Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Effect Of Flow Velocity And Geometry On The Signal From A Piezoelectric Flow Rate Sensor, Jad Gerges Aboud

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

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Accurate Replication Of An Ear Pinnae Geometry For Use In Acoustic Testing Of Spatial Cues And Sound Localization, Alejandra Belmont

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM) enables freedom of design as well as fabrication of complex objects such as the human hear. In medical modeling there is a need for patient-specific customizable parts. The outer human ear consists of these main parts: the pinna, which naturally filters sound, and the ear canal, which is the point at which sound enters before being moved up to the tympanic membrane, otherwise known as the eardrum. In an attempt to accurately replicate ear models, the use of scanning and reverse engineering methods was used. A comparison of 3D laser scanning systems was performed to determine their …

The Dynamic Transition Of A Vertical Take-Off And Landing Drone, Luis Carlos Calvo Jr.

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, are small pilotless aircrafts that are remotely controlled through a ground control station. They have increased in popularity because of their applications and the advantages that each UAV can provide based on their need. There are many types of UAVs, but this study focuses on a type of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) UAV that is known as the Albatross UAV. This UAV was manufactured by a company known as Applied Aeronautics, and configurations were made to change the fixed-wing (FW) UAV to a VTOL UAV. This study was done to find methodologies to simulate …

Design And Additive Manufacturing Of Shape Recovery Polymer Lattice Structure, Chien-Chun Chou

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Studied mechanical properties of 3D printed metamaterials of BCC, FCC, and BFCC structure.

Uav Parameter Estimation Through Machine Learning, Andres Enriquez Fernandez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Parameter identification of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is very helpful for understanding cause-effect relationships of physical phenomenon, investigating system performance and characteristics, fault diagnostics, control development/tuning, and more. Traditional ways of performing parameter identification involve establishing a mathematical model that describes the system's behavior. The equations in the model contain parameters that are estimated indirectly from measured flight data. This parameter identification process requires knowledge of the physics involved. Also, it necessitates a careful consideration of the aircraft instrumentation for accurate measurements. It also requires careful design of the flight maneuvers to ensure thorough excitation of the flight dynamics involved. …

Development Of Recepticals And Joints For Embedded Electronic Components Inserted During Print Via Hybrid Thermoplastic-Based Additive Manufacturing, Leonardo Isaac Gutierrez Sierra

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The use of hybrid additive manufacturing (AM) systems is a novel approach in the fabrication of multi-functional parts. 3D printed electronics are an example of multi-functional parts fabricated using the Foundry Multi3D System, a hybrid AM system. Previous research has demonstrated the capabilities of the system by manufacturing RF antennas and satellite panels with embedded electronics, to name a few. However, research to identify design clearances and establish a manufacturing process plan had not been performed. The purpose of this manuscript is to determine the correct clearances for foreign components to be inserted unto a partially printed substrate. Besides this …

Mechanical Performance Of Ebm Ti-6al-2sn-4zr-2mo Influenced By The Effects Of Different Hot Isostatic Pressing Treatments, Miguel Lopez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Electron Beam Melting (EBM) is an additive manufacturing process that presents a lower level of internal defects in comparison to Selective Laser Melting (SLM). Pairing Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) with Additive Manufactured metal parts, sub-surface voids can be eliminated through high pressure and temperature. This significantly improves fatigue life, impact toughness, creep, rupture strength, and tensile ductility. In this investigation, Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo samples manufactured in the Arcam's Q20 system will be tested as per ASTM E8 Standard Test Methods for Tension Testing of Metallic Materials. Different variants of Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) treatments were analyzed and compared. Tensile testing was performed …

Development Of An Automated Ultrasonic Wire Embedding Process For Use With Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing And Rapid Electronics Fabrication, Nikki L. Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Polymers have been used in Additive Manufacturing (AM) by many industries for rapid prototyping. Parts created using polymer AM however are known to be relatively expensive thus limiting them to small volume production and making them inapplicable for mass production, while their inherent porous and anisotropic properties make them mechanically inferior to parts made using traditional methods such as injection molding. As projects demand more efficient designs, and at the same time ask for more complex features, AM, combined with other manufacturing processes, like Ultrasonic Wire embedding, can streamline and consolidate assemblies. In the realm of composite and multifunctional assemblies, …

