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Therapeutic Mechanical Horse
Get PDFJack\u27s Helping Hand and its hippotherapy participants required a device to serve as an alternative to a live horseback riding experience that could also increase the range of riders. This would provide more clients with equine-assisted therapy that has proven to better the lives of people with both physical and mental disabilities. Horses can be unpredictable, tall, and sometimes anxiety-inducing, especially for new riders. Our group’s aim was to develop a mechanical horse that will be able to reduce these issues for equine therapy centers and the riders they help. When a rider gets to practice sitting on the horse without the unpredictability or the height, the rider can develop confidence in riding before sitting on a real horse. After going out into the field to experience horse riding for ourselves and translating our experience into the design for our therapeutic mechanical horse, we have created a mechanical horse that can sit children who weigh up to 160 pounds and can withstand the conditions present in the barn where the machine will be stored
Son Care Foundation - Shade Structure Construction
Get PDFThis paper will outline the preconstruction and construction processes that took place to erect a shade structure for the Son Care Foundation. This project included the design, estimate, and construction of the 8 ft tall shade structure. The structure was composed of pressure-treated lumber, concrete, metal post bases, and corrugated metal roofing. While originally expected to be around 15 foot in length, the final structure ended up being closer to 20 feet long. Based on existing shade structure of the foundation, the roof of the shade structure is sloped one way towards the back of the structure. The construction and procurement of the project was split into corresponding phases due to the lack of storage available on site and the availability of the workers. The main phases included preconstruction, excavation, concrete, framing, and roofing. The structure was successfully built in the agility field on the ranch of the Son Care Foundation. The main challenges that were faced during this project had to do with the initial design and procurement stages of the project. These challenges slightly affected the schedule and overall cost of the structure but did not affect the quality of the completed project
BongoTies Tying Machine Design
Get PDFBongoTies are a reusable tool for cable management or general fastening, consisting of a strong rubber band attached to a bamboo pin. BongoTies is a company founded by our sponsor Tim Petros that sells its product on a variety of popular shopping sites, such as Amazon and eBay. Currently, the assembly process is to hand-tie the rubber band to the pin for every BongoTie. This is too slow to keep up with demand, requires a skilled worker with good dexterity, and can cause pain or injury if the rubber band snaps back onto the worker’s fingers. In this senior project design report, we present our proposed design solution in detail, lessons learned throughout the design process, and suggestions for further design implementations. As proposed in our Scope of Work, we designed a human powered device that would assemble a BongoTie using a method that requires less dexterity and is substantially less dangerous to the user. Our design process included numerous prototypes that helped to finalize our geometry. The final design allows for a smoother transition to automating the assembly of BongoTies by reimagining the assembly steps to better fit a mechanical method
Refining the Construction Communication Cal Poly Technical Elective Course
Get PDFCommunication is one of the most necessary parts in what makes a project successful in the construction industry. Normally, successful communication skills are developed through experience over time in this industry. When looking into the Construction Management (CM) program at California Polytechnic State University of San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), a lack of direct focus on multiple key communication skills is present. Furthermore, a new CM communication technical elective should be taught to focus and reinforce the communication skills needed for careers of future students post graduation. By crafting and distributing a well-thought out survey, new knowledge from the perspectives of current and recent graduate Cal Poly construction management students are gained. As a continuation from a past senior who developed this course, it is my goal to be able to provide valuable information to better refine and tailor this proposed class to the CM students at Cal Poly. This class will better enhance the vision and needs from former and current students of the most valuable communication skills they wish to obtain in order to set them up for the most success in their careers after graduation in the CM industry
Behind The Ear (BTE) Hearing Aid
Get PDFThe product is a Behind The Ear (BTE) hearing aid with the capability to improve the quality of life for people with mild to severe hearing loss and caters to a different consumer through bold exterior design to increase awareness of deafness and normalize hearing loss. In comparison to In The Ear (ITE) and In The Canal (ITC) hearing aids, the BTE hearing aid provides the best amplification while retaining an affordable price. Sound amplification depends on two or more directional microphones embedded in the product to give users the ability to discern the direction of incoming sound easily in comparison to omnidirectional microphones. The product amplifies sound in the natural human frequency range while suppressing both acoustic and electromagnetic noise in any given environment. The hearing aid has a minimum daily battery life of 24 hours and is rechargeable, durable, lightweight, comfortable to wear, and easy to clean. The hearing aid has Bluetooth capability that allows the user to listen to audio output from their smartphone. Users have the ability to adjust the equalization of their hearing experience to their own preference via a smartphone app and to manually control stereo output volume and power via external buttons. Users also have the freedom to change the external appearance of the product with removable jewelry-like add-ons that are also durable, lightweight, and easy to clean
Skip the Grid: Solar Powered Refrigeration in the Navajo Nation
