Senior Design Projects
Each year, Mechanical Engineering seniors take a year-long design course taught by Laboratory Administrator Mike Johnson and Professor Greg Chirikjian, assisted by Senior Machine Shop Coordinator Eric Harden, the department's machinist. Students, working in groups of three or four, select small-scale engineering design problems suggested and funded by corporations, government, or non-profit agencies.
With funds provided by the sponsoring organization, the students must handle every aspect of the design process, from brainstorming possible solutions to preparing a budget, purchasing equipment, and putting together a final device or product. In the first semester, they present oral reports that describe how they settled on their final solution to the problem. At the end of the year, their final devices or products are presented and demonstrated in a special two-day series of presentations with industry representatives and ASME judges in attendance.
2006-2007 PROJECTS
PROJECT SUSPECT (System for Useful Space Equivalent Cryogenic Testing)
Sponsor: JHU – Physics & Astronomy Department
Contact: Dr. Stephen Smee
The design and development of systems for space and other astronomical applications requires rigorous evaluations of all materials, components and subsystems that will comprise such systems. This requires that full-scale tests must be conducted under the cryogenic temperatures and vacuum conditions these subsystems will be encountering. This project required the design and fabrication of a fully-operational thermal vacuum test chamber, capable of withstanding a space-equivalent vacuum, and providing a means to control the rate at which components are cooled / heated inside the chamber.
Project Designers: Tim Rupert, Ryan McCaffrey, Scott Hoffmann, Ryan Mayes
PROJECT ARODD
Sponsor: Northrop Grumman Corporation
Contact: Mr. John Staehlin
Portable Ground Based Radars often need to be rapidly transported and set up in remote locations. When placed on rough terrain, the need to keep these large units level can be a challenge, especially on soft and yielding ground. This project developed a means to automatically deploy from a truck, and then to sense and adjust the level of these systems.
Project Designers: Brian Woodworth, Matt Baldwin, Keith Schellhorn, Andrew Pierpont
PROJECT CHARC-ATAAC (Advanced Tactical & Adjustable Cargo)
Sponsor: Lockheed Martin Co.
Contact: Mr. George Root
The goal of this project was to design and build a fully operational, scale-model of a Cargo Module that will fit into the propulsion hulls of a uniquely designed experimental ship, the CHARC, which is under development by LMCO for the US Navy. A prominent feature of this SWATH-type vehicle is its two large, fully-submerged propulsion hulls, which provide the CHARC’s propulsion and its variable buoyancy capability that is used to adjust the craft’s draft and thus optimize its speed and sea keeping for various missions. The team built a full scale mock-up and tested their buoyancy control system.
Project Designers: John Benedetto, Tom Potter, John Criezis, Juan Sanchez
PROJECT COBRA (Calibrator for Ballistic Accelerometers)
Sponsor: US Army Research Laboratories
Contacts: Mr. T. Gordon Brown and Mr. Ben Topper
The testing and evaluation of new ballistic munitions requires sensors, such as accelerometers, to measure the performance of these new weapons under actual firing conditions. However, to assure that valid data are being gathered, it is necessary to calibrate these very high performance accelerometers. Hence, under this project a machine was developed, which is capable of providing the needed calibrations up to 8,000 g’s.
Project Designers: Jacob Arrowsmith, Rebbeca Kramer, Peter Dewey, Joshua Kelley, David Chow
PROJECT bPOD (Backpack Positioning Device)
Sponsors: Volunteers for Medical Engineering, Inc.
Contacts: Ms. Theo Pinette and Mr. John Staehlin
This project is to help TJ, a ten-year-old boy who has limited physical capabilities due to cerebral palsy. When in school he would like to be able, unaided, to access the contents of his backpack, which is now hung from the back area of his motorized wheelchair. Under this project a mechanism was developed, which TJ can control, and which allows the backpack to be moved from the back area of his wheelchair to the front, where he will then be able to easily access its contents.
Project Designers: Mary Wu, Nick Marchuk, Soohong Park, Justin Loffredo, Rami Subramanian
PROJECT RADAR (Real-Time Antenna Deflection Analysis & Readings)
Sponsor: Northrop Grumman Corporation
Contact: Mr. John Staehlin
Although mounted on sturdy frames, when a large array of antennas is placed aboard a ship, the motions and deflections of the ship are transferred to the antenna array, thus causing distortions in the signals received. Phase compensation can be achieved to remove these signal distortions, and this project’s objective was to develop a way to monitor the movements and distortions of the array, and thus provide inputs to the compensating software. A new test stand and large model analysis was accomplished.
Project Designers: Michael Squibb, Andrea Pringle, Dave Haldane, James Barker
PROJECT AFOLD (Automatic Folder)
Sponsor: Pitney Bowes
Contact: Mr. John Masotta
One of this sponsor’s products is a huge, multi-stage machine that automatically handles, folds and stuffs papers into envelopes. The folding stage requires periodic adjustments, both for each size of paper that is to be handled as well as for various folding configurations. This project’s objective was to provide a means to automate what is now a tedious and difficult by-hand adjustment of the components in this folding stage. A complete redesign of the folding mechanism was accomplished.
Project Designers: Joe Romano, Evan Miller, James Weisheit, Alican Demir
PROJECT HIDEF
Sponsor: JHU Applied Physics Laboratory
Contact: Dr. Liming Voo
Although whiplash injuries due to rear impact collisions of automobiles are all too frequent, the exact injury mechanisms are not as yet understood due to a lack of an adequate simulation of the neck in existing crash test dummies. The objective of this project was to develop a new test dummy neck, with sufficient instrumentation to allow measurements of displacements and/or loads in these cervical spine segments (i.e., in the neck).
Project Designers: Ian Wing, David Jamison IV, Joshua Chang, Alic Chen
PROJECT EZ-LIFT
Sponsor: JHU Center for Injury Research & Policy
Contacts: Ms. Sue Baker & Mr. Steven Chervak
A common cause of back injury is due to one’s attempting to lift a too heavy object. A means to easily lift and move such heavy items is needed, both for military and industrial situations. An easily portable, minimum cost device, which can be adapted to handle a variety of shapes and sizes, was the objective for this project.
Project Designers: Robert Ng, Aaron Schlothauer, Joseph Kim, Philip Kwon
PROJECT BEAST (Baby Exercise Apparatus and Stroller)
Sponsor: BB Baby LLC
Contacts: Ms. Krista Brick and Ms Jill Balow
Although there exist jogging strollers which allow one to have some aerobic exercise while rapidly pushing one’s baby along, there does not now exist a means to allow one’s arms to work in a comfortable motion and also provide an adequate workout for the upper body while pushing a stroller. The team designed and built a mechanism that is part of a baby stroller, which allows one’s arms to move back and forth in a significant exercise rhythm. A significant part of the project was the testing and market analysis.
Project Designers: Laura Manofsky, Sam Olesky, Hubert Tseng, Evan Earnest
Check out the 2005-2006 PROJECTS
Check out the 2004-2005 PROJECTS
Check out the 2003-2004 PROJECTS