Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Pulse Reverse Current Electrodeposited Tio2 Doped Ni-W Coating, Sydney Hughes

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Nickel-Tungsten (Ni-W) coatings via the pulse reverse current method have been under development as a potential replacement for typical Chromium/Cadmium coatings. To increase the effectiveness of Ni-W as a coating, dopants have been tested to decrease microcracks and pores and increase overall tribological performance. Previous research by Timken Engineered Surfaces Laboratory showed that Ni-W doped with TiO₂ nanoparticles had a positive effect on coating performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the ideal solution parameters (i.e. TiO₂ concentration, pH) to maximize the benefit of the dopant when samples are subjected to tribological testing. Here, solutions of …

Automated Control System For The Remote-Controlled Torch Positioner, Christopher Ferguson, Anna Abate, Kyle Cramer, Alex Sabitsch, Jacob Stefanko

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this project is to design and implement a controls system for Dr. Morscher’s burner rig. The rig serves to simulate jet turbine conditions and test how materials, specifically ceramic matrix composites, react under high temperatures and stresses. Currently, the location of the torch relies solely on manual adjustments and has no automated control system. The improved design will automatically adjust the torch position based on the desired temperature of the sample being tested, therefore maintaining a steady environment for the sample. The current method of manual adjustments for regulating temperature is a crude solution that does not …

Development Of A Heavy-Duty Aluminum Rail Hole Punch Manufacturing Fixture, Reese Hawthorne

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This report details the development and testing of an improved replacement for a worn manufacturing fixture which was used to position the location of four drilled holes on the outside of a heavy-duty aluminum rail. Commissioned by JohnDow Industries, the new process improves upon the old one by implementing an electro-hydraulic punch and new locating fixture. The new design produced higher quality slots, decreased cycle time by 15%, and aimed to improve the ergonomics of the process for the employees. All these factors contributed to making the aluminum rails a high-quality end product for JohnDow’s customers. Further iteration of the …

Theoretical Design Of A 360 Degree Pendulum Ride, John William Elliott

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project uses several areas of study: mechanical physics/design of moving parts, electrical power, and human comfort. It is based on the pendulum ride at Cedar Point called "maXair." One of the goals with this project is to create a theoretical, simpler version of a 360 Degree Pendulum Ride that operates on the same principles of a conventional pendulum rides. The velocity, forces on the shaft in the middle of the ride, the accelerations, the g force on the riders, and all the other forces associated with the pendulum ride were analyzed as well.

Agv Design, Vincent Orzel, Zachary Woodrum

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This report details the design and calculation work done towards creating an autonomous guided vehicle (AGV) for use in the steel and metal related industries. Steel Equipment Specialists (SES) is a major manufacturer of coil transportation vehicles for these industries. SES believes the future of coil transportation within the mills includes AGVs in some circumstances. The team was tasked with exploring the design and cost of a base model for use in future designs, since SES has not yet modeled or manufactured an AGV. This design was successful under the stress from the application in calculations, and the cost of …

Design And Testing Of A Feed-Forward Control System For Deployable Vortex Generators Dependent On Angle Of Attack, Solomon B. Whitmire, Christopher J. Chapanar, Kirklin M. Anderson, Nickalus R. Amon, Daniel W. Chech

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A vortex generator (VG hereafter) is a common feature of an aircraft wing that disturbs the flow on the leading edge of the wing, thus energizing the boundary layer and reducing flow separation. For an aircraft experiencing flow separation, VGs can increase the lift-to-drag ratio of the wing and prevent stall; however, if flow separation isn’t an issue, the unnecessary frontal area of the VGs has the potential to produce parasitic drag. This study seeks to determine whether the use of a deployment system can improve the performance of VG’s by raising or lowering them depending on the angle of …

4040c Universal Tester Backup, Devan Keeling, John Bowen, Cameron Bosner, Jacob Lenart

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The 40 Series valve is one of Swagelok's highest volume part families of which 60,000 parts per year shipped are multi-ported. The multiport configuration requires a unique tester to ensure proper assembly and quality of upstream processes.

Due to the multiport configuration of these valves no alternate testing option exists, resulting in a high rate of customer disappointments per day should the equipment fail.

