MAE

Our Small Scale Wind Turbine project aims to provide a sustainable and cost-effective solution for individuals, organizations, and communities looking to generate their own electricity. In this project, we focus on designing and building a compact, lightweight, and durable small-scale wind turbine that can generate a minimum of 10 watts of electricity in low wind speed conditions,  while being able to withstand wind speeds up to 18 m/s. The wind turbine must fit into a 50cm x 50cm x 50cm box without its mounting assembly and have a total cost of less than $300. The goal is to create a wind turbine that is both efficient and accessible, providing a reliable source of energy for those in need. Through careful design and rigorous testing, our Small Scale Wind Turbine program aims to create a high-quality and cost-effective solution for renewable energy  generation.

Background 

"Robot for Executing Physics-Inspired Path Planner" is a capstone design project. The project team will design and build a self-contained and self-sufficient robot capable of tracking a preplanned collision-free path in a 2D environment containing circular obstacles with a maximum error of 10% at any point.

Unique Background of Project Team Members

Our team consists of 5 team members, 4 of which are Mechincal Engineers and the 5th being an Aerospace Engineer. There are 4 students that have previously taken the course MAE 106 at UCI, which has similar objectives to this current project. This is helpful as there has been prior experience to using Arduino and CAD modeling a robot of this caliber. With such different backgrounds as a person, this helps to come together and be able to provide new outlooks on problems to solve. 

Goal and Objectives

Develop technical skills and critical thinking to quantify the...

Background
     This student-led project is a partnership with the LN4 Hand Project. The LN4 is a non-profit organization that aims to provide free prosthetic hands to anyone in need- anywhere in the world. They have already delivered over 5000 of their prosthetic devices to below-the-elbow amputees, mainly in India and Cambodia. There remains an estimated 145,000 eligible patients globally, waiting to receive a helping hand.

     Since the prosthetic hands for sale on the market today are prohibitively expensive, LN4 designs and manufactures its own devices. They are now in the process of making their next generation hand which will go on to improve the lives of many around the world. In concert with their efforts, our task is to prototype a mounting mechanism by which the prosthetic hand can be securely fastened to the residual limb. 

Goal and Objectives
     The primary...

Pressure fed rocket engines make use of high pressure pressurant tanks that should be
topped off after pressing propellant tanks. One of the ways to accomplish this safely is to make
use of a remotely controlled high pressure quick disconnect (QD) system. The system would be
responsible for disconnecting the high pressure pressurant fill line after refilling the pressurant
tank to nominal pressures. By excluding the need to have a manual high pressure disconnect
while the pressurant tank is at max pressure eliminates a source of risk during the fill process.
The 189 team will develop a high pressure QD system that can be triggered by an electrical
signal. The QD should be rated for at least 1.5 times the max pressure in the current system’s
COPV and be able to be triggered reliably. The QD hardware should be commercially available
...

UCI Rocket Project Solids Team will be building its first large collective rocket to compete in the 10k Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Propulsion Category at the 2023 Spaceport America (SA) Cup. Our team is tasked to design an AirCore Atmospheric Sampling System that will collect and test air samples from different altitudes, allowing the team to compare the data and analyze its differences in gas concentrations. As a team, we aim to combine our interdisciplinary knowledge to meet the system requirements which include: weighing at least 4 kg, being able to withstand 10 Gs of force, be at least 3Us, ground tested, and survive 4 launch attempts. Our group aims to familiarize ourselves with the engineering design process and apply critical thinking to design a fully functional payload system for our rocket.

Summary

In recent history, humans have discovered and constructed the mechanism of flight. As far as technologies have advanced, flying birds and insects still outperform the agility, maneuverability, and stability of man-made aircraft. The Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle research team works to unlock the secrets of how Mother Nature does flight. For example, hummingbirds and dragonflies demonstrate remarkable aerial control during flight and are capable of traversing complex environments.
FWMAV studies the phenomenon behind the flapping wing. Animals and insects that use flapping mechanisms to fly demonstrate remarkable aerial control during flight, capable of traversing complex environments. FWMAV's research focuses on flight mechanisms and physical phenomena. Engineers examine the flight patterns of birds and insects so they can design efficient flight mechanisms. Different forms of fluid computation and force analysis were performed on FWMAVs to learn about the complex unsteady aerodynamics associated with the flapping motion of the...

Background:

This team is tasked with improving upon the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft prototype Kestrel. Kestrel uses 3 electric ducted fans (EDFs) which are housed inside nacelles which can rotate about the pitch axis such that their thrust can be redirected from being expelled rearward to downward and are powered by lithium polymer batteries. The augmentation of these nacelles allows for standard forward flight, transitional flight, and vertical flight.

