Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Enhanced Dynamometer For Conducting Long-Term Brake Wear Testing, Grant Adams, Andres Alvarez Del Piño, Casey Greenstreet, Matthew Wall

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The purpose of this project is to develop an automated control system for two constant torque dynamometers Krauss Friction Tester Type RWS60A – Serial no. 080 built in Orangeburg, West Germany recently obtained by FDP Friction Science. This control system will be efficient, effective, safer, and meet the standards of modern day technologies. Currently, the machines are outdated, obsolete, and unable to operate. Therefore, to bring the dynamometers back into full operation and be competitive in today’s industry a new control system that meets industry expectations must be implemented. For this reason, a programmable logic controller from Automationdirect named ClickPLC …

Alternative Method For Posterior Lumbar Discectomy And Development Of Associated Bench Top Test, Alfred Levinson, Parth Patel, Rahul Peddi, Sarah Peters, Jon Willard

Capstone Design Expo Posters

A discectomy is a common surgical procedure performed to remove the fibrous disc material between adjacent vertebrae in the spine, known as vertebral disc. Current methods and tools used in discectomies are time consuming and potentially dangerous, with opportunity for human error. There is a need for a new method of disc removal that can improve clinical results by reducing surgical times, preventing damage to surrounding anatomy, and more thoroughly removing the vertebral disc. A reduction in surgery times and increase of effective disc removal will help to increase success, recovery, and spinal fusion rates. This project aims to provide …

Automated Din Rail Cut And Punch Machine, Youssif Alkheder, Gaston Charreun, Derrian Flemings, Jonathan Liss

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Our project’s main goal is to optimize the process of punching and cutting DIN rail in a manufacturing setting. The current method for cutting and punching DIN rails is tedious and simply too time consuming. An operator is needed to manually load the DIN rail into the cutter, measure the required length and activate the cutter. While this simple process may not take too long at first glance, companies, like Weidmuller, must be able to produce large-quantity orders to successfully meet the demands of their customers. By turning to automation, we are effectively reducing the amount of time it takes …

Mars Atmospheric And Climatic Survey System, Mounika Kari, Vu Nguyen, Surjan S. Singh, Sneha J. Vakani

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Before Mars can be explored by humans, its extreme climate and environment must be investigated. This can be achieved through the deployment of weather station probes capable of measuring Martian air temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, and wind speed. The Mars Atmospheric and Climatic Survey System (MACSS) aims to collect this data, allowing predictive models of global climate patterns on Mars to be developed. These models will aid NASA in providing the needed knowledge to prepare for long-term exposure to the conditions on Mars.

The probes are compact and lightweight; they have been designed to withstand Mars’ harsh environment: extreme …

Nasa Mars Weather Station, M. Cole Hendricks, J. E. West Redington, S. Sahir Shehzad, Byron M. Watts

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The purpose of this project is to design an economical ground based weather station, with the overall goal of using these stations to gather meteorological data on the planet Mars. This data will then be used to create a working meteorological model for the planet, which in turn will be used to better coordinate the necessary resources to plan and carry out a manned mission to Mars. These weather stations will function by taking various meteorological measurements, such as air and ground temperature, wind speed, relative humidity, UV radiation levels, and air pressure, and then transmit this data to one …

A Simple Embedded Atom Potential For Palladium-Hydride, Yang Zhang

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Metal Hydride systems are an important research topic in material science because of their many practical, industrial, and scientific applications. Therefore, the development of reliable and efficient interatomic potentials for metal hydrides systems, to be utilized in atomistic modeling, can be of great value in accelerating the research in this field. The embedded-atom method (EAM), based on the density functional theory (DFT), has the advantage of being both computationally efficient and being well suited for modeling metal hydride systems. In this work, the author has developed an efficient EAM potential for the palladium hydride (Pd-H) alloy system. Contrary to previously …

Quantitative Understanding Of Nanoparticle Flocculation In Water Treatment, Sungmin Youn

All Engineering Faculty Research

Flocculation is critical in drinking water treatment; in flocculation, the particle size distribution changes from a large number of small particles to a small number of larger particles. Larger particles are effectively removed by settling and filtration processes that follow flocculation. In recent years, manufacturing of engineered nanoparticles has skyrocketed, and these nanoparticles can enter our water supplies, but knowledge of their fate in water treatment is limited. The objective of this research was to update knowledge of flocculation by extending previous work at the microscale to the nanoscale.

