ENT Senior Design Day 2021
Student teams conduct major open-ended research and design projects. Elements of the design process including establishment of objectives, synthesis, analysis, and evaluation are integral parts of the capstone. Real-world constraints such as economical and societal factors, marketability, ergonomics, safety, aesthetics, and ethics are also integral parts of the capstone. ENT 497: feasibility studies performed; ENT 498: implementation, testing, and production of design.
Automated Cistern Transfer Pump
David Dunbar and Brian Gast
Advisor and Mentor: Reza Abrishambaf
The purpose of this project is to implement a combination of automation and micro grid technology in order to develop a system capable of utilizing available natural resources and aid in sustainable farming practices. The inspiration for this design came from a local farmer who expressed a desire to find a way to take advantage of a remote cistern for livestock watering. The cistern is old and had been abandoned many years ago. The cistern fed from a natural spring and is overflowing with clean drinkable water. This proposal adds a pump system to the cistern that would allow us to transfer the water to a storage tank located near the livestock containment area. The water source is in a remote location, so a renewable energy source was chosen to power the system. This will be a combination of a PV array and a battery system supplying the DC Power needed for the pump and controllers. An RTAC or PLC will be installed to provide automated logic and remote-control capability so the end user would not need to travel to the location to operate and monitor the equipment.
Automated Livestock Barn
Gabryella Law, Joshua Hashman, and Michael Wengerd
Advisor and Mentor: Mert Bal
The team is developing a product to monitor and automatically care for livestock in small scale to large scale farming operations. The Automated Livestock Barn will fill the water trough automatically through liquid level sensors. Food will be dispensed on a timer or at a particular time of day. It will also allow for temperature control of a livestock barn using louvers. For basic needs, a dusk to dawn light will operate for the system, but it can be overridden by a manual light switch. For safety, the system will be equipped with fire detection and video monitoring that will be accessed through an external source, such as a GUI. All information gathered, regarding the system’s operation and state, will be sent to the GUI through the Raspberry Pi microprocessor for the user to view.
Battlebot
Braden Bakenhaster and Nick Newton
Advisor and Mentor: Reza Abrishambaf
Battlebots have had a place in pop culture for roughly two decades. They are the perfect combination of electrical and mechanical design. Our group decided that a battlebot would be an interesting an enjoyable ENT 497-498 project. The objective of our project is to design and build an effective battlebot with a spinning weapon mechanism in accordance with the official Battlebots rules and regulations and to build it within a reasonable budget.
Boat Microcontroller
Alexander Datz and Eric Valentine
Advisor and Mentor: Mert Bal
We are designing and creating a drop in microcontroller smart switch panel for a 2014 Skeeter FX20 bass boat. The microcontroller will add new features that correct water and oxygen levels in the livewell. The livewell is where fish are stored. It is crucial that there is enough water and oxygen to sustain life of the fish. Our system will take readings periodically to check water/oxygen levels and make necessary adjustments to the desired set point. This provides the fisherman more time to fish because in the competitive fishing world points are deducted for dead fish.
Door Testing Machine
Francis Ziehm II, Elijah Bok, and Kyle Nicely
Advisor and Mentor: Reza Abrishambaf
Sauder Woodworking Company located in Archbold, Ohio has provided a Senior Design project in which an automated door testing machine is being created. This machine’s purpose is to test cabinet doors Sauder Woodworking Company manufactures before being sold to the public. This machine will repeatedly open and close the door to test the hinges. Sauder Woodworking Company has provided all the equipment needed for the project including both mechanical and electrical components. The focus of this project is to design, manufacture, and test this machine to meet the requirements of Sauder Woodworking.
Hamilton Caster Powered Cart
Tyler Sargent, Kendall Purdy, James O’Brien, and Greg Drew
Advisor and Mentor: Gary Drigel
Student engineering team has developed an electrical drive system for an existing mobile cart for Hamilton Caster. The drive system includes gearmotor driven casters, 24V battery system and Arduino control system to operate the powered cart under the required conditions given by Hamilton Caster.
Hartzell Overspeed Chamber
Andrew Young, Bailey Mullennix, and Megan Myers
Advisor: Rob Speckert
Mentor: Zhiyuan Yu
Student engineers Andrew Young, Bailey Mullennix, and Megan Myers, designed and constructed an improved overspeed chamber for Hartzell Air Movement in Piqua, OH. In 2011, a 66” fiberglass wheel with stainless steel stiffness was accelerated to the point of critical failure. This is what led to the re-engineering of the current overspeed chamber at Hartzell. The goal of this project is to create a new and improved chamber that is inexpensive but also keeping all fan parts inside newly constructed overspeed chamber. This consisted of designing a new building that is constructed with a thicker barrier on the exterior walls from durable materials. That will be able to be replaced with ease in the event of another critical failure.
