Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Deployable Antenna For Cubesat, Mackenzie Thomas Lennon, Caleb Andrew Barber, David Matthew Galves

Mechanical Engineering

This project is a proof-of-concept ground model of a large deployable antenna designed for the small space requirements of CubeSats. This small deployment module is designed to fit a 2 m by 1 m reflective antenna inside a storage volume of with the dimensions 20 cm by 20 cm x 40 cm. The reflector will be deployed to a parabolic shape with the goal of modeling the reflector necessary for high frequency communication. Because this module is designed as a proof-of-concept for the deployable parabolic reflector specifically, no electrical components will be incorporated and will just focus on the deployment …

Drawing And Twisting Of Graphene Fibers, Gregory T. Lane, Robert J. Sekerak, Isaias Diaz

Mechanical Engineering

The aim of this project was to develop a more automated process for drawing and twisting of graphene fibers than was currently in place. This was implemented by having two chemical baths with variable speed rollers at either end, and intermediate roller to spool fiber between stages, and a twisting cylinder with integral spool to twist the fiber as it is collected. The goal was to have this first iteration deliver a working prototype, however due to manufacturing delays and timing constraints, that will be missed. A second follow-on project would be able to continue the work presented here and …

Maize Mill Senior Project, Jose Ignacio Delgado, Wesley C. Curtis, Charles Steese

Mechanical Engineering

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) has worked on several projects to help developing communities around the world build the infrastructure necessary for modern life. One of their projects is the creation of an inexpensive and easily manufactured maize mill that communities in Africa (mainly Malawi) can use to grind corn and make their main food source, Nsima. Geoffery Wheeler, an accomplished engineer and former mentor to EWB’s Malawi team, wants an inexpensive, easily manufacturable and effective maize mill that can be fabricated and sustained in Africa.

This report describes the process in which the Maize Mill Senior Project team created the …

Azelia's Walker, Jordan C. Ramsey, Kathleen C. Balfour, Jayne K. Benedict, Gabrielle Merkin

Mechanical Engineering

A Biomedical Engineering student, KC Balfour, two Mechanical Engineering students, Jayne Benedict and Gabrielle Merkin, and one Industrial Engineering student, Jordan Ramsey, make up the interdisciplinary senior project team of Azelia’s Walker. The goal of Azelia’s Walker is to create a custom walker for an 8-year-old girl in the San Luis Obispo Community, named Azelia, who has decreased motor control. Her current walker does not suit her active and energetic lifestyle, so Azelia’s Walker is challenged to design and manufacture a collapsible all-terrain walker that best suits Azelia’s needs. Throughout the academic year, Azelia’s Walker participated in the brain-storming and …

X-Beam Alignment System, Whittaker Ian Hamill, Joseph Michael Falcao, Robert Kim-Yan Tam

Mechanical Engineering

The goal of the project was to design, build, and test an automated machine for Micro-Vu that will align a pair of rails to the necessary precision and affix said rails to Micro-Vu's X-Beam as to reduce manual labor and human error.

Swanton Pacific Railroad - Track Maintainer Upgrades, Jakob Graf, Dustin Platt

Mechanical Engineering

This project’s sponsor is Swanton Pacific Railroad, a 1/3 scale railroad in Santa Cruz, CA. Our team was given the task of upgrading a maintenance cart used to clear debris from the track and level the gravel ballast during maintenance projects. Our focus was to upgrade the blowing system used to clear any debris. The current system used is a hydraulic fan with a single length of ducting serving as its outlet. Our solution is to mount two Stihl backpack leaf blowers to manufactured saddles and mount the assembly to the cart in place of the hydraulic fan. Ducting is …

Wheelieking Trainer Project Report, Harold Hall Iii, Nathaniel Fox, Thomas Niemisto

Biomedical Engineering

In this report we will detail the design and implementation process of the WheelieKing Trainer project, a device that helps people learn how to do wheelies on a bicycle by preventing backward falls. Formal project requirements are specified, followed by the ideation and iteration process to meet those requirements. The components and methods used to create the device are described in detail. The results of the development process and usage test results of the device are included. Appendices at the end of this report include references, supporting analyses, and project management and timeline details.

