Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

The Design And Synthesis Of A Compliant Bicycle Derailer, Matthew Christensen, Dr. Larry L. Howell

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Compliant mechanisms are those which gain part or all of their motion from the flexibility of their parts. For example, the motion of a hinge can be alternatively provided by a pin (like a hinge on a door), or by a thin flexible member (like a hinge in the cover of a book). The door hinge is easily designed by selecting brackets and a pin with adequate strength to support the loads. The book hinge is more difficult to design. The book has additional considerations like designing the material thin enough to bend, thick enough to bear the load, and …

Mechanical Design Of Pird (Principal Investigator Rack Drawer) For Sofia, Hari Prasad Shetty Mr., Murali Krishna Kandlagunta Mrs., John Miles Mr., Zaheer Ali Mr.

STAR Program Research Presentations

SOFIA, the world’s largest airborne observatory with 2.5-meter diameter infrared telescope is equipped with 7 instruments: EXES, FIFI-LS, FLITECAM, FORCAST, GREAT, HAWC, and HIPO. Flying at altitudes between 39,000 and 45,000 feet, SOFIA avoids 99% of the atmospheric water vapor, records and analyzes the infrared radiation from the cosmos. SOFIA is able to observe the occultation of stars by solar system objects. By determining the size, compositions, and atmospheric structures of these objects, SOFIA can help answer the questions on creation and evolution of the universe, formation of the stars and planets, and nature of black hole at the center …

School Van Access In Nepal, Edgar Corona, Humberto Maldonado, Josh Schiesl

Mechanical Engineering

A need has been identified by a school in Nepal intended for children with Cerebral Palsy, called Sathi Sansar, to develop a more effective solution to loading and unloading students onto the school’s Toyota HiAce van. Currently, a combination of the driver, parents and teachers manually help the students on and off the van. However, this task has proven to be both laborious and time consuming for all parties involved. A solution to this problem needs to be designed and one is currently being developed by a team of engineering students from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo and Katmandu …

Transformable Wheelchair, Benjamin Shurtz

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This report includes the development, design, and analysis of a transformable wheelchair. There was a need to design and build a wheelchair that transformed to be pushed, pulled, or self-propelled. This design meets the need of physically restricted wheelchair users who frequent simple hiking trails without needing to move to a secondary off-road capable device. Documentation for concepts, analysis, and completed design details follows.

Analysis And Design Of A Thermal Capacitor For Use In The Food Industry, Karen Nielson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Team Hot Stuff is working with Thermal Management Technologies (TMT) of Logan, UT to explore the concept of a thermal capacitor serving platter. With the funding from TMT, Hot Stuff will design, build, and test a prototype serving platter. This report is written by Hot Stuff for MAE 4800, Capstone Design I; it covers the design and analysis of a serving platter.

Biodiesel Reactor Design With Glycerol Separation To Increase Biodiesel Production Yield, Budy Rahmat, Imas Siti Setiasih, Roni Kastaman

Makara Journal of Technology

The study consisted of reactor design used for transesterification process, effect of glycerol separation on transesterification reaction, determination of biodiesel quality, and mass balance analysis. The reactor was designed by integrating circulated pump/stirrer, static mixer, and sprayer that intensify the reaction in the outer tank reactor. The objective was to reduce the use of methanol in excess and to shorten the processing time. The results showed that the reactor that applied the glycerol separation was able to compensate for the decreased use of the reactant methanol from 6:1 to 5:1 molar ratio, and changed the mass balance in the product, …

Design And Optimization Of A Thermal Capacitor, Karen Nielson, Jordan Tracy Cox

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Team Hot Stuff designed a thermal capacitor for Senior Design I at Utah State University. This thermal capacitor is intended for use in the food service industry as a low-cost alternative to chafers. Chafers are platters which use oil burners to keep food warm. The client for this thermal capacitor is Thermal Management Technologies (TMT), a company specializing in thermal science solutions whose mission is “to provide simple, practical thermal science solutions to a wide range of platforms including: Industry, Defense, and Space”¹. The founder and president of TMT, Dr. J. Clair Batty, serves as a mentor for …

Research And Development Of An Extremely Affordable Prosthetic Knee, Victor H. Duenas, Noe Vargas-Hernandez

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2012

The objective of this research and development work is to apply the design process in a prosthetic knee mechanism. The importance of human knee is founded in the provided mobility, body positioning and support of the body weight. But for amputees, limitations for everyday tasks imply a real challenge. The project scope a cycle involving the social need, the development and the supply of the solution layout. The motivation is to improve life quality through voluntary and independent human movement by providing a low cost knee design.