Infrared Motion Camera SCADA System
Garrison Barnhill, Eric Living, and Brett Schnicker
Advisor: Gary Drigel
Mentor: Hirenkumar Gami
Student Engineers have designed, built, and wired a camera security system that will implement similar features like the Ring system. After this project is completed the camera security system will be able to detect any moving object within 25 feet, capture still image, and store them on a database.
King of Kings TechBed
Jacob Klopfenstein and Chris Waidelich
Advisor and Mentor: Reza Abrishambaf
Our project is the King of Kings TechBed, the king of all king size beds. It is designed to have a natural wooden appearance and construction that utilizes storage space under the bed, while implementing various technology systems, such as a sound system, lighting system, cooling system, toggled outlets from lamps and wireless chargers, and a minifridge. All these systems will be integrated with a Raspberry Pi for control and a touch screen for the GUI. The project teaches mechanical engineering skills through the design of the frame and assembly features of the bed, and electrical engineering for the wiring and programming of the electrical system. The project has proved to also be a great lesson in project management.
Mask Detection Stand
Nathan Jaqua, Alex Mallet, and Adam Malone
Advisor and Mentor: Reza Abrishambaf
We were originally tasked with designing a stand for GM to detect the presence of 7 different masks used in the mold maintenance process. However, the project evolved into only requiring the detection of 2 masks. This problem-solving idea originated due to the operators occasionally leaving the masks in the mold causing damage to equipment and downtime. Develop an automated detection process that would not add cycle time or operator steps while preventing downtime and reducing cost due to damaged masks.
Multi-Purpose Motorcycle Trailer
Logan Street, Tony Hester, William Dao, and Kyle Guggenheim
Advisor and Mentor: Gary Drigel
Mentor: Dr. Murat Dinc
Project MPMT: Student Engineers designed and built an aluminum enclosure to be attached to a trailer
to safely haul pets behind a motorcycle. The enclosure has a lid to create dry storage for road trips, or
can be fully removed from the trailer, and the trailer can be pulled behind a vehicle, to allow
transportation of larger objects.
Noise Complaint Avoidance System (NCAS)
Sam Uchtman and Michael Hoover
Advisor and Mentor: Gary Drigel
Our project is to create an Arduino based speaker that will automatically adjust volume
based on the amount of light, decibel level, and current weather in a specified area.
Precision Pressure Regulator Tester
Brian Kettering, Mick Lutz, and Alex Werdman
Advisor and Mentor: Reza Abrishambaf
The objective of this project is to construct a testing machine to test precision miniature pressure regulators. The tester will test for leaks, pressure repeatability in the flowing and non-flowing usage to assure the customer of precision pressure control.
Prototype Vacuum Former
Mindy Bach and Danielle Gagliano
Advisor: Rob Speckert
Mentor: Zhiyuan Yu
Student engineers designed, built, and tested a machine that would manufacture prototype samples and service parts needed for prior automotive models using thin PE films and other materials of various thicknesses. It will do this by heating a sheet of plastic and forming it to the mold tool. This machine makes the process more efficient because it is designed to handle a lower volume of product and can be managed by one person. This reduces the manpower needed to operate the current machines and the number of days required to produce the parts using the existing machines, which are intended for larger volumes of product.
Robot Positioning with Vision System Offsets
Selorm Tettevi, Jarred Fultz, Chris Adkins, and Ethan Parsons
Advisor and Mentor: Gary Drigel
This project utilizes a KUKA Industrial Robot, Siemens PLC, and Cognex Vision System to autonomously locate and capture components with varied positions. The system also allows for a sequence to correct the orientation of components with a pneumatic actuator.
Sanitizing Drone System
Weston Robinson, Drew Recker, and Matt Bright
Advisor and Mentor: Mert Bal
Our project is involved in designing and developing a sanitizing drone system. The system previously consisted of a spraying drone, drone home base and a controls system, which will be specially designed in this project to load flight paths into the drone. When finished, this system will allow the drone to fly autonomously on recorded flight paths where it will sanitize as it flies. Due to the difficulties of finding a cost-effective domestic drone, we have been forced to purchase a drone with no sanitizing system. New drone is a Holybro X500 Pixhawk 4 RC drone. The PLC used in the control system is a PLC ARDUINO ARDBOX 20 I/Os ANALOG HF MODBUS & WiFi & BLUETOOTH LE.
