Mechanical Engineering Senior Design

• Trailer Rocket Launch Rail

  Team Name // Team Little Einsteins

  PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  

  UofL’s rocket team, River City Rocketry, is designing and building heavier and larger rockets. Their current launch rail cannot handle the expected load of these new rockets. Our team’s project is to design a trailer-based launch rail that will be capable of lifting these new rockets remotely.

  BENEFITS TO PROJECT CLIENT

  1. Increased rocket lifting capabilities.
  2. Easy transportation of launch rail to and from rocket launch locations.
  3. Increased safety during remote rocket raising.

  PROJECT GOAL

  To design a trailer-based rocket launch rail capable of lifting a 20 ft, 200 lb rocket remotely.

  TEAM MEMBERS

  • Jacob Newberry
  • Jacob Simms
  • Cole Stewart
  • Julia Vogt

• Baseball/Softball Field Infield Soil Drying Machine - Local League

  Team Name // The Wet Sox

  PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  

  Design & build a prototype for drying the mud of a baseball field diamond. The device should be targeted to sell to youth softball and baseball leagues and be capable of removing standing water from the fine dirt without eroding the field.
  

  BENEFITS TO PROJECT CLIENT

  1. Client will spend less time removing water from the field.
  2. Client will save money by wasting less field composite mix (dirt).
  3. Client will gain mobility as the system will not be tethered to a remote power supply.

  PROJECT GOAL

  Filter and remove standing water from the baseball infield so that the field can dry at an accelerated pace and the field composite mix is not wasted.

  TEAM MEMBERS

  • Caleb Covington
  • Stephen Rasberry
  • Lauren Reinersman
  • Robby Robinson

• Design of 3D Printed Piezoelectric Application (Sensing Structure)

  Team Name // Team 16

  PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  

  Redesign of a structural plastic component adding stress/strain sensing capabilities through the use of a piezoelectric polymer as feedstock for FDM printing. This project requires the integration of electrical pathways, either externally applied or printed via a secondary material.
  

  BENEFITS TO PROJECT CLIENT

  1. Understand proper printing protocols for piezoelectric polymer PVDF and TRFE
  2. Detect forces applied to an object
  3. Determine if forces could negatively impact a user in terms of being within a concussion range

  PROJECT GOAL

  The goal of this redesign is to print a sensor which will detect voltages and convert the data to accelerations in order to determine if they are within an acceptable range for concussions. This sensor could be applied to football helmets, motorcycle helmets, or other equipment in which the user would like to measure applied forces.

  TEAM MEMBERS

  • Chris Derby
  • Natalie May
  • Paige Noble
  • Owen Tucker

• Desktop CNC Lathe

  Team Name // Too Little, Too Lathe

  PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  

  This project was to design and build a prototype CNC desktop lathe capable of machining plastics and aluminums with stock sizes up to 3 inches in diameter and 4 inches in length within a safety enclosure. For the lathe to be able to fit on a desk, the largest outside dimension could be no more than 20 inches long. The lathe needed to be able to hold a consistent tolerance, and it needed to cost under $1,000.

  BENEFITS TO PROJECT CLIENT

  1. Ability to give students hands-on experience using a CNC lathe
  2. Easy access to CNC technology for prototyping
  3. Design allows for relatively easy modification to the lathe

  PROJECT GOAL

  The goal of this project was to design a CNC lathe that is small enough to fit on a desk. There are currently CNC desktop 3D printers, laser engravers, and mills on the market, but there are no lathes. The intended purpose of this lathe is to allow students to gain experience utilizing a CNC lathe without having to operate large machinery. This lathe could be used in a classroom, making it much more accessible for students.

  TEAM MEMBERS

  • Wesley Aldridge
  • Andrew Cripe
  • Christopher Weitlauf
  • Eli Young

• IR-Transparent Test-Rig for Barocaloric Characterization

  Team Name // Team 10

  PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  

  The project focuses on the development of a novel test-rig that can assess pressuredependent temperature change in solid-state refrigerant (barocaloric) materials using infrared (IR) thermography techniques. The team will develop an experimental setup that is resilient to high pressures (>100MPa) and at the same time is transparent in IR.

  BENEFITS TO PROJECT CLIENT

  Completion of this project will increase testing options for the lab by providing an alternate test rig. The IR transparency of the new test rig and the  redesigned construction will reduce error in temperature measurements. The new test rig will also allow for the demostration of barocaloric cooling.

  PROJECT GOAL

  The main goal of the project is to successfully design and assemble the chamber and potentially test it on a barocaloric material provided by the lab. The test rig should be IR transparent and capable of handling the necessary pressure requirements.

  TEAM MEMBERS

  • Cole Burch
  • Tanner Corby
  • John Holtgrewe
  • Logan Sexton

• Metal AM Smart Build Plate

  Team Name // The Non-Replaceables

  PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  

  Our project was to create a “smart” build plate to be used in the EOS M290 printer in AMIST. This build plate needed to be able to read stress, strain, and temperature values at numerous locations across the plate surface. This stress, strain, and temperature data recorded needed to also be able to be extracted so that the user could complete further analysis on the forces acting on the plate, as well as the specimens being build on the plate’s surface.

