2022 College of Engineering and Science Design and Research Conference

Motorized Decoy Dynomometer

Team Members:  Michael Davis, Dane Henssler, Matthew Matherne, Carson Millikin

Sponsor: Terry Denmon (CEO, MOJO Outdoors)

Advisor: Dr. Michael Swanbom

MOJO Outdoors is the number one manufacturer of motion and spinning wing decoys in the world. When designing a new product, MOJO must implement a motor that yields the desired results for the application. With no way to determine the performance characteristics of a motor, this has proven to be a rather difficult task. To solve this problem, our team has designed a Motorized Decoy Dynamometer. This dynamometer is a computerized system that implements speed and torque-sensing devices to determine performance characteristics such as speed, torque, power, and amp draw of a DC motor. The dynamometer we designed has met our three measures of success. It allows a technician to correctly specify a motor in under an hour, all measurements are accurate within a 2 percent tolerance of the average, and it is adaptable to all current MOJO motors as well as an estimated size range of future motors. MOJO Outdoors will no longer need to use a trial-and-error process that can take months to complete. The Motorized Decoy Dynamometer will allow MOJO Outdoors to correctly determine the motor performance characteristics for a new product in a matter of hours.

Top Water In-Take Inspection System

Team Members:  Alan Fitts, Shane Storey, Russell Stultz, Preslee Truax

Sponsor: Brice Daniel (Engineer, American Electric Power)

Advisor: Dr. Arden Moore

American Electric Power (AEP) is seeking a solution to a recurring problem with an inspection system used on in-take tanks to the cooling water system at various power plants in the area. Currently, AEP is performing inspections using a tethered, submersible, remotely operated vehicle to visually inspect the buildup of sediment in the bottom of each tank. The device’s tether frequently entangles with piping, vertical pump shafts, and other equipment in the tank. To detangle the tether, a dive crew must be hired, which costs the company thousands of dollars. A new system is developed that floats on top of the water and records inspection data from the surface using an ultrasonic sonar sensor. The system aims to measure sediment buildup of as small as 6 inches in water depths of up to 40 feet. The device can be used in tanks up to 40 feet in diameter – the largest that would be subject to this inspection. The system weighs roughly 7 pounds – significantly less than the allowance of 50 pounds. The physical size is also roughly half the allowable dimensions of 18x18x18 inches.

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Lake Water Cooling System

Team Members:  Cameron Cruise, Kade Leo, Thy Phung, Christopher Stoltz

Sponsor: Jeremy Brimer (Engineer IV, Cleco Power)

Advisor: Dr. Arden Moore

Cleco’s Brame Energy Center has a series of three different generating units that can produce up to 1,604 megawatts of energy for the surrounding community. The center uses an artificial lake, Lake Rodemacher, as the primary cooling source. The lake has a massive area of 3,070 acres which covers half of the installation’s land plot allocation. The main goal of this project is to reduce the inlet temperature by 10°F in July by designing an effective cooling system. A series of criteria were considered in approaching the final solution: efficiency, complexity, sponsor reference, and several others. After weighing all the criteria in a decision matrix table, the final design combines two cooling methods: an induced draft cooling tower and floating solar photovoltaic panels. The cooling tower removes 82 percent of the waste energy rejected by the plant into the lake, while the solar panels prevent the remaining temperature rise issue that is due to solar radiation. The combination of the two solutions is optimized to achieve the measure of success of the project. After continued use, the inlet reduces an average of 10°F in the summer months; with this, the company will obtain a quick and efficient return on investment.

Resilient Log Impact Guide

Team Members:  William Bordelon, Rodrigo Debrae-Godinez, Erik Sullivan, Nicholas Wilson

Sponsor: Seth Cornett (Maintenance Superintendent, West Fraser Timber Co.)

Advisor: Dr. Hamzeh Bardawheel

West Fraser’s sawmill, located in Joyce, Louisiana, produces various sizes of Southern Yellow Pine lumber that is sold commercially. The problem experienced by the company at this location is an unreliable bump-plate mechanism that is used to absorb the impact of logs that are being guided through that plant. Once a month, the bump-plate mechanism, consisting of a rubber pad, steel plate, and shackles, had to be replaced due to shackle breakage and rubber pad wear out. Our new design features welded hinges instead of shackles, as well as a new rubber pad that provides better damping. Our goal was to decrease the maintenance frequency of the bump-plate mechanism from once a month to at least once every six months. With this increased lifespan, West Fraser will decrease maintenance costs and operation downtime to maintain the new bump-plate mechanism. With increased operation times, they should be able to produce more lumber, thus allowing for increased revenue.

