Strut failure on the CAT 770 mining truck means costly downtime for the sponsor’s customers. The objective of this project is to design and implement a monitoring system for the truck’s hydraulic struts.

The system needs to monitor strut performance continuously during truck operation and alert the driver to strut behavior that indicates it is damaged.

Data gathered by the system from pressure, temperature and displacement sensors on the hydraulic struts is processed through developed algorithms to determine if the strut’s behavior matches the ideal within a set tolerance. The driver is prompted with the error and a mitigation strategy, such as recharging the strut with nitrogen or replacing it before it fails.

Sorbent systems are used in a wide range of applications, from chemical factories to aircraft cabins. Small-scale testing saves materials and time; this project’s goal is to design a small-scale system to test the efficiency and capacity of industrial-grade sorbents.

The team compared the adsorption and desorption capabilities of two sorbents: APG-III and AZ-300. Sorbents were tested for their ability to adsorb and desorb volatile organic compounds introduced into an air stream at low concentration, on a scale of parts per billion.

A ppbRAE 3000 wireless handheld volatile organic compound monitor, which is capable of ambient temperature adsorption and temperature-swing desorption, was used to acquire concentration data.

The goal of this project is to design a system that uses centrifugal force to remove as much dust as possible from a flowing air line with minimal loss of pressure.

The designed centrifugal particle separator removes fine dust, 1-100 microns in diameter, remaining in a high-pressure air line after the air has passed through a filter. Parameters modeled and tested include number of swirl blades, blade length, and migration length.

Mine sites around the globe use the sponsor’s 793F mining truck, which requires several antennas for everyday operation. The existing antenna configuration consists of multiple antenna mounting locations and an underused mast structure.

The mast structure is difficult to maintain and supports only a single antenna, so the team’s goal is to design and test a telescoping mast system that supports multiple antennas while being easier to safely maintain. The team’s solution is a lightweight, cost-efficient design featuring a highly integrated antenna mast system.

The new antenna mast system is raised and lowered by an electronic motor that allows technicians to perform maintenance safely. Multiple antennas can be mounted on the new mast, which is made of carbon fiber for high strength and low weight.

The goal of this project is to create a universal model for automated data centers in Power BI software. The model allows users to input specifications for a desired datacenter, such as size and location, and outputs optimal design specifications, projected costs and a 3-D SolidWorks representation of the data center.

The model performs its calculations by retrieving official data from the internet and combining it with input and previously saved data. The model is designed to help Microsoft plan future data centers, which will include features such as robotic maintenance, and to provide the ability to compare cost and performance of various data center configurations.

The labyrinth seal testing rig measures how efficiently different geometries of labyrinth seal reduce airflow leakage. The goal of this project is to validate existing simulated static data and evaluate toothed labyrinth flow statically.

The testing rig measures flow into the labyrinth seal and the pressure before the first and after the final teeth of the seal. The data collected from the flow meter and the two pressure sensors is used to create pressure ratio versus flow rate curves. These experimental curves are then compared to the simulated curves.

The rig rotates, but only static data was collected. One toothed cylinder was produced for this year of the project; cylinders produced in future years will be easily interchangeable.

The sponsor’s effort to improve its rotary aircraft simulation suite includes investigating how vibration is induced in its simulator. This entails expanding the system from vibrating the seat to vibrating the entire simulator platform.

Adding vibration feedback will better prepare pilots in training for the rotor feedback they would feel in a real aircraft. The goal of this project is to research existing vibration platforms and develop a new vibration system for the sponsor.

The system designed performs at or beyond the required performance standards while providing a marketable product for the sponsor to package with its simulator. Components of the design were stress-tested in SolidWorks; the design was finalized and test methods were written for the system, were it to be constructed.

The project team analyzed the effects of free versus forced vortex flow in a jet engine. To conduct the analysis, cooling vanes and blades were integrated on the stationary and rotating discs of a mock jet turbine engine.

The blades and vanes were adjusted during the integration to achieve different aerodynamic properties that resulted in changes to internal cavity pressure and velocity. Data collected using airflow velocity anemometers and pressure transducers was analyzed to determine internal cavity behavior in a free or forced vortex relationship.

The relationship between the integrated blades and vanes and the vortex discovered during testing provides critical data for optimizing turbine main cavity pressure, and for maximizing overall engine efficiency and performance.

Exposure to elevated levels of ultrafine airborne particulates may result in severe health effects, such as asthma. This establishes a need for a standalone air-quality detector that provides early warning of high concentrations of ultrafine particles in the air conditioning systems of buildings, public transportation, and aircraft.

The objective of this project is to design a low-cost ultrafine particle detector that senses air particulates with a diameter of 10-200 nanometers at a concentration of 10,000-500,000 particles per cubic centimeter with greater than 80 percent accuracy. The detector designed consists of a 3-D printed body, blue LED, photodiode sensor, aspheric lenses, carbon filter, and a Raspberry Pi microcontroller. 3-D software such as SolidWorks and FRED was used to run simulations and model the optical geometry of the detector.

The designed detector is smaller, lighter and more affordable than currently available ultrafine particle detectors, and can operate continuously while maintaining nanometer-level accuracy.

The team was asked to model, design and build a partial-turn transformer that meets the high tolerances specified by the sponsor. Transformers are widely used in electrical appliances that plug into a wall outlet and are designed by winding a conductive wire around a magnetic core.

The input winding is referred to as the primary winding, and the secondary winding outputs to the rest of the circuit. The ratio of the number of primary windings to the number of secondary windings determines the “transformation” capability of the device. With partial turns, the transformation capability of existing devices can be replicated at a fraction of the weight. However, partial turns are associated with high levels of leakage inductance, which inhibits transformation capability.

Modeling different system parameters in ANSYS Electronic Studio with the intent of minimizing leakage inductance determined the optimal design for the prototype, which was designed and machined using Solidworks and delivered to the sponsor.