In addition to the tester's criticality, it has also been ranked as one of Swagelok's most unhealthy assets and is probable to experience extended downtime in the future.

This project proposes to design and build a …

Mini Baja Cvt Optimization, Emily Masa, Alec Bagley, Kyle Fertig, David Gao, Noah Cook

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this project is to design and optimize an eCVT setup for The University of Akron’s Zips Baja SAE car. The current CVT is a centrifugal CVT which changes its gear ratio through a series of weights and springs, while an eCVT uses a motor to change the gear ratio.The advantage of an eCVT is that the motor can be programmed to adjust in real-time based on the engine rpm. A centrifugal CVT can only be tuned ahead of time. It is necessary to compare the new acceleration performance to a tuned centrifugal CVT to determine if it …

Sae Formula Team Carbon Fiber Seat, Sean Turner, Jacob Jaksic

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project is for the Formula SAE Zips Racing team here at the University of Akron. The team includes Jacob Jaksic, Sean Turner, Dovydas Sodys, Mike White, and Sevin Johnson. We are tasked with reducing the weight of their current seat, while remaining comfortable to the driver. Our plan was to do this with a lightweight material, specifically carbon fiber. Many different steps were required when outlining this project: finalizing a design with verification from our Zips racing advisor, completing FEA analysis on finished design, acquiring material to be molded into seat, and finding a company to fabricate out of …

Foldibot The Autonomous Clothes Folder, Jacob Kittinger, Braden Glasgow, Steven Shimko

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

As society becomes more technologically advanced, so does the demand for innovative products that save time; products like the Roomba have revolutionized household chores. Our teams’ vision was to develop a solution for another time-consuming household chore: folding laundry. The goal of this project was to conceptually design a marketable “robot” capable of autonomously folding clothes and explore a potential design by prototyping and testing it. Our team utilized our culmination of knowledge acquired over five years of engineering studies to turn a “pen and paper” sketch into a functioning prototype; this project used engineering tools such as a Weighted …

Rust Preventative Spray Varnish Verification And Nozzle Development, Dakota Snyder, Collin Whitely, Stephen Patrick, William Mccullough

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This document details the research and selection of five rust preventative spray varnishes that were to be tested. These varnishes are known as the five materials. The materials underwent rust testing and in-depth analysis to see which protects against rust the best. In addition, the document reports on the construction of a prototype self-contained, automated spray varnishing unit.

Mini Baja Frame Analysis, Jacob Swanson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of our senior design project is to optimize the Baja frame to reduce its weight and material cost while keeping the required rigidity. Through force analysis we will be able to determine if any rigidity is lost by removing a set of tubes (figure 1), along with the other forces seen by the frame. If it is found that the frame rigidity is still within the determined factor of safety, 2, then we will be able to reduce the frame weight and the number of tubes that make up the frame. Along with force analysis, we will use …

Senior Design Proposal For Brakes Subsystem 2019-2020, Jasmine Zogheib, Zachary Demetriades, Devin Seay

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This report concentrates on efforts to design a new braking system for the Zips Formula Electric Race Team. The improvements to the braking system will be based upon previous years’ official designs along with optimizing for predetermined criteria. The design will be influenced based on design factors of the car such as weight, center of gravity, wheelbase, and integration with other systems of the car.

Redesign And Analysis For Landing Gear Components, Daniel Clarke

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A project for Collins Aerospace, the company I co-op at, where I will redesign several components of a landing gear for a military program. Any structural/stress analysis will also be performed. The goal is to reduce weight while maintaining strength and structural integrity.

