Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Callaway Golf: Variable Curved Impulse Sealer, Justin Cook, Ben Jones, Sean Reynolds

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Module Cover Conductivity Enhancement, Niles Dhanens, James Fortner

Mechanical Engineering

A clam shell module cover for printed circuit boards (PCB) has been designed for use in Boeing’s AECM cabinet. The cover utilizes materials with high thermal conductivity and cools the PCB by conducting the heat to a cold plate interface. Materials were compared and aluminum 6061-T6, aluminum 3003, and annealed pyrolytic graphite (APG) were chosen. A prototype was built and tested using aluminum 6061-T6 which was able to dissipate 57.7% of the projected wattage. Issues may include unforeseen complications in assembly along with components performing at lower levels than specified by manufacturers. The APG prototype was unable to be tested …

Hydraulic Hand Press Final Project Report, Nathaniel Marc Brown, Matthew Thomas Knorr

Mechanical Engineering

This report provides a thorough description of the design of a hydraulic hand-operated press by mechanical engineering students at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, for the Estrella Warbirds Museum in Paso Robles, California. It begins with research into hydraulic operations, a brief study of fluid power and incompressible fluids, and a look into existing products. Specified customer requirements stipulate the loading and general size constraints. As part of the project, a schedule is laid out following industry techniques. Brainstorming and decision matrices are utilized as well, conveying our design process. A basic structure is developed using strength …

Best-In-Class Global Bumper Reinforcement Beam, Garret Anthony Bautista, Chad Anthony Hardin, Benjamin Ray Taylor

Mechanical Engineering

Modern bumper systems are governed by laws and regulations imposed separately by various countries. Today, the regulations in China, North America, and Europe are becoming more similar, but there is not a widely accepted bumper reinforcement that meets the requirements of all markets around the globe.

A universal bumper reinforcement beam incorporating Plug-n-Play techniques was developed to meet and exceed all testing requirements and performance standards of each country. These Plug-n-Play techniques consist of adding energy absorbing attachments to the front of a base bumper beam. Simple beam analysis and FEA were the primary analysis tools in the development of …

Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling Of Atmospheric Flow Applied To Wind Energy Research, Alan Russell

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

High resolution atmospheric flow modeling using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has many applications in the wind energy industry. A well designed model can accurately calculate wind speed, direction, and turbulence at any point in a wind farm using data from a fixed location source. The model can extend point source data over an area of several square kilometers, or map terrain influenced microclimates using remote wind data. A local flow model is critical for wind resource site assessment, and for optimizing wind farm turbine layout for maximum power production. A CFD simulation of an operating wind farm, coupled with a …

Development Of An Air-Cycle Environmental Control System For Automotive Applications, Christopher James Forster

Master's Theses

An air‐cycle air conditioning system, using a typical automotive turbocharger as the core of the system, was designed and tested. Effects on engine performance were kept to a minimum while providing the maximum amount of cooling possible and minimizing weight and space requirements. A test stand utilizing shop compressed air was developed to measure component performance. An unmodified automotive turbocharger was tested initially as a baseline in a Reversed‐Brayton Cycle air cooling system. Once the baseline was established, another aircycle machine, assembled from commercial turbocharger components chosen individually to optimize their performance for cooling purposes, was tested to improve the …

Me-Em Enewsbrief, December 2009, Department Of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Cross Sections Used To Elucidate Differences In Wavelet Transforms Of Ground Force Reactions, Wesley John Orme

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

A study done for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that over 50% of sports related injuries are to the lower extremities [1] with additional studies indicating that females, adolescent through collegiate, have a higher rate of lower extremity sports related injuries than males [2-4]. Conditions surrounding non-contact injuries can be analyzed using ground reaction force (GRF) data from force plates during unanticipated single leg drops, however, the expected gender differences in GRF may not be apparent when viewing data independently in the time or frequency domains.

