Hattie Larlham - The staff takes the kids bowling and we have a bowling ramp but it is difficult for the kids to reach or push the ball from their wheel chair so we would like someone to look at the ramp and redesign it so that the kids can reach and push the ball down the ramp. Maureen Keller
Mather Steamship Museum - the creation of a "virtual" model of the engine room, including 3-D graphics of what's happening inside all the pipes and valves. Holly Holcombe
Mather Steamship Museum - The design of a (possibly solar-powered) air conditioning system for the actual ship needs to be developed. Holly Holcombe
Mather Steamship Museum - A previous freshman project performed an ultrasonic hull thickness measurement to determine the presence and/or absence of rust on the hull. This project would continue the study. Holly Holcombe
Hattie Larlham - A previous project has produced an excellent prototype of an electromechanical dice tosser for handicapped children. The current device uses 7400 series digital logic to control the game and a transistor driver to operate a solenoid to "toss" the dice. The prototype works very well but is not quite ready to give to the Foundation. The LEDs need to be mounted, the battery needs to be more accessible for charging, and the wiring needs to be carefully improved to prevent shorts. Maureen Keller
Final Report (PDF, 2.9 MB)
YES, Inc. is a company which employs the handicapped to manufacture soap and cleaning products. A previous project developed a prototype design for a computer network (and software) to replace the current outmoded system which they currently use. The proposed solution would use a networked system (including wireless nodes) to do accounting, generate payrolls, compute fringe benefits, etc. as well as communicate with other YES sites. A principal goal of this project will be to work with the YES company to write a proposal (to a suitable funding agency) to actually implement the proposed network. This will also require a review of the previous semester's work and updating of the software and hardware requirements as appropriate.
Final Report (PDF, 1.5 MB)
CWRU has several electrically driven maintenance vehicles which they would like to operate using solar power as a demonstration project for the community. A previous project has done basic charging system design. However, all designs are dependent upon the actual power demands of the vehicle. This project would instrument a vehicle (and its associated charger) to determine the charging power requirements. A data logger would collect the data over a period of time and the project would analyze the data to specify the solar charging requirements. This project would work with local utilities to specify a system that would feed daytime solar generated power back into the local power grid avoiding the need for battery energy storage at the charger.
Final Report (PDF, 1.8 MB)