Jominy Hardenability Tester With In-Situ Heating, Luke Allen

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project centers on building a Jominy Hardenability tester with In-Situ heating for the manufacturing lab at the University of Akron. A new process and setup will be designed using engineering concepts in order to make the testing more efficient and safer for the teaching and testing of metal hardness. The current Jominy testing setup has efficiency issues within the transfer of specimen from induction heater to testing rig. Our design will simplify the design by creating a test rig that removes the traveling aspect of the specimen which will limit the amount of premature cooling done and will be …

Akron Honey- Honey Infuser, Niklas Hilmoe, Timothy Snider, Richard Bitzel, Preston Fillman

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The initiative for this project was created by the local business, Akron Honey, who has recently developed a new product line called ‘honeytune’. The basis of the product line is the addition of active ingredients to the natural honey. Currently, they are using a 20 gallon traditional honey extractor to mix the ingredients with the honey. This extractor uses a variable speed motor which causes a long mixing time. Also, the extractor is made of heavy stainless steel which lacks mobility of the machine. This process is tedious and inefficient and therefore, needs improvement. They would like a large scale …

Pediatric Blood Calculator, Richard Desatnik

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper outlines an expert system based solution for calculating the optimal amount of blood draw from infants to carry out critical tests requested by the attending clinicians. The solution is a hand-held device with a user-friendly interface that allows a meaningful two-way conversation between the clinician and the pathology office. Based on the tests being requested, the calculator determines the minimum amount of blood required in the different vials based on a smart expert system. This removes the uncertainty that is prevalent today in the amount of blood required to do all the tests, since in some cases there …

Zips Electric - Cooling System, Guan-Bok Kwok

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

I am working with Zips Electric Racing to design a new cooling system for the ZER-20 car. The new cooling system will be more efficient and effective than the current design. We will investigate lighter materials with better thermal conductivity. Flow rate will also be optimized to meet the system’s needs. Also calculations and testing will be completed to determine if a fan is necessary. To adapt to the new proposed chassis, it is likely that the radiator must be mounted outside of the frame. If this is necessary, we will also design composite side pods to conceal and direct …

Rocket Motor Nozzle, Corey Hillegass

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For this honors research and senior design project, the authors will research, analyze, and manufacture a rocket motor nozzle for the Akronauts rocket design team. This research and design project will improve how the rocket design team will decide and manufacture nozzles going forward. The impact of this improvement allows the rocket design team to take steps toward being self-sustaining by manufacturing student designed parts as opposed to commercially bought parts. This will not only be successful in increasing student impact on future designs, but also provides a technical challenge for the authors and will present as an impressive feat …

Shock Wave And Boundary Layer Interaction, Blake Keuchel, Lauren Andrews, Corryn Rahe

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Air entering the engine of a supersonic aircraft must be slowed to subsonic speeds for the engine to perform properly and not become significantly damaged over time. Diffusers are designed to create a shockwave to slow down air to subsonic speeds before the air enters the engine. This project will focus on the numerical analysis and design of diffuser geometries for supersonic aircraft engines. The main objective is to evaluate supersonic flow over different geometries, specifically the interaction between shock waves and boundary layer, and to minimize the amount of drag created by different diffuser geometries to optimize the efficiency …

Formula Electric Sae Frame, David Streen, David Kinion, Dylan Ramey

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The project is for the FSAE Zips Racing Electric Team. The last race car made by the Zips Racing Electric Team has a large potential for optimization. We plan to redesign the frame from the ground up in an effort to reduce weight and increase the performance potential while meeting all FSAE rules and packaging constraints.

Formula Electric is an event in which teams from colleges around the world compete in various events including autocross, endurance and many others with an electrically driven car.

This project will involve the design, analysis, and fabrication of a steel tube space frame for …

Zips Electric Racing Suspension Design, Madison Hughes, Christopher Thompson, Erikah Jackson, Anna Signorino

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

I am working with three others on the suspension and steering sybsystems for the Zips Electric Racing design team at The University of Akron. We are improving upon last year's design to help create an optimized vehicle. As part of this project, we take part in weekly design reviews and team meetings, model parts in Solidworks, and perform simulations and FEA using MATLAB/SIMULINK, Solidworks, and Optimum Kinematics.

