CU Boulder Projects

NOAA Sr. design

Project that lead into a 6 month internship. Design build of electro-mechanical system deployed on a research vessel.

DFM/DFa project

Reverse engineering and full DFM/DFA based re-design of locking doorknob. 80% reduction in part count.

md5 cold weather nods mount

Project through DOD education accelerator. At directive of Colorado 10th Mountain Division.

NOAA - CU Boulder Senior Design Project

The NOAA PAALS (Precision Attitude Adjuster for Lidar Stabilization) is a year-long capstone engineering project through the University of Colorado's Senior Design program. I am worked with a team of 5 other undergraduate mechanical engineering students to develop an active stabilization platform for NOAA ESRL (Earth Science Research Laboratory) and their 150 lb lidar unit. NOAA is using their lidar unit to track the velocity of aerosols in the troposphere. This information helps them study phenomenon ranging from wildfires to typhoons. They plan to use this unit both on the deck of a research vessel and in the back of a pickup truck, but to operate correctly the unit needs to point vertically.

The project requirements specify that we have to stabilize their unit within 0.1 degrees RMS of vertical for the duration of the ocean voyage, as well as protect the unit from any potential damage.

My role on the team is CAD/ Manufacturing Engineer, and my job is to oversee everything relating to the mechanical design and the manufacturing and assembly of our design. The project began in September, and by December, I had organized the design of a 66 page engineering drawing packet for a manufacture ready design. The CAD model (Solidworks) contained 180+ components.

During the design process, my team and I took client and adviser specifications and used those to guide our engineering. I gained experience with Solidworks FEA, including static and frequency analysis.

During the construction process I oversaw the machine shop work and coordinated outsourced work with the finance manager. My spring semester involved roughly 60 hours in the machine shop making parts on the lathe or mill and overseeing welding.

Another role of mine in this project is the design and construction of a waterproof electronics housing. We have spec'd out an air-conditioned enclosure and I have been responsible for the layout of its components. This has involved designing wire pathways, breaker setups, and the selection of more than two dozen water-proof amphenol connectors. Our electronics enclosure contains 2 motor drivers, three low wattage power supplies, an air conditioning unit, a fanless computer (which reads several signals from outside the enclosure), and 8 circuit breakers. To the right is my design for the connection of the wired components.

At the time of delivery, we had a stabilization platform operating close to specifications. Remaining work for me while working at NOAA during the summer was improving performance and preparing the platform for deployment in November.

Documentation

Electronics

CAD, Manufacturing and EXPO

DFM

DFM/ DFA Course

This course covered a huge amount of material in a single semester. We went over virtually every manufacturing process in current use spanning from investment casting to blow molding to wire EDM. My professor also covered the decision process for choosing a specific manufacturing technique and covered the design techniques used to optimize the process. Next, we went over the standard assembly procedures for complex assemblies and how to plan for just in time and lean manufacturing.

We then broke into small groups and reverse engineered off the shelf assemblies. We then implemented changes to improve the designs for efficient assembly and then made further design changes to improve manufacturing efficiency and reduce cost.

My team and I reverse engineered a doorknob and made some small design changes to improve error proofing and reduce number of unique parts. Next, our final project was to make an entirely injection and blow molded doorknob. In doing so we were able to reduce part count by nearly 80%. Even though nobody would want a plastic doorknob, it was a fun exercise in an extreme example of DFA and it got my feet wet in injection molding DFM.

MD5 Project

GearHeads NVG Mount, MD5

This has been my first project working with soft goods. My team is working under a collaboration between my university and the MD5 National Security Technology Accelerator. We are working with GearHeads Survival Hats, a Boulder based tactical hat maker. The goal is to produce a hat capable of functioning normally during the day, that can mount a standard night vision goggle after dark.

I am a part of a team of 5 engineering undergraduate students working to produce a functional, mid-resolution prototype in a single semester.

The primary goals of the project are to maintain comfort, functionality and style of the hat while providing a stable and relatively comfortable mount for the NODs. This mount that we are designing is specifically targeted towards use in cold weather environments, such as the arctic. We have iterated fast and had our prototypes tested by local veterans and active duty service members. Feedback has been extremely helpful and generally positive.

We have worked hard to iterate quickly on this project. With turn-around times of less than a week between our mid-resolution prototypes. This has taken the form of weekly or bi-weekly meetings with our user group, gathering feedback and implementing changes as we see fit.

Aside from working on my sewing skills, this project has allowed me to work with new types of 3D printers than I had encountered before. Given our unique geometry (to conform to the human head) and high strength requirements, I have had to look outside of traditional FDM printers. This has lead me to use high resolution SLS printers as well as production quality FDM printers. Our current prototypes are being produced using Mark Forged Onyx printers, which used blended nylon and carbon fiber.