Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Mems 411: Reclém Clothes Washer Group X, Andrew Johnson, Eleni Kambouris, Ana Morgan Canales, Sheridan Lee

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The RECLÉM Clothes Washer Project addresses the challenge faced by Dr. Ruppert-Stroescu and RECLÉM in efficiently washing repurposed textiles without damaging or deforming the fabric. The goal is to design a sustainable machine that dissolves water-soluble synthetic sheets while conserving water and maintaining fabric integrity.

Mems 411: Pipe Climbing Robot, Trevor S. Gilkerson, Nick M. Gunter, Phillip H. Le, Andru N. Mangkusubroto

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Decreasing chemical plant emissions allow systems to become safer, less polluting, and more profitable. Pipe leaks in chemical plants, or fugitive emissions, are a significant source of lost product and safety hazard for workers. Working with Amaren's Maryland Heights natural gas power plant, the team developed a robot that can traverse pipe systems with a final goal of detecting chemical leaks.

Mems 411: Ball Bearing Sorting Device, Claudia Markel, Max Cusick, Tomás Collado

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Ball bearings are an integral part of many products, including cars, planes, and appliances. However, when bearings of multiple sizes and materials are mixed together, they can be difficult to separate quickly. Sorting the ball bearings becomes even more of a challenge for people who are not able to see the difference in color to discern the materials. To solve this problem, a ball bearing sorter, which can separate bearings of 1 2 in and 1 4 in for the materials of steel, brass, and plastic, was created. This project was based on the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 2024-2025 …

Mems 411: Water Surface Tension Breaker, David Arthur D'Alessandro Iii, Ben Davis Miller, Jared Ethan Appel, Parker Monnig

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Design a device that sufficiently stirs up the pool's surface for WashU's Swim and Dive team.

Mems 411: Custom Surfacing Machine, Katherine Minielly, Gaelen Clayton, Estela Villacis

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Our project is in partnership with DeepSight, a startup working to revolutionize medical imaging through proprietary ultrasound sensing technology. Our objective is to create a custom surfacing machine to finish a critical ultrasound component. DeepSight’s new ultrasound system includes an aluminum component that requires a high degree of perpendicularity and a sub-micron finish on one side. DeepSight provided us with an existing grinding machine to retrofit to surface the aluminum part. Our goals were a surface roughness ofmicron, a surface perpendicularity ofmicrons, and the ability to process 3 parts inpart’s surface and ensure even surface wear. The part spins on …

Incorporating Genai Into Information Literacy Instruction: Find Engineering Standards, Lauren Todd

Generative AI Teaching Activities

Students will prompt GenAI tools to find relevant engineering standards that might apply to their mechanical engineering design project, then they must evaluate the responses.

Utilization Of Sodium Flame Synthesis For The Formation And Deposition Of Pure Metal Materials For Applications In Additive Manufacturing, Zachariah Wargel

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Advanced material classes, such as high temperature alloys, ceramics, and refractory materials have become a key area of focus for expansion in the realm of additive manufacturing. Factors such as high melting points, material homogeneity, and physical properties such as ductility limit the application of popular additive manufacturing methods to these material classes. By utilizing sodium flame synthesis and deposition (SFD) technology, nanoparticle materials can be synthesized via combustion in a laminar co-flow diffusion burner and impacted such that the deposits can be used to manufacture designed components. By using the applicable precursor materials of metal chlorides and elemental sodium …

Rational Design Of Lignin-First Biorefineries Through Lignin Analysis And Deconstruction Modeling Tools, Aditya Ponukumati

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Lignocellulosic biomass is produced photosynthetically from atmospheric CO2 and is one of the few sources of renewable, reduced carbon that is generated on a scale comparable to demand for chemical commodities. For a sense of scale, the U.S. Energy Security and Independence Act targets the production of approximately 16 billion gallons per year of second-generation lignocellulosic biofuels by 2025. That production would generate approximately 62 million tons per year of dry lignin byproducts. The focus of this dissertation is on the valorization of these lignin components of biomass. Currently, lignin is either discarded or burned for local heat or electricity …

Activity: Students Find Conceptual Errors In Ai Output, Janie Brennan

Generative AI Teaching Activities

Instructor asks ChatGPT questions related to a key concept to find one where ChatGPT has conceptual errors. Ask students to find the errors and explain them.

