Engineering

The Factors Affecting Flight Time of a Rubber Band Powered Airplane (P)

Presenter: Ian Banderchuk
Faculty Project Advisor: Don Van

Rubber band-powered model airplanes are a classic toy and pastime seen in many households. This project analyzes how several factors affect how long such planes can stay in the air. Among these are the rubber band used, the number of turns for the rubber band's windings, the environment for the plane's flight, and the wing type. The focus of the project is determining which changes in the factors make the biggest difference in how long the plane will fly. To achieve the desired outcome, the project analysis includes use of the fractional factorial method of experiment design.

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Potentiometers for Studying Turbulence Inside a Wind Tunnel (P)

Presenters: Zane Bolton, Benjamin Kuhl, and Kyle Whitmark
Faculty Project Advisor: Jeannette Russ

Potentiometers are electrical instruments that effectively function as variable resistors. Thus, they enable us to adaptively manipulate the electrical current flowing in a circuit. This project seeks to explore the application of potentiometers for varying the output power of a fan inside a wind tunnel. Our setup allows us to study the effects of potentiometer-induced variations in air flow through the turbulence created around a model aircraft wing. We 3D printed this model wing along with a fan blade and conducted a series of trials with varying wind speeds to determine the ideal conditions for optimal wing performance and minimal turbulence.

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Simple Circuits as Shown in Butterfly Flasher Circuit (P)

Presenters: Marbry Castellaw and Tabathia Keyton
Faculty Project Advisor: Jeannette Russ

Simple circuits make up things we see in our everyday lives. One example of this is a flasher circuit. This project shows how something fun can be created by a simple circuit using readily available electronic components. Using resistors, LED lights, and a potentiometer, we have created a circuit to emulate a butterfly flapping its wings. The LED lights turn on and then off going down the wings of the butterfly. The resulting circuit displays how energy flows in a circuit in a fun and creative way. In addition to the circuit prototype, the project includes a CircuitLab simulation of the project.

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The RPS RPG (P)

Presenters: Jacob Smith and Shane Tendo
Faculty Project Advisor: Jeannette Russ

The RPS RPG is a protoboard-based project designed for the sole purpose of having fun. By the power of digital logic — IFs, ANDs, and ORs, comes the ability to take part in a 2-player action-adventure strategic Role-Playing Game in which your probability of losing to your opponent is always much larger than your chances of success. To win, you will have to be able to predict and outwit your opponent. If you lose all 4 of your lives, you lose.

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Triple Circuit Overload (P)

Presenters: Andrew Myers and Shane Tendo
Faculty Project Advisor: Jeannette Russ

In order to demonstrate the ability of current to take the path of least resistance, the Thevenin and Norton equivalents of different circuits and more advanced circuit design techniques, we combined circuits to present a self-correcting circuit that will pick the optimum path to deliver the most power to a load. Each path presents different opportunities for our current thus minimizing imperfections and wastages.

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A Critical Examination on the Viability of AI-Generated Design (P)

Presenter: Ethan Brasher
Faculty Project Advisor: Don Van

This project seeks to investigate the designs of artificial intelligence using a variety of factors. To generate the designs for testing, I am using an online AI that allows me to input my prompt and shortly thereafter receive the requested model created to the best of the AI's ability. Taking this design, after inputting a prompt like, '"Create the most secure table possible'" and modeling it in Fusion 360 will provide valuable insights about the quality and functionality of these designs. Additionally, by swapping out factors like materials, size and support features, we can optimize the outcome and efficiency. Following the design process, the goal is to compare the resulting designs, considering all factors, to human inventions and analyze the differences.

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Finding The Ideal Design for 3D Printed Bouncy Balls (P)

Presenter: Michael Kirk
Faculty Project Advisor: Don Van

Flexible 3D printing materials such as TPU are well suited for a variety of scenarios. Its flexible properties are valuable in creating products that are used by people daily because it creates more friendly surfaces to hold. Another aspect is that the material is also very springy. This project attempts to identify the design that best utilizes the springiness of flexible material. This is done by testing a variety of designs for 3D printed bouncy balls and comparing those tests to each other.

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Rock Paper Scissors through Digital Logic (P)

Presenters: Colby Davis and Braeden McAlister
Faculty Project Advisor: Jeannette Russ

This project will explore logic gates and their usefulness in the creation of games. The design will demonstrate a 2-player playable Rock Paper Scissors game. This design will use switches to send a signal based on the user's input. Then, using logic gates, the two input signals will be compared using logic gates. The logic gates will determine a winner and produce an output. Users can determine if there was a winner, or if it was a draw. This design will allow functionality for the users and a positive experience for those playing the game. This project will display the usefulness of logic gates, design insights, and specifications throughout the building process.

