Summary for Spring 2013

Total Records: 115

Projects for Spring 2013
	Company	Project Title	Instructor	Course	Ag	Aero	BioE	ChE	CS	CSE	Energy	ESM	EE	IE	MatSci	ME	NucE	Conf.	IP
1	Alcoa	Life Cycle Tracking	Voigt, Bob	IE 480W				X						X	X	X			X
2	ArcelorMittal	Bloom Manipulator for 35	Rose, Damian	ME 440W.6												X
3	AREVA Transnuclear	Evaluation of internal convection in a horizontal canister for storage of used nuclear fuel	Brenizer, Jack	NUC E 431W.3													X
4	Armstrong World Industries Inc.	Portable Device for Demonstrating Effects of Acoustic Ceilings - Global	Trethewey, Marty	ME 440W.2												X		X
5	Ascent Bio-Nano Technologies, Inc.	2nd Prototype development of innovative analytical instrument	Erdman, Michael	E SC 497C			X		X	X		X	X			X		X	X
6	Asymmetric Therapeutics	Non-Paramagnetic Chair	Erdman, Michael	E SC 497C			X					X			X	X		X	X
7	B. Braun Medical 1	Arm Swelling Detection/Monitoring - Team 1	Engel, Leland	ME 440W.4			X									X		X	X
8	B. Braun Medical 2	Arm Swelling Detection/Monitoring - Team 2	Slattery, Maggie	BIOE 450W			X									X		X	X
9	Bechtel Power Corporation	Recommendations in Response to the Fukushima Daiichi Accident	Brenizer, Jack	NUC E 431W.3									X			X	X
10	Bell Helicopter	Helicopter Gearbox Thermal Management	Camp, Tiffany	ME 441W.2												X		X	X
11	Central PA SCI Support Group 1	Assistive Ladder to Allow Disabled Person to Safely Re-enter Boat From Water	Frecker, Mary	ME 440W.3			X									X
12	Central PA SCI Support Group 2	Gear Shifter Helper	Rose, Damian	ME 440W.6			X									X
13	Central PA SCI Support Group 3	Underseat luggage holder for Wheelchair User	Frecker, Mary	ME 440W.3			X							X		X
14	Central PA SCI Support Group 4	Pincher Grip Assistive Device to Swipe Credit Card	Slattery, Maggie	BIOE 450W			X							X		X
15	Central PA SCI Support Group 5	Robotic Arm Rest	Slattery, Maggie	BIOE 450W			X						X			X
16	Central PA SCI Support Group 6	Robotic Fishing Pole Holder for Disabled Person	Wheeler, Tim	EE 403W			X						X			X
17	Central PA SCI Support Group 7	Assistive Device to Hold Eating Utensils	Cannon, Dave	IE 480W			X							X		X
18	CertainTeed Gypsum	CFD Modeling of a Gypsum Mixer	Santavicca, Dom	ME 441W.1				X								X		X	X
19	Chris Fahey	Adaptive Hand Orthotic 2	Rose, Damian	ME 440W.6			X						X	X		X
20	Corle Building Systems	Submerged arc welding machine	Voigt, Bob	IE 480W										X		X		X	X
21	Deborah Mirdamadi	Adjust-comfort lift recliner	Engel, Leland	ME 440W.4												X			X
22	Dentsply Professional 1	Low Aerosol polishing nozzle	Camp, Tiffany	ME 441W.2												X		X	X
23	Dentsply Professional 2	Kcup powder delivery	Santavicca, Dom	ME 441W.1												X		X	X
24	Discovery Space of Central PA 1	Heartbeat Drum	Slattery, Maggie	BIOE 450W			X					X	X					X
25	Discovery Space of Central PA 2	Pneumatic Tube Exhibit for Discovery Space, Phase 2	Erdman, Michael	E SC 497C								X	X		X	X
26	Dresser-Rand 1	Waste Heat Recovery System For Two Body Compressor Train	Eser, Semih	EGEE 464W							X							X	X
27	Dresser-Rand 2 Team 1	Diaphragm Fabrication Method / Cost Reduction	Immel, Michael	IE 480W										X		X		X	X
28	Dresser-Rand 2 Team 2	Diaphragm Fabrication Method / Cost Reduction - Team 2	Voigt, Bob	IE 480W										X		X		X	X
29	Dresser-Rand 3	Estimating Tool for Single-Piece Impeller Milling - Global	Immel, Michael	IE 480W										X		X		X	X
30	Exel / The Home Depot	Exel RDC Safety Improvement	Nembhard, David	IE 480W										X		X
31	Exelon/TMI 1	Incore Detector Disposal System Upgrade	Brenizer, Jack	NUC E 431W.3													X
32	Exelon/TMI 2	Design and Modeling of a PWR Core Using Pin-byPin VIPRE Code	Kim, Seungjin	NUC E 431W.4													X
33	Fedex Express	Station Simulation - Global	Immel, Michael	IE 480W										X				X	X
34	First Energy	Portable Heat Exchanger Design	Kim, Seungjin	NUC E 431W.4													X
35	Flowserve	Development and Testing of Composite Materials for Pump Wear Rings	Kimel, Allen	MATSE 493W											X	X		X	X
36	General Motors 1	Active Vehicle Grille	Barnard, Andrew	ME 440W.5												X		X	X
37	General Motors 2	Shallow open Camero door	Barnard, Andrew	ME 440W.5												X
38	Graftech International Holdings	Effectively remove by product & extend life of our baking saggers	Kimel, Allen	MATSE 493W				X							X	X
39	GreenTowers Group	Vertical Aquaponic Microfarm	Barnard, Andrew	ME 440W.5	X											X			X
40	Hickman, Williams & Company	Molten Metal Filtration	Voigt, Bob	IE 480W										X	X
41	Holtec International	Neutron attenuation testing of materials	Brenizer, Jack	NUC E 431W.3													X	X	X
42	Hydroflex Systems, Inc.	Improving the Efficiency of Non-Pressurized Thermal Storage Tanks	Santavicca, Dom	ME 441W.1							X				X	X		X	X
43	IL Fuels, LLC	Preliminary Engineering Plant Design to Recover Bitumen from Utah Tar Sands	Eser, Semih	EGEE 464W							X
44	IMI	Filtered Valve Core	Engel, Leland	ME 440W.1										X		X		X	X
45	Ishaaqtech	Exercise equipment for office workers	Engel, Leland	ME 440W.1												X
46	Jersey Shore Hospital	Implementation of Centralized Scheduling	Nembhard, David	IE 480W										X
47	John Deere	Fluid Level Sensing	Barnard, Andrew	ME 440W.5	X								X			X		X	X
48	Kennametal Inc.	Real-Time Particle Size Distribution (PSD) Analysis	Eser, Semih	EGEE 464W												X		X	X
49	KYDEX LLC 1	Extrusion Support	Cannon, Dave	IE 480W										X				X	X
50	KYDEX LLC 2	Reduce Masterbatch Dust	Rose, Damian	ME 440W.6												X		X	X
51	Lean-Green LLC - Testing	Switch It Off Device - Testing	Wheeler, Tim	EE 403W							X							X	X
52	Lockheed Martin	Inanimation	Bilen, Lennart	CMPEN 482W					X	X			X
53	Lumax Lighting 1	Automatic Carton Closer	Cannon, Dave	IE 480W								X	X	X		X
54	Lumax Lighting 2	LED industrial high bay light fixture	Rose, Damian	ME 440W.6							X	X	X	X	X	X
55	MIT/ASU/Dow Chemical	Jaipur Foot	Slattery, Maggie	BIOE 450W			X								X	X
56	Muncy Valley Hospital SNU	Acuity Based Staffing for Long Term Care	Nembhard, David	IE 480W										X
57	New Leaf & MakeSpace	Collaboracam: Bridging the innovation spaces in State College, PA	Bilen, Lennart	CMPEN 482W					X	X			X	X		X
58	NVE	Amphibious Boat Dock Dolly	Barnard, Andrew	ME 440W.5												X
59	PPL Susquehanna, LLC	Reload Planning Prior to Decom	Brenizer, Jack	NUC E 431W.3													X
60	PSU Ag - Miscanthus	Miscanthus Cutting and Conditioning Devices	Catchmark, Jeff	BE 466W	X											X
61	PSU Ag - Tractor	Developing a Farm Tractor Simulator	Catchmark, Jeff	BE 466W	X											X
62	PSU ARL	A Comparative Analysis of Additive Manufacturing Capabilities in CIMP-3D	Cannon, Dave	IE 480W								X		X	X	X
63	PSU Astrobiology Research Center	Colombian Volcanic Lake Explorer	Cannon, Dave	IE 480W									X			X
64	PSU DIGI-NET	A scalable low-cost system to virtually connect distributed design and fabrication spaces on campus	Bilen, Lennart	CMPEN 482W					X	X			X	X		X
65	PSU Dow Sustainability Challenge Winners	Design of a pilot scale microbial fuel cell reactor for energy production from wastewater	Camp, Tiffany	ME 441W.2	X		X	X			X	X	X		X	X
66	PSU Engineering Ambassadors	Changing the Conversation: Engineering Ambassador School Outreach Project	Engel, Leland	ME 440W.4												X
67	PSU Engineering Leadership Development Program (ELDP)	Baobab Processing Machine	Catchmark, Jeff	BE 466W	X							X				X
68	PSU First Responder	Wearable Router for First-responder Radio to Next-Generation Incident Command System Integration	Bilen, Lennart	CMPEN 482W					X	X			X
69	PSU Industrial Engineering	Project Assignment Algorithm	Immel, Michael	IE 480W										X
70	PSU Learning Factory	An inventory management system for raw stock in the Learning Factory	Immel, Michael	IE 480W										X
71	PSU ME 430	Combustion Demonstration for ME430	Camp, Tiffany	ME 441W.2												X
72	PSU ME 480	Mechanism Building Kits for ME 480 - Global	Trethewey, Marty	ME 440W.2												X
73	PSU MNE	Designing an educational dissection activity for a four cylinder engine	Engel, Leland	ME 440W.1										X		X
74	PSU PENNTAP 1	Solar Powered Well Pump	Erdman, Michael	E SC 497C								X	X			X
75	PSU PENNTAP 2	Challenger Large Scale Biomass Combustion Verification and Analysis	Camp, Tiffany	ME 441W.2	X						X					X
76	PSU Robotic	Robotic Parallel Bars Walking Device	Frecker, Mary	ME 440W.3			X									X
77	PSU Schreyer Inst. for Teaching Excellence	Usability and Productivity Evaluation, eTesting Lab, University Testing Center	Nembhard, David	IE 480W										X
78	PSU Studio Lab 1	MOVEMENT TRAINER & REAL TIME INVESTIGATOR ALERT SYSTEM FOR THE MR ENVIRONMENT	Engel, Leland	ME 440W.4			X									X
79	PSU Studio Lab 2	THERAPEUTIC OPTICAL RADIATION EYEWEAR	Wheeler, Tim	EE 403W			X						X			X
80	PSU Studio Lab 3	CREATIVELY BUILD A GUSTOMETER FOR THE 3 T MRI	Slattery, Maggie	BIOE 450W			X									X
81	PSU Studio Lab 4	MRI-COMPATIBLE SMOKE DELIVERY SYSTEM	Slattery, Maggie	BIOE 450W			X									X
82	PSU Studio Lab 5	Creatively Build An Ambulatory Smart Sampling Stress Sensor System	Slattery, Maggie	BIOE 450W			X						X			X
83	PSU Surgery	Design of a Novel Endosurgical System	Frecker, Mary	ME 440W.3			X									X			X
84	Quaker Chemical Corporation 1	Lubrication & Machining of 65-45-12 Ductile Iron& Compacted Graphite Iron	Voigt, Bob	IE 480W										X	X				X
85	Quaker Chemical Corporation 2	Lubrication and Tool Wear in the Machining of Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI)	Cannon, Dave	IE 480W										X	X				X
86	Reckitt Benckiser	Next Generation Hygiene System	Slattery, Maggie	BIOE 450W			X	X								X		X	X
87	Rowan University	Self-locomotion using magneto-active elastomers	Erdman, Michael	E SC 497C								X	X			X
88	Shell 1	Shell EcoMarathon - Team 1	Engel, Leland	ME 440W.1									X			X
89	Shell 2	Shell EcoMarathon - Team 2	Engel, Leland	ME 440W.4									X			X
90	Silver Linings Class at CIU # 10	Accessing a SMART Board	Engel, Leland	ME 440W.1						X			X			X
91	Solar Innovations, Inc. 1	Energy Mangement Program and Systems	Eser, Semih	EGEE 464W							X		X	X		X
92	Solar Innovations, Inc. 2	Waste Stream Analysis	Eser, Semih	EGEE 464W							X
93	Sound Technology Inc	Usage / options of various PCB Flux / Flux Cleaner	Wheeler, Tim	EE 403W				X					X		X	X		X
94	Susquehanna Health	Williamsport Regional Med. Ctr - Patient/Family Waiting Room Analysis	Nembhard, David	IE 480W										X
95	The Boeing Company 1	Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) - Team 1	Catanach, Wallace	EDSGN 497D					X	X			X			X
96	The Boeing Company 2	Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) - Team 2	Catanach, Wallace	EDSGN 497D					X	X			X			X
97	The Boeing Company 3	Fuel Slosh Frequency Amplification and Damping	Catanach, Wallace	EDSGN 497D		X						X			X	X
98	The Boeing Company 4	Rotor Wake Survey	Catanach, Wallace	EDSGN 497D		X				X			X			X
99	The Boeing Company 5	Composite Synchronous Shafts	Catanach, Wallace	EDSGN 497D		X						X				X
100	TPC Design	Intelligent Walker for Retirees	Frecker, Mary	ME 440W.3			X					X	X	X	X	X			X
101	TPC Design/PSU Dept of Surgery	3D Printed Medical Device	Frecker, Mary	ME 440W.3			X		X	X		X		X	X	X			X
102	Tyco Fire Protection Products 1	Nurse Call Pull Station Redesign - Global	Trethewey, Marty	ME 440W.2												X		X
103	Tyco Fire Protection Products 2	Design of a competitive air maintenance device - Global	Trethewey, Marty	ME 440W.2												X			X
104	Tyco Safety Products	Next generation low cost hard security tag based on double side adhesive tape technology - Global	Trethewey, Marty	ME 440W.2												X		X	X
105	United States Steel Corporation	Develop a Steel Sample Inventory and Control System for Research	Immel, Michael	IE 480W											X	X
106	Univ. of Toronto Mech. & Ind. Eng.	Object Avoidance Device for St. John’s Rehab Hospital - Global	Wheeler, Tim	EE 403W			X						X			X
107	US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 1	Design and Simulation of Spent Fuel Pool Zirc Bundle Tests	Kim, Seungjin	NUC E 431W.4													X
108	US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 2	Analysis of a Spent Fuel Pool Partial LOCA	Kim, Seungjin	NUC E 431W.4													X
109	US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 3	Design of a Lower Plenum Boron Mixing and Remixing Experimental Facility	Kim, Seungjin	NUC E 431W.4													X
110	Volvo CE - NA	Compaction Drum Wipers	Eser, Semih	EGEE 464W											X	X		X	X
111	Volvo Group Truck Technology	Transmission Gear Design and Manufacturing Concepts	Voigt, Bob	IE 480W	X						X	X		X	X	X
112	Well Master Corporation	"Plunger At Location" Sensing	Eser, Semih	EGEE 464W							X		X	X		X		X	X
113	Westinghouse	Maximum allowable gasket seating surface degradation before seal failure	Camp, Tiffany	ME 441W.2												X
114	Xerox 1	Faithfully: Print Integrity Checker - Team 1	Bilen, Lennart	CMPEN 482W					X	X			X						X
115	Xerox 2	Faithfully: Print Integrity Checker - Team 2	Fomitchev, Max	CMPSC 483W.1					X	X			X						X

Alcoa

Contact: Judodine Nichols

Address: 100 Technical Dr, New Kensington, PA 15069

Phone: 724-337-2569

E-mail: Judodine.Nichols@alcoa.com

Project Title: Life Cycle Tracking

Description: Project Overview Full life cycle material tracking system database which uses non-proprietary databases and methods that can be used by multiple levels of an organization to access information and reports. Which included the following operations… • Raw material • Material processing • Manufactured Product • In service data • autopsy of failed product • Recycle for reuse.... Business Issue/Opportunity This system is meant to address the “complete” life cycle of manufacturing allowing multiple levels of the organization the ability to see current data both upstream and downstream of a particular process. The data collected will be used to provide trends and optimization opportunities. Integration should be seamless using “industry standard” methods where possible. Primary Project Deliverables Milestone 1 • Provide a business case to implement a full life cycle database. • Demonstrate a prototype Project Conditions Project Assumptions • Limited funds • Use PC based database product • User friendly

Requested Dept.: Chem, Industrial, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: Intellectual

ArcelorMittal

Contact: John Nelson

Address: 215 S. Front Street, Steelton, PA 17113

Phone: 717-986-2103

E-mail: john.nelson@arcelormittal.com

Project Title: Bloom Manipulator for 35

Description: ArcelorMittal produces steel railroad rails for railroads, transit agencies, distributors, and crane operations at its facility in Steelton, Pennsylvania. In the steel rolling process, the Rolling Mill utilizes a Breakdown Stand (35” Mill) to begin shaping the steel rail. The bloom passes through this rolling stand 5 times. During the rolling, the bloom is rotated, or “kicked”, with mechanical fingers. This method of rotating the bloom can leave marks on the product, resulting in defects on the finished rail. The purpose of this project would be to develop a concept for a bloom manipulator, or turner, that could rotate the bloom in a more controlled manner with no marking of the product. Deliverables for the project would include conceptual engineering for design and installation of the bloom manipulator, along with a budget cost for supply and installation of the equipment.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: none

AREVA Transnuclear

Contact: Jane He; Bill Bracey; Venkata Venigalla

Address: 7135 Minstrel Way, Suite 300, Columbia, MD 21045

Phone: 410-910-6869

E-mail: Jane.He@areva.com

Project Title: Evaluation of internal convection in a horizontal canister for storage of used nuclear fuel

Description: - The purpose of this project is to evaluate the value of convection in horizontal canisters, using 3D computational fluid dynamics software: * What is the change in maximum fuel pin temperature if convection is considered, compared to analysis without convection, with no change in the physical design of the system or in the helium pressure? * Can the basket design be modified, and the helium pressure increased in a way that significantly improves this performance, i.e., results in a significant reduction in the maximum fuel pin temperature? - Transnuclear will provide the following input * Fuel dimensional, material, and decay heat information * Basket and canister dimensional and material information * Boundary conditions (shell temperatures) for the canister * Transnuclear FEA models from prior analyses as needed - Deliverables * Baseline calculation using CFD software with existing canister and basket design, with explicitly modeled fuel, without internal convection * Benchmarking of the baseline results with prior results of FEA analysis using simplified model of fuel by Transnuclear * Repeat CFD calculation with internal convection; comparison of results, especially maximum fuel pin temperature, with baseline calculation * Drawings of basket and canister design revised to provide convective flow path around the basket perimeter * CFD analysis of the revised design, with comparison of temperatures to previous calculations.

Requested Dept.: Nuclear

Requirements: none

Armstrong World Industries Inc.

Contact: Bill Frantz and Allen Huang

Address: PO Box 3001, 2500 Columbia Avenue, Lancaster, PA 17604

Phone: 717-396-5713

E-mail: whfrantz@armstrong.com

Project Title: Portable Device for Demonstrating Effects of Acoustic Ceilings - Global

Description: Company Background Armstrong World Industries Inc is a global leader in the design and manufacture of floors, ceilings and cabinets with a focus on innovation, design and environmental sustainability. Armstrong’s net sales totaled approximately $2.7 billion in 2011. Based in Lancaster, PA, Armstrong operates 32 plants in eight countries and has approximately 8,500 employees worldwide. The company's global acoustical ceiling and suspension systems business is 90 percent commercial – offices, healthcare, education, retail, transportation and other segments – and 10 percent residential. Project Overview Architectural acoustical performance can be difficult for the typical person to understand. Concepts such as sound absorption of suspended ceilings and sound transmission of ceiling and wall structures can be difficult to understand unless they are experienced firsthand. To that end, we want to develop a simple, portable, demonstration tool that could clearly demonstrate the benefits of improved acoustics. This tool should be capable of demonstrating the effects of sound absorption and sound transmission using actual acoustical ceiling materials. This tool will be used by Armstrong salespeople to provide demonstrations to customers. Both parties are likely to possess minimal knowledge of architectural acoustics. The device should be durable and self contained, with a maximum volume of about 70,000 [cm3] = 2.47 [ft3], and a maximum weight of about 20 [kg] = 44 [lbm]. Electrical power can be used if necessary. A laptop computer can also be part of the system if necessary. As an additional benefit, the teams should consider how to use the same device to demonstrate the benefits of improved light reflectance of acoustical surfaces. This is an “additional feature” and is not a requirement of the project. Project Deliverables Understand the principals of sound absorption and sound transmission as they apply to architectural acoustics. Understand how acoustical properties are measured in large scale formal tests (ex. ASTM C-423, E-413, E-795, E-1110, E-1111, E-1375, E-1376, E-1414). Understand the current Armstrong “state of the art” demonstrator called the “Bell Box”. Research other ways of demonstrating acoustic absorption and transmission such as the “version 2” Armstrong prototype, impedance tubes, etc. Learn how other people have solved similar problems. Conceptualize several possible designs for a demonstrator device. Develop one or two approaches further. Construct one working prototype and deliver it to Armstrong.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential

Ascent Bio-Nano Technologies, Inc.