Design Of Process Improvements To Increase Field Work Efficiency At Webcor Concrete Group, Fiona Blackburn

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This study set out to analyze and improve field work efficiency at Webcor Concrete Group, a subcontractor working on a new housing project at the Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo campus. Specifically, they would like to access their performance in regards to end-of-break to back-to-work time and the 30-30 rule, which states that everything a field worker needs should be accessible within 30 seconds or 30 feet. The problem statement is that Webcor wishes to utilize their field hours 5% more efficiently through a study of current shortcomings and recommended improvements. A review of the literature generated process improvement ideas …

Design Of An Improved Toolbox And Connex For Webcor Builders, Veronica Ana Valley, Jamie Mari Kusumoto

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Webcor builders asked the Senior Project team to create a design of an organized job box on Solidworks that improves worker efficiency, improves jobsite organization, and limits financial losses, which are common tool-related issues for the company. As a group, the members analyzed the job box current situation using multiple perspectives to create two designs, one streamlined by each project group member. The project group developed each of the designs based on a current state analysis in which we analyzed the job box, simulated finding tools to create multiple motion studies, collected worker feedback, conducted an ergonomic analysis, conducted a …

Redesign Of Good Karma Bike’S Facility Layout And Bike Storage Process, Ryan Phillip Ogan, Derek Chung, Tommy Chang

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Good Karma Bikes is a non-profit organization that services and restores bikes that customers bring into the shop. Good Karma Bikes has plans for a dramatic increase in storage capacity for the next few years. Good Karma Bike’s warehouse area is currently overflowing with bikes due to the large increase in demand. A redesign of the warehouse layout is needed to handle the increase of incoming bikes and to improve product flow through the space. The project team’s objectives are to:

• Improve accessibility and reduce time it takes to unrack a bike
• Increase space utilization by improving bike storage capacity …

Design Of Material Flow And Tracking System For Supply Chain And Logistics: E. & J. Gallo Winery – Modesto Campus, Joshua Balland, Angela Mariani

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

E. & J. Gallo is a winemaking company located in Modesto, California. Our group was assigned to measure and analyze E. & J. Gallo’s current state process for their 5-Buggies (transportation trailers) to find key areas of inefficiency. After analyzing their current state process, we designed a more efficient flow of materials for the 5-Buggy system within the Automatic Train Loading (ATL) station and found an optimal solution for tracking the 5-Buggies on the Modesto campus. Our project started with preliminary research on fleet management, material management systems, and tracking methodologies. Once these areas of research were fully understood, our …

Design Of A Process To Implement An Annual Community Fundraiser For Sprout Up, Katherine Lynette Phillips, Kimberly Nicole Walter

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Sprout Up—in San Luis Obispo—is currently a non-profit organization that teaches free environmental science education to first and second graders around the San Luis Obispo area. Due to recent circumstances, Sprout Up will soon be losing its non-profit status, and therefore they will be losing their funding as well. Their problem is that they need a stable annual fundraiser that will help the organization continue to provide free services to local elementary schools as a Cal Poly club rather than a non-profit. Multi-criteria analysis techniques were used to determine what would be the best solution to their problem and found …

Reusable Container System Optimization For Smart Cities, Aubrey Gail Sloan, Lukas James Pinkston, Andrew James Seaman

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Federal and local governments are investing in methods to discourage use of disposable containers in order to reduce waste generation and protect the environment. In this project we propose the use of reusable takeout food containers as a replacement for disposable takeout food containers. Reusable takeout container systems may use barcode or RFID (radio frequency identification) technology to track and manage the distribution, collection, cleaning, and end-of-life recycling of reusable takeout food containers. Such systems will require the use of container collection bins. The design and optimization of a network of container collection bins is the topic of this project. …

Design Of A Decision-Aiding Model Between Subtractive Manufacturing And 3d-Printing, Tuan Minh Ryan Pham, Colton Harrison

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

3D-printing is becoming more and more widely used in industry. As this happens, manufacturers are becoming unsure of when to use this new technology and when to trudge on with subtractive (conventional) manufacturing processes. Subtractive manufacturing processes are well-established within many manufacturing companies due to its high efficiencies and low costs. However, 3D-printing offers a greater level of customization, can be automated, and can easily have designs transferred via computer files. Each method has its respective advantages, however, each one also has its downfalls. Subtractive manufacturing produces unnecessary waste, is limited from creating certain geometries, and requires a skilled laborer …

Golf Club Prototyping And Design For Spin Rate Tuning, Cole Nygren, Jordan Wright, Jesse Yap

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The aim of this project was to design a golf wedge capable of increasing backspin for the amateur golfer. This was accomplished by embedding a metal lattice structure behind the clubface to allow the face to elastically deform slightly upon impact. This would increase contact time between the club and ball. The mechanism of spin generation was discussed and the relationship between contact time and spin rate was established. The design was enabled by using additive manufacturing, which allowed for the generation of a metal lattice structure. An appropriate control and prototype were designed to minimize run time and material …

