2023 Engineering Design Expo

Combat Robot

The main objective of the 2023-2024 combat robot team is to compete and win the National Robotics Challenge (NRC) in Marion, Ohio on April 18th, 2024. They will compete in the Beetle Weight division and must adhere to all 2023-2024 NRC specifications and requirements to be qualified to compete. During the competition, the team’s placing will be decided by a bracket-based elimination tournament. The budget for the project will be $700 along with any additional funding provided by sponsorships and donations.

Basic Utility Vehicle (BUV)

The goal of the Basic Utility vehicle team is to modify the BUV from the
year prior and design a durable and effective vehicle for a competition in
Batavia, Ohio. The competition consists of a 2.2-mile-long course that
needs to be run for 7 straight hours, dumping water from the barrels and
pumping water back in, every 3 laps. During the competition the BUV faces
knee-deep mud and up to 10-degree inclines. The modifications this year’s
team made consist of the following: A lighter frame to reduce the weight of
the BUV. The addition of a continuously variable transmission to allow the
BUV to climb sharper inclines. Adding leaf spring suspension to the rear
wheels for a smoother ride. Changing the orientation of the drive train and
moving it underneath the vehicle. A new electric board to fit the narrower
frame and organize the components better. Finally, cooling for the rectifiers
that were overheating before. The competition the team was supposed to
compete in was cancelled, so instead they planned a mock competition at a
local boy scout camp for a few hours and projected out how many points
they would gain at a real competition. 

AIMM

The Mechanical Engineering Department representing Trine University for the Artificial Intelligence Maritime Maneuver (AIMM) Indiana Collegiate Challenge (ICC) designed and developed a device to collect rings off buoys along a course and retrieve an object from the water safely. The team brainstormed and developed concepts for different subsystems for the device. Once the best system was chosen for the device, the team went through multiple iterations from gathering information from finite elemental analysis, real life material testing, prototyping, and computational fluid dynamics. Based on the testing and calculations the device chosen to complete the tasks mentioned earlier was a crane. Once the final iteration was designed, the team manufactured the crane and mounted it to the low-profile vehicle (LPV). Once the team had the crane securely mounted, the team worked with the Electrical and A.I. departments to clarify whether the crane was communicating with the rest of the systems on the boat. Once the mechanical team goes through multiple tests with the full team, including dynamic testing whilst mounted to the boat, the team will go to Pokagon State Park in Angola Indiana for the AIMM ICC.

Cast in Steel – Halligan Bar

The Cast in Steel competition strives to encourage students to learn about making steel products using the casting process and applying the latest technology available. This challenge is presented by the Steel Founders’ Society of America (SFSA). Simulations of the liquid metal flow and finite element analysis on the Halligan bar were conducted to ensure the design was valid. The students cast the final Halligan bar design with a medium-carbon steel recipe at the Trine University Foundry. Then, the Halligan bar was cleaned, heat treated, polished, and coated. The final Halligan bar is 29.75 in. long with a 1 in. diameter handle and weighs 12.9 lbs. (5.85 kg.). With the final product, testing was conducted to ensure the strength and durability of the material would be able to withstand the final performance evaluation at the competition. The team traveled to the 2024 Cast in Steel competition in Milwaukee, WI to compete against other schools in a series of tests to prove the functionality and durability of their Halligan bar. 

NASA HERC ROVER

The NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC)
requires student teams to design and build a man-made
human powered vehicle to be driven on a half-mile course
with 10 obstacles and 5 tasks.

This challenge engages students in hands-on engineering
design which contributes to NASA’s Artemis mission. The
team designed each subsystem and a task tool to
traverse the course and
complete tasks. The rover
was assembled within the
second semester of the
2023-24 school year.

