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Mechanical engineering students aim to make silicon wafer inspections more efficient

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 14:52:05 +0000

Mechanical engineering students aim to make silicon wafer inspections more efficient Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/19/2022 - 08:52

Rachel Leuthauser

Silicon Wafer Center-finding Improvement Team Members

Jack Carver – Project Manager
Dario Garcia – Logistics Manager
Prem Griddalur – Systems Engineer
Hank Kussin-Bordo – CAD Engineer
Marty LaRocque – Electro-mechanical Engineer
Ethan Plott – Financial Manager
Noah Sgambellone – Test Engineer
Gavin Zimmerman – Software Engineer

The shortage of semiconductors – the computer chips that products such as smartphones, laptops, cars and even washing machines rely on – continues to impact industries around the world.

The current supply chain issues are motivating engineers to make the inspection of the silicon wafers that semiconductors are fabricated from more efficient. It is a goal that the industry would focus on even without the global shortage. To help accomplish that, University of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ mechanical engineering students have developed a device that improves the inspection process.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering seniors have built a silicon wafer center-finding improvement device for KLA, a semiconductor manufacturing company. The Senior Design team’s prototype uses two cameras to capture the circular wafer’s edge, plus computer software to calculate the radius and find the wafer’s center.

“The reason this is important is that KLA has to inspect these wafers for defects, and when they find one, they need to know where on the wafer it is with a high-level of precision,” said Marty LaRocque, the team’s electro-mechanical engineer. “They have to establish a coordinate system on the wafer and the hardest part of that is finding the center.”

Marty LaRocque looks over the team's silicon wafer center-finding improvement device.

The device uses two cameras to capture the wafer's edge.

Currently, KLA is detecting the wafer’s center with ten different images around the edge. The team of students designed their device to find the center just as efficiently with only two images.

“On one of KLA’s inspection tools, it currently takes them eight seconds to align one wafer, and we’re trying to get that down to two seconds,” said Project Manager Jack Carver. “A 75% reduction is going to get so much more throughput. With the global silicon wafer supply shortage, any improvements in that would be greatly beneficial for them.”

The real-world impact that the students’ device could have on the industry is part of the reason this project enticed them.

“It’s interesting because KLA explained to us the real significance of our prototype,” said Prem Griddalur, the systems engineer on the team. “ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ every two years, the size of the semiconductor becomes smaller, and at the same time, the scale they’re manufacturing these at gets larger because of increased demand. KLA did a great job explaining why their equipment is important and how our project plays a role in the larger scheme of the industry.”

The team captured their first position of the wafer’s center in early March. They are now running statistical tests and taking measurements to check the device’s accuracy. They need the coordinates to be within 10 microns of the true center, which is the width of a human red blood cell.

Since the team’s device is a prototype, KLA’s system may not end up looking exactly like the students’ design. However, their prototype and tests will still provide the company with critical information to help guide decisions about future designs.

The students said that aspect is relatable to real-world scenarios. Typically, engineers are tasked with making current systems better, rather than creating new designs from scratch.

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

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Mechanical engineering students develop a soft robot to improve lung examinations

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 14:39:48 +0000

Mechanical engineering students develop a soft robot to improve lung examinations Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/15/2022 - 08:39

Rachel Leuthauser

Soft Robot for Surgical Interventions Team

Maxwell Anderson – Logistics Manager
Sean Dunkelman – Systems Engineer
Christopher Gonzalez – Software Engineer
Brady King – Electro-mechanical Engineer
Isaac Martinez – CAD Engineer
Brad Nam – Manufacturing Engineer
Caitlyn Robinson – Test Engineer
Renée Schnettler – Project Manager
William Wang – Electro-mechanical Engineer
William Watkins – Financial Manager

Seniors in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder are designing a new soft robot to improve physicians’ ability to examine the deepest part of a patient’s lung.

Currently, there is only one system that can get down to the bottom of the lungs – a rigid catheter that could potentially cause inflammation. The team of mechanical engineering students are working with medical device company Medtronic on making the tip of that catheter more flexible.