Contact: Lin Wang

Address: 103 Quincy Ave, State College, PA 16801

Phone: 8043326566

E-mail: Lin.Wang@AscentBioNano.com

Project Title: 2nd Prototype development of innovative analytical instrument

Description: Overview Ascent Bio-Nano Technologies, Inc. is a bio-tech start up based in State College, PA. Our tagline is “Innovation for Impact”. Our mission is to develop innovative biomedical products to accelerate the impact academic research makes to the society. Our current focus is to develop high-performance, low-cost, miniature flow cytometry cell analyzer for biological studies, medical diagnosis and therapeutics. It has many applications such as HIV, leukemia and cancer diagnosis. The company recently won the Ben Franklin TechCelerator business startup award. The product is based on patented technologies which have been featured in US News, National Science Foundation, and Science Daily, etc. In fall 2012, we worked with six talented students from Capstone project and successfully developed the 1st prototype. In spring 2013, we would develop the 2nd prototype that would optimize the size, function and performance. Students from Penn State would perform configuration design to reduce the instrument footprint and provide an improved prototype. This will involve some solidworks modeling, basic electronics and interfacing such as bread boarding and software development. We are local and could meet with the team regularly to provide guidance and assistance. Deliverables: 1. Review the 1st proof of concept prototype, and understand the requirements of 2nd prototype. The product will have the following modules: pumps, laser/optics, focusing module, detection/optics, and data interface and software. 2. Conduct research on existing compact size flow cytometry cell analyzers. Summarize their price, size, features and specs. 3. Research and identify a few key components to optimize the prototype. 4. Consolidate power supplies and optimize the electronic design. 5. Optimize the data interface: replace DA card with customized data module. 6. Basic software development to feed system data into commercially available software for display and analysis. 7. Design several concepts of 2nd prototype system. Consider size, functionality, cost and system stability. Select one approach and develop it in detail. Detailed design documentations including a diagram of the hardware setup and functional components and depiction of the design of the wearable device. 8. Assemble the prototype based on the design concept. Test each individual module. 9. Test the performance using micro-beads, and compare the result to commercially available system. No bio hazard materials will be used for testing. Additional equipment and funding will be provided to the team to accomplish this.

Requested Dept.: Bio, CompSci, CSE, ESM, Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Asymmetric Therapeutics

Contact: John Ford, MD

Address: 141 Main St. PO box J, Unadilla, NY 13849

Phone: 607 435 0930

E-mail: jpford@hotmail.com

Project Title: Non-Paramagnetic Chair

Description: The broader use of SQUID or superconducting quantum interference device to image the functioning human brain is currently limited by installation and equipment cost. With a moveable chair(the present project) and a fixed novel detector design the costs will be decreased by an order of magnitude. We would like a chair constructed, ideally, completely of plastic including fasteners. The chair will: 1)have degrees of freedom allowing it to: -move up and down 18-24 " -angulate to 45% from vertical to both sides -angulate to 45% from vertical both forward and backward 2) move on wheels which could then be immobilized 3) like a dentist's chair would immobilize the head perhaps by supports against both cheeks. The skull overlying the brain compartment would not be covered by chair components. 4) completely manual The intent is for the subject to sit on the chair and have a fixed SQUID detector angled at 45% below the horizontal to contact the subject's head. Magnetic measurements will be made of brain activity. Change in position of the detector relative to the subject's head will be performed manually.The head, again, needs to be immobilized with supports over both cheek bones. It is expected that that student participants will be able to visit UPMC to understand better the basis of a current, functioning SQUID magnetoencephalography Note; the SQUID is sensitive at the femtotesla level to change in magnetic field strength. The critical aspect is the change in magnetic field rather than the strength of the static magnetic field environment.

Requested Dept.: Bio, ESM, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

B. Braun Medical 1

Contact: Joel Bartholomew

Address: 901 MarconBoulevard, Allentown, PA 18109

Phone: 610-266-0500

E-mail: joel.bartholomew@bbraun.com

Project Title: Arm Swelling Detection/Monitoring - Team 1

Description: Develop a method to detect and/or monitor swelling in an arm. Swelling is an effect of IV infiltration and B. Braun would like to explore ideas on how to detect swelling in the arm. The deliverables are: 1) A report on the bio-mechanics of arm swelling - What are the mechanics of swelling in the arm? How does the arm swell? What are the external changes to the arm when it swells? 2) Concept development - Using the information from the report create concepts of how to detect/monitor swelling in the arm. Including an check of what IP currently exists. Cost and manufacturability of the concepts are important as any component that contacts the patient will be a disposable. 3) Prototype the leading concept - Design and prototpye the leading concept. Create a detailed analysis of how the prototype will function to detect swelling. Including the sensitivity of the concept (how quickly does it detect swelling).

Requested Dept.: Bio, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

B. Braun Medical 2

Contact: Joel Bartholomew

Address: 901 MarconBoulevard, Allentown, PA 18109

Phone: 610-266-0500

E-mail: joel.bartholomew@bbraun.com

Project Title: Arm Swelling Detection/Monitoring - Team 2

Requested Dept.: Bio, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Bechtel Power Corporation

Contact: Stephen Routh

Address: 5275 Westview Drive, Frederick, MD 21703

Phone: 301-228-6245

E-mail: sdrouth@bechtel.com

Project Title: Recommendations in Response to the Fukushima Daiichi Accident

Description: Project Description On March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan suffered a series of beyond design basis external events including an earthquake and tsunami leading to multiple eventual core meltdowns and releases of radioactive material. The Fukushima plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), consists of 6 GE boiling water reactors. You are TEPCO engineers working for the Fukushima plant in March 2010. You receive warning from a team of seismologists that a significant seismic event is likely to affect the region in approximately 1 year, although the exact date is unknown. From this knowledge, you determine that a complete station blackout would be almost certain, although the cause could be any one of a range of possibilities (flooding, damage to power lines, etc.). With this foresight, what steps would you recommend to mitigate the effects of the blackout and potential damage on plant operation? The response of plant personnel in the hours after the accident must be considered as part of your recommendation. Useful Considerations Among your considerations, please address each of the following potential issues: 1. Independent protected long term cooling for the reactors and spent fuel pools (e.g., diesel driven pumps) 2. Extending the usefulness of the reactor core isolation cooling (RCIC) systems after a full power loss 3. Minimizing radiation doses to plant operators and the public 4. Eliminating hydrogen releases into buildings which would lead to potential explosions (venting) 5. Cracking in the spent fuel pools causing a loss of cooling water 6. Preparation of responses to authorities and the public Project Deliverables The primary deliverable is a formal report including the following items: 1. Detailed design changes (please use actual plant data and dimensions where able to size added equipment) 2. Procedure/process changes for plant personnel 3. Communications with local and foreign governments as well as local authorities in response to the accident 4. Communications with public in response to the accident 5. Schedule and cost analysis of plant changes over the next year (include identification of long-lead items) 6. Detailed timeline of plant response after the accident Why is this Important? The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued various requirements to U.S. nuclear plant licensees in response to the Fukushima accident. The Nuclear Energy Institute and the Electric Power Research Institute are coordinating the industry response to the accident and the NRC requirements to help avoid a similar accident from happening in the U.S. Every plant in the country is considering the same scenario that you are working on, and your input is valuable to helping the industry address the potential issues that are still being discussed today.

Requested Dept.: Electrical, Mechanical, Nuclear

Requirements: none

Bell Helicopter

Contact: Kyle Cravener

Address: 600 E Hurst Blvd, Hurst, TX 76053

Phone: 8172807421

E-mail: kcravener@bh.com

Project Title: Helicopter Gearbox Thermal Management

Description: Bell Helicopter provides military and commercial customers with helicopters and tiltrotors (e.g., V-22 Osprey) that operate over a wide range of environments and missions. In addition to withstanding harsh environmental conditions, it is required that the designs are optimized for a minimum of 30 minutes of operation following an oil-out incident. An oil-out, or loss of primary lubrication system, event occurs when there is a loss of oil pressure within a gearbox (e.g., oil pump failure or oil levels reduced). Less oil is circulated through the gearbox which raises friction and lowers the rate of heat transfer to the case of the gearbox. Temperatures then rise and cause material property degradation, loss of clearances from material expansion, and eventual failure of the gearbox. Bell Helicopter seeks an emergency procedure (to be implemented at the start of the oil-out event) which allows a gearbox to function longer after an oil-out event. The project goal is to explore and develop engineering design data to support a procedure for pressurizing the gearbox with a two-part gas mixture. This procedure should encourage the rate of heat transfer within the gearbox. The ability for these gases to improve gearbox heat transfer (and extend oil-out operating time) should be quantified in this project. Bell Helicopter will provide details related to component interfaces, aircraft grade material properties (including those currently used), environmental conditions, performance requirements, and other design considerations to be taken into account during the investigation. Deliverables include a final report documenting the research, analysis, test results, and conclusions. Also, there will be bi-weekly meetings (at minimum) and preliminary reports to update on status. Note: Some information may be ITAR/EAR restricted to US Citizens.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Central PA SCI Support Group 1

Contact: Everett Hills, MD

Address: 1135 Old West Chocolate Avenue, Suite 101, Hummelstown, PA 17036

Phone: 717-531-7010

E-mail: ehills@hmc.psu.edu

Project Title: Assistive Ladder to Allow Disabled Person to Safely Re-enter Boat From Water

Description: Overview: The user of this device can not re-enter his boat if he were to accidently fall out because the conventional boat ladder does not extend deeply into the water and he doesn't have the hand/arm strength to pull himself up. A prototype ladder extension was presented at the Fall 2012 Capstone Projects but it has not been tested. This prototype also has sharp edges and lacks portability to make it safe, secure, and storable for the user. Deliverables: The design team is expected to interview and evaluate the user to better understand his functional disabilities in order to improve on the current prototype ladder. The new prototype should have the following features: 1)Lightweight, 2) Corrosion-resistant, 3) Capable of supporting 2/3 body weight in the water, 4) Portable and stowable, and 5) Does not adversely affect the boat's safety, floatability, or structure. The prototype ladder extension will be given to the design team at the Spring 2013 Kickoff.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Central PA SCI Support Group 2

Contact: Everett HIlls, MD

Address: 1135 Old West Chocolate Avenue, Suite 101, Hummelstown, PA 17036

Phone: 717-531-7010

E-mail: ehills@hmc.psu.edu

Project Title: Gear Shifter Helper

Description: Overview: There is a large population of persons with neuromuscular and orthopaedic disabilities who can still safely operate a car but have decreased grip strength. Just pushing in the bottton that releases the gear shift so that the car can be placed into Reverse or Drive can require two hands. A preliminary assistive device was made and presented at the 2012 Iron Lion Competition that used a hinged joint to directed vertical forces into lateral forces. Further refined prototypes presented at the Fall 2012 Capstone Projects Showcase built on the concept of re-directing vertical forces into lateral forces but they broke due to repetitive forces and material failure. No damage was done to the gear shifter. For the auto industry to recognize the problem faced by disabled drivers, the goal of this project is to create an assistive device to make gear shifting easier and safe. Deliverables: The design team is expected to interview and evaluate the disabled user to better understand his functional disabilities and fabricate a working prototype that has the following features: 1) Secure fitting to floor-mounted gear shifter, 2) Sufficient, correct, and consistent side-directed force to push in release button, 3) Quick release of device in event it breaks, and 4) Interchangeable with other makes and models of cars or trucks with floor-mounted automatic transmission gear shifts. Resources from the Penn State Hershey Medical Center will be available for medical technical assistance to help the team better understand functional disabilities, impairment, and biomechanics.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Central PA SCI Support Group 3

Contact: Everett Hills, MD

Address: 1135 Old West Chocolate Avenue, Suite 101, Hummelstown, PA 17036

Phone: 717-531-7010

E-mail: ehills@hmc.psu.edu

Project Title: Underseat luggage holder for Wheelchair User

Description: Overview: The intended customer is a spinal cord injured woman who needs a wheelchair when she is traveling. She can propel her wheelchair but doesn't have anywhere to store her carryon luggage when she gets to the airport. In addition to her luggage, this woman carries crutches which can be stored on the back of her wheelchair. This blocks the use of the seat back for storage of any other items. Because of the items she may be carrying onboard (i.e. laptop), the user doesn't want these items to be loose on her lap or out of sight. Deliverables: The design team is expected to interview and evaluate the customer in her wheelchair, assess her needs, and create a prototype device or attachment that has the following features: 1) Secure storage of carryon luggage, 2) No interference with the wheelchair's mobility, 3) Enable patient to navigate the TSA process, and 4) portability when wheelchair is folded.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Central PA SCI Support Group 4

Contact: Everett Hills, MD

Address: 1135 Old West Chocolate Avenue, Suite 101, Hummelstown, PA 17036

Phone: 717-531-7010

E-mail: ehills@hmc.psu.edu

Project Title: Pincher Grip Assistive Device to Swipe Credit Card

Description: Overview: There is a large number of disabled persons who can not use their fingers to form a pinch grip to hold a credit card while they swipe it in an ATM and gas station self-serve pump or insert and remove the key card to a hotel room. The ability to use the thumb, index, and ring finger for a pinch-like or three-jaw chuck squeeze would enable these individuals to conduct a sizeable number of "fine motor" tasks that able-bodied people might take for granted. Deliverables: The design team is expected to work alongside an individual with a neuromuscular disorder that deprives him of the ability to perform pinching, squeezing, and three-jaw chuck maneuvers with his fingers to create an assistive device that has the following features: 1) fits on wrist support, 2) attaches to the thumb, index, and middle finger, 3) permits opposition of the thumb to the other two fingers, and 4) permits quick release if necessary for removal. Resources from the Penn State Hershey Medical Center will be available for medical technical assistance and to help with the fabrication of any braces.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Central PA SCI Support Group 5

Contact: Everett Hills, MD

Address: 1135 Old West Chocolate Avenue, Suite 101, Hummelstown, PA 17036

Phone: 717-531-7010

E-mail: ehills@hmc.psu.edu

Project Title: Robotic Arm Rest

Description: Overview: A prototype arm rest and table for the purpose of holding a spastically contracted arm/forearm was presented at the 2011 Iron Lion Competition. This prototype device was used in a clinical setting where it safely allowed patients to rest their arms outstretched while undergoing injections. Deliverables: The design team is expected to produce a refined version of the original prototype arm rest and table that has the following features: 1) Solid construction so that it doesn't move when wheels are locked, 2) Portability with wheels to allow it to be moved to different exam rooms, 3) biomechanically designed arm or leg support, 4) Adjustable in angle of arm or leg position, and 5) Permit an Ultrasound machine to be anchored to the table.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Central PA SCI Support Group 6

Contact: Everett HIlls, MD

Address: 1135 Old West Chocolate Avenue, Suite 101, Hummelstown, PA 17036

Phone: 717-531-7010

E-mail: ehills@hmc.psu.edu

Project Title: Robotic Fishing Pole Holder for Disabled Person

Description: Overview: Fishing is a popular sport in both the able and disabled population. Many disabled persons still retain a portion of grip strength to hold the pole for better "feel" and finer control but their hands fatigue more rapidly. Disabled fishermen may want to switch between different fishing poles depending on the circumstances of where and what they're fishing. The purpose of this project is to expand on a preliminary robotic device that allows the disabled person to "hold" the fishing pole securely and also lets him/her release quickly to set the pole down when the fish has been caught or to switch to a different pole if the situation dictates a change. The first prototype was presented at the 2012 Iron Lion Competition and the robotic version was presented at the Fall 2012 Capstone Projects Showcase. The design team did not have sufficient time to further develop their device but they were able to make a pole holder that satisfied the user's request to be able to "hold" the pole in his hand. Deliverables: The design team is expected to interview and evaluate the user to better understand his disabilities. Resources from the Penn State Milton Hershey Medical Center will be available for technical assistance. Then the design team will build on the last team's efforts to produce a robotic fishing pole holder that has the following features: 1)Can be put on with little to no help with the other hand, 2) Allows quick and firm attachment of the pole to reel in a fish such as a trout or bass, 3) Allows casting by the user, and 4) Allows quick release in the event of an emergency or need to unattach pole to user. Time-permitting and depending on the composition of the design team, a voice-activated capability would be desireable.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Central PA SCI Support Group 7

Contact: Everett Hills, MD

Address: 1135 Old West Chocolate Avenue, Suite 101, Hummelstown, PA 17036

Phone: 717-531-7010

E-mail: ehills@hmc.psu.edu

Project Title: Assistive Device to Hold Eating Utensils

Description: Overview: MK is a disabled man who can not hold a fork or spoon with his hands. He surrently uses a splint to hold these utensils. The problem with this splint is that it doesn't accommodate the hand as it approaches the mouth to pivot the utensil in the proper direction. To alternately use his spoon and fork, MK must use his free hand to insert one utensil onto the splint and then take it off to use the other one. This constant switching can markedly slow down the eating process and may draw unwanted attention when MK goes out to eat with his wife. A preliminary assistive device was presented at the Summer 2012 Iron Lion Competition that used a novel clip-like device to more easily attach/remove a spoon or a fork. The device presented at the Fall 2012 Capstone Project Presentation did not retain this feature but did present an improved means for keeping a spoon level to reach the mouth. Deliverables: The design team is expected to take these previous prototypes and produce a better design that has the following features: 1) Holds spoon, fork, or other eating utensil securely, 2) Allows rapid attachment and removal of the utensil by the user, 3) Produces no spillage from the spoon, and 4) Is not conspicuous to draw unwanted attention in a restaurant. Additional desireable features would be the ability for the user to hold a sandwich and slice of pizza. The design team is expected to interview and evaluate the user to better understand his disabilities. Resources from the Milton Hershey Medical Center will be available for technical assistance.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: none

CertainTeed Gypsum

Contact: Mike Fahey

Address: 4300 W. Cypress St. Suite 500, Tampa, FL 33607

Phone: 727-403-0750

E-mail: mike.fahey@saint-gobain.com

Project Title: CFD Modeling of a Gypsum Mixer

Description: Develop a model to include all components inside the mixer “lump ring” to include all rotor pins and lid pins. If progress is timely, group is to progress the model to include the area outside the lump ring. This model will assume batch, 100% full conditions and continue with single, simple viscosity assumptions.

Requested Dept.: Chem, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Chris Fahey

Contact: Chris Fahey

Address: 117 Oakwood Drive, State College, PA 16801

Phone: 814-863-0884

E-mail: chrisfahey@psu.edu

Project Title: Adaptive Hand Orthotic 2

Description: In 2008 I was in a motorcycle accident that amputated my right arm just below the elbow. Doctors at Hershey were able to replant the arm successfully. The result is that the upper arm and forearm work normally with some range of motion limits, the wrist is limited to about 20% range of motion, and the fingers are frozen in a half flexed state with little motion and no strength. Last Semester I participated in a Learning Factory project titled Adaptive Hand Orthotic that resulted in a device I could attach to my right arm and perform some simple tasks. In my view, the project results were very good but after working with “version 1.0” there is room for improvement as follows: 1. The base should be a more flexible conforming material eliminating the need for an individual mold for each patient. 2. The base size and rod size can be halved without losing stability (I think). 3. The base and rod should be married more permanently. 4. Establish an anchor point for opening and closing the business end without the bulk of a shoulder harness. 5. Articulate the business end for more degrees of freedom. 6. Investigate the use of gears and/or ratchets to assist in the opening and closing for weaker patients. 7. Are there more useful configurations for the business end? This would still be a mechanical device. I have shied away from considering electro-mechanical options because of complexity and reliability but I wonder if I may be limiting the possibilities. Perhaps an initial feasibility analysis of a mechanized solution could be part of the project. One of the outcomes of the project will be parts lists, specifications, and engineering drawings that could be used by an interested party to have the device constructed. In this way, it is my hope that the project can benefit others in the same situation.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Electrical, Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Corle Building Systems

Contact: Scott Whysong

Address: 404 Sara Furnace Road, Imler, Pa 16655

Phone: 814-276-9611

E-mail: swhysong@corle.com

Project Title: Submerged arc welding machine

Description: We are a pre-engineered steel building manufacturer that uses a submerged arc welding machine to weld our custom beams. The machine has two fixed weld heads that apply filet welds to the flange to web joints on the beam while pulling it through. Due to the location of the weld heads with respect to the ground shoes, the machine does not weld the first approximately 16" of the beam nor the last approximate 12" of the beam. We are looking for a solution that will allow us to weld the entire length of the beam on this machine. Any areas not welded by the machine must be hand welded, requiring additional labor costs and slowed efficiencies.

