Electro-Mechanical Systems Commons^™

Cal Poly Supermileage Dynamometer, Jacob Randall, Nate Deffenbaugh, Kyle Milgram

Mechanical Engineering

Our senior project involves designing a chassis dynamometer capable of simulating variable loads for the Cal Poly Supermileage Vehicle (SMV) team. The chassis dynamometer we are developing uses an alternator to develop additional resistance that the vehicle will have to overcome while testing. To implement a control system for the variable load, we use an Arduino Nano paired with multiple sensors and drivers. This control system allows the user to select different levels of resistance that correlate with different road grades. We designed a custom Printed Circuit Board (PCB) that will contain all the electrical components needed for the control …

2-Axis Electric Off-Road Bucket Seat Bases, Brennan K. Slater, Alexander P. Croteau, Spencer M. Kubik

Mechanical Engineering

Off-road vehicle bucket seats are currently restricted to a single position relative to the floor of the vehicle. Drivers and riders desire the ability to adjust their seat position to increase comfort and allow for a greater size range of riders to fit safely within the cabin or roll cage. To develop a viable solution, the team has gone through an extensive design process and has constructed a functioning prototype. This Final Design Report encapsulates the entire design process and concludes with recommendations for changes we would make looking both back in review as well as moving forward with further …

Fiberglass Mat-Roll Carryover, Bryce Youngson, Aaliyah Ramos, Johann Cayaban, Tony Ledesma

Mechanical Engineering

The asphalt shingle is a type of roof shingle that uses asphalt for waterproofing. Its low cost and easy installation make it one of the most common roof covers in North America. General Aniline and Film (GAF) is one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of roofing materials and produces asphalt shingles at their Shafter, California manufacturing facility. To manufacture asphalt shingles, a base material of fiberglass passes through a series of processes that sequentially add asphalt, ceramic-coated mineral granules, and thermoplastic adhesive. The fiberglass base-material arrives at the manufacturing facility in large rolls that workers must periodically splice together in …

Mechanized Advent Calendar, Oma Skyrus, Sigrid Derickson, Tyler Koski, Daniel Clifton

Mechanical Engineering

Within this document, the “Naughty and Nice” team will describe the details associated with the completion of this project, which involves creating an animated advent calendar for the Cambria Christmas Market. The problem, the customers and stakeholders, and the general goals of the project are introduced. The team conducted background research; how this research helps in finding a solution or supporting the needs of the sponsor is illustrated. Initial research includes interviews with the sponsor and potential users, patent and existing product searches, and some technical research pertaining to the subject. The team found that there are not many existing …

Bicycle Drivetrain Power Measurement Study, Luke Costello, Nick Musolino, Ryan Miller, Jose Aguirre

Mechanical Engineering

The overarching goal of this project was to experimentally compare the bottom-bracket (BB) powermeter developed by Level Engineering, Inc., against off-the-shelf powermeters and a dynamometer. To do this, a significant amount of testing was performed. Level Engineering facilitated this testing by providing the project team with three testing apparatus – an In-Situ tester, a Stationary Tester, and a fatigue tester. The In-Situ tester was a bicycle outfitted with the BB prototype and a PowerTap powermeter. The Stationary Tester was a bicycle with a BB prototype, and the rear wheel replaced with a dynamometer. Finally, the fatigue tester made to apply …

E.M.B.E.R. Home Protection, Kylie Fernandez, Daniel Santoro, Ryan Kissinger, Christopher Slezak

Mechanical Engineering

Despite the increased danger of wildfires in states such as California and Colorado, there is yet to exist a product that can autonomously extinguish the spot fires that ignite from windblown embers. This device could reduce countless civilian casualties and prevent millions of dollars in property damage. This is not to mention allowing homeowners to evacuate with a greater peace of mind. Mass ownership of this product would be analogous to the “herd immunity” of vaccines, where neighbors ultimately protect each other and save money through self-insurance.

There are products on the market, generally in the commercial domain, that can …

Heat: Hydraulic And Electric Animation Team, Tyler J. Couvrette, Michael J. Cain, Sara T. Novell, Dexter K. Yanagisawa

Mechanical Engineering

Each New Years’ Day, the Cal Poly Rose Float presents a flower-covered float to the world at the Tournament of Roses parade. This floral display, paired with moving mechanical animations, shows off Cal Poly to the world. This project strove to keep Cal Poly on the cutting edge of technology both in parade floats, and in engineering, by creating a completely electric-powered animation system.