Jme 4110: Patient Mat Mover, Muhammad Mughal, Seth Gallamore, Gabriel Monte, Marcos Navas Gallardo, Jamie Barvian

Washington University / UMSL Mechanical Engineering Design Project JME 4110

The idea of an improved patient mat mover was suggested to help make the life of patients and their care givers easier. The typical method of using brute force to lift a patient and slide a mat under them can be very challenging and tasking on both the patient and their care giver. It is a large inconvenience in the medical field and makes the process of patient care difficult and uncomfortable. Our value is designing a solution that will eliminate pain and difficulty for both our patients and their nurses/care givers by simplifying patient transport from bed to bed. …

Jme 4110: Inflatable Patient Wedge, Thomas Gunsten, Bushra Zaidi, Zachary Howell, Luke Prichard

Washington University / UMSL Mechanical Engineering Design Project JME 4110

The goal of this project was to design, model, and build an inflatable patient wedge, capable of lifting a patient from a laying position to an appropriate sitting position. This system had to be cheap, reliable, and strong enough to lift a wide range of different patients. The design of this project includes repurposed air mattresses, resealed with an epoxy, and shaped into an appropriately angled wedge.

Jme 4110: Washer To Dryer Clothes Transfer Device, Scott Diep, Jared Edwards, Catherine Mcdonnell, Patrick Geldmeier

Washington University / UMSL Mechanical Engineering Design Project JME 4110

For those leading busy lives or facing mobility challenges, this project involve a custom device can transfer clothes from washer to the dryer automatically when the person is not home. This solution eliminates the need to manually move clothes from the washer, preventing formation of mildew, and ensuring that the laundry is fresh and ready to wear when you return.

Jme 4110: Better Beach Wagon, Jalen Rhodes, Joshua Peters, Seth Peters, Jevonn Lewis-Harris

Washington University / UMSL Mechanical Engineering Design Project JME 4110

This project aims to add to a current beach wagon and improve effective movement through sand and concrete. Some beach wagons out in the market make it incredibly difficult to navigate through sand, often requiring more effort to push or pull. Some beach wagons solve these issues, such as electric beach wagons and their use of balloon tires; however, they are typically expensive, costing up to $2500.00. With Visionary Solutions’ design, the beach wagon will be able to move smoothly through both terrains (concrete and sand) and will be inexpensive to produce. The materials design includes polylactic acid (PLA) 3D …

Jme 4110: Stand-Up Pedicure Final Report, Heather Burt, Brian Hinkle, Jonathon Riggle, Anna Domingo Garcia

Washington University / UMSL Mechanical Engineering Design Project JME 4110

This project focuses on designing a pedicure device specifically for individuals who struggle with bending down to cut their toenails. While many people may not give this task a second thought, for some, it is a daily challenge. The goal is to create a device that allows users to safely and comfortably cut their toenails without needing to bend down or visit a nail salon, saving them time, effort, and money. This innovative design will cater to those with physical limitations, enabling them to maintain their nail care independently.

Design And Characterization Of 3d-Printed Hydrogel Lattices With Consistent Structural And Mechanical Anisotropy, Daniel Yoon

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the use of 3D printing to fabricate soft hydrogel lattice structures with consistent properties, including varying levels of mechanical anisotropy. Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is a non-invasive imaging tool to estimate and characterize the mechanical properties of tissue. MRE “phantoms” (physical surrogate models) have been used to assess how well MRE can measure and estimate mechanical properties. While gel phantoms generally simulate brain tissue, almost all have been isotropic. Prior studies have shown that white matter brain tissue is structurally and mechanically anisotropic. To validate anisotropic MRE, phantoms with controllable, reproducible anisotropic material properties are needed. This …

Structural Dynamics Of The Human Brain In Vivo From Tagged Mri And Mr Elastography, Jordan De Niro Escarcega

