Senior Project Conference - Boston University · Senior Project Conference 2015. 1 Welcome to the 2015 Mechanical Engineering Senior Conference. On May 1 . and May 4 our seniors will

Mechanical

Engineering

Senior Project

Program

Conference

2015

Boston University College of EngineeringDepartment of Mechanical Engineering


Contents

1. Message from the Chair2. Senior Project Design Faculty, Staff, and GTFs3. Presentation Schedule4. Corporate Sponsors5. Corporate Sponsors Continued6. All Electric General Aviation Vehicle7. Schlumberger Ultrasound Transducer Positioning8. F1D Indoor Model Aircraft9. Spectroscopic System for Prenatal Diagnosis10. All Electric General Aviation Vehicle11. BURPG - Regeneratively Cooled Nozzle12. Optimization of High Performance Sail Curvature13. BURPG - Liquid Injection Thrust Vector Control14. Artaic Tile Conveyor15. BURPG - N20 Monoprop Thruster16. Feeder System for Solid Oxide Electrolyzer17. BURPG - Nose Cone Design18. Saint Gobain Performance Plastics19. Energy Generation from Indoor Temp Gradients20. Needle Biopsy Device Noise Reduction21. ABS Filament Extruder22. Pressure Profile for Kidney Stone Removal23. Automated Blood Sample Deployment24. Day 225. Household Shoe Cleaning Device26. Bag Filling Device and Process 27. Rotor Design for Mars Exploration28. National Braille Press Process Improvement29. Mobile Software for Real-Time Bacteria Detection30. New Balance Material Characterization31. Jet Drops from Micro-Bubble Rupture32. Rotor-Dynamics Teaching Tool33. Cognex Recalibration System34. Montalvo Strain Gage Installation Process35. Cognex Lens Manipulation System

Senior Project Conference 2015 1

Welcome to the 2015 Mechanical Engineering Senior Conference. On May 1 and May 4 our seniors will present the work they have done in their capstone projects to solve challenging engineering problems. They will address subjects as wide-ranging as all-electric airplanes, enhanced manufacturing processes, product innovation, amateur rocketry, experiments aimed at improving medical devices, and the use of engineering concepts to help guide choices between alternate surgical procedures.

Within the department, the capstone experience is a community affair. It engages not just the students and the instructors assigned directly to supervise their projects, but also other faculty members and staff whom the students seek out because they know they will get good advice. There are many contributors and collaborators. As a faculty, we join with the students in the excitement and the stress of wondering whether “this thing will work before the semester ends.” It makes things interesting.

Ideas for projects come from many sources: industry partners, research efforts within the university, non-profit organizations, faculty members, student clubs, and the capstone students themselves. We are especially grateful to project partners in other units of BU, such as the medical school, and to sponsors completely outside the university. Their names appear throughout this booklet, and they range from individuals to large multi-national companies. These partners enhance the project experience through material donations, by offering technical expertise, and through introducing our students to challenging real-world problems. We hope they will be pleased by the way our students have addressed their challenges. We hope they will work with us in future years, and we hope that others will join their ranks. If you have an idea for a project, please make it known to a member of the course staff. Their names appear on the next page of this program

Enjoy the presentations!

Alice E WhiteProfessor and ChairDepartment of Mechanical Engineering

Boston University College of Engineering

Welcome to the 2015 Mechanical Engineering Senior Conference. On May 1 and May 4 our seniors will present the work they have done in their capstone projects to solve challenging engineering problems. They will address subjects as wide-‐ranging as all-‐electric airplanes, enhanced manufacturing processes, product innovation, amateur rocketry, experiments aimed at improving medical devices, and the use of engineering concepts to help guide choices between alternate surgical procedures. Within the department, the capstone experience is a community affair. It engages not just the students and the instructors assigned directly to supervise their projects, but also other faculty members and staff whom the students seek out because they know they will get good advice. There are many contributors and collaborators. As a faculty, we join with the students in the excitement and the stress of wondering whether “this thing will work before the semester ends.” It makes things interesting. Ideas for projects come from many sources: industry partners, research efforts within the university, non-‐profit organizations, faculty members, student clubs, and the capstone students themselves. We are especially grateful to project partners in other units of BU, such as the medical school, and to sponsors completely outside the university. Their names appear throughout this booklet, and they range from individuals to large multi-‐national companies. These partners enhance the project experience through material donations, by offering technical expertise, and through introducing our students to challenging real-‐world problems. We hope they will be pleased by the way our students have addressed their challenges. We hope they will work with us in future years, and we hope that others will join their ranks. If you have an idea for a project, please make it known to a member of the course staff. Their names appear on the next page of this program. Enjoy the presentations!