To accomplish this, a group of students set out to make the fully electric animation system that can power both the hydraulic and electric mechanisms on the Float. This was accomplished through months of planning and …

Cal Poly Satellite Positioning Systems: "Thrust Or Bust!", Josh W. Neiman, Milena A. Milich, Gerardo Ramirez, Joshua A. Tran

Mechanical Engineering

Satellites need a way to make precise corrections to their orbit and positioning. The purpose of this project is to design a gimbal mechanism for Astranis that orients an ion thruster along a requested vector. The gimbal must produce any vector within a 2.5° cone in a thirty-minute window. Current systems are expensive and not well suited to this application. The design must be operable in a space environment and optimize mass, size, and reliability. Our design toggles between four discrete positions to achieve an average thrust vector. The gimbal accomplishes this using four solenoids that tilt a plate about …

Nano Fab Lab 63, Brian K. Deemer, Josh Clemons, Nick Brodine, Delaney Fitzsimmons

Mechanical Engineering

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL) has several steps in the production process for ceramic nanofiber tubes that they would like to improve - electrospinning, cutting, rolling, sealing and heat treating. We undertook the challenge to deliver LLNL with a semi-automated process that efficiently integrates the steps of cutting, rolling, and sealing to save time and improve control over end dimensions. In this document, we discuss the technical background of the manufacturing steps currently followed to create nanofiber tubes, identify which steps are incorporated in our prototype and explain how they will interface with one another, define the design requirements, present …

Commercial Vehicle Research Buggy For Active Driver Assistance Systems, Fernando Mondragon-Cardenas, Nathaniel Mccutcheon Furbeyre, Ricardo Steven Lickiss Tan Iv

Mechanical Engineering

This is the Final Design Report for Daimtronics, a senior project team sponsored by Professor Charles Birdsong of Cal Poly and by Daimler Trucks North America. This team integrated mechatronic systems into a scale semi-truck chassis using existing mechanical and software systems from three separate Cal Poly senior projects over the recent years: Daimscale, MicroLaren, and ProgreSSIV. The goal was to have a user-friendly platform capable of executing autonomous driving algorithms that are programmable at a high level in Simulink and Robotic Operating System (ROS). Advanced driver assistance and autonomous vehicle algorithms were not within the scope of this project, …

Duocel Metal Foam Display Cases, Kate Goldsworthy, Katherina Prodanov, Benjamin Swanson, Syed Hasan

Mechanical Engineering

This Final Design Review (FDR) report outlines the senior design project that was conducted by a team of four mechanical engineering students at California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo for ERG Materials and Aerospace Corporation. The goal of this project was to design displays that showcase the properties of ERG’s Duocel® foam at tradeshows and client meetings. To better understand the needs of our sponsor, the team researched Duocel®’s capabilities, related technologies, and relevant standards and regulations. With this information, we further defined the problem by creating a problem statement and a set of engineering specifications through a Quality Function …

Autonomous Vehicles Operating Collaboratively To Avoid Debris And Obstructions, Toan T. Le, Cole W. Oppenheim, James H. Gildart, Kyle M. Bybee

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this project is to demonstrate the safety and increased fuel efficiency of an automated collision avoidance system in collaborative vehicle platooning. This project was cosponsored by Daimler Trucks North America headquartered in Portland, Oregon, as well as Dr. Birdsong, and Dr. DeBruhl of Cal Poly. The mechanical engineering team consists of Cole Oppenheim, James Gildart, Toan Le, and Kyle Bybee who worked in coordination with a team of computer engineers. Vehicle platooning is a driving technique to increase the fuel efficiency of a group of vehicles by following a lead vehicle closely to reduce the drag experienced …

Adjustable Seating Systems, Grace Timken, Zachary Dworaczyk, Jasper Lewin, Eric Voss

Mechanical Engineering

The Adjustable Seating Systems team designed and prototyped a collapsible and nestable seat for use in transit vehicles to create more free space for more passengers and cargo. Our team is the second senior project group to have worked at solving this problem. The previous team established a unique seat folding method that is currently pending patent approval. Our team’s responsibility was to improve the ease of use and overall hardware design of the entire seating system. This document captures the efforts that our team has performed to organize an approach to completing a full design and working prototype this …

Danny’S Recumbent Bike Accessibility Device Final Design Report, Joseph J. Lee, Huy Nguyen, Jack Mcatee, John Kulick

