ME Design Expo

Design Expo 2019 Summary

Mechanical Engineering students gathered at the Innovation Hub for a department sponsored Design Expo this past December, where capstone teams demonstrated projects they spent the past year designing, building, and testing. The event consisted of twenty-eight capstone teams with projects spanning healthcare, manufacturing, environment, safety technology, and education market areas. Project execution was supported by faculty teaching and the machine shop staff, in addition to the many sponsors and advisors aiding in students' mission of applying engineering fundamentals for innovation and solving today's complex societal and environmental problems.

The event attracted industry that was impressed with students' technical proficiency and innovative designs, with a keynote from Randy Teinert of Teinert metals that has been a long-term donor of materials for the capstone course. Many of the presented designs will benefit Texas Tech research and Lubbock communities directly. For instance, automated material straining devices for 3D printing and kinesiology stairs will aid University medical research, while assistive devices will aid local elementary students with mobility disabilities.

Local industry and Texas Tech faculty judges recognized teams for Innovative, Technical, and Overall awards. There was a large field of teams competing for these awards, with innovative designs consisting of safety mechanisms to prevent ATV rollover, magnetic pumps to aid heart blood flow rates, low cost energy solutions, trackable broadheads for hunting, and solar powered water filtration system. Technical designs included a cantilever beam fatigue tester, automated tube cutting fabrication, and automatic can crusher. Overall design award considerations included a rocking bed frame and PIG pipe cleaning device with an adjustable body and wheel system.

Team Assist (Hahyung Yang, Elizabeth Jackson, Shawn Lesch, and Justin Cleland) was recognized as the Innovation Award winner, with the development of a wearable glove that helps users with limited strength/dexterity pick up small, lightweight objects. The Technical Award winner was RoboScrew (Victoria Adaszczyk, Tim Ideler, John Michael Lanham, Garrett Miller, Zachary Stagner, and James Smith) that created an automated screwing machined for users to efficiently and safely screw multiple screws in position with the press of a button. The Wind Turbine team (Andrew Harvard, Cooper Tocquigny, Daniel Sixta, Dylan LaVelle, Hemra Esenyyazov, Jacob Terrell, and Shane Cavett) won with the Overall Award for their impressive low-cost power source powered by wind that is ideal for aiding those without access to a power grid or in need of an immediate power source.

The Design Expo proved a great success and provided a venue for students to display their hard work and innovations for the year. Students overwhelmingly enjoyed the event and the opportunity to share their mechanical engineering successes with the University and Lubbock community.