SAND BLASTER MED TOOL TRAY

Mr. Brandon Cathy, a previous Trine DET student, tasked the
team with designing a device that could be able to effectively
allow for 6-10 medical grade parts to be sand blasted in the
same chamber without allowing any part-to-part contact or
overspray. Originally, Mr Cathy viewed this project to take
the form of a rotary table that be fit within the sandblaster
and be rotated externally via possible electronic connections.
The way the company was transporting and sandblasting the
product was with what was effectively a baking sheet that
had all the parts on it and just took the parts to the sand
blaster and sprayed the whole thing, leading to parts
touching each other and over spray on already sprayed
parts. The team started with designing several concepts
involving a rotary table, however the team had another idea.
Taking into consideration what the sand blaster operator
already did, the team designed a tray that not only met all
the customer needs and specifications, but also did not
change what the operator were already accustomed to. With
Mr Cathy's permission, the team developed the tray concept
further into a final prototype.

SHALLOW WATER ANCHOR

Godfrey Marine is a custom pontoon boat manufacturer
based out of Elkhart, IN. They have been in search of a
shallow water anchor device to pair with their unique boats.
The sponsor has asked that this device be comparable in
function to the competitor options such as Powerpole, yet
hidden beneath the boat.

Motorcycle Gearbox Redesign

Replica Motorcycle Parts sponsored this
re-design of the 1973-76 Honda CR250R
motorcycle gearbox. These vintage bikes
are still a favorite for riders and
racers. However, the original gearbox
has known flaws between 3rd-4th gears
and 4th-5th gears. Replacement parts are
now difficult to find. With the support of
Replica Motorcycle Parts and other local
organizations, the team addressed the
design flaws to improve gear wear and
overall shifting performance. The design
was then optimized for metal 3D printing
technologies to make the products more
accessible and affordable.

TOBOGGAN REDESIGN

Introducing the newly redesigned toboggan experience for
Pokagon State Park! Nearly 100,000 people have been
riding on Pokagon State Park’s toboggan run since 1935,
and now the toboggans are receiving a complete
makeover. Pokagon State Park sponsored this project in
an effort to make toboggans more accessible, safer for the
riders, and easier for the park to maintain.

Goalball Launcher

The design team partnered with Innovation One and
Turnstone’s USA Goalball team to improve a goalball
launching device first constructed in 2023. Goalball is a
Paralympic sport designed for athletes with visual
impairments, emphasizing auditory and tactile skills. The
device is intended for team practice to reduce the stress on
players and coaches by mimicking human throwing motions
in terms of speed, velocity, angle, bounce, and curvature of
a 2LB goalball. The specific goals for redesign to improve
the electrical systems, reduce vibration and noise, and
improve control of the ball.

Dock Dolly

Jim Haugel, a lake house owner and avid maritime
enthusiast proposed an idea to Innovation One for
selection. Mr. Haugel wanted a mechanical device that
can remove a dock easier than the more conventional way
of taking sections in and out manually. This project has
been a continuation for 3 years now and many designs and
iterations of the project have occurred. In the past, cart
designs where proposed but were found to be
cumbersome. The current iteration of the design uses two
mechanical devices that are capable moving, installing, and
removing individual dock sections using two people. The
image, Figure 1, shows the sponsors dock on
the lake. 

Hendrickson Metal Shredder Team

Hendrickson is a leading manufacturer in suspension
systems components for heavy trucks and the sponsor for
the Metal Shavings Shredder project. The tube cutting
process that Hendrickson uses, produces metal shavings
that are a waste of time and space for the organization and
dangerous to handle by hand (Figure 1). Hendrickson has
the goal of limiting this with a metal shredder. The shredder
will reduce the shavings to a much safer and manageable
size for the operators and will save Hendrickson time and
money in the long run being there will be less time and
money spent ridding of the metal shavings. With this
project being a continuation of a previous team, the current
team was tasked with improving certain areas of the
machine and getting the project to a functioning and safe
state for Hendrickson. Figure 2 shows the beginning state
of the machine for the team with a frame, shredding box,
electrical box, motor, and gearbox.

F1Tenth Autonomous Car

Hello! We are the F1Tenth Senior Design Team.
We decided for our project that we would build an
autonomous RC car capable of racing in the
official F1Tenth competitions. The car uses
LiDAR to map out the race area and then
proceed to use an internal algorithm to determine
where to drive. The car will be able to stop and
avoid obstacles as well as map and drive down
paths all by itself with no input from the user. This
project is additionally an extension of a project
from last year's senior design group.

