Engineering 210 – Statics

Group Design Project

Fall 2002

 

Design project rationale:

Engineers design products and processes to help improve our lives.  The range of products encompasses nearly every aspect of our daily lives.  In industry, products must be stored at various points between production and delivery.  Sometimes these products are difficult to move or may need special systems for loading and transport.  One such case is long pipes, especially when they are made of steel or other heavy materials.  In this design project, you are to design and construct a prototype of a device to lift and move different sized pipes between locations.  We will use plastic PVC pipes about 1 foot long for this design to simplify it for the classroom setting.  However, realize that your design could be scaled up to heavier steel or other types of piping.  See pg. 433, Design Project 8-2D for more description.

 

Design Project Goals:

Design and construct a prototype device that meets or exceeds the following criteria:

 

·        Lifts and moves pipes stored vertically

·        Can be used with pipes from 2cm to 20cm in diameter and 1 foot long

·        Does not require the operator to touch the lifting component that attaches to the pipe or the pipe itself

·        Does not damage the pipe

·        Can be operated by one person with relative ease

·        Easy set up for use and easy to maintain

·        Safe to use

·        Lightweight (8kg maximum)

·        Inexpensive (your prototype should not exceed $80 for parts and outside labor)

 

Note:  Once the pipe is lifted, you may manually manipulate your device to rotate or slide in order to move the pipe to a new location as if it were controlled by an automated system of some sort.  Your primary concern is designing the component that attaches to the pipe in order to lift it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Design Methodology:

Follow the design process outlined in the handout taken from Introduction to Engineering Design, by Eide, Jenison, Mashaw, and Northup, published by McGraw-Hill’s BEST series, pages 71-75.

 

 

Design team structure:

Effective teams must work together.  Although all members do not have to get along personally to create a successful team, each member of the team must have a common goal and be willing to execute their fair portion of the work.  Some structure is usually necessary in order to form a successful team.  As such, your design team will consist of the following roles:

 

Leader (makes final decisions, organizes and sets up team meetings, leads team meetings, participates in design process)

 

Secretary (records group discussions and ideas, writes reports, participates in design process)

 

Analysts/Designers (carries out analyses, builds prototype parts, participates in design process)

 

Each team member should spend a portion of the semester in each role.  This is easily accomplished by dividing time in the various roles according to the due dates in the timeline below.

 

 

Timeline:

As stated in the syllabus, there will three design progress reports, one final design report, and a final oral presentation during the semester on which your grade will be based.  The following dates will be your design project deadlines:

 

September 24 – First design report due

 

October 29 – Second design report due

 

November 21 – Third design report due

 

December 12 – Final design project report/oral presentation due

Grading:

For each progress report, the final design report, and the oral report, each team member is to e-mail the instructor with peer grades assigned to each group member (including yourself) with a short explanation of the assigned grade.  These peer grades will constitute one-half of the total grade assigned.  The instructor will determine the remaining portion of the grade.

 

3 design progress reports (15 points each)

The primary purpose of these reports is threefold:

1)      to ensure that your group is making sufficient progress

2)      to demonstrate that you have been able to apply some of the principles of engineering statics, and

3)      to give your group practice in documenting your design work in a clear and precise manor. 

 

Your progress reports should include the current status of the design project, a summary of your group’s activities as pertaining the engineering design cycle, and a summary of any engineering analysis (calculations) you have performed. 

 

These progress reports are to be submitted in to the instructor via e-mail in Memo form using MS Word.  They must not exceed two pages. 

 

Final design report (40 points)

This report is a formal report on the final form of your design.  It should include the following parts:

            Cover page

            Executive summary (one page)

            Design Description

            Supporting Calculations

 

The final design report is NOT the place to describe how you came to your final design, it is a report only on the specifics of the final design itself.

 

Oral presentation on final design (15points)

Your group will be responsible for giving an oral presentation showing off the features of your design.  It should include a demonstration of the use of your product.  This presentation should be made as if you were trying to convince your company to build and install this device for its own use over other designs being considered.  You will have 10 minutes for this presentation.