Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Increased Energy Yield Through Fast Pyrolysis: Empowering Malawian Villages, Diehl Mutamba

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Biomass contributes to several renewable energy technologies. This project will explore the use of fast pyrolysis to produce fuels by designing an apparatus for fast pyrolysis. Malawian people harvest firewood from the forests, which is a major contributor to deforestation. Furthermore, they convert some of it to charcoal with about 10-15% efficiency to sell to city dwellers. The project will enable herbaceous fuels to replace wood, increase charcoal yields and create new products. Firewood and charcoal produce smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) that compromises the villagers’ health.

This project will address deforestation problems, improve sustainability, decrease health hazards and improve …

Creating The Fleet Maker - Lessons Learned From The First Series Of Workshops On Maker Concepts For Active Duty Personnel, Karina Arcaute, Michel Albert Audette, Vukica Jovanovic, Anthony Dean, Dipankar Ghosh

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The US Navy has supported research related to the 3D printing or Additive Manufacturing area for more than 20 years. More recently, efforts like the Print the Fleet initiative and Marine Makers are exploring ways to design and create solutions to future problems with the possibility of reducing maintenance costs, increasing equipment readiness, and improving combat effectiveness. The Creating the Fleet Maker project is an effort supported by the Navy and Marine Corps Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education, Outreach and Workforce Program of the Office of Naval Research. It examines the concept of making in order to develop skills …

Powering A Biosensor Using Wearable Thermoelectric Technology, Anneliese Bals, Noah Barnes, Rafael Bravo, Nicolas Garcia, Joseph O'Bryan, Dylan Santana

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Wearable medical devices such as insulin pumps, glucose monitors, hearing aids, and electrocardiograms provide necessary medical aid and monitoring to millions of users worldwide. These battery powered devices require battery replacement and frequent charging that reduces the freedom and peace of mind of users. Additionally, the significant portion of the world without access to electricity is unable to use these medical devices as they have no means to power them constantly. Wearable thermoelectric power generation aims to charge these medical device batteries without a need for grid power.

Our team has developing a wristband prototype that uses body heat, ambient …

Laser Triangulation Sensor, Jake Finelt, Kian Gruszczynski, Greg Mclorg

Mechanical Engineering

Statement of Disclaimer: Since this project is a result of a class assignment, it has been graded and accepted as fulfillment of the course requirements. Acceptance does not imply technical accuracy or reliability. Any use of information in this report is done at the risk of the user. These risks may include catastrophic failure of the device or infringement of patent or copyright laws. California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo and its staff cannot be held liable for any use or misuse of the project.

Identification System For Heart Valve Manufacturing, Nicholas Robert Jensen, Edgar Davis Nix, Judith Evelyn Gonzalez, Albert Austin Liddicoat

Mechanical Engineering

Abstract withheld due to NDA constraints

Treadmill User Centering, Cecilia Hill Yan Yuen, Donavan Chandler Feliz, Ariel Mae Arce Crisostomo, Adam Charles Patrella

Mechanical Engineering

The goal of team CENTREAD was to design a device to allow a person with a visual disability to run efficiently and effectively on a treadmill without fear of falling off or injuring themselves. The customer wished for the device to be small, lightweight, and have an easy, autonomous setup, while providing feedback to the user wirelessly for them to correct their own movement. The ultimate goal of the device is to allow the user to be comfortable, safe, and free while using it in order to ensure they have the best running experience. The device utilizes ultrasonic sensors in …

Nathan's Mobility Device, Steven A. Decsesznak, Matthew Brenholdt, Lansen Eto, Moulay Salahdin

Mechanical Engineering

Nathan’s Mobility Device is a California Polytechnic State University senior project composed of a team of four mechanical engineering students that designed, built and implemented a specialized seat on an existing mobility device. Nathan, the sole beneficiary of this project, is an 11-year-old boy afflicted with a condition known as Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) which causes him extreme muscular weakness. In this report, the team discussed the problem at hand, provides preliminary research and product benchmarking (evaluation and comparison to specific criteria), and described the ideation, prototyping, testing, and iteration plan. In addition, the team explored the final design in …

Transcatheter Heart Valve Leaflet Assembly Tooling Improvement Final Design Report, James Craig Sherman, Zachary Robert Dicks, Luke Edward Williams

Mechanical Engineering

Statement of Confidentiality: The complete senior project report was submitted to the project advisor and sponsor. The results of this project are of a confidential nature and will not be published at this time.