  BENEFITS TO PROJECT CLIENT

  1. Ability to know how much force is applied at varying locations across the build plate to know where defects in parts are most likely to occur.
  2. Further understanding of the forces and temperatures across the plate could aid in the design of a new re-coater blade that would be less invasive to the overall properties of each printed specimen.
  3. The ability to instantly troubleshoot why certain parts may have failed to print without defects based on all collected data values.

  PROJECT GOAL

  The goal of the “smart” build plate creation was to allow for forces applied to the build specimen by the re-coater blade to be analyzed in many locations across the plate. This would aid in other research currently being conducted as to whether or not a softer material re-coater blade would allow for less defects to be present after each build. Additionally, it would allow for the knowledge of what aspect ratios for parts could be applied and successfully printed.

  TEAM MEMBERS

  • Jobe Arnold
  • Matthew Furnish
  • Luke Malone
  • Ryan McPhilomy

• Metal Powder Binning Mechanism

  Team Name // Complex Stress State

  PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  

  We are designing a frame with internal bins that can be rearranged, resized, and filled with various different metal powder compositions. A vibration motor will then consolidate the powders. Next, the device can be inverted; a lid is slid out, and the powder is dispersed into a 3D metal printer, resulting in distinct powder regions coated across the build plate.

  BENEFITS TO PROJECT CLIENT

  1. Dramatic reduction in time when creating parts from different metal compositions
  2. Reduced material to recycle due to most of the build plate being occupied
  3. Adaptability between certain 3D metal printers

  PROJECT GOAL

  The goal of the project is to allow an individual or company to create a part out of numerous different material compositions in a 3D metal printer simultaneously.

  TEAM MEMBERS

  • Christian Tobbe
  • Carlos Suarez
  • William Meadows
  • Jacob Hogan

• Optimized polymeric coating/curing of filaments using a water bath

  Team Name // Bath Buddies

  PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  

  The goal of this project was to design an optimal coating method to precisely coat multiple layers of a polymeric film of known thickness on filaments and fibers of circular cross-section. Additionally, the scope included fabrication of a novel assembly that included a well-designed bath for dip-coating, a re-coater blade that helped in maintaining the film thickness for a circular cross-sectional specimen, a curing mechanism that facilitated drying and recoating the specimen, and a specimen winding mechanism that kept the coated specimen in continuous motion. Coating thickness and surface morphology of coated specimens were verified using optical microscopy. The coated specimen was also tested for mechanical properties such as elastic modulus, yield strength, and toughness to compare with uncoated and unfilled filaments. Such polymeric coatings applied to the highly filled powder-polymer PF3 filament functioned as a slip layer and a continuous polymer phase during printing, thereby enhancing filament mechanical and rheological properties while it improved print speeds and reduced filament failure.

  BENEFITS TO PROJECT CLIENT

  1. The largest benefit to the project was to be able to 3D print using an improved material which wouldn’t buckle when introduced to a print nozzle.
  2. Identification of curing times associated with applying a MEK/QPAC40 film coating to a pre-extruded polymer. The benefit of this was maximizing spooling speed and therefore production of improved material.
  3. The tertiary benefit was the analysis on MEK/QPAC40 mixture concentration’s effect on coating thickness and drying time which gave way to optimization of coating additives.

  PROJECT GOAL

  The goal of the project was to increase the performance characteristics of a printed material using a specific polymeric coating and curing technique.

  TEAM MEMBERS

  • Grant Combs
  • Devin Crilly
  • Mason Sansone
  • Jason Schreiber

• Pressurized Battery Test Cell

  Team Name // Sleek PEEK

  PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  

  Battery technology such as Li-ion batteries have gained numerous success on portable electronic applications (e.g. laptops and cellphones). However, when applications expand to middle- to large-scale, Li-ion batteries that contain liquid electrolytes raise serious safety concerns due to the flammable solvent and Li dendrite growth across the electrodes.

  Solid-state Li batteries, replacing the liquid electrolytes by solid-state ionic conductors, show advantages of high safety and high energy density. However, one main challenge for solid-state Li batteries is high resistance for ion transport at the solid/solid interface between solid electrolyte and electrodes. To reduce the interfacial resistance, applying certain amount of pressure is considered as a feasible solution to create the intimate contact at the interface. Therefore, battery test cells with adjustable pressure using a pressure gauge will be required. In this project, we used mechanical design knowledge to design and prepare battery test cells with adjustable pressure. With the pressed test cells, we can measure the battery performance under different pressure, establish the correlations between the pressure and battery performance

  BENEFITS TO PROJECT CLIENT

  Three benefits to the lab in the Conn Center would be an easy operation of the test cell, it is inexpensive compared to commercial product, and pressure can be measured directly instead of calculated.

  PROJECT GOAL

  The main goal is to modify an existing test cell to acquire data at different pressures with a visible representation to measure pressure.

