engineering

This document outlines the final design phase for the Solar Turbines Variable Damper project, aiming to enhance the safety and serviceability of gas turbines enclosure ventilation system. The primary focus of this project is to address the challenge of maintaining optimal internal pressure within the gas generator enclosures while enabling remote control of the damper position.

In this report, the full system design is described in detail. Then, the part procurement, manufacturing, and assembly of the variable damper and test stand is provided to outline the steps and processes taken to complete the final prototype. After discussing the final prototype, …

Smart Cushion Device For Elderly Aging In Place, Anna Dion, Nate Colley, Leonardo Bravo

Biomedical Engineering

Our task at hand is to develop a consumer-focused solution for improving elder care to provide additional peace of mind for seniors and caregivers using technology to extend independent living. We intend to create a device that will improve the quality of life of elderly individuals living alone by encouraging periodical movement throughout the day, along with monitoring pressure distribution and alerting when pressure concentration is potentially harmful. It will also alert users to the presence of moisture which can arise from spills or incontinence. The key stakeholders of this project include elderly adults over the age of 65 who …

Masonry Column Analysis Through Python, Ali Sherief Saleh

Architectural Engineering

This project serves as a study of Masonry Column Analysis and Design through the lens of the TMS 402 (22) Code: mimicking in-firm tools without using finite-element analysis. Chapter 9 of the TMS 402 (22) code provides the outline of the process taken to analyze these columns.

Investigation compares columns using the Python program to hand-calculations designs as to show additional capability that is lost due to approximation. PM-interaction for the columns is computed by a stress-strain approach. This report expands on the python design and approach to User Interface and inputs that are needed to analyze multiple datatypes with …

Development Of A Sms Rollout Plan And Evaluation, Gabriel Dadi, Hala Nassereddine, Farshid Taherpour, Salena Pham

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Many state transportation agencies have introduced safety management systems (SMSs) to improve employee safety and health programs. These systems let employees quickly access safety and health policies, procedures, training, responsibilities, resources, and incident reporting tools, often electronically. Instituting a SMS is a critical step in adopting a proactive, data-driven approach to organizational safety. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary’s Office of Safety (SOS) worked with Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) to acquire, adapt, and rollout the Boosting Occupational Outcomes in Transportation Safety (BOOTS) system, a new SMS. Researchers assisted KYTC by conducting pre-rollout focus groups, helping to bring the system online, providing …

High-Power Microwave Antenna Design, Luke C. Chase

Electrical Engineering

High-power microwave antennas are essential for defense industry radar systems, cyber warfare, and power transmission. The US Department of Defense a SBIR proposal specifying the need for a high-power phased-array microwave antenna for the US Air Force.

Vivaldi antennas, invented in 1978 by Peter Gibson, have been widely adopted for radar applications due to their high bandwidth and gain performance. Considerable amounts of research exists on designing Vivaldis for different applications ranging from radar to communications. Using antenna theory and past research, a new Vivaldi antenna was designed to meet the requirements mandated by the DoD research contract.

This project …

Exploration Of Software Defined Radios To Increase Capabilities Of Affordable Mesh Networks, Liam K. Mccarthy

Electrical Engineering

Project OWL is developing a LoRa mesh network “DuckLinks” for emergency communications, and the current LoRa protocol the Clusterduck Protocol is based on is severely limited in data rate. OWL plans to use Raspberry Pi computers to develop the next phase of Duck radios, which greatly opens the computing potential and flexibility of the system the Ducks run on. Using LimeSDR and GNU Radio, an open source SDR programming environment, this project seeks to develop a simple SDR-based packet transmission system that allows for communication with Duck radios as well as the use of a different modulation scheme for higher …

Motor Controller Board For Cubesat Reaction Wheels, Tanner Ehlers

Electrical Engineering

Reaction wheels are crucial for CubeSats, providing precise attitude control and stability in the environment of space, enabling successful mission execution. The ‘Reaction Wheels’ project in the Cal Poly CubeSat Lab is in need of a new motor controller board due to the current board’s malfunction and inefficiencies in terms of size, complexity, power usage, and cost. Previously, other students have completed work on the mechanical design of the system, but little work has been done for the electrical components. The goal of this project is to design and test a new motor controller board that is compact, lightweight, power …

Prosthetic Forearm Controller, Claire Tylutki, Kevin Lopatka, Sofia Zaletel, Hardit Singh

