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7th ANNUAL ENGINEERING
Senior Design Day
Monday, May 4th 2015
9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
G r e a t Ro o m , P r y z b y l a C e n t e r
CONCURRENT SESSION I
9:00 - 9:30 AM
9:30 AM - 11:00 AM,
G R EAT RO OM A
Attendee Check-in
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
SESSION CHAIR: SAHANA KUKKE, PH.D.
9:30 - 9:45 An In Vitro Model of Collagen Response to Tumor Pressure with Dynamic Tracking of Birefringence
and Intratissue Strain Ruby Huynh, Rachel Garabedian, Patrick Gibbons
9:45 - 10:00 Implementation of a Force Feedback Controller to Increase the Effectiveness of a Robotic Gripper
Claw Brian Keith, Nicholas Jarboe, Albara Alsaywed
10:00 - 10:15 Quantifying Wrist Hypertonia in Individuals with Cerebral Palsy
Jessica Donaldson, Frank Broussard, Moneerah Almuhanna
10:15 - 10:30 The Potential to Reduce Muscle Activation during Shoulder Flexion using a Novel Rehabilitative
Exoskeleton Angeline Premraj, Nicholas Civetti, Brendan Breslin
10:30 - 10:45 Validation of the Kinect v2 vs GAITRite for Gait Patterns Parameters: Pilot Study
Tyler Cork, Reagan McCloskey, Reanna Sealey
10:45 - 11:00 Effect of Handedness on Novel Dexterity Tasks
Alex Hetzel, Hunter Steel, Luke Palguta, Jon Paciorek
11:00 - 11:15 AM COFFEE BREAK
11:15 AM - 1:00 PM,
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
SESSION CHAIR: JOHN JUDGE, PH.D.
11:15 - 11:30 Thermoelectric Cooler
Joseph Shillinglaw, Alexander Belk, Christian Guzman, Peter Clemente
11:30 - 11:45 Thermoelectric Cooling Helmet
Ali AlShafai, Huy Le, Minh Ngo, Mohammed Al-Ayesh
11:45 - 12:00 CUA Autonomous Surface Vehicle Design
Augusto César Santos Peixoto, Rafael Lima Thomaz, Ronaldo Chaves Reis
12:00 - 12:15 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aero Design West Competition
Joshua Bryant, Cameron Daniels, Diogenes Dichoso, Hannah Gillis
12:15 - 12:30 CNC Machine with Cooling, Dust-Collection, and Safety Systems
Vincent Maggio, Christian Riegle, Michael Spielberger
12:30 - 12:45 High Lift Model Airplane
Andre Aquino, Dominic Renner, Emma Needham, Fahad Jambi
12:45 - 1:00 Senior Design: SAE Aero Design Competition
Steven O'Leary, Colin Feeney, Steven Mastro, Will Horne
GREAT ROOM B
1:00 - 1:45 PM
LUNCH & POSTER SESSION
01:45 - 2:00 PM
AWARDS PRESENTATION/CONCLUDING REMARKS
CONCURRENT SESSION II
9:00 - 9:30 AM
9:30 AM - 10:30 AM,
GREAT ROOM C
Attendee Check-in
CIVIL ENGINEERING
SESSION CHAIR: MIN LIU, PH.D.
9:30 - 9:45 Triton's Palace : The Underwater Hotel
Alec Droussiotis, Mohammad Mataqi, Mary O'Neill, Jaime Soto, Brian Zamorski
9:45 - 10:00 Green Space
Nareg Khachadorian, Shane Kelly, Nick Sangwa, Cheryl Anderson, Steven Manozzi
10:00 - 10:15 Monroe Market - Brookland Works: Linear Schedule versus Critical Path Method Schedule
Kevin Hanula, Robert Ferrara, Dang Nguyen, Patrick Michalski, Patrick LaPorta
10:15 - 10:30 Underground Concrete Structure
Dante DeAnnuntis, Daniel Coleman, Ryan Van Fleet, Michael Hogan
10:30 - 10:45 AM COFFEE BREAK
10:45 AM - 12:45 AM,
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING & COMPUTER SCIENCE
SESSION CHAIR: OZLEM KILIC, PH.D.