Composite Suspension For A Mass Market Vehicle, Sarah M. Chapiama, Brian Auyeung, Jose Guerrero, Ethan Lau

Mechanical Engineering

Statement of Confidentiality: The complete senior project report was submitted to the project advisor and sponsor. The results of this project are of a confidential nature and will not be published at this time.

Curb Navigation, Cole A. Tudor, Kaitlyn R. Adams, Robbie Huerta

Mechanical Engineering

The Curb Navigation senior project, proposed by the QL+ organization, was presented to find a solution to an issue a former veteran, Velette, is having. Velette has a difficult time maneuvering curbs when out doing day-to-day errands and activities. The goal of this project is to develop a solution that will give Velette the ability to traverse curbs without the assistance of others or the need to do a wheelie that can lead to an injury. The team has found that adapting and optimizing an anti-tipper design may be the best way to solve the proposed challenge. The team decided …

Driver Cooling System, Joseph Fatin Bolous, Jake Donald Deboer, Alvin Theodore Lau

Mechanical Engineering

This document provides our Final Design Review (FDR) for the Driver Cooling System Project. It contains our background research, which includes current product research, technical research, and information on our sponsor’s needs as a customer as well our manufacturing process, test results, and final design. We created a problem statement to define the scope of the project, discuss sponsor and consumer needs and wants, and technical specifications. After brainstorming, we ultimately selected a thermoelectric cooling system (TEC) after presenting our Preliminary Design Report and Critical Design Report. We built the final prototype, as can be seen in the manufacturing plan, …

Dynamic Model For Simulating Motion Of The Right Ventricle, Brian Michael Larsen, Sam Koopman Porter, John Francis D'Ambrosio

Mechanical Engineering

This report documents all the research, ideation, and mockups used to determine right ventricle motion and develop a system capable of reproducing that motion on a tissue sample. The model is intended for evaluating anchoring systems being developed by Edwards Lifesciences for use with tricuspid valve therapies. Several design solutions were considered for the primary functions of recreating motion of the right ventricle and attaching tissue to the device. From these ideas a primary means of producing motion and attaching tissue was selected. These ideas were then developed over the course of a school year to become the final system …

Additive Manufacturing Powder Removal, Madison A. Lignell, Tyler W. Laird, Kurt K. Reed

Mechanical Engineering

Metal powder-bed fusion is an additive manufacturing process which enables the creation of unique shapes in metal parts that would otherwise be difficult, expensive, or impossible to machine. Metallic powder is melted and fused together by either a laser or electron beam to produce parts quickly. The excess powder covers newly printed parts and can be difficult to remove from small internal features. The scope of this project is to design a device that effectively removes the powder from newly printed parts safely, while reclaiming as much powder as possible for reuse. The solution for this project must be able …

Mechanical Team Final Design Report: Same Polytechnic College, Meghan L. Smith, Katie D. Nute, Long T. Hoang

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this document is to communicate the research, findings, and recommendations of the mechanical engineering team regarding the Same Polytechnic College project. This report includes a discussion of the design process utilized by the interdisciplinary team to construct preliminary building designs for both classroom and dormitory building modules. The mechanical team conducted testing using the wind tunnel to verify major building envelope design decisions. The following report also includes an explanation of the thermal testing that the team conducted to measure the thermal conductivity, diffusivity, and specific heat of bricks made to mimic those made locally in Same, …

3-Dimensional Automated Heat Flux Calibration Device, Victor Raul Chacon, David Madison Morrisset, Alex Michael Schnorr, Kevin Scott

Mechanical Engineering

This document aims to describe the problems in current radiant heat source heat flux calibration techniques and the approach our team took to solve them through automation. The following sections outline the basic premise of the problem we addressed and who our end product benefited. The proceeding sections addresses the research that we have performed regarding heat flux measurements and automation. This research includes current solutions – mostly partial solutions for problems that are similar but not exactly like ours. Following the background research, we define objectives, with specific details that outline how we evaluated different possible solutions, and how …

Metal Foam Drying Process, Bryce Zander, Ethan Serpa, Daniel Moore, Michael Mullen

Mechanical Engineering

Design and construction of machine to increase the throughput of metal foam that ERG Aerospace produces.