Requested Dept.: Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Deborah Mirdamadi

Contact: Deborah Mirdamadi

Address: 11300 Eastwood Drive, Hagerstown, MD 21742

Phone: 2403130880

E-mail: dxm7@psu.edu

Project Title: Adjust-comfort lift recliner

Description: My idea is to design a system that combines into a lift assist recliner for the elderly or handicapped that will allow the user to adjust the softness/firmness support of the cushion areas to the changing daily needs of the user; similar to that of the 'sleep number bed'. More than likely, a person would want a different amount of support when sitting vs sleeping; on days when aches and pains are more or fewer. This must be easily accessible for the user - preferably a push button remote. I am hoping for NSF grant funds to help with this project.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: Intellectual

Dentsply Professional 1

Contact: Dave Kierce

Address: 1301 Smile Way, York, PA 17404

Phone: 717 767-8672

E-mail: david.kierce@dentsply.com

Project Title: Low Aerosol polishing nozzle

Description: In the dental industry, air polishing is primarily used on patients to help remove heavy stain such as tobacco, coffee, wine, etc. Current Cavitron Air polishing system delivers a mixture of water and sodium bicarbonate powder to remove stain and clean dental enamel. The powder is delivered through a multiport nozzle which maintains separation of the water and air/powder mixture. The water and air/powder are combined 1 mm from the exit ports of the nozzle. The created slurry is propelled at 60 psi onto the enamel surface of the tooth to remove stain. After hitting the tooth surface the un-dissolved particles are deflected into the mouth and atmosphere. The un-dissolved particles end up landing on the patient and hygienist which is an undesirable outcome. Therefore they limit their use of air polishing due to the “messy” nature. The goal of this project is to develop a new delivery system which mitigates the amount of mess associated with air polishing.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Dentsply Professional 2

Contact: Peter Werner

Address: 1301 Smile Way, York, PA 17404

Phone: 717 767-8615

E-mail: peter.werner@dentsply.com

Project Title: Kcup powder delivery

Description: In the dental industry, air polishing is primarily used on patients to help remove heavy stain such as tobacco, coffee, wine, etc. Current Cavitron Air polishing system delivers a mixture of water and sodium bicarbonate powder to remove stain and clean dental enamel. Polishing powder is loaded into the device by unscrewing a cover and pouring the powder out of a bottle into a pressure vessel. The cover is then screwed on to the pressure vessel. The powder flow can be adjusted to provide different level of cleaning performance. At the end of the day the powder must be removed out of the system to prevent it from clumping up due to the hygroscopic nature of the powder. Today the customer experiences powder waste, clogging and waste of valuable time cleaning and maintaining the unit. These issues negatively affect the usage of the device. The goal of this project is to develop system which is easy to use and simple to maintain. The challenge will be to incorporate a Kcup type single use powder delivery system into a currently marketed product. • The advantages of this system are: o Clogging o Less Waste o Less mess o Lower maintenance

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Discovery Space of Central PA 1

Contact: Allayn Beck

Address: 112 W. Foster Ave. Ste 1, State College, PA 16801

Phone: 814-880-2108

E-mail: allayn@mydiscoveryspace.org

Project Title: Heartbeat Drum

Description: Discovery Space of Central Pennsylvania (http://www.mydiscoveryspace.org ) is a new children’s science museum located in downtown State College, where children ages 2 to 12 can experience science first-hand. With 2,500 square feet of interactive exhibits, Discovery Space was designed to stimulate curiosity and spark imagination as children learn about the world around them. Discovery Space needs hands-on exhibits developed to meet the broad spectrum of ages of youth that will be visiting. An up coming theme for Discovery Space’s new exhibits is Mind and Body. One of the focuses for Mind and Body is the inner workings of the human body. Discovery Space wants to help children learn about how their body works and why it works the way it does. A Heartbeat Drum Exhibit will demonstrate to children how their heart beats and that it beats in a pattern. The exhibit will read a child’s heartbeat and then beat it on a drum and light up allowing children to hear, feel and see their own heartbeat. Children can also experiment with resting heartbeats and an active heartbeat. Children will be able to read their resting heartbeat, do jumping jacks and then read their resting heartbeat.

Requested Dept.: Bio, ESM, Electrical

Requirements: Confidential

Discovery Space of Central PA 2

Contact: Michele Crowl

Address: 112 W Foster Ave, Ste 1, State College, PA 16801

Phone: 814-234-0200

E-mail: mcrowl.psu@gmail.com

Project Title: Pneumatic Tube Exhibit for Discovery Space, Phase 2

Description: Background: Discovery Space of Central Pennsylvania (http://www.mydiscoveryspace.org ) is a new children’s science museum located in downtown State College, where children ages 2 to 12 can experience science first-hand. With 2,500 square feet of interactive exhibits, Discovery Space was designed to stimulate curiosity and spark imagination as children learn about the world around them. The Discovery Space needs hands-on exhibits developed to meet the broad spectrum of ages of youth that will be visiting. The majority of the operations cost is funded through private donations, creating a need in the museum for fun ways for visitors to donate. Objective: Demonstrate and install a working pneumatic tube system using the prototype developed by the Fall 2012 Capstone group. Pneumatic tubes are most commonly known for their role in drive-thru banking but numerous science centers have had successful exhibits based on the same technology. The tube system should allow visitors to use dollar bills (as a donation) as well as something similar to colorful plastic balls (if no interest in donating), sort them and collect each in different locations. The tube system should be long and transparent, allowing visitors to watch their object move through it. The entry point should be located between the main exhibit gallery and the lobby. Donations should collect behind the admission desk. Deliverables include: • Working system installed by end of Spring semester 2013 • Source of purchasing for all parts and materials • User’s guide, including block diagrams and step-by-step instructions for use/donation retrieval

Requested Dept.: ESM, Electrical, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Dresser-Rand 1

Contact: Jay Koch

Address: 500 Paul Clark Drive, Olean, NY 14760

Phone: 716-375-3762

E-mail: jkoch@dresser-rand.com

Project Title: Waste Heat Recovery System For Two Body Compressor Train

Description: Background For more than 100 years, Dresser-Rand has been a world leader in energy conversion technology, designing, manufacturing, and servicing a wide range of field-proven centrifugal and reciprocating compressors, gas and steam turbines, expanders, rotating separators, and control systems. Since the mid-1900s, we have built centrifugal compressors for a variety of applications in the oil & gas and petrochemical industries. To remain competitive, Dresser-Rand must constantly search for ways to improve the overall energy usage of our compression systems. Many of our products have typically relied on inter-cooling to achieve high efficiency and to maintain the mechanical properties of the compressor materials. However, with the introduction of materials that can operate effectively at higher temperatures, more consideration has been given to eliminating the inter-cooling and allowing the compressor discharge temperatures to reach 500?F or higher. A system can then be added to recover the energy available in the hot discharge flow, thereby increasing the overall thermal efficiency of the combined processes. In some cases, two or more compressors are operated in series, allowing further opportunities for energy recovery. Project Objective The objective of this project is to propose an energy recovery system that can be used with a compressor train consisting of two carbon dioxide compressors. The team will be given a range of flow rates, discharge temperatures, etc. for both machines. The team will then conduct research into the various recovery systems that might be applicable and select the optimal system for the range of conditions specified for the two compressors. Any pressure drop to the main process stream must be minimized, or factored into the energy recovery efficiency, as dropping the pressure requires the compressors to do more work to achieve the same final discharge pressure. The team must also determine the overall thermal efficiency that can be achieved for the combined process. NOTE: The performance for the compressors will be provided by Dresser-Rand but the students will be responsible for determining the performance of the heat recovery systems. Deliverables Deliverables will include a report describing all of the work completed during the execution of the project. The team also must provide details on the heat recovery systems selected as well as details on other systems considered. Finally, calculations regarding the overall thermal efficiency of the combined system must be presented along with the equations used to perform those calculations. Expectation of the Team Team members must be engineering majors. The team will also be expected to participate in regularly scheduled weekly meetings with the project mentor and to provide weekly updates via e-mail on the progress of the team.

Requested Dept.: Energy

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Dresser-Rand 2 Team 1

Contact: Jorge Pacheco

Address: 500 Paul Clark Drive, Olean, NY 14760

Phone: 7163753425

E-mail: jepacheco@dresser-rand.com

Project Title: Diaphragm Fabrication Method / Cost Reduction

Description: Background Diaphragms (also called return channels) are a critical part of multi-stage centrifugal compressors produced and sold by Dresser-Rand. Diaphragms accept the swirling flow from the centrifugal compressor diffuser, remove the tangential whirl and prepare the gas for the next impeller or stage of compression. To achieve the high performance necessary to compete in today’s markets, the diaphragm passages (channels, vanes) must conform to the tight tolerances specified by the design engineers. Diaphragms are currently built using combinations of milling, turning, bolting, and/or welding. In an effort to reduce the cost and manufacturing cycle time, Dresser-Rand is investigating alternate methods of diaphragm fabrication including the possible use of cast iron or cast steel internals, etc. Project Objective The objective of this project is to develop a more cost-effective, time-effective method for fabricating diaphragms for small Dresser-Rand DATUM compressors. The team will need to become familiar with the critical parameters (or CTQ’s) for a diaphragm design and understand the current methods being used to fabricate diaphragms. The team will then propose alternate fabrication methods and investigate the potential impact of the alternate methods on both the aerodynamic and mechanical performance of the diaphragm. Deliverables The deliverables from the project include a final report detailing the results of the investigation, drawings / schematics of the proposed fabrication method.

Requested Dept.: Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Dresser-Rand 2 Team 2

Contact: Jorge Pacheco

Address: 500 Paul Clark Drive, Olean, NY 14760

Phone: 716-375-3425

E-mail: jepacheco@dresser-rand.com

Project Title: Diaphragm Fabrication Method / Cost Reduction - Team 2

Requested Dept.: Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Dresser-Rand 3

Contact: James Sorokes

Address: 500 Paul Clark Drive, Olean, NY 14760

Phone: 716-375-3811

E-mail: jsorokes@dresser-rand.com

Project Title: Estimating Tool for Single-Piece Impeller Milling - Global

Description: DRESSER-RAND is one of the world’s leading suppliers of high performance centrifugal compressors for the oil and gas industry. DRESSER-RAND continually pursues advanced manufacturing techniques to improve the accuracy and mechanical integrity of components for our compressor products. One of the latest techniques being applied is to single-piece mill a covered impeller from one forging. This technique requires that the flow passage be milled by plunging in from the outside diameter (or O.D.), plunging in from the inside diameter (or I.D.) and accurately connecting the two passages milled from the O.D. and I.D. Given the wide variety of impeller sizes and shapes, it is difficult to accurately estimate the machining time required to complete the milling process. The milling cycle time impacts both the cost of the product as well as the expected delivery time of said product. Project Objective The objective of this project is to develop a method to characterize the various styles of centrifugal impellers and to determine how their design style and size impacts the time and cost required to singlepiece mill each style and size of impeller. Deliverables The deliverables from the project include a final report detailing the estimating methodology. The recommended method will also be used to predict the cost and cycle time for impellers that have been or are currently being built by DRESSER-RAND or their sub-contractors to prove the accuracy of the method. Recommendations on how to further improve the method should also be made, if necessary. Expectation of the Team Team membership must include mechanical and possibly manufacturing/industrial engineers. Team members are also encouraged to accept summer employment at D-R’s Olean NY facility to continue with the solution development.

Requested Dept.: Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Exel / The Home Depot

Contact: Todd Goodling

Address: 8500 Willard Drive, Breinigsville, PA 18031

Phone: 731-613-3072

E-mail: Todd.Goodling@exel.com

Project Title: Exel RDC Safety Improvement

Description: Exel is part of the SUPPLY CHAIN division of Deutsche Post DHL, and is the leading contract logistics provider in the Americas thanks to the hard work of 40,000 associates at more than 500 sites throughout the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. Two of our sites are located in Breinigsville, PA where we provide logistics services for our customer The Home Depot. . This proposal is for one of these sites known as the Rapid Distribution Center or RDC. The RDC is a 450,00 square foot automated cross –dock operation which processes an average of 110,000 cartons daily over a 20 hour, 2 shift schedule. The facility services 110 of The Home Depot stores. Staffing this facility are 380 associates and 35 managers. Since January 2012, the RDC has experienced 200 safety incidents and 50 OSHA recordable incidents. The project proposal is for two phases. The first phase is for your student team to analyze data, observe material flow and equipment usage to identify associate safety risks at the RDC through root cause analysis. The second phase of the project would include your proposed solutions to improve safety by 50% through improved mechanics / improved ergonomics / and any other solutions you may identify. The Exel team is excited about the proposal and looks forward to working with your team. At Exel, we understand that people are our most valuable resource. Our goal is to increase their potential, while making them even more productive and providing a safe workplace. The two Exel Leaders assigned to the Project will be Todd Goodling, SDC General Manager, and Gary Yurasits, RDC/SDC Safety Manager.

Requested Dept.: Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Exelon/TMI 1

Contact: Mark Harrison

Address: 2625 River Road, Middletown, PA 17057

Phone: 717-948-8266

E-mail: mark.harrison@exeloncorp.com

Project Title: Incore Detector Disposal System Upgrade

Description: Three Mile Island’s Incore Monitoring System consists of assemblies of self-powered neutron detectors located at 52 positions within the core. Each incore detector assembly consists of seven local flux detectors and one background detector installed in the instrumentation tube of each of 52 fuel assemblies. Incore detectors are replaced every 8 years (4 refueling cycles) due to depletion of the detectors rhodium emitter. The irradiated section of the incore detector is withdrawn into a lead shielded transfer cask and then positioned on a shielded hydraulic cutter assembly where it is cut into 8 inch pieces before dropping into permanently installed spent incore storage vaults. Storage vault baskets will be at maximum capacity following incore replacement and spent incore processing in the 2013 refueling outage. The proposed project would be to develop and select between design alternatives to address the spent incore storage vault capacity issue. Alternatives include (1) design and development of a means to remove and dispose of irradiated spent incore pieces to regain vault capacity, or (2) develop an alternative spent incore processing system that captures irradiated pieces in a shielded storage canister for immediate removal and disposal.

Requested Dept.: Nuclear

Requirements: none

Exelon/TMI 2

Contact: Howard Crawford

Address: PO Box 480, Middletown, PA 17057

Phone: 717-948-8412

E-mail: howard.crawford@exeloncorp.com

Project Title: Design and Modeling of a PWR Core Using Pin-byPin VIPRE Code

Description: Background: EPRI PWR Fuel Cladding Corrosion and Crud guidelines require detailed core T/H calculations coupled with chemistry crud deposition calculations when certain plant or fuel changes result in elevated crudding risk. EPRI has developed the Boron-induced Offset Anomaly (BOA) tool to perform the coupled crud deposition calculation. The BOA tool is fed core T/H input data from a VIPRE core model. Recent experience at TMI has shown that a standard ¼-assembly mesh VIPRE model may not sufficiently assess the risk of localized crud buildup in fuel using discrete gadolinia poison rods. A pin-by-pin VIPRE core model would be better suited for this application. The current version of BOA is capable of supporting pin-by-pin calculations. Objectives: Based on the Neutronics data provided by Exelon Nuclear Fuels as necessary, the Team will (a) develop a pin-by-pin VIPRE model for TMI Cycle 20; (b) perform core design work and determine steaming rates and fraction of core boiling; (c) Perform CRUD risk assessments on potential core designs; and (d) Perform PWR core optimization study, which is robust against cladding corrosion or crud formation, through pin-by-pin VIPRE analysis of the hottest assembly.

Requested Dept.: Nuclear

Requirements: none

Fedex Express

Contact: Gay Reginelli

Address: 3680 Hacks Cross Road, Building H, 3rd Floor, Stop 7702, Memphis, TN 38125

Phone: 9014349081

E-mail: fgreginelli@fedex.com

Project Title: Station Simulation - Global

Description: Overview FedEx Corp. provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $43 billion, the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world's most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 300,000 team members to remain "absolutely, positively" focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. FedEx Express is a global shipping provider to business and residential customers providing overnight and deferred services at commit times that vary by zip code. For new products and services as well as expansion and upgrading of existing services these commit times may be subject to change. To evaluate the impact to station operations (i.e. pickup and delivery operations and station sorting) and the customer (i.e. estimated delivery times and service performance), discrete event simulation can yield valuable data for decision making. Objectives - Develop a station simulation for in station and on road activity (see shaded above) using FlexSim simulation software o Integrate simulation with existing data sources o Allow the ability to easily vary key operational variables (leave building times, number of courier waves, operational performance metrics, etc) o Provide a level of visualization and reporting suitable for review with executive management Approach - Share examples of existing simulation models and use cases - Provide access to FedEx Express FlexSim licensing - Provide sample data for use in model and develop distributions and fit and integration process - Schedule site visits and access to station management and facility for follow-up visits - Develop test and validation process for model output Outcomes

Requested Dept.: Industrial

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

First Energy

Contact: Robert Lubert

Address: P.O. Box 4, Shippingport, PA 15077

Phone: 724-682-7049

E-mail: lubertr@firstenergycorp.com

Project Title: Portable Heat Exchanger Design

Description: Design a transportable heat exchanger system to remove decay heat from a pressurized water reactor and/or containment following a beyond design basis external event, such as occurred in Japan at the Fukushima Dai-ichi in March, 2011. The design should reject heat to the air and may include multiple units in series, if applicable. The concept is to circulate water through the interfacing station systems and permit the transfer of heat to the environment with minimal concern for release of radioactive material to the environment. The system should have the capacity to remove the expected decay heat approximately 24 hours following the event and reactor trip. Additionally, the unit(s) should be ruggedly designed, transportable over the road and deployable at the site. The system should be electrically independent of station power sources and self contained.

Requested Dept.: Nuclear

Requirements: none

Flowserve

Contact: Michael Zimmerman

Address: 222 Cameron Drive, Phillipsburg, NJ 08865

Phone: 908-589-7884

E-mail: mzimmerman@flowserve.com

Project Title: Development and Testing of Composite Materials for Pump Wear Rings

Description: Flowserve is continuously seeking ways to improve the products that are provided to our customers and remain competitive in a very aggressive market. Flowserve has begun to explore the application of composite materials in the construction of wear rings at the impeller/casing interface. Flowserve currently utilizes a set of two wear rings manufactured from hardened steel; one stationary on the casing and one rotating on the impeller. Using a composite wear ring makes the stationary ring no longer necessary as the wear properties between the impeller hub and the composite material are sufficient for the pump operating conditions to prevent galling. Eliminating the rotating wear ring will potentially save Flowserve money on the overall cost of the pump by reducing the number of components, and manufacturing and assembly time for this type of pump. To qualify the use of composite wear rings in our pumps, an evaluation of the wear characteristics of various composites is necessary to gain a useful understanding of wear behavior in this application. A team of students will be required to develop a test plan to investigate and quantify the relationship of wear characteristics between a set of composite materials supplied by Flowserve. This semester’s project will be a continuation and expansion of the previous capstone design project that Flowserve participated in. During the fall 2012 semester, students designed and built a rig using a lathe to test composite rings wearing on a rotating steel bar. The project yielded sufficient preliminary testing procedures and results; however, Flowserve is interested in continuing the project to improve and expand the wear testing procedure and results in several key areas. This one semester project will require the students to simultaneously investigate the use of composite wear ring materials from both a theoretical and experimental approach. ? Objectives o Perform composite material characterization and theoretical wear rate calculations. o Develop a test plan to establish a relative ranking of the composite materials with respect to wear rate vs. time and wear rate vs. applied load o Modify testing apparatus components to perform wear rate experiments. -Dry vs. lubricated wear testing -Temperature data acquisition -Interchangeable wear components o Design and manufacture the composite test wear rings. o Post process data using grid measurements and Environmental?Electron Scanning Microscope. o Create a final report detailing the results of the testing and use the relative ranking procedure to determine which wear material is best suited for this application.

