AN EYE TOWARD THE FUTURE
The 95 teams of the University of Calgary’s graduating engineering class presented their final projects at the 2015 Capstone Design Fair. After eight months of conceptualizing, late nights and implementation, they made their pitches on Wednesday. Here are
DRESSFRESH
The idea came from project manager and sponsor Aram Razouki, inspired after getting up late and not having time to clean a shirt.
“There should be something that makes it easy for you to have your clothing be fresh and ready to go,” said Razouki.
“Throughout the years, I developed the idea and the concept, and in my final year of schooling, I decided to move forward with my idea and actually build it.”
DressFresh’s machine works by heating and steaming a clothing article to eliminate wrinkles, odours, odour- causing bacteria and restore it in five minutes.
Members: Mechanical Team: Armando Borjas, Daniel Chan, Churchill Oseghale, Rachel Manzano, Todd Rolfson and Maria Shmerko
Electronics Team: Ashley Fernandes, Yueh- Chen Lin, Patrick Mah, Aram Razouki, Adam Wagner and Jason Woo
NAVI- SOL
This electronic engineering team’s project was a solar- powered watercraft system. Although originally sponsored, they parted ways with their sponsor early on and carried on themselves.
For their model, two panels with 42 cells generate power for the battery which charges the motor hidden in the hull in the full- scale version.
“Essentially, it’s free energy,” said group member James Decoux.
“It’s clean, you don’t need to lug around gasoline or what- haveyou … The entire point of this project was for a boat to travel long distances down rivers, and that’s a lot easier to do with solar power.”
The full- scaled version of the boat would have 480 solar cells, and seat two people.
Members: Yin Hao Chen, Zixin Chen, James Decoux, Danielle Lam, Kyle Skelly and Alexander Ta
A GEOMATICS PERSPECTIVE
A group of geomatic engineer students wanted to show that geomatics, or spatially related information, is not just about mapping.
“This project was sort of developed to capture people walking by and explain what geomatics is and what it can be and what it is involved in, ” said group member Carson Bannon.
A kinetic camera take images of a person, collecting depth information from about 80,000 points, with each point being assigned an X and Y value. The points are then assigned a colour, and displayed on a screen. Due to the X and Y values, the images can be produced in 3- D.
While the group is self- sponsored, Beakerhead has shown an interest in the project.
Members: Shirley Chan, Anna Ross, Carson Bannon and Xunchen Bao
MANUFACTURE OF PIPELINE QUALITY CRUDE
Sponsored by the university, this chemical engineering group built upon research the school is conducting. The group designed a novel partial- upgrading facility for crude oil, with the goal to take bitumen and send it to the U. S. without adding value- degrading diluent.
The project proposes to chemically alter the molasses- like bitumen produced in Alberta. The group designed a chemical plant that would take in bitumen feed stock, take off light hydrocarbons, recycle them back to the producers, put them through a reactor at 350 C to break down the bonds in the bitumen that make it viscous, and incorporate natural gas into it. This process will produce higher- quality oil that can be shipped to the U. S.
Members: Justin Woods, Julian Mulia, Robert Pryde and Aaron Baskerville- Bridges
MOTORCYCLE SEAT DESIGN FOR WOMEN
These mechanical engineering students, sponsored by Torch Motorcycles, were originally tasked with creating a new motorcycle frame for women. They scaled the scope of the project back to focus on one area, the seat.
Torch Motorcycle co- founder Patti Derbyshire was there showing off the seat that she has already installed on her motorcycle.
“What we’re really after is reducing fatigue for women as they ride, and creating a safer ride, ” said Derbyshire.
Since women have shorter legs and wider seat- bones than men, the standard motorcycle seat is narrow and wide in the wrong places. The designed seat was lower to the ground, wider in the back and narrower in the front.
Members: Christine Hughes, Emily Tworek, Monique Sullian, Susan Trinh, Vachan Dhillon