10:45 - 11:00 Crib Monitoring System
Dat Tran, Kiet Duong
11:00 - 11:15 Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Department Interactive Hallway Informational Display
James Huddleston, Alexandra Gillis, Tho Vi, Meshari Alluqmani
11:15 - 11:30 Real Environment Collision in Virtual Space
Matthew Melly, Lance VanArsdale
11:30 - 11:45 Rice Cooking Robot
Anthony Nguyen, Tri Nguyen, Tung Nguyen
11:45 - 12:00 Self-Balancing Skateboard
Matthew Dillon, Jorge Coronado
12:00 - 12:15 Spectrum Management with Watson
Ngoc Tran, Austin Mueller
12:15 - 12:30 The Weather Balloon Project
Paul Burns, Sarah Cunningham, Peter Shagnea, Seth Tavera, Abdulkader Turkistani, Joseph Wright
12:30 - 12:45 3D-Imaging and Near-Field Measurements using Anechoic Chamber
Toan K Vo Dai, Anh Thai
GREAT ROOM B
12:45 - 1:45 PM
LUNCH & POSTER SESSION
01:45 - 2:00 PM
AWARDS PRESENTATION/CONCLUDING REMARKS
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
An In Vitro Model of Collagen Response to Tumor Pressure with
Dynamic Tracking of Birefringence and Intratissue Strain
Ruby Huynh, Rachel Garabedian, Patrick Gibbons
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Raub
The interaction of tumor cells with the mechanical microenvironment
at sites of primary cancer and metastasis is an expanding study
area. Modeling tumor stroma with a collagen gel can provide
response information of stromal matrix microstructural to tumor
forces. To achieve this goal, a bioreactor was designed to contain a
collagen gel, with a cylindrical plunger to exert compression within
the gel, and an optical window to view dynamic microstructural
alterations with microscopy. A type I collagen gel was seeded with
7 µm beads to serve as displacement markers for strain estimation
by digital image correlation. After each plunger step, birefringence signal emanating from the gel was
quantified as the optical retardance via Senarmont method. Co-localized maps of optical retardance
and estimated intratissue strain were correlate qualitatively at pixel level. To determine the role of noncell-mediated force on collagen network in this system, collagen concentration and microstructure were
varied. Results directly relate collagen birefringence to intratissue strain, provide an initial approach of
understanding tissue remodeling in the complex, dynamic environment of the tumor-stroma.
Implementation of a Force Feedback Controller to Increase
the Effectiveness of a Robotic Gripper Claw
Brian Keith, Nicholas Jarboe, Albara Alsaywed
Advisor: Kyle Rohrbach
Many current teleoperated robots provide only visual feedback to
operators. Operating these robots requires extensive practice and
can be very difficult without the assistance of additional feedback
mechanisms. The objective of this study is to determine the
effectiveness of dynamic force feedback when operating a
gripping robot. This study compares an individual’s ability to
effectively operate the gripping robot when they rely solely on
visual feedback and when there is also dynamic force feedback to aid them. A CUA-approved IRB study
was conducted in which 20 individuals used a robotic gripper claw to grasp an egg at a constant force
without breaking it. Individuals performed the task ten times without dynamic force feedback and ten
times with the aid of dynamic force feedback. Results indicate that the implementation of the dynamic
force feedback mechanism increases the user’s ability to effectively operate the gripping robot.
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Quantifying Wrist Hypertonia in Individuals with Cerebral Palsy
Jessica Donaldson, Frank Broussard, Moneerah Almuhanna
Advisor: Dr. Sahana N. Kukke
Physicians lack an effective means to quantify the severity of wrist
hypertonia in patients with cerebral palsy. The assessment of
hypertonia is used as a substantial factor in distinguishing the
necessary rehabilitation and interventional needs of individual
patients. Currently, physicians assess wrist hypertonia by moving the
joint passively and scoring the severity based on what they feel. To
be more objective, we designed a device to passively flex and
extend the wrist using elastic bands while recording the resistance torque using a torque sensor.