“Our client is hoping to reduce the strain on the body by replacing the end of the device with something that is very compliant and soft, especially in comparison to the materials that are used today,” said Maxwell Anderson, the team’s logistics manager. “We’re trying to create a soft robot for the tip that will allow the physician to have more control of the end and have it be less abrasive toward the patient.”

The students are tackling this project as part of the department’s Senior Design course. They have spent the academic year researching, designing, molding and testing various iterations of their soft robot prototype.

An iterative design process

Renée Schnettler and Maxwell Anderson show how the soft robot bends with air pressure.

Sean Dunkelsman, William Wang and Brady King test the team's control system.

The team’s baseline design is a hollow, silicone tube with bubbles on the outside. The bubbles expand as the soft robot is inflated with air pressure, which causes the tube to bend. The students explained that the bending motion is the key aspect of their design, as that configuration is what allows the soft robot to move through the deeper parts of the lung.

“The catheter still does most of the work during the procedure, and then physicians control the soft robot at the very end to just move the tip,” said Renée Schnettler, the team’s project manager. “It can hook into different areas and allow doctors to send a needle through it to take a sample of any lung tissue they are studying.”

The team said they are constantly making new prototypes for testing purposes. The R&D process has resulted in 55 prototypes since fall 2021.

“A lot of what we’ve been doing is building off of our baseline design,” said Isaac Martinez, the CAD engineer on the team. “We watch how that prototype behaved and try changing certain dimensions. That would be one iteration. Then we change another aspect, like the number of bubbles, and that becomes a second iteration. We’ve been trying to put together this full picture from a lot of different prototypes.”

Each change in the prototype’s design has been targeted and intentional. That includes adjustments to the soft robot’s control system.

“Our control team has spent a lot of time just trying to figure out how we can tell where the tip of the robot is,” said electro-mechanical engineer William Wang. “We have been trying to improve our control systems to hit the desired positions, but each iteration of our prototype behaves slightly different depending on the material properties. We’ve been trying to find more robust techniques to control all of them.”

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.

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Mechanical engineering students build machine to automate scrap metal disposal

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 06:00:00 +0000

Mechanical engineering students build machine to automate scrap metal disposal Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00

Rachel Leuthauser

Machining Chip Disposal System Team Members

Matthew An – Logistics manager
Casey Cole – Test engineer
Blake Fardulis – Project manager
Kate Nichols – Manufacturing engineer
Wesley Schumacher – Systems engineer
Andrew Stiller – CAD engineer
Aleksey Volkov – Finance manager

A team of seniors in the Department of Mechanical Engineering have designed and built a device that automates the disposal of scrap metal, making it safer and more efficient.

The students created the device as their Senior Design project sponsored by Accu-Precision, a Littleton-based manufacturer of custom parts for customers in aerospace and industrial sectors. The Machining Chip Disposal System can lift and dump 600 lbs. of scrap material with the push of a button, cutting down the time it takes to dispose of the material from 30 minutes to five. That decreases the time spent per year on this cumbersome task from more than 1,000 hours to about 170 hours.

“Accu-Precision has 30 machines at their machine shop in Littleton, and they have a bin underneath each of them that gets filled up with scrap,” said the team’s project manager Blake Fardulis. “They have to dump those bins once a day, so the high-paid machinists have to stop what they are doing and haul the bins out to the dumpster. They either have to lift the bins themselves or use a forklift.”

The Machining Chip Disposal System automates this procedure. The device, made up of more than 110 different machine parts, can be remotely activated to save time and physical strain.

The team of seniors conduct official testing of the Machining Chip Disposal System.

The Senior Design team said they are proud that their device will be used in industry. The disposal system is a functional piece of machinery, rather than a prototype or design idea.

“There is a lot of purpose to what we’re doing,” said Systems Engineer Wesley Schumacher. “It’s not just something we will send to the client that will be on the backburner for years. Accu-Precision will use it every day.”

The students said they were drawn to this project because of the purely mechanical work they would be tasked with. The students brainstormed and completed various CAD designs even before their application for Accu-Precision to be their sponsor was accepted.

