2019 Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Projects

Cole Fast-Irvine, Emmerson Peacock (Ariana Montazeri, Past Member)

This team has designed an industrial sand-to-sand heat exchanger that allows oil sands to be heated using the energy of previously processed sand.  This project is part of a new recovery process called NUWORP.  NUWORP is a method to refine oil sands into usable petroleum products on site, while simultaneously eliminating the need for diluted bitumen pipelines and tailing ponds. The heat exchanger reduces the process energy burden imposed by heating the oil sands to high temperatures for hydrocarbon vapor extraction.

Graham Smith, Dominic Chan, Brandon Wong, Hojin Mok, Prof. Soo Jeon, Tahir Dawson

The majority of weight lifting injuries are caused by free weights and most deaths in the gym occur while using the bench press. This inspired us to design the Auto Spotter bench press which increases your safety while working out. It features an automatically activated catch and a lift assist mechanism that protects you from injuries while maintaining an effective workout.

Kabilesh Vijayakumar, Maciej Popik,Adeen Bilal, Clifford Butcher (Faculty Advisor)

The UW Baja SAE team designs and builds an exciting off-road racing vehicle each year. This year’s goal was to design and manufacture a robust drivetrain for peak performance in the annual Baja SAE all-terrain competition. The drivetrain encompasses a continuously variable transmission and a custom gear box. These vital components were optimized for low weight while providing ample torque amplification and speed.

Ryan Ketler, Eric Field, Gerritt Steenhuis, Andrew Dziuba, (Cliff Butcher, Faculty Advisor)

This year’s UW Baja vehicle has a new floating rotor and balance bar design which prevents brake drag and allows for adjustable brake force. The hubs and uprights have been weight optimized to give us a significant advantage at competition. We are currently recruiting for next year’s team so STOP BY and ask us how you can become involved!

Kaleb Mudrik, Tyler Kocher, Joon Min Lee

This project builds on the concept of storing energy as compressed air by researching and showcasing the use of boreholes as pressure vessels for a scaled-down CAES design. The design is also intended to reduce geographical constraints that currently limit the CAES industry. A system model is developed as an engineering tool to assist in studying the feasibility and value of bringing CAES applications to a smaller scale.  

Ahmed Ismail, Hector Cho, Hussein Abdelrahman

Project X is a Vertical Take Off/Landing (VTOL) concept envisioned by the UWaterloo design team WATFLY. Project X was designed to complete a 30-minute flight while carrying a person, as part of Boeing’s GoFly competition. Stabilizing such an aircraft throughout the flight course was found to be one of the major design challenges. Consequently, the flight control team worked closely with designers throughout the various design stages to develop a test simulator and high fidelity controller that ensure aircraft stability throughout different flight modes.

Sriram Ganesh, Ali Javed, Tim Er, Steve Lambert

The University of Waterloo Formula Motorsports team designs and manufactures an open-wheel race car every year and competes with over 120 teams from universities worldwide in the Formula SAE series. For 2019, the team advanced the vehicle from past iterations by designing and manufacturing a front and rear wing aerodynamic package through the extensive use of CAE software and a new vacuum resin infusion process. This design evolution will significantly improve vehicle performance across all dynamic events and help the team score more points during the competition.

Joanne Whyte, Cole Powers, Miranda Daly, Ken Schwartzel

Everyday people access shelves, often being forced to reach or bend in the process. This poses an accessibility issue for many people. Shelf Help is a modular shelving unit that allows for the optimization of vertical storage in any space. At the push of a button, the shelf and contents are brought to a desired height. Shelf Help is an ideal product, beautiful for the home and useful for any homeowner with a desire to have a convenient way of organizing and accessing their belongings.

Jon Cameron, Kristian Vande Kemp, Matt Levy, Jared Uramowski, Evan McColl

Operating a wheelchair can be a strenuous and difficult task. The Enhanced Mobility Wheelchair team has designed and prototyped an augmented wheelchair that enhances comfort, speed, and control. The novel drive system provides greater ergonomic support and promotes good posture even when the operator is tired. Selectable gear ratios greatly improve motion efficiency on a variety of terrain. Those confined to a wheelchair can now go further and faster than ever before.