Alice E White Professor and Chair Department of Mechanical Engineering

Boston University College of Engineering

Senior Project Conference 20152

Senior Design Faculty, Staff, and GTFs

Theo A. de WinterMechE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Associate Professor

Frank DiBellaM.Eng, Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteSenior Lecturer

William HauserPhD, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyAssociate Professor of Practice

James GeigerM.S., Boston UniversityLecturer

Peter ZinkPhD, Boston UniversityLecturer and Research Assistant Professor

Joseph EstanoLaboratory Supervisor

Bob Sjostrom Senior CIMLAB Specialist

David CampbellLaboratory Engineer

Ryan LacyADMS Lab Supervisor/Machinist

Elbara ZiadeGTF

Corey PollockGTF

Enrique Gutierrez-WingPhD,University of London Lecturer


Presentation Schedules

Friday, May 1st, 2015Lecture Room PHO 210 Lecture Room PHO 211

12:00 All Electric General Aviation Vehicle Schlumberger Ultrasound Transducer Positioning12:30 F1D Indoor Model Aircraft Spectroscopic System for Prenatal Diagnosis1:00 All Electric General Aviation Vehicle BURPG - Regeneratively Cooled Nozzle1:30 Optimization of High Performance Sail Curva-ture

BURPG - Liquid Injection Thrust Vector Control

2:00 BREAK BREAK2:30 Artaic Tile Conveyor BURPG - N20 Monoprop Thruster3:00 Feeder System for Solid Oxide Electrolyzer BURPG - Nose Cone Design3:30 Saint Gobain Performance Plastics Energy Generation from Indoor Temp Gradients4:00 Needle Biopsy Device Noise Reduction ABS Filament Extruder4:30 Pressure Profile for Kidney Stone Removal Automated Blood Sample Deployment

Monday, May 4th, 2015Lecture Room PHO 210 Lecture Room PHO 211

8:30 Household Shoe Cleaning Device9:00 Bag Filling Device and Process Rotor Design for Mars Exploration9:30 National Braille Press Process Improvement Mobile Software for Real-Time Bacteria Detection10:00 BREAK BREAK10:30 New Balance Material Characterization Jet Drops from Micro-Bubble Rupture11:00 Rotor-Dynamics Teaching Tool Cognex Recalibration System11:30 Montalvo Strain Gage Installation Cognex Lens Manipulation System12:00 LUNCH LUNCH

Live Video Streaming of the Presentationshttp://bu.adobeconnect.com/me_capstone_2015_rm210http://bu.adobeconnect.com/me_capstone_2015_rm211


2015 Mechanical Engineering Senior Project

Thank you to our many customers, supporters, and advisors.

Dr. Jeffrey Brook, M.D., Boston Medical CenterDr. Brian Eisner, M.D., Mass General HospitalMr. Evert Rotteveel, EntrepreneurMr. Larry Young, NASA Ames Research Center


Conference Customers and Supporters

EME2 Lab

Interfacial Fluid Dynamics Laboratory

Nanometer Scale Engineering Laboratory

NASA aRMD Design Challenge:

all-electric General aviation aircraft

Company Supervisor: Elizabeth Ward

Faculty advisor: James Geiger

Team Members:

Sean Koyama, Carolina Muñoz Nicolás Plazas, Shin Watanabe Eduardo José Ragolta

Our mission Design an all-electric general aviation aircraft for 4 passengers, with a cruise speed of 130 to 170 knots, a range of 500 to 800 nautical miles, takeoff field length of 3,000 feet and ready for operational service by 2020. Challenges Current energy storage technology cannot provide enough energy and power density to fully propel large aircraft. Our Solution

l An in-depth trade-study on electric propulsion and energy storage systems was conducted to develop a feasible concept at the threshold and goal requirement levels.

l A mission analysis was performed in order to determine the optimal performance parameters such as takeoff field length, climb rate, cruise and loiter speeds and altitudes.

l Airport infrastructure impacts and other system level attributes were taken into account.

benefits

l Zero carbon emissions

l Increased passenger comfort

l Reduced operational cost

Electric Motor

Control Surface

Li-ion Battery

Solar Panels

Electrical Bay


Team Members: Brandon Kahn

James O’Sullivan

Cody Rodgers

Joseph Aftring

Saud Al Jawdar

Precision Ultrasound Positioning Mechanism

Special Thanks To: Ken Liang Head of Research, Schulberger

William Hauser Associate Professor, Boston University

Al Costa Engineer, Cooper-‐Perkins

Harald Quintus-‐Bosz CTO, Cooper-‐Perkins

Jay Miller Research Associate, Schlumberger

Schlumberger is the largest oilfield service company in the world with an expertise in the design and research of the latest downhole drilling technologies. One of Schlumberger’s main areas of research is the preventative maintenance of wells; throughout a well’s serviceable life, the outer casings that protect the surrounding environment are subject to corrosion and eventual failure, which could lead to environmental contamination. One of the most effective tools for analyzing outer well casings is ultrasound analysis.