“This is one of the most mechanical Senior Design projects, and the requirements that have been developed around that have flowed into the whole process,” said Andrew Stiller, the CAD engineer on the team. “It pushed us to question our ability to design devices and analyze them as well. It’s been a good process.”

Most of the team’s time creating the disposal system was spent in the Idea Forge Machine Shop for about 150 – 200 hours to fabricate 110 custom parts. The students said they were in the shop on day one of the spring 2022 semester to get started.

“The machining logistics could have been quite a nightmare, but we got it done on time,” said Manufacturing Engineer Kate Nichols. “We also had a welder through Accu-Precision, so that worked out very nicely. We sent what we needed over to them, and they helped us with that.”

The Machining Chip Disposal System lifts and dumps scrap metal.

The team said another rewarding aspect was the R&D process. The experience gave them a first-hand look at what a career in design and engineering consulting would be like.

“There are a lot of companies whose sole purpose is doing exactly what we did,” said Aleksey Volkov, the team’s finance manager. “The client comes to them with an idea and it’s the consultant’s job to solve that problem. One day it could be in aerospace; another day it could be in a different industry. Short-term ideation is really valuable.”

The students are now testing the Machining Chip Disposal System and finalizing the device’s appearance by routing wires properly, as well as making a smaller control box to for a sleeker look.

The team will be presenting the disposal system at the College of Engineering and Applied Science Engineering Projects Expo 2022 on April 22.

Explore all 2021-22 Senior Design Projects

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.

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Mechanical engineering seniors aim to sink purple sea urchin population with underwater vacuum

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 15:16:10 +0000

Mechanical engineering seniors aim to sink purple sea urchin population with underwater vacuum Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/06/2022 - 09:16

Rachel Leuthauser

Urchin Merchants Team Members

Josh Ayers – Systems and testing engineer
Dorothea French – Project manager
Heather Hunt – Logistics manager
Justin Kirchner – Financial manager
Jacob Lawrence – Manufacturing engineer
Zach Sorscher – CAD engineer

April 28 update: The team spent the last few weeks of the spring 2022 semester testing their prototype in the University of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder Rec Center pool. New video shows the underwater vacuum in action, from inside the prototype.

The 200 miles of ocean along California’s coastline was once filled with seaweed called bull kelp. The seaweed created rich, underwater forests until the population began to die out in 2014. In the seven years since then, 95% of bull kelp beds off the coast of California have died.

Urchin Merchants, a team of seniors in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder, is tackling that problem by designing and building a large, underwater vacuum that can help reduce one of the bull kelp’s greatest threats – purple sea urchins.

“Our project is really aimed at collecting large amounts of those urchins and improving the collection rates of divers, which is not possible with the current methodology,” said Josh Ayers, the group’s systems and testing engineer.

The number of purple sea urchins living on the ocean floor has exploded in recent years. The population has grown by 10,000%, destroying miles of bull kelp since the urchins eat and live off the seaweed.

Researchers currently estimate that it will take 15 to 20 years to clear the urchin barrens. Urchin Merchants’ specialized suction device could increase collection rates by six times the current rate, decreasing that 20-year timeframe to under five years in a single location.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3hol-lOvCM]

“We knew we wanted to save the kelp forests and we figured the best way to do that would be removing purple sea urchins rather than planting kelp,” Project Manager Dorothea French said. “We thought we might try to build an autonomous, underwater robot, but that would take 10 to 15 years and we need a solution now.”

The prototype is 11 feet tall, with a large tube at the top that serves as a sorting system. The tube shuffles larger urchins to one side and smaller urchins to another. Any non-urchin material such as small animals or sand go straight out the top. On the other end of the vacuum is a flexible hose that divers can use to collect urchins on the ocean floor.

The team received insight from conservation organizations and professional divers to design this efficient vacuum. The divers wanted a system that was easy to use and inexpensive.

Urchin Merchants tested the prototype in the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder Rec Center pool.

The seniors used marbles instead of urchins when running their first tests.

“The vacuum uses a highly efficient air lift pump that is able to collect large quantities of small objects from the ocean floor,” said Zach Sorscher, the team’s CAD engineer. “Think of it as a super tool that we would give to a diver to accompany them on their dives to improve collection rates.”