The aircraft is primarily constructed with light weight 3d printed components which are reinforced by carbon fiber rods and tubes. This allows the model to have geometries not easily achieved by other techniques

Kestrel proved the propulsion layout of 2 forward EDFs, and 1 rear EDF, all rotating about the pitch axis, can control the craft in vertical flight and maintain a stable hover. All of the control surfaces worked, the construction process was validated, and the landing gear worked well....

In this project, we will be creating an autonomous cleaning robot that resembles the form of a Roomba. Upon completion, our cleaning robot will go through a challenging obstacle course where it will need to avoid obstacles while simultaneously vacuuming up dust and debris in the play field. Through this project, we are synthesisizing several disciplines of engineering including mechanical, robotics, electrical and computer engineering in order to accomplish our goal. 

BACKGROUND:

UCI CubeSat is a student-led effort to design, manufacture, and launch a 2U nanosatellite to conduct experiments on a UCI research payload called a variable emissivity device (VED).

These experiments aim to ascertain whether the VED will be viable for use as a cheap, reliable method of thermal management on future spacecraft. UCI's CubeSat, AntSat1, will relay data on performance in various degrees of solar exposure and at varying adjustable emissivity values while in orbit.

OBJECTIVES:

• Ensure that payload requirements and mission objectives from payload stakeholders are met
• Integrate components of various subsystems to collect data, manage power, and communicate with the ground station
• Build and test a functional receiving ground station
• Test the subsystems and CubeSat among operational and launch conditions
• Integrate and successfully launch AntSat1
• Create thorough documentation and a foundation for future UCI orbital projects

SUBSYSTEMS:

Operations: Maintains the team's Linux server (system administration) and internal...

The objective of the FUSION Engineering Project is to design and create a functional autonomous vacuum cleaner. Each team must adhere to certain design specifications set by the Project Directors and will compete with each other at FUSIONCon in May 2023. Each team’s goal is to create a cost-effective robot while maintaining functionality.

The UCI Rocket Project PTU is a project whose goal is to design a pressure testing system that can safely and accurately pressure test components used by the Liquid Rocket Team on their current Preliminary Test Rocket and be adaptable to their next generation rocket. The designed PTU will improve upon UCI Rocket Project's current pressure testing equipment that is difficult to use and requires multiple people to setup. It will be remotely controlled so that the operator is at a safe distance and pressure transducers will provide accurate data. The PTU will be able to test relief valves, calibrate pressure regulating valves, and leak test all components.

Background:

The FUSION Autonomous Vaccum project aims to provide members with the opportunity to work with a diverse range of other engineering majors while aquiring hands-on experience with Arduinos and CAD modeling.Although we share the same objective as the other project teams within FUSION, we will differentiate ourselves with our unique design and approach to problem-solving in order to be a competitive oponent in the end-of-the-year competition. 

Goal and Objectives: 

This project will introduce us to the intricate world of robotics, allowing our members to explore their interests and curiosities in programming and modeling. This will allow us to better understand the complexity of automation and its potential to better our own lives. 

We have received our first purchase order on Janurary 31st, 2023, and have began to work on initial construction of our robot. We have created designs for the major mechanical components of the system and have collaborated towards...

The goal of our project is to test and validate an inexpensive numerical analysis tool for lift and
drag calculations of a 2D airfoil. The project will use the XFOIL code as a prototypical numerical
predictive tool for aerodynamic analysis. An experimental campaign will be designed to provide
reliable data to validate the numerical prediction method. The team will be fully responsible for
coming up with a set of wind tunnel experiments, obtaining the necessary materials, executing
the experiments, and fully documenting methods and results. In addition, the team will need to
master the XFOIL code and execute the necessary calculations.

Background

Members of the project team would design, write, and test control software for Blue Planet’s (www.blueplanetsystems.com) Carbon Capture and Mineralization process that captures CO2 from an industrial flue gas source and converts the gas into calcium carbonate aggregates for use in the built environment. The process is currently being constructed at San Francisco Bay Aggregates (SFBA, www.sfbayaggregates.com) Blue Planet’s affiliate site in Pittsburg, CA. The project team will be expected to use Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams to understand where controls are being implemented and then write code for a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) for the full process which would then be installed at SFBA. 
 

Goals and Objectives 

The project aims to teach students:
•    The chemical and mechanical principles underlying the Blue Planet process for carbon capture and mineralization.
•    The use of a Piping and Instrumentation Diagram (P&ID) in the design of...

