Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Nebraska Summary: S1150a Fendt 1050, 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 …

Jcati Pyrolysis System, Jack Dutton

All Undergraduate Projects

The Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation (JCATI) project is designed to recycle carbon fiber pieces for use in manufacturing. Part of the system requires the removal of resin from the carbon fibers to facilitate the recycling of carbon fiber. To accomplish this task the pyrolysis process is implemented using a commercial grade oven with a conveyor system. Argon gas is injected into the shroud and over the oven to purge the interior of oxygen. The conveyor system enables this to be a batch process. A ramp is used to allow simple addition of material to the conveyor system and …

Balsa Wood Bridge, Andrew Harris

All Undergraduate Projects

Faculty at Central Washington University proposed a challenge to mechanical engineering students that could be accomplished in an in-home setting. The goal was to create a balsa wood bridge, weighing no more than 85 grams, that can support a load over an open span and raise above its resting position by means of a mechanical system. To produce a successful solution to the problem, a vertical lift bridge was created consisting of two lifting towers and a load bearing bridge. Using equations of static equilibrium and strength of materials, the required width for each member was determined. Project requirements were …

Design Of Lower Legs Of Mithra, A High-Performance Backdrivable Humanoid Robot, Drake Taylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the design of the knee and ankle of Mithra, a new humanoid robot that aims to be an energy-efficient and highly agile machine. Mithra makes use of new optimization metrics for legged robots to develop a system capable of mimicking human movement. A series of low-impedance, high-torque actuator systems were developed with the goal of creating lightweight, powerful, and robust motion. The structure of Mithra's legs mimics the human structure in leg segment length and weight proportions. Detailed design and analysis were conducted in order to allow Mithra to be a robust and maintainable system. Mithra will …

Data-Driven Design Of Energy-Shaping Controllers For Swing-Up Control Of Underactuated Robots, Wankun Sirichotiyakul, Aykut C. Satici

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We propose a novel data-driven procedure to train a neural network for the swing-up control of underactuated robotic systems. Our approach is inspired by several recent developments ranging from nonlinear control theory to machine learning. We embed a neural network indirectly into the equations of motion of the robotic manipulator as its control input. Using familiar results from passivity-based and energy-shaping control literature, this control function is determined by the appropriate gradients of a neural network, acting as an energy-like (Lyapunov) function. We encode the task of swinging-up robotic systems through the use of transverse coordinates and goal sets; which …

Mini Rc Baja Car, Jason Schindler

All Undergraduate Projects

Incorporating each aspect of engineering incorporated into a senior project is difficult. That is why an RC Baja car is a great senior project for Mechanical Engineering students. The approach that students must take to design, construct, and test the car is to set parameters, and to make overall goals that can be easily measured. These goals include, but not limited to things like a $700 budget and the ability to withstand a 1-foot drop to a flat surface on all four wheels simultaneously. First, the design must meet the specifications and rules that are set previously. This ensures that …

Nrj Rc Baja Vehicle Project - Transmission, Suspension, And Body Systems, Jeffrey Ryan Harn

All Undergraduate Projects

Students of Central Washington University’s Mechanical Engineering technology program were tasked with designing, manufacturing, and testing a remote-controlled scale vehicle for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Radio-Controlled (RC) Baja Car Contest sanctioned by Remotely Operated Auto Racers (ROAR). A team of three students was assembled and responsibility over the sections of the RC vehicle were divided amongst the three students. This report focuses on the design, manufacture, testing, and evaluation of the suspension and transmission systems of the RC vehicle. A suspension tower component and transmission housing assembly were conceived to satisfy the RC suspension and transmission systems. …

Renewable Energy Production By Solar Chimney: The Influence Of Curved Guide Vanes On The Performance Of A Solar Chimney Using Cfd Simulation, Haokun Xue

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the guide vanes on the efficiency of the turbine of solar chimney power plant using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). In this study, a 3-Dimentional CFD simulation of solar chimney power plant based on the Manzanares prototype is performed. The CFD simulation is validated by comparing the experimental data from the Manzanares prototype and simulation data with both 2D and 3D cases. To capture turbulent flow inside the chimney, the SST 𝑘 − 𝜔 turbulence model is used. The first object is to investigate the flow performance under the influence …

Feasibility Study Of Serial Hybrid-Electric Systems In Small Aircraft, Kyle Rosenow