Graphing the results of a wavelet transform, currently used by scientific, medical, …

Two-Material Cylinder Stress Response Software, Katherine Gage, Matt Highstreet, Liz Del Cid

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

A Fast Nir Spectrometer For Examining Explosive Events: Emission Of Petn Based Explosives And H2O Absorption Method Feasibility, Scott Piecuch

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The chemical dynamics and decomposition pathways of explosive materials are not entirely known. Measurements of chemical transients during explosive events can lead to enhanced knowledge of the detailed chemistry and eventually control of the end products; however, these measurements are often difficult to obtain due to fast time scales and harsh environments. Optical diagnostics present fast-response, minimally invasive methods for resolving properties in detonation environments and previous fast spectroscopic measurements have been recorded in the ultra-violet and visible regions. This work extends the range of such measurements to the near-infrared (NIR) through the development of a fiber-coupled NIR spectrometer utilizing …

The Part Count Tool (Pact) For Concept Selection, Tarang Parashar, Katie Grantham Lough, Robert B. Stone

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a part count tool that automates the consideration of manufacturing cost during the conceptual design phase by predicting part count for a particular product concept. with an approximate number of parts per product in the conceptual design phase, the designer can estimate the cost associated with the product. on the basis of the cost, the designer can make changes according to budget requirements. the part count tool will also aid in ranking the design concepts by number of components for a product. This tool utilizes existing automated concept generation algorithms to generate the design concepts. It extracts …

An Experimental Study Of Potential Residential And Commercial Applications Of Small-Scale Hybrid Power Systems, Michael Anthony Acosta

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The research presented in this thesis provides an understanding of small-scale hybrid power systems. Experiments were conducted to identify potential applications of renewable energy in residential and commercial applications in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Solar and wind energy converted into electric energy was stored in batteries and inverted to power common household and commercial appliances. Several small to medium size hybrid power systems were setup and utilized to conduct numerous tests to study renewable energy prospects and feasibility for various applications. The experimental results obtained indicate that carefully constructed solar power systems can provide people living in isolated …

Interim Access To The International Space Station, Tyson Karl Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis evaluates mission scenarios using the existing Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles for delivering the Crew Exploration Vehicle to the International Space Station. The Space Shuttle is scheduled to retire in the year 2011 and the Ares I is being developed to replace it. With its current schedule, the earliest that the Ares I will become fully operational is 2016. The configurations in this thesis are presented to narrow the gap in which the USA does not have direct access to the International Space Station. They also present "buy down" options for the USA human space operations, if the current …

Parallelization Of Performance Limiting Routines In The Computational Fluid Dynamics General Notation System Library, Kyle Horne

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Computational Fluid Dynamics General Notation System provides a unified way in which computational fluid dynamics data can be stored, but does not support the parallel I/O capabilities now available from version five of the Hierarchical Data Format library which serves as a back end for he standard. To resolve this deficiency, a new parallel extension library has been written and benchmarked for this work which can write files compliant with the standard using parallel file access modes. When using this new library, the write performance shows an increase of four-fold in some cases when compared to the same hardware …

Pump Sequencing Optimization, John S. Allan, Kyle J. Nekimken, Spencer B. Weills

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this document is to demonstrate the design, production, and testing of optimum pump sequencing logic for variable frequency drive (VFD) pumps in commercial heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. The product will be developed by Pump Efficiency Solutions (PES), which is a group of Cal Poly students working on their senior project. The product is being developed for Trane, an industry leader in large scale HVAC systems. MATLAB™, Microsoft Excel, Pump System Improvement Modeling Tool™ (PSIM), and fluid mechanics hand calculations were used during software development. Next, we converted the program into Trane’s graphical programming language …

Chip Removal Tool Project, Brett Mori, John Cote, Kyle Rowland, Micah Wells

Mechanical Engineering

The Cal Poly senior project team worked with Helical Products Inc. to develop an automated method for removing swarf and chip buildup from the drill bits of their CNC milling machines. The removal methods in this report were designed for and tested using a Fanuc Robodrill while keeping the potential in mind for their use in other CNC milling machines. After extensive background research, preliminary and prototype design and testing the final chosen design is shown below. The cleaning device is made from flexible sheet metal and placed on a fixture that occupies one of the two pallet locations inside …

Supermileage Team - Urban Concept Competition Vehicle Chassis Design Report, Andrew Allport, Kevin Braico, Kevin Charles, George Kyi, William Lai

Mechanical Engineering

This research and design project was proposed by the Cal Poly Supermileage team. They have requested for our team to design an Urban Concept car, a new category of vehicles to compete for fuel efficiency in the Shell Eco-marathon in 2010. The primary focus of our team is in the design and construction of a chassis the Supermileage team can use for the 2010 competition in Fontana, CA. This design must meet dimensional and functional requirements set by Shell while being designed to maximize efficiency in the competition.

