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Senior Mechanical Engineering Students Put Project Designs into Motion
May 25, 2011
Future advances in automotive technology were
on display at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology as senior
mechanical engineering seniors presented their capstone projects
this week.
Students worked in teams
with three or four members during two 10-week academic quarters on
design projects furnished by national and local companies.
This year's client list included Cummins Engine, Roche Diagnostics,
Eli Lilly & Company, Rolls-Royce, Remy International, Sony
Digital Audio Disc Corporation and the Southwest Research
Institute.
Each team presented their
design solutions, with appropriate analyses, to meet their
stakeholders' needs. Oral presentations and a final written
report were part of the educational
experience.
Derek Bischak, Andrew
Corsten, Andrew Johnson and Ian Roberts worked on an ideal posed by
Automotive Insight of Detroit, Mich., to apply Smartphone
technology to improve vehicle safety. The team's solution
involved developing an Android application that would allow
vehicle-to-vehicle
communication.
The team focused on using
technology to prevent possible dangerous situations at
intersections. The team's application would provide a warning
signal to drivers in any vehicle encountering a potentially
dangerous situation -- with ample time for a driver to take
corrective action. The team proved that this use of mobile
technology application could be a viable in the future.
Automotive Insight is planning further project development,
possibly with other Rose-Hulman student
teams.
In another project, Steven
Jones, Nicholas Predan, Jason Steuart and Klayton Terwiske helped
Gared Holdings Inc. of Noblesville, Ind., minimize the duration of
vibrations of ceiling-mounted basketball goals. The team
conducted product testing at a nearby high school and offered a
solution that would add a damper on the bottom corners of the
backboard, attached through an aluminum channel across the back of
the goal. This solution could save the client company
approximately $500 when compared to the current
solution.
Also, seniors Mitchell
Buffington, George Carpenter, Ryan Parker and Marcus Peck completed
a sustainability project for the Posey Township Volunteer Fire
Department in Staunton, Ind., which sought to lower the carbon
footprint while increasing the life cycle and efficiency of the
department. The team focused on the potential design of a
geothermal heating and cooling unit for the facility.
Geothermal technologies, which utilize natural energy, have a
higher efficiency rating (400-500 percent), reduce greenhouse
emissions by 50 percent and have low toxicity. While this
technology solution may come with a high initial cost, it offers
long-term financial savings for the community-based fire
department.
Other projects had teams
offering improvements in Blu-ray disc quality and alternator
reliability, a design of a shopping cart assistant, and ideas about
how to design hand-held medical
instruments.
Each project featured two
oral presentations and a final written report. The team's
design proposals were reviewed by project managers and staff at
Rose-Hulman Ventures. Course mentors were mechanical
engineering professors Darrell Gibson, Patsy Brackin, Allen White
and Zachariah
Chambers.