Over the past few years, Schlumberger has developed an ultrasound apparatus which can gather data on the structural integrity of the outer well casing. The issue that we were assigned to was the automation of the instrument in order to gather more data more efficiently. When implemented, the instrument would be able to gather more complete data with less downtime for the well which would increase the likelihood of detecting a leak while also lowering maintenance costs.

Our objective was to automate the rotation of the ultrasound sensors in a double goniometer configuration with a scalable design that could withstand the pressure (+41 MPa) and temperature (+175oC) factors that a downhole instrument must endure. Through many design iterations, we finalized a dual motor design which could control the angle of the sensors through the use of an electronic controller. Our design allows for the full and independent range of motion of both sensors.


F1D Indoor Model Aircraft Team: On the Fly

Professor: Jim GeigerConsultant: Ray harlan

Project SummaryEvery year , the Fédérat ion Aéronaut ique Internationale (FAI) holds competitions in aero-modeling. For the F1D class, a rubber band powered indoor model aircraft is designed, built, and flown according to guidelines set by the FAI. These indoor models measure close to three feet long, weigh slightly more than a dollar bill, and can fly for over 40 minutes powered only by a short piece of rubber.

Project GoalTo design and build an F1D with a flight time of at least 25 minutes and that weighs no more than 3 grams.

Members:Chris Barr

& Joe Weber


Optical Spectroscopic System for Obtaining Fetal DNA for Prenatal Diagnostics

Genetic screening is an important aspect of routine prenatal care as genetic abnormalities are highly prevalent in the general population. Early identification of fetal genetic risks such as chromosomal abnormalities and hereditary or spontaneous genetic disorders can allow expecting parents and their doctors to decide if continuing with prenatal diagnostic testing is an appropriate option. These diagnostic tests, though highly accurate, are recommended only for high-risk pregnancies, as they are invasive and have potentially harmful side effects to the fetus and mother, including miscarriage. Recently, minimally invasive methods for genetic testing have been developed that utilize next-generation sequencing of extracellular free fetal DNA that is found in maternal plasma. While these methods are very effective in diagnosing select chromosomal abnormalities, extensive fragmentation of free-floating fetal DNA results in inaccuracy in the detection of single gene defects. The Center for Advanced Biomedical Imaging and Photonics proposed a system for obtaining fetal nucleated red blood cells (fNRBCs) from maternal blood for potential use as sufficient fetal DNA for chromosomal and single gene defect prenatal diagnostic testing. These cells are clinically suitable for prenatal diagnosis as they contain the entire genome, do not survive between pregnancies, and importantly, have nuclear morphology that makes them differentiable from adult nucleated red blood cells. This automated system utilizes spectroscopic properties of red blood cells to identify and locate fNRBCs in a maternal blood sample, and precision microscopy stages paired with an automated micropipette to isolate the identified cells. Our current prototype consists of a MATLAB algorithm that successfully identifies and locates fNRBCs in a blood sample and an automated syringe apparatus that successfully isolates single cells. Integrating our systems current identification algorithm with the automated syringe apparatus has the potential to develop a prenatal diagnostic method that matches the accuracy of current invasive diagnostic methods, while maintaining the safety of minimally invasive methods.

Adrian Tanner | Rhonda Silva | Tanzima Arif


Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate: University Engineering Design Challenge

Team Advisor: James Geiger

Team Members: Brad Burke, Guillaume Giard, Justin LaRue, Colby Mann, Nate Provencher

Mission Synopsis: Design an all-electric, general aviation vehicle for service in 2020 while also conducting trade studies on the effects on airport infrastructure, competing battery technologies, and the implication of current research. Design Criteria

Our battery powered designs will provide proposals to meet the minimum and then the maximum NASA requirements without the need to recharge during flight. Recharge time on the ground is comparable to current airplane turnaround times while the environmental impact is significantly reduced.

Threshold Goal # of Seats 4 4 Range nm 500 800 Payload lb 400 800 Cruise Speed knots 130 175



Team Smooth Sailin’

Rachel Costa | Indrė Jankevičiūtė | Vinodini Sundaram Faculty Advisor: Jim Geiger

Customer: JB Braun, North Sails

High performance sai

ling puts aerody

namic

and hydrodynam

ic technologies

to the test in

order to achieve

maximum racing speeds. T

he

catamaran boats used

in America’s Cup are

among the biggest,

fastest, and most adva

nced

sailboats that ex

ist.

As a lead designer at North Sails and an engineer for Oracle Team USA, JB Braun has proposed to explore the impact of the curvature of the jib sail (the foremost sail on the boat) on the performance of the catamaran as a whole. The goal was to understand whether the leading edge radius of the jib affects overall performance of the sailboat as AWS (apparent wind speed) and AWA (apparent wind angle) are varied. Testing includes Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis and wind tunnel testing of fully functional scaled models of the jib. Gathered results were analyzed and compared against each other.