Design Of Experiments Analysis Of Powder Removal Methods For Ebm Manufactured Ti-6al-4v Parts, Luis Cesar Ramos Castañeda

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Additive Manufacturing is a technology that allows the on-demand manufacturing of complex geometries that cannot be fabricated through traditional subtractive manufacturing methods. Powder Bed Fusion is one of the seven categories of Additive Manufacturing with two subcategories, the Laser Beam Melting and the Electron Beam Melting. Freedom of design, rapid prototyping, and customization are some of the benefits that this technology provides. Like any technology, there are limitations for each category and subcategory. The Electron Beam Melting uses the electron beam to pre-heat the powder bed, reducing the temperature difference between the build part and powder bed, causing the surrounding …

Conception D’Oreilles Artificielles Réalistes Dédiées À L’Étude Du Confort Acoustique Et Physique Des Protecteurs Auditifs Intra-Auriculaires, Simon Benacchio, Olivier Doutres, Éric Wagnac, Franck Sgard

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Au Québec, environ 360 000 travailleurs sont exposés quotidiennement à des niveaux de bruit susceptibles d’engendrer des problèmes d’audition. Les protecteurs auditifs individuels sont souvent utilisés pour pallier ce problème. Cependant, l’inconfort lié à l'utilisation de ces protecteurs limite la durée du port et donc l'efficacité de la protection. Le développement d'outils de conception acoustique minimisant les sources d’inconforts auditifs et physiques de ces protecteurs tout en assurant une atténuation adéquate constitue le contexte de cette recherche.

La présente étude se concentre sur deux indicateurs du confort associés au port des bouchons d’oreille : l’atténuation et l’effet d’occlusion. L’atténuation quantifie …

Direct Numerical Simulations Of Acoustic Disturbances In Various Rectangular Nozzle Configurations, Nathaniel Hildebrand, Meelan M. Choudhari, Lian Duan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We perform Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) to study the acoustic freestream disturbances radiating from the turbulent boundary layers along the contoured nozzle walls of a hypersonic wind tunnel with a rectangular test section. To begin with, the effects of the spanwise end walls are suppressed by confining the spanwise computational domain to a finite segment of the overall nozzle cross section and by imposing periodic boundary conditions across that spanwise domain. Besides providing a building-block configuration to reveal partial effects of the enclosed acoustic environment within the wind tunnel, these computations serve as a steppingstone toward the goal of fully-3D …

Direct Numerical Simulation Of Turbulent Pressure Fluctuations Over A Cone At Mach 8, Junji Huang, Lian Duan, Katya M. Casper, Ross M. Wagnild, Neal P. Bitter

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) were conducted to characterize the pressure fluctuations under the turbulent portion of the boundary layer over a sharp 7◦ half-angle cone at a nominal freestream Mach number of 8 and a unit Reynolds number of Reunit = 13.4 x 106/m. The axisymmetric cone geometry and the flow conditions of the DNS matched those measured in the Sandia Hypersonic Wind Tunnel at Mach 8 (Sandia HWT-8). The DNS-predicted wall pressure statistics, including the root-mean-square (r.m.s.) fluctuations and the power spectral density (PSD), were compared with those measured in the Sandia HWT-8. A good comparison between the DNS …

Real-Time Assembly Operation Recognition With Fog Computing And Transfer Learning For Human-Centered Intelligent Manufacturing, Wenjin Tao, Md Al-Amin, Haodong Chen, Ming-Chuan Leu, Zhaozheng Yin, Ruwen Qin

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In a human-centered intelligent manufacturing system, every element is to assist the operator in achieving the optimal operational performance. The primary task of developing such a human-centered system is to accurately understand human behavior. In this paper, we propose a fog computing framework for assembly operation recognition, which brings computing power close to the data source in order to achieve real-time recognition. For data collection, the operator's activity is captured using visual cameras from different perspectives. For operation recognition, instead of directly building and training a deep learning model from scratch, which needs a huge amount of data, transfer learning …

Thermodynamic Properties Of Hydroxylammonium Nitrate-Based Electric Solid Propellant Plasma, Matthew S. Glascock, Patrick D. Drew, Joshua L. Rovey, Kurt A. Polzin