Flocculation involves transport of particles to the vicinity of one another …

Diffraction Model Of Thermoreflectance Data, Sahida Rahimbhai Kureshi

Engineering Ph.D. Theses

Diffraction based mathematical model is developed to address the issue of spatial resolution in thermoreflectance imaging at the scale of 1 and 10 μm. Thermoreflectance imaging provided non-contact temperature measurement at micro and nano scale but the spatial resolution is limited by diffraction. By virtue of this work mathematical model is developed for the analysis of thermoreflectance data. In the development of model both the diffraction occurring at sample and substrate is combined to calculate intensity of thermoreflectance signal. This model takes into account the effective optical distance, sample width, wavelength, signal phase shift and reflectance intensity. Model shows qualitative …

Low Velocity Impact And Rf Response Of 3d Printed Heterogeneous Structures, Sandeep Keerthi

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Three-dimensional (3D) printing, a form of Additive manufacturing (AM), is currently being explored to design materials or structures with required Electro-Mechanical-Physical properties. Microstrip patch antennas with a tunable radio-frequency (RF) response are a great candidate for 3D printing process. Due to the nature of extrusion based layered fabrication; the processed parts are of three-layer construction having inherent heterogeneity that affects structural and functional response. The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between the anisotropy in dielectric properties of AM fabricated acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) substrates in the RF domain and resonant frequencies of associated patch antennas and …

Transformer Support-Base:Design & Analysis, Tamrat Abebe, Hiba Aldar, Charles Wold

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Engineering design is vitally important and is the backbone of any industrial organization. The innovative approach to engineering design requires extensive calculations, estimations, workability and economic considerations to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction. Our project, for the ABB Group, was to design a structural frame-base for their transformers, and develop a set of design-standards to accommodate a range of transformer sizes. A transformer is used to step-up or step-down the voltage as needed to satisfy the electrical power needs of a facility. Industrial size transformers are an extremely heavy, sensitive and precise electrical devices that require a reliable …

Thermal Insulation Coating For Pipe Applications, Ismail Alaithan, Alhawraa Husain, Wejdan Reda, Katiana Slaton

Capstone Design Expo Posters

NNSB tasked the Capstone team with testing the anti-condensation abilities of the Thermal Insulation Coating (TIC) Aerolon®, an aerogel-based insulation manufactured by Tnemec, using Federal test specifications for Coating Compound, Paint Antisweat. The main goal was to observe the anti-condensation abilities of the insulation and to initiate an analysis and comparison of the spray-applied aerogel insulation versus the hand-applied thick foam insulation that is currently used on ship pipes and ventilation. The plan includes creating a computer simulation of the thermal properties of the insulated cylinders as well as a physical experimental setup.

The Capstone team built an acrylic test …

Measurement Of Impact Forces On Teeth And Jaw When Wearing Sports Mouth Guards, Alghamdi Abdullah, Alnaser Mobarak, Quiroz Ingrid, Serrate Ciro Alcoba, Veizaga Rodrigo

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The objective of this project is to accurately measure the forces the teeth and jaw experience when subjected to impact. For this purpose piezoelectric technology (PVDF), which converts voltage to force and vice versa can be used to measure forces applied to teeth. A PVDF cable is calibrated and used for measuring force along with a control measuring device (PCB Piezotronics). The method involves wrapping the PVDF cable around a 3D home-printed, customized denture. The cable was chosen due to the fact that it allows for adequate fit between mouth guard and denture. Two masses, a baseball and 2 lbs …

Me-Em 2016-17 Annual Report, Department Of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Annual Reports

Table of Contents

• Undergrad Features
• Graduate Features
• Enrollment & Degrees
• Graduates
• Faculty & Staff
• Department News
• Alumni
• Donors
• Contracts & Grants
• Patents & Publications

A Look At The Optimum Slope Of A Fixed Solar Panel For Maximum Energy Collection For A One Year Time Frame, Salah Alhaidari

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

A rule-of-thumb for orientating fixed solar panels for optimum yearly collection of solar radiation that is not influenced by atmospheric effects is to face the panel due south in the Northern Hemisphere or due north in the Southern Hemisphere and to tilt the panel from the horizontal plane at an angle equal to the latitude of the location of the solar panel. The work presented in this thesis shows that this rule-of-thumb is an approximation for no-atmosphere, panel orientation; but not a precise value. This project presents a detailed method for determining the precise optimum tilt angle of a fixed …

Controlling The Error On Target Motion Through Real-Time Mesh Adaptation: Applications To Deep Brain Stimulation, Huu Phuoc Bui, Satyendra Tomar, Hadrien Courtecuisse, M. Audette, Stéphane Cotin, Stéphane P.A. Bordas

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

We present an error-controlled mesh refinement procedure for needle insertion simulation and apply it to the simulation of electrode implantation for deep brain stimulation, including brain shift.