Mass Accretion And Ozone Reactivity Of Idealized Indoor Surfaces In Mechanically Or Naturally Ventilated Indoor Environments, Elliott T. Gall, Donghyun Rim

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In indoor environments, accretion of mass to materials may provide sites for surface chemistry that differ from those of the original material. Since indoor surfaces are a major sink of oxidant gases, surface mass accretion may impact indoor O₃ chemistry. In this study, the effect of surface mass accretion on O₃ surface deposition was tested by deploying cleaned borosilicate glass plates in two types of indoor environments: a mechanically ventilated ( MV ) office and a naturally ventilated ( NV ) residence located in Singapore. In each environment, seven replicate glass plates and one field blank were deployed …

Me-Em Enewsbrief, June 2018, Department Of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Mobility And Independence Of Wheelchair Users, Briar Blake, Paul Nauleau

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Conditions as simple as a leg fracture or more severe impairments such as paralysis and stroke may confine a person to a wheelchair. Wheelchairs help people with limited mobility transport themselves to different locations, but do not help the person leave the wheelchair. Users would need to do this to enter a car, use the restroom, take a shower, and sit at a table comfortably with family. The following design is a wheelchair attachment that serves to provide the user with increased mobility and independence. Wheelchair users struggle to get into and out of their chairs due to the unassisted …

Upgrading The Sr-30 Miniature Turbojet For Adaptable Exhaust, Shannon Ferreira, Erin Mcmurchie, Peter Pratt

Mechanical Engineering

The California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly, SLO) Aerospace Department is requesting a variable nozzle adaptation for their SR-30 turbojet engine. The nozzle is intended for laboratory use in sophomore and junior level courses to supplement instruction on the effects that exhaust behavior has on the performance of propulsion technologies. Topics covered during a performance study of the SR-30 turbojet engine will include, but are not limited to: Brayton Cycle analysis, turbojet operation in ideal and non-ideal test conditions, instrumentation limitations, and basic nozzle operation. The SR-30 turbojet engine is similar in design and operation to engines …

Prove Endurance Car Front Suspension, Lauren A. Williams, Logan Simon, Justine G. Kwan

Mechanical Engineering

This document details the collaborative Mechanical Engineering Senior Project with Cal Poly PROVE Lab on PROVE Lab’s Project 2; an electric vehicle designed to travel 1000 miles on a single charge. Logan Simon, Justine Kwan, and Lauren Williams are given the challenge of designing an innovative proof of concept front suspension suspension for this vehicle.

After detailed research of new suspension systems, it was determined that the innovative nature could be in the form of unique manufacturing methods, materials use, or mechanical design. At this point in time, this vehicle is a purely conceptual design with no concrete requirements. Therefore …

Worker Activity Recognition In Smart Manufacturing Using Imu And Semg Signals With Convolutional Neural Networks, Wenjin Tao, Ze-Hao Lai, Ming-Chuan Leu, Zhaozheng Yin

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In a smart manufacturing system involving workers, recognition of the worker's activity can be used for quantification and evaluation of the worker's performance, as well as to provide onsite instructions with augmented reality. In this paper, we propose a method for activity recognition using Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and surface electromyography (sEMG) signals obtained from a Myo armband. The raw 10-channel IMU signals are stacked to form a signal image. This image is transformed into an activity image by applying Discrete Fourier Transformation (DFT) and then fed into a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for feature extraction, resulting in a high-level …

The Vessel For Autonomous Research Underwater (The Varuna), Tyler Briles, Shae Connor, Erin Guthrie, Anthony Jackson, Madeleine Peauroi

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Humans are intimately connected to the Earth’s ocean, and yet only 5% of it has been explored. Learning more about marine life and ocean chemistry can only improve our stewardship efforts. The addition of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle to the Santa Clara University Robotic Systems Laboratory’s collection of marine robots will contribute to this quest for knowledge. It will assist researchers by providing a low-cost, easy-to-use, portable, reliable, and safe alternative to operator-controlled vehicles. This report describes our motivations for this project, the decisions we made in the design and manufacturing of the VARUNA, and tradeoff analyses of possible options. …