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Electric solid propellants are advanced solid chemical rocket propellants controlled by electric current. An electric solid propellant may also be used in an electric propulsion system: specifically, an ablative pulsed plasma thruster. Previous experiments with the electric solid propellant known as high-performance electric propellant, or HIPEP, suggest its ablation processes are similar to the traditional propellant polytetrafluoroethylene (C2 F4). Better understanding of the ablation and the resulting propulsion performance of HIPEP requires a model of its vapor composition, bulk plasma quantities, and thermodynamic properties. Such a model was developed and favorably compared with previous analogous model predictions found in the …

Medical Device For Loading Of Knee At Differing Angles, Alex Dragota

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Abstract

This was a design report for a device that would be used in patellar instability research. The device would be used inside an MRI machine and allow the patient to adjust the angle of their knee to the desired position.

Methods: Solidworks was used in the design process to model and to simulate the strength of the components used. The Solidworks simulation software allowed for a better understanding of the strength of individual components and the strength of the full device. Complexity of operating the device while inside an MRI machine were taken into account by using animations of …

Snug Fit Crescent Wrench, Jacob M. Miterko, Michael E. Buchbinder, Gavin J. Griffith, Andrew J. Jarrett

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The most commonly used brand of adjustable wrench, a Crescent Wrench, dates back to the early nineteen hundreds. The tolerances associated with the adjustable wheel used by the most common adjustable wrench designs allow the position of the lower jaw to vary while using the tool. These undesired fluctuations in the position of the lower jaw make it difficult to adjust the wrench to the desired position and keep it in position once the desired position is set.

The proposed adjustable wrench design addresses the tolerance issues by constraining the lower jaw with a new mechanism. The mechanism makes minor …

Mini Baja Frame Analysis, Jacob Swanson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of our senior design project is to optimize the Baja frame to reduce its weight and material cost while keeping the required rigidity. Through force analysis we will be able to determine if any rigidity is lost by removing a set of tubes (figure 1), along with the other forces seen by the frame. If it is found that the frame rigidity is still within the determined factor of safety, 2, then we will be able to reduce the frame weight and the number of tubes that make up the frame. Along with force analysis, we will use …

Senior Design Proposal For Brakes Subsystem 2019-2020, Jasmine Zogheib, Zachary Demetriades, Devin Seay

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This report concentrates on efforts to design a new braking system for the Zips Formula Electric Race Team. The improvements to the braking system will be based upon previous years’ official designs along with optimizing for predetermined criteria. The design will be influenced based on design factors of the car such as weight, center of gravity, wheelbase, and integration with other systems of the car.

Redesign And Analysis For Landing Gear Components, Daniel Clarke

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A project for Collins Aerospace, the company I co-op at, where I will redesign several components of a landing gear for a military program. Any structural/stress analysis will also be performed. The goal is to reduce weight while maintaining strength and structural integrity.

Jominy Hardenability Tester With In-Situ Heating, Luke Allen

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project centers on building a Jominy Hardenability tester with In-Situ heating for the manufacturing lab at the University of Akron. A new process and setup will be designed using engineering concepts in order to make the testing more efficient and safer for the teaching and testing of metal hardness. The current Jominy testing setup has efficiency issues within the transfer of specimen from induction heater to testing rig. Our design will simplify the design by creating a test rig that removes the traveling aspect of the specimen which will limit the amount of premature cooling done and will be …

Akron Honey- Honey Infuser, Niklas Hilmoe, Timothy Snider, Richard Bitzel, Preston Fillman

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The initiative for this project was created by the local business, Akron Honey, who has recently developed a new product line called ‘honeytune’. The basis of the product line is the addition of active ingredients to the natural honey. Currently, they are using a 20 gallon traditional honey extractor to mix the ingredients with the honey. This extractor uses a variable speed motor which causes a long mixing time. Also, the extractor is made of heavy stainless steel which lacks mobility of the machine. This process is tedious and inefficient and therefore, needs improvement. They would like a large scale …

Custom 3d Printed Orthotic, Dakota Kirtley, Andrew Wiles

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this senior design projet is to develop a cutsom 3D printed orthotic shoe insert. Pressure mapping, laser scanning, and 3D modeling will be used to create a truly custom orthotic for each foot. Pressure mapping will give the weight distribution on an individual's food and the laser scanner will give the x-y coordinates of the foot. these two together will be used to generate a a 3D model which will then be 3D printed to create a custom orthotic. Research and material testing will also be done to determine the best material type to be used in …

Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Improvement, Nathan Embaugh, Jason Mack, Jeremiah Fitzgerald, Zachary J. Lindsey

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The energy harvester is used to convert a portion of the tire deflection waste energy to power up tire embedded sensors. A piezoelectric energy harvester is designed and some preliminary tests are done on it. So far, it has been shown that this design is sufficient for tire application. The team will need to modify the design of the energy harvester, the measurement setup and add a temperature and a strain senor to the existing setup so that the tire deflection and temperature can be measured and at the same time the energy harvester should be tested to see how …

Pediatric Blood Calculator, Richard Desatnik

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper outlines an expert system based solution for calculating the optimal amount of blood draw from infants to carry out critical tests requested by the attending clinicians. The solution is a hand-held device with a user-friendly interface that allows a meaningful two-way conversation between the clinician and the pathology office. Based on the tests being requested, the calculator determines the minimum amount of blood required in the different vials based on a smart expert system. This removes the uncertainty that is prevalent today in the amount of blood required to do all the tests, since in some cases there …

A Commercial Apartment Complex, Kathleen A. George

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Within this project the similarities and differences of new and used heating, cooling, and plumbing systems and equipment will be compared and contrasted in depth. Doing so would help further knowledge and understanding of the design field and help to foster quicker decision making in an educated way. The questions to be answered are: in which stage of this project did the client have the best equipment (the high-end outcome) and why, in which stage did they have the cheapest equipment (the low-end outcome) and why, in which stage did they have the best equipment while also being cost efficient …

Zips Electric - Cooling System, Guan-Bok Kwok

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

I am working with Zips Electric Racing to design a new cooling system for the ZER-20 car. The new cooling system will be more efficient and effective than the current design. We will investigate lighter materials with better thermal conductivity. Flow rate will also be optimized to meet the system’s needs. Also calculations and testing will be completed to determine if a fan is necessary. To adapt to the new proposed chassis, it is likely that the radiator must be mounted outside of the frame. If this is necessary, we will also design composite side pods to conceal and direct …

Rocket Motor Nozzle, Corey Hillegass

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For this honors research and senior design project, the authors will research, analyze, and manufacture a rocket motor nozzle for the Akronauts rocket design team. This research and design project will improve how the rocket design team will decide and manufacture nozzles going forward. The impact of this improvement allows the rocket design team to take steps toward being self-sustaining by manufacturing student designed parts as opposed to commercially bought parts. This will not only be successful in increasing student impact on future designs, but also provides a technical challenge for the authors and will present as an impressive feat …

Shock Wave And Boundary Layer Interaction, Blake Keuchel, Lauren Andrews, Corryn Rahe

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Air entering the engine of a supersonic aircraft must be slowed to subsonic speeds for the engine to perform properly and not become significantly damaged over time. Diffusers are designed to create a shockwave to slow down air to subsonic speeds before the air enters the engine. This project will focus on the numerical analysis and design of diffuser geometries for supersonic aircraft engines. The main objective is to evaluate supersonic flow over different geometries, specifically the interaction between shock waves and boundary layer, and to minimize the amount of drag created by different diffuser geometries to optimize the efficiency …

Formula Electric Sae Frame, David Streen, David Kinion, Dylan Ramey

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The project is for the FSAE Zips Racing Electric Team. The last race car made by the Zips Racing Electric Team has a large potential for optimization. We plan to redesign the frame from the ground up in an effort to reduce weight and increase the performance potential while meeting all FSAE rules and packaging constraints.

Formula Electric is an event in which teams from colleges around the world compete in various events including autocross, endurance and many others with an electrically driven car.

This project will involve the design, analysis, and fabrication of a steel tube space frame for …

Zips Electric Racing Suspension Design, Madison Hughes, Christopher Thompson, Erikah Jackson, Anna Signorino

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

I am working with three others on the suspension and steering sybsystems for the Zips Electric Racing design team at The University of Akron. We are improving upon last year's design to help create an optimized vehicle. As part of this project, we take part in weekly design reviews and team meetings, model parts in Solidworks, and perform simulations and FEA using MATLAB/SIMULINK, Solidworks, and Optimum Kinematics.