Design, Build, and Installation of an Automated Bike Rental System as a Part of Capstone Design

Students working toward baccalaureate degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) at University of Cincinnati (UC) are required to complete a “Design, Build, and Test” senior capstone design project. Two of these capstone design projects during the 2005–2006 academic year were to design and build vehicles. One is a Basic Utility Vehicle (BUV), which was geared to meet the needs of developing countries for an affordable transportation. The national competition was held in Indianapolis, IN. The other one is an Autocross racing vehicle, which was built to meet the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Autocross specifications, and raced in the regional/local events. The Institute for Affordable Transportation (IAT) hosts a competition of designing and building BUV each year in Indianapolis, IN. IAT is a not-for-profit organization devoted to improving the living standards and enable economic growth in the developing world by creating a simple vehicle that can be assembled almost anywhere, by almost anyone. The competition tests and judges all of the entries to identify best design and suitable vehicles for developing countries. IAT has donated several vehicles to needy countries in South America and Africa. The SCCA is a 60,000-member not-for-profit organization featuring the most active membership participation in motorsports today. The foundation of the SCCA is its Club Racing program with over 2,000 amateur and professional motor sports events each year. One team of MET students built a BUV, and another team of students built an Autocross racing car as their senior projects. From concept to a final working vehicle with meeting the IAT’s or SCCA’s specifications, there are many challenges. The expertise and knowledge acquired from student’s coursework and co-op were utilized. This paper will give the short description of the senior capstone design course sequence at University of Cincinnati: the list of pre-requisites of its sequence, and partially describes 2005–2006 BUV and Autocross projects and the team experiences of the projects from start to finish.

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An Industry-University Collaboration Experience on a Senior Project

Volume 6: Engineering Education and Professional Development ◽

10.1115/imece2010-37456 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Janak Dave ◽

Janet Dong

Keyword(s):

Scaled Model ◽

Engineering Technology ◽

Business World ◽

Senior Project ◽

Design Build ◽

University Of Cincinnati ◽

Commercial Applications ◽

Complex Project ◽

The University ◽

Capstone Design

Students working toward a baccalaureate degree in Mechanical/Electrical Engineering Technology at the University of Cincinnati are required to complete a “Design, Build, and Test” senior capstone design project. Some of these capstone design projects are done in collaboration with industries to meet their needs. One of the projects during 2009–2010 academic year is to meet the needs of the packaging industry. The student team will design and recommend a specialized End of Arm Tool for palletizing applications. They will build a scaled model and the industrial sponsor may build the full product at the later date. A team of three students from Mechanical Engineering Technology at the University of Cincinnati are working on this project, which gives them an opportunity to showcase the knowledge and skills learned in their coursework and during the co-op (cooperative) experience, as well as to develop the additional skills needed to be successful in a team oriented business world. This team is working on a technically complex project from concept-to-design, build, test, and then to have the possibility of their product being used in commercial applications. This paper will give a description of the MET senior capstone design course sequence at University of Cincinnati and the list of pre-requisites for the capstone design sequence. It will also describe the design of 2009–2010 End of Arm Tool (EOAT) project and the plans for building a scaled model. Included too, is a description of how Industry-University Collaboration can improve student learning.

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