Manufacturing Process And Product Design For Mass Production Of Environmentally-Friendly Fishing Lures And Weights, David Ichlokmanian, Justin Jake Bert

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The current industry standard for the manufacture of recreational fishing tackle uses lead-based weights and PVC or silicone-based lures. Both materials have serious negative effects on those who handle these products, waterfowl, fish, and other animals that may consume this discarded tackle. The goal of this project is to find and design an environmentally safe process and product alternative for this industry. To do this, we researched a large amount of viable safe materials for weights and lures and used decision matrices to decide on the best one. We found that brass would be the most suitable alternative and created …

Addressing The Existence Of Overcrowding In The Cal Poly Rec Center Exercise Rooms, Josue Alvarez, Robert Hemphill

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Cal Poly’s Rec Center is a facility that has been extremely popular among students ever since its initial creation many decades ago. Despite its popularity being a positive quality in most ways, it does ultimately yield a certain issue for the users of the facility; the issue of overcrowding. This senior project aimed to analyze the problem of overcrowding at the Rec Center and improve upon its most critical areas of impact. Ultimately, we identified the Rec Center’s exercise rooms as the most impacted area, with the issue of equipment unavailability being the largest factor. Thus, we designed alternative equipment …

Design Of Standard Operating Procedures For Concrete Delivery And Pour Data Collection And Analysis, Andrew Willard, Mitchell Wilhelmsen

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Webcor Concrete Group (WCG) is a self-perform subsidiary of Webcor Builders, a large general contractor in the state of California. Inefficiencies plague the construction industry, resulting in Webcor reaching out to the Cal Poly Industrial and Manufacturing Department and its students for help. The opportunity addressed in this report centers on a lack of concrete pour data collection. This gap results in a struggle to defend against, or pursue, backcharges with their concrete suppliers regarding additional labor costs or wasted material. The project objective is to provide WCG with a baseline data collection system and procedure, leading to increased back-charge …

Aerodynamic Drag On Intermodal Rail Cars, Philip Donovan Kinghorn

Theses and Dissertations

The freight rail industry is essential to the US infrastructure and there is significant motivation to improve its efficiency. The aerodynamic drag associated with transport of commodities by rail is becoming increasingly important as the cost of diesel fuel increases. For intermodal railcars a significant amount of aerodynamic drag is a result of the large distance between containers that often occurs and the resulting pressure drag resulting from the separated flow that results due to their non-streamlined shape. This thesis reports on research that has been done to characterize the aerodynamic drag on intermodal train builds and allow their builds …

An Analysis Of Enabling Techniques For Highly-Accessible Low-Cost Virtual Reality Hardware In The Collaborative Engineering Design Process, Joshua Q. Coburn

Theses and Dissertations

While there currently exists a great deal of research in the literature demonstrating various engineering applications for virtual reality (VR) and the benefits of these applications, VR adoption has been slow in part because of the high cost and resources required to setup and maintain the hardware for these applications. However, in the last 5 years, a new generation of VR hardware has emerged with cost and resource requirements which are a small fraction of previous hardware. This work begins with a survey of this newly available hardware summarizing recent advances for providing virtual input to all of the five …

Remote Cable Gantry, Allen L. Bailey

Electrical Engineering

The Remote Cable Gantry is a robotic system that was initially intended to aid in the art of aerial videography. It was designed to enable novice and expert users alike to capture both video footage and audio from perspectives unachievable by current methods. This system uses a series of cables to control the position of a camera gimbal in a defined 3D space and, as a self-contained unit, is portable and easy to use. The Remote Cable Gantry offers a quiet, intuitive, and safe alternative to existing technology, which has been limiting the market and potential of aerial photography and …

Design For Waste Reduction And Efficiency Improvement For The Construction Usage Of The Tower Crane, George Merida, Roman Richard

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Webcor Concrete Group’s on-site tower crane is currently experiencing unknown forms of inefficiency. The project team used the DMAIC methodology to implement Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control in order to guide and structure the project. After the project team formulated a problem statement, observations were collected of tower crane deliveries resulting in 470 individual data points. The data was then analyzed using basic statistics, histograms, and lean manufacturing tools in order to identify wastes and inefficiencies. Once the wastes and inefficiencies were identified, root cause analysis was performed. The identified root causes were then used as the basis for …

Designing An Information System To Efficiently Coordinate Film Screenings, Galen Dougherty

