Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

High Energy And Power Density Peptidoglycan Musclesthrough Super-Viscous Nanoconfined Water, Haozhen Wang, Zhi-Lun Liu, Jianpei Lao, Sheng Zhang, Rinat Abzalimov, Tong Wang, Xi Chen

Advanced Science Research Center

Water-responsive (WR) materials that reversibly deform in response to humidity changes show great potential for developing muscle-like actuators for miniature and biomimetic robotics. Here, it is presented that Bacillus (B.) subtilis’ peptidoglycan (PG) exhibits WR actuation energy and power densities reaching 72.6 MJ m−3 and 9.1 MW m−3, respectively, orders of magnitude higher than those of frequently used actuators, such as piezoelectric actuators and dielectric elastomers. PG can deform as much as 27.2% within 110 ms, and its actuation pressure reaches ≈354.6 MPa. Surprisingly, PG exhibits an energy conversion efficiency of ≈66.8%, which can be attributed to its super-viscous nanoconfined …

Schaeffler F-250 Bev Conversion: Power Electronics, Leslie Sawyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This report shows the work that was done on the power electronics system in the industry sponsored Schaeffler demonstration truck project. The goal of the project was to convert a combustion Ford F250 into a battery electric vehicle, while using as much Schaeffler technology as possible. After the vehicle is converted it will be used as a demonstration vehicle to show potential investors. While this project is still in progress, the work that was done during this time was substantial to the development of this project. Progress that has been made on the power electronics system includes developments in selecting …

Quickcut Waterjet Cutter, Kennedy Dunn, Jacob Storrow, Benjamin Laughrey

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The QuickCut Waterjet Cutter was created in 2019 as a senior design project. This is the third iteration of the waterjet cutter. The goal of this project was to create an operable CNC waterjet cutter that is able to cut 1/16” tensile specimens consisting of nonferrous metal or plastic. This machine will be utilized in the Manufacturing Laboratory at the University of Akron to provide education to interested students on the waterjet cutting process, how it operates, and industrial application of the technology. Waterjet cutting is a subtractive manufacturing process which is recognized for its specialized applications such as cutting …

Energy Analysis Of Heating, Ventilation, And Air Conditioning Systems, Erica Ferguson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project studied Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems for commercial buildings. I completed an energy model Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department in West Virginia. This building’s HVAC has been completed by the consulting engineering firm: Scheeser Buckley Mayfield. I intern at this company, so they allowed me to use their original design as a basis for comparison. Load calculations, utility costs, energy consumption, and carbon footprint were derived from this energy analysis. The energy model compared three systems: variable air volume (VAV) with electric reheat, variable air volume with hydronic reheat, and variable refrigerant volume (VRV). Based on the …

Sintering Of 3-D Printed Metals, Adam Shuppe, John Griffiths

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

There is a 3-D printer which prints metals such as 17-4 PH. In this project, we will learn how to use the machine to print samples, create a sintering graph for the material, and compare the properties with materials sintered using the machine. We will try to get as close as possible to the properties of the samples sintered using the machine. There will be a lot of samples made and tested, and we will learn how to use a testing machine and all other testing equipment in the department.

Photogrammetry Booth, Chidubem Igweagu

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This is a research type project that involves design, build and simulation sponsored by a faculty member in the Mechanical Engineering department. The title of the proposed project is Photogrammetry_Booth. A photo booth to have pets immobilized by taking an attention needs to be designed and manufactured. 4-6 cameras need to be installed to take photos simultaneously to represent the front, sides, back and arbitrary sides of a pet. An Arduino board and tablet will be installed to control cameras and user interface. The booth is mainly built by T-slotted frames and many functional and decorative parts will be precisely …

Adjust-A-Ramp, Taylor Sharrits, Courtney Banks, Emily Beck, Jazmin Buenrostro

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Adjust-A-Ramp is a portable ramp designed to ensure the safety of consumers and prevention of damage to cars, specifically towards low profile cars. A low-profile vehicle includes any vehicle that has a clearance off the ground of 6.5 inches or less. Advantages of low-profile vehicles include improved handling, better braking, increased fuel efficiency, increased stability, and an overall luxury aesthetic. The reduced tire size increases grip on smooth surfaces with better wheel response, creating a fast, more efficient ride. The simple tire tread patterns and the stiff sidewalls allow for lower rolling resistance which increases fuel economy. The Adjust-A-Ramp can …

Zip Shoes, Derek Ford, Garret Freund

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For our honors project we intend to create a new urban mobility solution. They are called Zip Shoes; they will be a pair of shoes with built in propulsion. We plan to use our cumulative engineering knowledge to modify an existing pair of shoes such that they can safely propel the user on wheels. We hope to achieve this by adding an electric drive train and necessary structural components onto the shoes. We are pursuing this project because we have seen the popularity of other electronically driven personal transportation devices. These include the hover board, electric skateboards, and electric scooters. …

Recycled Printer Filament, Charlotte Hyland, Troy D. Molinar

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of recycling PLA filament for 3D printing on its material properties. After examining these effects, PLA and carbon fiber additives were mixed with recycled PLA pellets in different ratios to attempt to regain material properties lost in the recycling process. To complete these findings, an experiment was design and executed.

