Applied Mechanics Commons^™

Gasifier Wall Wash Manifold, Ashley Sieu Che, Gintaras Julius Baipsys, Peyton Joseph Archibald, Michael Thomas Kieran

Mechanical Engineering

The objective of our Gasifier Wall Wash Manifold Project is to design three different manifolds that will uniformly distribute water on the inner diameter of a pressure vessel. Also, the distributed water should completely cover the circumference of the inner walls. From extensive research of current solutions as well as the conduction of technical analyses, we were able to produce three designs that would be able to meet our engineering specifications. Time constraints led to the fabrication of one manifold design along with a test rig. With a fully functional test rig, we saw positive results from our design verification …

Design Of Structural Stand For High-Precision Optics Microscopy, Sara T. Novell

Master's Theses

Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) is home to the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s largest and most energetic laser. Each of the 192 beamlines contains dozens of large optics, which require offline damage inspection using large, raster-scanning microscopes. The primary microscope used to measure and characterize the optical damage sites has a precision level of 1 µm. Mounted in a class 100 clean room with a raised tile floor, the microscope is supported by a steel stand that structurally connects the microscope to the concrete ground. Due to ambient vibrations experienced in the system, the microscope is only able …

Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge, Jacob Torrey, Kayla Londono, Bryson Chan, Aaron Trujillo

Mechanical Engineering

The FPVC combines mechanical engineering disciplines to design and manufacture a vehicle that utilizes hydraulic power. The FDR covers the final manufacturing process and verification processes developed during the front end of research and analysis built upon the Critical Design Review (CDR) and the PDR (Preliminary Design Review). This report showcases the design decisions and extensive research that supports the continuing efforts by the Team Pump My Ride, to build upon the accomplishments of Cal Poly’s previous team, The Incompressibles. The FDR presents how Team Pump My Ride produced the design changes from the CDR and PDR to achieve improvements …

Ares Cleaning System, Andy Sagers, John Cunningham, Peter Greig, Jack Glynn

Mechanical Engineering

In this Final Design Review, the team outlines the general scope of the ARES Cleaning System project and the final design direction chosen and built. This team consists of a group of four mechanical engineering students who have been tasked with designing and manufacturing an autonomous ARES cleaning system to help their sponsor, Fracsun, better track soiling losses measured at large solar arrays. They designed, conceptualized, manufactured, and tested throughout the project as they looked to create a final, functioning product. In creating this Final Design Review, they have identified how the product will perform the desired functions and what …

Rebounder Fatigue Test Machine, Caroline Reeves, Will Robertson, Ethan Flory

Mechanical Engineering

JumpSport, a company that designs and sells trampolines and trampoline accessories, has sponsored this senior project team to design, build, and test a trampoline fatigue test machine. The machine must simulate a person jumping on the trampoline to test the life of JumpSport’s fitness trampolines and kids’ trampolines. Partway through the design process, the objectives were altered and this senior project team was tasked with merging with another Cal Poly senior project group to create an all-inclusive test machine to accommodate both full-trampoline testing and individual bungee cord testing.

The final design is centered on a slider crank linkage driven …

Static Balancing Of The Cal Poly Wind Turbine Rotor, Derek Simon

Master's Theses

The balancing of a wind turbine rotor is a crucial step affecting the machine’s performance, reliability, and safety, as it directly impacts the dynamic loads on the entire structure.

A rotor can be balanced either statically or dynamically. A method of rotor balancing was developed that achieves both the simplicity of static balancing and the accuracy of dynamic balancing. This method is best suited, but not limited, to hollow composite blades of any size. The method starts by quantifying the mass and center of gravity of each blade. A dynamic calculation is performed to determine the theoretical shaking force on …

Design And Development Of Rapid Battery Exchange Systems For Electric Vehicles To Be Used As Efficient Student Transportation, Jonathan A. Bevier

Master's Theses

Rapid battery exchange systems were built for an electric van and pedal assist electric bike as a method of eliminating the need to recharge the vehicles batteries in order to increase the feasibility of using electric propulsion as a method of efficient student transportation. After selecting proper materials it was found that the systems would need a protective coating to ensure consistent operation. 1020 cold rolled steel samples coated with multiple thicknesses of vinyl resin paint, epoxy resin paint, and powder coating were subjected to environmental wear tests in order to determine if the type and thickness of common protective …