This project encompasses one of many alternative solutions to a transition into clean and renewable energy sources. Wind turbines, when designed and constructed properly, can yield and store a substantial amount of electricity all from wind energy. To keep up with the high power demands of local electrical grids, most modern day turbines need to be immensely large in size, sometimes up to 500 ft tall, in order to generate enough electricity. Recently, more thought is being put into harnessing the efficiency of traditional turbines but on a smaller scale to satify more domestic electrical needs. The Small-Scale Wind Turbine projects here at UCI is involved with Collegiate Wind Competition and focuses on this small scale optomization of modern day giants.

For the Winter 2023 quarter, the Steerable Mechanical Walker project focuses on creating a robot that can move and turn without human interaction. This iteration of the walker will use four legs which will allow for movement around its environment. This version of the walker is inspired by the GNK power droids from the Star Wars franchise. The design of the mechanical walker will have a Gonk droid theme which will give it "personality". The ultimate goal of the Gonk Walker is to be capable of steering autonomously in preparation for the day it is tested against the MAE 106 robots.

Executive Summary

FUSION's Engineering Project provide students with the opportunity to design and manufacture a robot from scratch and learn the basics of automated controls, motions/distance sensors, and programming. 

The goal is to design and manufacture an autonomous robot capable of picking up small amounts of dirt and debris from the ground simultaneously avoiding any obstacles in the way.

Competition: 

Each team will begin with their robot in a square 5 by 5 feet field with small pieces of dirt and obstacles randomly scattered around. The objective for the robot is to pick up the pieces of dirt while simultaneously avoiding the obstacles present in the way. Each team will be scored based on their performance during the 2 minute period. Each piece of ‘dirt’ picked up by the robot is +1 point and each time the robot hits an obstacle is -1 point. The final score in the end will represent the team’s score and will be used to determine the winner.

Background

Due to COVID-19, the medical industry has received an increase in demand for rapid covid tests, as well a need for contactless interactions between humans. The increase in traffic for hospital visits has strained the current logistics network and increased delivery times. CONCEPT VTOL plans to mitigate the risk for contamination and decrease delivery times by designing a novel VTOL drone that will deliver prescriptions and rapid covid tests from the UCI Student Health Center to UCI students within a 5-mile radius. 

Goals and Objectives

Our main goal for this project is to design a novel vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drone for prescription drug medication and rapid covid test delivery. 

The following are the team’s objectives:

• Research pre-existing VTOL designs and compare the pros and cons

• Create a complete preliminary design and bill of materials

• Create conceptual designs and selections for each individual

...

We are a group of UCI engineering students with the goal to design, build, and fly a solar-assisted aircraft. Our project's aim is twofold: to prove the viability of solar power in airplanes/drones, and create a device that can assist in humanitarian aid missions caused by climate change. 

Research Mission: The goal of Spacecraft Thermal Management Systems (STMS) is to be developing several Variable Emissivity Device prototypes, or VEDs, one of which is to be applied as payload to a CubeSat and launched into Low-Earth Orbit. This VED will mitigate thermal loads from the sun and internal satellite electronics and offers a low-cost thermal control solution to absorb or reject heat from spacecraft. We work closely with the UCI CubeSat project to coordinate the VED and satellite operations. 

Team Structure and Divisions: The research team is split into two division: the Mechanical + Aerospace Division and the Chemical + Materials Division. 

The Chemical + Materials Division works to develop the electrochromic VED, which uses an oxidation-reduction reaction with Tungsten trioxide and Nickel oxide ions to induce coloration when voltage is applied. The subteams in this division are:

• Tungsten Subteam: manufactures the Tungsten thin film deposition procedures and slides
• Nickel
...

We are a team of undergraduate Engineering students that are working towards the common goal of improving people's quality of life. Our team's objective is to design and build a portable shoulder exercise device that is capable of rehabilitating the patient's shoulder muscle. Ultimately, we want the patients to be able to perform tasks that require overhead movement and extension of the elbow. Our device will be used by patients and physical therapists at the UCI Medical Center. We hope our device aids the needs of those with impaired shoulders and potentially improves the healing process and the long-term mobility of their arms.

This project aims to create a compact, lightweight, and highly reliable antenna deployment mechanism that will be attached to an Orbital 2U CubeSat satellite. It must survive launch and orbital conditions and allow data to be relayed from the CubeSat to the ground station at UCI. We must ensure that we design a working mechanism that fits within the limited space provided to us on the 2U CubeSat. The antenna has to be the correct length for the material used to provide the needed frequency. We work alongside UC Irvine’s Cubesat team to verify design requirements and ensure that our designed mechanism will be compatible with the team’s CubeSat which will be launched onboard a third-party launch provider when complete. 