Social Media Web Application

Social media has taken the world by storm and everyone is more connected than ever before. The issue with modern social media is that there are several barriers to entry. For example, some social media sites have complicated sign up processes and actively try to harvest your information to sell ads to you. Another huge issue with modern social media is that it isn’t profitable. Now more than ever, on social media you will see independent creators and influencers farming for views and engagement. What we hope to solve and work on in our project is an ethical social media site. A site that does not harvest your data in order to push invasive advertisements in your face as well as easy to use functionality.

Micromouse

The National Robotic Challenge (NRC) hosts an annual
competition in Marion, OH. The division we competed in is
known as the micromouse competition. For this
competition, you have to create a self-contained robot that
can self navigate to the center of a maze in the shortest
possible time. The rulebook states we are given 10 minutes
to explore and navigate a maze set out in a 10x10 grid
pattern. The quickest run time between the starting block of
the maze and the center of the maze is recorded for
scoring.

Robotic Football 

AIMM Sensor-Side 

Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division (NSWC Crane) with the support of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) will host the AIMM ICC April 26-28, 2024, at Pokagon State Park, Indiana. This event was created after Congressman Jim Banks (IN-3) led a congressional funding addition for a partnership between Trine University and NSWC. The unique partnership, funded by ONR, focuses on providing a low-cost, easy-to-build, low profile vessel (LPV) that can be made fully autonomous for a variety of mission sets; supply delivery system, stealth missions, locator purposes, etc. Crane focused on advancing the AIMM effort. The grant allowed Trine University to purchase state-of-the-art equipment used to aid in the design and construction of LPVs that will be distributed to each university participating in the challenge. Each university will not only receive a built LPV and sensor package but will also receive financial stipends to offset materials. Purpose of the challenge: To demonstrate the ability to make a fully autonomous LPV and develop solutions for a mixed set of objectives.

NAVSEA Component Testing

Our project consisted of testing surface mount components: Zener Diodes, Transistors, and MOSFETs. Manufacturers of these components will sometimes have grades of components such as automotive or commercial grade but will list the same datasheet for both grades. We wanted to find out if there were any differences between these grades by testing some of their key parameters and comparing the results. 

Autonomous Tracking Drone

According to the U.S. General Services
Administration Office of Motor Vehicle
Management, there are 6.42 million car crashes in
the United States per year, and 98%, or 6.29
million of them are because of human error. With
this statistic, the need to implement autonomous
driving becomes apparent. With many companies
making autonomous vehicles, the idea of being a
part of the making of autonomous vehicles seemed
rational to be a part of the growing industry.
In the growing world of aircraft and
automation, there is a greater demand for the
ability of autonomous flight in an aircraft
combined with the ability to take manual control
of the aircraft. The problem is designing, building,
and programming a drone that has the ability to fly
under the operation of a controller or lock on to a
predefined color, and then autonomously track.
The biggest part of any vehicle design is safety
which is why it is imperative that the drone be
programmed to autonomously land safely in the
case of any failure or other critical scenario like a
low battery.

Home Security

This home security system will demonstrate mobile energy efficiency,
wireless communication, phone-based applications, cloud-based integration,
and user authorization technologies. It aims to detect intruders using several
types of sensors, to offer owners smart phone SMS notification of intrusion,
and to allow the owner to mount detectors with excellent, many-month
battery life

Pfizer Sterile Filtration Skid Design

Pfizer currently reports several inefficiencies with sterile product filtration and has requested an evaluation of current designs. Currently, several options exist: many reusable stainless-steel designs and single-use plastic designs. Each design has two filter steps and requires a filter integrity testing procedure. Some current issues include poor connections on both disposable and reusable designs, slow filter times, and varying filter cartridge sizes. 

Briquette Feed Compressibility Optimization

The Iron Dynamics Department of Steel Dynamics produces briquettes of "green" unreduced iron to  later be reduced and further melted to nearly pure molten iron.