The design process requires the conceptual, embodiment, detail and evaluation phases to complete …

Design Of A Releasable Snowboard Binding, Rex Crossen, Brian Kruse, Timothy Scott

Mechanical Engineering

A releasable snowboard binding will be proposed to our sponsor. This binding will allow the user to release and engage on demand for aerial tricks, comfort, and increased safety. The releasable snowboard binding we will come up with will be revolutionary within the snowboard industry and make current bindings old and inferior.

Mechanical Properties And Mems Applications Of Carbon-Infiltrated Carbon Nanotube Forests, Walter C. Fazio

Theses and Dissertations

This work explores the use of carbon-infiltrated carbon nanotube (CI-CNT) forests as a material for fabricating compliant MEMS devices. The impacts of iron catalyst layer thickness and carbon infiltration time are examined. An iron layer of 7nm or 10nm with an infiltration time of 30 minutes produces CI-CNT best suited for compliant applications. Average maximum strains of 2% and 2.48% were observed for these parameters. The corresponding elastic moduli were 5.4 GPa and 4.1 GPa, respectively. A direct comparison of similar geometry suggested CI-CNT is 80% more flexible than single-crystal silicon. A torsional testing procedure provided an initial shear modulus …

Finite Element Modeling And Design Of Honeycomb Sandwich Panels For Acoustic Performance, David Griese

All Theses

Honeycomb cellular metamaterial structures offer many distinct advantages over homogenous materials because their effective material properties depend on both their constituent material properties and their geometric cell configuration. From this, a wide range of targeted effective material properties can be achieved thus supporting forward design by tailoring the honeycomb cellular materials and properties for specific applications. One area that has not been fully explored is the set of acoustic properties of honeycomb materials and how these can offer increased design flexibility when targeting acoustic performance. Understanding these relations, the designer can effectively tune designs to perform better in specific acoustic …

Development Of The Control And Ignition Systems On A High Pressure Gas Turbine Combustor, Carlos Alejandro Valdez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The ignition and control systems of a laboratory scale high-pressure gas turbine combustor were developed in the present work. This work provides a detailed description of the design, development and testing of the remote control system developed for a High Pressure Gas Turbine Combustor (HPTC).

The combustor has the capability to operate at pressures up to 1.5 MPa and temperatures up to 2400 K. It is also designed for a maximum air and fuel flow rates of 81.93 g/s and 35.77 g/s respectively. The fuel used will be CH4 for the early experiments but it is designed to operate using …

Olympic Bocce Ballers, Steven Erickson, William Haley, Taylor Vaughan

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of The Design And Static Behavior Of Cylindrical Tubular Composite Adhesive Joints Utilizing The Finite Element Method And Stress-Based Failure Theories, Michael D. Lambert

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The stress and strength behavior of cylindrical tubular adhesive joints composed of dissimilar materials was explored. This was accomplished with the finite element method (FEM) and stress-based failure theories. Also, it was shown how a design of experiments (DOE) based method can be used to objectively organize the process of optimizing joint strength by using stress-based failure criteria.

The finite element program used in this work was written in-house from scratch to implement the FEM for the purpose of solving both axisymmetric and three-dimensional linear elastic governing equations of static equilibrium. The formulation of the three-dimensional model is presented, and …

Probabilistic Structural And Thermal Analysis Of A Gasketed Flange, Atul G. Tanawade

ETD Archive

Performance of a flange joint is characterized mainly by its 'strength' and 'sealing capability'. A number of analytical and experimental studies have been conducted to study these characteristics under internal pressure loading. However, with the advent of new technological trends for high temperature and pressure applications, an increased demand for analysis is recognized. The effect of steady-state thermal loading makes the problem more complex as it leads to combined application of internal pressure and temperature. Structural and thermal analysis of a gasketed flange was computationally simulated by a finite element method and probabilistically evaluated in view of the several uncertainties …

Design, Fabrication And Characterization Of A New Wind Tunnel Facility – Linear Cascade With A Wake Simulator, Jean-Philippe Junca-Laplace