The research found that tensile strength during multiple iterations of recycling remained mostly unaffected, however, the strain degraded exponentially. In the PLA additive study, high ratios of PLA additive were able to increase the strength and strain properties of the …

Integrating Wave-Powered Batch Reverse Osmosis With Pressure Retarded Osmosis For Higher Efficiency Desalination Method, David M. Warsinger, Akshay Rao, Abhimanyu Das, Sultan Alnajdi, Ali Naderi, Antonio Esquivel, Alondra Ramos, Cole Heald, Vivek Singh, Ryan Soltis, Kaitlyn Kelsey, Adriana Hisham, Aaron Harp, Bryan Pamintuan, Paige Beck, Matthew Sheridan, John Pacholski, Carolina Bernal Botero

School of Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Overpopulation, intensive industrial water usage and climate change are some of the occurrences that are exacerbating global water scarcity. By 2050, the United Nations predicts that over 6 billion people will be affected by water scarcity. Over 70% of the earth's surface is covered by oceans yet its water remains unusable due to the high salinity of seawater. Reverse Osmosis (RO) is the most common method of desalinating water but is dependent on non-renewable generated electricity to meet its high energy requirements. The majority of the power supplied to desalination plants is generated using emission-heavy fuels. Given the UN’s goal …

Refrigeration & Pressure Circuits For The Test Apparatus On Triaxial Properties Of Polymer Foams At Arctic Temperatures, Nathaniel Ackerman

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objective of this project is to modify the previous testing apparatus used by Dr. M. Hoo Fatt for exploration of Crushing Behavior of Polymer Foams in Sandwich Structures Operating in Arctic Regions commissioned by the Office of Naval Research and performed under the University of Akron’s Mechanical Engineering testing facilities. To do this, it is required to design a system capable of operating at a constant temperature during a testing cycle, reaching down to -60⁰C. This apparatus must also be compatible with prior equipment, facilities, persons, samples, and media.

Primarily, a copper-tube refrigeration coil design was considered to lead …

Laser-Assisted Sound Source Localization Inside A Solid Enclosure, Antonio Figueroa Mombela

Wayne State University Dissertations

Sound source localization is typically conducted in open space so that the line of sight is not blocked among individual sensors. This research presents a new technology that enables one to see acoustically through a solid Plexiglass enclosure to locate a sound source stationed inside at some arbitrarily selected locations. By using SODAR technology, non-invasive laser-assisted microphones, analog, and digital signal processing (band-pass filtering, fast Fourier transform algorithm, cross-correlations, and triangulations) satisfactory sound source localization results were obtained. In this project, the enclosure walls were flat; only the azimuth angle of a sound source could be determined. To obtain the …

A Combined Additive - Deformation - Machining (Adm) Manufacturing Process With Controlled Microstructures, Ahmed Nabil Taher Elalem

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACTA COMBINED ADDITIVE - DEFORMATION - MACHINING (ADM) MANUFACTURING PROCESS WITH CONTROLLED MICROSTRUCTURES by AHMED NABIL TAHER ELALEM August 2022

Advisor: Dr. Xin WuMajor: Mechanical Engineering Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Direct metal additive manufacturing provides great flexibility in 3D shaping compared to traditional manufacturing processes of metal casting, deformation followed by machining and joining for obtaining the final production shape. On the other hand, it suffered from its dendric microstructure produced during solidification. This study reports the development of new combined metal additive and deformation processes to take advantage and reduce/eliminate the drawback of individual processes. The heating source mainly …

Assessment Of Small-Scale Mechanical Damage On Safety Performance Of Lithium-Ion Batteries, Maher A. Almohammedali

Wayne State University Dissertations

Battery safety studies of Li-ion batteries (LIBs) related to mechanical abusive loadinginvolving contact compression of hard objects, bending and nail penetration usually show that LIBs can withstand some mechanical deformation prior to internal short circuit (ISC). Stress or strain-based criteria has been suggested to understand local conditions between the anode, cathode and the separator due such abusive mechanical loading. A strain-based criterion has also been developed at Wayne State and reported in open literature (Newaz et al.) Focus of such work has been to determine strain levels that may rupture the separator putting in contact the anode and cathode leading …

Tractor Test 2253: John Deere 9rx 590, 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 …

Test 2261: John Deere 6140m, 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 2248: John Deere 9rt 470, 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 …

Test 2255: John Deere 5100m, 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 …

Test 2256: John Deere 5115m, 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 …

Nebraska Tractor Summary: 1234 John Deere 6r 145, 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 …

Nebraska Tractor Summary: 1238 John Deere 6r 195 Diesel Infinitely Variable Transmission, 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 …