Our approach enables to control the error in the computation of the displacement and stress fields around the needle tip and needle shaft by suitably refining the mesh, whilst maintaining a coarser mesh in other parts of the domain.

We demonstrate through academic and practical examples that our approach increases the accuracy of the displacement and stress fields around the needle without increasing the computational expense. This enables real-time simulations.

The proposed methodology …

Stationary Bike Generator System, Rakan Alghamdi

All Undergraduate Projects

Electricity is one of the most versatile forms of energy as it is easily generated by conversion from other forms, and equally easily converted to these other forms. Individuals, while working out, mostly remain stationary, but release large amounts of energy which must be countered by opposing energy sources or allowed to be wasted. This energy may not find very many uses in its raw form, but conversion to other forms may allow it to do work at no cost. This paper documents the concept, objective, methods, and results of a stationary bike generator system being used to convert the …

Stationary Bike Generator System (Drive Train), Abdullah Adel Alsuhaim

All Undergraduate Projects

This paper is about generating electricity while exercising on a stationary bike. Our objective is to utilize the lost power in gym`s bikes to supply commonly used electronic devises on campus. Mechanical energy produced by workout will be used to charge students’ laptops, tablets, cellphone, and other small electrical devices. This project will be helpful to reduce the usage of electricity and also to people who are in need for electrical power. The focus of this paper is the drive train part of the project. Timing pulleys and a timing belt were used to transmit the angular movement of the …

Automated Source-Detector Positioner For Radiation Detection, Andre Patterson, Morgan Davis, Joel Person, Allan Roberts

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The Nuclear Engineering Department at Virginia Commonwealth University has an unmet need for an automated source detector positioner for radiation detection experiments that are carried out in lab work. During radiation data collection in radiation detection systems it is of the utmost importance that radioactive samples are positioned and moved with the highest degree of precision possible. This high degree of precision allows for more meaningful data to be collected. The current methods employed by the Nuclear Engineering Department are not as accurate as they can be due to the fact the the current detection systems are manual. Furthermore they …

In Defense Of Science—What Would John Do?, Mohamed Gad-El-Hak

Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Publications

Recent onslaughts on the importance of pure research to our collective well-being are trending. In this essay, I discuss the issues involved and offer a rebuttal. The thoughts are inspired by my mentor, academic sibling, and idol John Leask Lumley.

Nebraska Summary: S1141 John Deere 6120r, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Tractor Test 2174: John Deere 9620rx Diesel, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

High Sensitivity Refractometer Based On Reflective Smf-Small Diameter No Core Fiber Structure, Guorui Zhou, Qiang Qu, Rahul Kumar, Wai Pang Ng, Hao Liu, Longfei Niu, Nageswara Lalam, Xiaodong Yuan, Yuliya Semenova

Conference Papers

A high sensitivity refractive index sensor based on a single mode-small diameter no core fiber structure is proposed. In this structure, a small diameter no core fiber (SDNCF) used as a sensor probe, was fusion spliced to the end face of a traditional single mode fiber (SMF) and the end face of the SDNCF was coated with a thin film of gold to provide reflective light. The influence of SDNCF diameter and length on the refractive index sensitivity of the sensor has been investigated by both simulations and experiments, where results show that the diameter of SDNCF has significant influence. …

Central Washington University C-Clamp Matchplate, Ryan Thomas Berghoff

All Undergraduate Projects

The goal was to design and manufacture a matchplate to be used by the Central Washington University (CWU) Engineering Department to cast C-clamps. These castings are produced in the University’s foundry and would be prepared as a secondary project for the department’s basic machining course. The design produced allows the C-clamps to be molded in a single pour for a full class of students, which is approximately sixteen (16). The desire was to achieve a design that was functional, yet allowed room and/or means to be easily modified or repaired, if needed. This was achieved through designing the C-clamps in …