Cant Turner

Team Members:  Kevin Hall, Jackson Routon, Parker Watson, Matthew White

Sponsor: Seth Cornett (Maintenance Superintendent, West Fraser Timber Co.)

Advisor: Dr. Michael Swanbom

West Fraser is a lumber company with more than 60 locations across North America and Europe. As logs are processed in a lumber mill they need to rotate in a certain direction to minimize issues further down the line. With each log that falls into the incorrect orientation, there is the possibility of a jam that may cause the mill to be shut down for hours at a time. Our design involves an angled, overhead flap that interacts with each log passing through the mill and pushes the tops of the logs over, increasing the likelihood that they will fall into the correct orientation. After initial testing and subsequent implementation of a redesigned flap, the original problem of incorrect log orientation was solved, but the flap design was too heavy for interaction with the smallest logs. While our solution’s geometry solved the problem of rotation, the weight and calibration of the flap need to be optimized to handle a wider range of log sizes.

BARNWELL AWARDS

Securable Swinging Log (Challenge Course Element)

Team Members:  Ashleigh Borel, Ronald McKelvin, Hagan Moskau, Christian Shamburg

Sponsors: Kane Allen (Associate Director of Recreation, Lambright Sports and Wellness Center) and Tory Walton (Mechanical Engineer, Aerojet Rocketdyne)

Advisor: Dr. Ethan Hilton

Our team’s sponsors are Kane Allen from the Lambright Sports and Wellness Center (LSWC) and Aerojet Rocketdyne. LSWC owns several challenge course elements at Hide-a-Way Park in Ruston, Louisiana. Our team is to construct a securable (lockable) swinging log course element for the benefit of the teams and associations who use the park for team-building exercises. Team-building exercises boost the productivity and functionality of organizations that participate. The measures that determine the success of our project include the functionality of the swing structure (load-bearing/strength), the functionality of the locking mechanism, and the speed with which the locking mechanism can be activated/deactivated. Our team will perform several experiments to demonstrate these measures of success. We anticipate that the use of this exercise will aid teams in overcoming problems in the work field by fostering more unified teams.

Feed Water Heater Removal Tool

Team Members:  Claire Broussard, Zachary Smith, Austin Toys, William Jacob Wilson

Sponsor: Jeremy Brimer (Engineer IV, Cleco Power)

Advisor: Dr. Michael Swanbom

Cleco’s Brame Energy Center is a 1604 MW power generation facility located in Lena, Louisiana. The facility uses feedwater heaters to preheat water before it enters the boiler to increase boiler efficiency. The heaters are capped on their underside with heavy steel components, which need to be safely removed for maintenance and inspections. Cleco’s Unit 1-6 heater is composed of six individual components that must be lowered and removed: an inner bolting ring, an outer bolting ring, a gasket, a key backing ring, a shear key ring, and a channel cover. The heaviest component, the channel cover, weighs 7,500 pounds and sets our design constraint of a minimum load capacity of 10,000 pounds to ensure safety. Taking into account different design specifications, the final design must accommodate the following: uneven ground, restrictive pathways, and alternative heater sizes. The final design uses a single hydraulic ram for simplicity and reliability. The design accommodates the different size and shape components using an adjustable, replaceable, fixture plate. As each component is removed it is set to the side so that the disassembly can continue. Once the inspection and cleaning are conducted, the heater is reassembled.

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Bull Gear Installation Tool

Team Members:  Christopher Gardner, Christian Lejeune, Jackson Sikes, Steven Vince

Sponsor: Paul Cornelison (Reliability Engineer, Graphic Packaging – West Monroe Mill)

Advisor: Dr. Timothy Reeves

The sponsor of our project is Graphic Packaging International (GPI). The mill we are collaborating with for this project is the West Monroe Mill which produces solid unbleached sulfate (SUS) paper board. This material is used in several different packaging products. The problem we were tasked with solving involved the drying section of the paper machine. More specifically, we were tasked with creating an easier process for the maintenance team with the installation of a large gear, known as a bull gear. This bull gear is responsible for turning large metal cylinders, called dryer cans, which dry the continuous sheet of paper as it rolls around the outside of the cylinder. Our design utilizes a precisely designed sleeve to help guide the bull gear into position along the shaft and a pushing frame that uses grooved wheels along a track. This pushing frame allows personnel to easily and safely push the bull gear along the sleeve. The design was successfully demonstrated, and the projected reduced downtime is three hours per outage. We expect this to save GPI $125,000 per outage that involves this procedure.