Electrical Engineering

The EMG controlled prosthetic arm project represents a significant advancement in upper limb prosthetics, leveraging cutting-edge technology to address critical user needs. With over two million individuals in the United States living with limb loss, a substantial portion being upper limb amputees, the demand for accessible and functional prosthetic solutions is pressing. This project focuses largely on refining prosthetic limb control through the integration of electromyography (EMG) signal processing and control. Using surface electrodes, this project employs non-invasive means of data collection combined with modern digital signal processing methods to implement faster and more accurate control. The control system also …

Battery Energy Storage System, Alec C. Maclean, Kaylen H. Schwartz, Kyle A. Begley

Electrical Engineering

The project is a continuation of part 1 of the “Reliability Measurement for Grid-Connected Solar System” project. The goal is to continue where the previous design failed. This project will configure an ITECH IT-6000C and Tabuchi Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to the small-scale microgrid at the Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo EE Department. Initially, a system was designed to connect an ITECH IT-M3633 as a PV solar source emulator to the Tabuchi BESS within a grid-connected microgrid system in Room 20-102 at Cal Poly. A Photovoltaic Thevenin equivalent model was developed for the ITECH IT-M3633, but this setup failed …

Ross Dam Micro Hydro Project, Marirose Evenden, Tyler Reents, Elena Ryan, Tevan Kim

Mechanical Engineering

The Ross Dam and reservoir in Angels Camp needs a reliable power source for powering its SCADA system which monitors its water level and flow rate. Currently, the existing hydro power supply is very unreliable and needs to be replaced with a micro hydro generator system that can consistently produce power to charge the onsite batteries. This paper details the design and implementation of a micro hydro Pelton wheel replacement system designed by our senior project team.

Outlined in this report is our design overview of the system and how our project will redesign and optimize the use of the …

Hatt-Flow: Hierarchical Attention-Flow Mechanism For Group-Activity Scene Graph Generation In Videos, Naga Venkata Sai Raviteja Chappa, Pha Nguyen, Thi Hoang Ngan Le, Page Daniel Dobbs, Khoa Luu

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Group-activity scene graph (GASG) generation is a challenging task in computer vision, aiming to anticipate and describe relationships between subjects and objects in video sequences. Traditional video scene graph generation (VidSGG) methods focus on retrospective analysis, limiting their predictive capabilities. To enrich the scene-understanding capabilities, we introduced a GASG dataset extending the JRDB dataset with nuanced annotations involving appearance, interaction, position, relationship, and situation attributes. This work also introduces an innovative approach, a Hierarchical Attention–Flow (HAtt-Flow) mechanism, rooted in flow network theory to enhance GASG performance. Flow–attention incorporates flow conservation principles, fostering competition …

Coordinated Controls Of Residential Ev Chargers Considering High Power Appliances, Steven B. Poore, Rosemary E. Alden, Dan M. Ionel

Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Research

In addition to electric vehicle (EV) adoption, the electricity demand of the modern grid is also under change from the replacement of resistive electric water heaters (EWHs) with high-efficiency heat pump electric water heaters (HPWH). Typical load of a HPWH has two parts: a low power compressor and a backup high power resistive boosting element. Within this paper, residential load from a large field demonstration for over one thousand homes is simulated in virtual power plant (VPP) operation with realistic HPWH and EV synthetic modules based on big data from the latest CBECC-Res and National Household Travel Survey (NHTS). Simultaneous …

Remote Profiling Of Atmospheric Turbulence: Enhanced Resolution With Stacked Rayleigh Beacons In Tardis, Benjamin C. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

A stacked beacon turbulence profiling methodology has been introduced and applied to have increased profiling on the Turbulence and Aerosol Research and Investigation System (TARDIS). The model was derived and demonstrated the applicability through discussion on data processing and inversion processes. The methodology was applied for two different nighttime experiments, one in Summer and one in Fall. C 2 n profiles were derived into the 1300 m altitude ranges for both nights and the summer experiment was compared to a co-located DELTA Sky measurements and LEEDR generated Climatological profiles. The comparison implied promise in the methodology with additional work needed …

Disposal And Earth-Moon Escape From Cislunar Orbits Using Non-Linear Programming Techniques, Sam T. Loeffler

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis involves theoretical and numerical analysis of trajectories off of cislunar orbits to determine the reachability and escape of various impulsive Δ^→v. The research will propagate trajectories using three body dynamics from various orbit families around the Earth-Moon Lagrange points and find low energy transfers that escape the Earth-Moon system. In order to achieve this, various different nonlinear programming solvers in MATLAB will be used to explore low energy impulsive escape transfers from common cislunar orbit families given long periods of computation time. After many points on cislunar orbits are analyzed, the data will be analyzed to …