Mechanical Engineering Master's Theses

Three different small aircraft, a Diamond DA40, a Cessna Skyhawk 172S and a Cirrus SR22, are used to assess the feasibility of converting an existing aircraft's power system to a serial-hybrid system or an all-electric system. The serial-hybrid system uses a gasoline engine to generate electricity that can power the main electric motor or charge onboard batteries, while the all-electric system uses batteries only and does not carry a gasoline engine. General system designs are proposed, and a calculation model was developed to allow for analysis of the three different aircraft and their variants. The all-electric and serial-hybrid variants are …

Nebraska Summary 1218s: Fendt 724 Vario Gen6, 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 …

Open Source Software Problems In Heat Transfer To Explore Assumptions And Models, Benjamin Pepper, Amir Behbahanian, Nick Roberts

Course Materials

Energy2D software can be downloaded here: http://energy.concord.org/energy2d/

After opening the application, choose File -> Open and select one of the .e2d files available for download here under additional files. Click the Run button to get started.

The main download has a document that provides a detailed description of the adaptation of a freely available software program, Energy2D, for problems focused on the exploration and limitations of assumptions made in models commonly used in an undergraduate heat transfer course. The motivation for creating homework problems that use Energy2D is to explore the accuracy and limitations of the models used in heat …

Diving Into Reliable Numerical Observability And Stabilization Of The One-Dimensional Wave Equation, Emma Moore

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In this project, a one-dimensional wave equation, which is a partial differential equation (PDE) describing vibrations on a string, is considered. It is known that the PDE model is exactly observable and exponentially stabilizable. The main goal of this project is to construct a numerical approximation technique, so-called the direct filtering technique, to prove that the Finite Difference and Finite Element space-discretized 1-D wave equations (i) with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions are uniformly observable, (ii) with controlled boundary conditions are uniformly exponentially stable, as the approximation parameters tend to zero. It is crucial to develop reliable numerical approximation techniques for …

Wearable Knee Assistive Devices For Kneeling Tasks In Construction, Siyu Chen, Duncan Stevenson, Shuangyue Yu, Monika Mioskowska, Jingang Yi, Hao Su, Mitja Trkov

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

Construction workers regularly perform tasks that require kneeling, crawling, and squatting. Working in awkward kneeling postures for prolonged time periods can lead to knee pain, injuries, and osteoarthritis. In this paper, we present lightweight, wearable sensing and knee assistive devices for construction workers during kneeling and squatting tasks. Analysis of kneeling on level and slopped surfaces (0, 10, 20 degs) is performed for single- and double-leg kneeling tasks. Measurements from the integrated inertial measurement units are used for real-time gait detection and lower-limb pose estimation. Detected gait events and pose estimation are used to control the assistive knee-joint torque provided …

Solar Thermal Dish Storage System Project: A Novel Receiver Experiment Model, Forrest Osborn

Undergraduate Research Posters 2021

Solar energy utilizes sunlight to generate electricity but inefficiencies in energy storage limits this technology. Transferring sunlight into thermal energy can contribute to solve this problem. The goal of this study was to determine feasibility of a heat exchanger to be used with an existing solar parabolic dish. For this purpose, a heat gun was used to measure the thermal properties of a novel receiver design. This system was used to analyze different receiver configurations for a copper tube containing water as a heat transfer fluid. The inlet and outlet water temperatures and the effect of HTF flow rate were …

Design, Development And Temporal Evaluation Of An Mri-Compatible In-Vitro Circulation Model Using A Compliant Aaa Phantom, Mirunalini Thirugnanasambandam, Tejas Canchi, Senol Piskin, Christof Karmonik, Ethan Kung, Prahlad Menon, Stephanie Avril, Ender A. Finol

Publications

Biomechanical characterization of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) has become commonplace in rupture risk assessment studies. However, its translation to the clinic has been greatly limited due to the complexity associated with its tools and their implementation. The unattainability of patient-specific tissue properties leads to the use of generalized population-averaged material models in finite element analyses, which adds a degree of uncertainty to the wall mechanics quantification. In addition, computational fluid dynamics modeling of AAA typically lacks the patient-specific inflow and outflow boundary conditions that should be obtained by non-standard of care clinical imaging. An alternative approach for analyzing AAA flow …

Real-Time Voluntary Motion Prediction And Parkinson's Tremor Reduction Using Deep Neural Networks, Anas Ibrahim, Yue Zhou, Mary E. Jenkins, Ana Luisa Trejos, Michael D. Naish