Through identifying the lime types and composition that optimizes the briquette feed-mixture compressibility, we hope to achieve  an increase in the process throughput capabilities, thus increasing the profitability and efficacy of the iron making process. 

Green Iron Briquette Optimization

We will be optimizing Iron Dynamic’s iron briquetting system by adjusting variables of produced briquettes such as temperature and run speed.  Optimizing the briquettes will lead to cost benefits and better reduction of metal in downstream processes. Variables will be tested and optimal briquette conditions will be chosen based on the hardness, moisture content, and uniformity among briquettes to ensure melt consistency. 

Carmeuse Rotary Dryer Design For Improved Efficiency 

Limestone is stockpiled during summer and must be dried before grinding to maintain efficiency. Small stone contains more moisture than large stone and can freeze during the winter, causing process slowdowns entering the mill. Each mill has an internal natural gas flash-dryer that they are looking to consolidate into one rotary dryer to improve energy and process efficiency. This would pre-dry the stone eliminating slowdowns entering the mill.

In-Line Cooling of Polyimide Fluids

Design cooling system that will lower the polymer temperature from 53 to 40 degrees Celsius in-line, cutting down on the cooling time required for each batch while minimizing heat exchanger size.

Development of Process for Extracting Oil from Hops

The purpose of this project is to see if hop oil can give a brewer better control over the product quality. Hop oil could also be an additive to many different beverages, without the leftover pellet mash. The goal is to extract the essential components of hops from the cones into a liquid oil product and scale the process up for larger production quantities.

Waste Solid Separation from Flue Gas for Carbon Capture

The purpose of this project is to design a backend system that will separate waste solids from lime kiln flue gas. This will improve up the current baghouse. The flue gas will then be sent to an eventual carbon capture plant.

MANUFACTURING EFFICIENCY DASHBOARD

The Dexter project aims to revolutionize data management and analysis within the manufacturing industry. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies and innovative approaches, our team endeavors to provide Dexter with robust solutions to streamline their operations and enhance productivity. 

Cochlear Implant Pressure Relief

Many cochlear implant wearers enjoy spending time outside performing activities such as riding their bicycle. When riding a bicycle, standard safety precautions require the use of a helmet. Unfortunately, the helmet in a case with bilateral cochlear implants can cause pain during the ride due to consistent pressure being placed on the cochlear implant coils. The pain led to removal of the cochlear implants, potentially leading to safety concerns as this causes the inability to hear outside components during the bicycle ride. 

Disability Stroller Design Project

Transporting children can be hard for any family, especially when
searching for a safe, reliable method to efficiently move their
children. This project is inspired by a family with a child who
requires help due to autism and other disabling disorders. The Floyd
family's child has outgrown his previous stroller that allows him to
go on walks and to travel unencumbered. Since not having a
convenient transportation method, family activities are now difficult
and limited.

Enhancing Bed Safety: An Innovative Interactive Bed Railing System

Modern maternity wards allow for parents and newborns to interact more
frequently rather than separating newborns in nurseries. This change
allows for greater parent-child bonding and breastfeeding which greatly
benefits infant health. This change does increase infant fall risk which
are a major concern for both hospital staff and patients. Infant falls are
classified as a newborn slipping or falling from a caregiver. These can
lead to serious injury and possibly death. Infant falls risk factors include
cesarean birth, breastfeeding, and pain medication consumption. Infant
falls typically occur around the second or third postpartum night. Bassinets
and Joey pouches have been implemented, but these devices and current bed
rail height were not successful in mitigating infant falls. To prevent further
infant falls, Parkview has requested a device to prevent infant falls and
mitigate infant harm should an infant fall still occur.

