Engineering Design Day 2023

On Thursday, April 6th, engineering students gathered in the Thornbrough building for the School of Engineering’s biggest annual event: Engineering Design Day. This year, family, friends, faculty, staff, alumni, and industry professionals got to see the accomplishments of the U of G’s engineering students from all 7 disciplines. The School of Engineering is proud to have made design the foundation of their studies, allowing U of G Engineers to create and design solutions that Improve Life. 

Students from three different courses and years presented their designs;

Engineering and Design II (ENGG*2100):

• Second-year students designed and created a toy following a theme in a “Dragons’ Den” style event. The toys had to fit unassembled in a large Kinder Egg container, then once assembled, had to complete one of three actions using stored energy: move, fly, or shoot a projectile. 75% of the toy's weight had to consist of 3D printed material

Engineering and Design III (ENGG*3100):

• ​The top four groups of third-year engineering students presented their creative solutions to common problems in everyday life. Each year's project comes with a new theme and a different set of design constraints.

Engineering and Design IV (ENGG*41X):

• ​Students presented their final capstone projects, which were spread throughout the first floor of the Thornbrough Building. Teams set up their design projects in the form of large posters, physical prototypes, plans, apps, machines and more.

Here are a few of the outstanding ENGG*41X final capstone design projects;

LyteSense: Portable Dehydration Monitoring Device

Group 39 created the Portable Dehydration Monitoring Device, a pocket-sized saliva osmolality detector aimed at preventing dehydration, which can lead to serious health effects, such as irregular heart rhythm and hypertension. “High levels of physical exertion, especially in hot and humid climates, is one of the leading causes of severe dehydration and related side effects. One of the core reasons dehydration develops is when athletes are not aware of their own hydration levels.”

The device aims to track athlete’s hydration levels during high-endurance sports and warm climates which also adhered to ISO standards regarding medical devices, was portable and could be re-usable for sustainability.

The outer shell of their device was created in SolidWorks and then 3D printed. The device works by testing the relationship between the water electrical resistance and sodium chloride levels of human saliva, and determining how hydrated a subject is based on the results.

Automated Exercise Bench

James, Peyton, Scott, Evan and Tobin sought to develop an exercise bench that could automatically be adjusted to various angles, making the equipment easier to use compared to a traditional bench press. The Automated Adjustable Exercise Bench was motivated by a growing trend in exercise equipment to implement technology, such as the Peleton stationary Bike and the Tonal home gym. Building from this recent evolution, the team behind the Automated Bench Press felt more technology could still be implemented into fitness equipment.

They conducted market research and decided to follow standard bench press dimensions and features when creating their design. They were on a budget of under $2,000, and wanted their design to be able to hold at least 500 pounds, be as compact as other bench presses, and Wi-Fi compatible. They focused on ease-of-use, safety, durability, functionality, cost, and appearance when creating their design.

The bench press is powered by two linear actuators, which moves the seat and backrest up and down, an Arduino UNO Wi-fi microcontroller, which enables the connection to a smart-phone, and a four-channel relay module, which allows the seat and backrest to be adjusted separately. The bench can be adjusted to the desired angle by connecting your smart phone to a website, which connects to the bench press. Their bench press offers more options for angles and presets than a standard bench press, which allows users to chose between a variety of exercises and positions.