Manufacturing Engineering
Mars Drill Design and Automation
Sponsor: NASA/Texas Space Grant Consortium (TSGC)
Student Team: Davontae Habbit, Patrick Kirts, Tyler Sterling, and Jake Waldrep
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Namwon Kim
Designing and manufacturing of an easily deployable mechanism that is capable of applying extensive downwards force on the previously designed drill bit, removing the need for relocating the drill on the spacecraft or increasing the overall weight.
Aquatic Propeller Guard
Sponsor: The Meadows Center
Student Team: Alex Pina, Sabra Serino, Kathleen Formoso, Joseph Eidem
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Namwon Kim
Since the inception of a propeller guard design 6 months ago the Meadows Center in San Marcos Texas has faced a multitude of problems for the boats currently in use for touring the San Marcos River. The purpose of this design project is to identify these problems and find alternative designs for the propeller guard. The key problems that needed to be addressed were to reduce the electrolysis effect on the boat shaft and find the source of this phenomenon. The second key problem was to modify the current design to reduce the amount of entanglement in the propeller guard, yet maintain the simplistic assembly process. The third key problem was to utilize the dimensions of the previous design and incorporate the dimensions into the new design to protect the turtles from the propeller.
Sensor Placement Tool
Sponsor: Sensco
Student Team: Seth Bowles, Jesus Fuentes, Nicholas Hawkes, Aron Zamora
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Namwon Kim
The goal of the project is to be able to install leak detection sensors on water lines buried underground. To accomplish this we need to design and fabricate a tool that will reach a pipe between two and six meters underground. The tool must clean the pipe surface and then place a sensor with an adhesive pad on the pipe.
Flood Early Warning System (FEWS)
Sponsor: Freescale Semiconductor
Student Team: Ged Hemingway, Preston Eschberger, Philip Bateman, and Joe Duke
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Namwon Kim
Flash flooding is a common issue in central Texas. Even a few inches of rain can cause severe flooding. Big cities like Austin can afford flood warning systems that cost $3-5K, but small communities and towns don’t have that kind of budget. Additionally, even with 130 flood gauges and sensors in Austin there are many areas that are not monitored. The intent of this project is to build a FEWS that can be built and implemented by even the smallest town, as well as supplement bigger early warning systems like that in Austin. The approach taken was to build a sensor with no moving parts that can be tied into a transceiver that will be protected in a waterproof housing kept out of a harm way. It is important that the FEWS can be built with basic manufacturing techniques to allow even small towns to buy the parts and build the system with tools at their disposal.
Solar Powered Prone Harvester
Sponsor: Texas State University, Department of Agriculture
Student Team: David Coleman, Sean Syring, Jim Day, Michael Harrgett
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ken Mix
Our project is a small-scale application that will help aid in the harvesting of Saffron and many other handpicked crops. Our objective is to create a solar powered harvester that allows the user to lay in a prone position to make the process of harvesting Saffron more ergonomic. We aim to pick the crop quickly and efficiently while minimizing user discomfort.
Toyota Hood Lift
Sponsor: Toyota Texas
Student Team: Justin Walker, Frank Flores, Derek Cope, Bivor Arjayal
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Namwon Kim
For this project, we have designed and prototyped a system to assist the painting process technicians at Toyota in lifting the hood of the new Tacoma in order to remove an existing jig and install the prop rod. Because the new Tacoma has a much heavier hood and Toyota did not have the infrastructure to handle the added weight, problems have been identified in regards to safety, ergonomics, and underutilization of the technicians. Our product uses a battery-powered electric motor with a base and a screw to extend and retract, thus lifting the hood.