Vincent Chan, Ph.D,
P.Eng
Associate Professor and Associate
Chair, Student Affairs,
Department of Mechanical and
Industrial Engineering
Faculty
of Engineering and Applied Science
| Client |
Project
Brief |
| Prof. Habiba Bougherara - EPH 312C | 1. Design of sandwich structure for aeroplane nose. 2. Medical Hip Implants: A Study Involving CAD Design, Computer Modeling, and Mechanical Tests (in co-operation with St.Michael's Hospital) Link to project description PDF |
| Prof. Richard Budny - EPH 305 | Project 1) Community Water Supply/Storage System Link to project description PDF Project 2) Expansion of a Hydroelectric Power Project Link to project description PDF |
| Prof. Jun Cao - EPH 316 | 1. Design of an engineering rigid frame via finite element analysis 2. Design of anodic and cathodic flow channels in a PEM fuel cell |
| Prof. Vincent Chan - EPH 326 Industry sponsored projects: | Autonomous Robotic Weed Killer - This project will combine the use of machine vision
(CMUcam- http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~cmucam/ or similar), a high powered laser, a
mobile platform, such as the Ryerson mechbot all controlled through a
microcontroller, to go through a typical Toronto lawn to hunt and destroy
broad-leaf weeds. This would be good for a team with mechatronics and thermo
(killing weeds by heat). A robotic 4x4 platform has been built, but the control system needs to be designed. Design of a Flying Sphere - Similar to the one built by the Japanese Ministry of Defence, you will be required to design and build a flying sphere for use in rescue situations: http://youtu.be/mvC1kXxM01A Design of a testing apparatus for 3d Printing - many formulas abound for mixing of materials for 3D printers. You are asked to design a testing apparatus to test different material formulations for a 3D printer. Industry Projects: Large Diameter Sanitary Trunk Sewer Robotic Crawler Heavy duty robotic crawlers are used to transport CCTV equipment through sewers in order to carry out internal inspections. The crawlers currently available in the marketplace are typically not very reliable for use in very large diameter sewers. The problem that arises is that as the crawler travels down the sewer; a large amount of drag occurs on the umbilical cable (power and data transfer). As well, due to the nature of large diameter trunk sewers there is a large propensity for the crawler to get knocked over and become unbalanced (there is normally a camera mounted high above the moving lower body such that the center of gravity is shifted from the center base). Students who part-take in this project will be given the opportunity to make a site visit to gain an overall understanding of the purpose of the project as well as the conditions that the tractor undergoes such that it can be designed in the appropriate manner. Aspect 1: Front and Rear Chassis/Drive Train Aspect 2: Body/Frame Aspect 3: Motor Aspect 4: Electrical Connections (umbilical power cable/sonar/laser/CCTV camera) Aspect 5: Control/Variable Power and Torque Automation of drilling, tapping and countersinking operations. A local manufacturing company wished to incorporate a 5 or 6 head milling machine (turret drill) with a linear slide base (with simple programming) to move incremental steps. The company can purchase a manual machine if one is found in good condition. The surface of the work piece would move based on the operator's command. For example, a 1" square tube that is 96" long and it requires threaded holes (10-32) every 6" on center along the full length. The operator would input the 6" and number of holes (say 15 holes), the linear slide would move 6" and stop. The operator would drill the hole and then use the turret to bring the next chuck in position and tap that hole or countersink that hole (whatever is needed). The operator would then use a foot pedal or a push button to move another 6" and so on until the program is finished. Robot Auxiliary Axis Positioners for Welding During Arc Welding, the position of the part/weldment is critical to achieve good welds. Therefore, being able to quickly move the part into position for the robot saves a lot of time (and money). With parts ranging from 5 lbs, to 4,000 lbs, there is a wide variety of manipulator systems required. As most parts have unique geometry, it is important to be able to access as many sides of the part as possible for welding. Some examples of positioners include: - headstock/tailstock, tilt/turn table, sky-hook, ferris-wheels, linear slides.....and so on. These mechanisms are all servo driven, and communicate and synchronize with the robot controller. The design and manufacturing of these systems require many of the skills learned while studying Mechanical Engineering. During this project, you will be working directly with a Ryerson Alumni, that will guide you through several real world design projects, from conception to production. The project will involve: - assessing design criteria - performing calculations for gear ratios, servo motor torques, inertias, structural analysis (FEA), - creating spreadsheets for performing standard Engineering calculations, and validating them. - Exposure to Solidworks |
| Prof. Daolun Chen - EPH 340B |
