Not all circuit cards received by the project sponsor are properly calibrated, so the goal of this project is to design and build a circuit card calibration device that tests card integrity quickly and easily at the sponsor’s manufacturing facility. Specifically, the output voltage of the cards needs to be verified at various operating temperatures. The design was a 7-by-14-by-4-inch device that uses a microcontroller to take periodic voltage readings from a circuit card placed in a temperature chamber cycling between -55 and 70 degrees Celsius. The microcontroller exports the voltage and temperature data to a microSD card for transfer to a computer at the manufacturing facility. This solution is fault-tolerant, easy to use, and will reduce cycle times and manufacturing costs.

RoboUmp is designed to evaluate whether a pitch is a strike more accurately and consistently than a human umpire. The design uses vertically oriented light detection and ranging, or LIDAR, sensors to measure the height of the ball above home plate, and microcontrollers process the sensor data to determine whether the ball is in the strike zone. The system incorporates three strike zones for players in different height ranges. If the LIDAR detects a ball in the strike zone, the microcontrollers relay the strike call to the umpire via an LED display. The system is accurate to within 1 inch vertically and 0.5 inches horizontally at ball speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. RoboUmp can be moved easily and installed without interfering with the players or the game.

Replacing desiccant cartridges is costly and time-consuming and desiccant breathers tend to be discarded after a single use when the desiccant is saturated with moisture. The goal of this project is to design a self-regenerating desiccant breather that eliminates the need to replace desiccant cartridges. The Infinity Breather is a small device that can self-regenerate while maintaining an air volume of 1 cubic foot with a dew-point temperature of -20 degrees Celsius.

The goal of this project is to design and fabricate a large-scale prototype 3-D printer capable of printing parts as large as 50 by 50 by 25 inches and of reaching and maintaining temperatures required to print high-grade thermoplastics such as Ultem. The design focused on system robustness and longevity and on the safety of the operator and bystanders. The system was built mostly using off-the-shelf components with provisions for an insulating enclosure for high-temperature printing. The extrusion system was designed to use any filament on the market, and the bed can support a print job of over 350 pounds. Nozzles of various sizes allow the user to adjust for different part sizes, accuracy, and printing speed. The prototype includes a software interface for customizing and estimating print times and materials needed.

Drones used in intelligence gathering and espionage are a threat to military personnel and national security, which creates a demand for a device that can disable drones without risk to life. Built specifically for the Navy, the Anti-Drone Device is designed to detect and disable drones autonomously. It consists of a microcomputer, LCD screen, Wi-Fi antenna and protective case designed to withstand the elements, such as rain, wind and humidity. Once a drone is detected, the device automatically connects to the Wi-Fi access point of the drone and sends commands via Telnet to shut it down.

Medical devices can be difficult to identify once implanted inside the human body. Adding a small unique device identifier, or UDI, allows medical staff to correctly identify the device after implantation and ensure its proper use. Information stored in the UDI can include device description, model number, catheter type, and compatibility with diagnostic devices, such as MRI. The team developed an implantable UDI and a detection system that uses mobile phone technology. This allows UDI information to be scanned from outside of the body, creating a safe and cost-effective alternative to current techniques. Information is stored on an induction-powered radio-frequency identification tag positioned on the implanted device. Medical personnel read the tag using an external device that connects via Bluetooth to a mobile phone. The external device can be programmed using a mobile application running the Android operating system.

An optimized mining production fleet improves the safety, efficiency, and profitability of a mining operation. This project determines the feasibility of a Peruvian copper mine using larger trucks to cope with a rapid increase in production during the next 30 years. The infrastructure on the site, the crusher in particular, is already equipped to process a larger throughput of material. Most of the trucks in the operation’s current fleet have a nominal payload of 218 metric tons, which could increase to 327 or 363 metric tons with new trucks from various manufacturers. Ascertaining the most profitable course of action for this mine site involved assessing existing and replacement trucks for capital, operating, overhaul, maintenance, and rebuild costs, and manipulating the data in spreadsheets to determine how many new trucks would be needed and how many would need to be rebuilt during the next 30 years.

The objective of this project is to design, manufacture, and test an unmanned aircraft system capable of vertical takeoff and landing for wildlife surveillance. Red Cactus is a blended-body flying wing with vertical-thrusting ducted propellers and a horizontal-thrusting pusher propeller that enable vertical, horizontal, and hover flight modes. This hybrid design allows the aircraft to take off from a stationary ground position, cruise four miles to a desired target, loiter over the target for 15 minutes, and cruise back to the original location to land. Hybrid aircraft combine elements of fixed-wing aircraft with elements of multirotor aircraft to deliver multifaceted mission capabilities. The aircraft has no tail so its wing is constructed with an Eppler 330 reflex airfoil to provide stability during cruise. The aircraft cruises at 36 mph at of 500 feet above ground level, using elevons (ailerons combined with an elevator) on each wing as control surfaces. The aircraft weighs 12 pounds and is fabricated from various weights of vacuum-formed composite fiberglass for the outer skin, carbon fiber tubing, plastic parts made using a 3-D printer, and balsa wood ribs for the internal structure. The internal structure consists of a network of spars joined to a large, stiff duct located in the center of the blended body, which houses two 15-inch counter-rotating lifting propellers.

When at rest on the water, the Clipper Spirit seaplane has one wing buoyed and the other suspended in air, which requires additional roll authority to stabilize the aircraft during takeoff and landing. The project goal is to design a mechanism that droops or retracts the ailerons during takeoff and landing, creating more lift at the wing tips, where the ailerons are located, which effectively adds roll authority. The droop mechanism must be purely mechanical, be independent from and not interfere with the aileron control system, retract or extend the bias linearly from 75 to 100 knots, and be free from pilot input. The design meets this requirement by using dynamic pressure to displace a piston. The piston linearly displaces a rack that turns a set of gears, the last of which is mounted on the aileron control shaft. When the gear rotates it will also rotate the shaft, which will effectively lengthen or shorten the control shaft depending on whether the ailerons are being drooped or retracted. Rotation changes shaft length by threading it into or out of the control horn, which translates into a droop or retraction of the aileron.

The team’s objective is to build two radio-controlled electric-powered aircraft in accordance with the rules of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Design/Build/Fly competition. The production aircraft must be able to carry a 32-ounce soft drink bottle internally and complete a timed flight mission. It must be able to be disassembled and loaded into a manufacturing support aircraft, which also has to complete the flight mission. The team’s objectives are to build the lightest possible planes and to minimize the subassemblies of the production aircraft. The team opted for two subassemblies and designed an aircraft with a minimized front profile that enabled optimization of size and weight. Manufacturing techniques include foam core composite prototyping, 3-D printing, carbon fiber wing layups, and precision, laser-cut wood structures. Using these techniques in tandem with mission-specific designs resulted in two aircraft capable of achieving a maximum score under competition rules.