scholarly journals Mechanical Engineering Design for Complex Environments: Incorporating Industrial Design Perspectives into a Multidisciplinary Capstone Design Project

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Novoselich ◽  
Tom Weis ◽  
Harry Jones
Author(s):  
Patrick Dumond ◽  
Eric Lanteigne

Traditionally, mechanical engineering capstone courses focused on teaching students the application of fundamental engineering theory to complex mechanical designs. Recently, there has been a transition towards experiential learning initiatives, such as prototyping, in engineering design. This paper looks at the relationship between the mechanical engineering design capstone course and a course in product design and development, which provides students with the opportunity to build prototypes of their designs, at the University of Ottawa. The importance of the traditional capstone course is considered and the implications of implementing these designs are examined. Many capstone design projects would require extensive work so that they could be implemented. A large hurdle appears to exist between analytical design and design implementation, and the term time constraints limit the complexity of designs intended for prototyping. In fact, students require many design iterations before they can build full-scale functional prototypes of their design. Therefore, we have observed that simple products work best for teaching design implementation.


1993 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 347-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Mehmet Uras ◽  
Adnan Akay

A capstone mechanical engineering design course is described. It is suggested that design education should start early in the curriculum, by providing open-ended problems and by emphasizing teamwork. Discovery-based leaching should be integrated into the curriculum to enhance creativity. In the capstone design course, a project is utilized as a vehicle for leaching design methods and related topics. The philosophy of reduced iteration and testing is espoused.


Author(s):  
Vincent Wilczynski ◽  
Andrew C. Foley

The assessment of Student Outcomes is an import component for program evaluation and improvement. Though not proposed as the only tool a program should employ to measure the achievement of outcomes, the capstone design course can be a valuable mechanism to measure performance with regards to Student Outcomes. Because of the expansive reach of the engineering design process, capstone design projects present a natural environment to structure assessment activities that directly map to Student Outcomes. This paper presents versions of the Mechanical Engineering capstone design course that have been specifically structured to assess achievement of Student Outcomes commonly included in engineering accreditation criteria. Typically the outcomes are assessed by assignments that guide the engineering design process.


2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-75
Author(s):  
R. S. Mullisen

A thermal engineering design project requiring the design, construction, and operation of a calorimeter that measures the specific heat of aluminum was assigned to a class of third-year mechanical engineering students. Before making the assignment, the author developed his own design, which consisted of two individual calorimeters — each an assembly of 13 aluminum plates with electric resistance heater wires laced between the plates. The exterior surfaces of both calorimeters and the surrounding insulation were identical. However, the interior plates were different — one calorimeter had solid interior plates and the other had perforated interior plates. By initially adjusting the electrical power into each calorimeter the temperature versus time curves for each calorimeter were matched. This curve match allowed cancellation of the unknown heat loss from each calorimeter and cancellation of the unknown heater thermal capacity. The final result was a specific heat for the aluminum alloy that deviated by 4.4% from a published value. A class of third-year mechanical engineering students, working in teams, produced designs using the method of mixtures (aluminum and water) and electrically heated aluminum samples. The 17 student groups plus the author produced 129 data points with a mean specific heat value that deviated by 19.5% from a published value.


Author(s):  
Janet Dong ◽  
Janak Dave

Students working toward a baccalaureate degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology at the University of Cincinnati are required to complete a “Design, Manufacturing, and Test” senior capstone design project. One of these capstone design projects was to design and manufacture a battle robot to participate in the BotsIQ national competition. This robot was built to meet the BotsIQ 120 lb weight class specifications. A BattleBot is a robot which possesses fighting capabilities and competes against other BattleBots with the intent to disable them. The weapon is the main component of the BattleBots. BattleBots compete one on one and the winner is determined by the amount of damaged inflicted to the other using the weapon. In the 2007–2008 academic year, a team of four Mechanical Engineering Technology students at the University of Cincinnati built a BattleBot as their senior capstone design project. As with all capstone projects, expertise and knowledge acquired from their coursework and co-op were utilized. This project gave them an opportunity to showcase their abilities as well as develop additional skills needed to be successful in a team oriented business world. This team also enjoyed the personal satisfaction of working on a technically complex project from concept-to-design, manufacture, test, and compete against other university participants in the competition. This paper will describe students’ experiences in designing, manufacturing, and competing their robot in the national competition and team experience of the participants.


Author(s):  
David G. Alciatore

Abstract This paper describes three-dimensional computer graphics simulation (CGS) and how it can be applied as a useful tool in a capstone design course in Mechanical Engineering. The necessary hardware and software to perform CGS is also outlined. Three examples of senior design projects at Colorado State University which utilized 3-D CGS to help revise and verify their designs are also presented.


Author(s):  
Daniel Koutny´ ◽  
David Palousˇek ◽  
Jan Brandejs

The article explains a newly utilized project-oriented curriculum at the Institute of Machine and Industrial Design. In addition to digital technologies, the curriculum focuses on practical tasks with the utilization of advanced technologies in the area of mechanical design processes, such as Rapid Prototyping, Vacuum Casting etc. The paper describes a new approach to teamwork, where groups of students manage project tasks from the design phase up to the manufacturing of the real product.


Author(s):  
Holly R. Algra ◽  
Clifton R. Johnston

Engineers are, in general, poor atconsidering human factors in our designs. Human factorsare an important aspect of engineering design that mustbe introduced and nurtured in all engineers, but is achallenging problem. We have undertaken a case study ofa past capstone design project to evaluate how humanfactors were considered. This paper will present a casestudy of this project’s application of human factors.Our work hopes to identify what influenced anincreased consideration of human factors, which led tothe success of this project. A combination of diversifiedbackgrounds may have played a significant factor in thedesign process, but there were, however, likely otherfactors that impacted the team’s performance. Ourultimate goal is to use the information gained from thiscase study to develop training and design tools toincrease usability of other projects.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document