The team spent the spring 2022 semester building the prototype as part of their capstone project in the department’s Senior Design course. They are currently testing the vacuum, with the goal of getting the product in user’s hands.

“We just want to see an impact,” Josh said. “We want more urchins to leave the ocean because of us, whether that means someone pays for the prototype or we give it to a conservation organization as goodwill. It feels like we are doing the right thing either way.”

While Urchin Merchants has focused on the kelp beds in California, they acknowledged that the population boom is a growing issue around the world. There are thousands of acres of urchin barrens on coastlines from North America to Europe and Australia.

The team hopes their prototype will have a meaningful impact and inspire others to advocate for the environment.

“We just want to design and build a project that could help the world,” Logistics Manager Heather Hunt said. “We are using our engineering expertise to make a difference.”

Urchin Merchants recently won fourth place in the New Venture Challenge’s (NVC) Climate Change sub competition for their underwater vacuum. They will be competing in the full NVC competition and presenting their prototype at the College of Engineering and Applied Science’s Engineering Projects Expo on April 22.

Explore all 2021-22 Senior Design Projects

The vacuum, designed and built by the student team Urchin Merchants, could help save California’s underwater kelp forests by making it easier for divers to collect the purple sea urchins that are destroying the bull kelp population.

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Mechanical engineering students competing in national wind energy competition

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 22:58:11 +0000

Mechanical engineering students competing in national wind energy competition Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/17/2022 - 15:58

Rachel Leuthauser

A group of mechanical engineering seniors will be the first University of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder team to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC) – an event in which future engineers are challenged to find a unique solution to a wind energy project.

Wind Team Members

Aaron Schwan - Systems Engineer
Alec Kostovny - Logistics Manager
Anika Levy - Manufacturing Engineer
Erik Feiereisen - Electro-mechanical Engineer
Claire Isenhart - Project Manager
Charles Candon - Test Engineer
Graham Blanco - CAD Engineer
Kiro Gerges - Electro-mechanical Engineer
Luke Walker - Electro-mechanical Engineer
Simon Grzebien - Financial Engineer

Header image: The 2021 team's prototype, which the 2022 team is drawing inspiration from.

ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder’s Wind Team, founded in Senior Design, won its spot in the competition because of the students’ successful preliminary design and plans. The group first entered the event as a learn-along team, which meant they could participate but not be in the running for the actual competition.

For the 2022 competition, organizers decided to open one spot for a learn-along team. They recognized the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder Senior Design Wind Team’s hard work and promoted the group to the full competition, which will happen May 16-19 in San Antonio, Texas.

“When we were being graded as a learn-along team last semester, we really didn’t know if we were going to make it or not,” said Claire Isenhart, the team’s project manager. “Then we found out in January that we actually won the first phase against other learn-along teams. It will be a great opportunity for us.”

Each team is tasked with multiple projects as part of the CWC, since the multidisciplinary competition aims to prepare students for all parts of the wind industry. These projects include building an offshore wind turbine prototype, developing a site plan for a hypothetical wind farm and partnering with industry professionals and K-12 educational programs to raise awareness of wind energy in their community.

Teams competing in the CWC will be judged and receive points for each of these three individual projects. Teams with the top three highest combined scores will win first, second and third place, respectively.

Claire Isenhart getting a progress report from her team members.

Members of the team taking measurements for their design.

Students working on a a piece of their design.

The Senior Design Wind Team is already making progress. They have completed preliminary design reports for the wind farm and plan to visit a middle school in March to get young people excited about wind energy. The team’s financial engineer, Simon Grzebien, said they are making advances with their turbine prototype as well.

“We just started making our parts for the prototype in the machine shop,” Grzebien said. “We haven’t had any issues so far, but I’m sure there will be challenges that pop up. Our team feels prepared.”

Each of the students on the Senior Design Wind Team earned their place in the group. Students had to apply and interview with team director Roark Lanning to be accepted. A key piece of being offered a position was an interest in wind energy, since a core component of the competition is assessing real-world research questions surrounding the industry.