(1) Design of a car engine cradle using lightweight magnesium alloys Reducing weight in ground vehicles and aircraft is today considered as one of the most effective approaches to improve fuel economy and reduce anthropogenic environment-damaging emissions. The application of magnesium alloys, being the lightest structural metallic materials, has thus attracted considerable interest in the automotive and aerospace industries in recent years. Design a new car engine cradle using lightweight magnesium alloys to replace the heavier steel counterpart. (2) Design of a vacuum furnace for the quality control of automotive and aerospace components To ensure the quality and safety of load-bearing structural components, it is essential to conduct heat treatment in a high-temperature furnace - a critical industrial process in the manufacturing industry. For many parts heat treatment must be carried out in vacuum to prevent their oxidation. A mechanical vacuum system will be designed to fit the existing tube furnace with a proper connection to a vacuum degree of 1x10−3 Torr. (3) Design of a rotating bending fatigue testing machine A rotating bending fatigue testing machine will be designed to test smooth round specimens. Bending stress is applied to the specimen by means of dead weights. An indicator providing the number of completed cycles with automatic shut-off upon specimen failure and providing an indication of the operating speed (in rotations per minute or RPM) is needed. (4) Design of a three-point bending fatigue test stage A three-point bending fatigue test stage will be designed to fit into the existing Instron 8801 fatigue testing system, with a capacity of 50 kN and a factor of safety of 5. |
| Prof. Seth Dworkin - EPH 324 | Design of an automatic sensor-controlled residential geothermal heating and cooling system: Geothermal heating and cooling (geoexchange) systems are becoming inexpensive and desirable in residential homes. They can provide an environmentally sustainable source of heating and cooling at competitive prices. Integrating a geoexchange system into an existing thermostat controlled dwelling is challenging. The goal of this project is to design a geothermal ground loop heating and cooling system, suitable for a residential dwelling, detached garage, or small business. The system should be thermostat controlled in both the heating season and cooling season. It will have a ground loop through which fluid flows and takes on the ground temperature, a pump, temperature and flow rate sensors, and a heat exchanger so that a forced air stream can be either heated or cooled. The sensor control system should be able to increase or decrease ground loop flow rates depending on the flow temperatures and the time-varying demand for heating or cooling. |
| Prof. Jake Friedman - EPH 301 | 1) Design a clothes washing machine for use in zero gravity. This is essential as any prolonged manned space exploration mission will require astronauts to spend many months or even years without being resupplied. No one can take enough changes of underwear for that length of trip. 2) Design an economical gas-to-gas heat exchanger. To preheat combustion air using the products of combustion of an industrial furnace at 1800 Deg F as a heat source. |
| Prof. Ahmad Ghasempoor - EPH 325 | 1) Measuring System for Axial and Radial Forces in Bearing Units Knowing the load of a bearing unit is important for the efficient use of rotary machines (turbines, compressors, etc.). Therefore axial forces as well as radial forces have to be measured. Approaches with strain gauges on the outer ring have shown good results but are not suitable for production use. Conventional strain gauge systems placed around the periphery of the unit are difficult and complex to install, and are not as durable as the bearings they measure, reducing the ability to tracks systems over long service lives. Therefore a new measurement system, which is able to monitor axial and radial force continuously is desirable. Design of precision planting equipment Development of an industrial scale planter with high seed spacing and distribution accuracy. The successful planter will: Meter and distribute single seeds at Rates of 6-10 seeds/ m Depth of 4-8 cm Operating speed at least 3.5 km / hr Open the soil, and close and firm it after seed deposition Be precise, and limit the number of gaps between emerged plant stands 95% of gaps must be < 25 cm for plantings of < 100,000 seeds/ha Plant seeds in 2-4 rows at a time Have a seed box Handle large seeds of 5 cm at largest dimension Limit mechanical damage to seeds Function on flat to 5% grade 2) Improved positioning system for High-Tech Manufacturing A novel suspension system that enables ceiling mounted equipment to be easily and accurately repositioned. Designs that offer technologies that are available for immediate commercialization are preferred. The successful design will: Enable users to reach up and reposition overhead equipment while maintaining focus on their primary task Allow equipment to be moved directly between any two points in a 6-8 foot diameter work area Give equipment freedom of movement and feeling of weightlessness Require little effort for the user to initiate movement but will stop and remain in place at the end of the movement (easy to use, accurate and drift-free) Be able to tilt or aim equipment as desired by the user once positioned Be able to support and position equipment weighing 10-35 lbs (up to 4 independently movable pieces of equipment / work area) Be easy to install, maintain and clean Preferably provide a pathway for conducting electric power and other signals to suspended equipment Preferably be compatible with clean room operation Have cost-effective design |
| Prof. Siyuan He - EPH 312B | Design a micromirror based laser etching machine This project is to design a laser etching machine based on a 2D rotation micromirror. The machine consists of a 2D micromirror and its control circuits, a multi degree of freedom stage and its control and driving system, laser, optics, central control system, a sample holder, etc. The project will focus on the system integration by selecting available devices/components to meet required performance. |
| Prof. Wey Leong - EPH 306A | 1. ASHRAE Student Design Competition - HRV/ERV/AHU Project 2. Power Generation from a Fitness Machine with a Smart System for Storage and/or Supply to the Power Grid |
| Prof. Bill Lin EPH 317 | 1. design of desktop linear accelerator. 2. autonomous lawn mower 3. design of heart rate variability enhancer |
| Prof. Hua Lu - EPH334B | |
