Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Grinding And Super-Finishing Test Machine Project, Michael Simon

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A research project in The University of Akron to study grinding and super-finishing of silicon nitride ceramic was initiated by Dr. Siamak Farhad and sponsored by the Timken Company, with the assistance of undergraduate students Michael Simon, Ryan Hosso and Mathew Rozmajzl. The study required analysis of forces and scratches generated during grinding processes of silicon nitride samples. A testing assembly was designed and constructed to record the forces generated during grinding and super-finishing of silicon nitride samples in a computer-numerical-control machine. Silicon nitride samples were subjected to desired grinding and super-finishing operations and all forces generated during the process …

Design Of Composite Joints Using Machine Learning Approaches, Natalie Richards

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Adhesively bonded joints have an advantage in joining dissimilar engineering materials due to their high structural efficiency and being lightweight. These joints are either between two opposite laminates or between a composite laminate and a metal structure. The aerospace and automotive industries have seen an increase in utilizing these adhesive joints in their engineering applications. Joint strength along with the failure mode (adhesive, delamination, etc.) is the most important parameter to evaluate when understanding the capability of the adhesive joint. In this paper, a regression and a classification machine learning (ML) model are utilized to predict the failure load and …

Golf Club Cleaner, Owen Roach, Chris Wertenberger, Michael Skerlong

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Cleaning golf clubs can be a tedious process, however a necessary one to maintain equipment. Clubs are normally cleaned by filling a bucket with soap and water, soaking all the clubs to be cleaned, then scrubbing each one individually. An automatic club cleaner would make this process much easier and more enjoyable. Using electric motors, the club cleaner would have spinning brushes in soap and water to quickly and easily clean the club head. The machine would have different sections for cleaning the club head, polishing the club face, and cleaning the grip. The cleaner should be inexpensive and easy …

Multi-Platform Suppressor Design Project, Wyatt A. Openshaw, Alex B. Chiples

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Multi-Platform suppressor is a design that is meant to bridge the gap in the suppressor market by being compatible and configurable with both rifle and pistol platform firearms. In the specific design and prototype referenced in this report, the Multi-Platform suppressor was designed to be used with 9mm pistol and 5.56x45mm rifle calibers with safety, effectiveness, and practicality in mind. To achieve this, the suppressor is configurable, utilizing a Nielsen device in the pistol configuration and a solid mount adapter that replaces the Nielson device piston and spring while in the rifle configuration. This allows the suppressor to retain …

Nject-3d, Kody Rinkevich, Logan Henderson, Nathaniel Anderson, James Patton, Cameron Wilson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

NJECT-3D is a student initiated design project where the utilities of a 3D printer and an injection molding machine are integrated into one cohesive unit. The goal of our project was to test the limits of rapid prototyping by utilizing printed molds. We developed an automated system where a mold can be printed on a 3D printer, translated from said 3D printer to an injection molder, then compressed and injected at said injection molder to output a finalized injection molded part.

Induction Brazing, Austin Squire, Scott Compton, Logan Hathaway, Michael Fleming

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Our team would like to research and explore ways of designing a portable device that uses induction heating/brazing to connect two exhaust pipes together.

Innovated Manual Wheelchair Propulsion, Jacob Eveleth, Abigail Steineman, James Murray, Garrett Best

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this project is to provide a manual wheelchair propulsion system that provides an easier way of moving the chair for the user. Our already-defined set of constraints and goals provides a clear end-goal for our group in accomplishing this task. We plan to have a 3D CAD model of the design by the end of the Spring 2022 semester. The first half of the Fall 2022 semester will be dedicated to developing a plan for prototyping, and the second half of the semester we plan to have the prototype created for use. So far, we have utilized …

Judo Wearable, Alison Waugh, Natalie Masters

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Design a wearable sensor array to determine if a judo throw fulfills the requirements to win a match

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 …

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 …

Customizable Armor Set, Olivia Reedy

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project is intended to help people who make costume armor by reducing the amount of time and money it takes to create a set of armor. Making armor can take a lot of resources for beginners, and this project is intended to help hobbyists with that process. This customizable armor set goes through the engineering design process, from the initial design of the parts to creating the prototype using vacuum forming. The prototype armor can be painted and adhered to using acrylic paint and contact cement, respectively, and fits three sizes of small, medium, and large.

Design For Additive Manufacturing (3d Printing), Michael O'Donnell, Michael J. Levy

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this project is to study the performance of a 3D printed mechanical part subjected to topology optimization. A part that is somewhat complex in its load bearing and geometry will be selected. That part will then be designed, finite element analysis will be performed on it to optimize its topology, and then it will be 3D printed and tested. The goal of topology optimization is to either save material cost and/or part weight due to the ability of 3D printing to manufacture parts with complex and obscure geometry.

Camper Conversion, Owen Christian Hafler, Zebediah Paul Benedict Zehentbauer, Madilyn Beatrice Willis, Zachary Eli Owen, Justin Robert Nicholas

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021 has seen hundreds of thousands sequestered in quarantine for long periods of time. When quarantined in an urban setting, many cannot leave their respective apartment buildings which only adds to the strain of isolation. In the context of isolation, the design team of Hafler, Nicholas, Owen, Willis, and Zehentbauer personally sought to incorporate their individual enthusiasm for nature with the benefits of living off-grid. After initial research and deliberation, the team discovered the “Skoolie” community and the plans for a mobile tiny home began production.