Nebraska Summary : 1235 John Deere 6r 155 Diesel Infinitely Variable Transmission, 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 …

Computational Modeling Of Respiratory Airflow In Human Distal Airways Using Hybrid Lung Model, Adnan Islam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

A major challenge in the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling of the human respiratory system is the complex variation of geometric scale from the trachea to the peripheral airways. The current literature on image-based lung flow analysis is limited to a few (typically 5) generations beyond the trachea. Such studies, which are limited largely by computational intensity and computational cost, also have limited accuracy. In this study we propose a hybrid methodology that enables CFD analysis from the middle to the distal airways through to the alveolar level. A hybrid lung model is generated where the middle airways are reconstructed …

Chemical Clean Automated Loader, Jordyn Bryner

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

TTM Technologies (TTM) is a global printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer. The work described in this report was completed in the TTM North Jackson, Ohio location. This plant focuses primarily on the manufacturing of rigid and rigid-flex PCBs for the aerospace and defense industry. TTM North Jackson has an ongoing labor dependency issue due to the shortage of workers the nation is facing. To solve this problem, TTM has focused the efforts of their new engineers and interns on automating processes that are labor dependent. The goal is to provide design guidance to be used later by TTM to automate …

Npt Test Machine, Lauren Cash

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Located at the Research facility at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, the Non-Pneumatic Tire (NPT) Program is currently in the prototype phase. However, airless tire structures are quickly gaining popularity as an alternative to a traditional pneumatic tire. The NPT Test Machine is a measurement fixture that will perform a series of evaluations to determine the stiffness of an NPT; this will allow the program to expand and evolve more rapidly into a manufacturing phase. In this Senior Design Project, a complete test solution was researched, designed, built, programmed, and validated so that data can be collected, and tires …

Design Of Composite Joints Using Machine Learning Approaches, Natalie Richards

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Adhesively bonded joints have an advantage in joining dissimilar engineering materials due to their high structural efficiency and being lightweight. These joints are either between two opposite laminates or between a composite laminate and a metal structure. The aerospace and automotive industries have seen an increase in utilizing these adhesive joints in their engineering applications. Joint strength along with the failure mode (adhesive, delamination, etc.) is the most important parameter to evaluate when understanding the capability of the adhesive joint. In this paper, a regression and a classification machine learning (ML) model are utilized to predict the failure load and …

Golf Club Cleaner, Owen Roach, Chris Wertenberger, Michael Skerlong

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Cleaning golf clubs can be a tedious process, however a necessary one to maintain equipment. Clubs are normally cleaned by filling a bucket with soap and water, soaking all the clubs to be cleaned, then scrubbing each one individually. An automatic club cleaner would make this process much easier and more enjoyable. Using electric motors, the club cleaner would have spinning brushes in soap and water to quickly and easily clean the club head. The machine would have different sections for cleaning the club head, polishing the club face, and cleaning the grip. The cleaner should be inexpensive and easy …

Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study Of A Polymer Droplet Transport Over An Array Of Spherical Nanoparticles, Anish Thomas

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This study uses molecular dynamics simulations to evaluate the dynamic behavior of a partially wetting polymer droplet driven over a nanostructured interface. We consider the bead-spring model to represent a polymeric liquid that partially wets a rough surface composed of a periodic array of spherical particles. Results show that at sufficiently small values of external force, the droplet remains pinned at the particle's surface, whereas above the threshold its motion consists of alternating periods of pinning and rapid displacements between neighboring particles. The latter process involves large periodic variation of the advancing and receding contact angles due to the attachment …

Printing, Characterization, And Mechanical Testing Of Additively Manufactured Refractory Metal Alloys, Brianna M. Sexton

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Refractory metal alloys in the tungsten molybdenum rhenium ternary system were additively manufactured using laser power bed fusion. Four ternary alloys with varying concentrations of tungsten, molybdenum, and rhenium were manufactured and manufactured again with an addition of 1 wt% hafnium carbide. Samples were heat treated to heal cracks, reduce porosity, and reduce inhomogeneity. Material microstructure was characterized before and after heat treatment using microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and electron backscatter diffraction mapping. Mechanical testing was conducted on both three-point bend specimens and compression specimens, resulting in maximum bending strengths of 677.86 MPa, and maximum compression 0.2% yield strengths …

A Digital Twin For Synchronized Multi-Laser Powder Bed Fusion (M-Lpbf) Additive Manufacturing, Shayna Petitjean

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

One of the technological challenges in the widespread application of additive manufacturing is the formation of undesired material microstructure and defects. Specifically, in metal additive manufacturing, the microstructural formation of columnar grains in Ti-6Al-4V is common and results in anisotropic mechanical properties and a reduction in properties such as ductility and endurance limit. This work presents the application of hexagonal and circular arrays of synchronized lasers to alter the microstructure of Ti-6Al-4V in favor of equiaxed grains. An anisotropic heat transfer model obtains the temporal/spatial temperature distribution and constructs the solidification map for various process parameters, including laser power, laser …