Climbing Axe Prosthetic for Adaptive Rock Climbing

Climbing tools on the market require users to be able-bodied, and do not account for the needs of
disabled climbers. The customer, Jared, is an avid rock climber who has been enjoying the sport for
more than five years, but has been unable to climb pain-free due to an injury to his right hand. To
resolve this obstacle in climbing, our group designed an adaptive climbing tool to function as a
climbing axe and prosthetic hybrid

Redesign of a Spinal Cord Stimulator Charging System for Patient with Chronic Pain

A spinal cord stimulator (SCS) is a medical implant designed to alleviate chronic pain by sending electrical impulses to the spinal cord. These medical devices consist of three main components: an implant, a generator, and a battery pack, as seen in Figure 1. The implant is located on the lower back and contains electrodes that send signals to the spinal cord that block pain signals from reaching the brain. The generator is what transfers a charge to the implant and must be used frequently to recharge the implanted device. The battery pack is what maintains a charge for the generator, and most also be recharged frequently. 

Distal Targeting of Interlocking Screws in Intramedullary Nails 

Intramedullary nailing is a surgical technique that involves the insertion of a nail into a long bone (femur, tibia, humerus) to secure fractures and promote healing. At the proximal and distal end of the nail, there are holes in which screws are drilled into for interlocking, nullifying forces that act over the fracture line. 

Current techniques rely on X-ray imaging for identifying where the holes are located within the bone, which not only exposes staff to radiation but also increases time in the operating room. Another challenge is the difficulty in drilling the screw to the hole due to deflective forces acting on the nail.

STEUBEN COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT IMPROVEMENTS

The existing highway facility in Steuben County, Indiana does not have adequate storage for road materials or equipment. The client would like the following improvements: a four (4) lane pumping station with two (2) ten thousand (10,000) gallon tanks, a fourteen (14) bay lean-to for storage, a new salt storage building that includes a large door, and storage areas within the barn for salt, sand, and chemicals, a new retention area, and access lane for trucks and vehicles. The location of this site is shown below.

WOHLERT STREET IMPROVEMENTS

Wohlert Street in Angola, Indiana functions as a major collector road and connects much of the city’s industrial park area. Additionally, a residential development on the north end of the roadway segment is underserved with pedestrian connectivity. The City of Angola requested an evaluation of the existing alignment, drainage, pavement, and intersections along the section of Wohlert Street. 

FISHING LINE TRAIL - TRAILHEAD

The Fishing Line Trail is a popular trail that traverses through portions of Kendallville, Indiana. Currently, there is no trailhead for people to park cars or for users to stop for a break and use a restroom.  The purpose of this project was to design a new trailhead to provide easy access to the trail while also providing a recreational space for the surrounding community. The photo below shows the site selected for the trailhead in red, with the trailhead just to the north.

Steel Bridge Competition 2023-2024

The 2024 Steel Bridge Team opted for the long truss design style after conducting research of various
truss types. Their research showed that this design would have the least deflection compared to alternative truss types while remaining inside competition criteria. Additionally the team chose this design to reduce the number of bolts needed to minimize construction time

SR 15 & US 127 Roundabout

CHAK Civil Consulting designed a roundabout to replace the signalized intersection of US 127 and SR 15 with a roundabout. The intersection is located on the north side of the City of Bryan in Ohio and is greatly influenced by heavy truck traffic and daily commuters. Our objective is for the roundabout to be a traffic-calming device by reducing speed and introducing deflection into the roadway.

Autumn Chase Subdivision Phase 3

The City of Bryan, Ohio has planned an expansion of the Autumn Chase subdivision. The expansion aims to address the growing housing demand in the area while ensuring sustainable development that adheres to the latest civil engineering standards and practices.

Bryan Ohio, Meadowbrook Subdivision

The City of Bryan, Ohio has planned a new subdivision built with the name of The Meadowbrook Subdivision. This project will create affordable housing in the area and meet the growing housing demand while creating a friendly and inviting neighborhood for the Community. 

SCOUT CAMP STEAM BUILDING

The Anthony Wayne Scout Reservation, located south of Angola, Indiana, provides a year-round camping experience with over 1200 acres of wooded land, multiple lakes, and a river available to troops and families of the Anthony Wayne Area Council. The reservation houses three camps, one being Camp Chief Little Turtle, which is the focus of this project. As the camp grows every year, there is a need for a larger structure to house their activities. A new STEAM center (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) is proposed to handle the additional size requirements and new activities. The overall task of this project was to design a new STEAM center that will adequately house the STEAM-related activities.