Liquid Injection Thrust Vector Control in Hybrid Rockets

Armor Harris

The Boston University Rocket Propulsion Group (BURPG) is developing an actively controlled suborbital rocket called Starscraper powered by the Mk V hybrid rocket motor. It is passively unstable and requires the gimballing of the nozzle exhaust thrust vector to stabilize and steer the rocket. A technique called liquid injection thrust vector control (LITVC) is employed, which is very novel for a hybrid rocket. It consists of injecting liquid into the nozzle of the rocket, which creates supersonic shocks that have the effect of deflecting the thrust vector. Nitrous Oxide, used as the oxidizer for the Mk V, is used as the injectant which represents a considerable safety and system simplicity improvement over traditional reactive injectants and may offer better performance. The goal for this project is to develop the liquid injection thrust vector control system for the Mk V rocket. Once this technology is developed, it can be applied to a wide variety of hybrid and liquid rockets for thrust vector control and thrust augmentation.


Team Members:

Collin Delano – Joe Widden – Greg Schneiter – Jason Stack – Greg Soffera

Team Supervisor: Company Contacts:

Peter Zink Alec Rudd – Ted Acworth

Artaic is a Boston-based company with the aim of redefining the tile mosaic manufacturing process. Through the use of their custom mosaic software and robotics, Artaic seeks to make the mosaic a more accessible medium for artists to work with.

The current process utilizes both manual labor from a single operator and mechanical labor from a pick-and-place robot. The operator places premade tile grids under the robot to be filled. Upon completion, the operator removes the filled grid, replacing it with an empty one.

The goal of this project was to automate the current process in an effort to reduce the manual labor and increase throughput. This project had many requirements which included fitting within predetermined size, weight, and cost constraints. The broad scope of the project led to many design iterations that spanned the entire semester and resulted in a design that met all of Artaic’s desires.


deg C

Nitrous-Oxide Monopropellant Thruster Graham Arrick Giulio Coral Abigail Dutke Brandon Peña Wenyuan Yin

Faculty adviser: Prof. Frank DiBella Customer: Boston University Rocket Propulsion Group Monopropellant rocket propulsion systems depend on the exothermic decomposition of a single fluid, as opposed to bipropellants, which involve reaction between a fuel and an oxidizer. Monopropellants boast minimal system complexity as they require a single feed line, rather than two. Most monopropellant systems also employ a catalyst, decreasing the required energy input to initialize a self-sustaining reaction.

Hydrazine monopropellant thrusters are a popular choice for satellite position control. These thrusters employ a catalyzed reaction, but also demand heavily regulated fueling procedures do to Hydrazine’s high toxicity. Since many modern-day commercial space organizations capitalize on minimizing payload costs, researchers have investigated the potential for use of Nitrous Oxide (N2O) as a non-toxic alternative to Hydrazine.

The goal of this capstone project is to design, fabricate and test an N2O monopropellant thruster. During testing, variation of design characteristics such as mass flow, catalyst volume, and fuel injector format will give insight into design efficiency. The thruster will be feasible for the desired application, if it demonstrates start up times less than 1 second as well as thrust and Specific Impulse ratings on the order of 25N and 160s respectively.


Feedstock System to Deliver Biomass Into a Solid Oxide Membrane Electrolyzer

Chloë Cullen | Teresa Fulcher | Nancy Neely

Samantha Sharma | Adrienne Varela

Boston University College of Engineering Professors Jillian Goldfarb and Uday

Pal research the many uses of a Solid Oxide Membrane (SOM) electrolyzer

with steam and biomass as inputs. Professor Goldfarb is seeking to control

the rate of biomass into the electrolyzer, to better understand and optimize

the rate of oxygen depleted. This also provides information about the

kinetics of the reaction and the amount of hydrogen gas produced by the

system.

The Customer:

The Solution:

The Problem: Currently, Professor Goldfarb’s lab technicians can only feed about 10 mL of

biomass, per experiment, into the nitrogen gas stream that carries the

biomass to the SOM electrolyzer. This biomass is manually fed using a pipette

and the nitrogen gas is introduced perpendicular to the flow of incoming

biomass. These conditions create erroneous data due to the variable and

unknown feed rate of biomass to the system and the turbulent flow path of

the nitrogen.

The new feed system can contain and release up to 200 mL of biomass

without interference from the lab technician. The system has multiple feed

rate capabilities that can be individually configured to the size of the

biomass used. Additionally, the nitrogen gas flows in through a 45° wye

fitting, allowing for a less turbulent flow path into the SOM electrolyzer. The

new system allows for the complete purging of oxygen and for the

introduction of two types of biomass, should Professor Goldfarb want to

expand upon her research.