There were various chassis concepts under consideration that would possibly work for …

Broccoli Floret Cutter: Gold Coast Packaging, Inc., Sean Stamm, Walter Salguero, Felipe Gomez Jr, Ruben Duenas

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

A Study On Gas Penetration And Fingering Behavior In Injection Molding Of Polymer And Powder Metal Feedstock, Edna I. Orozco

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The effect of processing variables on the level of gas penetration in parts fabricated by gas-assisted injection molding from two different materials was compared. The materials used were polypropylene and stainless steel powder metal/thermoplastic feedstock. Software simulation and physical experiments were conducted. Taguchi analysis was used to reduce the number of experiment trials and to find the optimum processing conditions. Four different variables were changed using nine different combinations. The processing variables are the pressure, the delay time before gas is injected, the temperature of the material injected, and the amount of the material injected. The results showed that the …

The Cryogenic Bonding Evaluation At The Metallic-Composite Interface Of A Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel With Additional Impact Investigation, Eric A. Clark

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A bonding evaluation that investigated the cryogenic tensile strength of several different adhesives / resins was performed. The test materials consisted of 6061 aluminum test pieces adhered to a wet-wound graphite laminate in order to simulate the bond created at the liner-composite interface of an aluminum lined composite overwrapped pressure vessel. It was found that for cryogenic applications, a flexible, low modulus resin system must be used. Additionally, the samples prepared with a thin layer of cured resin – or prebond – performed significantly better than those without. It was found that it is critical that the prebond surface must …

Final Report: Space Coast Clean Cities Coalition Programmatic Support, Florida Solar Energy Center, William Young

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This Final Report summarizes the work performed by the Florida Solar Energy Center for U.S. Department of Energy for the National Clean Cities Program to reduce emissions and energy consumption of transportation vehicles. This report describes the activities and events of Florida Space Coast Clean Cities Coalition encompassing a nine county area in east central Florida. FSEC administers the Coalition and support the Coalition Board of Directors with meetings, workshop, reports, mailing list, membership, activities, questionnaires, fuel pricing, alternative vehicle and infrastructure deployment.

Vision-Based Precision Landings Of A Tailsitter Uav, Paul Travis Millet

Theses and Dissertations

We present a method of performing precision landings of a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned air vehicle (UAV) with the use of an onboard vision sensor and information about the aircraft's orientation and altitude above ground level (AGL). A method for calculating the 3-dimensional location of the UAV relative to a ground target of interest is presented as well as a navigational controller to position the UAV above the target. A method is also presented to prevent the UAV from moving in a way that will cause the ground target of interest to go out of view of the …

Developing G-Rim And Participants Tests For Specific Commercial Programs For The Florida Natural Gas Association, Florida Solar Energy Center, Richard Raustad

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The Florida Solar Energy Center performed an economic assessment for 7 common commercial appliances. This assessment calculates the gas rate impact measure and participants test score for selecting natural gas equipment over comparable electric equipment over a 20-year period. This type of analysis provides an indication whether or not the specific appliance program favors the end use customer and/or the utility company as economic beneficiaries. Given the project assumptions, all natural gas equipment types, with the exception of the pool heat pump water heater, show measures greater than 1 indicating that the natural gas appliance will have lower life-cycle costs …

Imprinting Polymerfilm On Patterned Substrate, Li Tan, Yen-Peng Kong, Stella W. Pang, Albert F. Yee

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A method of applying a pattern on a topography includes first applying a polymer film to an elastormer member, such as PDMS, to form a pad. The pad is then applied to a substrate having a varying topography under pressure. The polymer film is transferred to the substrate due to the plastic deformation of the polymer film under pressure compared to the elastic deformation of the PDMS member pulls away from the polymer layer, thereby depositing the polymer layer, thereby depositing the polymer layer upon the substrate.