Requested Dept.: MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

General Motors 1

Contact: Joseph Polewarczyk

Address: 30001 Van Dyke, Warren, MI 48090

Phone: 586.907.2872

E-mail: joseph.m.polewarczyk@gm.com

Project Title: Active Vehicle Grille

Description: The students will design and build an active external grille that opnes and closes based on a pre-defined signal from the engine management system to optimize and balance aerodynamic drag and engine cooling requirments. The particular focus will be on the mechanization of the grille itself. It will need to meet functional requirments to be provided as the project is started, but will be in the areas of grille kinematics, and the ability to function with some obstruction such as snow or ice.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

General Motors 2

Contact: Joe Polewarczyk

Address: 30001 Van Dyke Ave., M.C. 480-210-2R5 , Warren, MI 48090

Phone: 586 907 2872

E-mail: joseph.m.polewarczyk@gm.com

Project Title: Shallow open Camero door

Description: This is a continuation of a prior project. Goal is to work on the physical robustness of the previous idea. Deliverable would be a system that is capable of supporting the doors weight and still operate along with CAE designs to support the physical project.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: none

Graftech International Holdings

Contact: George Angelo and Scott Penfield

Address: 800 Theresia Street, St.Marys, PA 15857

Phone: 814-781-2290

E-mail: george.angelo@graftech.com;scott.penfield@graftech.com

Project Title: Effectively remove by product & extend life of our baking saggers

Description: Determine methods or materials to improve the current removal of the byproduct during our baking. Current materials include stainless steel sagger cans, coal tar pitch, and silica sand. Current method is abrasive and mechanical.

Requested Dept.: Chem, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: none

GreenTowers Group

Contact: Dustin Betz

Address: 138 S. Atherton St. - Apt. 111, State College, PA 16801

Phone: 717-602-3531

E-mail: dustin@psu.edu

Project Title: Vertical Aquaponic Microfarm

Description: GreenTowers is a current microfarming design and social business initiative, conceptualized in Fall 2012 by a multidisciplinary Penn State student team, networked together through the New Leaf Initiative entrepreneurial incubator. The project team has gained significant University momentum and funding by winning the 2012 Ag Springboard Competition, as well as through participating in the MNE Innovation Challenge. Our working prototype model aims to deliver hyper-localized and small-footprint organic agricultural production into the hands of everyday urban community groups, small in-city growers/producers, and to restaurants seeking to sustainably produce their own vegetables on-site. Locally-sourced and organics food movements here in the United States have seen perpetual upswings in popularity over recent years, and the fact is that the food consumer markets are finally readying for serious, scalable urbanized agricultural production! GreenTowers will deliver upon this urban social need by establishing an example of a modular and expandable in-city microfarming network. Pending R&D, GreenTowers aims to eventually be able to retail its sustainable microfarming production units to a wide urban and suburban customer base. In Spring 2013, GreenTowers group intends to prototype its first full-scale iteration of a vertical aquaponic greenhouse—produced from a recycled and converted standard 20-foot shipping container, which has already been donated to the group courtesy of Bass Mechanical! The aquaponic farming technique combines aquaculture with hydroponics to raise fish and vegetables in conjunction, recycling would-be waste streams to create a closed-loop cyclic production system. A vertical orientation will minimize the greenhouse’s footprint to approximately the size of a parking space, making the structure ideal for spatially constrained urban environments. Shipping containers offer a structurally sound and recycled architectural input, with the intriguing possibility of preserving their inherent attribute of ‘universal transportation’ within the final product’s design. We are currently looking to expand our team to include capstone project engineers who are interested in helping us meet our prototyping goals! Specifically, we will need expertise with helping us to structurally retrofit the vertically-oriented container to be adequately load bearing, not just for persons within the tower greenhouse, but also for supporting significant volumes of water. The capstone team will perform a stress analysis to determine how much reinforcement will be needed, or if guy-wires will be necessary to stabilize the structural unit. The team will also design and fabricate custom U-shaped grow beds to maximize the veggie production space within the vertical farming unit, and they will build a water circulation system that aims to minimize energy inputs. Will you consider joining GreenTowers’ engineering project team?

Requested Dept.: Ag, Mechanical

Requirements: Intellectual

Hickman, Williams & Company

Contact: Jim Csonka

Address: 8050 Rowan Road, Suite 401, Cranberry Township, PA 16066

Phone: 724-772-3334

E-mail: jcsonka@hicwilco.com

Project Title: Molten Metal Filtration

Description: This is phase 3 of a project that started the spring term of 2012. The project is to investigate which of three proposed theories of molten metal filtration: deep bed filtration, filter cake or tailback theory occur during actual pouring of molten metal into a sand mold. Two different types of ceramic filters will be used. The above theories may work differently for each type of filter, or does one theory dominate for both types? Computer simulation may give some insight as to what happens during molten metal pouring. This will be a hands on, practical project for anyone interested in pouring molten metal and the study of what actually happens when molten metal is poured into a sand mold. As this is phase 3, there are existing patterns that may be used. However these patterns may also need to be modified to fit the new project. We would like to find out the following items: 1. Which theory prevails for the types of filters used? Both horizontal or vertical pouring systems would need to be looked at if possible. 2. Does the pre and post filter metal stream show varying amounts of turbulence dependent upon filter type? Both water and molten metal may be used to determine this. Computer simulation may be an aid for this. A high speed camera will be needed to film both water and metal as it passes through the filter types. 3. Can you prove or disprove with Metallography of the samples any of the theories? Is there any retained slag in or around the actual filter surfaces after the metal has solidified around the filter? A Scanning Electron Microscope may be needed to identify slag particles within the samples. 4. Can each filter type stand up to the forces put on them during pouring of a mold with molten metal? Two types of bending tests could be performed.

Requested Dept.: Industrial, MatSci

Requirements: none

Holtec International

Contact: Laszlo Zsidai

Address: 555 Lincoln Drive West, Marlton, NJ 08053

Phone: (856) 797-0900 x3726

E-mail: l.zsidai@holtec.com

Project Title: Neutron attenuation testing of materials

Description: Holtec requires neutron attenuation testing of materials that it fabricates and uses in dry and wet storage of spent nuclear fuel. The students will evaluate the current testing methods used and derive alternate testing methods. Deliverables include, technical reports, feasibility studies, engineering analyses, engineering drawings, specifications, and a final technical report.

Requested Dept.: Nuclear

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Hydroflex Systems, Inc.

Contact: Cathleen Carver

Address: 310 S. 10th Street, Suite F, Lemoyne, PA 17043

Phone: 7174804200

E-mail: ccarver@hydroflexsystems.com

Project Title: Improving the Efficiency of Non-Pressurized Thermal Storage Tanks

Description: Sponsor: Hydroflex Systems, Inc. Title: Improving the Efficiency of Non-Pressurized Thermal Storage Tanks Description: The students will assess current manufacturing processes of thermal storage tanks and develop and implement changes to increase the efficiency of these tanks. Background: A non-pressurized thermal storage tank is a round tank of varying sizes and capacities designed to store thermal energy for later use by means of water or other heat-absorbing liquid. These tanks can store heat from solar, biomass, geothermal, combined heat and power/cogeneration or fuel-fired systems. The heat from these systems is transferred to the tanks by means of heat exchangers inside the tank. This heat is then used for domestic hot water, space heating, swimming pool heating, dehumidification, snow melting and numerous other applications. The tanks can also store cold liquid from chiller systems for air conditioning and other cooling applications. Hydroflex Systems manufactures these tanks in Mechanicsburg, PA using design parameters and construction techniques developed over the past four decades. Some of these are by “rule of thumb,” not laws of engineering design. We recognize that our manufacturing processes may need to be improved to help us compete successfully in the national and international marketplace and call on the Learning Factory to assist us. Objective: Our goal is to increase the efficiency of our thermal storage tanks by a minimum of fifteen percent. This can be accomplished by changing the thermal characteristics of the tank design, increasing the efficiency of the heat exchangers, developing a more efficient thermal mass inside the tank or any combination thereof. Possible Solutions: We have identified several ways to increase the efficiency of our thermal storage tanks. The students are encouraged to analyze these ideas or develop their own ideas. 1) Tank Construction: Students will examine the design and construction of the tanks, liner, insulation and outer jacket to see where thermal efficiencies can be gained without compromising the structural integrity or the tank. 2) Heat Exchangers: Students will analyze the heat exchangers and develop new designs varying the material, size, shape, configuration, and orientation without dramatically increasing pressure drop. 3) Thermal Mass: Students will develop a liquid or solution that will hold more thermal energy in the same volume than conventionally used water or glycol solutions. Design Concerns: To successfully meet the objective, students will have to develop changes in our manufacturing processes that do not require the purchase of tremendously expensive equipment. They will have to use materials readily available so large scale production will not be dependent on interruptions in the supply chain. Students will need to make improvements that do not significantly increase the cost of the tank to the end user. The students must be mindful that their design must be cratable, shippable and deliverable to its final destination.

Requested Dept.: Energy, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

IL Fuels, LLC

Contact: Bruce Miller

Address: C214 Coal Utilization Laboratory (CUL), University Park , PA 16802

Phone: (814) 865-3093

E-mail: bgm3@psu.edu

Project Title: Preliminary Engineering Plant Design to Recover Bitumen from Utah Tar Sands

Description: Description: The project involves assist ingin a preliminary engineering plant design to recover bitumen from Utah tar sands. Work at Penn State has resulted in the development of a novel method for separating bitumen, oil, or other hydrocarbons from sand, soil, or other particulate matter through the use of ionic liquids (ILs). The separation occurs at ambient temperatures and does not result in the generation of waste process water. These are two major concerns for the operations in Canada. The separations are performed at elevated temperatures and significant quantities of waste process water are produced. A demonstration unit capable of processing hundreds of pounds at materials at a time has been assembled for testing at Penn State using the IL approach. In addition, discussions have been on-going with several companies with the goal of installing a pilot-scale unit in the field. One candidate we are actively working with is a company in Utah that aims to recover bitumen from Utah tar sands. The IL process is ideal for this application, because Utah is in a desert and one reason the tar sand industry has not been successful in extracting bitumen from Utah tar sands is the lack of process water. IL Fuels, LLC has prepared several versions of flow diagrams for an IL bitumen recovery process, which is based on demonstration testing at Penn State. The next step is to prepare a preliminary engineering plant design of the process for a plant producing 5,000 barrels/day of bitumen. Specifically, the design will include but may not be limited to: • Material and energy balances • Equipment sizing, selection, and costing including contacting vendors and getting official quotes • Equipment literature from the vendors • Generation of a process diagram • Determination of utility costs based on equipment electrical and other requirements • Preparation of an Excel spreadsheet that lists the various pieces of equipment (by processing area), their costs, their utility requirements, and the utility costs based on local rates

Requested Dept.: Energy

Requirements: none

IMI

Contact: Judy Yetter

Address: 25 Penncraft Avenue, Suite C, Chambersburg, PA 17201

Phone: 7174140817

E-mail: judy.yetter@imiproducts.net

Project Title: Filtered Valve Core

Description: Overview: We need a short filtered valve core for use on truck tire sizes common in Europe and Australia. Deliverable: A short version of our American sized filtered valve core that does not clog during deflation/inflation of the tire and is small enough to fit foreign truck tire sizes. Filtered Valve Core The AirX filtered valve core features a protective filtration system to ensure that the valve core seal does not become contaminated with dirt, rubber particles or debris. The protective stainless steel filter which is attached to the end of the valve stem seats firmly into the base of the valve stem housing, protecting the valve core seal. Therefore, contaminants cannot reach the valve core. Valve stems equipped with a filtered valve core can be used with flow through valve caps, valve stem extensions, pressure equalization devices and on-board central inflation systems. It is designed to fit valve stems that accommodate a long valve core. The protective stainless steel filter seats firmly into the base of the valve stem housing. Contaminants cannot reach the valve core. Features/Benefits • Stainless steel filter (10 micron) in a nickel plated brass core protects the valve core seal from contaminants. • It is a high temperature core with a 100 PTF virgin Teflon seal that meets the ASTM standards for performance. It is rated for temperatures of -65° to 300° Fahrenheit and air pressures up to 200 psi. • Prevents air loss by stopping dirt, rubber particles or debris from entering into the valve core seal. • Excellent flow rate.

Requested Dept.: Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Ishaaqtech

Contact: Kiyasudeen Aliyar

Address: 642 South Crest Court, Pittsburgh, PA 15226

Phone: 408-375-5338

E-mail: kiyasudeena@gmail.com

Project Title: Exercise equipment for office workers

Description: Main idea: work out for legs when also engaged in working at office before computer or other stuff which doesn't need the use of legs Idea: This has to be an equipment little bigger than the home weighing scale with kind of bicycle pedals on both side, but the difference should be, this pedals will not go full 360 degree rotation instead only goes from flat to 60 degree below and comes back to flat, and pedals are longer than bicycle pedals so it can hold the entire foot. Have the lever in the middle to control the torque so can vary the stress level. Also the meter in the middle to calculate the calories burned, workout time...... Constraints: There should not be any noise and should work smoothly. Advantage: This is the light workout but prolonged work out, it can be used in typical 8 hrs office time, doing very light exercise of this duration ,I believe will be equivalent to doing stressful exercise for an hour. This is also can be done by people of any age. Disadvantage: Very light exercise so there is no immediate benefit it they don't work for long hours Technical specification: • Height: 3 to 4 inches • Width: little more than typical weighing scale so foot on rest on it comfortably Weight not more than few lbs • Pedals: should be size of adult foot • Torque: should be applied when pressing the pedal using front foot to ground and system should release and bring back the pedal to neutral position which is flat position, the amount of torque can be controllable using foot lever

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: none

Jersey Shore Hospital

Contact: Erin Welsh

Address: 1020 Thompson Street, Jersey Shore, PA 17740

Phone: 570-398-3103

E-mail: ewelsh@jsh.org

Project Title: Implementation of Centralized Scheduling

Description: Jersey Shore Hospital recently implemented a new, state-of-the-art electronic health record system. Part of this new system is a feature for Centralized Scheduling. At this time, each department schedules their own patients. For example, all Cardiopulmonary appointments are scheduled in the Cardiopulmonary department, and so forth. With the Centralized Scheduling option, patients would be scheduled for Rehab, Cardiopulmonary, Surgery, Radiology, Specialty Clinics, and Lab Outreach services via one, centralized scheduling location. We are asking Industrial Engineering students to help determine an appropriate location within the hospital, a project timeline for implementation, a workflow process, and staffing requirements for Centralized Scheduling. Students will have access to the electronic health record system and a core team of individuals to assist throughout the project. This project may pose interesting challenges, as there are a number of variables to consider. Some of these variables include the fact that patients may need to be scheduled for more than one procedure, some procedures require a pre-authorization from insurance companies, and how Centralized Scheduling will ultimately impact hospital admissions.

Requested Dept.: Industrial

Requirements: none

John Deere

Contact: Austin Shears

Address: John Deere Product Engineering Center P.O. Box 8000, Mail83J, Waterloo, IA 50704

Phone: (319) 292-6308

E-mail: ShearsAustinC@JohnDeere.com;BeltowskiMark@johndeere.com;FabinBethanyA@JohnDeere.com

Project Title: Fluid Level Sensing

Description: John Deere is a premier supplier of agricultural, construction, and residential equipment across the globe. New products are constantly being designed to handle higher demands and efficiency standards. Deere is looking to create a new system capable of delivering data to an operator as to the volume/level of fluid in a reservoir. This additional data provided to the operator will increase functionality and operator efficiency. Students will be asked to design a fluid level sensor for a reservoir. The sensor must be able to accurately determine the current amount of fluid within the reservoir and reserve levels. The information taken from the sensor will need to be displayed to an operator with an easy to read and understand interface. The sensor will need to be easily serviceable and work in a variety of reservoirs. It will be the responsibility of the students to research and report on similar products that are currently in the market and create their own system. There will be weekly meetings to report on progress, share information relevant to the project, and receive necessary information and guidance from John Deere. Students will deliver a working prototype at the end of the session that includes: a sensor prototype, computer program to collect data from sensor, and a way to display the information to the operator. Also, a final report documenting all research, analysis, and results from the project will need to be delivered.

Requested Dept.: Ag, Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Kennametal Inc.

Contact: Joe Nelson

Address: 1600 Technology Way, Latrobe, PA 15650

Phone: 724-539-4940

E-mail: joe.nelson@kennametal.com

Project Title: Real-Time Particle Size Distribution (PSD) Analysis

Description: An individual coal mine can recover thousands of tons of coal per day. Understanding the size distribution of the mined coal particles is important for coal mining operations because it will have an impact on safety and process effectiveness. We would like the project team to recommend a product design for efficiently measuring the particle size distribution for a sample of coal. Coal samples will be provided by the sponsor and tests will need to be conducted under different conditions to simulate the mining environment. The project team will likely need to test several product concepts to arrive at their final recommendation. The final product design will need to balance the requirements of unit cost, measurement accuracy and analysis time.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

KYDEX LLC 1

Contact: Tom Kapelewski

Address: 6685 Low Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815

Phone: 570-387-6997

E-mail: kapelewskit@kydex.com

Project Title: Extrusion Support

Description: To review the current Extrusion Support position procedures and determine time required for each element. Then, analyze each element looking for both time and material improvement. Recommend value added opportunities as well as outline current non-value added activities. Improve the overall Extrusion Support time by 25%.

Requested Dept.: Industrial

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

KYDEX LLC 2

Contact: Tom Kisiel

Address: 6685 Low St, BLoomasburg, PA 17815

Phone: 570-387-6997 Ext 546

E-mail: kisielt@KYDEX.com

Project Title: Reduce Masterbatch Dust

Description: Excessive amounts of dust are produced during the processes involved in the manufacture of our masterbatch intermediate. These nuisance dusts are produced during the loading, mixing, unloading, and cleaning processes involved with making masterbatch. Reduce the amount of dust caused during the manufacture of masterbatch. Look at innovations to reduce the dust at key points of these processes. Review possible new equipment that addresses our mixing needs, and reduces the free dust problem. Ideally, have the masterbatch process be a sustainably cleaner work evolution.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Lean-Green LLC - Testing

Contact: Mike Harris

Address: Liberty Square, Suite B-2, 270 W. Lancaster Ave., Malvern , PA 19355

Phone: 610-644-2856 Ext. 22

E-mail: mharris@lean-green.com

Project Title: Switch It Off Device - Testing

Description: Overview: The Switch It Off device is an intelligent current switch (aka “ICS”) that learns the behavior of a machine circuit and makes a decision about when the machine circuit can be powered off to save energy costs. Features - Saves Energy Costs; Automatically learns machine behavior; Simple system integration; Adjustable Delay Time and Current Ratio; Status Indicator LEDs; Din Rail Mount; Low Cost. General Requirements 1. Test results will be used for marketing purposes so clear results charts are required in jpeg format. 2. A short video recording (internet quality) should be made of one test for each Part described below. Part 1: Variable AC Current Source 1. Test setup: Variable ac current source. Data Acquisition system used to monitor the current from the 0-5V output and the output relay contacts (open=0V, 5V=closed) (scale: 0.5V=10A). Output current verified using a fluke clamp on meter. 2. All combinations (<1200) of the following settings must be tested: a. Idle current (Ii): 5A, 10A, 30A, 50A b. Idle duration after startup and before load applied : 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes c. Load current (IL): (subject to maximum load current of 100A) Ii*1.25, Ii*2, Ii*3, Ii*5 d. ICS Wait Period setting: 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes e. Threshold current setting (IT): 115%, 150%, 200% f. Switch reset before test: Yes, No. 3. Example reports: Test # Description Expected Outcome 1 50Amps idle current, 115%, 1 minute delay. Switch was reset to find new idle current and SOT. 2 50Amps idle current, 115%, 1 minute delay. Switch was reset to find new idle current and SOT. 3 50Amps idle current, 115%, 1 minute delay. Switch was NOT reset to find new idle current, it was recalled from memory after the power cycle. 4 30Amps idle current, 200%, 30 minute delay. Switch was reset to find new idle current and SOT. Switch off event was below the resolution of the blue graph. It is marked manually. 5 20Amps idle current, 158%, 15 minute delay. Switch was reset to find new idle current and SOT. 6 10Amps idle current, 115%, 1 minute delay. Switch was reset to find new idle current and SOT. Part 2 – Real Motors 1. Test setup: This test should be run for each of 3 different motors with the ICS-under-test set up to sense the motor input current. The ICS-under-test should be connected in such a way that it switches off the input current to the motor. 2. Each motor should be tested with 3 cases of relative constant load: small, medium and large load relative to the motors capability. 3. Each motor with each load should be tested with 3 different “ICS Wait Periods” Step # Description Test Value(s) 1 Reset the ICS memory 2 Remove any load from the motor 3 Set “Threshold current” on ICS Threshold current = 150% 4 Set “ICS Wait Period” on ICS ICS Wait Period = 1 minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes 5 Start data logging of motor input current and realy output voltage 6 Switch on power to motor and wait for “startup delay” Startup delay = 3 minutes 7 Apply load to motor and wait for “Load Delay” Load = small, medium or large Load Delay = 5 minutes 8 Remove load from motor and wait for period 5 minutes greater than “ICS Wait Period” 9 If not stopped by ICS, stop motor 10 Switch on power to motor and wait for “startup delay” Startup delay = 3 minutes 11 Apply load to motor and wait for “Load Delay” Load = small, medium or large Load Delay = 5 minutes 12 Remove load from motor and wait for period 5 minutes greater than “ICS Wait Period” 13 If not stopped by ICS, stop motor 14 End of test

Requested Dept.: Energy

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Lockheed Martin

Contact: Paul Mittan

Address: 1801 State Route 17C, MD 0302, Owego, NY 13827

Phone: 607-751-4471

E-mail: paul.mittan@lmco.com

Project Title: Inanimation

Description: It is preferred that students working on this project be US Citizens in order to participate in a site visit. The intent of this project is to create an autonomous robotic device from a normally inanimate object. The design team should select an inanimate object and implement control and recognition technology for the device using only small single board computing or microcontroller devices, such as a Raspberry Pi and/or Arduino microcontroller. Other sensors, servos and devices may also be required at the discretion of the design team to enable interaction with the object. An example of a similar application is linked below. A desktop lamp uses a camera in place of a bulb and when enabled searches for faces. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/12/sit-stay-good-lamp/ All computing devices, servos, sensors, etc shall be delivered as a package including installation instructions for modification of additional objects. The modified object shall be fully autonomous when enabled and demonstrate an ability to interact with a human in some fashion. Additionally, the design team should fully document their design process throughout the semester via video. The video shall be compiled and submitted at the end of the semester for the Learning Factory video competition. Assistance from a video expert outside of the design team is acceptable.