BU ROCKET PROPULSION GROUPNOSE CONE FOR STARSCRAPER ROCKET

Team Members:David SindelPeter Andrews Jr.

Faculty Advisor:Frank DiBella

When the Boston University Rocket Propulsion Group launches its Starscraper rocket later this year, it will be the first university-produced rocket to reach space. Although Starscraper is designed for a gentler ride to space than most sounding rockets, it still demands a nose cone capable of surviving atmospheric heating and stresses at speeds exceeding Mach 4. With each additional pound of mass reducing apogee by one kilometer, we were under a strict mass budget.

Our nose cone uses a commercial polyurethane-based ablative coating for thermal protection, enabling us to use light and cheap aluminum for the entire structure rather than steel or exotic metals. A skeleton of I-beams and rings supports the outer skin, which is just twenty thousandths of an inch thick. We used aerodynamic simulations to determine the optimum tip shape to minimize drag.


Extrusion Tower Support Structure Redesign

TEAM MEMBERS:

Brian Duggan Isabela Haghighi Steven Ratner David Villari

COMPANY REPRESENTATIVES:

Frank Jackson Nick Cabral Christopher Llanes

ADVISOR:

Professor Theo de Winter

Saint Gobain Performance Plastics is a producer of

engineered, high-performance polymer products that serves

nearly every major industry around the world. This capstone

project took place at the Saint Gobain facility in Taunton,

Massachusetts. The facility focuses on original equipment

manufacturing and shipping of products to medical device

producers and pharmaceutical companies. The core product

that the Taunton facility ships at high volume is intravenous

(IV) therapy tubing. Currently this tubing is cured, measured,

and cut on a variety of extrusion tower support structures that

can be unsafe and do not have a standardized design.

This team was tasked with designing a new extrusion

tower structure that can support the current curing ovens,

measurement/cutting systems, and collection apparatus. The

new design was required to be safer, easier to move and have

the ability to adjust certain settings such as size of the heat

deflector iris from the ground instead of manually using a

technician on a scissor lift. At the conclusion of the design

process, the customer was presented with a full drawing

package, bill of materials, weight measurements, and materials

selection. This summer, these documents will be used to

construct the new design for implementation at the Taunton

manufacturing facility.


Energy Generation from Indoor Temperature Gradients

TEAM MEMBERS: ETHAN LIU BYUNGCHULL CHOI XUANSHUO SU LUIS BARROSO-LUQUE

CUSTOMER: PROF. ENRIQUE GUTIERREZ-WING

ADVISOR: PROF. FRANK DIBELLA

Large indoor temperature g r a d i e n t s d e v e l o p i n h o u s i n g w i t h p o o r ventilation in warm weather locations, such as Morelos, Mexico. The hot air rises and the cold air sinks c r e a t i n g a t h e r m a l stratification that goes unused, and can even be regarded as a nuisance. In the current project a modular thermoelectric generation and ventilation system was designed to address this problem for a target building resembling homes found in the town Temixco, in the state of M o r e l o s . I n i t i a l feasibility calculations s h o w e d t h a t a l t h o u g h temperature differences within the target home where in the order of 15 degrees Celsius, the amount of energy that can be extracted for a reasonably priced system is limited (ranging from 1-5 watts). Since the energy is basically free, continuous generation should have minimal costs–most associated with maintenance–apart from the upfront cost of the system. However based on estimated low energy output achievable from the initial assessment, the design focus was expanded to incorporate additional benefits apart from the electric generation. The p r o p o s e d d e s i g n a m e l i o r a t e s t h e t h e r m a l stratification by providing continuous ventilation to the building, creating a healthier indoor environment. Subsequent feasibility calculations have been performed for the proposed design, accounting for environmental and operations parameters which substantiate the system’s performance. Furthermore, a scaled prototype has been built and tested under varying environmental conditions to further validate the design as a practical and suitable solution to the problem



AUTOMATED FILAMENT

PRODUCTION SYSTEM

Problem Background

3D printing is a great new technology which enables designers and engineers to create

objects in ways that were previously impossible. With the creation of the new EPIC facility

and rising interest in hands-on learning, the Boston University community is becoming

more and more interested in 3D printing. With increased interest comes increased

expenses. The expense is largely related to the cost of raw materials. The 3D printers at

EPIC are for the most part ABS plastic FDM type printers. This means that they take in

filament, and build up a 3D model layer by layer. The filament is very expensive. Spools

range from $50 per spool to $275 for the more expensive and precise machines.

Solution

As opposed to spools of filament, pellets are much cheaper. A 1 liter bag of pellets costs

approximately $5. That is the same amount of material as on a spool only it comes in

pellet form. The goal of our senior design project is to build a filament extruder which will

convert ABS pellets into ABS filament.