Device And Methods For Atomizing Fluids, Vedanth Srinivasan, Abraham J. Salazar, Kozo Saito, Richard Alloo, Sakakibara Masahito

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Patents

One embodiment of the invention is directed to an apparatus for atomizing a fluid. This apparatus includes an atomizing nozzle assembly. The atomizing nozzle assembly includes: a spray applicator enclosure having a fluid entry zone, a flow shape profiler region, a transducer, and a cavitation enhancer module, wherein the cavitation enhancer module includes a residence modulation zone and the residence modulation zone includes a backward facing step region. The apparatus is configured such that fluid can enter the fluid entry zone to the nozzle profiler, the transducer and the cavitation enhancer module. Other embodiments relate to methods for atomizing fluids.

Intermittent Behaviour Of A Cracked Rotor In The Resonance Region, Grzegorz Litak, Jerzy T. Sawicki

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Vibrations of the Jeffcott rotor are modelled by a three degree of freedom system including coupling between lateral and torsional modes. The crack in a rotating shaft of the rotor is introduced via time dependent stiffness with off-diagonal couplings. Applying the external torque to the system allows to observe the effect of crack “breathing” and gain insight into the system. It is manifested in the complex dynamic behaviour of the rotor in the region of internal resonance, showing a quasi-periodic motion or even non-periodic behaviour. In the present paper report, we show the system response to the external torque excitation …

Enhanced Vehicle Identification Utilizing Sensor Fusion And Statistical Algorithms, Stephane Roussel, Hemanth Porumamilla, Charles Birdsong, Peter Schuster, Christopher Clark

Mechanical Engineering

Several studies in the area of vehicle detection and identification involve the use of probabilistic analysis and sensor fusion. While several sensors utilized for identifying vehicle presence and proximity have been researched, their effectiveness in identifying vehicle types has remained inadequate. This study presents the utilization of an ultrasonic sensor coupled with a magnetic sensor and the development of statistical algorithms to overcome this limitation. Mathematical models of both the ultrasonic and magnetic sensors were constructed to first understand the intrinsic characteristics of the individual sensors and also to provide a means of simulating the performance of the combined sensor …

Developing Natural Gas Cost Escalation Rates For The Associated Gas Distributors Of Florida, Florida Solar Energy Center, Richard Raustad

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) created a spreadsheet tool used to calculate the fuel escalation rates for electricity and natural gas for the previous 5-year and 10-year periods. These escalation rates are calculated at the local, State, and national level for both residential and commercial customers. The previous 5-year and 10-year general inflation rate as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index are also included. These calculations are made in accordance with rules established by the Florida Building Commission pursuant to rule 9B-13.0071, Cost Effectiveness of Amendments to Energy Code.

Investigate Correlations Of Microstructures, Mechanical Properties And Fsw Process Variables In Friction Stir Welded High Strength Low Alloy 65 Steel, Lingyun Wei

Theses and Dissertations

The present study focuses on developing a relationship between process variables, mechanical properties and post weld microstructure in Friction Stir Welded HSLA 65 steel. Fully consolidated welds can be produced in HSLA 65 steel by PCBN Convex-Scrolled-Shoulder-Step-Spiral (CS4) tool over a wide range of parameters. Microstructures in the nugget center (NC) are dominated by lath bainite and a few polygonal/allotriomorphic grain boundary ferrites. FSW dependent variables are related to FSW independent variables by non-linear relationship. Heat input is identified to be the best parameter index to correlate with microstructures. With increasing heat input, the volume of bainite is reduced, the …

Semi-Automatic Image Segmentation For Volumetric Visualization Of Pelvis Ct Scan-Images, Suprijanto Suprijanto, Farida I. Muchtadi, Irwan Setiawan

Makara Journal of Technology

Semi-Automatic Image Segmentation for Volumetric Visualization of Pelvis CT Scan-Images. The current development of computerized tomography (CT) has enable us to obtain cross sectional image using multi slicing techniques in an order of few seconds. The obtained images represent several tissue structures on cross section slice being imaged. One challenge to help diagnosis using CT images is extracting an anatomic structure of interest using a method of image segmentation and volumetric visualization with the assistance of computers. In case of volumetric visualization of pelvis bones extracted from multi-slice CT images, whole images which are containing part of pelvis bone structures …