| Prof. David Naylor - EPH 411 | 1. Design of an improved thermoelectric cooler for automotive and marine application. This project will start with a review of commercial units and (perhaps) the testing of an existing product. e.g. http://www.colemancanada.ca/Catalog/COOLERS.Thermoelectric,5644-710G.en.products The goal will be to improve the performance of an existing design using advanced heat transfer and fluid flow modelling. The project will require material selection, FEM and/or computational fluid dynamics (CFD). 2. Advanced heat sink and cooling design system for a computer. This will involve advanced heat transfer and fluid flow modelling, including FEM and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). 3. Design of a high precision experimental apparatus for testing heat pipes. Heat pipes are used in many applications, including the cooling of electronics. See http://www.thermacore.com A well designed heat pipe can have an effective thermal conductivity that is one hundred times great than copper. The objective of this project is to design an apparatus to measure the steady-state performance of a heat pipe with high accuracy. The project will also include the selection of instrumentation, a detailed uncertainty analysis, and a cost estimate. |
| Prof. Don Oguamanan - EPH 319 | 1. Automated, remote controlled, motorcycle/scooter lift mechanism This mechanism is to allow the lift and rotation of a motorcycle/scooter in order to allow a mechanic to ergonomically work on the bike. 2. Goddard bi-directional lock mechanism Design a lock mechanism which when open locks if the key is turned in either counterclockwise or clockwise direction. Further, the mechanism when locked opens if the key is turned in either counterclockwise or clockwise direction. The design will include all manual calculations, engineering drawings, SolidWorks animation, and finite element stress analysis. |
| Prof. Ravi Ravindran - EPH332D | 1) Design of a cost effective furnace lid for the melting of Mg and Al alloys. 2) Design of a casting ejection system for permanent mould. |
| Prof. Ziad Saghir - EPH 322 | |
| Prof. Fil Salustri - EPH 306B | 1. Gas station design Redesign the gas station at Dundas and Church to optimize flow of automobiles. The design must "fit" aesthetically in the neighbourhood, must fit within the bounds of the property without altering the sidewalks or overheads utility cables. All functions provided by the current facilities must be provided by the new design. No new functionality or services are to be included. Creative and innovative ideas are encouraged. 2. Stove for developing countries From Mongabay.com: Wood stoves in poor countries are producing twice the heat-absorbing particulates than researchers previously expected, and can contribute to serious health problems including tuberculosis. In 2010, 3 billion people used open fires to cook, and the amount of particulates in the air can exceed safety guidelines by 200 times. (source) The goal is to improve the situation - not necessarily to design a "better" stove. 3. A spreadsheet to manage indoor pools Design a spreadsheet that can be used by any typical Excel user to determine the best set of water temperature, indoor air temperature, and indoor humidity to minimize energy consumption and water consumption for indoor pools. Variables include: volume of the room, volume of water, temperature of the water, external sources of heat (e.g. solar radiation hitting the roof), climate variation (winter, summer), the cost of energy for heating, the cost of water, and thermal conductivity of walls and windows. The higher the air temperature and humidity, the lower the evaporation of pool water. This lowers the cost of replacing evaporated water, but increases the energy costs. Lowering the air temperature and humidity saves energy but leads to faster water evaporation. The best balance point will vary from pool to pool. The spreadsheet will be used by homeowners, who will input key values for their particular pool, and get advice on how to set temperature and humidity values to trade off water loss versus energy costs. 4. A "green" TV remote It has been estimated that 80% of the energy used by a typical non-plasma display television over its lifetime is consumed by the sensor that listens for commands from the remote control. Design a new system for remote control of televisions that consumes significantly less electricity. |
| Prof. Farrokh Sharifi - EPH 318 | Vision-Based Process Control The recent advances in robotics and machine vision have led to practical platforms that can serve many autonomous process control tasks. For many process control applications, vision sensor provides rich multi-modal sensory information, e.g., from liquid level to its motion. In this project, a Lego-based robotic system will be designed and integrated with a vision system and PC to demonstrate the feasibility of vision-based process control. A few process control scenarios will be considered. Examples will include peg-in-hole assembly process control, liquid level control, and temperature control. |
| Prof. Ahmad Varvani - EPH 306C |
Topic 1: Algorithm design and assessment of damage under variable amplitude stress cycles. Note: (i) computer programming skill, (ii) knowledge of stress analysis, and (iii) background in mechanical metallurgy are required. Topic 2: Design of a graphical user interface to analyse yield surface movements during cyclic plasticity process Note: Good (i) computer programming skill, (ii) understanding of elasticity and plasticity, and (iii) knowledge in materials science are required. |
| Prof. Venkat Venkatkrishnan - EPH312A | 1. Design of micro and nano fluidic device for lab on a chip application. The students will be required to understand the concept of micro and nano fluidics and apply them in designing lab on a Chip with various components such as mixers, reservoir etc. The design have to take into consideration the size of the feature (micron/nano scale), the application, efficiency etc. |
| Other - these are projects from a "client" but still need to be matched up with a faculty advisor | - Design a passive (off grid) performance monitoring system for a residential Solar Hot Water heater. - Design a alarm clock driven powered window blinds (opens blinds when alarm goes off- allows for snooze function optionally) |