Fedor Sirota ● Nick Bowen ● Sam Han ● Troy Bradbury ● Abdulaziz Siraj


Pressure Profiles for kidney Stone Removal Surgeries

Team Members: Nikolaos Farmakidis, Alexandros Oratis, Syed Shabbar Shirazi, John Subasic, See Wong

Brian Eisner, M.D. Harvard Med. (Customer) Professor W. Hauser (Capstone Advisor)

Professor J. Bird (Project Coordinator) Professor R. Nagem (Consultant)

Objective: The purpose of this study is to assist Mass. General Hospital’s physician Dr. Eisner in determining the most suitable surgical procedure for kidney stone removal. The focus of this research is directed towards proce-dures involving medium sized stones for patients with infection history.

Background: 10% of the population worldwide is affected by kidney stones. In the U.S. the two surgical procedures that are used interchangeably to re-move kidney stones are Ureteroscopy (URS) -for small-sized stones- and Per-cutaneous Nephrolithotomy (PCNL) -for large-sized stones. It is believed that one of the two procedures induces a higher kidney (renal pelvis) pressure than the other causing serious postsur-gical implications (Sepsis).

Figure: Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy Kidney Stone Removal Schematic.

Methods and Analysis: This study utilizes Fluid Mechanics along with the corre-sponding Electrical Circuits to derive theoretical models for the pressure developed inside the renal pelvis during URS and PCNL procedures. The theoretical models are compared against the results obtained by replicating the procedures on swine kidneys.

Special Thanks to


AUTOMATED SAMPLE DEPLOYMENT FOR AN ACOUSTIC TWEEZING RHEOMETER

Peter Ishiguro (ME) Boston University College of Engineering Shireen Kheradpey (ME/BME) Department of Mechanical Engineering Frank Lin (ME) Glynn Holt, Primary Investigator Jeremy Lee (ME) Enrique Gutierrez-Wing, Advisor Ryan Schoeplein (BME) Background:

Non-placatable bleeding is the leading cause of death in trauma patients after admittance to an emergency room. Hospital personnel typically obtain a patient blood sample prior to an operation to test for coagulopathy, or abnormal blood clotting, allowing for doctors to prioritize treatment of the injury or blood loss control. Currently, thromboelastography and similar mechanical rheometry devices are used to measure mechanical qualities of the sample, which in turn indicates the degree of patient coagulopathy. However, these devices mechanically stimulate the sample through physical contact, and do not allow for quantitative analysis. To address these issues, an acoustic tweezing rheometer (acoustic levitator) may be used to measure coagulopathy through acoustic wave levitation, minimizing sample deformation and contamination.

Objective:

The acoustic tweezing rheometer currently requires manual sample insertion with a syringe. This process is unable to consistently levitate samples for analysis. The objective of this project was to design an automated sample deployment system that deploys a target volume of fluid into the acoustic levitation field with minimal sample contact, human handling, and instrumentation contamination.



2015 Mechanical Engineering Senior Project

Day 2

The average adult collects 421,000 units of bacteria on the soles of their shoes (toilet seats usually have 1,000). This bacteria originates anywhere from trash on the sidewalk to the floors of a poorly cleaned public restrooms. Nevertheless, many choose to keep

their shoes on in the home, inviting the millions of bacteria onto the floors occupied by their children and their pets.

Fact: You cannot control where germs come from but you can control where they go.

Our team has been asked by a local professional in the footwear industry to create, design, and potentially build a product for domestic use that could effectively eradicate collected bacteria from the soles of shoes, thus allowing the user to keep their shoes on in the home. The device is simple to use, aesthetically appropriate for home installment, and cost friendly to both the producer and the consumer.

College of Engineering

Engineering TeamAndrew Bates

Jorge Escobedo

Pantelis Gkailiamoutsas

Aniekan Inoyo

AdvisorProf. William Hauser

ClientEvert Rotteveel

Contact • [email protected]


Cedar Satchel Filling Device and Process

Team Info: Members: Chris Hui, Kejie Huang Faculty Advisor: Prof. Theo A. de Winter Company Advisor: Prof. Peter Zink

Amazon.com

Project Description: The objective of this project is to facilitate the manufacturing of a wood chip bag. This was accomplished by coming up with two different solutions, a fully automated manufacturing process, and a manual process facilitated by a manufactured jig. Both processes were then analyzed using financial justifications to determine which would be the better route for the company to take. Ultimately it comes down to whether the required output of the company justifies the purchase of a fully automated machine.

