Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Development Of A Marine Biodegradable Target Balloon, Blake Samuel Robinson, Arash Sam Akhavi, David Leonardo Albarran-Martinez

Materials Engineering

The US Navy utilizes PVC target balloons, known as Killer Tomatoes, that are inflated onboard a naval vessel then deployed into the ocean to calibrate a variety of weaponry. The Navy has requested the investigation of biodegradable polymers to replace the PVC in attempts to reduce ocean waste that is generated from the leftover PVC material. After communicating with American Pacific Plastic Fabricators (APPF), the current manufacturer of the Killer Tomatoes, we gained an understanding of the manufacturing process and the material requirements that would allow a new material to be integrated into their current process. Two proprietary, trial polymers …

Inventory Locating With Quuppa: The Design And Development Of A Real-Time Process Monitoring Web Application Solution, Dylan C. Moreland, Trevor J. Howell, John W. Takiff, Patrick S. Dillon, Theo E. Fritz, William K. Mcintyre

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Viasat, Inc. requires precise inventory tracking at their production facility in San Diego, CA. Viasat has installed the Quuppa indoor real-time locating system (RTLS), which it uses to track the real-time position of high-value work-in-process items. In its current state, the system only displays in-the-moment location information, with no available functionality for storing historical data for review, analysis, or visualization. In addition, the data displayed is noisy and prone to significant random error. This paper provides an overview of RTLS methods and technologies, assesses alternative solutions to Viasat’s issue, demonstrates our RTLS integrated web app solution, analyzes its impact, and …

Configurable Seat Track Latching Mechanism, Emily Sun, Kai Quizon, Rick Hall, Daniel Turn, Nicholas Holman, Alexander Kuznik, Jacob Winkler, Audrey Trejo, Phoebe Zeiss, Steven Kam

Mechanical Engineering

The reconfigurable seating system is a flexible seating solution for transit vehicles that allows operators to change the configuration of the floor plan in a timely manner in order to accommodate change in needs. This project consists of three senior project teams each working on a component of the design: system, track & latch, and articulation. Descriptions of the responsibilities of each team will be discussed below.

Composite Pegboard, Asa J. Cusick, Luis Corrales, Joelle Hylton, Wyatt Pauley

Mechanical Engineering

Many of those with mobility limitations who are told they will need a wheelchair for the rest of their lives can actually begin to stand and walk again given the proper tools and support. The current design for a wheelchair seeking to support this process is overly complex, heavy, and exhibits some features that could potentially pose a serious health hazard to those using it. The scope of this project is to aid in the design of an adaptable composite wheelchair frame that can be both lightweight and strong, while still allowing for physical diversity of potential users. Through research …

Frequency Domain Measurements Of Melt Pool Recoil Force Using Modal Analysis, Tristan Cullom, Cody Lough, Nicholas Altese, Douglas Bristow, Robert Landers, Ben Brown, Troy Hartwig, Andrew Barnard, Jason Blough, Kevin Johnson, Edward Kinzel

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Recoil pressure is a critical factor affecting the melt pool dynamics during Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) processes. Recoil pressure depresses the melt pool. When the recoil pressure is low, thermal conduction and capillary forces may be inadequate to provide proper fusion between layers. However, excessive recoil pressure can produce a keyhole inside the melt pool, which is associated with gas porosity. Direct recoil pressure measurements are challenging because it is localized over an area proportionate to the laser spot size producing a force in the mN range. This paper reports a vibration-based approach to quantify the recoil force exerted …

Sound, Material And Strength Correlation, Ryan Mcbride

Symposium of Student Scholars

With a growing amount of manufacturing utilizing 3D printing, there is a correlation between strength and material which can affect sound produced by sirens. An air raid siren that has been downloaded from Thingiverse.com spins with a 49:1 gear ratio to produce 2 tone sounds and with that large number of revolutions comes friction, and in order to create a 3D printed air raid siren, the siren must be made out of a material that can withstand high temperatures without melting and quick rotations without delaminating. There are many materials that can be printed to withstand those forces, but it …

Real-Time Monitoring Of Fdm 3d Printer For Fault Detection Using Machine Learning: A Bibliometric Study, Vaibhav Kisan Kadam, Satish Kumar, Arunkumar Bongale

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Additive Manufacturing has wide application range including healthcare, Fashion, Manufacturing, Prototypes, Tooling etc. AM techniques are subjected to various defects that may be printing defects or anomalies in machine. There is gap between current AM techniques and smart manufacturing since current AM lacks in build sensors necessary for process monitoring and fault detection. Both of these issues can be solved by incorporating real-time monitoring into AM. So the study is carried out to identify recent work done in AM to improve current system. For this bibliometric study Scopus database is used, study is kept limited to year 2010-2021 and English …

