My Projects
Senior Design Project:
Biodiesel Engagement and Education Program (BEEP) Tiger Truck
I am part of a senior design team working on converting a diesel fire truck to run on bio-diesel only. The primary highlight is that the truck will have an on-board conversion process that converts waste vegetable oil into usable bio-diesel. The intended use of this truck is to educate the public on biodiesel as a clean fuel. I am in charge of the exhibition plan and aesthetics of the truck. Here is an excerpt of my writing from the Fall 2012 Final Report.
Senior Design Project:
Tank Deformation
The holding tanks, which were on the truck, had four T-6061 Aluminum mounts, which were 0.125 inches thick. Originally, I thought they should have been thicker, so I modeled the tank in SolidWorks to perform a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) as a quick check. I considered gravity forces of a full tank along with inertia forces for a moving truck. After calculating a Factor of Safety of 180.7, I quickly realized that the mounts were thick enough!
I modeled the rear end of our truck so that one of my group members could use it for suspension ideation.
After dimensioning the entire rear end, I used this photo, along with the following two, to aid me with modeling.
I modeled the rear end of our truck so that one of my group members could use it for suspension ideation.
Senior Design Project:
Tiger Truck Rear End
Although I am not the team member in charge of suspension, I modeled the rear end of this truck to assist in suspension ideation. This allowed my team members to examine possible mounting locations for leaf springs or an air ride system.
I modeled the rear of our Tiger Truck in order for my team to model and place their individual systems. This allowed us to quickly measure distances, perform engineering analysis, and visualize the truck.
This is an isometric view of the truck.
Click image to enlarge and view full description.
This image is exaggerated to show the path of deformation and the maximum von misses stresses on the biodiesel holding tank when the truck is accelerating, braking, or turning.
I created this manufacturing drawing of the tank that I modeled to ensure all dimensions were correct.
This image is exaggerated to show the path of deformation and the maximum von misses stresses on the biodiesel holding tank when the truck is accelerating, braking, or turning.