Preliminary results indicate that individuals with wrist hypertonia have larger torque responses to passive
movement compared to typically developing individuals. Results also show that torque responses in
patients are velocity-dependent; they are larger when the wrist is moved faster. Future work to validate
our quantitative hypertonia assessment tool will include the addition of a motor for more precise velocity
control, and testing a larger sample of patients. Our long-term goal is to provide physicians with a
quantitative method to track hypertonia over time and in response to therapeutic interventions.
The Potential to Reduce Muscle Activation during Shoulder
Flexion using a Novel Rehabilitative Exoskeleton
Angeline Premraj, Nicholas Civetti, Brendan Breslin
Advisor: Dr. Sang Wook Lee
Current shoulder exotendon designs are inadequate in that they are
often too expensive and complex for simple upper limb
rehabilitation, while also prone to bending due to their rigid
structure. A novel pneumatically actuated exotendon has been
developed for flexion about the shoulder joint, targeted towards
individuals with moderate upper limb impairment due to stroke. Ten
healthy subjects (5 females, 5 males) were recruited for a study
approved by the IRB at CUA in which they were equipped with the
device and performed shoulder flexion. Muscle activation was measured through electromyography for
all subjects, who performed flexion with 0%, 30%, and 60% device assistance. Results show that with
calibrated user input based on subject weight, there is reduced activation of the anterior deltoid at
higher levels of device assistance. This outcome could support the potential of this device to aid
rehabilitation for stroke patients by compensating for moderate muscle weakness. Future optimization of
the device for further testing will include the integration of a swivel attachment in order to guide
movement in various planes and usability for both arms.
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Validation of the Kinect v2 vs GAITRite for Gait Patterns
Parameters: Pilot Study
Tyler Cork, Reagan McCloskey, Reanna Sealey
Advisor: Andrew Gravunder
Accurate and precise, gold-standard motion tracking systems are
impractical for mobile, clinical at-home use in terms of affordability
and convenience. Through the use of the Microsoft Kinect v2’s depth
and infrared capabilities, this research aims to focus on the
installation of an affordable alternative motion tracking system to
analyze the concurrent validity of spatiotemporal data against
GAITRite while additionally examining the effect of added weight
on the ankle of the subject. A study consisting of 4 subjects was
conducted in which a subject’s normalized, self-selected speed was compared to ankle loading of 1.134
kg and 2.268 kg during a 5-meter walk. Simultaneous kinematic data was collected by GAITRite and the
Kinect, then the post hoc effects of ankle weight during step length, step time, and cadence were
analyzed. We hypothesize the Kinect kinematic data, in comparison to GAITRite, will not be statistically
significant, and will confirm previous evidence that 1.0–1.8 kg of additional loading on the ankle does
not affect gait cycle. Future development of the Kinect v2 for motion tracking include modifying the
algorithm from sinistrodextral tracking to centroid tracking.
Effect of Handedness on Novel Dexterity Tasks
Alex Hetzel, Hunter Steel, Luke Palguta, Jon Paciorek
Advisor: Dr. Pete Lum
This study utilized a biomedical device that measures the
acceleration of individual fingers to test whether handedness
affected a subject’s ability to perform a novel dexterity task.
College-aged subjects were presented with an adapted keyboard
and instructed to type a preset pattern while wearing the device,
one hand at a time. The subject repeated the test numerous times to
determine if any improvements occurred over multiple tests. While accuracy, words per minute, and
finger velocity were measured; the primary outcome measurement of improvement was finger fluidity, the
number of movements per key typed. ANOVA tests were conducted to see how handedness affected
hand efficiency in dominant vs. non-dominant and right-handed vs. left-handed subjects. The study was
conducted to test the hypothesis that left-handed subjects would become more efficient with their nondominant hand than right-handed counterparts, while the non-dominant hand of the right-handed subjects
would improve at a greater rate than the non-dominant hands of the left-handed subjects.