Requested Dept.: CompSci, CSE, Electrical

Requirements: none

Lumax Lighting 1

Contact: Erik Snyder

Address: Chestnut Ave. and Fourth Street, Altoona, PA 16603

Phone: 814-944-2537

E-mail: ems@lumaxlighting.com

Project Title: Automatic Carton Closer

Description: Currently Lumax manually packages all of the light fixtures it produces at its assembly lines. Five-panel cartons are typically employed that must be folded around the fixtures and stapled or taped closed. The method of closure (stapling of taping) is dependent upon the size of the fixture/carton, the need to avoid scratching certain fixtures that may come in contact with the staples, or customer preference. The packaged fixtures are then manually stacked upon a pallet for subsequent stretch wrapping and shipment. It is desired to develop and incorporate an improved automated packaging system that can improve the throughput of the process while ensuring the quality, consistency, and appearance of the packaged product. The system will also provide ergonomic benefit and reduced labor utilization. It would be of further benefit if the system can be made portable so that it could be moved to different assembly lines. The process is not limited to utilizing the current packaging materials (i.e. five panel boxes). Other carton configurations (size, number of panels, etc.) and closure methods could be considered, as well as alternate methods and materials that might greatly reduce the amount of corrugate currently employed. The packaging must protect the product from environmental and mechanical damage, allow the product to be stacked for shipping, and provide an attractive presentation for the customer.

Requested Dept.: ESM, Electrical, Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Lumax Lighting 2

Contact: Rich Taylor

Address: Chestnut Ave and Fourth Street, Altoona, PA 16602

Phone: 814-944-2537 x 115

E-mail: RTaylor@LumaxLighting.com

Project Title: LED industrial high bay light fixture

Description: Lumax Lighting is an Altoona based, 36 year old manufacturing company. We are family owned and proud to be one of the few remaining Made in the USA fixture manufacturers. Traditionally we have designed and built lighting fixtures around linear fluorescent lamps. Although fluorescent lamps are still very efficient, provide long life, and are inexpensive, LED technology is building momentum. Our project request is for a brand new, innovative design for a LED high bay industrial fixture. Regarding the industrial design, we are looking for a new form factor (instead of normal 18" x 48" box). Some of our larger competitors have developed round shapes and some have done skinnier, rectangular shapes. At this point, we are open to new ideas. This new LED high bay will have a few specific light output levels so it can used at very high mounting heights or at low mounting heights. The angle of the beam of light coming from the fixture is to be determined. Specific light output requirements will be provided at the beginning of the project. With LED's, maintaining a low operating temperature is critical for long, maintenance free operation. With this in mind, we will need thermal analysis to verify LED's and LED drivers are operating at optimal temperatures. In summary, Lumax Lighting needs an innovative new LED high bay fixture with exceptional thermal characteristics and light output. We are looking for a functional sample to install in our showroom for Sales and customer review. This sample will be shown to our Sales staff and customers for their input. Sincerely- Rich Taylor

Requested Dept.: Energy, ESM, Electrical, Industrial, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: none

MIT/ASU/Dow Chemical

Contact: Katy Olesnavage

Address: 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139

Phone: 248-854-5289

E-mail: kolesnav@mit.edu

Project Title: Jaipur Foot

Description: Project Background and Overview: Lower limb amputation occurs much more frequently in the developing world than in countries with broad access to healthcare. Lower limb amputation generally leads to loss of income, which can be devastating for an extended family unit. According to the JaipurFoot.org website “10 million people in India are suffering from locomotor disabilities out of a population of 1 billion.” Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), Jaipur was founded in March 1975 as a non-governmental, non-religious, non-sectarian, non-regional, non-political society for helping the physically challenged, particularly the poor. BMVSS has become the world’s largest organization in terms of fitment of artificial limbs and calipers etc., to the handicapped. Aids and appliances are provided totally free of charge to the physically challenged. See http://www.jaipurfoot.org for more information. Photo included show the foot used with lower limb prostheses called the Jaipur Foot. The design has evolved over 35 years to be extremely durable, and pliable but stiff like a human foot. Each foot is hand-made, with a combination of internal materials, bound with fibrous tape before compression forming. An alternative foot, made of injection-molded polyurethane (PU) has a much simpler internal construction and reduced production time, but is proving to be far less durable. Project Activities: • Design and build equipment for static testing on the feet that interfaces with an MTS machine to characterize the biomechanics of the feet during gait. • Develop an experimental procedure • Test experimental setup with both original rubber Jaipur Foot and PU foot Examples of deliverables: • CAD models and drawings of test rig • Experimental procedure • Example test results • Recommendations on next tests to be completed • Posters and reports of work completed This project will be a collaborative effort with Katy Olesnavage and Dr. Amos Winter (MIT) and student teams at Arizona State University, and will be one of several projects related to the Jaipur foot and PU foot. The PSU and ASU undergraduate teams will be in regular contact with Katy throughout the duration of their projects to ensure all parties best leverage their skills and align their efforts. Selected undergraduates may have the opportunity to use the Jaipur project as senior theses and do design iteration/field testing activities in India.

Requested Dept.: Bio, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Muncy Valley Hospital SNU

Contact: Anne Holladay

Address: 215 E. Water Street, Muncy, PA 17756

Phone: 570-546-4040

E-mail: aholladay@susquehannahealth.org

Project Title: Acuity Based Staffing for Long Term Care

Description: The Muncy Valley Hospital Skilled Nursing Unit is a 138 long term care facility attached to an acute care hospital. We run an average daily resident census of 127. We staff the facility with Registered Nurses (RN), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN’s) and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA’s). We have residents that have minimal daily care needs to residents who live on ventilators requiring total care or a wide acuity range. Daily nurse staffing for RN, LPN and CNA to provide care to residents in long term care are staffed on a per resident per day basis. In the Muncy Valley Hospital Skilled Nursing Unit (MVH SNU) we staff 3.95 nursing hours per patient day. Staffing is solely based on the resident census daily and not adjusted for resident acuity. The MVH SNU completes a Minimum Data Set (MDS) resident assessment tool on admission, quarterly and with all significant medical changes. The MDS will then assigns a numeric value to the resident’s acuity level. We would like to have a staffing model built that would manage staffing tied to the acuity of the residents. We are not going be allocated any additional staffing dollars or hours but would like to justify an equitable distribution of staff based on resident needs. An acuity based staffing model would allow improved productivity and allocation of nursing resources based on resident need. GOALS: 1. Development of nurse staffing model based on resident acuity. 2. Develop a tool that will determine daily staffing levels for RN, LPN, and CNA per shift and per unit. 3. Tool needs to accommodate daily census so staffing can be managed

Requested Dept.: Industrial

Requirements: none

New Leaf & MakeSpace

Contact: Drew Oros, Spud Marshall, John Stitzing

Address: New Leaf Initiative: 100 South Fraser St, State College, PA 16801

Phone: 215-480-9870

E-mail: dto5009@gmail.com

Project Title: Collaboracam: Bridging the innovation spaces in State College, PA

Description: Several innovation spaces are starting to take root in the State College, PA area. For example, the New Leaf Initiative (http://newleafinitiative.org/) was created in 2010 to serve as a social innovation incubator and provide the first step for people looking to make positive, radical change in the world. The New Leaf office, in the heart of downtown, is a neutral space for students and community members to work together on projects and ventures. Meanwhile, the The Make Space (http://themakespace.com/) was established in May 2012 and is a space to build project, share skills, learn and create. The objective in this project is to determine how best to bridge these distributed innovation spaces to facilitate collaborations of individuals and teams across multiple locations. In particular, for this capstone project, we seek a team of students to: (a) Assess the range of innovation activities that occur in the New Leaf and The Make Space spaces, (b) Codify the different activities and identify modes of collaboration that might occur across these distributed innovation spaces, (c) Make recommendations for appropriate audio/video/information technologies with preference to Open Source tools to support these modes of collaboration, (d) Implement a low-cost prototype to illustrate at least one mode of distributed collaboration across these two spaces, (e) Evaluate the effectiveness of the prototype system and (f) Publish results in an open forum for the common benefit of all collaborative spaces (e.g. hackerspaces.org). The team’s recommendations should also include a plan for expanding the proposed system to additional innovation spaces as they emerge. Other Info: The Make Space 141 S Fraser St, State College, PA Spud Marshall iamspud5@gmail.com 717-314-9972 John Stitzinger stitziner@centreweb.com 814-689-3103

Requested Dept.: CompSci, CSE, Electrical, Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: none

NVE

Contact: Stephen F Homcha

Address: 11 Park Azve, Nesquehoning, PA 18240

Phone: 570-991-1684

E-mail: Steve.homcha@hotmail.com

Project Title: Amphibious Boat Dock Dolly

Description: The winter freeze of lakes in Pennsylvania results in significant damage to boat docks which are not removed prior to the freeze. Typical methods for dock removal rely primarily on "human effort" to lift and carry the dock to dry land. The goal of this project is to develop an amphibious dolly capable of one man transport of a dock from water to land. The amphibious dolly must be capable of supporting a 260# dock which measures 6'x10'. The dolly would be positioned below the dock in a manner which allows it to support the dock while being disconnected from mating sections, float the dock to the shoreline, and finally transport the dock approx 20' onto a sandy beach. Ideally the design would be modular, to allow for compact storage, as well as corrosion resistant. A scale model for proof of concept is acceptable. If possible, material list of components for a full size model is requested.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: none

PPL Susquehanna, LLC

Contact: Andrew Dyszel

Address: Two North Ninth Street (GENPL4), Allentown, PA 18101

Phone: 610-774-7990

E-mail: adyszel@pplweb.com

Project Title: Reload Planning Prior to Decom

Description: Determine economical reload batch size and bundle enrichment requirements for the last three remaining cycles of operation prior to plant decommissioning. This could be performed either on a PWR or BWR reactor core. The reload batch size and enrichment specification should consider maximizing the discharge burnups at the end of each cycle, especially the last cycle.

Requested Dept.: Nuclear

Requirements: none

PSU Ag - Miscanthus

Contact: Jude Liu

Address: 227 Agricultural Engineering Building, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 814-863-6844

E-mail: jliu@engr.psu.edu

Project Title: Miscanthus Cutting and Conditioning Devices

Description: Cutting blades and conditioning rollers will be designed and built in lab-scale models. These devices will then be tested using Miscanthus plant samples in an indoor lab environment. Deliverables will include built devices and preliminary lab performance evaluation report. Additional fund will be provided to purchase additional components if needed.

Requested Dept.: Ag, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU Ag - Tractor

Contact: Dennis Murphy

Address: 221 Agricultural Engineering, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 814-865-7157

E-mail: djm13@psu.edu

Project Title: Developing a Farm Tractor Simulator

Description: The students will work to interface a John Deere farm tractor cab with an existing 6-degree of freedom Moog motion base located at the Larson Transportation Institute at Penn State. The work will focus on the mechanical connections between the tractor cab and the motion base.

Requested Dept.: Ag, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU ARL

Contact: Rich Martukanitz; Ted Reutzel

Address: Applied Sciences Building, State College, PA 16804

Phone: 814-863-7282

E-mail: rxm44@psu.edu; ewr101@psu.edu

Project Title: A Comparative Analysis of Additive Manufacturing Capabilities in CIMP-3D

Description: The Pennsylvania State University and the Applied Research Laboratory along with its partners Battelle Memorial Institute and Sciaky Corporation have established the Center for Innovative Materials Processing through Direct Digital Deposition (CIMP-3D) to provide a world-class resource for additive manufacturing for critical applications (www.cimp-3d.org). Additive manufacturing has the potential to revolutionize manufacturing by providing on-demand production, decreasing material and manufacturing costs, allowing highly flexible designs for production, and producing features and material combinations that are not currently feasible. Additive manufacturing builds upon the U.S. strength in materials, design, simulation, and cyber technology, and offers extreme levels of product flexibility that enables new paradigms in design, materials, and manufacturing. To address the multidisciplinary needs for advancing this technology, CIMP-3D acts as a catalyst for engaging broad faculty collaboration and enables pooling of resources to create an exceptional research facility. The center’s new Additive Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) is installed in Building 230 at Innovation Park on the campus of Penn State. The 8,000 square-foot facility includes several additive manufacturing systems capable of full consolidation of polymeric, metallic, and ceramic material systems, as well as a state-of-the-art design studio and prototyping laboratory. Current capabilities include an Optomec LENS system, a Sciaky Electron Beam system, and an EOS powder bed system (for more details, see: http://www.cimp-3d.org/facilities.html), and additional capabilities will be added in the near future. We seek a capstone design team that will help us systematically evaluate and compare the capabilities of the existing additive manufacturing systems in CIMP-3D. In particular, the team will review the specifications of each system (e.g., build volume, dimensional accuracy), identify key operating and process parameters for each system (e.g., powder feed rates, layer thickness), conduct a small set of experiments to compare part quality on each system (e.g., benchmark 1-2 parts on each systems), and outline a set of recommendations for their usage on future industry-sponsored and capstone design projects.

Requested Dept.: ESM, Industrial, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU Astrobiology Research Center

Contact: Chris House

Address: 218 Deike Building, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 814-865-8802

E-mail: chrishouse@psu.edu

Project Title: Colombian Volcanic Lake Explorer

Description: Exploring life in extreme environments requires unique, robust tools that are adapted to withstand harsh environmental conditions while working reliably in remote locations to minimize the risks faced by researchers. The goal of this project will be to fully develop a small remote controlled floating craft that will be used to explore an extremely acidic volcanic crater lake in Colombia, which has an unusual microbial ecosystem and which serves as a terrestrial analog for environments that may have existed on the early surface on Mars. Last semester engineers produced a remote controlled craft that can maneuver through very low pH waters with the capability to deploy a sampling and sensor probe. This semester engineers will work with researchers to further develop the boat, designing and creating a deployable probe to address basic physical and biological questions about this extreme environment. The probe will measure and record physical parameters including depth, temperature, and pH across multiple locations and depths, as well as recording visual data and returning liquid samples for chemical and biological analyses.

Requested Dept.: Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU DIGI-NET

Contact: Tim Simpson & Sven Bilen

Address: 326 Leonhard Bldg, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 8148637136

E-mail: tws8@psu.edu; sbilen@engr.psu.edu

Project Title: A scalable low-cost system to virtually connect distributed design and fabrication spaces on campus

Description: Ever been working in the Learning Factory and wished you could ask your teammates back in Hammond a question about your CAD model? Or been in Hammond and realized you needed clarification on something being made in Learning Factory? We want a capstone design team help us develop and prototype a system to solve this problem. Current videoconferencing and telepresence systems by companies like Cisco, Polycom, and Sony work great but are very, very expensive, but who would want to put a $25,000+ video conferencing system next to a working mill or a lathe? We seek a low-cost and scalable system to "virtually connect" multiple design and fabrication spaces that are distributed across University Park campus (and, ultimately, other Penn State campuses), especially now that students use multiple facilities to complete their design and prototyping projects. The system should cost less than $1000 to install in a facility, be compatible with and easy to integrate into Penn State’s network, and be scalable to multiple facilities on campus. The system needs to include both audio and video and work well in a noisy shop environment. The system should also be reliable and robust given its proxy to working conditions in a shop. By the end of the semester, the team should demonstrate a working prototype that virtually connects the Learning Factory (in the Engineering Services Building on West Campus) to the Model Shop (in the Center for Engineering Design and Entrepreneurship in Hammond Building). The final report should include specification of all components in a complete system, a bill of materials, purchasing information (vendor, make/model numbers, cost, etc.), and detailed instructions for (i) installation, including network connection, and (ii) usage. Based on this demonstration, the team should also make recommendations and develop a cost estimate to "virtually connect" all of the design and digital fabrication facilities in DIGI-NET (http://diginet.psu.edu) as well as link up to work spaces downtown and adjacent to campus (e.g., New Leaf, Makespace, etc.) and at other Penn State campuses.

Requested Dept.: CompSci, CSE, Electrical, Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU Dow Sustainability Challenge Winners

Contact: Marta Hatzell

Address: 1144 S Atherton, State College, pa 16801

Phone: 4845575310

E-mail: mch223@psu.edu

Project Title: Design of a pilot scale microbial fuel cell reactor for energy production from wastewater

Description: The water-energy nexus has emerged as one of the top global priorities as both resources are diminishing in quantity. The EPA estimates that 4% of our countries electricity demand is used to treat and move water and wastewater. Therefore, development of technologies that can not only treat water and wastewater, but can do so while reducing or even creating energy is a national goal. Microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) represent an effective means of treating wastewater, and accumulating value added products such as electricity, hydrogen gas, biofuels and other valuable chemicals. However, to date a majority of the studies have worked only at the laboratory scale. In order for METs to take the next step towards full scale implementation, larger pilot testing using real wastewater must be completed. This proposed senior project is to scale up a microbial fuel cell (MFC) which will be capable of treating wastewater and creating electrical energy. Students will work at the local Penn State waste water treatment facility and develop a low cost (optimally <1000 $) MFC. Due to the potential impact this could have on communities without sanitation processes in place, such as developing communities in Africa a second portion of this project will be in the design of a way to best harvest this energy, for potential home use (i.e. batteries, capacitors, etc.). Deliverables include: 1. Review existing large scale MET implementations strategies 2. Development of low cost electrodes with no precious metal (activated carbon based) 3. Design of a large scale functional microbial fuel cell reactor 4. Report performance data (energy output & treatment efficiency) over at least a month long study 5. Report on energy capture by various energy storage techniques

Requested Dept.: Ag, Bio, Chem, Energy, ESM, Electrical, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU Engineering Ambassadors

Contact: Melissa Marshall

Address: 207 Reber Building, University Park, PA 16801

Phone: 814-863-6288

E-mail: melissamarshall2@gmail.com

Project Title: Changing the Conversation: Engineering Ambassador School Outreach Project

Description: The Penn State Engineering Ambassador program is a professional development program with an outreach mission. Sharing our passion and pride, we inspire middle and high school students to challenge conventional ideas about science and engineering. Through communication and leadership, we strive to become world class engineers and seek to motivate the next generation of engineers to impact the health, happiness and safety of our world. This senior design project has the goal of researching, designing, and delivering a new outreach demonstration or activity that can be used by the Engineering Ambassadors to interest middle and high school students in engineering careers. This project has the following goals/deliverables: 1. Students will design a unique demonstration or activity kit that can be used for middle and high school outreach events. Possible project topics include: robotics, alternative energy kits, biomedical device design, etc. Students will research other existing innovative outreach project ideas to understand successful features of an outreach project. 2. This activity will emphasize the messages of the National Academy of Engineering’s Changing the Conversation study to show that engineers are essential to the health, happiness, and safety of the world. 3. Students will test this design in a school outreach visit in Spring 2013. 4. The activity/demonstration should be one that is “reusable” for future Engineering Ambassador visits.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU Engineering Leadership Development Program (ELDP)

Contact: Erick Froede

Address: 737A West Whitehall Road, State College, PA 16801

Phone: 973-975-2953

E-mail: ewf5012@psu.edu

Project Title: Baobab Processing Machine

Description: The baobab fruit is a key food supplement as well as a cash crop for much of sub-Saharan Africa. The fruit grows on the baobab tree, often called the “Tree of Life” because of the vital role it plays in the life of the residents of Africa. The fruit looks like an elongated coconut, with pulp and seeds inside that need to be separated. The pulp is typically ground into a powder for food supplements, and the seeds are crushed to create valuable oils and seedcakes. Current processing methods are very manpower intensive and inefficient. Penn State has been involved in implementing improved methods for processing this fruit for several years and the design has evolved as we have traveled to Morocco, Senegal and Benin to deliver, assemble, test and train the operators of these prototype units. Based on the most recent test results and feedback from the farms in Africa, new requirements and ideas have been generated that suggest that a new design approach could result in much less expensive, more lightweight, more efficient and reliable units. The team will review prior designs, test results, and specifications for the machine output, brainstorm ideas for improvement, and in consultation with the sponsor, down-select a design, procure the needed materials, build a prototype, and test the performance. If successful, the prototype will serve as the basis for future units to be produced in Africa, and the prototype will be sent to a farm in Africa for use by the residents.

