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Senior Design - Chewing Simulator
Design a significantly low coast model of a device that test the fatigue, stress, and durability of materials, specific toward dentistry and dental treatments but also has the versatility of other medical materials.
Clients:
Initial Design Breakout
After the initial introduction to the clients, each member of the design team created a design that would tackle some of the design priorities of the client.
Kamar G. - cartesian design focus on pistons guided motion, modularity, and X-Y motion on base.
Tia W. - bi-radial design focus on bevel gear motion translation, and motion variety.
Catherine R. - cartesian design focus on lead screws and X-Z motion on antagonist.
Morphological Sketch Approach
Taking all three proposed designs, the client got to take a look and comment on what they liked the most, thus refining their priorities now understanding our design capabilities. From that, the design team took what they thought would produce the most effective and feasible prototype and eventually product.
Building Process
 Frame is created using 80/20 aluminum bars and 10-32 screw and nuts. Alterations to the bars were made using the horizontal bandsaw and drill press. |  Catherine R. was the head of the electronics and I focused on making sure she had the space needed to house and store electronic components. |  By far my favorite part of the design! I manufactured this mounting plate on the Bridgeport Mill, will Tia W. water-jet cut the C-bar that is attached to the force sensors that Catherine R. calibrated. |
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 Precision manufacturing at its finest. |  As you can see in the videos below this image on this page, we no longer went with bevel gears to articulate the motion of the testing bed because the whole gear system would have cost over $200 alone. So we went with a disk and linkage system that ended up costing under $20 to manufacture. Also we 3D printed the sliders and milled Delrin T-slots to ensure as smooth of a translation as possible. |  Here is our jeweled dream trio team the day of the showcase shining brighter than emerald and presenting our "Chomper" Prototype. |
Future Steps:
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Plans to make testing beds more modular
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Improving our code to make workflow smother
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Redesigning electrical layout and placement
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Reducing overall size
Measure of Success
✓ Multiple Testing Beds
✓ More than one line of motion
✓ Wall outlet powered
✓ Autonomous after initial start
✓ Applied over 90N (~20lbs) of force
✓ Saline Safe (Food Safe Plastic)
✓ Modular Frame
✓ Interchangeable Antagonist
✓ Cheap - Under $200
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