Electro-Mechanical Systems Commons^™

Areosense, Josephine Turney

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The AeroSense growing system is designed to make indoor aeroponic gardening easy and accessible for everyone. By combining sensors, automation, and AI, the system can monitor and adjust humidity, lighting, and nutrient levels to help plants thrive without requiring expert knowledge. The goal is to create a self-regulating garden that takes the guesswork out of growing fresh herbs and vegetables at home. The project involves building a working aeroponic prototype equipped with misters, pumps, and environmental sensors, all managed by a Raspberry Pi. Using computer vision and machine learning, AeroSense will be able to assess plant health and respond automatically …

Using A Record Player Inspired Probe System To Investigate Adhesion And Friction Of Tire Rubber At Micrometer Length Scales, Kyle J. Galigher, Brendan Schmitt

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

We will be using the principles behind how a record player turns physical grooves into electrical signals to develop a device that can be used to measure the surface of tires. The device will be capable of measuring the surface roughness of rubber samples from both new and worn tires, in order to compare the differences between them. It will be operable at varying speeds, and will produce electrical signals that correspond to the bumps along the surface of the rubber. The design will be carried out and optimized with the use of SolidWorks modeling, finite element analysis, motion analysis, …

Automated Soil Resetting System For Extraterrestrial Regolith Simulation, Parker W. Brennan, Anthony C. Daniels

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project focuses on designing an automated soil resetting system for extraterrestrial regolith simulation. The system will prepare a regolith simulant testbed to a desired, repeatable density, enabling reliable wheel–terrain testing for planetary rover research. Manual soil preparation currently exposes testers to hazardous particulates and produces inconsistent results.

The proposed system will integrate mechanical and control elements to reset the soil bed safely and efficiently. A combination of raking and vibrational methods will be explored, with feedback sensors and automation to achieve target density control. The research will proceed through literature review, benchtop experimentation, prototype design, and full-scale testing over …

High Voltage Junction Box For Demonstrator Vehicle, Benjamin Lubowicki, Ryan Dorste

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Schaeffler, our industry sponsor for this project, is designing a battery pack for a demonstration vehicle that requires a high voltage junction box to route power to the vehicle. The project type is a unique design of a mechanical component, mechanism, and process. Our objective for this project is to assemble provided electro-mechanical components into an enclosure following a provided electrical diagram. The expected deliverables are the following: 3D CAD assembly of final product, FEA analysis of designed components, 2D print of final product, fabrication and assembly of designed parts, technical report documenting design process and installation. The skills required …

Head Mounted Surgical Robot, Mason Currens

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this design project is to utilize a six degree of freedom, robotic system that will be head mounted device that can either assist in, or perform, facial and optical surgery. The six degree of freedom idea came from current systems used in flight simulations. By optimizing the system to fit the figure of a patient’ s head, many of the present errors in surgical robotics can be reduced. One of the major errors when using a facial tracking robot is sudden impulses, such as a cough or a twitch, that the robot can't precisely track. Mounting the …

Smart Material Actuated Flap, James Lyons, Kristofer Johnson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objective of this project is to develop and evaluate a smart material actuated aerodynamic control surface to determine the viability of these new systems as alternatives to conventional electromechanical and hydraulic systems. The research will begin with the selection of a control surface and actuator design. The concept will then be tailored to create an experimental model for the purposes of this project. Smart materials that suit the model requirements will be selected and procured. Next, the actuators will be shape trained and characterized to meet the model requirements. Then, a benchtop model will be produced for design verification, …

Kb Bioenergy Mobile Dewatering System Research, Wyatt Balser, Nathan Szymczak

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This report outlines the design and development of a mobile skid-mounted dewatering system intended for high-solids sludge processing at wastewater treatment facilities. The goal was to create a self-contained, transportable unit capable of reliably separating water from sludge using a screw press, while integrating upstream processes such as polymer conditioning, sludge maceration, and pumping. The final design prioritizes serviceability, structural integrity, and operational simplicity, featuring a consolidated equipment layout, engineered piping diagrams, and vendor-specified components.

Throughout the project, multiple design alternatives were evaluated using a weighted decision matrix, leading to the selection of a skid platform over a trailer configuration …

Development Of A Solidworks Api, Andrew Magyar

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With the current advancements in CAD software, and precision of modern motors, we believe that a new way to communicate from hardware to software is possible. This report details the steps we have taken to attempt just that. The essential idea behind this is that modern controls for robotics are not as user friendly as they can be. The general action taken is to create an API for SolidWorks that connects it to the other necessary controller software and makes it so that a robot, and its exact current position, can be changed simply and intuitively from SolidWorks. Furthermore, the …

