Michigan 2015 Design Expo

Virtual reality gaming, cutting edge medical research and wicked trebuchets–they are all the results of years of study and hard work by Michigan Tech students.

Those students got to show what they are made of by showing what they made at the 2015 Design Expo.

600 students compete on dozens of teams…many of whom are working on real world problems faced by their sponsors.

Mechanical Engineering major Alex Bancroft is part of the Chrysler 300 Split Decklid Team.

Bancroft said, “What we’re sitting on is the new design for market segmentation, trying to create a new brand for Chrysler as far as a luxury vehicle; have a multi-use surface here in the back and be able to accommodate ninety-fifth percentile males, heavy loads of about 500 to 600 pounds, as well as the fifth percentile females who are able to reach the upper decklid here.”

Mechanical Engineering major Halley Shawvitz’s team designed a machine to flow full and empty containers for Chrysler.

Shawvitz said, “What it does is it helps the line side worker and the assembly worker move the containers.  It’s better for ergonomics, it’s faster than what they have right now and it’s pretty innovative.”

Not all of the innovations are solely for big corporations…like the Consumer Product Manufacturing Enterprise team that found away to improve skiing.

Chemical Engineering major Paul Hagadone said, “These skis actually have material called nanomag in them which reduces the vibration in the ski, or chop, as you go down the hill.  So, the customer came to us with this material and wanted us to implement it in a certain way and we said we could put it in skis or even hockey sticks and be able to reduce vibration of the product.”

High tech sporting goods are great, but how about an air cannon like the one built for Air Force Research Labs by Mechanical Engineering major Brian Haupt’s team, the VHG Mark 2?

Haupt said, “It’s kind of like a potato gun but instead of shooting potatoes, we’re shooting sixteen pounds of steel and aluminum.  The point of testing something like this is to create high-impact load on the components of our design.  The Air Force is going to use it to test the electronic systems that they’re developing for controlling bombs.  So, we’re going to accelerate these electronics from, basically, zero to a hundred miles an hour faster than you can blink your eye.”