Comparision Of Fillet-Welded Base Plate Fatigue Design For Highway Support Structures With Laboratory Research Tests, William Shea

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

There are many types of vertical structures along highways that serve unique purposes. These structures include traffic signs for directing, warning, or regulating traffic, luminaires for distributing and directing light, traffic signals supporting equipment such as traffic lights, and combination structures including any combination of the aforementioned structures. Highway support structures are typically fabricated from steel or aluminum and are designed to the guidelines and specifications of the AASHTO Standard Specifications for Structural Supports for Highway Signs, Luminaires, and Traffic Signals. The structures are connected to a foundation by anchor bolts through a welded base plate. Often a cause …

Table Top Dome Tester, Travis Bernard, Sarah Kassinger, Amanda O'Reilly, Scott Salerno

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Erichsen Cupping Test was used as a basis to design a dome tester. The intention of a dome tester is to test sheet metal material properties in all directions. This was done by clamping a piece of sheet metal and using a piston and hydraulic press to punch through the material. The force used to punch the material and the height of the deforming material can be gathered and the sheet metal properties can then be calculated. At the end of the project the team was able to successfully design and manufacture a hydraulic dome tester. However, due to …

Zips Precious Plastics: Plastic Extruder, Patrick Cole

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project's goal was to design and build an affordable desktop filament extruder that can precisely and consistently extrude filament to a certain tolerance acceptable for 3D printers using wasted printing material. The group is partnering with an on campus organization focusing on engineering applications for sustainable futures. Zips Precious Plastics is a student run design group that intends to bring an innovation space on campus to help educate students about the importance of a closed looped system within plastic manufacturing.

Integrated Dentistry Face Shield, Noah Glass

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Currently, the United States and the entire world is experiencing a global pandemic that has drastically changed the way we go about our everyday lives. Dr. Pavlik, a local dentist is one such person who has had to alter his normal dentistry routine to one of extreme caution while working on patients. His day to day job puts him at a high risk of being exposed to Covid-19 by actively working in patients’ mouths at proximity. Dr. Pavlik’s current dentistry equipment is lackluster in its compatibility with his safety equipment. To help minimize exposure to Covid-19 for Dr. Pavlik and …

Solar-Powered Exploration Of The Venus Atmosphere, Marc Migliozzi, Cory Everman, Rebecca Buerhle, Umar Muhammed, Steven Abbate, Chase Champagne

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objective of this study was to design a solar powered, unmanned aircraft to orbit in the upper Venus atmosphere and search for signs of alien life. Topics of flight conditions, signs of life, basic mission plan, source of power, design process, instrumentation, and final designs are covered. Solar energy is ideal for this type of mission because it is the only reliable and abundant energy source accessible for long term space travel. The target altitude, being 60 to 70 km, has winds of up to 95 m/s. The aircraft will need to remain stable under such conditions. Due to …

A Foundational Approach To Extrusion And Compounding, David Frankart

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With a history of nearly 200 years, polymer processing and compounding is constantly changing to fit the material science needs of the era. Exposure of undergraduate students to the technology and practices used in industry today in a lab setting would create new opportunities for experiential learning and growth. The objective was to set up a 0.75”, 25 L/D Thermo Haake single screw extruder for lab use and run trials of material in a single screw extruder to set up a basis for experiments. Trials were run of co-polyester resin through a single screw extruder with carbon fiber additives varying …

Automated Runout Measurement Tool, Ethan Tisch

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A new measurement process and tool is to be developed to improve the existing method for measuring runout on the commutators of brushed DC product.

After an armature is manufactured, the commutator is inspected by placing the completed rotor assembly in one of several non-standard measurement fixtures. An indicator is then positioned on the commutator. A trained operator proceeds to rotate the armature while taking runout and bar-to-bar measurement at various positions along the length of the commutator.

This existing process is slow, costly, and unreliable. For these reasons, there is substantial economic pressure to develop a superior method for …

Designing A Recycling Facility For Energy Materials, Bartholomew Kitko, Matthew Berger, Elias Chiti, Trayce Harris, Mark Kulesa

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this design project is to create a recycling facility for energy materials. Different energy systems will be analyzed to determine the most economically appropriate energy material to recycle. A list of the energy systems to be analyzed includes catalyst converters, wind turbines, lithium ion batteries, photo-voltaic cells, and precious materials with high energy applications. This study involves two main parts: the research to determine the most appropriate energy material for recycling, while also choosing or creating recycling processes efficient enough to reduce the US’s reliance on foreign nations for obtaining their rare-earth materials. The second part is …