Engineering Commons^™

Alloy Corrosion Resistance Project, Noah Gourley

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This Honors Research Project aims to determine the material performance of two metal alloys – 316L and Alloy 20CB-3 – in terms of corrosion resistance. The project will answer the following research questions: What effect do phosphoric acid and heptanoic acid solutions have on the passive film of 316L and Alloy 20CB-3 metal alloys? How do the metal alloys resist corrosion under flow conditions of the acids? What is the viability of these alloys to be used in a chemical process involving these acids?

Development Of A Solidworks Api, Andrew Magyar

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With the current advancements in CAD software, and precision of modern motors, we believe that a new way to communicate from hardware to software is possible. This report details the steps we have taken to attempt just that. The essential idea behind this is that modern controls for robotics are not as user friendly as they can be. The general action taken is to create an API for SolidWorks that connects it to the other necessary controller software and makes it so that a robot, and its exact current position, can be changed simply and intuitively from SolidWorks. Furthermore, the …

Yankee Manufacturing Multi-Assembly Pvc-Gasket Assembly Mechanism, Lily Coss, Jessica Kun, Dana Chapin, Jenan Hasan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project focuses on designing and implementing an efficient mechanism to connect PVC and gasket pieces in the door assembly process at Yankee Manufacturing. The aim is to improve process efficiency and productivity by increasing the assembly rate from 130 to 195 assemblies per hour, a 38% improvement. The project involved research, design iterations, performance evaluations, and adherence to engineering codes and standards, particularly focused on safety, ergonomics, and sustainability. The design process includes addressing challenges from a previous attempt, redefining project scope, and incorporating new elements such as transitioning to the packaging process seamlessly. Ethical considerations include promoting operator …

Smart Roadside Safety Vest, Nicholas Huttinger, Emily Stapleton, Susannah Smith

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objective of this project is to design a vest to be worn by pedestrians and cyclists, or anyone who may be working near traffic. This vest will utilize an LED display on the back of the vest to increase the visibility of the wearer and convey information to nearby drivers. The vest will also be able to detect and alert the wearer to approaching vehicles. If it is detected that the wearer has been involved in an accident, the vest will send a message to the wearer’s designated emergency contact(s), which will include the GPS coordinates of the wearer …

Effects Of Energy Drink Additives On Crayfish Metabolism, Katherine Paltz

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The effects of caffeine and additives commonly found in energy drinks were tested on crayfish to record changes, if any, in their metabolism. Three experimental groups were studied: 1. Caffeine; 2. Caffeine + Glucuronolactone; 3.) Caffeine + Glucuronolactone + Taurine. Caffeine is a common stimulant used to improve mental awareness, headaches, memory, and athletic performance. Glucuronolactone is connected with cardiovascular issues and aggressive behavior. Taurine is said to improve mood and focus. The experiment was performed at two different caffeine levels: 600mg and 1200mg for an initial 1 hour of exposure and 10 hours after exposure used as a pseudo-baseline. …

Wetting Transition Of 3d-Printed Surface Features, Delia Weitzel

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project aims to build on the previous research of prior students in the study of the wetting transition of a textured, 3D-printed surface. The surfaces studied will be constructed by a resin printer in the lab and will be composed of an array of uniform, microscopic pillars. Features of the textured surface, such as pillar diameter, pillar spacing, and pillar height, will be varied to study the impact on the wetting transition of water, oil, and a combination of water and oil. The wetting transition is defined as a transition from a state where the surface cavities are occupied …

Materials Of Lightweight Concrete Research, Meganne Chapman, Kathryn Burns, John Grubb

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objectives for this research project are to explore options for innovative and sustainable materials in lightweight concrete. Various materials including granite powder, hydrated lime, latex, and recycled glass beads will be used in the concrete testing for this project. The question the team wants to answer is how these additives affect the concrete’s mechanical properties. Weekly mix designs will be performed, and control cylinders will be compared to experimental cylinders. Compression and tensile testing will also be performed to further aid the research. The motivation for performing this research is to aid mix development for the University of Akron …

Hardening A Small Business Network, Madison Baxter

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Security is one of the most, if not the most, important facets of a network. Without security, proprietary data is vulnerable to theft by malicious actors or even just curious techies with too much time on their hands.

Building and implementing a network lays the foundation for a technically sound, robust environment. Network and device hardening minimizes security gaps on the network and streamlines functions and processes.