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this document is to fully define our design solution and explain our manufacturing and testing results. Our project’s goal is to find a way to allow Danny Knutson, a retired Navy pilot and incomplete quadriplegic with limited use of his arms and an impaired sense of balance, to enter and exit his recumbent tricycle without any discomfort for him or his aide. We completed multiple interviews with Danny, patent research, existing product research, and other technical literature research in order to fully understand the problem. We synthesized this information to create a concrete list of customer wants …

Cal Poly Supermileage Electric Vehicle Drivetrain And Motor Control Design, Clarisa Joy Howe, Christopher Joseph Mclaughlin, Erik Alvarado, Enyi Liang

Mechanical Engineering

The Cal Poly Supermileage Vehicle team is a multidisciplinary club that designs and builds high efficiency vehicles to compete internationally at Shell Eco-Marathon (SEM). Cal Poly Supermileage Club has been competing in the internal combustion engine (ICE) category of the competition since 2007. The club has decided it is time to expand their competition goals and enter their first battery electric prototype vehicle. To this end, a yearlong senior design project was presented to this team of engineers giving us the opportunity to design an electric powertrain with a custom motor controller. This system has been integrated into Ventus, the …

Furnace System Improvements, Kenji K. Anzai, Ethan Fedor, Patrick Zailaa

Mechanical Engineering

This Final Design Review (FDR) documents the work done by the group to manufacture the system to deliver improvements to the furnace in the Cal Poly microfabrication laboratory (better known as the cleanroom). The document describes the material covered in the Scope of Work (SOW), including background research, customer needfinding, and the problem statement, material associated with concept development and selection for Preliminary Design Review (PDR), material detailing the design and manufacturing plan of the system for Critical Design Review (CDR), and new material detailing the manufacture of the system for FDR.

Research done for the SOW resulted in a …

Water Fun At Exploration Station Final Design Report, Brandon Dean Puccini, Sarah Rose Means, Natasha Tamlin O'Connell-Mackay

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Daimscale — 1:14th Tractor-Trailer For Testing Driver Assistance Technology, Christopher Marrale, Jase Sasaki, Devin Bodmer

Mechanical Engineering

Active driver assistance systems are becoming increasingly wide-spread throughout the automotive industry due to their potential for safer roads and decreased costs of transportation, but testing these systems on real trucks can be time consuming, dangerous, and costly. Testing these systems on a small-scale tractor-trailer combination will lead to faster and more efficient development of driver assistance systems and can be used by both engineers and students, leading to a larger field of experienced developers to improve these systems.

Our goal will be to design, manufacture, and build a scale 6x2 model of the tractor portion of a Daimler semi-truck …

Wheelie King Trainer And Controller, Michael C. Uytingco, Paul E. Hubner, Dmitriy Petrovykh

Mechanical Engineering

The ``wheelie'' is a popular, classic bicycle trick which novice bicyclists often attempt as an introduction to advanced bike tricks. However, many are hesitant to try due to the risks and safety hazards associated with performing one. The purpose of this project is to create an on-board system which will assist a user in maintaining a wheelie after achieving the required position while incorporating safety mechanisms to prevent the user from injuring themselves or others. Additional requirements of the system are non-obstructive features and seamless transitioning between wheelie conditions.

Upon researching the state of wheelie technology, existing products, such as …

Verification Of Brand Authentication Technology Using Infrared Light And Image Processing, Thomas Fenner, Kevin Whalen, Josh Oliver

Mechanical Engineering

Statement of Confidentiality: The complete senior project report was submitted to the project advisor and sponsor. The results of this project are of a confidential nature and will not be published at this time.

Laser Triangulation Sensor, Jake Finelt, Kian Gruszczynski, Greg Mclorg

Mechanical Engineering

Statement of Disclaimer: Since this project is a result of a class assignment, it has been graded and accepted as fulfillment of the course requirements. Acceptance does not imply technical accuracy or reliability. Any use of information in this report is done at the risk of the user. These risks may include catastrophic failure of the device or infringement of patent or copyright laws. California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo and its staff cannot be held liable for any use or misuse of the project.