Impact Of Operational Ladar Occlusions On Point Cloud Instance Segmentation, Andrew D. Gibson

Theses and Dissertations

Data exploitation techniques are the enabler for technological advancements in military ISR applications of ladar ISR. By identifying instances of military objects in observed scenes, point cloud deep learning models can unlock new standards of real-time information delivery to warfighters. Although current deep learning training datasets do not include real-world collection occlusions consistent with military applications, this research characterizes SPT model performance by adding occlusions to the DALESObjects dataset via artificial flyby simulations.We find that a baseline model trained on unoccluded data suffers performance degradation on both semantic and instance segmentation tasks when evaluated on occluded data, but that the …

Exporting Sysml Designs To Simulink, Drew Q. Broadbent

Theses and Dissertations

Various software systems have been developed to aid a systems engineer in evaluating system requirements, such as Dassault’s Magic System of Systems Architect (MSOSA) and MathWorks’ Simulink. Both software packages have different strengths; therefore, it is beneficial to export models from one software package to another. MSOSA provides a built-in tool that facilitates this transfer, built upon the Extension for Physical Interaction and Signal Flow Simulation (SysPhS) standard. However, the process is often unreliable and error prone and online documentation is largely lacking. This research used extensive trial and error to fill in the documentation gaps and create a method …

Valorization Of Spent Zn-C Battery And Construction And Demolition Waste (Cdw): Fabrication And Characterization Of Geopolymer Composites For Radiation Shielding Applications, Raul Florez, Carlos H. Castano Giraldo, Sandra M. Restrepo-Arcila, Henry A. Colorado

Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

There is a Serious Threat of Pollution Due to the High Waste of Energy and Materials Worldwide that Needs to Be Decreased. One Way is to Reduce Waste or Use Them in Secondary Processes. New Eco-Friendly Geopolymer Binders Were Fabricated using Metakaolin, CDW, and Battery Waste (BW) Powders as Starting Materials and a Mixture of Potassium Silicate and Sodium Hydroxide as Activation Solutions. 5 Formulations with BW Powder Replacements Ranging from 5 to 40 Wt% Were Prepared and Subjected to Heat Curing at 80 °C for 24 H. the Effect of Zn-C Battery Waste Content on the Phase Composition, Densification, …

Comparative Analysis Of Motors With Inner And Outer Reluctance Rotors And Pm Stators, Oluwaseun A. Badewa, Dan M. Ionel

Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Research

This paper presents a comparison of special outer and inner reluctance rotor motor topologies with permanent magnet (PM) stators having toroidal AC windings. A systematic approach is taken to study and discuss the design geometries, the respective impact on performance, and adoption of technological advancements such as stator-only cooling and hair-pin winding for high slot fill factor. Parametric FEA models are developed for both topologies, and design of experiments (DoE)-based sensitivity analysis is used to study the effect of independent variables on specific performance metrics such as torque, motor loss, torque ripple, and power factor. Inner and outer rotor topologies …

Sensorless Control Of Low Inductance Coreless Afpm Machines For Fault-Tolerant Operation Of Propulsion Systems, Yaser Chulaee, Ali Mohammadi, Aaron M. Cramer, Dan M. Ionel

Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Research

In motor-drive systems utilized in safety-critical applications and demanding conditions like electric aircraft propulsion systems, the reliability of the system is greatly affected by position sensors, given their susceptibility within the motor drive system. Consequently, there is a need to eliminate sensors in vector-controlled motor drives to decrease overall hardware complexity and expenses, bolster the mechanical durability and dependability of the drive system. In this paper, a fault-tolerant sensorless control system for low inductance coreless axial flux PM (AFPM) machines, integrated into electric aircraft propulsion systems, is introduced. The proposed control system spans a wide operating range, from zero to …

Fault-Tolerant Axial Flux Coreless Pm Machines With Independent Phase Modules, Yaser Chulaee, Ali Mohammadi, Dan M. Ionel, Matin Vatani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Research

In this paper, a fault-tolerant two-phase high power coreless axial flux PM (AFPM) machine with a modular structure is introduced. The performance of this machine, in terms of torque, power density, and efficiency, is compared with its three-phase counterpart configuration based on finite element analysis (FEA) and experimental results. The fault tolerance of these two configurations, considering the control systems, is also compared. A detailed power loss breakdown for the prototype two-phase and three-phase printed circuit board (PCB) stator coreless AFPM machines derived from experiments is presented, showcasing that the introduced fault-tolerant two-phase machine has comparable performance and efficiency, while …