“I do want to pursue a career in the field,” Isenhart said. “I knew I wanted to work in clean energy, but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to do that until my sophomore year when I was part of the Discovery Learning Apprenticeship. I researched ways to cool wind turbine generators and methods to produce wind turbine parts. I thought that was such a cool project and I discovered I was interested in the materials.”

Her team members have similar career goals to help the world run off a cleaner source of energy. Luke Walker, one of the team’s electro-mechanical engineers, said he intends to devote his career to climate-change mitigation by using carbon-free energy technologies.

“This project provides the opportunity to study how wind energy, one of the most prolific clean-energy solutions, is accomplished from an engineering and logistical standpoint,” Walker said. “Working with wind energy is without a doubt the best way to learn about the challenges that face large-scale deployment of many forms of renewable energy.”

Erik Feiereisen, another electro-mechanical engineer on the team, added that he is interested in learning about how kinetic energy from the wind is transferred into usable electrical energy.

“It can power most everything in our lives,” Feiereisen said. “I found this project to be an interesting engineering challenge and look forward to seeing what all we can accomplish by the end of the year.”

The Senior Design Wind Team has also recruited students from outside the mechanical engineering undergraduate program to bring more perspectives to these complex projects. The team has brought on civil engineering and graduate-level mechanical engineering students to assist with their designs.

Isenhart said collaborating with these students has helped the team come up with more interdisciplinary solutions to wind energy challenges, which is what each team member will also need to do in their future careers.

In 2020-21, the first ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder Senior Design Wind Team participated in the CWC as a learn-along team but did not compete in the full competition. Learn more about that team’s design and plans.

Explore all 2021-22 Senior Design Projects

The group of mechanical engineering seniors is the first University of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder team to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC) – an event in which future engineers are challenged to find a unique solution to a wind energy project.

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Producing a prototype during the pandemic

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Producing a prototype during the pandemic Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/29/2020 - 00:00

The unprecedented challenges of COVID-19 sparked an impressive and resilient response from seniors in their capstone design projects.

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Mechanical Engineering Projects Showcase Week 2020

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 22:22:35 +0000

Mechanical Engineering Projects Showcase Week 2020 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/24/2020 - 16:22

You are invited to our online projects showcase, celebrating the achievements of over 250 engineering capstone design students from April 27–May 1. Learn about their projects, leave a comment, and see how these talented engineers are already making an impact.

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Engineering grads’ high-tech walker could keep seniors from falling

Anonymous — Mon, 06 May 2019 19:20:23 +0000

Engineering grads’ high-tech walker could keep seniors from falling Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/06/2019 - 13:20

Four ME undergraduates worked with senior residents to test an invention for walkers that could help prevent debilitating falls. The team, known as Stride Tech, received the first-place prize of $100,000 at the New Venture Challenge.

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Siemens Gamesa partners with ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ students to develop drone-based monitoring system for wind turbines

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 21:55:34 +0000

Siemens Gamesa partners with ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ students to develop drone-based monitoring system for wind turbines Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/22/2019 - 15:55

Oksana Schuppan

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy capstone design students at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder. Back row left to right: Aiden Zheng, Eric Rocilez, Chad Sloan, Ben Setterquest, Al Dayn, Austin Napier. Front row left to right: Richard Poulson, Alex Jaros, David Molitor

ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder engineering students are finalizing an infrared imaging system that will allow a user to monitor subsurface features in wind turbine blades, an invention that could make wind turbine repair safer, faster and more cost-efficient.

Members of the capstone design team, sponsored by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, said their greatest accomplishment has been turning an idea into a useful product that is accepted by an experienced team of engineers in industry.

“This is real engineering,” said David Molitor, a mechanical engineering BS/MS student. “It’s physical, real and it works.”

On April 26, this team, along with roughly 145 others, will present their design at the 2019 Engineering Projects Expo.

Given the complexity of the Siemens Gamesa project, undergraduate and graduate students in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science joined forces on one team. Al Dayn, Alexandra Jaros, David Molitor, Austin Napier, Richard Poulson, Eric Rocilez, Ben Setterquist, Chad Sloan and Aiden Zheng worked together to design a better way to monitor the condition of wind turbine blades.