3 lorem ipsum :: [Date]

Aidan Corrigan | Tru Hoang | Nathan Hepler | Kaustabh Singh

1

Current efforts to explore Mars involve only two active

rovers on the surface, Curiosity and Opportunity, and

five active artificial satellites orbiting the planet. The

Curiosity rover was designed to travel 200 meters per

day while the Opportunity rover recorded a maximum

range of 141 meters in a day in 2004. To expand the

coverage range, scientists and engineers at NASA are

developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) equipped

with sensors to provide the next generation of rovers

with a topographical image of Martian terrain for path-

planning purposes. This team proposed a design of the

rotor mechanism for a Mars rotorcraft.

In developing the mechanism, a mathematical model of

a coaxial rotor configuration was created to estimate its

performance parameters. A scaled prototype was

manufactured and assembled for testing. The test

results were compared to the theoretical calculations.

Rotor Mechanism for Mars Exploration

Faculty Advisor:

William Hauser Boston University

Collaborator:

Larry Young, NASA Ames Research Center


3 lorem ipsum :: [Date]

Aidan Corrigan | Tru Hoang | Nathan Hepler | Kaustabh Singh

1

Current efforts to explore Mars involve only two active

rovers on the surface, Curiosity and Opportunity, and

five active artificial satellites orbiting the planet. The

Curiosity rover was designed to travel 200 meters per

day while the Opportunity rover recorded a maximum

range of 141 meters in a day in 2004. To expand the

coverage range, scientists and engineers at NASA are

developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) equipped

with sensors to provide the next generation of rovers

with a topographical image of Martian terrain for path-

planning purposes. This team proposed a design of the

rotor mechanism for a Mars rotorcraft.

In developing the mechanism, a mathematical model of

a coaxial rotor configuration was created to estimate its

performance parameters. A scaled prototype was

manufactured and assembled for testing. The test

results were compared to the theoretical calculations.

Rotor Mechanism for Mars Exploration

Faculty Advisor:

William Hauser Boston University

Collaborator:

Larry Young, NASA Ames Research Center


Client National Braille Press Team: Andrew Chalifoux Solange Coughlin Megan Hollander Brian Nussbaum Morgan Parker Faculty Advisor Professor Theo A de Winter

The National Braille Press (NBP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Braille literacy and providing affordable access to Braille literature. In their Boston facility, the NBP produces educational texts, test materi-als, and recreational reading materials in both Braille and dual Braille and print formats. In an effort to improve production operations, the NBP has tasked our group with finding ways to increase labor efficiency and reduce costs of operation.

The group performed a detailed lean analysis and time study of production processes at the NBP, and has developed several recommenda-tions for change to the NBP. The recommen-dations include altering the pre-production process to improve labor utilization, making changes in the layout of facility space to facilitate communication and reduce transpor-tation time, and implementing several initia-tives to help employees track and prepare jobs of varying sizes.


BAC-DETECTENGINEER

Nourin Alsharif

CUSTOMERProfessor Kamil Ekinci & Boston University’s Nanometer Scale Engineering Laboratory

FACULTY ADVISORProfessor William Hauser

Real-Time Bacterial Detection Software

INSPIRATIONEvery year in the United States, more than 2 million patients suffer from antibiotic resistant infections. Conventional bacterial detection methods such as cell culture can take up to one week for diagnosis and require skilled personnel and expensive equipment.

CHALLENGEThis senior design project seeks to apply a proven physical detection system, utilizing optical beam deflection and micro-cantilever mechanics, to the preliminary phases of a low-cost, field-portable medical diagnostic tool. A smart-phone application has been developed to replace both the readout mechanism and data analysis of the setup for portability, user-friendliness, and cost-effectiveness.

DESIGNThe application, named Bac-Detect, identifies temporal motion of the illuminated spot on the infected cantilever and decomposes the signal to its frequency domain representation (ie its Fourier transform). It analyzes the spectrum to make a binary decision of whether or not there are live bacteria in the sample with some degree of certainty. A testing platform was 3D-printed to use in conjunction with the mobile phone and simple optical components to test the capabilities of

the software.

CDC


New Balance Material Characterization

BU Team: Benjamin Bogart Frances Bravo Michael Condakes Juliette Vandame Zeming Wu

Project Advisor: Professor Enrique S. Gutierrez

Client: New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.

Project Summary: BU team is collaborating with New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. to determine experimental means to characterize the air permeability of meshes used in the manufacturing of footwear for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. Project Goal: To characterize the performance of meshes using air permeability results, and to correlate the performance to the meshes characteristics. In order for New Balance to characterize untested meshes, the goal is to give them a means of estimating mesh performance based on the meshes design parameters.

Means: This materials testing project focuses on using Boston University’s wind tunnel to test airflow through a mesh to determine its “breathability” performance. By finding out which parameter (mesh thickness, % openness, or hole diameter) correlates to performance best, performance trends are determined. Project Deliverables: 1. Manual to determine % openness and diameter of hole for each mesh. 2. Correlation between % openness and performance of mesh. 3. Pictures and videos of testing to show potential customers.