LSU Master's Theses

A new wind tunnel has been designed and constructed at the LSU Mechanical Engineering Laboratories. The objective was to design a versatile test facility, suitable for a wide range of experimental measurements on turbine blades. The future study will investigate the impact of unsteady inflow conditions on film cooling performance. More specifically, it will study how the unsteady flow due to the upstream passing wakes coming from the front row vane affects the film cooling performances on the turbine blades. The test section consists of a four passage linear cascade composed of three full blades and two shaped wall blades. …

Design Of A Liquid Fuel Injector For Alternative Fuel Studies In An Atmospheric Model Gas Turbine Combustor, John Stevenson

Honors Theses

A new liquid-fuel injector was designed for use in the atmospheric-pressure, model gas turbine combustor in Bucknell University’s Combustion Research Laboratory during alternative fuel testing. The current liquid-fuel injector requires a higher-than-desired pressure drop and volumetric flow rate to provide proper atomization of liquid fuels. An air-blast atomizer type of fuel injector was chosen and an experiment utilizing water as the working fluid was performed on a variable-geometry prototype. Visualization of the spray pattern was achieved through photography and the pressure drop was measured as a function of the required operating parameters. Experimental correlations were used to estimate droplet sizes …

Piedras Blancas Clock Works, Andrew James, Andrew Jupin, Matt Weber

Mechanical Engineering

In 1875, the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse was built to warn ships sailing the California coast of the hazards of the rocky shore. In 1949 a fierce storm damaged the top portion of the lighthouse and the eight ton cast iron and brass assembly had to be replaced by a much lighter piece that still served the purpose of warning oncoming vessels. The former top portion came to rest in downtown Cambria and is still there today, enclosed in a glass room to be observed by visitors and townspeople. Today, the Piedras Blancas Light station is cared for by the Bureau …

Integrating Engineering And Communication Tools For The Automation Of Design Rationale Capture, Kenneth John Mix

Theses and Dissertations

Product development is continually becoming more challenging as global competition requires more efficient design methods. The reuse of company knowledge, specifically the design rationale that occurs during projects is essential to success. This thesis presents a method for integrating engineering and communication tools for purposes of automating the capture of communication-based design rationale. The method is based on four basic principles: to integrate, to make data retrievable, to minimize user interaction, and to store as much DR as possible. The core method consists of two primary operations, the first being to capture the design rationale, and the second being to …

Design And Evaluation Of A Humanoid Robot For Autism Therapy, Daniel J. Ricks

Theses and Dissertations

Recent evidence has shown that children with autism may behave more pro-socially when interacting with a robot than with a human. The objective of this research is to develop a robotic system for use in the clinical treatment of children with autism. The governing assumption behind this thesis is that using a robot in a clinic, under the guidance of a trained therapist, may lead to therapeutic benefits that may not be achieved without the presence of the robot. The robot Troy was developed to fulfill such a role in a clinical setting. The primary objective was to design a …

Process Design For Aeration Of Facial Prosthetic, Nathaniel J. Urciuoli

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Facial prosthetics are becoming a necessary step for the recovery of injured veterans and civilians who have suffered severe facial burning. Current users of such prosthetics are not able to wear the prosthetic for an extended period of time due to uncomfortable conditions created by the silicone material. A solution for this problem was to develop a process for creating small holes similar to skin pores that will both ventilate and aid in the evaporation of accumulated sweat under the prosthetic.

The main steps of this process were to create a flexible fixture capable of supporting and securing the prosthetic …

Design Of A Low Cost Powered R/C Combat Airplane And Manufacturing Plan, Jonathan N. Bailey

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The goals of this project are to design a low cost powered remote control combat airplane capable of outdoor flight, named the Aero EX and to develop a manufacturing plan to produce each unit at a selling price of $200, while operating at a 25 vehicle batch rate inside a 1,000 square foot facility. These goals are achieved using: Aerospace fundamentals to design the vehicle, Design for Manufacturability to optimize the design for minimal use of labor, Design for Assembly to give consumers the ability to build the vehicle without fixtures, Pull production to eliminate scheduling and match customer demand. …