Get PDFThe Skip the Grid project was a combined effort of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) students, and company sponsors SOLV Energy, Dometic, and Goal Zero, facilitated through the non-profit, Heart of America. The interdisciplinary project team successfully installed photovoltaic energy systems with refrigerators and lights for families within the Navajo Nation. Skip the Grid’s mission focuses on improving quality of life and providing access to clean, affordable off-grid energy. In the Navajo Nation, access to electricity and running water is not necessarily a given, with large disparities from family to family. This issue was exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when distance learning was implemented in schools and many students across the region lacked the basic resources to participate the way other school-age children could. The Skip the Grid project helped remedy this issue for selected students and their households. When completed on March 24, 2022, eleven families, with students attending Red Mesa Unified School District in Arizona, received a system delivering power, refrigeration, and light, requiring limited maintenance at no cost to them. As a result, Cal Poly students have provided the roadmap for future installations, to provide power to every home in the region, including design and construction recommendations to streamline future installations
Jack E Brown Chemical Engineering Building at Texas A&M University
Get PDFThe Jack E Brown Chemical Engineering building at Texas A&M is located in College Station, TX. While this building is dedicated to chemical engineering, it serves many different departments as they use the lecture halls on the first floor. It was built and opened in 2004 and has 206,500 square feet with 7 stories. The building consists of multiple labs as well as study hall rooms, computer labs, offices, and the normal MEP/storage rooms. Jack E Brown building is one of the foremost buildings of the Texas A&M engineering quadrant and is further proof that Texas A&M desires to keep leading out on the engineering front. This is one of the busiest buildings on campus and with a wide range of room usages, an in-depth analysis of the building components as it relates to fire protection and life safety will be completed prescriptively for compliance. This prescriptive based analysis covers egress, fire alarm, fire suppression, structural, and flammability requirements to analyze compliance with the International Building code (IBC) and governing NFPA standards.
The first portion of the analysis relates to the egress components which mostly comply for this building. There are a sufficient number of exits in this building, but the occupant calculations determine there are too many occupants on the 3rd through 6th floors. The building has only two exits on the upper floors, but they are separated by more than one-third the overall length of the building and meet the requirements for exit separation. Travel distances, dead end corridor lengths, and common paths of travel are all within the limitations required by NFPA 101. Exit signs are the other component of the egress analysis which are determined to be located in accordance with the requirements
The fire alarm system provides detection and notification per NFPA 72 throughout the building as required at the time this building was built. This building does not have a mass notification system, but it was not required at the time of construction. The average ambient sound level for an educational occupancy is 45 dBA and 55 dBA for a business occupancy. It appears from the plans that the requirement for sound levels to be at 15 dB greater than ambient would be met based on the locations of the placed devices. The power supply is analyzed per the requirements of Texas A&M and appears to be in accordance. A summary regarding the inspection, testing, and maintenance requirements are provided. Overall, there are no major issues with the fire alarm system from the prescriptive based analysis.
The water-based fire suppression system in the building is installed per NFPA 13 as a wet pipe sprinkler system with an automatic standpipe. The hydraulic calculation for the system is driven by the demand of the automatic standpipe system which requires 100 psi at the most remote hose valve and 750 GPM total. The water supply from the city was insufficient to meet the standpipe system demand and a fire pump was installed. The fire pump installed was rated for 750 GPM at 100 psi and was found to be adequate for the sprinkler system and standpipe demand based on NFPA 20 requirements. The hydraulic calculations performed for the sprinkler system were also found to be compliant with NFPA 13 utilizing both light and ordinary hazard occupancies. The combined sprinkler/standpipe system is required to be inspected, tested, and maintained per NFPA 25 which is summarized in the analysis. In addition to the sprinkler system, there is an FE-13 clean agent system provided in the chemical storage room on the first floor. The fire suppression components within this building appear to be in accordance with the appropriate codes and standards.
The structural fire protection analysis identifies the building as Type IB and confirms that the design is in accordance with restrictions placed on Type IB buildings per IBC. The number of stories, height, occupancy types, and area are all confirmed to be within code regulations. The IBC also outlines requirements for separation of occupancies and the first floor of the Jack E Brown building is a mixed occupancy requiring a 2-hour fire wall to separate between the lecture halls (educational occupancy) and the remainder of the building (business occupancy). The building components are also analyzed with the requirements for each identified per the code. The resources were not available to confirm the compliance of each of these items, but it is assumed that they comply with the code. Flammability requirements are outlined for the building requirement based on time of construction, but the details were not available to confirm that the installation complied.
A performance-based design is also discussed to compare available safe egress time vs required safe egress time. This design is based on the goals and objectives provided in NFPA 101 and considers three different fire scenarios for the Jack E. Brown building. The first fire considered is in the first-floor lecture hall and is analyzed for both sprinkler detector response time and structural failure. With the fire resistance ratings applied to the structure, there is no structural failure for this area based on the fire scenario. The second fire scenario is for an office space on the seventh floor that would be affected by the exterior windows present in this space. This design fire is important to analyze since the door opens directly to the exit corridor and could be detrimental to occupants in the area. The third and final design fire is in one of the laboratories on the 4th floor adjacent to the exit stairwell. This fire is chosen since this fire would be the most severe fire affecting occupants in this building. Along with the fire analysis, a building model is completed to determine the tenability conditions presented by design fire three.