CIVIL ENGINEERING
Triton's Palace : The Underwater Hotel
Alec Droussiotis, Mohammad Mataqi, Mary O'Neill,
Jaime Soto, Brian Zamorski
Advisor: Dr. Min Liu
Triton's Palace will be an innovative and eco-friendly
luxury hotel anchored to the ocean floor off the coast
of Maui, Hawaii at a depth of 30 ft. The hotel will be
accessible through a floating hardwood dock
anchored to the superstructure. Triton's Palace will
have an area of 18,777 sf and will include a
restaurant, three observation rooms, and 18 guest
rooms. The primary materials that will be used in the
construction are steel, aluminum, and acrylic. All sections are designed as cylindrical shapes which allows
for an even distribution of the hydrostatic forces across the surface of the structure. Originally, we
planned on designing our main structure and hallways with precast reinforced concrete. However, this
design would not be feasible for our needs so we have changed the design to utilize NV SAW 450 steel
with a concrete coating: material that has been used for deepwater, large diameter pipelines. The
structure is designed based on the ABS Guide for Building and Classing Subsea Pipeline Systems. The
main structure, hallways, guest rooms, and observation rooms will all be prefabricated separately on
land and then assembled underwater.
Green Space
Nareg Khachadorian, Shane Kelly, Nick Sangwa, Cheryl Anderson,
Steven Manozzi
Advisor: Dr. Chanseok Jeong
"Green Sound" is a one-story public/private music space that
provides a destination through a poetic journey from the nature of
the National Arboretum to a structure designed to intertwine
architectural aesthetics and engineering design that complements
musical experience. In essential design aspect of the "floating glass box" reinforces the concept of
“lightness" which carries through from its environmental impact as well as the tectonics of its structure. A
space truss along with vertical trusses will be used to achieve the structural integrity of the building while
using the lightest possible cross-sectional area for the members. The environmental aspects of the building
are seen through the "floating glass box" that provides a gap between the glazing and the foundation
structure. This allows fresh air to flow in while maintaining minimum heat/cool loss generated from
geothermal energy from the interior providing natural ventilation to substitute mechanical systems. The
lighting system of the structure will be generated by a "Wind Facade" that combines aesthetic, dynamic,
and functional value to the building through utilizing piezo-electronics.
CIVIL ENGINEERING
Monroe Market - Brookland Works: Linear Schedule versus
Critical Path Method Schedule
Kevin Hanula, Robert Ferrara, Dang Nguyen, Patrick Michalski,
Patrick LaPorta
Advisor: Dr. Gunnar Lucko
The current U.S. construction industry scheduling standard is the
Critical Path Method (CPM). CPM is a sufficient way to schedule
construction projects; however, CPM is one-dimensional only dealing
with activity duration and float. The goal of our project was to
compare and analyze Bozzuto Construction’s CPM schedule to our
two-dimensional linear schedule. We chose Bozzuto’s Monroe Market project because it is directly across
Michigan Avenue and CUA students are familiar with the apartments. Our group met with Kelly Wallace,
a Construction Executive for Bozzuto, to guide us in our project. With his help and detailed scheduling
documents, we decided to re-design Block C’s, Brookland Works, CPM schedule into a linear schedule.
One of the advantages of using a linear schedule is the ability to easily visualize activity production
rates. On the contrary, a CPM schedule cannot visually portray production. In the future, the U.S.
construction scheduling standard will change as scheduling software develops. Linear scheduling has
potential to be advantageous for this new software.
Underground Concrete Structure
Dante DeAnnuntis, Daniel Coleman, Ryan Van Fleet,
Michael Hogan
Advisor: Dr. Paul Lade
The Underground Concrete Structure will primarily
serve as a space for a division of the military. The
structure will be located on a military base and be
used for a variety of activities, including meetings,
training, housing, and storage. The underground structure will have many positive benefits for the military
and provide a safe and hidden space for any use the military sees fit. It also will not impact the amount
of available space on the base since it is an underground structure and be able to accommodate a large
number of people . DDRM Designs will design and build the structure including all geotechnical, structural,
and concrete work. The specific division of the military will be responsible for outfitting the structure with
any weapons, technology, or equipment that it would need. The base will also be able to withstand most
bomb threats and emergency situations. It will also meet the minimum blast and radiation requirements.