The objectives of this project were to stand up a functioning small business network, to harden the network and to offer recommendations to further secure the overall environment for a small business.

The …

Constructing And Probing A Fortified Network, Maxim Davis

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Computer networking is extremely valuable and is essential to modern infrastructure and life. Due to this fact, network security is also extremely vital and is also constantly under attack due to how precious information is in the modern world. In order to set up network security and harden systems from attack, many organizations establish guidelines, standards and techniques to defend against such threats. There is also the major issue of needing to constantly test these different standards and procedures regarding network security as if these security measures are not tested, the danger of potential threats is exponential. This project seeks …

Self-Watering Plant Device, Nick Sabetta

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Many homeowners enjoy having plants around their homes. However, life can quickly become busy and stressful. This often makes it difficult to keep with their house plants. The goal of this project is to design a device that will be able to help take care of house plants. The device will be able to water the plant when the soil moisture is detected. The device will also monitor the air temperature as well as the sunlight levels that the plant is receiving. All of the collected data will then be sent via Bluetooth to a smartphone. The app will alert …

Letac-Mpc: Learning Model Predictive Control For Tactile-Reactive Grasping, Zhengtong Xu, Yu She

School of Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

Grasping is a crucial task in robotics, necessitating tactile feedback and reactive grasping adjustments for robust grasping of objects under various conditions and with differing physical properties. In this article, we introduce LeTac-MPC, a learning-based model predictive control (MPC) for tactile-reactive grasping. Our approach enables the gripper to grasp objects with different physical properties on dynamic and force-interactive tasks. We utilize a vision-based tactile sensor, GelSight (Yuan et al. 2017), which is capable of perceiving high-resolution tactile feedback that contains information on the physical properties and states of the grasped object. LeTac-MPC incorporates a differentiable MPC layer designed to model …

Thermal Performance Of A Pump-Assisted Capillary Cooler, Danny J. Lohan, Bhaskarjyoti Sarma, Shailesh N. Joshi, Ercan M. Dede, Anali Soto, Srivathsan Sudhakar, Justin A. Weibel

CTRC Research Publications

The heat transfer and hydraulic performance of a flat evaporator, pump-assisted capillary loop cooler is evaluated for a 1 cm² heat source. The cooler consists of a copper manifold that houses a compensation chamber that feeds liquid to a sintered, flat evaporator wick below via a micro-tube array. Liquid evaporates from the copper wick as it is attached to the heater through a copper base plate. The custom cooler design offers separate flow routes for liquid and vapor phases during steady operation and thereby maintaining the pressure balance of the flow loop. The cooler performance is evaluated using de-ionized …

Assessing Industry-Critical Skill Development In Engineering Technology Capstone Courses, Rustin Webster, Matthew Turner

School of Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

To meet industrial expectations, engineering and engineering technology (ET) graduates are expected to possess the critical competencies of design, problem-solving, communication, and teamwork. However, industry stakeholders and academic studies routinely identify these as skills gaps: areas graduates need to develop to a higher standard or are currently lacking when entering the work force. To address this issue, many undergraduate programs in the United States have implemented a comprehensive and integrative experience at the end of an academic program, often called a capstone course(s). The rate of adoption has grown such that approximately three-quarters of all undergraduate and graduate institutions include …

Robotic Gutter Cleaner, Zachary Nopper

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Gutters redirect rainwater away from nearly every roof and home in America and Europe but build up debris over time and require constant maintenance. Manual gutter cleaning is unpleasant, time-consuming, and dangerous, with 80,000 injuries/year attributed to people cleaning their gutters and overreaching from ladders in the U.S. alone. This difficult situation implies that consumers would be interested in a method to make this process safer and easier. In an age of increasing automation of tasks, especially those that might be dangerous to complete, a gutter cleaning robot is a solution that could alleviate several of these problems at once. …

Leto: Learning Constrained Visuomotor Policy With Differentiable Trajectory Optimization, Zhengtong Xu, Yu She

School of Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper introduces LeTO, a method for learning constrained visuomotor policy with differentiable trajectory optimization. Our approach integrates a differentiable optimization layer into the neural network. By formulating the optimization layer as a trajectory optimization problem, we enable the model to end-to-end generate actions in a safe and constraint-controlled fashion without extra modules. Our method allows for the introduction of constraint information during the training process, thereby balancing the training objectives of satisfying constraints, smoothing the trajectories, and minimizing errors with demonstrations. This “gray box” method marries optimization-based safety and interpretability with powerful representational abilities of neural networks. We quantitatively …

The Nexus Of Ideation And Engagement Through Tower Crane Construction, Abigail Erskine, Hillary Ongoyo Omoze

Indiana STEM Education Conference

In this study, we investigate how the integration of collaborative design activities during group-based ideation influences middle school students’ engagement in STEM education. Central to this inquiry is a hands-on activity focused on the construction of a tower crane with a suspended bucket. Students developed a plan for the tower crane construction through collaborative sketches and discussion of ideas with teammates. This research brief provides implications for the impact of collaborative ideas generated by students in groups and choices in designs on student engagement.