Henry Chan, Sunsheng Gu, Ze Song

During the manufacture of image sensors, any dust that lands on the sensor surface must be removed. This process is incredibly tedious and challenging when performed manually. Working with sponsor, Teledyne DALSA, this project has automated the dust removal system with the capability to fully clean the image sensor surface. The innovative design consists of a two-axis scanning stage, a three-axis picker stage, and a camera system to provide machine vision control.

Bo Yuan Chang, Dominique Lung-Hung, Kemba Hughes, Da Wang

This innovative new mechanism for insulin delivery has a focus of designing a more streamlined, comfortable and inconspicuous delivery device without compromising reliability and safety. As part of the design process, materials were incorporated that are currently used in the medical industry. Further testing was done to ensure these materials are suitable for the intended purpose. Significant improvements to insulin delivery for those living with Type 1 diabetes could be possible exploring this new perspective on medical devices.

Ashley Wu, Angelo Ma, Kasia Boyd

Northern Canadian communities need access to fresh nutritious produce. In response to this need this team is designing the mechanical components of a geothermal greenhouse that services the community of Iqaluit, Nunavut. This project encompasses the HVAC system, irrigation system, and materials used in the greenhouse structure. The ultimate goal is to develop a greenhouse that operates on geothermal energy year-round, growing produce that addresses the nutritional needs of this far-north community. 

Norman Chen, Kevin (Ziyong) Zeng, (Kamyar Ghavam – faculty advisor), (Kyle Macdonald)

The UW Baja SAE team designs and builds an off-road racing vehicle to compete at competitions across North America. A steering system was designed to provide optimal off-road grip that is vital for skilled drivers. The re-designed throttle system enables precise control of the Baja vehicle engine. These new steering and throttle systems will inspire confidence during competition.

Matthew Draper, Kaythushan Perinpamoorthy

This project is designed for both the motorcycle lover and the environment lover.  The gas-to- electric motorcycle conversion creates a vehicle that is environmentally friendly without sacrificing the look that motorcycle enthusiasts crave.  

Richard Yang, Professor Stephan Lambert (Faculty Advisor), Amit Pai, Connor Dobson, Stan Lu, Jon Marlo Delicano

The University of Waterloo Baja SAE team designs and builds an off-road racing vehicle to compete at international collegiate competitions. This year, the team is creating an entirely new vehicle from the ground up. This project team is designing and fabricating the vehicle’s roll cage and suspension systems and creating a completely new data acquisition system for first-time implementation. These components are crucial to vehicle operation, performance, driver safety and continued improvement. The team is headed to Baja SAE Rochester 2019.

Chris Chiang, Graham Hempel, Austin Xiao, Nicholas Fischer, Scott Goard

Many campers prefer to experience the outdoors “off-grid” without electricity However, they are always looking for ways to stay warm. The Personal Camping Heater provides a reusable source of heat without electricity or combustion. Simply heat it over your campfire then slide it into its insulating case to enjoy heat in your jacket or sleeping bag. The Personal Camping Heater will stay hot for 6 hours, keeping you cozy through the night.

Ashish Thomas, Aditya Subramanian, Akshit Bhalla, Ali Abbas, Shenal Siripala, and Christine Abraham

With growing old comes the risks of independent living and deteriorating health. Falls are a leading cause of accidental injuries for seniors, with those involving head and neck regions presenting significant risks in terms of frequency and severity. NeXafe aims to minimize the effects of whiplash during a fall by stabilizing the head and neck with a wearable device that seamlessly integrates into everyday life.

Mitchell Snider, Daniel van Leeuwen, Chantalle Cheung, Jonathan Lam

Roof-mounted auxiliary storage is a common choice for drivers who wish to increase the cargo capacity of their vehicle. However, as vehicles increase in size, many people struggle with the task of loading their belongings. This innovative design lowers a storage device from the roof of the vehicle to its side for easier loading and unloading, reducing the physical requirements of the user. This novel mounting system enables the effective use of external vehicle storage for a wider range of consumers.