Requested Dept.: Ag, ESM, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU First Responder

Contact: Sven Bilen

Address: 213 Hammond Bldg, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 1 814 863 1526

E-mail: sbilen@psu.edu

Project Title: Wearable Router for First-responder Radio to Next-Generation Incident Command System Integration

Description: First responders in disaster situations often suffer from inadequate infrastructure in place to meet their communications needs. An example of this is that, when firefighters are in the field, their existing communications channels can be overwhelmed. A dedicated relay system can augment the communications gaps by allowing firefighters to send back a heartbeat packet including status and location as well as receive recent commands. Penn State, in conjunction with Department of Homeland Security and MIT Lincoln Labs, has built a proof-of-concept system to address the needs of first responders. This project will work on some next steps in the demonstration system, namely: • Integration with the Next-Generation Incident Command System (NICS). NICS is situational awareness and collaboration platform built with an open architecture for first responders. Students will develop a flexible system to interact with NICS servers. • Prototype wearable router. The system will clip on a police officer’s belt and communicate via UHF to a central repeater and also act as a Wi-Fi hotspot for surrounding enabled devices. The team will work closely with Penn State students who are working on the overall system and with engineers at MIT LL. Deliverables: demonstrate end-to-end test with radio link on belt to NICS server, as well as supporting documentation.

Requested Dept.: CompSci, CSE, Electrical

Requirements: none

PSU Industrial Engineering

Contact: Michael Immel

Address: 310 Leonhard Building, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 814-863-2365

E-mail: mci101@psu.edu

Project Title: Project Assignment Algorithm

Description: Students currently submit paper forms which the instructors collect and collaborate to assign projects and groups for the capstone courses. The forms contain preferences for projects along with information from the individuals submitting the forms. This is currently a tedious inefficient process, which takes a long time to complete. The purpose of this project is to automate the selection process with a web based form which will populate an excel spreadsheet with assigned groups and members to specified projects. Between the web based form and the excel output, there will be an algorithm to determine the student placements into groups based on the preferences of students. This means of placing students into groups would be a much more effective and efficient way to solve the current problem. This new selection process will be fully automated and will remove the bias created by humans in the selection process.

Requested Dept.: Industrial

Requirements: none

PSU Learning Factory

Contact: Bill Genet

Address: 118A Engineering Services Building, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 814-863-6337

E-mail: wlg10@psu.edu

Project Title: An inventory management system for raw stock in the Learning Factory

Description: The Learning Factory maintains a small quantity of raw metal stock onsite for design projects being produced in the facility. There is currently minimal oversight and control of this metal stock, making it difficult to recover material costs on most design projects. Previously, we have relied on industry donations to replenish our stock; however, increased usage of the facility by more and more design projects has outpaced our ability to track inventory effectively and manage our growing raw material costs. The objective in this capstone design project is to develop, prototype, and test a material billing system that would allow us to recover at least 80% of our material expense by logging input in a timely manner, simplifying the process of logging information, tracking total material expenses of any student project, promoting awareness of material cost, and improving material return. The deliverables from the project include a working prototype, a final report detailing the results of an investigation for use of the new system, and recommendations for future improvements based on testing the prototype system.

Requested Dept.: Industrial

Requirements: none

PSU ME 430

Contact: Dom Santavicca

Address: 132 Research East Bldg., University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 814-863-1863

E-mail: das8@psu.edu

Project Title: Combustion Demonstration for ME430

Description: The objective of this project is to design and construct a system for in-class demonstration of the different types of flames and their operating characteristics. Deliverables include specifying the types of flames to be demonstrated, the important characteristics of each flame type, the design parameters and specifications, selection of materials, the construction and demonstratuion of the system, and a detailed safety plan,

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU ME 480

Contact: Yashwanth Tummala

Address: #328 Leonhard Building, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 814-863-7523

E-mail: yash@psu.edu

Project Title: Mechanism Building Kits for ME 480 - Global

Description: Overview: ME 480 is a senior level mechanical engineering technical elective. This class is usually taken by seniors and first year graduate students in mechanical engineering. In this class, students learn about mechanism design, synthesis and analysis. They learn to create linkage mechanisms for varied applications. Linkage mechanisms are everywhere. Pliers, crimping tools, automobiles, machine tools, cranes, trucks are just some examples where linkage mechanisms are used. As part of their learning process, students use mechanism kits to teach themselves more about linkage kinematics. These kits are also used by the students to demonstrate simple models of the linkage mechanisms they build as part of their projects in the class. There are mechanism kits that are being used right now in the class but improvements are needed. Objectives: Design and build a mechanism kit for ME 480. Using the parts of the kit, students should be able to build 4-bar mechanisms in all Grashof conditions, a slider-crank mechanism and its inversions, gear trains, simple disk cam and follower mechanisms, and a geared 5-bar mechanism. The link lengths should be adjustable. A low cost motor that can be used with any of the mechanisms should be selected. The kit should be inexpensive and easy to produce using off the shelf parts and/or components manufactured in the Learning Factory. Forty kits will eventually be produced, so low cost is important. An existing kit will be given to the group as an example. A successful design will be used by Penn State students in future ME 480 classes. Deliverables: Plans for mechanism building kit including CAD models, recommended manufacturing process(es), and parts list. One complete kit including step-by-step instructions for building the mechanisms mentioned above. A detailed cost analysis of all the parts in the kits must also be given. Contact: Yashwanth Tummala #328 Leonhard Building yash@psu.edu Spring 2013 Office Hours: Thursdays 9:00am – noon in #323 Leonhard

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU MNE

Contact: Tim Simpson

Address: 326 Leonhard Bldg, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 814-863-7136

E-mail: tws8@psu.edu

Project Title: Designing an educational dissection activity for a four cylinder engine

Description: General Motors (GM) has donated several 1.8 L engines to Penn State and the Department of Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering for educational purposes. These four-cylinder engines were intended for GM’s Chevy Cruze; however, these specific engines served as test engines and will not be put into service, which is why they have been donated to Penn State. Two of these engines are designated for use in ME240: Product Dissection, a product teardown course that currently involves dissection and analysis of a four-stroke, single cylinder Briggs & Stratton lawn mower engine (http://www.mne.psu.edu/simpson/courses/me240/engines.html). The goal is this project is to develop an educational dissection activity using one (or both) engines that complements the in-class lawn mower engine dissection activities already in ME240. (Note: the engines weigh about 200lbs each and are currently located in 124 Hammond - see photo.)After reviewing the current dissection and analysis activities for the lawn mower engine and engine dissection activities that exist at other schools, the team should develop ideas for educational dissection activities that use these engines, identify the 1-3 most promising activities, modify the engine(s) as needed to implement these 1-3 activities, and then pilot these activities during the last 1-2 weeks of ME240 in Spring 2013. When piloting the activity, the team should gather feedback from the students on the dissection activity, assess its effectiveness, and then make recommendations for future improvements and alternative activities involving the engines. The team should also deliver a detailed step-by-step description of the dissection activities, including both teardown and assembly instructions along with questions or prompts to guide the students through the activities.

Requested Dept.: Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU PENNTAP 1

Contact: Mark Toda and Kate Ortbal

Address: 311 The 329 Building, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 570-819-8973

E-mail: mdt4@psu.edu;kjo5071@psu.edu

Project Title: Solar Powered Well Pump

Description: Water is a critical resource and often the viability of a village or farm in remote locations around the world is determined by the availability of water. In many of these locations, electrical power is not readily available, or not reliable. However, in most locations around the world, solar radiation is plentiful. Well pumping systems based on solar cells (photovoltaics) are expensive and not affordable by many villages. Recent evaluations have indicated that solar powered heat engine cycles could be cost effective and easily transported and installed in wells in these locations. The team will review prior studies, benchmark various solar powered systems (solar cells, rankine cycle, stirling cycle, etc.) and recommend a system to use, based on cost, efficiency, reliability, and difficulty to build and maintain. The sponsors will review the recommendation and agree to a path forward. The team will then design, build and test a prototype unit. The successful prototype will serve as the basis for future units to be produced for use in remote locations and may be sent to a farm in Africa for use by the residents.

Requested Dept.: ESM, Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU PENNTAP 2

Contact: Jim Babcock

Address: 850 Washington Road, St Marys, PA 15857

Phone: 814-834-4470

E-mail: jbareinc@windstream.net

Project Title: Challenger Large Scale Biomass Combustion Verification and Analysis

Description: Advanced Recycling Equipment (ARE) in St Mary’s, PA is a leading manufacturer of Biomass Thermal Combustion Systems. ARE’s furnaces and boilers are used in a variety of facilities to provide hot air, hot water or steam to satisfy building and/or process heating needs. Advanced Recycling’s website is http://www.advancedrecyclingequip.com. Currently, ARE manufactures and distributes the 400 Series and 600 Series Challenger Thermal Combustion Systems. ARE has been working on the design of a new 800 Series system that has increased heating capability. ARE is interested in working with Penn State University to analytically and/or experimentally model the combustion process to verify the system’s heating capability, the system efficiencies, and to optimize the design of the system. The project would entail reviewing the design for the 800 Series Thermal Combustion System, understand how it works, and identifying an approach for modeling the System. ARE looks forward to having students visit our manufacturing and test facilities in St Mary’s, PA to learn about our systems, see them first hand, and to discuss the 800 Series modeling project in more detail. Penn State University faculty are doing work with biomass combustion processes, and we would encourage the team to utilize these faculty resources for guidance and direction in the use of analytical and experimental methods for modeling. Also, ARE would like to see the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) used as a method of verification and modeling, if appropriate. In the end, this modeling work will provide the needed understanding and verification of system performance that will enable ARE to launch a new product to the marketplace with confidence.

Requested Dept.: Ag, Energy, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU Robotic

Contact: Jason Moore

Address: 318 Leonhard Building, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 8148651749

E-mail: jzm14@psu.edu

Project Title: Robotic Parallel Bars Walking Device

Description: At this moment, millions of American adults are learning to walk for the second time in physical therapy. Some of these people have had strokes or traumatic brain injuries that have impaired the control of their locomotion; others have recently undergone lower-limb amputations and are taking their first steps with prosthetic feet or knees. This is a challenging task that currently involves the use of standard fixed parallel bars that offer practice in walking only in a straight line. To allow the patient to practice turning and walking over varied surfaces the concept of making a robotic set of parallel bars has been developed. This would involve the construction of a large mobile frame that would have motorized wheels, and a sensor feedback system to move with the patient.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU Schreyer Inst. for Teaching Excellence

Contact: Angela Linse

Address: 301 Rider Bldg, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 865-7812

E-mail: arl15@psu.edu

Project Title: Usability and Productivity Evaluation, eTesting Lab, University Testing Center

Description: The eTesting Lab, located in the University Testing Center, is a collaboration of the Office of Undergraduate Education (UE) and Information Technology Services (ITS). The the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence represents UE, and Teaching Learning with Technology (TLT) represents ITS. The Schreyer Institute is responsible for management and operations, while TLT provides IT support. The primary project objective is to improve productivity and usability of the eTesting Lab which administers computer-based tests. Desired outcomes include recommendations for creating more efficient and effective use of technological and human resources. Specifically, we would appreciate hearing recommendations for: 1) improving the faculty exam request and scheduling process, and 2) operational flow of students through the lab during check-in/out Currently, faculty requests are gathered using a web-based form, but scheduling is done manually. The scheduling process currently does not provide information to faculty about availability, which can result in an excessive number of email exchanges between our scheduler and faculty. In addition, faculty make requests without knowing what dates are available for testing, which results in an excessive number of email exchanges between our scheduler and the faculty. In addition, our current practice is to evenly distribute time-slots for each exam by dividing the total enrollment for a course by the number of time slots available. The most common equation is enrollment/15 1-hour time-slots. This gives students in large classes more opportunity to select prime testing times (late morning to early evening). We suspect that there is a research-based strategy for scheduling that would be more effective and fair. The other major bottleneck in the eTesting Lab involves the check-in/out process. Currently, an exam is assigned a start time on the hour, but students may check-in up to 15 min. early and 15 min. late, for a total check-in time of 30 min. Students currently line up at 3 separate turnstiles and swipe their ID cards to unlock the turnstile. Each turnstile has a dedicated monitor on which each student's photo is displayed along with the course ID and a list of allowed materials. When the Testing Center staff have verified the student's identity, a ticket is printed with a seat-assignment. In Fall 2012, 64% of the days available for testing were fully booked and on 80% of the days the number of simultaneous exams ranged from 5-10. When staff are asked to distribute different materials for each exam, they risk being unable to check-in all students during the 30 min. check-in period. In spring 2013, we will be restricting what material Testing Center staff will distribute. Student IDs can also cause bottlenecks because about 3% of the student have non-working or missing ID cards, which requires manual check-in. These students must also be manually checked-out, while other students simply swipe their IDs at the exit turnstiles to "un-assign" their seat. We are interested in recommendations for improving the efficiency of the check-in/out process as well ways to improve the atmosphere for students, many of whom enter the facility in a state of high anxiety.

Requested Dept.: Industrial

Requirements: none

PSU Studio Lab 1

Contact: Nilam Ram

Address: 16 Borland Building, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 8148657038

E-mail: nur5@psu.edu

Project Title: MOVEMENT TRAINER & REAL TIME INVESTIGATOR ALERT SYSTEM FOR THE MR ENVIRONMENT

Description: Design a device worn by participants that will monitor head translational (x, y, z) and rotational (roll, pitch, yaw) motion and provide real-time feedback to the participant and investigator (e.g., auditory or visual) if movement exceeded some pre-determined threshold. Such a device could be effectively used in the MR-simulator (a “mock scanner”) to train participants to keep still during the actual scanning session. Potential extensions of this work could include an MR-compatible version that alerts both participant and experimenter in real time (i.e., during a scan) if head motion is excessive. Background: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is arguably the single most prominent tool for examining the inner-workings of the human brain. FMRI has very high spatial and moderate temporal resolution, allowing for precise localization of function to specific brain regions during experimental tasks. Moreover, given that fMRI images the whole brain at one time, it allows for simultaneous examination of function across widely distributed brain regions, enabling the identification and characterization of functional brain networks. One key element required for usable fMRI data is for participants to remain very still. Just as movement can blur a traditional photograph, head movement in the MRI scanner can cause blurring of reconstructed brain images. Head motion can be a particular concern when imaging developmental or clinical populations, resulting in the need for oversampling specific populations or ages, resulting in additional accrued costs (scan time, researcher time and money, participant time, etc.). Researchers have adopted a number of procedures to help avoid excessive head motion in the scanner, including surrounding the participant’s head with pillows in the radio frequency (RF) head coil. However, even with relatively tight packing, movement still occurs (e.g., the chin will slowly move towards the body as the participant fatigues during the session.) One idea to potentially mitigate some of these issues related to movement would be to train participants how much movement is “too much” and hence the development to design a device that measures that very movement.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU Studio Lab 2

Contact: Nilam Ram

Address: 16 Borland Building, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 8148657038

E-mail: nur5@psu.edu

Project Title: THERAPEUTIC OPTICAL RADIATION EYEWEAR

Description: The TOREye apparatus will be designed to improve the light therapy experience for both participants and researchers. The eyewear will deliver an appropriate dose of optical radiation—determined from past experimental work—and will provide the structure for an integrated data acquisition system. The eyewear may include frames suitable for prescription lenses or may be designed to permit a user to wear their own eyewear. Rechargeable batteries will be seamlessly incorporated into the frame. Electronic components of the smart frames will record two basic characteristics: 1) when the light source is switched on or off; and 2) when the eyewear is being worn. The latter will likely be achieved with a temperature sensor or accelerometer. We are also interested in incorporating a sensor into the frame for ambulant recording of ambient lighting conditions. Background: Light therapy has been shown to improve multiple aspects of health including seasonal affective disorder, major depression, insomnia, dementia, and jet lag. Several clinical trials have shown light therapy to be a viable alternative to pharmacological treatments for these ailments. In particular, seniors have been identified as a group that may benefit significantly from long-term light therapy in several dimensions of health including sleep, mood, and cognition. Our pilot study revealed significant cognitive and emotional benefits for long-term care residents who were provided light therapy in a group setting. However, group-based light therapy is cumbersome and untenable for personalized and long-term use in treatment trials. We propose to develop a more practical delivery and monitoring system—therapeutic optical radiation eyewear (TOREye)— that can be implemented for broader translational research and clinical studies.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU Studio Lab 3

Contact: Nilam Ram

Address: 16 Borland Building, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 8148657038

E-mail: nur5@psu.edu

Project Title: CREATIVELY BUILD A GUSTOMETER FOR THE 3 T MRI

Description: The gustometer is a portable device that works with a laptop computer to control delivery of precise amounts of liquids (e.g. milk, sodas, milkshakes) to children and adults who are undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The device will need to work with a series of syringe pumps controlled by a computer to deliver liquids at a fixed rate. Liquids will be delivered through plastic beverage tubing. All tubing will terminate in a specially designed mouthpiece anchored to an MRI headcoil that interfaces with the participant.The mouthpiece will need to be adapted so that it is small enough for children and capable of delivering a biologically relevant amount of liquid. The design of the gustometer should allow for delivery of multiple taste solutions in one experiment and should deliver the liquid to the same place on the participant’s tongue each time. In addition, each of the beverage tubes should be able to be rinsed and air dried under sterile conditions between participants. Valves will need to be installed to prevent participants from manually sucking in fluid from the plastic tubing. The gustometer should interface with a set of respiratory bellows placed over the participant’s throat to account for movement due to swallowing. Background: Childhood obesity is an epidemic in the United States and around the world. We study why some children are more susceptible to obesity than others. One factor that we think makes some children more likely to become obese in the current food environment is an increased reward response to high-fat “junk” foods. In order to confirm this through scientific experiments, it is necessary to understand how children’s brains respond to different foods and drinks. Most fMRI experiments in children have only shown pictures of foods. However, the visual appearance of a food can only tell us so much; wouldn’t it be great to know what children’s brains look like when they are actually tasting something? To help us do this,we need your creativity and support to build a new MRI compatible device called a gustometer.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU Studio Lab 4

Contact: Nilam Ram

Address: 16 Borland Building, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 8148657038

E-mail: nur5@psu.edu

Project Title: MRI-COMPATIBLE SMOKE DELIVERY SYSTEM

Description: To directly study the effects of smoked drugs such as cigarette-delivered nicotine within the MRI environment, researchers have had to ask participants to smoke before or between scans, to use slower and less effective approaches for administering nicotine (e.g., nicotine patch), or to deliver nicotine through invasive and unpleasant methods (intravenous infusion). I am interested in collaborating with the Learning Factory and the College of Engineering to design a device that can effectively allow research participants to self-administer smoked drugs while in the 3 T MRI at the Penn State Social Life and Engineering Sciences Imaging Center. Components of the proposed smoke delivery system include a ventilated combustion chamber that houses the cigarette, and provides attachment points for both inhalation tubing and ventilation tubing. Another key feature of the system is an exhaust mechanism for capturing both sidestream smoke from the burning cigarette and smoke exhaled by participants. Background: The cigarette is a remarkably effective and highly engineered nicotine delivery system. When the smoke produced by a lit cigarette is inhaled, spikes of nicotine reach the brain in a matter of seconds. The rapid nicotine delivery produced by cigarette smoking is very difficult to recreate using other methods, such as by applying nicotine to the skin (nicotine patch) or ingesting nicotine orally (nicotine gum or lozenge). Nicotine is the main addictive ingredient in cigarettes and the speed with which nicotine reaches brain reward regions is thought to play a critical role in the development of cigarette addiction. For this reason, researchers are very interested in studying how the brain responds when smokers inhale cigarette smoke in order to better understand how nicotine addiction develops and how best to treat it.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU Studio Lab 5

