Mechanical Engineering Projects
Nexteer Contact Pattern Fixture
At an internship at Nexteer Automotive, I created a fixture which utilized a camera that analyzed the wear pattern of a gear to find defective production parts. I wrote an image recognition script within the camera's propriety software. The mechanical design was optimized to take advantage of the software capabilities, and ultimately eliminate human operator error.
Ford Interior Air Quality
A recent study found that 17% of Ford Motor Company vehicles in Asia received complaints regarding the interior’s smell. Ford engineers isolated a compound in new car smell that affected certain populations, likely outgassed by plastic interior components.
Ford requested an MSU team of engineers including myself to design (on CAD) a smell sampling device that can also serve as a smell diluter. This device will assist in finding a tolerable amount of the new car smell for the Asian community, among other uses.
Our design included 8 venturis of different sizes that use the principle of choked flow to alter the flow ratio of sample air to pure air. Each venturi could be turned on or off to combine for different flow ratios of pure air to new car sample air.
To aid calculations, I wrote a script in python. It sorted all possible combinations of 8 venturis and outputted their respective concentrations (parts sample air to pure air). Our team used this code to identify the optimal sizes of each venturi that would provide the optimal curve of available concentrations.
Retractable Cantilever Bridge
A cantilever bridge which when retracted, could fit in a 10"x10"x15" box, when deployed, could hold a 50lb weight 30" away from the base, and lastly could complete the deployment process within 60 seconds via an electric motor.
IMG_0494.TRIM.MOV
At 50lb, the bridge elastically deflected 3/4 in. It ultimately held the maximum weights available totaling 360lb. At the max weight, it elastically deflected 4 in. and plastically deflected 1/4 in.
ANSYS simulation help drive the materials that were chosen, and design of the hinges.