Ethan, Aiden Mossop, Aidan Hilborn, Sebastien Blanchet, Sheldon Ho

This is an affordable and easy to use countertop THC (tetra-hydro-cannabinol) extractor. THC has been praised for its medicinal benefits as well as its recreational uses. However, people who do not wish to smoke marijuana must rely on  commercialized extractions. A need exists for people to extract THC at home. This appliance makes the extraction process convenient, easy and automated, similar to how coffee makers simplify brewing coffee for consumers.

David Mather (Faculty Advisor), Claudia Mak, Elena Jou, Lifang Wang, and Rachel Yu

Have you ever wanted to grow your own fruits, flowers, or herbs? Perhaps you don’t know how to but would enjoy the yield. The majority of people in urban centres live in apartments, so there’s also limited space to grow plants. This compact indoor greenhouse allows multiple plants with different environmental needs to be grown simultaneously, with little human intervention. It monitors temperature and soil moisture, automatically providing light, heat, and water to your plants. All you have to do is fill the water tank!

Anand Langalia, Michael Bassta, Louis Cormier, Quynh Nguyen (Stewart McLachlin)

Neck braces are prescribed to address bone and muscle related neck injuries. However, they are often bulky, uncomfortable, and overly rigid. Prolonged immobilization can lead to adverse effects such as muscle atrophy and a longer recovery period. The NextBrace combats these problems by allowing users to have limited neck mobility through a comfortable, adjustable, and easy to wear neck brace. Physicians will be better able to track the patient’s progress through the position sensors embedded in the NextBrace.

Jaewon Jung, Junhwan Jang, Jiyong Kim

Inhalation of second-hand smoke exposes individuals to toxic chemicals and carcinogens that can cause cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and other health risks. Often, individuals are not well-informed of these risks. Filtration and purification of smoke is a practical solution to this problem. SmoCleaner is a portable device that purifies second-hand smoke using a 3-stage filtration system that combines a pre-filter, high efficiency particulate air filter, and carbon activated filter. This hand-held device will draw in and eliminate the hazardous chemicals exhaled by smokers.

Alykhan Sewani, Sean Kim, Bonita Thai, James Zhou

People with peripheral artery disease (PAD) have plaque buildup in their lower extremities that limits the amount of oxygen that reaches the tissue – this can result in pain and tissue death, ultimately risking amputation and/or mortality if not treated. The current “gold standard” treatment is a percutaneous vascular intervention which has a 20% failure rate. Partnered with Magellan Biomedical Inc., this project aims to develop a steerable catheter that can give the surgeon better navigation capability and control during the procedure and improve its success.

Isaac Boersma, Gogulashanth Sathiyaseelan, Jiacheng Weng, Mohammed Hassan Shahed, Yuan He

The demand for nanofiber materials is growing rapidly; these materials have applications in industries including pollution control, synthetic skin/tissue, pharmaceutical capsules, and advanced batteries. At UW, Professor Zhongchao Tan uses nanofibers in his research on high-efficiency fluid filters. Electrospinning is a process which uses dissolved polymers and extremely high voltage to produce nanofiber filters. For research purposes, a next generation of electrospinning device is required, one that provides precise position control and environmental monitoring for the production of larger nanofiber samples with more consistent properties.

Luke Bronowicki, Joseph Lai, Keonjun Pyo, Jeff Sixt, Andy Yang, Gurkaran Basra

Overexertion is the leading cause of death for firefighters. During fire rescue operations, firefighters may experience overheating from both their insulative equipment and physical activity, resulting in intense physiological stress. To reduce the firefighters’ exhaustion and increase comfort, an all-in-one, physio-cooling system was developed. It involves a cooling vest worn on the firefighter’s torso and is stored between uses in our custom vest freezer unit. Maintaining a lower body temperature allows the firefighter to comfortably operate longer and more importantly, save additional lives.