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Publications

Wearable tremor suppression devices (WTSD) have been considered as a viable solution to manage parkinsonian tremor. WTSDs showed their ability to improve the quality of life of individuals suffering from parkinsonian tremor, by helping them to perform activities of daily living (ADL). Since parkinsonian tremor has been shown to be nonstationary, nonlinear, and stochastic in nature, the performance of the tremor models used by WTSDs is affected by their inability to adapt to the nonlinear behaviour of tremor. Another drawback that the models have is their limitation to estimate or predict one step ahead, which introduces delay when used in …

Use Of Energy Consumption During Milling To Fill A Measurement Gap In Hybrid Additive Manufacturing, K. L. M. Avegnon, P. Noll, M. R. Uddin, G. Madireddy, R. Williams, A. Achuthan, M. P. Sealy

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Coupling additive manufacturing (AM) with interlayer peening introduces bulk anisotropic properties within a build across several centimeters. Current methods to map high resolution anisotropy and heterogeneity are either destructive or have a limited penetration depth using a nondestructive method. An alternative pseudo-nondestructive method to map high-resolution anisotropy and heterogeneity is through energy consumption during milling. Previous research has shown energy consumption during milling correlates with surface integrity. Since surface milling of additively manufactured parts is often required for post-processing to improve dimensional accuracy, an opportunity is available to use surface milling as an alternative method to measure mechanical properties and …

Test 2235: John Deere 8rt 340, 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 …

Improvement Of The Autodriver Algorithm For Autonomous Vehicles Using Roll Dynamics, Ching Nok, Catter To, Sina Milani, Hormoz Marzbani, Reza Jazar

Staff Publications

The autodriver algorithm was introduced as a path-following algorithm for autonomous vehicles, which uses road geometry data and planar vehicle dynamics. In this paper, the autodriver algorithm is improved according to practical implications, and a more realistic vehicle model (roll mode) is used, which considers roll degree of freedom in addition to a planar motion. A Ghost-Car path-following approach is introduced to define the desired location of the car at every instance. Key steady-state characteristics of turning vehicles, namely the curvature, yaw rate, and side-slip responses, are discussed and used to construct a feed-forward component of a path-following controller based …

Electrostatic Flocking Of Salt-Treated Microfibers And Nanofiber Yarns For Regenerative Engineering, Alec Mccarthy, Kossi Loic M. Avegnon, Phil A. Holubeck, Demi Brown, Anik Karan, Navatha Shree Sharma, Johnson V. John, Shelbie Weihs, Jazmin Ley, Jingwei Xie

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Electrostatic flocking is a textile technology that employs a Coulombic driving force to launch short fibers from a charging source towards an adhesive-covered substrate, resulting in a dense array of aligned fibers perpendicular to the substrate. However, electrostatic flocking of insulative polymeric fibers remains a challenge due to their insufficient charge accumulation. We report a facile method to flock electrostatically insulative poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) microfibers (MFs) and electrospun PCL nanofiber yarns (NFYs) by incorporating NaCl during preflock processing. Both MF and NFY were evaluated for flock functionality, mechanical properties, and biological responses. To demonstrate this platform's diverse applications, standalone flocked NFY …

A Method Of Identifying Allographs In Undeciphered Scripts And Its Application To The Indus Valley Script, Shruti Daggumati, Peter Revesz

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

This work describes a general method of testing for redundancies in the sign lists of ancient scripts by data mining the positions of the signs within the inscriptions. The redundant signs are allographs of the same grapheme. The method is applied to the undeciphered Indus Valley Script, which stands out from other ancient scripts by having a large proposed sign list that contains dozens of asymmetric signs that have mirrored pairs. By a statistical analysis of mirrored asymmetric signs, this paper shows that the Indus Valley Script was multi-directional and the mirroring of signs often denotes only the direction of …

Monitoring Of Overhead Polymer Core Composite Conductors Under Excessive Mechanical Loads Using Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors, Daniel H. Waters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This combined experimental and numerical study addresses mechanical effects associated with static and dynamic loading of novel High Temperature Low Sag (HTLS) transmission line polymer core composite conductors. The developed methodology was successfully applied to ACCC® to explain the complex failure mechanisms associated with combined bending and tension loading. Furthermore, the use of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors was investigated for the first time to monitor the ACCC® design during installation and in-service.