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Visualizing V=IR Relationship with Potentiometer and DC Motor (P)

Presenters: Timothy White and YuXuan Zhu
Faculty Project Advisor: Jeannette Russ

Our goal with this project is to explore the behavior of potentiometers by analyzing the behavior of DC motors connected in the same circuit. A potentiometer is a variable resistor used in electrical circuits to adjust the resistance by moving a wiper along a resistive element. To accomplish our goal, we designed a circuit with a motor and several LED parts connected in parallel to a potentiometer. We then placed the entire circuit on a boat. The motor will serve as the accelerating component, and the potentiometer will serve as the '"gas pedal'". We also designed a current indicator with LEDs and resistors to present a visual effect of the amount of current flowing in the circuit. The LEDs will vary in brightness depending on the current controlled by the potentiometers.

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Analysis of Rubik's Cube Solve Times (P)

Presenter: Caleb Krueger
Faculty Project Advisor: Don Van

The Rubik's Cube has long served as a captivating puzzle for enthusiasts worldwide. This made me curious as to what factors affect the solve time of the Rubik's Cube. In this study, I present an experiment aimed at evaluating the impact of various variables on Rubik's Cube solve times. Specifically, we explore four key variables: the type of cube utilized (standard vs. speed cube), preparation time allotted before solving, the method employed for solving, and the temperature of my hands during the solve. Through controlled experiments and data collection I will systematically analyze the effects of these variables on solve times.

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Creating an Audio Amplifier (P)

Presenters: Jake Lancaster, Jude Lampley, and Amy Nason
Faculty Project Advisor: Jeannette Russ

This project explores how audio amplifiers work. Our project utilizes a NPN bipolar junction transistor to manually control the base current to amplify the sound and adjust the speaker volume. A capacitor is used to keep the input voltage of the transistor steady. This is so the volume from the speaker is not oscillating, making it sound louder and quieter. Our power source is a nine-volt battery. For the audio input, we are using a 3.5-millimeter audio jack, and for the audio output we are using a small speaker. The circuit for this project is assembled on a simple breadboard.

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How Changing Variables in Baking Affects the Texture of a Cake (P)

Presenter: Mikaila Rogers
Faculty Project Advisor: Don Van

The knowledge of proper experimental processes and how to perform them is an exceptionally useful tool in many engineering applications. There are situations in which it is necessary to know how certain variables affect a system and to determine which variables have the most impact in a case where there are many variables. This project explores such a case by asking the following question: What variables have the greatest impact on the final texture of a cake? To do this, I examined four different variables, each of which had two options. These variables are baking time, pan size, cooking temperature, and location in the oven. After performing multiple experiments whilst altering these variables, the results of each experiment are then analyzed and compared to find the most impactful variable on the baking of a cake.

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Controlling a Robotic Arm (P)

Presenters: Nathanael Madison and Aldric Zeak
Faculty Project Advisor: Jeannette Russ

Industrial products are used in a broad range of applications. From microelectronics to massive machines, these products offer solutions to many problems across the board. This project aims to provide a demonstration of how these products function and their numerous capabilities by using a robotic arm, found in the mechanical engineering lab. We provide a detailed explanation of how to operate this arm, as it has been 14 years since it last moved on campus.

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Hovering Drone (P)

Presenters: Landon Haywood, Eli Patton, and Eli Snelson
Faculty Project Advisor: Jeannette Russ

With the innovative current technology, drones have become a popular form of autonomous robotics. The unique aerial vehicles can maintain control and have a sustained level of flight. This type of flight is going to be replicated using a potentiometer. A potentiometer is a manually adjustable variable resistor that can be used to control the power of the fan blades on the drone. With a 3-D printed body and guiding system to help with stabilization, the drone will be taking flight using motors controlled by the potentiometers. Adjusting the potentiometers will determine the height of the drone and help create stability as it hovers in the air.

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Building Battleship (P)

Presenters: Jonathan Brewer and Jacob Carbonell
Faculty Project Advisor: Jeannette Russ

In this project, we explored the concepts behind constructing the game of battleship using fundamental digital electronics components. The key aspects of the project involve creating a grid in which to set the pieces, designing a system to fire guesses onto the grid, and fabricating an interface to display firing data to the user. We will use decoding, demultiplexing, and control switching to implement the circuit.