Contact: Nilam Ram

Address: 16 Borland Building, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 8148657038

E-mail: nur5@psu.edu

Project Title: Creatively Build An Ambulatory Smart Sampling Stress Sensor System

Description: I am interested in collaborating with the Learning Factory to design an integrated ambulatory sensor system to monitor heart rate and physical activity in individuals during their daily life to detect episodes of psychological stress. When an individual’s heart rate rises above some threshold in the absence of increased physical activity, the system should trigger a smartphone application that allows the individual to record their level of psychological stress and affective state. This system would allow passive detection of the onset, intensity, duration and recovery pattern of stress episodes. Components of this system would include a heart rate sensor, an accelerometer, and smart phone. A key feature of the system would be integration of data streams from the all three components for real time computational modeling to that would guide smart ecological momentary assessments and interventions targeted at the most informative times that are proximal to the experience of stress in daily life. Applications include basic research to understand environmental and behavioral triggers of stress as well to aid in clinical interventions to treat anxiety disorders. Background: Stress has been linked to a broad range of health outcomes, and is a more important risk factor cardiovascular incident than hypertension, diabetes and obesity. In particular, how people respond to everyday stressors has been linked to physical, mental and cognitive health. Current stress theory predicts that it is not the intensity but the durability of physiological activation in response to everyday stressful events that is the pathogenic. Understanding the daily stress process by linking, in real time, physiology, behavior and experiential states is essential for understanding the mechanisms underlying stress pathology and for designing effective preventive and intervention strategies. The current approach to ambulatory stress research involves randomly sampling behaviors and physiology during an individual daily life. This is highly inefficient because stressful events are relatively infrequent and random sampling is unlikely to obtain measurements proximal to the onset stress episodes. This type of “dumb” sampling requires participant to complete surveys very frequently, which is both burdensome and inefficient. The proposed systems would use objective measurements of physiology and physical activity to inform “smart sampling” of high risk behavior and psychological states. Such passive identification of stressful “high-activation” states would provide a basis for developing and delivering “ecological momentary interventions” designed to reduce health risk associated with elevated stress.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

PSU Surgery

Contact: Randy Haluck

Address: 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA 17033

Phone: 717-531-7462

E-mail: rhaluck@psu.edu

Project Title: Design of a Novel Endosurgical System

Description: Modern medical intervention and surgery requires accessing spaces in the human body through the use of punctures, very small incisions, or no incisions at all. There have been many advances and systems in use today however there is still a need for better navigation, dexterity, and intervention deep within the body. This means as much capability as possible has to be packed into the smallest diameter package as possible. The goal of this project is largely to "think out of the box" with regard to current systems and to consider new devices and platforms. Emphasis will be placed on consideration of new digital manufacturing capabilities as a menas to achieve new functionality. Building of large-scale or real-scale prototypes may be possible.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Mechanical

Requirements: Intellectual

Quaker Chemical Corporation 1

Contact: Dr Robert Evans

Address: 901 Hector Street, Conshohocken, PA 19428

Phone: 610-832-4314

E-mail: evansb@quakerchem.com

Project Title: Lubrication & Machining of 65-45-12 Ductile Iron& Compacted Graphite Iron

Description: As an alternative to conventional gray cast iron for use in engine production,compacted graphitic iron(CGI) is finding significant interest and use. This metal offers higher strength and increased thermal fatigue resistance relative to standard gray irons. Thus improved properties and lighter weight can be obtained in the production of engine cylinder heads and blocks. CGI, while offering significant utility, also presents significant challenges with regard to machinability. Higher tool wear rates are often experienced in the machining of this metal. Along with the replacement of gray cast iron, there is also a strong interest within industry to replace ductile cast iron with CGI for certain vehicle components. This also presents challenges with regard to part quality and machinability. Thus further studies of the comparative machinability of CGI to ductile cast iron are needed. This project will investigate the microstructural features and machinability of Grade 450 CGI, and Grade 65-45-12 ductile cast iron. Project Objectives and Deliverables: 1. Determine and analyze the microstructural features of the two types of cast iron workpieces – ductile cast iron, and compacted graphite iron. 2. Conduct machining studies on these metals using three different metalworking fluids. The machining operation will involve a turning operation conducted to provide continuous cutting conditions. Machinability and fluid performance will be assessed by the measurement of cutting insert wear and machined surface quality. 3. Present conclusions and observations regarding microstructural differences which exist between the two metals, as well as conclusions regarding the effectiveness and differences in performance between the three fluids tested.

Requested Dept.: Industrial, MatSci

Requirements: Intellectual

Quaker Chemical Corporation 2

Contact: Dr. Robert Evans

Address: 901 Hector Street, Conshohocken, PA 18974

Phone: 610-832-4314

E-mail: evansb@quakerchem.com

Project Title: Lubrication and Tool Wear in the Machining of Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI)

Description: The application of austempered ductile iron (ADI) is gaining an ever greater share of the worldwide ferrous product market, specifically centering on the aerospace, automotive and shipping industries. Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) is a modified spheroidal graphite iron (SGI) produced by applying a two-stage heat treatment cycle of austenitising and austempering. Austempering heat-treatment gives the material its high strength, good ductility and excellent wear-resistance properties. These characteristics offer the engineers a wide range of design possibilities. A continued expanding use in different industrial applications is a good evidence of that trend. High-strength with high contact rolling fatigue strength combined with low-wear properties of ADI are ideal for gear applications. In addition, high fracture toughness in wider temperature range has increased the number of applications in vehicle and off-road products and systems. Typical solutions are brackets, gear wheels, lever and suspension arms and wear-resistant components. However, ADI also has a low machinability and presents greater challenges to machining compared to the as-cast ductile iron. The microstructure of ADI also known as "ausferrite" consists of ferrite, austenite and graphite nodules. The low machinability of this metal is largely due to the mechanical properties of the metal as well as to the significant strain hardening which occurs during machining and results from a microstructural phase transformation from austenite to martensite. A current challenge within industry is to identify machining conditions and develop lubricating fluids that yield improved tool life and surface quality in ADI machining. This project will focus on obtaining a deeper understanding of the machining properties of ADI as well as on the assessment of new metalworking fluids potentially beneficial for ADI machining. Objectives & Project Deliverables 1. Assess the relative performance of three metalworking fluids with regard to cutting insert wear and machined surface quality in the turning of Grade 1050 austempered ductile iron. 2. Analyze workpiece microstructure and the impact of the machining process on microstructural changes.

Requested Dept.: Industrial, MatSci

Requirements: Intellectual

Reckitt Benckiser

Contact: John Creek

Address: 1 Philips Parkway, Montvale, NJ 07645

Phone: 201-573-6394

E-mail: john.creek@rb.com

Project Title: Next Generation Hygiene System

Description: A number of systems have been developed that create dilute hypochlorous acid sanitizing and cleaning solutions from water and (optionally) a salt. These systems offer value in industrial settings but have yet to become important or viable in the consumer market due to several factors, including performance, cost, believability, and design/usage characteristics. However concerns about environmental impacts of on-the-market products and an increasingly complicated regulatory environment in addition to changing consumer attitudes toward hygiene products make such a system a potentially exciting category for development. This challenge seeks a new system utilizing the basic premise of creating a functional chemistry from water and an additive. The new system should meet the following criteria: - generate a stable and effective level of a sanitizing or disinfecting active (approved for use in NA / EP) using water + additive + energy - meet consumer usage expectations for a device of this type while creating a new and exciting design - avoid infringing on existing Intellectual Property and be protectable from infringement - be easily manufactured, sold, and used on a global scale at reasonable cost This challenge will allow participating students to gain an understanding of the product design needs for a global Fast Moving Consumer Goods firm and will expose them to the intense and exciting culture within a consumer products company. The sponsoring organization will provide a list of potential / desirable active compounds, an intellectual property landscape, and assistance with understanding consumer desired characteristics, including potentially hosting a consumer focus group to assess design options.

Requested Dept.: Bio, Chem, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Rowan University

Contact: Paris R von Lockette

Address: 201 Mulica Hill Road, Glassboro, NJ 08028

Phone: 856 256 5341

E-mail: paris.vonlockette@gmail.com

Project Title: Self-locomotion using magneto-active elastomers

Description: Penn State and Rowan Universities are engaging in a joint, NSF-sponsored effort to develop the next generation in “origami engineering” knowledge and technologies. For this project, the two universities will be engaged in complimentary efforts to develop a novel magneto-active elastomer (MAE) composite device capable of repeatable un/folding in an alternating magnetic field, a fundamental step in the design of an active origami structure. The device itself can possibly be used for self locomotion. Fabrication of MAE materials will take place primarily at Rowan and will be provided to the PSU team. Both universities will be engaged in the competition to develop devices capable of translating normal to the applied magnetic field. In addition to periodic and final reports of work completed, deliverables will include (1) specifications of the constructed device suitable for fabrication by others (2) performances curves of average rate of travel at various field strengths and frequencies, (3) potential energy model of actuation/locomotion behavior incorporating magnetic and elastic energies and losses due to friction.

Requested Dept.: ESM, Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Shell 1

Contact: Buddy Bealer

Address: 128 East Center Street, Nazareth , PA 18064

Phone: 484-632-7995

E-mail: leroy.bealer@shell.com

Project Title: Shell EcoMarathon - Team 1

Description: The Shell Ecomarathon is a high mileage competition held in Houston, Texas each year in early April. Penn State has been tasked with preparing an Urban Concept class vehicle as well as a Prototype class vehicle. The Urban Concept car is a solar/battery powered vehicle while the Prototype car is battery powered. The Urban Concept team must better integrate the 9 solar film panels and wiring into the present body but also remain removable for the future body; design and implement a lightweight plastic rear under tray to reduce drag, determine the best mechanical non-sticking brake calipers and then design the brake system such that either the present hydraulic brake calipers or the new mechanical brake calipers can be quickly installed on the rotors, redesign a better Thermal Cut Out system for both auxiliary and main power battery management system, design and rewire both the auxiliary and main power systems such that each subassembly has connectors rather than hardwired, implement a watt meter so the driver can easy monitor the efficiency, design a set of front wheel covers to reduce aerodynamic drag, design a rear wheel-well cover to reduce drag, finish the CAD design of the new (must be one-piece) body such that the driver has visibility and can exit safely through a Lambo door or gull wing door or other cool type of door. A secondary goal for the teams is the Urban Concept vehicle carbon-fiber layup which will be split between two teams for those who want to learn how lay-up carbon-fiber. The Prototype team must perform a system level design to size an optional high speed geared hub 36VDC freewheeling motor that can be quickly interchanged with the present hub motor such that a different type of fuel economy method known as “coast and burn” can also be tried. Redesign a better Thermal Cut Out system for both auxiliary and main power battery management system, design and rewire both the auxiliary and main power systems such that each subassembly has connectors rather than hardwired. Design a better driver canopy that is more robust, more aerodynamic, more ergonomic, more aesthetic, and has a better latch mechanism to the body. Redesign the horn switch. Prep the cars such that the vehicles are ready for competition. A secondary goal for the teams is the Urban Concept vehicle carbon-fiber layup which will be split between two teams for those who want to learn how lay-up carbon-fiber.

Requested Dept.: Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Shell 2

Contact: Buddy Bealer

Address: 128 East Center Street, Nazareth , PA 18064

Phone: 484-632-7995

E-mail: leroy.bealer@shell.com

Project Title: Shell EcoMarathon - Team 2

Requested Dept.: Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Silver Linings Class at CIU # 10

Contact: Heather Zalno, Jorene Proper

Address: 3638 N. Atherton Street, Port Matilda, PA 16870

Phone: (814)861-5703 ext.15

E-mail: hzalno@ciu10.org

Project Title: Accessing a SMART Board

Description: A preschool classroom for students with special needs seeks a unique design to address accessibility issues related to usage of a SMART Board. Currently the SMART Board is mounted to a wall and the projector sits on a rolling cart located 8-10 feet away. Wires run through the middle of the circle time area to connect the SMART Board to a lap top and to the projector. (The classroom is located in an old building and does not have wireless capabilities at this time.) Students and staff constantly trip over the wires when approaching the board requiring recalibration in the middle of a lesson, and the children are more focused on the shadows they create in front of the projector than on the images being displayed. In addition, students have issues manipulating images on the SMART board because they rest their bodies on the screen, their fingers are not strong enough/dexterous enough to tap images, and/or they cannot reach the upper quadrants of the board. This project might involve: 1. Mounting the projector to improve visibility, reduce shadows, and reduce the hazards of cords running through the classroom. 2. Exploring options for mounting the Smart Board with height adjustable frame or developing a platform for the children to stand on to enable the children to reach all areas of the Smart Board. 3. Developing stylus/pointer options so children may access the Smart Board with touch and to attract their attention when the teacher is pointing to a target on the screen.

Requested Dept.: CSE, Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Solar Innovations, Inc. 1

Contact: Melissa Reinhart

Address: 31 Roberts Road, Pine Grove, PA 17963

Phone: 570-915-1708

E-mail: mreinhart@solarinnovations.com

Project Title: Energy Mangement Program and Systems

Description: Solar Innovations, Inc.'s primary manufacturing facility is already a leader in the green building industry being LEED Gold certified and pending LEED Platinum certification. Even with this, Solar recognizes that there is room for improvement in it's energy management program and systems within the building. The building already has 500kw of solar electric which annually produces about 60% of its usage, but not covering the building's demand. The buildings usage has been climbing annually disproportionately when compared to the company's growth. Solar Innovations, Inc. is looking for the students to investigate, diagnose issues, and provide a management program for the executive staff as well as select energy management systems and assist in cost analysis, return, and implementation plans. Please note that Mark Toda has agreed to supplement the donation by half. Solar will be providing a $1500 donation for the Spring 2013 Project.

Requested Dept.: Energy, Electrical, Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Solar Innovations, Inc. 2

Contact: Melissa Reinhart

Address: 31 Roberts Road, Pine Grove, PA 17963

Phone: 570-915-1708

E-mail: mreinhart@solarinnovations.com

Project Title: Waste Stream Analysis

Description: Student will execute a two-fold analysis including both of the following areas. One, analyze waste stream and recycling for CO2 footprint and offset. Aid in increasing items diverted from waste stream to increase our currently 97.5% recycling content. Assist in determining if current recycling locations are efficient or if alterations/additions should be made to the current selections. Two, students will analyze the HVAC system in Building 1 (main building), determine flaws and action plan to correct the flaws including financial analysis, implementation plan, and recommended timeline. Items already noted for review include temperature balance, humidity balance, cold and hot areas within the office including employee comfort.

Requested Dept.: Energy

Requirements: none

Sound Technology Inc

Contact: Brian A. Simpson

Address: 401 Science Park Road, State College, PA 16803

Phone: 814-235-3752

E-mail: brian.simpson@sti-ultrasound.com

Project Title: Usage / options of various PCB Flux / Flux Cleaner

Description: Motivational Goal: Reduce cost, environmental impact, and process variation Description: Sound Technology, part of Analogic's ultrasound group, is a global leader in the development and manufacture of specialized medical ultrasound probes for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Within the manufacture of these probes, it is currently necessary to use solder flux to assist with proper soldering on PCB while also successfully cleaning to remove the solder flux after the soldering operation (both lead and lead-free applications). This project should investigate both the current materials (both lead and lead-free applications) / current methods used as well as explore, test and make recommendations on other commercially available materials / methods to satisfy the motivational goal of this project. Project deliverables (due prior to April 25, 2013) should include: • Signed NDA (Confidentiality Agreement) at start of Project with Sound Technology, Inc. • Understand and document current materials / processes used (both lead and lead-free) • Perform research on various commercially available flux / non flux material options and methods for our soldering applications • Perform research on various commercially available flux remover material options and cleaning methods for flux / non flux options found above • Perform testing / analysis supporting various commercially available flux / non flux material options as well as commercially available flux remover material / method options – document all test results and methods used • Provide cost analysis (ROI) for each option tested / analyzed as compared to current materials / methods • Conduct Final Presentation (PowerPoint format or equivalent) at Sound Technology at least one week prior to Design Showcase on April 25, 2013 • Provide comprehensive written Final Report containing all research, findings and recommendations

Requested Dept.: Chem, Electrical, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential

Susquehanna Health

Contact: Bob Ireland

Address: 700 High Street, Williamsport, PA 17701

Phone: 570-321-2599

E-mail: bireland@susquehannahealth.org

Project Title: Williamsport Regional Med. Ctr - Patient/Family Waiting Room Analysis

Description: One of the eight types of wastes in LEAN methodology is the waste of Waiting. Healthcare facilities have a lot of waiting inherit their processes. To facilitate waiting for patients and their families, health care facilities build waiting rooms. In terms of LEAN thinking, waiting rooms are a form of waste. To add more to this, waiting rooms consume valuable resources such as utilities and labor for maintenance. Susquehanna Health does not currently have an operational metric on the percentage of floor space occupied by waiting rooms throughout the system and their utilization rates. This creates an opportunity to perform an engineering analysis to quantify the total square footage SH has as waiting rooms and their average utilization. This study will give SH an operational benchmark for future construction project as a basis for calculating waiting room size and also a starting point to work on its processes to make them as non-waiting as possible to reduce waiting room costs. Expectations from the team 1. Performing onsite measurements to calculate total square footage of waiting room space throughout SH. 2. Time studies and direct observations to collect data on waiting room occupancy/utilization rates. 3. Industrial engineering analysis to reduce/optimize waiting areas. Expected project outcomes/Deliverables 1. Percentage waiting room area of total SH facilities. 2. Average utilization rate of waiting areas for SH. 3. Average maintenance cost per square foot for waiting rooms. 4. Recommendations on reducing/optimizing waiting areas.

Requested Dept.: Industrial

Requirements: none

The Boeing Company 1

Contact: Adam Mohamed

Address: Rt 291 & Stewart Ave, Ridely Park, PA 19078

Phone: 6105915582

E-mail: adam.mohamed@boeing.com

Project Title: Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) - Team 1

Description: Unmanned ground systems are more prevalent than ever in today’s world. The automated cleaning robot Roomba is just one example of this. Beyond the commercial world, Unmanned Ground Vehicles can be used to safely transport material in a harsh environment with no risk to human life. In this project, multidisciplinary teams of 6 team members consisting of 2 Electrical, 2 Computer Science, and 2 Mechanical engineering students will compete in modifying a ground vehicle to be autonomous and carry a payload of water. They will compete to traverse a harsh obstacle environment as quickly as possible while not actually seeing the environment. Once through the obstacle course the teams will have to deploy their payload to simulate extinguishing a fire.

Requested Dept.: CompSci, CSE, Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

The Boeing Company 2

Contact: Adam Mohamed

Address: Rt 291 & Stewart Ave, Ridely Park, PA 19078

Phone: 6105915582

E-mail: adam.mohamed@boeing.com

Project Title: Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) - Team 2

Requested Dept.: CompSci, CSE, Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

The Boeing Company 3

Contact: Jeremie Albert

Address: P.O. Box 16858 MC P24-25, Philadelphia, PA 19142

Phone: 610-591-1539

E-mail: jeremie.j.albert@boeing.com

Project Title: Fuel Slosh Frequency Amplification and Damping

Description: Fuel slosh frequency is a major handling qualities concern for several vehicle types (aquatic, aerospace, automotive, etc.). Students are to investigate fuel slosh frequency phenomena, and create designs that maximize the amount of fuel slosh damping. The fuel slosh tilt table and tank designed during a previous semester should be utilized for this project. Students are expected to make necessary modifications to the tilt apparatus to excite sloshing frequencies, and then evaluate baffle or other designs to significantly dampen slosh. Damping effectiveness should be assessed by the addition of pressure and/or force sensors added to the apparatus.

Requested Dept.: Aero, ESM, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: none

The Boeing Company 4

Contact: Jason Steiner

Address: Rt 291 and S. Stewart Ave, Ridley Park, PA 19078

Phone: 610-591-4311

E-mail: jason.h.steiner@boeing.com

Project Title: Rotor Wake Survey

Description: Hover testing of a model helicopter rotor system generally entails monitoring loads to understand the aerodynamic results of changes in speed, angle, and design. However, to more fully understand the changes, data from the airflow below the rotor would be beneficial. The goal of this project is to Design, Build and Test a system for measuring rotor wake below the rotor at various azimuth angles, radial positions and distances from the rotor. The apparatus should be able to accurately position a pressure probe and pass the position and probe data to a computer. A visual representation of this data will be displayed in three dimensions using Matlab or other equivalent plotting methods. The wake surveyor will need to position the probe at a minimum of 8 azimuth angles, 3 heights, and 5 radial positions. More positioning options are desired if feasible. The radial distance will not exceed 2 feet from the center of the rotor stand. The team will use a calibrated pressure probe to measure the local pressures. Boeing will supply a model helicopter rotor or wake generator for testing, along with a probe. The expected deliverables for this project include the wake survey mechanism, data reduction and plotting software, and instructions for use.