Integrated Stem Education And Students' 21st Century Skills, Jung Han, Yunjin Lim, Woongbin Park, Kyongson Park

Indiana STEM Education Conference

This research investigates the impact of integrated STEM education on students' 21st century competencies, aiming to enhance science and engineering design teaching within a local design-based context. Specifically, the project targets high school students in a rural area and utilizes local contexts, including local rural knowledge and indigenous science knowledge, to facilitate STEM learning. The collaborative effort involves partnering high school environmental science and Technology and Engineering Educators, leveraging their diverse content expertise to teach students collaboratively as a science-technology and engineering teacher pair. Furthermore, university faculty members and industry partners provided support to create a STEM community of practice. …

Implementing Integrated Stem Forensic And Soil Sciences Lab Activities To Promote Interest In Stem Careers, Mariah K. Stollar Awan, Caroline J. Rakowski

Indiana STEM Education Conference

We implemented forensic and soil science integrated STEM lab activities with 11 middle school youth at a 4-H day camp at Purdue University. STEM perceived knowledge increased overall for participants. However, the pre- and post-assessments did not show a statistically significant difference. More students also indicated STEM career interest after participating. Because this study was exploratory and had a small sample size, more research on these integrated STEM lab activities should be conducted with larger samples.

The Future Of Future City: A Stem Program, Jeffrey A. Nowak, Shelby Werling

Indiana STEM Education Conference

The idea of integrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is still an enigma for many educators (Dare et al, 2021). Recent academic standards favor curricula that interweave the principles of integrated STEM into all content areas. Finding a “one size fits all” curriculum is challenging, perhaps even impossible. Future City is a national program that specializes in hands-on cross-curricular STEM education. Students work collaboratively using an engineering and design process to showcase their solutions to citywide sustainability issues. This research brief examines how educators can utilize the Future City program as the cornerstone of their STEM curriculum.

The Impact Of Geospatial Contexts And Out-Of-School Experiences On Students' Stem Identity Formation, Hillary Ongoyo Omoze, Abigail Erskine, Asenath Odondi

Indiana STEM Education Conference

STEM teaching faces challenges in varied geospatial contexts (Mulvey et al., 2023), where place and space factors play a significant role. This research brief explores the influence of place and space in shaping students' STEM identities throughout their educational journey, with a specific emphasis on the role of out-of-school experiences in fostering student learning and interest in STEM careers, particularly among middle school students.

Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (Cure) In Engineering Technology, Bill Hutzel, Craig Zywicki, Stephanie M. Gardner

School of Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Although most universities provide excellent research experiences for outstanding undergraduate students, the number of interested students typically outstrips the supply of faculty and graduate student mentors. Addressing this shortfall is the reason Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) were created. CUREs face obvious challenges because they operate at a larger scale than the traditional apprentice-based model for undergraduate research, creating resource issues for experimental research that requires equipment, laboratory space, and staff oversight. To help address these hurdles, one university has created a professional development program that provides training, collegial mentoring, and financial support to interested faculty. This paper provides an …

Short Strand Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polylactic Acid Filament For Additive Manufacturing, Dale Chenoweth, Lukas Seggi, Luke Phillips

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In this design project, the additive manufacturing filament of short strand carbon fiber (SSCF) reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) composite was developed. The micro-size, precision cut SSCFs were mixed with the PLA pellets through a melting homogenization process. Through this process the composite material block is cut and divided into pieces for ease of pelletizing. The material block pieces are then pelletized to be fed through the single screw extruder to develop the SSCF-PLA composite filament. The SSCF-PLA filaments were manufactured with a varying amount of SSCF ranging from 0.5% to 10% of the material block's weight. Development of a 1% …