Overall, the Underground Concrete Structure will provide an efficient, safe, and versatile space for a
division of the military that will be able to accommodate a variety of needs and activities.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING & COMPUTER SCIENCE
Crib Monitoring System
Dat Tran, Kiet Duong
Advisor: Dr. Ujjal K.Bhowmik
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is the sudden death of an
infant less than 1 year of age that cannot be explained even after
a thorough investigation. Continuous monitoring of vital signs has the
potential to improve infant health care and reduce SIDS. With the emergence of micro-sensors and
wireless technology, we can now change the conventional health care systems by replacing it with
wearable and non-contact based wireless health monitoring system. In this project, we used an infra-red
non-contact temperature sensor, and a heart rate and pulse oximetry sensor to continuously monitor an
infant’s health condition. A microphone-based breathing monitoring system used to be a part of the
project but was later dropped due to physical and cost constrain. Interfacing different sensors, and
acquiring and processing data in real time is a challenging task and requires dedicated hardware.
Therefore, we chose to implement this project using field programmable gate array (FPGA), which has
become one of the most widely used platforms for real-time application.
Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Department Interactive
Hallway Informational Display
James Huddleston, Alexandra Gillis, Tho Vi, Meshari Alluqmani
Advisor: Dr. Patricio Simari & Dr. Georges Nehmetallah
Our project aims to create an interactive display for the EECS
department in order to make it more welcoming as well as
showcase student and faculty projects more easily. Design setup is
accomplished by encasing a large screen, a computer, and a Kinect
in a display on the second floor of Pangborn Hall. This project is divided into two main tasks: (1) Make
the screen interactive by connecting it with a portable computer and a Windows Kinect camera that
interprets gestures of users, and (2) create a user friendly application that contains information from the
EECS website and other locations. All information is updated through files stored in Dropbox and
controlled by the EECS office. Small games are included to make the display beyond simply
informational. The Kinect camera is programmed to recognize a user’s hand, replacing mouse input while
emitting equivalent hardware events, enabling the user to remotely control the display in a manner
transparent to the OS. The programming for the Kinect is accomplished using the Kinect open source API
and C#; the user friendly application is written using JavaFX Scene Builder to aid in the GUI creation and
Java for the back end functions.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING & COMPUTER SCIENCE
Real Environment Collision in Virtual Space
Matthew Melly, Lance VanArsdale
Advisor: Dr. Patricio Simari
The objective of this project is to create an augmented reality
system. The system will allow the user to introduce virtual objects
into a physical environment and to simulate the interactions between
the two. There are many applications for this type of system in
areas of industrial training, entertainment, and advertising. For
example where training might be an expensive endeavor, this system could reduce the costs of training
and increase its portability. To our knowledge, this kind of system has not been robustly implemented
using open source, easily obtainable, and low cost components. The hardware for this project consists
entirely of off the shelf materials and custom parts that can be easily manufactured at home or on a 3D
printer. Specifically, this project will take Xbox Kinect, Oculus Rift DK2, and generic webcams to create
the augmented reality platform. The Xbox SDK and Unity/Oculus SDKs will also be used to write the
software. As part of the contributions of this project, all of the source code generated as part of this
project will also contribute to the open source community surrounding the Oculus Rift.
Rice Cooking Robot
Anthony Nguyen, Tri Nguyen, Tung Nguyen
Advisor: Dr. Mathews and Dr. Liu
A rice cooking robot is designed to provide college students the
nutritional essentials to maintain a balanced diet and the ability to
cook rice at anytime and anywhere. The rice cooking robot features
a Wi-Fi module that receives information from a cellular
application: indicating the quantity of rice to be cooked. The project aims at writing an application for
the Android platform. Features of the program include: quantity of rice to be cooked and status of each
ingredient and the status of the rice. Each of the containers has sensors alerting the rice and water levels.
