Whether it’s keeping airplanes safe or keeping homes cool, University of Rhode Island students are on it. In late April, about a dozen student teams demonstrated their senior capstone design projects. Most teams partnered with industry and delivered real solutions to real-world problems.
Take, for example, Hope Global. The industrial textiles company wants to fit more spools that wind its finished material in its Cumberland, R.I. plant. Four mechanical engineering students studied the existing system and designed a new, skinner spool. The new model means Hope Global can fit three spools in an area where currently just two fit.
“By giving them an extra spool, the payback is less than a year,” says student Tim Johnson, who adds that the company plans to test the system in the coming months.
Not far away, two loadmasters from the Rhode Island National Guard 143rd Airlift Wing reviewed a student-designed proximity warning system for aircraft. As aircraft taxi on the ground, the system monitors the surrounding area. When the plane approaches a nearby object, the system emits a series of lights and sounds. The closer the object, the more intense the sound and light.
The students submitted the project as part of a competition held by the Federal Aviation Administration. The device took first place in the nation with FAA and industry officials saying it had market potential and was economical to install. (See full story.)
Separately during a presentation on campus, visitor and National Guard Master Sgt. Chad Gurnon called the device a long overdue idea. Airplanes navigating congested airports are prone to clipping their wings against other aircraft or structures. More than a scratch, such collisions cost millions of dollars in damage to military equipment.
“This is an awesome idea,” Gurnon says. “For what it would cost, it would save so much money.”
Industrial and systems engineering student Lawrence Higgins pointed out another positive. The device could allow planes to park closer together and save space in hangers, which are expensive to build and maintain.
Keeping large structures such as hangers the right temperature was the charge of another team. Amtrol executives asked students to invent a better way to filter out air and debris from water-based heating systems. The oxygen in the air lowers efficiency and dirt clogs pumps and values.
Amtrol also asked students to invent a system that would not infringe on any existing patents. And, of course, it had to be affordable.
Students developed a stainless steel mesh wound around a pipe. The mesh forms a layered grid that filters the water. To prove it worked, students built a model and printed two of its components on the college’s 3-D printer.
Mechanical engineering student Chris Shillings said the project put him and his peers closer to industry than ever. The group visited Amtrol’s Rhode Island testing and manufacturing facility and worked closely with company engineers.
“It was definitely a tough assignment but it was a great experience to really step into industry and see their process,” Shillings says.