SignaSpeak Audible Speech Signaling Device
Cameron Bailey, Victor Sellers, and John Whited
Advisor and Mentor: Mert Bal
As a result of the work being done in the SignaSpeak project for ENT 497/498, a new product that will serve as a text to speech signaling device will be created. An Arduino will be used as the interface between an operator and the speaker. The operator can type any input string of text and it will then be spoken through the speaker system when an alarm condition occurs. One goal for the product will be to make it easier to for companies to train employees. This product will also provide a device with limitless vocal instructions that can be tailored to any process an end-user may have. SignaSpeak will be unlike any other products on the market because these tend to only offer limited recordings that may not be the best option for a specific process. Having a device that will audibly state the issue in the process will subsequently decrease the down time for the process when addressing issues. A SignaSpeak system will provide peace of mind and simplicity to any manufacturing process.
Skelex Torque Recorder
John Buena and Uchenna Ngene-Igwe
Advisor: Rob Speckert
Mentor: Zhiyuan Yu
The passive exoskeleton is a robotic armor that covers the human body. Its main objective is to restore the human’s performance. Just like most passive exoskeletons, the Skelex is one of the leading brands that protect the upper body from ergonomic injuries. The Skelex offers a weightless feeling in the arms, reducing fatigue in the shoulder joints. Since the Skelex does not have sensors that will read torque from the shoulders, student electrical engineers designed and programmed an Arduino software that measured the force incorporated with working angles, and a fixed arm length to calculate torque. These sensors will include the accelerometer, pressure pad, Arduino, and two wireless communicating Xbees that will transmit and receive data from the Skelex to the PC interface. The data can be used by manufacturing engineers to identify the suitable jobs to utilize Skelex. The kit is also interchangeable to evaluate other similar passive exoskeletons.
Solar Powered Clean Water System
Cameron McNair and Shannan McCracken
Advisor: Rob Speckert
Mentor: Zhiyuan Yu
Student engineers partnered with Lifestraw to develop a clean water solution for both underdeveloped communities and disaster relief zones. This project’s operation includes a solar panel used to power a pump that collects and purifies 99.99% of impurities from the water for the end-user. All components are housed on a mobile cart to allow for easy transportation.
Structural Agriculture Water Saturation Assembly
Bryan Williams, Michael Jones, and Nathan Lowry
Advisor and Mentor: Gary Drigel
Students intend to demonstrate an automated watering device. The design will measure water saturation of soil, dispense water and repeat to all plants inside its growing area.
Trash Can Transporter
Steven Brown and Simon Miller
Advisor and Mentor: Reza Abrishambaf
The project idea is to create a remote controlled vehicle capable of transporting a standard sized trash can to and from the owner's house to the end of the driveway and back for trash pickup day. The vehicle will need to be able to traverse rough terrain and inclimate weather, while also being able to load, carry and unload a trash can that weighs up to 200 pounds. Our plan is to have a steel framed vehicle equipped with 10 inch lugged tires. The vehicle will have four motors, one for each tire and will be able to produce plenty of torque. This will allow it to haul around the weight of the vehicle and the trash can through rough terrain. Lastly, there will be an “arm” made out of two actuators that will be able to extend and retract, making it able to load and unload the trash can with the push of a button on the controller.
Triple Falling-Ball Viscometer and Small-Scale Pipeline System
Kyle Rufer, Ted Shirk, and Thuc Nguyen
Advisor: Rob Speckert
Mentor: Dr. Murat Dinc
Student engineers designed and built two lab components (The Flexible Triple Falling-Ball Viscometer and Small-Scale Pipeline) to replace existing equipment in the fluid mechanics classes at Miami University. The new components will give students an opportunity to apply concepts and principles learned within the classes. These components are being designed, built, and tested so they can be affordably reproduced for both Miami campuses and regional locations.
Up Down Vote Badge
Nicole Eisenbrandt and Liban Mohamed
Advisor: Rob Speckert
Mentor: Zhiyuan Yu
The objective is to create a battery-controlled vote tabulating device with count capabilities used for analytical and behavioral study use.The device will be capable of keeping count in a visual and code manner with two indicators representing up and down arrowheads that mimic the vote tabulating machines in the episode, Majority Rule, from the Fox series The Orville (Vote Badge). The user or other individual chooses their desired symbol, and the count of this device counts in an upward fashion. The ultimate goal of keeping count would be to connect to the Internet of Things (IoT) through a created app, where those who wear this device can see their and other users’ count.
Wild Game Tracking System
Clinton McElroy, Jeffrey Beery, and Travis Ribby
Advisor and Mentor: Mert Bal
The objective of this project is to design a mechanical carrier that attaches to the end of an arrow which is outfitted with a radio frequency transmitter placed inside of a potted housing. Once the arrow is fired, the mechanical carrier will deliver the RF transmitter to the target and become detached upon impact. With the transmitter attached to the target, the user can then use the RF receiver to follow the beacon and locate the target.
Department of Engineering Technology
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