Flex, California
Mechanical Design Engineer
[Due to the nature of the job, I am unable to share pictures of the projects themselves]
Liquid Cooling Apparatus
Objective: Design a liquid cooling mechanism to maintain the temperature of beer at 2°C
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Design Constraints: Coolant flowed though steel cooling coils, which wasn't making direct contact with the keg (where the beer was kept). 2°C had to be reached without cooling mechanisms touching the beer or the keg.
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What I did:
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The original setup for this project was unable to achieve the desired temperature and thus, I had to find new and creative ways to lower the temperature of the beer. The setup prevented there being direct contact with the beer which made the task even more challenging.
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I insulated the pipes, added fiberglass insulation around the container for the keg, changed the ratio of glycol to water as the coolant. Furthermore, the system consisted of a Peltier device with a cold plate. I reduced the speed of the coolant in order for it to stay longer on the cold plate. I also added temperature sensors (RTDs) throughout the setup.
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This project allowed me to understand a great variety of things: allowing me to work with temperature sensors and a DAQ, applying my thermofluids knowledge as well as general engineering troubleshooting.
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What worked: Due to the state of the pandemic, my co-op at Flex ended 3 months early and I was unable to finish this project. However, I was able to get the temperature down to 3°C. This was due to changing the glycol to water ratio to 40-60, insulating the pipes and container for the coils and the keg and also changing flow speeds of the coolant. Funnily enough, adding cooling packs between the coils and the leg made things worse... I still don't know why. But regardless, I also installed a more accurate method for checking the temperature through RTDs at various points in the apparatus.
Tablet Stand
Objective: Design a stand capable of withstanding forces in all directions
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Design Constraints: Tablet has to be able to withstand forces in the X, Y and Z directions. The design had to be as lightweight as possible.
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What I did:
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This project focused on employing the four stages of mechanical design: sketching, rapid prototyping, CAD modelling and prototyping the final design.
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The challenge of this project was that since the tablet would be experiencing push forces (not just tapping but real push forces) in all directions, the stand had to not only constrain the tablet’s movements but also, the optimum mass distribution.
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I began by sketching a variety of ideas - finally narrowing it down to a design which made use of magnets, steel pads and 3D printed elastomer brackets. This continued into the rapid prototyping phase with foam core.
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After assessing this version, I was able to further modify the design, by modelling the final design in Solidworks. Once modelled, I laser cut the acrylic parts and assembled the stand.
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This project was challenging as it involved complete creative mechanical design from scratch. It taught me a great deal about the design process for a consumer product in all aspects - from the CAD modelling to its physical development.
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What worked: An acrylic stand with stopping brackets, steel pads and magnets, as well as elastomeric 3D printed cushioning pads proved to be the most successful design.
Fitness Teardown
​Objective: Took apart various fitness machines in order to estimate manufacturing costs and establish the most cost effective manufacturing method
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What I did:
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I learnt a great deal about materials and manufacturing during this - a project involved in reverse engineering various fitness equipment
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This involved understanding how each part was manufactured. For example, understanding whether a certain part was zinc or chrome plated, or whether it was injection molded, printed or cast
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And lastly, understanding what is the most cost effective manufacturing method would be
Force displaying soccer ball
​Objective: Design a soccer ball capable of displaying its kicking force
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Design Constraints: Electronics had to be suspended at the center of the ball. Accelerometer had to be suspended in a way that it doesn't move.
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What I did:
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Using an alternative to e-Ink, the objective of this project was to showcase an electronic display on a football (this electronic display was provided to use but I cannot disclose the name of the manufacturer due to Flex's wishes). Using a variety of sensors, the plan was to have the hardware suspended in the centre of the soccer ball. These sensors would be able to determine the force one uses to kick the ball.
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The mechanical aspect was to find a way to suspend the electronics within the ball which proved to be greatly educational in terms of understanding suspension mechanisms, adhesives and furthering my hands-on skills.
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What worked: Due to the state of the pandemic, my co-op at Flex ended 3 months early and I was unable to finish this project. However, the intended suspension technique (which I rudimentarily did test) consisted of bungee cord tensioned through a loop (the loop would be adhered to the inside of the soccer ball). This process would have involved thinking of a variety of ways to successfully attach the loop to the inside of the soccer ball, as well as ensuring the tension wouldn't loosen over time.