Introduction Of Mechatronics Specialization Through Concentration Areas In The Mechanical And Electrical Engineering Technology Programs, Otilia Popescu, Vukica M. Jovanovic, Sanjeevi Chitikeshi, Isaac L. Flory Iv

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The last few decades have experienced an explosion of technology, both in industry and in customer products. A large variety of embedded systems from various areas of applications, digital electronics, internet of things, automatically controlled products, and ultimately mechatronics systems are part of the everyday life. The changes in the industries, consumer markets and implicitly in the job markets, impose changes in the academic programs and curricula. Recently, mechatronics undergraduate programs started being developed in 2 or 4 years colleges across the nation, mainly driven by international companies operating in countries that already offer mechatronics degrees ranging from high school …

Analysis Of The Low-Cycle Fatigue Behavior Of Silicone Rubber For Biomedical Balloons, Chase Cooper

Materials Engineering

The development of a medical drug delivery device that allows for the deployment drugs into the adventitial tissue of blood vessels requires the inflation of a silicone elastomer. The inflated silicone must be able to consistently endure multiple loading cycles without failing so that the device can operate reliably. There are multiple methods of processing the silicone for the device and the goal of this study is to examine the effect of the various processing methods on the characteristics of the silicone. The Dynamic Mechanical Analysis Machine (DMA) is used to model the conditions of the device’s application by performing …

Bicycle Power Meter, Andrew Mcguan

Computer Engineering

A power meter is a cycling training tool used to record the power a rider is outputting. This is very useful to athletes who regularly do bike workouts, because the power output is a consistent measure of the rider’s effort level, and is not affected by outside factors such as wind or road gradient. If a cyclist does a workout with the intent to carry a certain speed for a certain amount of time, a strong headwind will slow them down and make them work harder to maintain the same speed, defeating the goal of the workout. When a power …

Farmbot Trackless Redesign, Cole Thomas, Cailey Kamm, Clayton Alderson, Otto Akerstrom

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

For this project the team PLANT3D worked along with Rory Aronson and FarmBot to generate a cheaper more user-friendly design for the FarmBot Genesis 1.3. Working with Rory and FarmBot, we as a team generated a list of design requirements and engineering specifications for the project. These requirements centered around creating a more accessible FarmBot model for the average person to be able to purchase and set up with ease. Much of this required taking the existing system and eliminating the most common problem areas. These were the track system, built using 1.5 meter aluminum extrusions and the complex interchangeable …

Solar Electric Immersion Heating Element Fabrication, Logan V. Kregness

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Believing that cooking with flame is cheaper and more efficient than cooking with electricity, Ugandan citizens have exposed themselves to several health and safety risks, including major respiratory issues through harmful emissions, pollution, and the burning down of many homes. Even though solar electric cooking is cheaper and healthier than cooking with flames in the long run, many Ugandans lack the resources to invest in cooking with electricity.

The Solar Stove student research team, led by Dr. Pete Schwartz, partnered with Aid Africa to bring solar panels and prototype solar electric cooking units to villages in Uganda. Observing how their …

Improving Efficiencies For The Loading And Packaging Departments At San Luis Sourdough, Alexis Bergstrom, Isabella Pereira, Claudia Robinson

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

San Luis Sourdough, currently has issues with efficiency and standardization in their packaging department, ergonomics problems in the packaging department, shipment accuracy in their loading department, and lacks an organized layout design. As a result, four objectives were designed within a six month period. The first was to create standard operating procedures for the packaging department. To inform this decision time studies were performed before and after creating these SOPs. It was discovered that there was a clear need for the SOPs due to variation in packaging efficiency among new and experienced associates. The second set of time studies showed …

Slm Materials Development, Justin G. Reiner, Michael T. Schembri

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The purpose of this project was to create a procedure to efficiently determine a “recipe” of parameter values that create a desired set of mechanical properties. Research was conducted into the laser powder bed fusion process with focus on underdeveloped materials. A design of experiment was used with a set of density correlated parameters to establish a method of producing nearly dense parts. Our methods include SLM printing, metrology, and statistical analysis. An experimental procedure for materials development was designed, but unable to be validated during the scope of this project, due to unforeseen safety issues (exposure to Chromium 6, …