Eugene (Yu Cheng) Lin, Andrew Pundsack, Simon Grigg, Vrajesh Bhavsar

When collecting data in the upper atmosphere, researchers launch balloons with instrumentation packages attached. These packages fall back to Earth with only a parachute to control their descent, and are rarely recovered. The project’s client, Stratodynamics, is developing an autonomous glider for an atmospheric research organization to recover an air core sample using a controlled descent. This team has designed and prototyped the airframe for this glider to meet the demands of high-altitude flight.

Anvin Jeyaseelan, Sajan Paskaranathan, Sharankan Srinathan, Gagan Kukkar, Aushvin Vasanthakumaran

As the market for cannabis continues to grow in Canada, the demand for cannabis-related products increases as well. This project aims to create a device that will be able to efficiently convert cannabis to a consumable oil that will provide the health benefits of the plant, while providing users with an alternate means of consumption in the comfort of their own homes.

James Tung (Faculty Advisor), Dylan Budnick, Peter Kavanagh, Beth Weckman (Faculty Advisor), Harjot Bains, Kevin Truong, Dmytro Shumeyko, Michal Kaca

University of Waterloo researchers need to measure the composition of gas within an uncontrolled fire, to assess exposure of a person trying to get out. This information is necessary to validate simulations and to establish proper egress models. Kanary Firebot is a robotic solution capable of moving in an active fire and capturing information on gas concentrations.

Charanjit Mosare, Alex Baranovsky, Parris Radan, Nick Young, Taylor Dingwall

Nanosatellites are low-cost, shoebox-sized satellites which orbit earth at altitudes between 400-600km for communication and research purposes. Nanoparticle aluminum copper-oxide (Al-CuO) solid state fuel is the subject of a study to determine its applicability for nanosatellite propulsion. One Small Sat is developing a small engine using Al-CuO propellant to provide thrust capabilities to counter orbit decay of nanosatellites, allowing them to operate in orbit for longer periods of time.

Iyas Fouk Aladeh, Ruijian He, Sam Waheed, Jesse Daniel Friesen, Peter Reesor

A novel axial piston pump marine propulsion system is proposed to offer higher efficiency compared to conventional propellers or impeller waterjet drives for marine vessels. Environmental impact is expected to be reduced through the prevention of damage to marine life caused by the mechanical motion of propellers, and the elimination of contaminant leakage into the surroundings.

Darek Blackwell, Ardalan Abolfazli, Sharang Yadav, Nikola Jovicic

There are thousands of kilometers of buried oil and gas pipelines that need to be routinely inspected for corrosion, cracks and other defects. The client, InspecTerra, has developed a proprietary magnetic sensor technology to perform this inspection. This vehicle system to carries these sensors, with a separate wearable harness for rougher terrain.  This robust system allows for passive inspection of buried pipelines from above ground, over a variety of terrains, while ensuring the sensor’s stability.

China Suetani, Ellen Kiernan

In pharmacies across the country, some pills must be split by pharmacy staff in preparation for delivery to patients. This includes hazardous medications used for the treatment of severe illnesses.  Exposure to hazardous medication through touch or inhalation can cause serious side effects, such as genetic mutations or reproductive issues.  Use of a pill splitter for different medications may also cause cross-contamination, potentially endangering patients. The Clean Cutter provides a solution for splitting hazardous medications at a significantly lower risk to pharmacy staff and patients. 

Andrew Cheung, Jonghyun Ro, Jordan Chow, Quoc Dat Loi, Nicholas Lam, Avery Chiu

Conventional molds to manufacture carbon fiber components can only be used to make one geometry, with fixed dimensions. Molds can take weeks to manufacture and cost thousands of dollars. Need4Speed Molds aims to make a reusable, adaptable mold for carbon fiber infusion processes. By changing its surface shape to accommodate design changes, this mold will save days and dollars from the design process.

Rachel Tyli, Suyeon Ahn, Natalie Stienstra, Mackenzie Quinn, Abraham Brath

Precision agriculture allows farmers to increase crop yields through monitoring field conditions and precisely regulating irrigation and/or fertilizer. Drones and thermal imaging are typically used for this purpose. The Aerial Thermal Imaging for Agriculture team (ATIA) seeks to improve the accuracy of this existing technology. Specialized thermal wavelength filters, lower drone altitudes, and improved image processing are used to increase the accuracy and reduce the cost of precision agriculture.

