Research
Experience Level - Silver
The research experience focuses on six different learning objectives related to the individual's grand challenge. For my research experience, I enrolled in the Mechanical Engineering Capstone class (ENME 444). The Capstone class is designed to simulate what a professional work environment would be like (with the professor acting as the boss). Each group of four people is assigned to a "customer". This "customer" can range from UMBC professors to industry personnel in the area. My group was tasked with designing a monitoring system for a rotating gear coupling manufactured my Regal Beloit and Kop Flex.
The monitoring system for the gear coupling would act as a source of predictive maintenance for customers. Gear couplings are a component that transmit torque between critical machinary such as turbines or engines. When these components fail, it can result in untimely maintenance and downtimes for plants. My team and I researched the most common modes of failure for the couplings, which ended up being gear tooth wear. The gear teeth often wear down due to inadequate or improper lubrication. As the grease deteriorates, it results in heat manifestation within the gear coupling. Because of this, my group determined that a temperature sensor would be the best way to monitor the coupling condition.
​
The final product that my group came up with utilized Near Field Communication (NFC) Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology (similar to how Apple Pay works). We placed a transceiver with a thermistor on the coupling surface and an additional transceiver off of the coupling. The two transceivers transmitted data remotely using RFID technology to measure the temperature of the coupling surface. To verify that the system was working properly, my group had to research and conduct several different tests including the difference between the interior and surface temperature of the coupling, the maximum distance between the two transceivers, and the maximum amount of RPMs that the system could effectively monitor. Each test used different setups, data acquisition methods, and sensors to acquire the desired data. This was by far the most enjoyable project that I have undertaken at UMBC. A large portion of the project was centered around research and testing to determine how our system responded.
​
The completion of the research experience was evaluated on how it contributed to each of the six earning objectives.
​
1. Express ideas in an organized, clear, concise, and accurate manner.
Throughout the course of the design project, I gave several presentations including a conceptual design review, preliminary design review, and a final design review to board members from ASME. I also had to provide regular updates to both my professor and customer (Regal Beloit) on regular intervals so that they could provide feedback as needed and to monitor our progress. The regular updates forced my team members and myself to present out research, test results, and designs in a manner that was both easy to understand and informative.
​
2. Write clearly and effectively.
In addition to presentations, I had to submit regular team status updates, test results, and documentation to my professor and Regal Beloit. Each document was graded at an industry standard, meaning my professor provided feedback and comments similar to what we would hear during our professional career.
​
3. Effectively connect multiple ideas and approaches.
It is without question that when working in a group, team members will often disagree about topics. Bridging ideas between team members, customer, and professor is often difficult because they are all looking for different things. This project helped me identify what the most important aspects were from each point of view so that we could eventually combine them to create a working product in the end.
​
4. Formulate questions and hypotheses within the discipline.
Because my design project needed a significant amount of research and testing, my group members and I had to seriously consider how to run an experiment, how we would collect the data, and what kind of response we should be getting. We did this for several of our experiments including heat transfer, RFID quality, and combined rotating RFID and thermal testing.
​
5. Understand how practitioners think within the discipline and view the world around them
Because my team worked directly with a industry professional as our "customer", we were able to see directly the major areas that practioners pay attention to in the field. For example, my team initially proposed a solution that used Infrared technology that would not need to be mounted on the coupling. Due to the details of the design, the customer determined that it was not the most ideal solution because it would not be the most beneficial to the final user. This showed us that customer input was a major point on how practitioners think within the field.
​
6. Predict, recognize, and weigh the risks and benefits of the project for others.
My team worked with both my professor and Regal Beloit, so we had to continually weight the risks and benfits between those two parties, and ourselves.
​