Requested Dept.: Aero, CSE, Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

The Boeing Company 5

Contact: Jonathan Bednar

Address: Rt 291 & Stewart Ave , Ridley Park, PA 19078

Phone: 6105917474

E-mail: jonathan.p.bednar@boeing.com

Project Title: Composite Synchronous Shafts

Description: Composite synchronous shafts used in tandem rotorcraft are subject to numerous failure modes. Improved reliability and maintainability of these shafts could be achieved with the use of a structural health monitoring system. The purpose of this project is to design and investigate the feasibility of a health monitoring or interrogation system which could be used to identify damage or degradation in a hollow composite shaft. The system should be designed with a rotorcraft platform in mind. A goal will be to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the detection system with simple experimentation and recommendations will be made for future development.

Requested Dept.: Aero, ESM, Mechanical

Requirements: none

TPC Design

Contact: Barry Fell

Address: 7124 Red Top Road, Hummelstown, Pa 17036

Phone: 717-566-9378

E-mail: bfell@tpcdesign.net

Project Title: Intelligent Walker for Retirees

Description: A next generation assistive walker for senior citizens, made from carbon fiber composite, has been designed to enhance the safety, mobility and functionality for the user. The walker has a moving arm assembly to allow for its use during walking as well as when the user is transitioning to/from a seated position. The goal of this project is to design onboard, battery powered, integrated sensor system that will be used to control the position of the arm assembly, and possibly the wheels, based on the users current and intended position, i.e, walking and then transitioning to a seat. The intent of this is to keep the user safely within the confines of the walker at all times Deliverables are the design of the integrated system and prototypes of the sensor array, the hinge mechanism and individual wheel control mechanisms.

Requested Dept.: Bio, ESM, Electrical, Industrial, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: Intellectual

TPC Design/PSU Dept of Surgery

Contact: Barry Fell

Address: 7124 Red Top Road, Hummelstown, Pa 17036

Phone: 717-566-9378

E-mail: bfell@tpcdesign.net

Project Title: 3D Printed Medical Device

Description: Design an everting, (turn inside out) tubular structure made, on a 3D printer, from interlocking elements, that can be deployed inside a body lumen (i.e. intestine, abdomen or blood vessel). Target dimensions for the structure are, once deployed, 13mm ID x 15mm OD x 200mm Length. Force required to cause the eversion should be minimal with no inadvertent locking of the individual elements. Deliverables are at least ten (10) different computer designs and five (5) 3D printed designs suitable for demonstration of the eversion capability.

Requested Dept.: Bio, CompSci, CSE, ESM, Industrial, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: Intellectual

Tyco Fire Protection Products 1

Contact: Jim Roberts

Address: 50 Technology Drive, Westminster, MA 01441

Phone: 978-731-8546

E-mail: jamroberts@tycoint.com

Project Title: Nurse Call Pull Station Redesign - Global

Description: Tyco is redesigning its Nurse Call pull station line. The present product line has excessive variability in activation forces which has caused some hospital patients difficulty in activating a call for assistance. The pull station assembly is composed of 3 major components that are ultrasonically welded together. This project is to design a new pull station that has much less variability in activation forces. Also to have a snap fit design to avoid the ultrasonic welding process. It is suspected that the welding process is a significant contributor to variability in activation forces. The pull station must also be waterproof.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential

Tyco Fire Protection Products 2

Contact: Melissa Avila, Mathew Ancone

Address: 1467 Elmwood Avenue, Cranston, RI 02910

Phone: 401-781-8220 x 60453

E-mail: melissa.avila@tycofp.com;mathew.ancone@tycofp.com

Project Title: Design of a competitive air maintenance device - Global

Description: Tyco offers a variety of fire protection valves, including wet pipe, dry pipe, deluge and preaction valves. To go along with our valve offerings, we also offer a variety of accessories for the various systems. One example of a required accessory in some dry pipe sprinkler systems is an air maintenance device (AMD). Tyco offers three different AMDs that are each used for a specific situation. Our AMD-1 is typically used when there is a high pressure air supply readily available while our AMD-2 is used when there is an air compressor and the AMD-3 is used on nitrogen systems. Our current version of the AMD-1 is approximately twice as large as its competition, which is a negative feature when tight spaces are involved. We would like to redesign the AMD-1 to be smaller than our competitors and less expensive than the current AMD-1. Prior to the student project, product management will be contacted to develop specifications for the product that are clearly understood in the form of a project charter. The students will develop a few different concepts and use different selection tools to narrow down to their final design based on the best features of each design. Student Skills: Product design, written communication Equipment needed: none Deliverables: The students shall prepare a final presentation and test report which includes the design history and the final design for the new AMD-1. The students will provide all information on the design to Tyco after the program and Tyco will own the rights to the design.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: Intellectual

Tyco Safety Products

Contact: Yannan Yang

Address: Building 1, Lane 955, Jinhai Rd., Pudong, Shanghai, CN 20120

Phone: +86 21 61633377-1106

E-mail: ynyang@tycoint.com

Project Title: Next generation low cost hard security tag based on double side adhesive tape technology - Global

Description: Hard security tags are commonly used as retail theft deterrents. Current security attach to the product via a mechanical locking system or permanent adhesive. A new type of hard tag uses high bonding strength adhesive and also permits tag removal with a detacher. The tag has an inner volume and an Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) element within the inner volume. An anchoring element having a first end affixes the security tag to an article. We want to design a new hard tag and a detacher used to detach the tag based upon adhesive technology. There are special requirements on the shape of the tag and the structure of the holder of the detacher. Description of the tag 1. The total thickness of the tag is about 5 mm 2. The shape of the tag is designed as not anyplace can be held with hands or normal tools, except by the specially designed detacher tool. Detaching description 1. A handheld detacher has two electrodes and specially designed holder in its head 2. The two electrodes can go through the two holes in the tag and touch the metal piece at the bottom 3. The metal piece can be heated up quickly by the two electrodes and then weaken the bonding strength between the metal piece and the surface of the protected article. 4. The special designed detacher holder firmly holds the tag so it may be easily be pulled off the surface. Example application 1. The sole of a shoe is usually made of rubber, polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride(PVC) and some other plastics. 2. By affix the tag on to a portion of a shoe, like the bottom surface, the side of heel, or the side of the bottom the shoe will be theft protected by the EAS device. 3. It can be applied to a variety of shoes without affecting customers trying on. 4. After purchase the tag may be removed without affecting the shoe.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

United States Steel Corporation

Contact: Jeffrey Peters

Address: 600 Grant St, Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Phone: 412-433-2215

E-mail: japeters@uss.com

Project Title: Develop a Steel Sample Inventory and Control System for Research

Description: Background Research has hundreds of steel samples from valuable mill or lab production types that need to be retained for extended periods. These include mill produced samples, customer qualification test panels, samples submitted for competitive investigations and laboratory produced experimental steels. These do not include panels for routine analyses that are discarded after results are reported. It would be desirable to develop and install an efficient steel sample database and inventory control system with minimal manual inputs from workers. This system should allow tracking, test planning, improved housekeeping, as well as reduce the making of new steels when similar compositions are already available, and disposal control for samples that are no longer needed. Valuable experimental steels in storage may be identified to be available to other development engineers, if an up to date inventory was available. The project should minimize manual updating and could include bar code printers or scanners interfacing with an inventory database.

Requested Dept.: MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Univ. of Toronto Mech. & Ind. Eng.

Contact: Prof. Kamran. Behdinan

Address: 5 King's College Rd., Toronto, M5S 3G8, ON 00001

Phone: (416) 946-3631

E-mail: behdinan@mie.utoronto.ca

Project Title: Object Avoidance Device for St. John’s Rehab Hospital - Global

Description: Problem statement from the St. John's Rehab Hospital: Patients who have had strokes that affect the Right side of their brain often develop a condition known as Left neglect. This is an inability to recognise or act on any information that comes in from the left side. Subsequently, they often bump into things on their left. There are two devices that would be of value: 1) a proximity sensor that would be placed on their L shoulder and buzz (in their Right ear ) when they approach anything. 2) a camera system that would project images from 180 degrees in front onto the right side of their eyes, effectively removing their blind spot. Current status of the project: The University of Toronto students have investigated the proximity sensor problem (item 1) for the fall term. They have identified and recommended solutions for three sub-problems, namely, object avoidance, posture correction, and tactile feedback. During the next term they will build and test the prototype. Proposed PSU capstone project: For the collaborative capstone project with PSU, it is proposed that the PSU students investigate the visual feedback system (item 2) from problem definition to the fabrication and testing of the hardware prototype. The collaboration between the two capstone teams will include sharing of reference material, comments from the medical supervisor, results of testing of the physical hardware, as well as applicability of common sensors, joint patient testing, etc. Due to the relatively short distance between the two campuses, it is expected that regular exchange visits will be undertaken. Deliverables: -hardware prototype -final technical report

Requested Dept.: Bio, Electrical, Mechanical

Requirements: none

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 1

Contact: Stephen Bajorek

Address: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852

Phone: 301-251-7561

E-mail: Stephen.Bajorek@nrc.gov

Project Title: Design and Simulation of Spent Fuel Pool Zirc Bundle Tests

Description: The NRC is planning thermal-hydraulic tests of fuel bundles simulating partial uncovery in a spent fuel pool. The design team is to develop a model of the bundle using the TRACE code and simulate the proposed tests. The objectives are to (a) estimate the time and water level when the Zr cladding will ignite (i.e rapidly oxidize), (b) propose instrumentation and locations for measurements to obtain cladding temperatures, location of cladding ignition, and hydrogen generation rate, and (c) make recommendations on model & correlation improvements for the TRACE code.

Requested Dept.: Nuclear

Requirements: none

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 2

Contact: Stephen Bajorek

Address: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852

Phone: 301-251-7561

E-mail: Stephen.Bajorek@nrc.gov

Project Title: Analysis of a Spent Fuel Pool Partial LOCA

Description: Since Fukushima there is considerable interest in obtaining a better understanding of heat transfer from assemblies stored in spent fuel pools and in possible ways to mitigate the loss of spend fuel pool coolant. The design team is to develop a model of a typical spent fuel pool using the TRACE code and simulate cooling at normal steady-state conditions. Then, a partial LOCA resulting uncovery of the assemblies is to be simulated. For the partial LOCA case, the objective is to determine the water level and locations in the spent fuel pool at which heatup and rapid oxidation of the assemblies will occur. In addition, the design team is to determine the effect of loading pattern on uncovery and heatup of assemblies in the spent fuel pool.

Requested Dept.: Nuclear

Requirements: none

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 3

Contact: Peter Yarsky

Address: USNRC MS CSB-03-A07M, Washington, DC 20555

Phone: 301-251-7518

E-mail: Peter.Yarsky@nrc.gov

Project Title: Design of a Lower Plenum Boron Mixing and Remixing Experimental Facility

Description: The design team is to develop the conceptual design of a facility and experiment procedure to test for mixing and remixing of injected solution (i.e. boron). The design team will need to perform scaling calculations and make recommendations for the scale of the experiment (e.g. 1/100th scale, etc). The team is to evaluate different options and determine the optimum scaled facility design and ranges of pressures/flows/etc to be covered. The design should consider relevant instrumentation requirements and the ease in which the facility could be upgraded for future experiments. The final report should provide descriptions of: 1. The optimum scale, including scaling analysis 2. Selection of the pressure, fluids for the test and materials for the test section 3. Identification of major components and instruments 4. A cost-estimate 5. Evaluation of alternatives to demonstrate that the design has been optimized 6. Evaluation of extensibility of the facility for potential CFD validation

Requested Dept.: Nuclear

Requirements: none

Volvo CE - NA

Contact: Ivo N Kossev

Address: 312 Volvo Way, Shippensburg, PA 17257

Phone: 17175329181x5345

E-mail: ivo.kossev@volvo.com

Project Title: Compaction Drum Wipers

Description: Create a selection of adequate material selection (and specifications) for Drum Wipers for Vibratory Compactors (Road Machinery) ensuring an adequate rate of wear while being a cost-effective solution. Research what materials are used for this purpose by the main Road Machinery manufacturers - in North America and/or elsewhere.

Requested Dept.: MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Volvo Group Truck Technology

Contact: Sam McLaughlin

Address: 13302 Pennsylvania Ave, Hagerstown, md 21742

Phone: 3015730209

E-mail: samuel.mclaughlin@volvo.com

Project Title: Transmission Gear Design and Manufacturing Concepts

Description: Volvo Group Truck Technology is a global leader in complete powertrain solutions for heavy duty vehicles (engine, transmission, axle). For this project, students are to investigate novel methods of designing and manufacturing gears for a transmission assembly. Design areas to be proposed include, but are not limited to: 1. ‘Composite/ Fabricated’ Gear Design a. Use multiple materials and mfg. processes to form the gear. Be creative! i. Toothed Rim - Case Hardened Steel, Steel-induction hardened, others? ii. Web - aluminum, titanium, spoked, steel sheet metal, plastic resin, others? iii. Hub - steel, aluminum, titanium, plastic resin, others? 2. Tooth Lead Design, Tolerance and Fatigue Calculations a. New tooth lead design that is a circular arc ‘hybrid’ of a herringbone tooth design i. Increased load capacity and less noise than spur gears ii. Thrust cancellation of traditional herringbone, but easier to manufacture Deliverables: 1. Design Requirement Specs defined in the areas of: a. Cost i. New design should produce a net cost savings over the current product ii. There will be a credit of $1/lb. of weight reduction iii. Torque capacity increases to be credited based on weight reduction possible if the current gear design capacity is maintained b. Weight i. New design should produce a net weights savings over the current product c. Load Capacity i. New design should provide a net load capacity increase over the current product ii. 2 2. Fatigue calculation of chosen design 3. Prototype mockup of chosen design from baseline part which will be provided.

Requested Dept.: Ag, Energy, ESM, Industrial, MatSci, Mechanical

Requirements: none

Well Master Corporation

Contact: Michael Marino

Address: 400 Corporate Circle, Ste: L-M, Golden, CO 80401

Phone: 303-980-0254

E-mail: michael.marino@wellmaster.com

Project Title: "Plunger At Location" Sensing

Description: Plunger Lift Technology is a form of artificial lift commonly used in the oil and gas industry. This technology is the most environmentally sustainable, energy efficient, and cost effective means for removing liquids from gas producing wells. The sponsors wish to develop a means of determining the arrival of a plunger at a specific point in a well to aid in oil and gas well optimization. The first goal is to sense and report at surface that a plunger has reached the bottom of the well. Note: Accoustics or dynamic pressure sensing of the gas inside the tubing/casing cannot be used as there exists prior art/intellectual property protecting this means. Ideally, if time permits, plunger location sensing at different points in the well is desired. This could be predetermined, finite points in the well or continuous tracking of the plunger during the cycle. Any and all methods (besides accoustic/dynamic pressure sensing) should be researched and considered. The solution may not use wired connections/cables down hole to surface. It is important to keep costs in line with a goal of a retail cost of $2500 per unit supporting commercial application.

Requested Dept.: Energy, Electrical, Industrial, Mechanical

Requirements: Confidential, Intellectual

Westinghouse

Contact: Bill Bedont

Address: 680 Waltz Mill Road, Madison, PA 15633

Phone: 724-722-6731

E-mail: bedontwj@westinghouse.com

Project Title: Maximum allowable gasket seating surface degradation before seal failure

Description: During power plant outages steam generator handholes, secondary manways, primary manways and pressurizer manways are removed for component maintenance. During plant operation corrosion contaminants and/or water cause the gasket seating surface on the pad and cover to corrode. This corrosion is in the form of pitting. This pitting is random on the surfaces as well as the depth of the pits. Also, during component maintenance the gasket seating surface can be subject to damage from inadequate protection. This type of damage is in the form of circumferential and radial scratches and gouges. Below is an example of degradation from pitting. The gaskets used to seal these openings are from Flexitalic Gaskets. They are an Inconel spiral material with a grafoil compound between the spirals. When the bolts or studs are torqued or tensioned respectively the gasket is crushed between the two gasket seating surfaces. The gasket seating surfaces are a machined surface. This is accomplished with a machine that cuts a groove in a spiral configuration (phonographic) with approximately33 to 50 grooves per inch at a surface finish between 125 to 250 micro-inch. The project is to determine how big in area and depth the degradation can be before it will start to leak under pressure and temperature. The test apparatus shall consist of handhole flange attached to a concentric reducer. The flange is welded to the large end of the reducer and the steam and pressure go in thru the smaller end with a drain to relieve the pressure between tests. It should be built to see the steam leaking out where the gasket fails. The apparatus should be built such that it can withstand the pressure and temperature of the test. It should be mounted on a stand so it can be held during testing, assembly/disassembly and gasket surface degradation modifications. The deliverables for this project would be to design the test rig in ANSYS (or other FEA program), build the test rig and then run the trials at Waltz Mill facility or other facility and/or use computer simulations for proof of concept.

Requested Dept.: Mechanical

Requirements: none

Xerox 1

Contact: Gary Roscoe

Address: 163 West Ave, Fairport, NY 14450

Phone: 585-231-5539

E-mail: gary.roscoe@xerox.com

Project Title: Faithfully: Print Integrity Checker - Team 1

Description: Go to YouTube and search on “Faithfully” song by the 80’s rock group Journey. It is the standard for sappy 80’s anthem rock. In the 80’s sappy and cheesy was in. It was so uncool that it was cool. Man, that Steve Perry can sing though. The song “Faithfully” was an ode to the band’s wives and girlfriends. It was a pledge that they would be faithful to them while they were on the road. A noble theme indeed!... but some would say that faithfulness is unusual and not expected of mega-popular rock stars. In the print industry, being faithful is the opposite of what it is in the rock music industry. It is expected and it is certainly not unusual, sappy, cheesy or uncool. The faithful reproduction of the printed image is paramount. We call it Print Integrity. There are a couple of aspects of print integrity. First off, did the prints get printed in the right order? Secondly, is the image “faithful” to the original digital image? Problem Description: As much as we demand faithfulness and integrity in our products, occasionally prints slip by that are not faithful. This is unacceptable to our customers, especially when the printed image is something like a bill or a check. An error on these prints can be catastrophic for a customer and damaging to Xerox’s reputation and brand. The Project: Your mission if you choose to accept it is to design a system that compares two sets of images (provided by Xerox). The first set of images is a set of original images. The second set is a set of high-definition pictures of the original images. There are 3 basic scenarios that this system will detect: In the first scenario, the 2 sets of images will be in the same order and the 2nd set of images are faithful pictures of the 1st set of images. By analyzing specified regions of each image, the system will detect that the images in the 1st set are in the same order as the 2nd set. It will also detect that each image pair between the sets are matches. The results will be displayed to the user. In the second scenario, your system will jumble the order of the 2nd set of image pairs. By analyzing the specified regions of each image, the system will detect that the images are not in the same order as the 1st set. The results will be displayed to the user. In the third scenario, the 2 sets of images will be in the same order (like in scenario 1), but one of the images in the 2nd set will be altered so that it is different from its original pair. An alpha-numeric ID from the original image is changed to a different alpha-numeric ID. By analyzing the content of specific regions of the image pairs, the system will detect that the IDs do not match. The results will be displayed to the user. Even though the second set of images are high-definition pictures of the original images, the image analysis will need to filter out expected variations between the sets of images. The pictures will not be exact replicas of the originals. Specifically, you need to account for differences in image resolution, lighting/color, and the need to find the edge of the image and crop the picture to match the original. A stretch goal for this project is to go beyond the alpha-numeric analysis to match other regions of the image such as pictures and barcodes. This project is also a competition. We hope to have multiple teams working on this project. At the showcase the teams will be given the original sets of images to test the 3 scenarios listed above. However, an additional set of images will be given to the teams to test extra scenarios. The specific details of the extra images will not be shared with the team prior to the competition. However, these scenarios will all be extensions of the basic scenarios but with extra text and image variations and some of the stretch goal features. The teams will need to use their creativity and the information that they learn of the printing industry, print technologies and image variations from the Xerox reps through the semester to prepare for these extra images. If this project is successful, you will detect all of the integrity errors in the images and help Journey and Xerox make faithfulness cool once again!

Requested Dept.: CompSci, CSE, Electrical

Requirements: Intellectual

Xerox 2

Contact: Gary Roscoe

Address: 163 West Ave, Fairport, NY 14450

Phone: 585-231-5539

E-mail: gary.roscoe@xerox.com

Project Title: Faithfully: Print Integrity Checker - Team 2

Requested Dept.: CompSci, CSE, Electrical

Requirements: Intellectual