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The underlying mechanics surrounding vulnerability of human brains in response to impact is critical to our ability to diagnose and treat traumatic brain injury (TBI), but our understanding of brain mechanical behavior is incomplete. Tagged MRI (tMRI) and magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) are two imaging techniques that are used to visualize and quantify deformation fields in human brains in vivo. The objective of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of brain vulnerability, by quantitively analyzing deformation fields extracted from in vivo human imaging studies. This was achieved through the following aims: (1) Extract mode shapes and natural frequencies …

Application Of Finite-State Wake Models To Rotors Re-Entering Their Own Wake, Michael Seay Morrow

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

This paper details the development of a finite-state, dynamic wake model for the purpose of modeling a helicopter rotor reentering its own wake. This model stems directly from both the Peters-Morillo wake model to determine the velocity field on and above the helicopter rotor and the Peters-Fei model to compute the velocity field below the rotor. The specific case of nonzero net thrust was evaluated under assumptions of axial flow and potential flow theory. Results consist of computations of the inflow velocity for this case, along with comparison to closed-form, potential flow solutions for validation. The finite-state model is shown …

Environment And Response Of 3d-Encapsulated Mesenchymal Stem Cells To Mechanical Loading, Augustus Greenwood

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the micromechanical environment induced when cyclically compressing hydrogels via finite element modeling and experimentally on the impact of loading on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) when encapsulated withing 3D hydrogel matrices. Degenerative joint diseases, characterized by cartilage degradation, present significant challenges due to cartilage's limited self-repair capacity. Innovative approaches, including stem cell-based therapies and engineered biomaterials, have emerged as promising strategies for cartilage repair and regeneration. This work specifically investigates the calibration of a bioreactor, the uniformity of load response across the hydrogel constructs via finite element modeling (FEM), and the stress response of MSCs subjected to various …

Characterizing Brain And Skull Mechanics In The Minipig Using Magnetic Resonance Elastography, Shuaihu Wang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Computational models and simulation are important tools to investigate the mechanisms underlying traumatic brain injury (TBI); their accuracy depends strongly on accurate model parameters, including the mechanical properties of the brain and its interactions with the skull. However, most existing TBI modeling studies are performed using material properties derived from animal tissue obtained after death. Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) provides a non-invasive method for estimating the mechanical properties of soft tissue. The overall objective of this thesis is to characterize the biomechanical properties of brain tissue and brain-skull interface in the minipig by using MRE. This was achieved through pursuit …

An Apparatus To Quantify Lengthwise Flexural Rigidity Profiles Of Endovascular Devices, Charles B. Suskin

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Endovascular procedures require access to distal anatomical sites through the vasculature using catheters and guidewires. Quantitative frameworks for device behavior during procedures hold the potential to drive device design through greater understanding of the mechanical behavior of endovascular devices, and offer the potential to personalize care based on a patient's particular vascular anatomy. However, data that would facilitate this technology are lacking, partly due to undisclosed material properties from manufacturers and partly due to the intricate variations along the length of each device due to material changes and the intersections between them. We developed a three-point bend test methodology on …

Enhanced Fabrication Of Microdroplet Generator Nozzle Arrays: Optimizing Koh Etching For Microfluidic Applications, Hongyu Bai

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Ultrasonic microdroplet generators are useful devices with broad applications ranging from aerosolized drug delivery to three-dimensional (3D) printing-based additive manufacturing. One such technology comprises a microfabricated array of nozzles with droplet production driven by a piezoelectric transducer. The present study focuses on refining a critical fabrication step, anisotropic wet etching of pyramidal nozzles using a basic potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution. Given the integral role of nozzle geometry in device operation, high-precision techniques including Reactive Ion Etching (RIE), Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE), and KOH wet etching were employed. A tapering geometry is preferred for acoustic wave focusing and efficient droplet …

Mems 411: B8-Golf Striker, Theodore Francis Anastasoff, Mitchell Oswald Shannon, Aidan Richard Tierney, Nick Alexander Vazquez

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Robots are useful for a variety of tasks and can be very fun to make. For our design of a golf striker robot, we will use our knowledge of core mechanical engineering principles to achieve our goal of a functional end product. Our research into existing devices of such nature showed us how useful these robots are in the golf industry. Whether it is to see how far technology ad machine learning has evolved or to test how golf equipment will stand under duress, these robots provide useful feedback for companies and players. Seeing devices like Golfi, LDRICK, and the …

Mems 411: Waterproof Enclosure For Smart Shirt Microcontroller, Josh Towns, Eric Montufar-Morales, Jacob Williams

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The purpose of this project was to create an enclosure for a microcontroller for an electronic shirt, made by Dr. Mary Ruppert-Stroescu. The electronic shirt was made to help people with sleep apnea track their EKG, blood pressure, and heart rate in an easy and non-invasive way.

