Feather seals are used to seal the gaps between the stator vanes in the turbine section of the engine. Currently, there is no way to evaluate leakage through these seals on an operating jet engine, nor does the sponsor have a static test rig that can quantify this air mass leakage. A static test rig was designed that uses sonic nozzles in the choked flow condition. The rig measures ambient pressure and pressure differentials upstream and downstream of these nozzles, and the temperature inside the pressure vessel. The test rig takes in compressed shop air, which flows through sonic nozzles maintained in the choked flow condition by pressure differentials. The pressurized air enters a pressure vessel that houses six feather seals. The small amount of air that flows past the feather seals and into the atmosphere can be quantified using pressure and temperature data. This data can then be used to calculate air mass flow through the feather seals. The rig can test six seals of the same design at once, allowing average leakage to be calculated for any given design. A variety of seal designs can be installed and tested in the rig to determine which design creates the best seal.

The sponsor transports components ranging from rocket motors to avionics equipment throughout the United States. Harsh transportation events experienced in transit can affect the functionality of components by shortening their lives. The team designed a device to record pertinent data for analysis and determination of component flight-worthiness after transportation.The event data recorder detects whether the cargo shipped has been subjected to events that exceed the design or specified control limits. Information from the event data recorder allows the sponsor to decide if the item meets minimum end-of-life requirements. During transit, data is recorded relating to structural displacement and environmental conditions. The recorder also has room for additional external transducers, such as digital and analog sensors to measure acceleration and vibration. The device houses three internal sensors to monitor six degrees of freedom, temperature and humidity. The data recorder continuously monitors all operational sensor channels for trigger events that exceed specified threshold conditions, which are set before installation by plugging in a USB 2.0 cord and changing the appropriate threshold parameters. When a trigger event is detected, the recorder saves sensor data for a user-specified duration before and after the trigger. Sensor data is downloaded after the shipment reaches its destination.

The primary application of an alignment telescope is as a reliable optical reference for examining and characterizing external test optics, which it achieves via collimation,
autoreflection and retroreflection of projected light and comparison of a reference image, often as reticles or crosshairs. The large aperture alignment telescope is distinguished by a clear aperture of over 80 millimeters, double that of most alignment telescope, which allows for a greater field of view. The optical design of a large aperture alignment telescope is optimized for a unique self-contained 528-nanometer monochromatic light source. The large aperture alignment telescope allows for return images to be observed by a standard test camera or traditional eyepiece, depending on user needs and preference. Images can be focused at working distances of 14 inches to infinity while taking up less than two feet of space on an optical workbench.

Tucson Electric Power offers several different rate plans to customers, including a low-cost plan that entices customers to use more power during non-peak times.The system designed consists of devices that monitor energy consumption by five domestic appliances, and Wi-Fi communication with a server-based open-source web framework built using Django. The result is a database that can be analyzed via user interface, which displays energy consumption and cost, and suggests the best rate plan based on data collected from devices and price points set by Tucson Electric Power. The system allows consumers to save money and optimize power use while lowering demand for the provider during peak times.

Pantry for Good is an open-source application that provides food banks with a way to manage inventory, donor tracking and client intake. The team conducted a gap analysis of Pantry for Good and concluded it was missing some key features. Rather than creating a competing website with similar functionality, the team added new features to those already offered by the application. The new functionalities included a simple, intuitive volunteer-scheduling platform, an automated donation-weighing interface, and a convenient mass imports feature. The team used open-source software development kits, multiple software modules, and embedded systems to enhance Pantry for Good’s ability to help food banks around the world manage their operations.

High-resolution images are greatly sought after in many commercial and military optical systems because they can store large amounts of information, but detector costs increase significantly with pixel count.This project uses the super resolution technique of compressed sensing to improve the resolution of an imaging system limited by too few pixels. Compressed sensing encodes compressed information into low-resolution measurements allowing the reconstruction of high-resolution images from many low-resolution images. The super resolution imager designed uses compressed sensing to decrease the number of samples needed to perfectly reconstruct an image. With a few low-resolution images modulated by a subpixel code, a linear system is generated and solved for that predicts a high-resolution image using small amounts of measurement data. The prototype imager uses two encoding methods –binary mask-actuator encoding and a digital micro-mirror device, and two reconstruction methods –an exact L1 minimization reconstruction and an alternative, inexact machine-learning-based reconstruction. The prototype imager built achieves a fourfold increase in spatial resolution in both X and Y directions, providing a total high spatial resolution gain of 16 times.

When watering plants, greenhouse owners must consider a range of environmental and biological variables. Greenhouse plant watering is challenging, inconsistent and labor intensive, and growers need to evaluate which systems best suit their greenhouse operation, such as hose with spray attachments versus overhead sprinklers versus single-volume automated systems.The team’s automated system uses sensors to measure parameters such as soil moisture and plant maturation to analyze crop health and determine how much water to dispense. Three Pixy2 cameras analyze crop appearance and detect bar codes that uniquely identify plants. An actuated sensor probe inserted into the plant substrate records soil moisture data as percent saturation, and a coin load cell measures the weight of each plant.The team designed graphical user interfaces that reflect the data acquired from the various sensors, and which allow manual control of all motors and valves if necessary. Combining these subsystems creates an accurate automated system capable of watering three plants at a time without generating any solid or liquid waste outside of normal maintenance.

J David Art creates sculptures by re-purposing spring units from common household mattresses and transforming them into custom pieces of art. Sculptures are made using “logs” formed by rolling the steel mattress spring units into a cylindrical shape. Hand-rolling the logs is time-consuming and physically strenuous and limits the number of pieces of art that can be produced.In a design based upon industrial rolling machines, the device incorporates rollers that compress the mattress springs before wrapping the flattened spring unit around a spindle to form a cylinder. The device operator anneals the spring unit with a torch, which causes it to retain its cylindrical shape when it is removed from the device. The mattress rolling device reduces the-time required to produce a “log” and protects the operator from injury and fatigue.

Mounted gemstones are not measured accurately because the depth of the stones is obscured by the metal mount of the jewelry. This leads to major disputes about the size and worth of gemstones. The team developed a mounted gemstone weight calculation device, based on the technology found in the Angular Spectrum Evaluation Tool created by the American Gem Society, to measure mounted gemstones quickly and accurately. Angular spectrum evaluation technology uses multicolored light to illuminate the stone, which produces a unique pattern specific to its internal angles. This pattern is compared to a software-generated matrix of stones using image-processing software in Matlab. Image analysis makes it possible to find the internal angles of the gemstone using only a photo of the color-illuminated top surface. The gemstone’s weight is then calculated from its density and surface measurements. Efficient structural design and advanced software make the mounted gemstone weight calculation device significantly faster, easier to use, and more accurate than the current method for mounted gemstone measurement.

Project goal: To design and build a steel bridge with a span of 18 feet able to sustain a load of 2,500 pounds at varying locations along its span. The bridge designed is the team’s entry in the 2018 National Student Steel Bridge Competition organized by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Institute of Steel Construction. To simulate construction at a smaller scale,the bridge is broken up into members that fit within a box measuring 36 inches by 6 inches by 4 inches. Members are fabricated and assembled over a river on a mock construction site. Structural analysis software is used to model the bridge iteratively before selecting a final design for construction. The strength of the connections was calculated and subsequently verified through strain testing of sample specimens. The bridge, and bridges designed by the other 18 universities in the Pacific Southwest region involved in the competition, is judged according to criteria that include self-weight, stiffness, structural efficiency and construction economy.