The team outlined the design project as the full design, …

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 …

Smart Home Pet Feeder, Andrew Markja, Simona Zdravev, Timothy Zubek, Christian Jackson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this project was to design a Smart Home Pet Feeder that will allow the owner to feed their pet using 4 different methods. The methods are: manually, scheduled, app/url, Alexa/Google. The advantages of this design are that it will become convenient for pet owners who are busy and unable to make it back to their house to feed their pets remotely or for those who enjoy the use of technology from within their home for no-trouble feeding.

Dji Drone Modification, Sean Lacey, Seth Mancuso, Bryce Mckenzie

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For this project, we set out to create a lightweight carrying case that would be mounted to a DJI Phantom 3. This case is designed to transport small packages, such as medications, from a delivery vehicle to their final destination. Based on our maximum drone lifting capacity of 600 grams, our case, servomotor, and contents had to weigh less than or equal to that value. The coronavirus pandemic has led to an increase in contactless delivery options along with the push for immunocompromised people to avoid contact with people that may be sick. Our product would help transport necessary supplies …

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.

Chainless Bike Drive, Dominic Apisa, Bradley Powell, Garrett Colvin, John Monsour

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The focus of this project was to design a drive system that could replace the conventional chain drive system, improving on both the efficiency and reliability, in addition to being low cost and lightweight. This report will provide background into why this group chose this as the subject of their project, as well as challenges faced throughout the design process. The design developed was a drive shaft driven by a system of pinions and gears, with a freewheel mechanism that allowed the system to coast when not pedaling. Due to cost and time constraints, only a prototype was created, with …

Feasibility Of Additive Manufacturing For Vibration Isolation Systems, Matthew Youngblood, Christian Velo, Gary Facemyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

During transport sensitive payloads can become subject to a multitude of vibration or shock environments that can lead to damage. Using only additive manufacturing we seek to design an isolation system that can provide enough vibration and shock damping to properly protect the payload. Using modern FEA software we were able to quickly analyze a variety of solutions and determine the best one. Based on the results we have achieved through analysis, as well as pushing the manufacturing capabilities of 3D printers, we believe it is plausible to use additive manufacturing to create a fully capable vibration isolation system.

Sae Formula Team Carbon Fiber Seat, Jacob Jaksic

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

roject 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 carbon …

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 …

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 …

Door Barricade, Alex Cerino

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

My senior capstone project will be a door barricade. The main idea for the use of the door barricade is for schools in the case of an intruder. The barricade that I will be designing is a solution to the inefficient barricades that I saw at my high school. It could also be used at businesses and homes. My design would be easy to use and have a fail-safe option. The two areas of mechanical engineering technology that my capstone project will focus on are stress analysis and electronics. Every part for my door barricade is drawn in SolidWorks. All …

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 …

Additive Manufactured Formula Sae Brake Caliper, Auston Obringer, Robert Kucera, Steven Massarelli, Jared John, Michael Finer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In a world where innovation has become the new norm, automobiles can often be found at the forefront of that movement. Each and every year there are new innovations and concepts that push modern day technology to the edge of what is physically possible. This can be seen from every aspect of these automobiles ranging from the conceptual stage all the way to production.

Most of these advancements have been made possible with the new technology that has become available on the manufacturing side of the designs. Instead of being constrained by what is possible on your average 3 to …

A Low-Cost Face Mask Detection System, Joshua Curtis, Logan Mospens, David Nelson, Sumner Wilson, Adam Kilo

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In this project we approached the problem of developing a computer-based system which can identify whether people in images are wearing masks or not. To do so, we divided the project into two primary research areas: hardware and software. The hardware team inspected camera solutions and data gathering efforts on campus to assist the software training of the machine learning model. The software team learned how to work with machine learning by using TensorFlow and Python to use transfer learning to develop a model that will quickly detect if someone was wearing a mask or not.

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 …

Road Racing Aerodynamic Simulation + Testing, Jack Sawyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

There are multiple goals for this project. The first goal of this project is to design, assemble and simulate additional aerodynamic components. Another goal is to create a product that can analyze various angles of attack of Aerodynamic components. The product will be used on, or off the track to determine the lift coefficients of vehicles at varying speeds. I will be using my 1992 Honda Civic for testing and compare my physical results to my simulated tests.

The project did come with a list of design and manufacturing challenges along with additional finical cost which has resulted in some …

Less Commute Miles. Decreased Tire Wear. What Would You Do?, Dylan Schwarz, Brendon M. Ford, Brandon D. Hadinger, Abbie N. Pearce, Jacinta M. Pikunas

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With the flagrant recognition of the coronavirus as one of those most impactful viruses in the history of the world, it is important to study how the effects of such a disease can create troublesome ripple effects in the world. Covid-19 has caused the death of hundreds of thousands of individuals and has negatively impacted the lives of American’s all across the country during the nationwide lockdown. Decreased work commuters, minimal road travel, and little need for car repairs hit the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company hard. The University of Akron has teamed up with Goodyear to explore such effects …