Design DSGN 313 - Group Design Assignment

My Springer - This is not really relevant to the assignments, but I like it!

A. Introduction

Your report should include:

• 1) market survey
• 2) summaries of initial ideas
• 3) evaluation matrices
• 4) a design layout
• 5) sketches and design calculations of key components
• 6) consideration of materials, manufacturing methods, assembly and testing
• 7) specifications of bought in items
• 8) safety, standards
• 9) costings - establish a selling price
• 10) marketing and sales strategy
• 11) business plan for setting up a manufacturing / assembly facility
• 12) examples of marketing / sales promotion material
• 13) brief individual reviews (one from every group member) of the final design (each typically up to about 1 page in length)
• Only for groups including Auburn and Plymouth students - brief individual reviews (one from every group member) of how the group dynamics functioned (each typically up to about 1 page in length)

For all students: Click here to find out what is required in the report and how to write a good design report.

Any queries - please e mail me: dgrieve@plym.ac.uk

C. The Assignments

Student groups must choose one of the following:

1 Remote Operated Underwater Trencher Design - Build - Test.
Trenchers are used to lay cables under the sea bed where the bed is reasonably soft. You are required to design a small scale trencher, build it and demonstrate it at a suitable local site. A budget of £800 is available to purchase components, items that can be obtained (legally!) from the School are not included in this limit.

2 Ring Barking Tool
To ensure production of good quality timber, it is common practice in UK conifer forests to kill selected trees (sometimes 20% of the total) and allow the remainder to grow to maturity. Presently, selected trees may be killed by the use of a chemical injected into the main stem during the growing season. Although very effective. the chemical is both toxic and expensive and its use raises objections on grounds of conservation etc.
An alternative approach for killing selected trees is to 'ring bark' the main stem, ie to remove a complete 360 degree ring of bark through the cambium layer using some form of hand tool. Such a tool is expected to have worthwhile economic and conservation advantages over the chemical method.
Using the specification given, design a suitable tool and show all the necessary features and information on a general assembly drawing(s). All relevant calculations, information, original and conceptual ideas, etc. should be included in the report.

Design Specification
1 Trees are conifer, mostly spruce. in the diameter range 100 to 23Omm, and can he very resinous.
2 Trees are planted in a square pattern of pitch l.82 to 2m. Access to a tree is generally restricted and should preferably be from one side only, ie the tool is likely to be used with the operative in a fixed standing position. The operative cannot walk round the tree 'winch' fashion.
3 The tool should remove a ring of bark not less than 25mm wide X 4mm deep
4 The tool is likely to be attached to the tree from waist height down to about 3OOmm from the ground.
5 If possible, one tool should accommodate the size range given in 1.
6 The tool should be manual in operation, light and robust for use in a forest environment.
7 Time required to process one tree should not exceed 2 minutes.
From 'SEED' - Sharing Experience in Engineering Design, Compendium of Projects.

3.a. Wave Energy Device or 3.b. Tidal Stream Device
There is increasing interest in re-newable energy sources and for the UK with a long coastline, both wave energy devices and tidal stream devices are obvious candidates. A significant difficulty is the large, and difficult to predict, forces created by waves. You are required to produce a design for a prototype scale device that can be tested on site. You need to consider potential locations, wave forces, corrosion, installation, maintenance, connection to the national grid.

4. Solar (partly) Powered Boat
To minimise the dangers of pollution of inland waterways there is trend to insist on electrical propulsion of boats in certain areas. One of the following three specific assignments can be chosen:
i) Design a boat to meet the Solar Splash competition rules.
ii) Carry out appropriate market survey(s) and produce a design of a leisure craft to meet the requirements and demand predicted by the survey. Produce a business plan, sales literature and manufacturing facility plan, etc.
iii) Produce a detailed design for a remote operated (partly) solar powered boat which has a range of 5 miles and can collect 5 samples of sea water (0.5 litre each) from a depth of 5m during the cruise, on command from base or at pre-determined positions (eg defined on a GPS system).

5. General Purpose Crane for Ships - slightly different to this:
Survey and support vessels need a general purpose crane that can be used to load and unload a range of supplies, equipment and test apparatus etc. You are required to produce a design for a crane with the following capacity:

6. A Retrofit System to Transport Wheel Chairs on Stairs
In many buildings the access of wheel chairs has been improved by providing sloping ramps on stairways. However the ramps occupy considerable space and are impractical on may stair systems.
You are to produce a complete design of a system that can be retrofitted to stairways and will transport wheel chairs safely in both directions. The system should occupy a minimum of space when in operation and when stored and have the flexibility to suit a wide range of stairs.

7. Pedestrian Impact Safety System for Automobiles
In addition to the safety of car occupants, legislation is now starting to look at the safety of pedestrians hit by cars. A major focus of this is to devise systems to minimise injury by developing 'good designs' for the fronts of cars.
Modern car design is based on styling requirements and upon the need for good streamlining to improve fuel consumption and much effort has been expended in recent years to make full use of CAE to provide efficient shapes. However until very recently little thought had been given to the effect that these frontal shapes would have on human beings during impacts.
For this assignment you are to do the following:

• investigate typical injuries that occur to pedestrians when in collision with cars.
• the detailed mechanisms by which these injuries occur
• suggest changes to a typical (or specific) car front to minimise injuries
• produce a detailed design for one system to fit a typical car

8. Walking Aid for the Elderly / Disabled
As the population ages there are likely to be more elderly people wishing to maintain their mobility. Small electric 'cars / trikes' to transport the infirm along smooth surfaces are appearing in rapidly increasing numbers. However to aid walking there are only simple passive devices: walking stick / frame / wheeled trike. You are to carry out the following:

• consider the devices already available
• consider whether some type of active system might be beneficial
• produce one or more designs for an active system or some improvement of an existing device.

9. Coil Spring Manufacture
Coil suspension springs for automobiles are commonly made from silicon - manganese spring steels, hot wound from wire 11 to 14 mm diameter. A typical spring will contain 6 to 8 turns, the coil diameter will be from 100 to 140 mm diameter and the length will be about 300 to 450 mm. The pitch is often not constant.

You are required to produce a detailed design of a machine capable of manufacturing such springs at a rate of 720 per hour. You need to consider the previous operation (austenitising) and how the wire will emerge; and the post operation, quenching, and specify appropriate 'feed in' and 'feed out' mechanisms.

Your report should include summaries of initial ideas, evaluation matrices, a design layout, sketches and design calculations of key components, consideration of materials and manufacting, specifications of bought in items, costings and brief individual reviews of the final design.

10. Hip Joint Simulator
A simulator is required to test new and existing total hip replacement prosthesis. Provision is to be made to enable the ball and socket components of the prosthesis to articulate through a range of relative rotations, theta and phi, in mutually perpendicular planes, while the joint is subjected to a cyclically varying force.
theta(t), phi(t) and F(t) are all periodic with the same period and frequency and should all be user definable.

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