Palletizer Tie Sheet Loading System

Team Members:  Anassas Anderson, Braeden Ferguson, Navy Tedder, Johnathon Terry

Sponsor: Derek Newman (Process Engineer, Lamb Weston)

Advisor: Dr. Louis Reis

The sponsor of this project is Lamb Weston, located in Delhi, Louisiana. They are the largest producer of potato products in North America and the second-largest in the world. This plant produces sweet potato products, such as frozen Alexia sweet potato fries. A portion of their process includes loading products onto pallets and stabilizing them using a machine called a palletizer. It uses “tie sheets” which are placed by the machine in between layers of the finished product. Cartridges filled with these tie sheets are loaded into the palletizer with a forklift. Due to the orientation of the palletizer, this overhead loading operation is a very difficult maneuver. The “Palletizer Tie Sheet Loading System” was designed to assist forklift operators by providing multiple visual aids that ensure the cartridge is properly and safely loaded. The following measures of success are desired: a 33 percent reduction in loading time, the elimination of the need for approach angle corrections during cartridge loading, and the elimination of cartridge collisions with the palletizer. These measures were met, and the reduced time requirement exceeded expectations. Our system will enable Lamb Weston to have a plant that functions more smoothly, safely, and efficiently while improving this time-inefficient procedure.

Vertical Pump Lifting Tool

Team Members: Matthew Byrnes, Christopher Crawford, Justin Fleming, Cory Young

Sponsor: Nicholas LeSage (Reliability Engineer, Calumet Specialty Products)

Advisor: Dr. David Hall

Our sponsor is Nicholas LeSage, a reliability engineer at Calumet’s Shreveport refinery. The problem assigned to our team was to improve the removal operation of the vertical pumps used at the Calumet refinery. The solution must be able to lift and remove the 400-pound pump from out of the housing where it resides, as well as clear any clearance constraints in the vicinity. One of the pumps required more consideration to be made for clearances and achieving these design specifications did not hinder the use of the other pump in any way. Our design is a crane hook attachment that will connect to the pump’s hoist loop for crane lifting that is free from swinging. Our design will be considered successful if it is lighter than 100 pounds, can be used by a crew of two people, reduces the time needed to lift the pumps by 15 percent, and has a strength-based factor of safety that is greater than 2. The downtime when the pumps need to be lifted halts production. By decreasing that downtime, our design will increase productivity. The total amount of man-hours for this operation will also be decreased by using our device, saving more money in wages.

Boiler Feed Filter Platform

Team Members: Armando Borrego, Hayden Bromley, Max Broussard, Jackson Kalahiki

Sponsor: Nicholas LeSage (Reliability Engineer, Calumet Specialty Products)

Advisor: Dr. Louis Reis

The sponsor for our project is Calumet Lubricants, a refinery and production site located in Shreveport, Louisiana. Our project requires us to design a permanent platform that will replace the scaffolding used to replace the filter of a natural gas boiler that must be switched out at least once a month. This scaffolding costs Calumet $31 a day in rental charges and must be recertified each time it is used, which can take up to 30 minutes to complete. With a permanent platform, no re-certification will be required, there is no need for rentals, and technicians will not have to use a harness as long as it is designed with certain specifications. In addition to these advantages, our platform design is more efficiently designed to reduce wasted workspace. Our design has been validated through the assembly of a physical scale model and via SolidWorks simulation testing. Following completion, we will provide Calumet with construction drawings, assembly instructions, and a bill of materials that will allow for full-scale construction. We expect that our platform will provide cost savings that will pay for itself in under two years.

Conveyor Take-Up System

Team Members:  Brett Cheramie, Jacob Goudeau, Douglas Marcotte, Mason Terrell

Sponsor: Jeremy Brimer (Engineer IV, Cleco Power)

Advisor: Dr. Timothy Reeves

Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC is a regional energy company headquartered in Pineville, Louisiana. Cleco consists of two subsidiaries, Cleco Power and Cleco Cajun. Cleco Power has a rated capacity of 3,360 MW from ten generating units across Louisiana, primarily using coal, natural gas, and petroleum coke as fuel to generate electrical power. Brame Energy Center, one of Cleco’s power stations, is in Lena, Louisiana. At Brame Energy Center, a 1.5-mile conveyor belt delivers fuel that is unloaded from barges on the Red River. To keep the belt operating smoothly, a 50,000-pound tensioner weight is used. When belt servicing is needed, Cleco uses a crane and man lift to remove the tensioner weight from its operating position and attach it to the maintenance mounting points at the top of the frame. On average there are two belt services per year, costing $10,000 per service. To increase efficiency, reduce cost, and reduce scheduling conflicts, the method in which the tensioner weight is raised and lowered for belt servicing must be improved. The design we have chosen will use a Caterpillar D10-T2 bulldozer located at the facility as well as a pulley system to lift the tensioner weight to the maintenance mounting points.