Design For Manufacturing Of Sports Equipment, Cedrick Bit, Christopher L. Head

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The purpose of this project was to validate industrial designs for a product in its conceptual stage and suggest/implement design changes that suit the contracting company’s needs while assuring the product maintains its basic functional requirements. Techniques and methods used to validate the design include 3‐D solid modeling, physical product application using rapid prototyping to produce the product. Methods of design for manufacturing were analyzed in the design. Processes used in the validation and verification of the design include solid modeling design, methods of measurements, fixture design and manufacturing processes. Full design specifications and solid model files were finalized and …

Scaffold Based In-Vitro Osteodistraction For Bone Tissue Engineering, Cesar Adrian Terrazas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Engineering of hard tissues such as bone is a challenge because of the limited ability of the body to heal large defects. Current treatment options, such as employing bone sections from the patient or a deceased donor have been utilized for some time now with various degrees of success. However, these methods still exhibit many limitations such as limited supply and the possibility of transmission of disease.

To address the many limitations of bone grafts, synthetic engineered substitutes have been developed and widely researched for nearly three decades. Generally termed scaffolds, these are matrices that serve the purpose of temporary …

Investigation Of The Design Of A Bistable Micro-Chemical-Mechanical Device Utilizing Lateral Buckling, Susan Lyn Barnes

Honors Theses

The Gracias Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University has developed microgrippers which utilize chemically-actuated joints to be used in micro-surgery. These grippers, however, take up to thirty minutes to close fully when activated biochemicals in the human body. This is very problematic and could limit the use of the devices in surgery. It is the goal of this research to develop a gripper that uses theGracias Laboratory's existing joints in conjunction with mechanical components to decrease the closing time. The purpose of including the mechanical components is to induce a state of instability at which time a small perturbation would cause …

Design And Manufacture Of Tennis Ball Retriever, Philip Hurst

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

No abstract provided.

Characterizing Material Property Tradeoffs Of Polycrystalline Diamond For Design Evaluation And Selection, Neil David Haddock

Theses and Dissertations

Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) is used as a cutting tool in many industries because of its superior wear resistance compared to single crystal diamond. Engineers who design new PCD materials must have an understanding of the tradeoffs between material properties in order to tailor a product for different applications. Two competing material properties that are often encountered in PCD are transverse rupture strength and thermal-resistance. Thermal-resistance is directly related to the cobalt content of PCD, and is the ability of the material to withstand thermally induced degradation. In this thesis, we characterize the tradeoff boundary between transverse rupture strength and cobalt …

Electro Mechanical Actuator Test Stand For In-Flight Experiments, Michael Koopmans, Catlin Mattheis, Austin Lawrence

Mechanical Engineering

The Prognostic Center of Excellence at NASA Ames is currently researching actuator prognostics, specifically in the application of electro mechanical actuators (EMA’s). Cal Poly ME students Michael Koopmans and Catlin Mattheis and EE student Austin Lawrence have chosen to undertake the task of building a test stand that will be flown in flight while testing EMA’s specific faults. A stand was designed to fit inside a standard 19” rack, take power from the aircraft 3 EMA’s, a computer, data acquisition, and electric magnets switches are powered. A MIL STD 1553 interface is present to allow fault injection. Vibration and temperature …

High-Level, Product Type-Specific Programmatic Operations For Streamlining Associative Computer-Aided Design, Nathan W. Scott

Theses and Dissertations

Research in the field of Computer Aided Design (CAD) has long focused on reducing the time and effort required of engineers to define three dimensional digital product models. Parametric, feature-based modeling with inter-part associativity allows complex assembly designs to be defined and re-defined while maintaining the vital part-to-part interface relationships. The top-down modeling method which uses assembly level control structures to drive child level geometry has proved valuable in maintaining these interfaces. Creating robust parametric models like these, however, is very time consuming especially since there can be hundreds of features and thousands of mathematical expressions to create. Even if …

Optimization Constrained Cad Framework With Iso-Performing Design Generator, Kelly Eric Bowman

Theses and Dissertations

Design decisions have a large impact early in the design process. Optimization methods can help engineers improve their early decision making, however, design problems are often ill-posed for optimization at this early stage. This thesis develops engineering methods to use optimization during embodiment design, despite these difficulties. One common difficulty in designing mechanical systems is in handling the effects that design changes in one subsystem have on another. This is made more difficult in early engineering design, when design information is preliminary. Increased efforts have been made to use numerical optimization methods in early engineering design – because of the …