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This paper explains the engineering concepts design efforts used to build an information system to efficiently coordinate film screenings. The market served is an emerging group of film makers and production companies that have limited resources. The application aims to save both time and money in coordination efforts for screening films in the local community. The project case examined is a small production start-up from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo named Yellow Glass Media. The design described in the paper specifically targets their needs which are assumed to be representative of the needs of the larger emerging market. The design …

Low-Cost Jetting System; Space And Naval Warfare Systems Command (Spawar), Carson B. Bush, Daly Sombat, Charles J. Kleeman

Mechanical Engineering

SPAWAR, a research and development side of the U.S. Navy, needed a way to bury classified payloads below the seafloor in order to anchor the devices. They currently use a jetting system that costs around $20,000 to do it, and they desired a cheaper system capable of performing the same tasks. SPAWAR presented the project to Cal Poly Mechanical Engineers as a senior project in the fall of 2016.

The design team that decided to take on the project was interested in creating the system with two key factors in mind in order to make the device less expensive.

1. …

Avalon Submersible Support Structure: Final Project Report, Alexandra Mililani Zaragoza, Octavio Mendoza, Austin Scott Eslinger

Mechanical Engineering

The MBMM, represented by our sponsor Bob McCay, is currently looking for a new way to support the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV), Avalon, that they have on display. The DSRV is currently sitting on a Short Haul Vehicle (SHV) trailer and the total weight (32 tons) is currently being supported by the SHV’s tires. This is a source of concern for the MBMM due to the weathering the tires have undergone combined with the amount of time that they have been supporting the weight. The MBMM is looking for a support structure that will take the weight off of …

Cal Poly Supermileage Steering System, Lucas S. Rybarczyk, Sean K. Michel, Giovanni P. Murillo

Mechanical Engineering

The following report outlines the full design process that the senior project team went through to develop a steering system for the 2018 Cal Poly Supermileage vehicle from the development to the manufacturing and testing of the senior project steering system. The team was successful in reducing the weight of the steering system from 12.64 to 5.85 pounds while remaining within the cost budget provided for the Cal Poly Supermileage team. The new steering system initially failed drop testing which resulted in the uprights pulling out of the bottom carbon supports. This failure was repaired with a small redesign to …

Mini High Temperature Test Unit Final Design Report, Kevin Liu, Juan P. Castillo

Mechanical Engineering

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has invested considerable effort to develop new standard for nuclear grade HEPA filters that can withstand high temperatures along with methods to optimally test not only the experimental filter media, but also new frame seals and media binders. Therefore, LLNL in collaboration with Cal Poly has designed and built a Mini High Temperature Testing Unit (MHTTU) to recreate conditions observed during a fire and to test different materials in an effective, inexpensive, regulated and reliable method. The existing prototype was unable to achieve the ideal testing conditions of 1000°F air at the low flow rates of …

Marine Gastrobot Final Design Report, Wesley B. Williams, Eric Kane Dreischerf, Tommy Nicholas Yath

Mechanical Engineering

The Marine Gastrobot sponsored by Dr. Christopher Kitts of the Cal Poly Center for Applications in Biotechnology was a research and development effort intended to explore the use of microbial fuel cell technology as a power source for underwater robots. Our team Ocean Locomotion succeeded in developing a first iteration of an underwater robotic platform suitable for microbial fuel cell integration. The primary feature of the design is its sinusoidal fin propulsion intended for benthic exploration with limited risk of entanglement. During the course of development, Ocean Locomotion explored the use of low power actuation methods and determined their limited …

Water Fun At Exploration Station, Nicholas M. Runyan, Heriberto Rodriguez, Raymond F. Morales, Alejandro M. Gonzalez-Smith

Mechanical Engineering

This report documents the design and fabrication processes involved for the creation of an interactive science exhibit for the Grover Beach Exploration Station. This is a student-led senior project advised by Sarah Harding, professor of mechanical engineering, as a part of California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo’s mechanical engineering program. The final product is a fully functioning, durable system that is capable of pumping and recycling water throughout use when users are in its vicinity.

The exhibit is to be considered in 4 main subsystems: basin, plumbing, frame, and sleep mode system. A fiberglass basin that holds all …

Grey Water Capture, Paul B. Brenneman, Vicente J. Ramirez, Kevin J. Alexander

Mechanical Engineering

Many households today do not implement any kind of grey water recycling system. People do not get a grey water system for a variety of reasons; the benefits could be unknown, the uses for grey water could be limited in their specific home, or the economic gain is too minimal to constitute a modification to the house.

For our project, we are going to design an easy to install product that enables the reuse of grey water from household sources. Examples of our final product could be something that lets the customer use grey water from the bathroom sink to …