Alex Bukva, Will Alex, Mihaela Vlasea (faculty advisor), Sophie Walford, Arjun von Hatten, Brad Buckley

VIA Rail Canada’s passenger trains use anti-lock brake systems (ABS) to protect wheels from damage as the train slows down. The MWX sensor is a critical component of the ABS system. VIA currently has no way of testing this sensor, so they are refurbished every 4 years or any time a wheel problem is suspected. Annual savings of up to $500,000 Canadian taxpayer dollars are possible through this test bench, by ensuring that only faulty sensors are refurbished or replaced.

Ethan Hamshaw, Keith Teeple, Riley Stone, Nicolas Benais-Thomson, Robert Rowland

Small companies, design teams, and research groups are increasingly in need of high-voltage, energy-dense, mobile power sources at relatively low production volumes per configuration.  Existing solutions either require custom engineering at high expense and long lead times, or are of low quality and require significant work on the part of the user.  Between these two options exists an unfilled market for high-convenience battery packs with minimal user design and integration effort. This group is developing low cost, modular batteries to serve this untapped market.

Imthiaz Syed, Kevin (Suh-Ho) Kim, Paul Boctor, Mobin Moshiri, Michael Ru, Marwan Darweesh

Seniors who use walkers or canes often find it difficult to sit down and stand up on their own, due to a lack of core and leg strength. Those without a full-time care-giver are prone to accidents, or may be prematurely required to enter a nursing home. The Humble Assist provides a helping hand during the stand-to-sit motion, to increase the senior’s independence.

Stewart McLachlin (Faculty Advisor), Josh Li, Alida Morrison, Ammarah Kaderdina, Akshay Yeleswarapu, (Aidan Doan)

In competitive figure skating, demands of the sport have led athletes to more intensive training, which can result in overuse injuries. When skaters practice high-level jumps, their lower limbs are subjected to repetitive heavy loading. The Skate Safe data collection device is intended to be worn by figure skaters during practice to collect and analyze data from their jump impacts. Presenting this information to researchers and athletes will help mitigate overuse injury in the sport.

Gonzalo Espinoza Graham, Yixin Duan, Syed Abbas, Abi Chandra, Affan Mian

As part of the Watfly student design team, which is building an aircraft intended to carry a single passenger over a predefined flight path in the International Gofly competition, this team us responsible for the drivetrain design and build which includes airframe configuration, battery and management system, motor, and propellers.  All these systems will be incorporated into a full-scale wing that the team will use in the competition.

Arash Arami (Faculty Advisor), Varnit Grewal, Claire Hamilton, Phil Moloughney, Lucas Compton, Nicholas Mohamed, Kamyar Ghavam (Faculty Advisor)

Akomodi is an assistive device for children with severe Cerebral Palsy that allows them to accomplish all their daily tasks from one device, giving them more independence and bodily autonomy. By combining the functions of a commode chair, standing frame, supine stander, and standard wheelchair, this device eliminates the need for caregivers to transfer children between devices throughout the day.

Anas El-Halabi, Zack Eskandar, Omar Kaakati, Faran Mahboubi, Isha Sahay

The SpringBack device is an exoskeleton specifically designed for automotive manufacturing environments.  It reduces stress on the lower back and shoulders without sacrificing comfort and productivity.

Viral Patel, Joyce Zhang, Eva Zila, Woody Lau

Dry ingredient batching at Griffith Foods, a food mix and sauce company, is a fully manual process, and has been identified as the bottleneck stage in their production pipeline. Automation of their most popular dry ingredient mix with 7 ingredients, Formula X, was identified as the most feasible and impactful way to mitigate this issue. An automated system adhering to industrial and food safety standards has been designed for the Griffith Foods plant, involving coordination of hoppers and scales to precisely batch ingredients.