Rehology And Electrical Conductivity Of Particulate Composites In Additive Manufacturing, Bin Xia

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

Extrusion-based multi-functional additive manufacturing (AM) has been a rapidly developing area in AM recently. Particulate composites are widely used in this area to provide different functionalities with different types of particulate additives. However, there is no systematic understanding of the behavior of particulate composites during extrusion (especially in small nozzles) or of their properties once deposited in the build. This work investigates the properties of the type of particulate composites usually used in additive manufacturing, composed of a polymer matrix material and particulate additives within the micrometer scale. The focus is on the material rheology in the nozzle/capillary (for the …

Human Powered Vehicle Capstone, Maya L. Washington, Ryan Apolonio, Marc Sunga, John Rettenmier, Dr. Allen Wilson

Honors Thesis

In the ASME Human Powered Vehicle Challenge (HPVC), students design, develop, construct, and test different designs of human-powered vehicles. The design utilizes two wheels, the rear of which is responsible for power transmission from a pedal crank and braking through a disc and caliper. The design also utilizes the front wheel fork wheel for steering. Steering and braking are controlled by two levers on the handlebars. To determine whether the design was sufficient, it was compared to the standards set by ASME, including maximum weight, minimum speed, minimum turning radius, minimum ride distance, load testing, harness verification, and a complete …

Advancing The Use Of Quality Control Tools For High-Density Data In Modern Manufacturing, Romina Dastoorian

Dissertations

In modern manufacturing, advanced metrology systems are continually being incorporated into quality control (QC) systems to provide high-density (HD) datasets. These datasets can contain millions of measurements that can be used to represent a part’s whole geometry. While integrating HD datasets into QC systems has brought several opportunities to enhance the performance of QC systems, it has resulted in new challenges in this area as well. While significant amounts of research have been performed in this area, the QC research community still strives to tackle these challenges. This study identifies key challenges regarding incorporating HD datasets into QC systems. Specifically, …

Apiary Wagon Frame, Katelyn Franklin, Ryoma Thomas

Honors Theses

The objective of this thesis to demonstrate how our senior capstone project team took a product from a concept to a mass production manufacturing operation, using the knowledge and experience gained through our four years in the Haley Barbour Center for Manufacturing Excellence (CME). Our product, the Apiary Wagon Frame, is an opportunity to reduce the barrier to entry into the hobbyist beekeeping community. In the design process for the Apiary Wagon Frame, we tested several prototypes and different fabrication methods, ending with a product capable of holding twenty hive frames. After building our final prototype, the group created a …

Economic Feasibility Of A Methanol To Dimethyl Ether Production Process To Avoid Contract Failure Shortfalls From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jacob Noll, Robert Wasson, Harrison Mckinnis

Honors Theses

Our team entered the 2021 AVEVA Academic Competition, where teams of undergraduate senior chemical engineering students competed across the country. The competition was composed of two parts: the base case design and the optimization of a chemical process. As part of the competition, our team is acting as the Engineering team for a fictional company that has given us this project. Due to COVID-19, our methanol producing company has lost a contract with a customer, leaving 23,000 tonnes/yr of unclaimed methanol. We have two choices with this methanol: either sell the methanol on the market at the spot price for …

Creation Of A Wooden Model Toy Car As A Learning Module For Students Enrolled In Manufacturing 152, Patrick Brown

Honors Theses

This project involved the design and manufacture of a children’s wooden model toy car constructed on the CME factory floor. Apart from building a children’s toy, the purpose of this project was to introduce younger CME students to a high-quality product made efficiently in regards to manufacture time and total cost. The design for the car required the inclusion of principles from different manufacturing philosophies taught in the CME such as LEAN Manufacturing, which works to eliminate waste from a process, and Design for Manufacture and Assembly, which seeks to reduce cost and cycle time for a product. Through the …

Standardizing Patient Generated Sleep And Step Data For Evidation Health, Jade Desmet, Monroe Erle, Jamie Cullen

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Since medical data has gone digital there has been a lack of standardization among wearable devices for managing the data. Evidation Health is a company that collects biometric data from a wide variety of wearable devices through their app, Achievement. Evidation is built upon a foundation of user privacy and control over permissioned health data. This project is in partnership with them, focusing on creating a standard data model and ETL tool for sleep and step data across the wearable devices Fitbit, Apple Watch, and Oura Ring. There is not yet a successful standardization for this health data, and the …