Inspection/Fault Detection Team, James Worrall

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Our project deals with a common problem that is encountered with satellites in earth orbit or beyond. It is very common in space for there to be small collisions between satellites and foreign space debris, and it takes a lot of time and money to send a person out to repair the damage caused by the collision. Our goal is to develop a way to perform these repairs autonomously. We plan to develop a way to scan a satellite or spacecraft hull for damage using a robot and then repair the damage while still maintaining the material specifications required for …

Space Force Spacecraft Hull Inspection: Creation Of A Process To Inspect, Compare, And Fault Detect On The Surface Of A Spacecraft Hull, Ethan Rainsburg

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Space Force Inspection design project aims to create a system for scanning the hull of a spacecraft, identifying any damage by cross-checking the new scan with a previous scan, and fixing any identified damage picked up by the scan. This project contains key objectives such as defining testable parameters for any given scanner, creating a repeatable process for comparing scans, and automating the process using open-source code and software. The ideal outcome for this project is to have the fully automated system implemented to a robot that is being designed and manufactured by a sister team. Some of the …

Smart Dog Door, Andrew Shetler, William Boissoneault, Jacob Stump, Benjamin Charlson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With modern life getting busier and more complex, many have turned to autonomous assistance for taking care of pets. The objective of this project is to design and prototype a device and application that will allow only certain dogs to enter and exit through a dog door while making the owners aware of their dog's activity. The dog door will utilize wireless communication from the dog to the door to control the status of the door’s lock and update the database that will send updates to the application. The application will keep track of when the dog enters and exits …

Uav To Carry Heavy Loads, Jacob Cannon, Robert Connor Downs, Anthony Orlando

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Our senior design project aims to develop an innovative Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) capable of carrying heavy payloads up to 50 lbs. This UAV will address the growing demand for efficient and autonomous cargo transportation, unlocking new possibilities in logistics and remote deliveries. The primary goal is to design, build, and test a robust UAV platform equipped with advanced propulsion systems, stabilizing mechanisms, and a secure payload attachment system. The heavy-lift UAV will be capable of transporting payloads in challenging environments, enhancing its versatility for various industries, including emergency response, disaster relief, and commercial logistics. For the extent of this …

Battery Dunnage, Paul Hirsch, Alex Cox, Ben Strubbe

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Schaeffler is launching a new assembly line for a battery in 2025. As part of the project, it is necessary to design and fabricate a reusable dunnage (packaging) specialized for the battery, meant for safe domestic transportation in the United States. Through an iterative process, the team developed a final dunnage design out of steel components that had a maximum footprint of 62 in X 43.5 in X 29.25 in and a weight of 821.682 lbs. The dunnage is stackable on itself up to two high, weighing a total of 4,918.724 lbs. when loaded with four batteries. The design was …

Ambient Temperature Strength Degradation Of A Ceramic Matrix Composite Due To Solid Particle Erosion, Jonathan Clawson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Solid particle erosion (SPE) is an issue for aircraft exposed to hard, fine particles, such as sand or dust, that can be ingested into the engine at a high velocity without reaching their melting point, resulting in material removal. SPE can be attributed to the intake of particulate debris from the runway or from airborne particulates. The cumulative mass loss from SPE damage affects the structural integrity and performance of the engine; however, its effects on ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), that are being employed in the aerospace industry, are not well understood in literature. The limited SPE research studies that …

The Effects Of Relative Humidity And Valency On Water Absorption And Structure In Polyelectrolyte Brushes, Andrea Klima

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this project was to understand the relationship between relative humidity, ion valency, and the structure of water on positively (PMETAC) and negatively (PSPMA) charged polyelectrolyte brushes. The polyelectrolyte brushes were synthesized using Activators Regenerated by Electron Transfer Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ARGET ATRP) and were soaked in concentrations containing 0.1 M of the target counterion. The brushes were then exposed to humid vapor, and spectra were collected in 5% intervals between 0% and 85% for each counterion. Two trials were completed for each counterion studied to ensure agreement between datasets. In all spectra, peaks appeared for the …

Adjustable Load On Cvt Driven Project, Elijah Saxton, Colin Mcconnell, Trent Bolek, Caleb Malboeuf, Alexander Rawson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

SAE Baja, also known as Baja SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers Baja), is a series of collegiate design competitions organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). These competitions challenge teams of students to design, build, and race off-road vehicles that can withstand rough terrain and perform in various dynamic events. The objective of this Senior Design Project is to design, manufacture, and test an adjustable driven Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT) pulley to adjust the preload on the spring. This will allow easier adjustment on the CVT preload at smaller increments. This design could be used for future Zips Baja …