Goal and Objectives

This open-ended project involves creating a robot, utilizing all steps of the engineering design process, to autonomously navigate around obstacles while following the shortest path. This project will be in conjunction with UCI graduate students developing a physics-inspired pathfinding algorithm, which we will utilize in our design in order to navigate an obstacle course. Our goal is to design and build a robot capable of: tracking a preplanned collision-free path in a 2D environment containing circular obstacles with a maximum error of 10% at any point, be able to pass through any two closely spaced obstacles and perform turn maneuvers without drifting off-course, when the path planner commands it to, and be self-contained and self-sufficient (no plug ins) and capable of running for at least 30 mins without recharge. As students in achieving the design project goal, we would have practiced all phases of the design process,...

  According to many route planning methods in the available literature, the Robot that we are going to create will follow the path precisely  while avoiding probable obstacles. We must discover strategies for finite-dimensional optimizations, in which the ideal path is formed by discrete optimal points. Using the calculus of variations, the Path Follower we will create directly builds the perfect path with the fewest steps. Additionally, it will be able to implement the essential control inputs that the pathfinder scheme specifies. As a proof of concept, an obstacle-oriented map of the environment is first constructed in this offline phase. Control inputs are then transmitted to the robot so that the Path Follower can carry out the command precisely.

The purpose of this project is to give the UCI Rocket Project Team a new consistent CO2 Ejection System for the recovery of the rocket that will be used for the Preliminary Test Rocket (PTR).  Students will be able to manufacture and develop the system “in-house” and can easily be manufactured to align with the project guidelines. From past designs of the recovery systems and the familiarity of the current rocket, students will be able to pursue more knowledge among higher altitudes with a CO2 Ejection Systems and implement more efficient and cleaner solutions to initiate the recovery process. With ongoing experimentations, students have the opportunity to integrate and improve their knowledge from the future systems of CO2 Ejection to reach higher altitudes in the near future.

The goal of the Fall 2022 Steerable Mechanical Walker project is to design and build a walking machine with an advanced leg system, a single drive motor for movement, and a single servo motor for steering. The design will be remotely controlled, and should allow the walker to move 1.5 ft/s and follow a circle of 6ft diameter. The team has to provide digital and physical models of two prototypes with test data and demonstration videos with it.

From the time a creature is first born, food is the number one priority for its survival. Locating and capturing its food effectively is crucial, and in robotics this process is called foraging. Our goal is to develop the smallest functional aquatic autonomous robot capable of finding a power source to recharge. Remorus must swim autonomously in water and return back to its charging station before the battery runs out of charge. Potential applications of such technology include swarms of such robots performing various tasks. Several colleges and universities have designed their own micro Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), like MIT’s Blue Bot and Harvard’s RoboBees which demonstrate the capabilities of robot swarms. The project may act as a proof of concept for future aquatic micro-robots and demonstrate the possibility of using AUV swarms to detect water contaminants and enter the human body to perform procedures.

Background:

The Solar Panel Deployment project aims to design a functional deployment mechanism for the solar panels on the 2U satellite from the UCI CubeSat team. The goal is to design, manufacture, and test a prototype version of the deployment device to be used on the CubeSat team's satellite. 

Objectives:​

• Ensure that the mechanism consistently deploys 
• Confirm the power draw matches the existing satellite's needs
• Design can be manufactured during the fall '22 quarter
• Design conforms to the weight and size of the existing satellite

Milestones:

• Research objectives regarding specific model aspects

• Establish requirements and design attributes for test design

• Create a CAD/3D model of a preliminary design for a deployable solar panel unit

• Accurately test manufacture the agreed upon design

• Verify that manufactured good meets and successfully produces the teams’ goal

Team Member Contact Information:...

UAV Forge is a multidisciplinary engineering design team that focuses on the design, manufacturing, programming and testing of autonomous aerial vehicles. The design aims to fulfill the constraints that allows the team to participate in the AUVSI SUAS 2021-2022 competition season. The AUVSI competition requires that the system’s UAV have autonomous flight capabilities, ability to perform object avoidance of stationary and dynamic objects, the ability to do object detection, localization, and classification. The system must also perform an airdrop task wherein UAV Forge will be manufacturing an assembly that will allow the UAV to drop payloads that safely land on designated targets. Though the emphasis for this year’s team is to perform well in the competition setting, the primary objective is to ensure the undergraduate students participating in the project apply their engineering skills to a compelling real-world problem.

This team is responsible for the design of an affordable and efficient heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system appropriate for an Accessory Dwelling Unit in a low-income neighborhood of Orange County. In addition to HVAC, the team is to determine if a thermal storage system is feasible given project requirements and constraints. This engineering subteam is part of the larger UCI and Orange Coast College partnership team competing in the Orange County Sustainability Decathlon.