Design For Metal Fused Filament Fabrication (Dfmf3) Of Ti-6al-4v Alloy., Mohammad Qasim Shaikh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM) offers unmatchable freedom of design with the ability to manufacture parts from a wide range of materials. The technology of producing three-dimensional parts by adding material layer-by-layer has become relevant in several areas for numerous industries not only for building visual and functional prototypes but also for small and medium series production. Among others, while metal AM technologies have been established as production method, their adoption has been limited by expensive equipment, anisotropy in part properties and safety concerns related to working with loose reactive metal powder. To address this challenge, the dissertation aims at developing the …

Noise Control In Sorting Conveyors, Eyra Herrera

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

E-commerce has increased the necessity of effective material handling equipment in warehouses and distribution centers. Sorter conveyors systems facilitate material handling by providing a reliable and automated system to classify and distribute products in a gentle and rapid manner. With the steady increase of speed in sorter conveyors to satisfy today’s industry demand, some systems have started to produce high noise levels that could potentially affect workers’ health. Since decreasing the speed of these conveyors is not a viable option to decrease noise in sorter equipment, industries have opted to find other ways to apply noise control to their equipment. …

Algorithm Development Of Topology Optimization For Pcm Based Heat Sinks, Diego L. De Los Reyes

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

With the inherent usage of the computer when dealing with additive manufacturing, it only makes sense to use that higher computing power through simulation and iterative design to use the mathematical concept of topology and optimize the kind of geometry and shapes to be produced for a certain application, especially thermal ones since most 3D printing applications focus on purely the mechanical. To determine what the shape will be, an objective function of how much heat can be dispersed from a hypothetical heat source, assumed to be a type of electronic device, is maximized while being constrained by other variables, …

Assessing The Feasibility Of A Biofilter In Medium-To-High Scale Industries, Javier A. Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

The removal of volatile organic compounds, VOCs, from contaminated sources of air stream has become a major air pollution risk. Excessive amounts discharged to the atmosphere are highly risky to human health and to the environmental system. Demand for sustainable VOC control technologies has become crucial for the reduction of emissions. Biological treatments of waste gas streams, such as biofiltration, have proven to be cost effective and environmentally friendly compared to conventional pollution control technologies. The goal of this research is to simulate data for a given biofilter model, and to evaluate if it is economically and environmentally feasible to …

Design And Production Of A Bathtub Caddy, John Marquez

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to document and discuss the design and manufacturing process used to produce a bathtub caddy on a large-scale production process for the Center for Manufacturing Excellence Senior Capstone Project. This project was carried out over the Fall of 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters by a team consisting of an Undergraduate Chemical Engineering Undergraduate, two Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate, a Finance Undergraduate, and an Accounting Undergraduate. The objective of this project was to design the product and then a manufacturing process that could be used to at first produce a prototype before planning a ramp up …

Introduction Of New Value Stream Through Vermicomposting Process, James Spalding, Joseph Harris

Honors Theses

The purpose of our project is to analyze whether a waste byproduct can be monetized into a viable profit stream for Wonderbird Spirits. Spent grain, a waste byproduct created by the distillation process, is currently the company’s biggest source of material waste. The CME project team designed and built a trommel to aid liquid-solid separation of the spent grain so that the solid portion can be repurposed as feedstock for a vermicomposting setup. We also suggest vermicomposting setup for the distillery based on the needs and capabilities of Wonderbird Spirits. We present financial analyses detailing the cost of creating the …

Parametric Design Of Flywheel For An Electric Punch Press, Prashant Dhakal

Honors Theses

Almost all designs start with a design requirement. These may be weight, volume, clearance, and even custom calculations. Finding a solution that meets these requirements often involves tedious and time-consuming iterations. Once the solution has been found, the design must be optimized to find the best possible solution. Finding the ‘best possible design’ requires substantial time and effort dedicated to iterating and analyzing the potential model solutions. This is where Parametric design comes into play. The Parametric design aids in specifying the key parameters of the design and makes changes interactively, with the model updating automatically. The purpose of this …

Analyzing The Lifecycle Of A Modular Cutting Board From Design To Production, Caitlin O'Connor, Achintya Prasad

Honors Theses

This Capstone project is intended to demonstrate the process of product development for a modular cutting board from design to production by applying manufacturing principles, utilizing the stage-gate format, and developing a marketing plan. The guiding principles for the project would be the implementation of lean manufacturing and analyzing the quality, performance, lifecycle cost, and time needed for market introduction. Team voting and assignment occurred in Manufacturing 451 in Fall 2020, and the project was completed during Spring 2021. Teams were required to meet outside of class time in order to discuss ideas and build designs. Lab times were scheduled …

