Capstone Design
Two groups of ÐÔÊӽ紫ý mechanical engineering seniors at Western Colorado University (WCU) designed equipment for Mountain Rescue volunteers who navigate Colorado’s rugged backcountry. The projects, sponsored by the Western Mountain Rescue Team, were developed by students in the WCU-ÐÔÊӽ紫ý Engineering Partnership Program. As part of their senior design course, they aimed to solve real challenges faced during wilderness rescues.
Three engineering students at Colorado Mesa University (CMU), including students earning their bachelor’s degrees through the CMU-ÐÔÊӽ紫ý Engineering Partnership Program, designed and tested a custom ankle foot orthotic (AFO)—a wearable brace intended to better serve drop foot patients by improving stability, comfort and mobility.
Many industrial facilities rely on cryogenic gases for processes such as cooling, materials testing or energy transport. But before those gases can be used, they must be vaporized with electricity-intensive equipment that can cost companies tens of thousands of dollars each year. A team of seniors are working to address that problem by developing a heat-exchange device for their senior capstone project that captures waste heat circulating through refrigeration systems.
A group of former seniors designed a series of hourglass displays for their Senior Design capstone class this past semester that currently sit in the window of Associate Professor Nathalie Vriend's Granular Flow Laboratory. The project, located at ECNW 1B90 in the basement of the Engineering Center, aims to answer a simple question: why are hourglasses filled with sand and not water?
A group of seniors in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering are working to increase access to life-saving therapies by developing an automated medical fluid aliquoting device during their senior capstone class that streamlines the fluid dosing process.
A group of seniors in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering are working to keep bomb squads safe by designing an automated X-ray device during their senior capstone class used to help explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technicians scan for hazardous materials.
A group of mechanical engineering students at the College of Engineering and Applied Science designed and built the prototype with Lockheed Martin for their Senior Design project.
The global shortage of semiconductors – the computer chips that products such as smartphones, laptops, cars and even washing machines rely on – are motivating engineers to improve the inspection of the silicon wafers that semiconductors are fabricated from. To help accomplish that, Department of Mechanical Engineering students have built a silicon wafer center-finding improvement device
The seniors are working with Medtronic to design a soft robot that would give physicians more control as they examine the deepest part of a patient's lung and make the procedure less abrasive for the patient.
The students' device makes the disposal of scrap metal safer and more efficient. They completed the design as part of their Senior Design project sponsored by Accu-Precision, a Littleton-based manufacturer of custom parts for customers in aerospace and industrial sectors.