“Wind turbine blades have an expected lifetime operation of 20 years or longer,” said Molitor. “Over time, a blade might be affected by frequent lightning strikes or heavy rainfall. The imaging system we developed allows us to check for subsurface features, such as structural cracks to ensure the blade remains in good condition throughout its operational life.”

Ben Setterquest, CAD Engineer for the Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy Capstone Design team prepares to test their device along with his team members.

Current test methods for studying subsurface features require large amounts of manpower and take roughly four hours per blade. Rope access technicians rappel from the tops of wind turbine towers and survey the area with heat-sensitive cameras.

“It’s very time-consuming and expensive,” said Alexandra Jaros, a senior studying mechanical engineering. Jaros said these methods are especially costly when wind turbines are located offshore or when evaluating hundreds of wind turbines at a time.

With this challenge in mind, the team succeeded in creating a solution requiring only three minutes per scan and far less manpower.

To do so, the team mounted an infrared camera to a drone, allowing them to detect differences in temperature. Because subsurface features like cracks are filled with air, they cool at a slower pace, making them stand out in a different color when viewed through a heat-sensitive camera. This allows the team to identify features invisible to the naked eye.

Behind the scenes, students studying computer science like Richard Poulson have added metadata so the operator can tell which section of the blade is being shown.

“Using time stamps to organize information from the GPS unit, inertial measurement unit and magnetic sensors which track absolute position, tilt and orientation, we have been able to map the infrared images of the blade to the blade’s location in 3D space,” Poulson said.

This project allowed students to further their experience in systems engineering, providing them with opportunities to build skills in CAD, manufacturing, hardware debugging, electronics debugging, intersystem communication and integrated circuits. It also gave students the chance to use project management tools, practice communication and talk about functional requirements with a client.

To future capstone design students, the team said they recommend taking ownership of individual roles while also trusting the efforts of teammates.

“Trust can be hard at first,” said Molitor, “but it’s amazing how proud you can be of what you accomplish together.” 

Project Video

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JbXr8dLdRQ&feature=youtu.be]

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Veterans challenge ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder capstone students to design for improved quality of life

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 21:47:26 +0000

Veterans challenge ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder capstone students to design for improved quality of life Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/22/2019 - 15:47

Oksana Schuppan

ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder mechanical engineering capstone teams working with nonprofit program Quality of Life Plus said they had two primary aims: making a tangible impact on a wounded veteran’s life and putting mechanical and manufacturing skills to the test.

Guided by QL+ Program Manager Court Allen, a retired Air Force officer, teams created a device enabling wheelchair users to carry luggage while traveling and a system that lifts a swimmer with a physical disability out of the water.

The QL+ mission is unique in that it enables service men and women to do the things they love, Allen said. QL+ refers to them as “challengers,” those wounded in the line of duty who come to QL+ with a problem students are then challenged to solve.

“Veterans Affairs helps veterans get prosthetics and wheelchairs, but they can’t focus on every little detail of a person’s life,” said Allen. “Something small and trivial to us could be very impactful to one of our challengers.”

Student teams across 13 universities, including two at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder, are paired with challengers. The QL+ model allows students to help veterans while also allowing the challenger to play an important role in allowing students to exercise engineering skills and gain experience working with a client.

“We like working with students, because they bring a unique and unbiased view to the problem,” said Allen. “I have been impressed by ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder students’ depth of technical understanding and quality of learning at this point in their education.”

As QL+ continues to grow, the organization is recruiting veterans and first responders who have been injured or have a disabling medical condition.

Taking the hassle out of luggage transportation with a wheelchair

Quality of Life Plus mechanical engineering capstone design team and instructors. Back row from left to right: Dannie Glanville, Saud Alobaidan, Max Buechler, Yushi Liu, Morgan Brendefur, Fatema Alhalal. Front row from left to right: Shirley Chessman (director), Julie Steinbrenner (instructor), Daria Kotys-Schwartz (instructor).