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Unitree Go1 Exploration and Programming (P)

Presenters: Jacob Arehart and Ryan Keeton
Faculty Project Advisor: Jeannette Russ

The goal of this project is to learn how to use and modify the Unitree Go1 robotic dog, as well as create a '"quick start guide'" for anyone else that wants to program the robot. Using and modifying the robot includes utilizing a Linux virtual machine to communicate with the robot directly, as well as Python scripts to control the robot's various systems and behavior. The robot comes with external inputs that can be used to implement new sensors. These inputs are particularly interesting because they allow the robot to perform more complex tasks than simply walking around a room. A major goal of this project is to learn how to add additional sensors to the robot and use Python to program the system to accomplish more complex tasks.

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Investigating the Effect of Potentiometers on DC Motors Used as Flywheels (P)

Presenters: Patrick Basie, Ryan Metcalf, and Jacob Smith
Faculty Project Advisor: Jeannette Russ

In this project we investigate how potentiometers could be used to create a nerf gun with an adjustable fire rate and launch velocity. Our nerf gun will be a modification of a compact 3D-printed design called the Lepus designed by JackRabbitNerfer. We will add potentiometers to his design to allow for adjustment of the DC motors powering the flywheel. Additionally, an LED will be used to indicate the speed at which the DC motors are turning. Since the speed of a DC motor is based on its input voltage, we will wire the DC motors and potentiometers in series to adjust the input voltage. Conversely, an LED's brightness depends on current, so it will be wired in parallel with the potentiometer and DC motor to adjust the brightness.

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The Effect of Angular Rotation on a Nerf Dart (P)

Presenter: Nathanael Thomas
Faculty Project Advisor: Don Van

In recent years the hobby of upgrading and innovating toy blasters to launch foam darts has increased dramatically with local events popping up all over the country. In addition, several foam dart blaster manufacturers have endeavored to appeal to this advancing market by producing their own high-powered blasters. One particularly interesting innovation is the SCAR barrel. This stands for String based, Auto Centering, and Rotating. The SCAR attaches to the end of a nerf blaster barrel and improves the accuracy by imparting spin on the nerf dart at a slight decrease in velocity. This project will analytically explore the accuracy improvement under different conditions.

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What has the Greatest Effect on the Flight of a Disc? (P)

Presenter: Daniel Lancaster
Faculty Project Advisor: Don Van

The sport of Ultimate Frisbee is growing at a rapid pace in the United States. All the way from youth leagues to the professional level, the sport is gaining awareness and traction in households across the country. One of the biggest difficulties new players encounter is the ability to throw a disc properly. This experiment will determine what the biggest hindrance to accurate throws is by having a player throw a disc under different conditions and measuring the result of each throw of the disc. The hope is that the results of this experiment will help new players make the adjustments needed to excel in Ultimate Frisbee.

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Optimizing Quadricep Performance in Weightlifting (P)

Presenter: Micah Valdivia
Faculty Project Advisor: Don Van

The purpose of this experiment is to test which variable will lead to the greatest increase in volume (ie. either an increase in weight per repetition or repetitions per set) over a variety of quadricep exercises. This will be done by creating a baseline for multiple quadricep lifts, then by testing what the effects of adding different variables will do to the capacity for lifting greater loads. The different variables that will be tested are the addition of: knee wraps, a weightlifting belt, shoes with thicker heels, lifting straps, pre-workout supplements, and intra-workout source of carbohydrates and electrolytes. Once enough data has been collected on overall quadricep volume for given variables, a Pareto chart will be used to determine which of the variables most significantly improve quadricep output ability.

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Comparison of Off-the-Shelf Products for Process Efficiency Improvement (O)

Presenters: Timothy Boccarossa, Vishal Karmacharya, Nathanael Madison, and Aldric Zeak
Faculty Project Advisors: Jay Bernheisel and Georg Pingen

Improving process efficiency is a goal which many manufacturing companies strive to achieve. This project is a study into the selection of a singular part for that purpose. The part in question is a nozzle used for lubrication, and the different products come from BETE, Bijur Delimon, EXAIR, and Uxcell. The first company offers a product called an impingement fogging nozzle where a piece is manufactured in a specific way to impede the flow, causing the spray to be much wider than a simple hole. The next company offers a simple cone shape nozzle. EXAIR has two specific products: one which is a no-drip hollow cone nozzle, and the other is a simpler hollow cone nozzle. The last also offers a simple hollow cone nozzle. Each nozzle offers their distinctive advantages and disadvantages; thus, this project aims to determine which is the best with the given setup.

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