Adjustable Shelving Unit For Home Beer Brewing, Andrew L. Kastning

All Undergraduate Projects

The purpose of this report is to show the design, build, and test process for a portable beer brewing rack. The rack is designed to be compact, yet still be able to hold all of the necessary components for brewing: two 15-gallon insulated kettles, two gas burners, and an instant hot water heating system. These components can be supported in any configuration at multiple height intervals on the center tree during the brewing process. The rack is designed to be resistant to tipping over when brewing while requiring less than two square feet of floor space when stored. This report …

Solar Tracker, Carson Man

All Undergraduate Projects

During the senior year in Mechanical Engineering Technology program, a solar tracker was designed and manufactured to be used during Mechanical Engineering Technology labs. The solar tracker will be able to rotate 15 degrees per hour by keeping it in line with changing position of the sun as the sky daily. The solar tracker was designed by calculating the need of the motor speed, allowable load, estimated solar input, and desired efficiency. Also it must be able to withstand the elements of nature, most effects are from the sun(heat), rain(water) and wind(air). Most of the concern will be the effect …

Design Prototyping Methods: State Of The Art In Strategies, Techniques, And Guidelines, Bradley Camburn, Vimal Viswanathan, Julie Linsey, David Anderson, Daniel Jensen, Richard Crawford, Kevin Otto, Kristin Wood

Faculty Publications, Mechanical Engineering

Prototyping is interwoven with nearly all product, service, and systems development efforts. A prototype is a pre-production representation of some aspect of a concept or final design. Prototyping often predetermines a large portion of resource deployment in development and influences design project success. This review surveys literature sources in engineering, management, design science, and architecture. The study is focused around design prototyping for early stage design. Insights are synthesized from critical review of the literature: key objectives of prototyping, critical review of major techniques, relationships between techniques, and a strategy matrix to connect objectives to techniques. The review is supported …

Modeling Of Selective Laser Sintering/ Selective Laser Melting, Xuan Wang, Connor West

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Selective laser sintering and selective laser melting are powder based additive manufacturing (AM) process that can rapidly manufacture parts with comparable mechanical properties to conventional manufacturing methods directly from digital files. However, the processing recipe development and design optimization of AM parts are often based on trial and error which erodes the benefit of AM. Modeling is a powerful tool to enable faster development cycle by significantly reducing the experimental efforts. In this paper we discussed the current status of selective laser sintering/melting modeling, in which the laser and powder interaction was studied to understand and predict the process and …

Design And Testing Of Scalable 3d-Printed Cellular Structures Optimized For Energy Absorption, Sagar Dilip Sangle

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Sandwich panel structures are widely used due to their high compressive and flexural stiffness and strength-to-weight ratios, good vibration damping, and low through-thickness thermal conductivity. These structures consist of solid face sheets and low-density cellular core structures that are often based upon honeycomb topologies. Interest in additive manufacturing (AM), popularly known as 3D printing (3DP), has rapidly grown in past few years. The 3DP method is a layer-by-layer approach for the fabrication of 3D objects. Hence, it is very easy to fabricate complex structures with complex internal features that cannot be manufactured by any other fabrication processes. Due to the …

Weather Balloon Payload Box, Shellbie Liberty

All Undergraduate Projects

A payload box holding a self-rotating camera was constructed to go on a weather balloon that will document the upcoming solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. A group of physics students, and the paper’s author, are working under Dr. Darci Snowden on the CWU Near Space Observation Team for research dedicated to the eclipse in Oregon. Various projects, including the payload box, are being designed to go up on a high altitude weather balloon. The payload box was designed and constructed to withstand the impact force of falling from 120,000 ft. This was done so the box could be reusable …

Pin Router Duplicator Base, Matthew Tebo

All Undergraduate Projects

The idea for the following project came from the Lean Manufacturing class that is offered at Central Washington University. In this class the manufacturing processes is demonstrated through the production of guitar kits. A problem with the class is that the CNC machine gets backed up causing a bottleneck in the production line. The solution to this problem was to make a pin router duplicator. A pin router duplicator is a device that allows the operator to trace a finished part with a pin while a router mimics its movements, cutting a new part. The component that is looked into …