Should the amount of rice be inadequate in cooking the designated amount; the robot will relay
messages to the cellular device. The same case is applied when the rice is finished cooking. This design
project considers both a mechanical and an electrical engineering component. The frame, pulleys, water
pumps and servos constitute a mechanical aspect while programming the Arduino, crafting an application
and analyzing the circuitry pertains to an electrical point of view. Because communicating with the robot is
wireless, the robot is valuable for cooking rice at a long distance without the presence of any individual.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING & COMPUTER SCIENCE
Self-Balancing Skateboard
Matthew Dillon, Jorge Coronado
Advisor: Dr. Erion Plaku
Self balancing robotics has been readily deployed in several
modern control systems, particularly in the aviation industry and
autonomous robots. Our goal was to design a self‐balancing
robotic control system for a skateboard that will balance a variety
of loads, particularly a human user under a reasonable terrain and
environment. The design of the system is similar to that of the
inverted pendulum control system, which consists of a gyroscope
and accelerometer sensor input to a microcontroller. The Arduino
fuses the sensor data and calculates using a PID motor controller, the appropriate speed for motors to
balance the system. Closed loop feedback is used to take the input inclination angle from the sensors and
make the corrections based off the closed-loop error. To test the system response, MATLAB simulations
were performed where the system was modeled as an inverted pendulum in order to show the system is
stable. Parameters such as rise time and percent overshoot were found from plotting the real-time
response. Future work includes enhancing the self-balancing algorithm for balancing the roll, rather than
limiting it to pitch as well as a more compact hardware design.
Spectrum Management with Watson
Ngoc Tran, Austin Mueller
Advisor: Dr. Ramesh Bharadwaj, Dr. Ozlem Kilic,
and Dr. Lin-Ching Chang
The main objective of this project is to take advantage of IBM's
Watson’s cognitive reasoning capability and use it for spectrum
management purposes. We will be submitting queries to a webbased Watson Q&A application in order to get responses that may
help us with spectrum managing decisions. To make it easy for end
users, we will be creating an Android application that will both
interface with Watson web application and function as a tool to aid
the users in propagation loss predictions. The application will have
functionality that will help the users calculate the path loss over various types of geographical terrains.
This calculator will make use of the Deygout Method for forested/mountainous regions and the OkumuraHata model for built-up areas. In order to make the app more user-friendly, we would like to add guides
to help the users figure out the appropriate values to input as the variables used in the calculations, as
well as speech-to-text functionality for the query input. The goal for this application is to gather data and
calculate values used for spectrum management as efficiently and easily as possible.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING & COMPUTER SCIENCE
The Weather Balloon Project
Paul Burns, Sarah Cunningham, Peter Shagnea,
Seth Tavera, Abdulkader Turkistani, Joseph Wright
Advisor: Dr. Russo and Dr. Schuette
High-altitude weather balloons were used to launch an
increasingly sophisticated series of payloads starting
with simple atmospheric sensors, adding "edge-ofspace" photo and sub-atomic particle detectors, and
finishing with a glider payload that autonomously returns itself to a predetermined landing zone.
Payloads were designed, built, and tested using a systems engineering approach then launched from
35,000 to 110,000 feet and successfully recovered. All payloads contained a basic atmospheric sensor
suite, an embedded system controller, GPS geo-location sensor, video camera, and a communications link
for telemetry reporting to the ground station. Later flights added a satellite communications link for
remote command and control over the payload, and an RF link for live streaming video. High-fidelity
weather models were used to plan all launches to identify candidate launch and landing sites, iterated
and updated on launch day 4 hours before launch. To insure the packages were flight ready three tests
were preformed. A bench test to test the sensors, a crash test to test the casing, and a tethered outdoor
launch test to test the launching process.
3D-Imaging and Near-Field Measurements using
Anechoic Chamber
Toan K Vo Dai, Anh Thai
Advisor: Dr. Ozlem Kilic & Prof. Kevin Russo
Our senior design is to build the real anechoic chamber with an
antenna positioning system for Synthetic Aperture Radar to
sense visually obscured objects and has applications on
geological surveys, crack detection in concrete, or mine
detection. Based on the data collected from the scanning,
imaging technique and some signal processing techniques is
applied to reconstruct the 3D image of scanned objects. Another application for this system is the
Antenna pattern measurements, in this measurements, a testing antenna with known pattern will be the
transmitter and an antenna as a receiver will scan and the data collected will be processed to get the
measured pattern. This measured pattern will be compared with the standard pattern of that transmitter
to see how similar they are.