The current design being used has sharp edges and is not very secure. The goal of our new design was to make the enclosure comfortable to the wearer while also maintaining a water tight seal. This was done through multiple iterations of rounded enclosures with different gaskets. The end design was a two …

Mems 411: Swing Energy Demo, Joshua Yoon, Owen Culver, Angel Wan, Gabriel Myong

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

A device to demonstrate the energy processes of a swing was created with the intention of display at the St. Louis Science Center.

Mems 411: Smart Shirt Electronics Housing, Nickolas Allen, Aaron Deleon, Dominic Fulginiti

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Millions of Americans suffer from sleep apnea, a chronic condition that can impact the quality of sleep and livelihood of those impacted by it. The sleep tests that are performed to see if a patient has sleep apnea are very invasive to those that undergo them, but the WUSTL Smart Shirt removes the need for such tests. This biometric shirt contains electrodes that measure blood pressure, heart rates, and EKG diagnostics that create reports to determine if the patient has sleep apnea, removing the need for the invasive sleep tests for a diagnosis. We were tasked with making the electronics …

Mems 411: Piston Pong, Lauren Faust, Emma Kroll, Natalie Fisher, Caroline Ferry

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This report documents the design process of our ”Piston Pong” device. Our device was designed to be an educational demonstration of pneumatics and energy transformations using work and fluids models. The concept is that a bike pump will pump air into a holding container. After enough pressure is built up inside, the air will be released from the holding tank to a pneumatic cylinder. The cylinder will be released, hitting and launching a ball into the air. Additionally, force and pressure sensors would allow the energy to be calculated to fully understand the energy transformation. Our priorities for this design …

Mems 411: Vehicle Entry Aid, Sara Wargo, Joshua Doro, Benjamin Swonger, Justin Stohlman

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Handicapped individuals such as those with prosthetic legs or diabetes can struggle greatly with entering large vehicles such as trucks. In this struggle, a client uses a rigid step stool with a rope tied through it to lift himself and then the stool into the vehicle. This report outlines an initiative to design and manufacture a better solution to this problem. A collapsible, two-step step stool was fabricated with a spring loaded retraction system. The design process for this solution is outline from start to finish, showing the extensive thought process that was followed to create the final product.

Mems 411: Asme Design Challenge Hitting Apparatus, Benjamin Deobald, Curtis Hung, Joseph Kodsi, Andrew Sheen

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Develop a specialized hitting mechanism for the modified 2023 ASME Design Competition's mini-golf robot challenge. The mechanism needs to accurately chip and putt golf balls, ensuring compatibility for mounting onto another team's vehicle chassis. Key considerations include weight, form-factor, remote operation ease, and endurance within a $400 budget. The mechanism must adhere to competition rules, stopping before hitting, non-operation during ball contact except for relocation, and transport of the ball to designated areas.

Mems 411: Pinskee Ball - A Work-Energy Demo, Kyle Puckett, Helena Teixeira-Dasilva, Seth Kleinberg, Sydney Norstad

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The goal of our project is to develop a fun and engaging Work-Energy Demo for Dr. James Potter of Washington University in St. Louis and a Science Center or Children's Museum. We aim to teach 6 - 10 year old children about Work-Energy and Energy Transfer in a fun, engaging, and competitive way by using an arcade style machine. The following project is intended to be a Pinball-Based Conservation of Energy Demo/Game for a Science Museum. Using both pinball and skeeball characteristics, this device will give kids thorough knowledge of work energy systems in a fun and interactive way. The …

Mems 411: B2 Striker Group Final Design Report, Jacob Rapoza, Ian M. Veserra, Alex J. Webert, Keaton Porch

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Design a golf striker that can accomplish all the holes set forth by the ASME 2023 design competition and could be attached to a robot without major design modifications.