3-Dimensional Automated Heat Flux Calibration Device, Victor Raul Chacon, David Madison Morrisset, Alex Michael Schnorr, Kevin Scott

Mechanical Engineering

This document aims to describe the problems in current radiant heat source heat flux calibration techniques and the approach our team took to solve them through automation. The following sections outline the basic premise of the problem we addressed and who our end product benefited. The proceeding sections addresses the research that we have performed regarding heat flux measurements and automation. This research includes current solutions – mostly partial solutions for problems that are similar but not exactly like ours. Following the background research, we define objectives, with specific details that outline how we evaluated different possible solutions, and how …

Museum Wave Tank Design, David James Streng, Lisa Michelle Dischinger, John Frederick Niemoller

Mechanical Engineering

The Santa Maria Discovery Museum would like to add a tsunami wave tank to be one of their demonstrations. The wave tank needs to draw the attention of their young crowd and be educationally informative about the shapes and effects of waves. As this is a museum demonstration for children, the structure, user interface, and wave making mechanism must be durable.

We are a senior project team from California Polytechnic State University that worked on this project with Allan Hancock College and Stanford University. We created waves by rapidly moving a plunger vertically in the water column. This project allows …

Dyno-Mite Redesign, Brandon Joseph Miller, Daniel Robert Hoffman, Richard Demedici Young

Mechanical Engineering

The Cal Poly Mechanical Control Systems Laboratory currently employs an outdated device, known as the Motomatic, to teach students about various motor characteristics and control methods. These include open-loop vs. closed-loop control, speed vs. position control, and DC motor response curves. The current device does not function properly and produces unreliable data due to overwhelming non-linear effects such as stiction and shaft misalignment. Our team was tasked with designing a replacement device that retains many of the same educational goals as the original lab procedure, while also adding new educational goals pertaining to the device system dynamics. The new apparatus, …

Poly Spotlight Control, Ryan P. O'Neill, C. Oleg Frandle, Anthony T. Lombardi

Mechanical Engineering

When this project began, The Cambria Center for the Arts Theater used a manually-operated spotlight. The sound created by the fans, along with the sheer size of the spotlight, required that it be housed in an attic room above the theater and shined through a closed window. This trapped a lot of heat in the room and involved some risk with climbing into and out of the attic room. This project sought to remedy those issues by mounting a pair of newer LED spotlights inside the theater. Doing this required a method for remotely controlling and actuating the angular position …

Guided Target Control System Final Design Report, John Barry, Zachary Eagan, Ryan Mackintosh

Mechanical Engineering

Daimler Automotive, the parent company of Mercedes-benz requires improved methods for testing their Autonomous Emergency Braking Systems. To this end they have presented a series of four senior projects to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. One of the Projects is to build a facsimile of a human crossing the street. The other three projects of which this is a part; are to produce an autonomous car facsimile. These projects are intended for use in testing new Autonomous Emergency Braking Systems and may serve as the basis for future senior projects.

Small-Scale Intelligent Vehicle Design Platform, Christopher Grant, Jay Miley, Evan Phillips

Mechanical Engineering

Intelligent Vehicle Design is a growing field with the potential to save many lives by actively minimizing the impacts of human error. Though there are many ways to research intelligent vehicle control, full-scale implementations are expensive and dangerous and computer simulations have extremely steep learning curves. Researchers and students need an accessible, adaptable, and robust development platform to rapidly create and test autonomous control algorithms. While small-scale platforms are often designed from the ground up for specific projects, this requires analysis, design, and manufacture. The goal of this project is to develop a small-scale intelligent vehicle that can be configured …

Blend It Wine Blending Distribution System, Connor Clarry, Russell Temple, Matt Moren

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Micro-Spi Sediment Profile Imaging Micro-Inspector, Andrew P. Corvin, Caleb T. Davies, Matt R. Ferrari

Mechanical Engineering

This project was proposed by Dr. Brian Paavo through a desire to more easily study the benthic sediment layers of the ocean. To do so, he asked us to build a simple and compact machine for use in sediment profile imagery (SPI). Although devices like this already exist, they are all large scale devices that require a ship with a crane to deploy, which is expensive and time consuming. Instead, he desired a “micro” SPI, which is capable of being deployed from a small vessel that can easily navigate shallow waters. Our interpretation of these requirements was as follows: a …

Drawing And Twisting Of Graphene Fibers, Gregory T. Lane, Robert J. Sekerak, Isaias Diaz

Mechanical Engineering

The aim of this project was to develop a more automated process for drawing and twisting of graphene fibers than was currently in place. This was implemented by having two chemical baths with variable speed rollers at either end, and intermediate roller to spool fiber between stages, and a twisting cylinder with integral spool to twist the fiber as it is collected. The goal was to have this first iteration deliver a working prototype, however due to manufacturing delays and timing constraints, that will be missed. A second follow-on project would be able to continue the work presented here and …