Carbon Nanotori Structures For Thermal Transport Applications On Lubricants, Jaime Taha-Tijerina, Karla Aviña, Juan Manuel Martínez, Patsy Yessenia Arquieta-Guillén, Marlon González-Escobedo

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

Carbon nanostructures have been recently applied to improve industrial manufacturing processes and other materials; such is the case for lubricants used in the metal-mechanic industry. Nanotori are toroidal carbon nanostructures, obtained from chemical treatment of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). This material has been shown to have superb anti-wear and friction reduction performance, having the ability to homogeneously disperse within water in concentrations between 1-2 wt.%. Obtained results of these novel nanostructures under water mixtures and novel additives were a set point to our studies in different industrial lubricants. In the present work, nanotori structures have been applied in various filler …

Feedstock Processing For Extraterrestrial Metal Additive Manufacturing, Japheth A. Hayman

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Project Blipper, Peter Jacobs, Preston Delaware, Ryan Foster

Senior Design Project For Engineers

This project was sponsored by Clorox to design and create an automatic bottle-unscrambling system for possible implementation at their bottling plant in Chile. The objective was to use a robotic arm to unscramble bottles from an incoming conveyor belt and place them upright on an outbound conveyor belt. Throughout the research, design, and testing of solutions for this project, several design alternatives were found for each discipline, and will be presented to Clorox so that they can make an informed decision for how and if they want to move forward with implementation of this project.

The project was split into …

Printing Parameter Determination And Characterization Of Additively Manufactured Kovar Steel, Will Macgreggor Davidson

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

Kovar (ASTM F15, UNS K94610) steel has many applications across Sandia National Laboratories but is best known within academia and industry for its glass-to-metal and glass-to-ceramic hermetic sealing capabilities. Successful printing parameters for a Renishaw AM400 to additively manufacture artifacts from Kovar steel powder have been determined. The printed test artifacts have been studied for ultimate tensile strength, density, surface roughness, hardness, bulk composition, and impact toughness. Longer throughput measurements such as porosity, coefficient of thermal expansion, and grain structure studies have been established for future delivery to the research team. Yet another delivery from this thesis research is a …

Statistical Study Of The Effect Of Implementing An Airveyor System On The Warpage Of Injection Molded Closures, Charles Wesley Bozarth

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Berry Global in Bowling Green, Kentucky produces predominantly polypropylene container closures. One variant, the 83mm lined jar closure, is produced by first being injection molded, placed in work-in-progress (WIP) hold for 24 hours to cool, and then finished through the auxiliary liner operation into a final product. While this process is an effective method to produce a quality large-diameter closure and allows the polypropylene adequate time to cool without warping out of shape, the 24-hour WIP time and the manpower needed to accomplish this can negatively impact several business metrics as well as employee safety.

The purpose of this thesis …

Oxidation Polymerization Additive Manufacturing, Jonghyun Park, Tazdik Patwary Plateau, Hiep Pham

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Various processes for producing three dimensional electrically conductive polymer structures, such as three dimensional structures of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), are described as well as materials produced by these processes.

Evaluation Of Friction Stir Processing For Fabrication Of Composites In The Context Of Industry 4.0: A Bibliometric Review, Arunkumar Bongale, Pragya Saxena, Satish Kumar

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Aluminum alloys having good strength to weight ratio and resistance to corrosion have a wide range of applications in aerospace, automobiles, military, sports and many other applications. In order to enhance the hardness and wear resistance of the surface without compromising the bulk properties, aluminum matrix based surface composites fabricated with various reinforcements on the surface are now a days being utilized widely as new generation materials. In the manufacturing of metal surface hybrid composites (precisely of light weight alloys like- Al, Mg, etc.), the friction stir processing is a promising new solid state processing technique which is versatile enough …

A Dynamic Programming Approach To Determine Optimum Modularity Level In Industrial Packaging, Marshal Louie, Kumar B

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

Modular packaging facilitate customization for accommodating variable product sizes in a product family. When determining package sizes for product variability, packaging engineers does not find difficulty to determine package dimension for less product variety whereas if the product variety is more, then determining the dimension of modular package involves complex decision-making and time-consuming process to find the optimal solution. This in turn directly impacts the overall lead time of the supply chain. Thus, in this paper a dynamic programming is developed to determine the quantity and dimension of modular packages for every demand of assorted products sizes. The program helps …