The available safe egress time is the amount of time between ignition and when circumstances become untenable. Tenability conditions presented in this analysis and discussed include visibility, temperature, and carbon monoxide exposure limits. Each one of these criteria are analyzed utilizing the Fire Dynamics Simulator and Smokeview models. The visibility in the exit corridor becomes untenable just before two minutes due to the initial growth of design fire three but when the fire stabilizes, the visibility is at a level which would be tenable. The temperature is extreme inside the laboratory and reaches untenable conditions within the first two minutes, but the hallway remains tenable throughout this time. Beyond the moment in which the heat release rate stabilizes, the temperature in the hallway remains tenable for all occupants. The third condition analyzed using FDS and SMV is the CO exposure which does not exceed the tenable conditions at any point throughout the model.
With the available safe egress time determined, the required safe egress time is calculated to confirm that occupants have enough time to egress. The required safe egress time is approximately 24 minutes when calculated by hand. In addition to the hand calculations, results from Pathfinder, a computer-based egress modeling system, are presented as 23 minutes and 24 seconds for total egress.
The conclusion for the performance-based analysis is that the Jack E Brown building, as constructed per the appropriate codes and standards, provides a large enough available safe egress time to allow all occupants to exit the building. This remains true as long as the building is maintained, and inspections are completed as required. A fire safety management plan is included at the end of this report to provide insight for the building owner on how to maintain the building to ensure the best chance of survival for occupants in the event of a fire. In addition to the fire safety management plan, it is recommended that all self-closing doors are properly functioning, and that staff is trained to allow these doors to close instead of propping them open. It is also recommended that a mass notification system is installed in the building as this was not required when the building was constructed but is required per codes today. This system would provide an additional level of safety for the occupants
Hands-on Earthquake Engineering Curriculum for the Virtual Classroom
Get PDFDuring Summer 2021, five week-long virtual earthquake engineering sessions were offered in the Cal Poly Engineering Possibilities in College (EPIC) summer program. Typically, this is a residential program comprised of faculty-led workshops in various engineering fields to provide pre-college experiences to students, particularly from underrepresented backgrounds. The challenge posed by remote learning, due to the global pandemic, was to continue providing educationally effective hands-on activities. To accomplish this, the instructor team designed, fabricated, and shipped over 120 mail-home engineering kits for students to assemble a shake table, build and retrofit a structural model, as well as collect and analyze data with a low-cost accelerometer. These activities were paired with lectures to help students understand earthquake hazard, seismic design of buildings and instrumentation among other topics. Given the virtual setting, particular attention was given in lectures to provide multiple opportunities and modes that students could engage. Student feedback collected on the last day of each week-long session highlighted students’ high level of interest and enjoyment of the hands-on activities. This earthquake engineering lab piloted in the EPIC program shows one solution to increasing accessibility of outreach activities to students in locations that are geographically remote from EERI regional and student chapters
Paso Robles PD Roof Extension and Gun Cleaning Counter
Get PDFOver the past few years the Paso Robles Police Department and the Cal Poly Construction Management Department have developed a professional relationship. Paso PD, looking for a cost-efficient solution to upgrading their shooting range decided to partner with Cal Poly students looking to gain field experience and complete their senior project. This shooting range, starting as just a few targets in an open area, has been developed into a 24-hour usable training facility equipped with storage, water, and electricity. As part of the department’s requested scope, two gun cleaning counters as well as a roof extension to protect these counters were required. After an initial site visit, the general requirements were outlined. The first step included developing an appropriate design within the means of the budget. The design process involved regular meetings with the project SME and owner to ensure that the project met required specifications. Once Complete, the construction process began including material procurement, site preparation, and installation. Throughout the course of the project, scheduling and conducting professional meetings with both design professionals and owners of the project, creating an appropriate budget and design, procuring funds, and project closeout were all required skills to learn
Crime-Fighting Heroes and Pretty Caped Crusaders: Classroom Content Analysis of Children’s Halloween Costumes
Get PDFThe content analysis activity described in this article allows students to investigate the gendered meanings in marketing materials for children’s Halloween costumes. What lessons about gender are relayed through materials such as these? Existing research has shown that costumes are often gendered in traditional, stereotypical ways. However, rather than being passive recipients of research findings, students participating in this activity get to “do” scholarly work and examine data firsthand. This process of discovery is the hallmark of inquiry-guided learning and is also central to feminist pedagogy. For this activity, students are provided with a set of children’s Halloween costumes to analyze – specifically, the costume name, image, and description from a retailer website. They are then tasked with coding this material, making note of if and how the costume names, costumes, models, and descriptions are gendered, the adjectives used to describe the costumes and models, and whether the models’ poses connote activity or passivity. After coding each costume, students identify patterns in their findings. In the follow-up discussion, students report findings and consider how they compare to those from previous studies. In doing so, they can identify ways that gender stereotypes are reproduced and/or challenged. More generally, this activity encourages students to consider how mass media and consumer culture can contribute to children’s gender socialization, as well as what can and cannot be learned from content analysis research such as this