Transverse low-velocity impacts to the ACCC® conductor having either free or constrained end conditions and large axial tensile loads were performed. It was identified that the most …

Metallic Surface Doping Of Metal Halide Perovskites, Yuze Lin, Yuchuan Shao, Jun Dai, Tao Li, Yi Liu, Xuezeng Dai, Xun Xiao, Yehao Deng, Alexei Gruverman, Xiao Cheng Zeng, Jinsong Huang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Intentional doping is the core of semiconductor technologies to tune electrical and optical properties of semiconductors for electronic devices, however, it has shown to be a grand challenge for halide perovskites. Here, we show that some metal ions, such as silver, strontium, cerium ions, which exist in the precursors of halide perovskites as impurities, can n-dope the surface of perovskites from being intrinsic to metallic. The low solubility of these ions in halide perovskite crystals excludes the metal impurities to perovskite surfaces, leaving the interior of perovskite crystals intrinsic. Computation shows these metal ions introduce many electronic states close to …

Recurrence Network Analysis Of Design-Quality Interactions In Additive Manufacturing, Ruimin Chen, Prahalada K. Rao, Yan Lu, Edward W. Reutzel, Hui Yang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Powder bed fusion (PBF) additive manufacturing (AM) provides a great level of flexibility in the design-driven build of metal products. However, the more complex the design, the more difficult it becomes to control the quality of AM builds. The quality challenge persistently hampers the widespread application of AM technology. Advanced imaging (e.g., X-ray computed tomography scans and high-resolution optical images) has been increasingly explored to enhance the visibility of information and improve the AM quality control. Realizing the full potential of imaging data depends on the advent of information processing methodologies for the analysis of design-quality interactions. This paper presents …

Hydraulic Balsa Wood Rising Bridge, Kaitlyn Greenfield

All Undergraduate Projects

What is the solution to allowing tall vessels to navigate past a vehicle bridge that is less than 10 [ft] above the water? To answer this question, a balsa wood bridge was designed, constructed, and tested. The bridge needed to articulate by mechanical means, allow for travel through the bridge, and be able to withstand ample force while the main structure only being constructed of balsa wood and glue. The project was analyzed in sections. These sections include: the bridge structure and its members, the hydraulic lift, and the pins needed for the bridge and hydraulic lift to operate. The …

Balsa Wood Bridge, Logan Bronemann

All Undergraduate Projects

Abstract: The objective of the project undertaken is to design and build an articulating bridge which can be raised and lowered constructed from only balsa wood. To meet the objective set forth for this project a series of requirements were set to determine the design parameters such as height, length, weight and more. Using these requirements, a series of analysis can be undertaken upon the bridge design and structure. These analyses consist of column buckling, tensile stress analysis, and compressive stress analysis. The analysis determined the dimensional requirements of the structural members to include a ½”x ½” lower support beam …

Nrj Rc Baja Car: Chassis & A-Arms, Naoki B. Masuda

All Undergraduate Projects

Three students from Central Washington University have come together to design and manufacture a unique RC Car for the annual regional RC Baja Car competition held by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The RC car will compete in three events, Baja, Slalom and Sprint. The objective for this project was to create a unique build based off previous team’s projects. The new design was optimized for functionality and performance to compete in each event and excel above other competition as well. The design process before finalizing on a design that resembled that of a real car was thoroughly …

Asme Rc Baja Car Drivetrain, Gizan G. Gando

All Undergraduate Projects

The purpose of the RC Baja Car is to compete in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) competition, a series of events to prove the functionality of the vehicle. This series of events includes the Slalom, Drag, and Baja race. The Slalom is a test in the steering capability of the car. The Drag is a test in the acceleration of the car in a straight line. Lastly, the Baja puts all factors together in a race to test every component of the car. This project is about building an RC car that can function under these conditions and …

Fluid-Structure Interaction For A Deformable Anisotropic Cylinder: A Case Study, Jared T. Decker

Honors Undergraduate Theses

For a structure designed to interact with the surrounding fluid, structural deformation under loads induced by fluid flows is an important factor to consider, and one which is traditionally difficult to account for analytically. Coupling the finite element method for structural analysis with the finite volume method for the determination of fluid response allows for accurate simulation of the pressure and shearing loads applied by the fluid onto the fluid-structure interface, while also determining localized structural displacements that would cause changes to the geometry of the interface. This work seeks to simulate the behavior of cylinders with varying heights and …

A Scalable Framework For Map Matching Based Cooperative Localization, Chizhao Yang, Jared Strader, Yu Gu

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Localization based on scalar field map matching (e.g., using gravity anomaly, magnetic anomaly, topographics, or olfaction maps) is a potential solution for navigating in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-denied environments. In this paper, a scalable framework is presented for cooperatively localizing a group of agents based on map matching given a prior map modeling the scalar field. In order to satisfy the communication constraints, each agent in the group is assigned to different subgroups. A locally centralized cooperative localization method is performed in each subgroup to estimate the poses and covariances of all agents inside the subgroup. Each agent in …