Date of Award

5-13-2011

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Bahram Nassersharif

Second Advisor

Carl-Ernst Rousseau

Abstract

In Fall 2010, Capstone Design Team 6, consisting of Drew Davis, Kyle Morris, Paul Schumacher, and Derek Sutcliffe, designed a part sorting device for the Evans Findings Company. The project’s objective was to meet Evans Co.’s need for a device capable of reducing the scrap rate of parts produced during unattended stamping operations.

In Spring 2011, Team 6 built, tested, troubleshot, redesigned, and rebuilt the device to meet the design specifications and Evans Co.’s expectations.

The overnight, unattended stamping operations at Evans Co. are currently susceptible to loss; as all finished parts are ejected from the stamping press into one large forty-gallon bin, defective parts can easily contaminate an entire batch. In manufacturing, a lot sorting device is a common countermeasure against batch contamination. The design team generated over 120 concepts before choosing one such device, which has gained approval from Evans Co. The team’s financial analysis shows the payback period will likely meet Evans Co.’s requirements.

The final concept consists of six buckets, each on a rolling carriage, constrained by an oval aluminum track. The carriages are pushed around the track by a chain attached to sprockets driven by a stepper motor, which is commanded by an Arduino microcontroller. It should ensure reliable capture of finished parts from the stamping press, sorted into separate buckets by their ejection time, thus providing protection from contamination.

The device itself (named the USAD, or Unattended Stamping Assistance Device) was completed on time with a $4,000 budget. Simulation and financial analysis both indicate that the device will pay for itself within one year and save Evans Co. over $7,000 annually by reducing scrap.

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