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Thermoelectric Cooler
Joseph Shillinglaw, Alexander Belk, Christian Guzman,
Peter Clemente
Advisor: Dr. John Judge
The goal of this project is to design a cooling system that
minimizes moving parts, and thus vibrations, while matching
the specification of the current device, the NesLab RTE 7.
The current device is used for the Navy Precision Optical
Interferometer, a system of imaging arrays, and creates a
significant amount of vibrations, which adds noise that needs
to be removed for very precise measurements. The new system will utilize design will utilize the Peltier
chips to remove heat from the water. These chips will be placed on the side of a tank using clamps.
Pressure from the clamps and thermal paste will be used to maximize heat transfer. A combination of
heatsinks and forced air flow is used to dissipate the heat generated by the chips. The frame is designed
not only to house the components but also to optimize air flow around the heatsinks and create a firm
connection between the all of the parts. The power supply of the design is designed specifically for needs
of the device and include both DC and AC voltages. The system is controlled via PID temperature
controller connected to a steady state relay that set the Peltier module chips in an on or off state.
Thermoelectric Cooling Helmet
Ali AlShafai, Huy Le, Minh Ngo, Mohammed Al-Ayesh
Advisor: Dr. John Judge
The purpose of this project is to design a thermally
comfortable helmet that would keep the human head at a
relatively cool temperature that is lower than the outside
ambient air temperature. The helmet functions by utilizing
the Peltier effect in the thermoelectric cooling chips, this is a
new approach compared to the traditional fan cooling system that is widely used in many applications.
The inspiration for the initial design came from technological advances currently utilized by the Peltier
effect. The system includes a water bag that is in contact with the Peltier chip’s cold side and cools the
human head by conduction. The Peltier chip’s hot side is connected to a heat sink that would help dissipate
the heat by convection. Several design components were developed and analyzed using Solid Works to
determine the heat transfer. The Peltier chip is connected to an Arduino microcontroller with a relay switch
for ease of comfort control, as well as an additional safety mechanism within the Arduino code to power
off the device.
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
CUA Autonomous Surface Vehicle Design
Augusto César Santos Peixoto, Rafael Lima Thomaz,
Ronaldo Chaves Reis
Advisor: Dr. John Judge
Usain boat is a fully autonomous surface vehicle designed to fulfill
the main task of navigating through an unknown path of water
buoys. Due to the requirement of autonomous vehicle, the
engineering students and faculty have developed a computer vision
software integrated with a system of navigation and electronic
sensors (IMU and GPS) which will work together with the goal of producing accurate commands that will
control the boat's impellers and consequently the direction that the boat moves.
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aero Design
West Competition
Joshua Bryant, Cameron Daniels, Diogenes Dichoso, Hannah Gillis
Advisor: Dr. John Judge
The CUA Cardinals' aircraft displays the engineering skills that The
Catholic University of America School of Engineering has instilled in
its students. Its innovated features of a unique fuselage connection,
slim rod-like main body, and inversely controlled aircraft control systems set it apart from other aircrafts.
During the first semester, the CUA Cardinals team researched, designed, analyzed, and optimized their
SolidWorks designs. During the first half of the second semester, they ordered and manufactured their
specific components to fit and mirror their design from last semester. By March the final assembly and
first flight test was conducted with additional test flights in April. The CUA Cardinals team plans to travel
to Van Nuys, California in late April to compete in the SAE Aero West Competition.
CNC Machine with Cooling, Dust-Collection, and Safety Systems
Vincent Maggio, Christian Riegle, Michael Spielberger
Advisor: Dr. John Judge
The purpose of this project is to extend the prototyping capabilities
for the Engineering School. It will improve the quality and experience in the McCarthy Design Lab for all
engineering students. The GreenLean vertically oriented CNC machine kit was purchased with several
major missing components. In order to run the machine reliably over extended periods of time and allow
numerous diverse users, the CNC Team designed several integral sub-systems around the purchased kit.