Robotic Gutter Cleaner, Zachary Nopper

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Gutters redirect rainwater away from nearly every roof and home in America and Europe but build up debris over time and require constant maintenance. Manual gutter cleaning is unpleasant, time-consuming, and dangerous, with 80,000 injuries/year attributed to people cleaning their gutters and overreaching from ladders in the U.S. alone. This difficult situation implies that consumers would be interested in a method to make this process safer and easier. In an age of increasing automation of tasks, especially those that might be dangerous to complete, a gutter cleaning robot is a solution that could alleviate several of these problems at once. …

Development Of A Modular Solar Shingle, David Dye, Andrew Schmidt, Mitchell Cozzens

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this research project is to design, prototype, and test an array of solar roofing shingles using print-in-place principles using an automated circuitry printer and 3D printed components. The shingle shall emphasize ease of installation, maintenance, and affordability in contrast to the current market for solar roofing. The design goal is to develop a manufacturing process to be more cost and time effective than current manufacturing techniques. The prototype will consist of a roof with this system, demonstrating the durability, assembly, and ease of installation. Finally, material/design suitability will be implemented in conjunction with postprocessing techniques to create …

Schaeffler Icvd Coating Machine, Louis Mcgrath

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) is mutual technology used to deposit thin film through a gaseous phase by vaporizing the solid materials. This conventional process usually requires high thermal stability of the materials, which is not applicable for most of the polymeric materials. Therefore, a novel process, initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition (iCVD) is developed by introducing the gaseous monument and initiator to form the thin film in-situ. By adjusting the free-radical polymerization in the vapor phase, a variety of thin and uniform polymer films can be achieved. Depending on the chemistry, iCVD has many categories. This report explains the design …

3d Printed Drone (Body And Controls), Michael Dick, Hayden Pinkelman, Tanner Henderson, Logan Prince

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objective is to build a scaled down model of a 3D printed drone capable of carrying a payload scalable to 50 lbs. for a wide array of applications. Some applications of the drone could include delivering support materials during natural disasters, such as foam to put out fire or medical aid packs to provide aid to injured people, food or package delivery, or military applications. The project has been split up into two groups. One group will be focusing on the propulsion aspect of the project, such as the electric motors and airfoil. Simultaneously, this group will design the …

Development Of A 2-Dof Robotic Uterus Manipulator, Jeremiah Eggleston, Nicole Pishnery, Siddharth Navaneetha Raj

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objective for our senior design project was to design a better uterus manipulator to assist with hysterectomies. We worked with our advisor Dr. Sam Song from the university’s Mechanical Engineering department. There are a variety of uterus manipulators on the market currently, each with unique design features to make the manipulator safer and more effective (van den Haak et al, 2015). Our group’s design modifies and sets itself apart from manipulators currently on the market. Going off others’ attempts to make a better manipulator (Fournelis, 2022), the key modifications our design incorporates are an additional degree of freedom (for …

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 …

Dupont Seal Mold Assembly Machine, Brett Biederman, Craig Hanchett, Matthew Chilton

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Seal Assembly Machine is a custom-built device that is designed to seat a thin polymer part between two mating pieces of metal tooling. To meet the specifications of the sponsor, the Seal Assembly machine must perform its function more quickly and accurately than manual labor at the same task. At the time of compiling this report, the machine is not yet functional due to time constraints.

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 …

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 …

Schaeffler E-Motor, Jenne Harasin, Zachary Zatta, Christopher Tvaroch

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project will be focusing on the work accomplished at Schaeffler to convert an existing internal combustion engine, Ford F-250 truck, into a battery electric vehicle. This report focuses on the vehicle's integration with an emphasis on the bearing design, e-Axle housing's method for mounting, bus bar design, resolver design, differential options, wiring for low and high voltage, and oil pump and cooling system for e-Beam. The bearings for the differential as well as the power transmission system from the electric motor to the e-Axle will need to be specified. By late summer 2022, Schaeffler will have a working prototype …

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 …

Agv Design, Vincent Orzel, Zachary Woodrum

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This report details the design and calculation work done towards creating an autonomous guided vehicle (AGV) for use in the steel and metal related industries. Steel Equipment Specialists (SES) is a major manufacturer of coil transportation vehicles for these industries. SES believes the future of coil transportation within the mills includes AGVs in some circumstances. The team was tasked with exploring the design and cost of a base model for use in future designs, since SES has not yet modeled or manufactured an AGV. This design was successful under the stress from the application in calculations, and the cost of …

Smart Home Pet Feeder, Andrew Markja, Simona Zdravev, Timothy Zubek, Christian Jackson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this project was to design a Smart Home Pet Feeder that will allow the owner to feed their pet using 4 different methods. The methods are: manually, scheduled, app/url, Alexa/Google. The advantages of this design are that it will become convenient for pet owners who are busy and unable to make it back to their house to feed their pets remotely or for those who enjoy the use of technology from within their home for no-trouble feeding.