BUBBLES ARE ABOUT TO BURST Jetting from Micro-‐bubble Rupture

Researcher Collaborator Research Advisor Faculty Advisor Yingxian Yu Casey Bartlett James C. Bird William Hauser

Motivations: •Weather : affect biogeochemical cycle • Material : lead to sensor corrosion • Health: related to pathogen transportation • Food: carry aromatic aerosols in drinks

Methods: • Design and fabricate microfluidic devices • Produce size-‐‑controlled micro-‐‑bubble • Directly observe micro-‐‑bubble jeDing • Analyze size relationship between bubble

and primary jet drop

Objectives: Study and analyze the radius relationship between micron-‐‑scale air bubble and its first jet drop through direct observation by designing, manufacturing and using microfluidic devices.


Rotor-Dynamics Teaching Tool

BOSTON UNIVERSITY

2015

By| Qing(Ching) Shentu Advisor| Enrique Gutierrez-Wing Customer| Department of Mechanical Engineering

Machinery rotors are exposed to dynamic phenomena that affect a machine’s efficiency and service life. Among these are unbalance and rotor of instability. The design and maintenance of rota>ng machinery requires a deep understanding of these phenomena in order to achieve op>mum opera>ng efficiency and a long service life.

Training mechanical engineering students on the fundamental aspects of rotor dynamics is challenging because it requires specialized infrastructure, which is usually not suited for classroom use.

The goal of this rotor balancing project is to provide University instructors with a means for illustra>ng concepts of rotor dynamics to engineering students in a classroom scenario. This is achieved through the design of an experimental rig that is portable and safe for classroom use, and easy to manufacture in our machining facili>es.

College of Engineering


Senior Project Conference 2015 33Jessica Roberts

COMPANY CONTACT:

Montalvo Load Cell Manufacturing Process ImprovementsCarlos Coutinho, John Griese, Brian Nam, Alex Patow, H-Soba VincentProfessor Enrique Gutierrez-Wing

The Montalvo Corporation specializes in manufacturing instruments for web tension control systems. These systems are used to maintain the tension in rolling processes of production lines. Load cell transducers are attached to rollers, which measure the forces exerted on the rollers. This information is put into a dynamic feedback that controls the motors and brakes, ensuring a constant tension throughout the processing material.

Currently it takes engineers roughly two workdays to install the strain gages on the load cells. A large portion of this time is spent hardening and curing the bonding agent and epoxy in ovens. In addition, the engineers have to manually handle the microscopic strain gages; the engineers have to operate both, dominant and nondominant, hands to ensure accurate positioning and soldering. This is an extremely tedious process and contributes to the overall installation time.

Our challenge is to examine Montalvo’s existing process of installing strain gages on load cell transducers and propose changes based on the priorities outlined by our client, specifically reducing the labor time required overall and/or reducing the skill required to install the gages.

Through examination of the current installation process we identified steps in the process that could be optimized for time, efficiency, or eliminated entirely. Through our extensive research of strain gages and various methods of installation, we discovered backed semiconductor strain gages which resulted in massive improvements in the installation process and substantial time savings.


The Company Cognex Corporation is a manufacturer of machine vision systems, sensors and accompanying software. Cognex products are utilized in manufacturing processes and can identify parts, scan barcodes, and find defects. Problem Cognex currently utilizes an automated system that adjusts and tests the focus of a particular set of cameras. This system often damages vital parts of the cameras or inaccurately focuses them. Objective The goal of this project is to design an improved system that reduces the number of damaged parts and consistently focuses the cameras. Our design solution addresses the issues that affect the current system.

COGNEX LENS MANIPULATION SYSTEM

The Team Jon Hoxha Junho Kim Pat Koczela Madina Mukhambetzhanova Jonathan Wong Company Contact Jessica Roberts Faculty Advisor Peter Zink


110 Cummington Mall, Room 101Boston, MA 02215Phone: (617) 353- 2814Website: bu.edu/meTwitter: twitter.com/BU_mech

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Friday, May 1st, 2015 12:00 pm Presentations, PHO 210 and PHO 211

Monday, May 4th, 2015 8:30 am Presentations, PHO 210 and PHO 211 12:00 pm Awards Luncheon, 110 Cummington Mall, Room 113 1:30 pm Class Picture, Please meet at the 7th floor Atrium of the Photonics Building

Live Video Streaming of the Presentations PHO 210 http://bu.adobeconnect.com/me_capstone_2015_rm210 PHO 211 http://bu.adobeconnect.com/me_capstone_2015_rm211

Documents

Senior Project Conference - Boston University · Senior Project Conference 2015. 1 Welcome to the 2015 Mechanical Engineering Senior Conference. On May 1 . and May 4 our seniors will