The CNC Team designed a dust collection system with an integrated high-powered dust collector, cooling
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
system for the water-cooled spindle, safety enclosure for user safety, safe-shutdown sensors, and a
support structure that enables users to transport the machine to different locations via leveling casters. The
final product will be useful to future senior design projects, other student projects, faculty research
projects, etc., from all Engineering departments.
High Lift Model Airplane
Andre Aquino, Dominic Renner, Emma Needham, Fahad Jambi
Advisor: Dr. John Judge
A remote-control plane was designed to meet the regular class
requirements for the SAE Aero competition. This category requires
that the maximum dimensions, (the sum of the length, width, and
height) of the plane be no more than 175 inches (in.). The maximum
weight, including the payload, cannot exceed 55 pounds (lb). The
maximum takeoff distance is 200 ft, and the maximum landing
distance is 400 ft. The CUA Cardinals defined the main goals to be succeed. Firstly, the ideal payload
weight that the plane would be able to carry was 25 lb. In addition, the team designed the airplane to
be as light, ideally under 10 lb, stable, manufacturable and aerodynamically efficient. To achieve these
goals, the CUA Cardinals designed the plane with a tapered wing located on top of the fuselage, and a
traditional tail. It has a tail-dragger landing gear setup and the back of the fuselage consists of ribs to
reduce the weight of the aircraft. The majority of the airplane was constructed with balsa wood and
foam.
Senior Design: SAE Aero Design Competition
Steven O'Leary, Colin Feeney, Steven Mastro, Will Horne
Advisor: Dr. John Judge, Dr. Eric Kommer, and Ken Romney
The SAE Aero Design competition has universities compete
against each other to design, build, and ultimately fly an RC
plane that can lift as much weight as possible, while the
structure remains as light as possible. This project allows us to
translate the skills we have learned in the classroom to a real life engineering experience. Our goal was
to design a plane that would be constructed almost entirely out of balsa wood to minimize the weight as
much as possible, and have the majority of the weight be from the payload. To do this we needed to
design the wing with an airfoil that could produce enough of a lift force to carry the total weight of the
plane and the payload into the air. We spent the entirety of the Fall 2014 semester designing our plane,
and the Spring 2015 fabricating it just in time for our preliminary flight test on April 1st.
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
The engineering program was established in 1896, soon after the founding of The Catholic
University of America. Formally established in 1930, it was shortly thereafter renamed the School of
Engineering & Architecture until 1992, when engineering and architecture were separated.
Prior to 1950, Engineering’s primary focus was on undergraduate studies, as well as graduate
programs. Research activity and graduate professional offerings increased steadily after 1950.
Today, the school offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in five academic programs as well
as a master's degree in engineering management. The school prides itself on being a small, Catholic
engineering school, providing quality education with a personal touch. Students can expect close
interaction with faculty, small class sizes, small student-to-faculty ratios, and a faculty dedicated to
teaching and research.
The school's strong ties with local research institutions such as NASA, NIH and NRL, etc. foster
research collaborations and enable our faculty to bring research experience into the classroom.
SDD ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Afshin Nabili (SOE)
Peggy Bruce (SOE)
Suraya Adam (BE)
Dr. Steve Brown (SOE)
Ruth Hicks (ME)
Amanda Crowe (EECS)
Cecelia Harper (SOE)
Renay Serrano (CE)
Maria Sorensen (EM)
SENIOR DESIGN INSTRUCTORS
Dr. Sahana Kukke (BE, CUA)
Dr. Eric Kommer (ME, CUA)
Dr. John Judge (ME, CUA)
Dr. Ozlem Kilic (EECS, CUA)
Dr. Min Liu (CE, CUA)
School of Engineering
The Catholic University of America
620 Michigan Ave, NE, Washington DC 20064
http://engineering.cua.edu EMAIL: [email protected]