Rust Preventative Spray Varnish Verification And Nozzle Development, Dakota Snyder, Collin Whitely, Stephen Patrick, William Mccullough

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This document details the research and selection of five rust preventative spray varnishes that were to be tested. These varnishes are known as the five materials. The materials underwent rust testing and in-depth analysis to see which protects against rust the best. In addition, the document reports on the construction of a prototype self-contained, automated spray varnishing unit.

Mini Baja Cvt Optimization, Emily Masa, Alec Bagley, Kyle Fertig, David Gao, Noah Cook

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this project is to design and optimize an eCVT setup for The University of Akron’s Zips Baja SAE car. The current CVT is a centrifugal CVT which changes its gear ratio through a series of weights and springs, while an eCVT uses a motor to change the gear ratio.The advantage of an eCVT is that the motor can be programmed to adjust in real-time based on the engine rpm. A centrifugal CVT can only be tuned ahead of time. It is necessary to compare the new acceleration performance to a tuned centrifugal CVT to determine if it …

Theoretical Design Of A 360 Degree Pendulum Ride, John William Elliott

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project uses several areas of study: mechanical physics/design of moving parts, electrical power, and human comfort. It is based on the pendulum ride at Cedar Point called "maXair." One of the goals with this project is to create a theoretical, simpler version of a 360 Degree Pendulum Ride that operates on the same principles of a conventional pendulum rides. The velocity, forces on the shaft in the middle of the ride, the accelerations, the g force on the riders, and all the other forces associated with the pendulum ride were analyzed as well.

Hydraulic Vehicle Challenge, Jacob Steiner, David Kotovets, Evan Blitz, Luke Fetherston, Alex Colucy

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The target goal of this project is for a team of students to design a vehicle which is based on human power as the primary mover of the system and achieves vehicle propulsion through the required use of hydraulics and pneumatics. In summary, the rider will power a pump that will generate pressure in order to move the fluid that drives the motor. This will result in the powered rotation of the wheels. As there are many possible designs, naturally, this means that the final design for the vehicle will have specific limitations such as weight and the required use …

Implementation Of An Autonomous Guided Vehicle (Agv), Allen St. Myers, Alan Miller

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This report thoroughly represents a proposal to AAM Metal Forming Minerva for the implementation of an AGV (Autonomous Guided Vehicle) Unit. Our recommendations are made with consideration to existing manufacturing processes and demonstrate how using an AGV would be a net positive investment for the company. By first examining the current operating costs, a three-tiered proposal is tailored based on increasing investment cost. Each tier increase encompasses the previous tiers’ proposed improvements while also growing in complexity and investment cost. The results of our research indicate that our Tier 2 proposal will provide the most benefit to our facility now …

Zips Precious Plastics: Plastic Extruder, Patrick Cole

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project's goal was to design and build an affordable desktop filament extruder that can precisely and consistently extrude filament to a certain tolerance acceptable for 3D printers using wasted printing material. The group is partnering with an on campus organization focusing on engineering applications for sustainable futures. Zips Precious Plastics is a student run design group that intends to bring an innovation space on campus to help educate students about the importance of a closed looped system within plastic manufacturing.

Automated Runout Measurement Tool, Ethan Tisch

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A new measurement process and tool is to be developed to improve the existing method for measuring runout on the commutators of brushed DC product.

After an armature is manufactured, the commutator is inspected by placing the completed rotor assembly in one of several non-standard measurement fixtures. An indicator is then positioned on the commutator. A trained operator proceeds to rotate the armature while taking runout and bar-to-bar measurement at various positions along the length of the commutator.

This existing process is slow, costly, and unreliable. For these reasons, there is substantial economic pressure to develop a superior method for …

Automatic Seeder, Zachary Bunting, Nicholas Muscarella, Trevor Tout, Dalton Denny

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Our Senior Design Project is the construction and implementation of an automatic seeder that is to be used in the agricultural industry. The automatic seeder is being designed to eliminate prevalent issues within the process of planting seeds by hand, such as labor requirements and inconsistent operations. The seeder is meant to reduce time spent on planting seeds and place them in an efficient manner for optimal growth conditions.

This project will require several specific research questions to be addressed in the form of application and good usability. We will investigate the method of planting the seed, the conveyor track …

Rinse Tank Salinity Automation, George Pahoundis

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Manufacturing processes are often consisted of many different processes and sub-processes. Each of these carries its own level of importance and impact to the overall picture. In this particular sub-process, salt is rinsed from a product via a rinse tank: a tank whose salinity may not exceed a certain level and whose temperature must not fall below a certain level. This setting is a prime opportunity to implement an automated control system to allow these parameters to be met with upmost efficiency. With potential savings in excess of $20,000 per year and an estimated payback period of 8 weeks, the …