  TEAM MEMBERS

  • Iris Herchenroeder
  • Connor Lehrmann
  • Joseph Marlette
  • William Renner

• Response of Microfluids in Microgravity Aboard the International Space Station

  Team Name // Team Rocket

  PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  

  This is a dielectrophoresis experiment that seeks to understand orbital fluid mechanics and colloid interactions by placing microfluidic samples under an electric field in the microgravity of the International Space Station (ISS). This project group has been tasked with building an optomechanical structure (like a microscope) and microfluidic system that can adequately visualize and characterize crystallization of these complex fluids with a digital camera. This structure will be capable of receiving power from and communicating with the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) on the ISS, and it will also have an onboard oscillating syringe pump system that will stir the fluids within the sample vessels.

  BENEFITS TO PROJECT CLIENT

  In industry, the controlled arrangement of colloids can enhance the effects of specialized materials, improving their optical, electrical, or mechanical properties. The designed opto-mechanical microfluidics visualization system will help researchers analyze how these particles behave when induced to crystalize within a homogeneous microgravity environment. Ultimately, learning more about these materials in microgravity will help inspire new designs of microfluids that will serve useful in fluid-driven technology in research, industry, and domestic applications. Further, this platform will serve as the foundation for future microfluidic visualization experiments on the ISS as the current system (the Light Microscopy Module) is scheduled to be removed by the end of 2021. Success will enable future collaborations with local companies with a presence on the ISS including SpaceTango (Lexington, KY) and TechShot (Greenville, IN).

  PROJECT GOAL

  This team’s end goal is to produce a working prototype of the optomechanical structure that is automated and can process multiple samples simultaneously during a single run of the experiment. This structure should be user friendly for astronauts aboard the ISS to install and operate, and the stirring operation should avoid producing any bubbles within the samples.

  TEAM MEMBERS

  • Benjamin Mitchell
  • Joellyn Ketron
  • Briana Stumbo
  • William Taylor

• Smart Barrel

  Team Name // The Coopers

  PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  

  Our team has created a “smart” housing structure for a bourbon barrel. The structure will agitate the bourbon by rotating the barrel allowing the bourbon to seep in and out of the barrels’ charred, wooden walls more quickly. The structure may also include a heating element to induce thermal cycles. As the bourbon heats up, it expands and seeps into the barrels’ walls. As the bourbon cools, it contracts, extracting compounds from the barrel. The combination of the agitation and heating elements will speed up the aging process of the bourbon.

  BENEFITS TO PROJECT CLIENT

  1. Increased efficiency of bourbon production.
  2. Structures are stackable for easy storage.
  3. Machines are reusable so barrels may be swapped in and out of them.

  PROJECT GOAL

  Design elements to cost-efficiently induce thermal and/or mechanical cycles within the structure of a barrel for aging bourbon.

  TEAM MEMBERS

  • Justin Young
  • Claire Benson
  • Reagan Jennings
  • Weston Lockhart

• Thin Film Drying Rate Test Apparatus for Solar Cells

  Team Name // Toaster Oven Coven

  PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  

  The scope of the project is to design a test apparatus to measure the drying rate of thin films. A promising technology for reduced cost to manufacture solar cells is to use chemicals in liquid form to build the layers. Application of the liquid layers can be done using various methods followed by a drying step to remove the solvent and leave the desired material. Knowledge of the processing parameters (time, air velocity, air temperature, etc) to result in a dry layer is important in developing a robust manufacturing process. The apparatus is bench scale (sample sizes from 6 by 6 inches down to 1 by 1 inch), provide for air jet velocities up to 100 m/s, measure air temperatures and humidity levels in the tunnel, allow for heating of the air (~80oC), and the critical aspect is to measure the evaporation rate of the liquid layer. The liquid layers have initial thicknesses of 2-20 mm (1 mm = 1×10-6 m).

  BENEFITS TO PROJECT CLIENT

  1. A way to monitor the drying rate of films.
  2. A way to dry films independent of the roll-to-roll system already in place.
  3. An independent system to test new air flow velocities

  PROJECT GOAL

  The main goal of our apparatus is to create a monitoring system to measure when a thin film is dry.

  TEAM MEMBERS

  • Isaac Hall
  • Jesse Hammond
  • Lily Herchenroeder
  • Austin Stewart

• Wearable Devices for Upper Body Motion Tracking

  Team Name // IMU But You're Not Me

  PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  

  The team must come up with a design to fixate IMU’s to the body for upper body motion tracking using a Teensy Microcontroller hooked up to a main computer for analysis and five IMU’s.

  BENEFITS TO PROJECT CLIENT

  This project will enable our client to have a full system designed to track upper body motion and it will save our client lots of time, effort, money and resources that would normally be needed had another person from the LARRI center been given this project.

  PROJECT GOAL

  The team is tasked with designing some sort of exoskeleton or other type of wearable device to fixate the five IMU’s to the head, shoulder, upper arm, forearm, and palm. The design needs to be able to be sanitized and fixated to the body enough to not produce any external noise during testing.

  TEAM MEMBERS

  • Braden Hensley
  • Eric Snyder
  • Adam Stegman
  • Devlin Stivers