Browsing by Subject "3-D printing"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Multi-Disciplinary Capstone Project on Self-Replicating 3-D Printer
    (American Society for Engineering Education, 2016-06) Cooney, Elaine M.; Yearling, Paul Robert; Smith, Jacob Allen; Department of Engineering Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
    This paper explores the dynamics of a multi-semester multi-disciplinary team approach applied within a traditional senior capstone project that involves strong design and manufacturing components. In addition, the logistics of running a successful senior project will be discussed along with the associated problems of organization within a multi-program environment. The key drivers and motivators behind this paper are, most importantly, that multi-disciplinary teams are very common in industry and that our industrial advisory boards for Electrical Engineering Technology (EET) and Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) suggested that we do more multi-disciplinary projects. Furthermore, this multi-disciplinary team approach will satisfy the proposed ABET/ETAC outcomes for 2016. The Proposed Revisions to the Program Criteria for Mechanical Engineering Technology and Similarly Named Programs ABET/ETAC outcomes say “The capstone experience, ideally multidisciplinary in nature, must be project based and include formal design, implementation and test processes.” (emphasis added) Faculty searched for a technology that would allow both EET and MET students to contribute equally to the success of the project, and decided upon additive manufacturing. Students have been exposed extensively through formal course material covering 3D printing technology and would be familiar with the operation of 3D printers in general. Therefore, it was reasoned a familiarity with the project goal of designing and constructing a self-replicating 3D printer would give students more confidence in tackling the difficult task of managing an extended project over both the design and manufacture phases, and mastering effective communicate across disciplines. The student team organization mirrors current industry standard operating procedures. First, the team is multidisciplinary, including EET students with programing and circuits skills and MET students with CAD, design, mechanical analysis skills. All students must demonstrate project process skills, utilizing current design for six-sigma procedures. The students learn a standard set of tools to manage the project, as well as synthesize those tools with their discipline specific knowledge. Because of the program curriculum plans, the EET students are involved in the project for two semesters. The MET students have a one semester project course; this enables one group of MET students to design the mechanical system, document their work, and pass it on to a second team for implementation. This was considered a positive based on what is typical in industry, where engineering groups are constantly interfacing. Results include observations of group member dynamics, quality of work, timeliness, budget management, and communication across disciplines. Rubrics to document student achievement of outcomes are used.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Optimization of Printing Parameters for 3-D Printed PLA
    (Materials Science and Technology 2018 (MS&T18), 2018-11-14) Hawaldar, Nishant; Pai Raikar, Piyush; Dube, Tejesh; Zhang, Jing
    In this work, 3D printed part of PLA was checked for dimensional accuracy and printing parameters were optimized for getting optimal design. For doing so we selected nozzle temperature and step size as printing parameters for optimization. Design of Experiment (DOE) was done using Minitab to check optimal parameters. We concluded that increasing the nozzle temperature increases the dimensional accuracy of the printed part and decreasing the step size will increase the dimensional accuracy.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The role of visualization and 3-D printing in biological data mining
    (Springer (Biomed Central Ltd.), 2015) Weiss, Talia L.; Zieselman, Amanda; Hill, Douglas P.; Diamond, Solomon G.; Shen, Li; Saykin, Andrew J.; Moore, Jason H.; Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative; Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, IU School of Medicine
    BACKGROUND: Biological data mining is a powerful tool that can provide a wealth of information about patterns of genetic and genomic biomarkers of health and disease. A potential disadvantage of data mining is volume and complexity of the results that can often be overwhelming. It is our working hypothesis that visualization methods can greatly enhance our ability to make sense of data mining results. More specifically, we propose that 3-D printing has an important role to play as a visualization technology in biological data mining. We provide here a brief review of 3-D printing along with a case study to illustrate how it might be used in a research setting. RESULTS: We present as a case study a genetic interaction network associated with grey matter density, an endophenotype for late onset Alzheimer's disease, as a physical model constructed with a 3-D printer. The synergy or interaction effects of multiple genetic variants were represented through a color gradient of the physical connections between nodes. The digital gene-gene interaction network was then 3-D printed to generate a physical network model. CONCLUSIONS: The physical 3-D gene-gene interaction network provided an easily manipulated, intuitive and creative way to visualize the synergistic relationships between the genetic variants and grey matter density in patients with late onset Alzheimer's disease. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this novel method of biological data mining visualization.