Tyler Wilson, a U.S. Army veteran, was shot and lost the use of his legs, but that hasn’t stopped him from cycling, monoskiing and competing in Spartan races. He has adjusted well to using a wheelchair but came to QL+ requesting a way to independently transport his luggage when traveling.

ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder mechanical engineering seniors Fatema Alhalal, Saud Alobaidan, Morgan Brendefur, Max Buechler, Dannie Glanville and Yushi Liu were happy to help, along with Project Director Shirley Chessman, mechanical engineering lab engineer at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder.

The device they designed attaches to the front frame of Wilson’s wheelchair, corralling checked luggage and supporting a carry-on bag weighing up to 50 pounds.

“Tyler emphasized that his wheelchair is an extension of himself,” said Glanville. “For this reason, we took extra care when designing.”

“We rounded off the device’s sharp edges,” said Alhalal. “We didn’t want Tyler’s 1-year-old son to bump into them and hurt himself.”

ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder mechanical engineering capstone students designed a device to assist wheelchair users in carrying luggage. When folded, it fits in a backpack.

The device they made is fully collapsible, fits in a backpack, weighs 18 pounds and doesn’t interfere with the wheelchair’s center of gravity. To ensure it would work well in a variety of environments, the team tested it on concrete, tile, carpet, grass, in elevators, in bathrooms and up and down ramps. In total, they performed 160 tests with roughly 30 test subjects, performing nearly 370 total test trials. They said users found the device to be both quicker and easier than transporting luggage without it.

“One of the biggest things I’ve learned is awareness of the everyday tasks those with physical disabilities must complete,” said Brendefur. “As an able-bodied person, I was ignorant of the difficulties that exist.”

“When I had to transport the wheelchair across campus, I decided to give it a try,” said Alobaidan. “I wanted to feel some of the challenges a wheelchair user might feel.”

At the Engineering Projects Expo on April 26, the team said they are most looking forward to sharing Wilson’s story and how QL+ has allowed them to help.

Watch the Project Video

Lift system helps disabled veterans return to the water

Kelly Roseberry, director of the Travis Mills Foundation Retreat in Maine, wished her husband and other amputees were able to participate in activities in the water. Roseberry came to QL+ as a challenger because she didn’t like seeing people left out.

ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder mechanical engineering seniors Sulaiman ALDuaij, Austin Carroll, Andrew Lapham, Shane Nicoson, Brianna Roe and Ruhan Yang were tasked with designing a disabled swimmer lift system unlike any other.

Quality of Life Plus mechanical engineering capstone students designed a system that attaches to a dock and is able to lift swimmers who are disabled from the water.

While most systems weigh close to 1,200 pounds, the system they designed weighs less than 200 pounds, enabling its use on a floating dock in a lake. The system also attaches without bolts, takes up a small footprint and functions with a simple hand crank. The team said their design is durable and should last 10 years assuming it is covered when not in use.

“Everything we could manufacture ourselves, we did,” said ALDuaij.

For this reason, the team said it was amazing seeing it fully assembled for the first time.

The team spent large amounts of time in the machine shop, learning to use mills, lathes, band saws and other equipment, but the team also learned patience, how to communicate better as a team and time management skills. They said they were grateful to their director, Tim Studebaker, for providing helpful guidance and remaining as excited about their engineering capstone project as they were.

Team member Andrew Lapham said one of his most memorable moments was getting to meet a quadriplegic who had previously been to the Travis Mills Foundation Retreat.

“It hit home when I was able to see who the end user was going to be,” he said.

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Mechanical engineering capstone teams working with QL+ had two primary aims: making an impact on a wounded veteran’s life and putting mechanical skills to the test. They designed a luggage carrier device for wheelchair users and a disabled swimmer lift system.

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Producing a prototype during the pandemic

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Project Video

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Veterans challenge ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder capstone students to design for improved quality of life

Taking the hassle out of luggage transportation with a wheelchair

Lift system helps disabled veterans return to the water

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Siemens Gamesa partners with ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ students to develop drone-based monitoring system for wind turbines

Veterans challenge ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder capstone students to design for improved quality of life