B-52 Towbar

Team Members:  James Clyde, Gabriel Collier, Nathan Lindblade, Samuel Whitsell

Sponsor: MSgt Zachary Hernandez (United States Air Force)

Advisor: Dr. Henry Cardenas

Sponsored by the United States Air Force Global Strike Command, located at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, Louisiana, this project is to redesign the towbar of the Boeing B-52H Stratofortress. The B-52H is an 8-engined heavy bomber aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of nearly 500,000 pounds, requiring a heavy-duty towbar to move the aircraft on the ground for maintenance or repairs. This towbar, which is 43 feet long, must follow the B-52H wherever it goes. This results in a very high expense due to the amount of cargo aircraft space that the towbar requires. Our team redesigned this towbar to fold in the middle, effectively halving the size for transport, as well as improving several common failure points by a factor of 2. Our design can be converted from the storage configuration to the towing configuration (or vice-versa) in less than 10 minutes, resulting in a fast and easy transportation process that enables more efficient use of the Air Force’s time and resources while enhancing readiness.

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Sweet Potato Vine Removal System

Team Members:  Christian Cole, Jacob Hill, John McKinley, Matthew Miller

Sponsor: Derek Newman (Process Engineer, Lamb Weston)

Advisor: Dr. Kelly Crittenden

Internationally, Lamb Weston is one of the largest producers of frozen potato products. The Lamb Weston facility located in Delhi, Louisiana, challenged us to diminish an issue that comes as a consequence of working with sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes develop growths on the skin of the potato resembling vines, which may get caught in rotating machinery or clog drains during transit through the production line. The proposed design should be able to remove and separate the vines from the product flow of the potatoes. It is intended to remove the vines so that what is still attached to the skins is no longer than one-fourth of an inch in length. The machine should have minimal maintenance requirements that are easy to execute. These goals were accomplished by designing a machine that has a series of spinning blades located underneath a perforated sheet which allows the vines to droop into the sheet openings and be sheared off by the rotating blades. To validate the design, multiple tests were performed to determine the best combination of mechanical parameters. As designed, this machine will cut vines to an acceptable length and reduce maintenance, thus increasing profits and production yield.

Gasket Application Machine

Team Members:  Courtland Adaire, Micah Haney, Hayden Johnson, Christian Rabalais

Sponsor: Steven Shugart (Product/Business Development Specialist, Gordon Inc.)

Advisor: Dr. Ethan Hilton

The sponsor of our project is Gordon Incorporated, which specializes in wall coverings and cleanroom design. At their facility in Bossier City, Louisiana, Gordon manufactures various ceiling grid pieces, applies gasket tape to them, and packages them to be shipped off to a job site. Since the process of applying this gasket tape to the ceiling grid pieces is slow and physically demanding for the workers, our team was tasked with creating a machine that would speed up this process. The Gasket Application Machine that we created is designed to ensure accurate gasket tape placement, while also increasing the overall throughput speed of finished ceiling grid beams. A couple of measures that determine the success of this project include making sure there is a 1/16-inch overhang of tape on the end of the grid pieces and a 50 percent increase in throughput speed as compared to the current process. Financially, Gordon would be saving money by using our machine because it would decrease the number of workers needed from four to three, thus saving them 25 percent of their current wage payments. The increase in production rate also provides more finished products per working hour.

Aluminum Rolling Machine

Team Members: Jackson Debevec, Bali Hebert, Travis Kelly II, Kylan Mitchell

Sponsor: Bobby Horton (Director of Engineering, Clement Industries, Inc.)

Advisor: Dr. Kelly Crittenden

For over 70 years, Clement Industries has been a leader in manufacturing premium dump trailers. Located in Minden, Louisiana, Clement Industries offers bottom, end, and side dump trailers, roll-off trailers, heavy-duty aluminum trailers, and lightweight steel trailers. The company would like to enter a new market using seamless aluminum sheets for trailer hulls. As opposed to rolling multiple sections of metal for the hulls, a seamless aluminum sheet consists of a single aluminum sheet extending the length of the dump trailer. Our team has been tasked with designing a machine capable of rolling a flat aluminum sheet, with dimensions 40 ft x 5 ft x 0.25 in., into a curve with a radius of 48”. The success of the project is determined by the ability to provide Clement Industries with all required documentation to fabricate and safely operate a machine capable of consistently rolling the aluminum sheet into the desired radius at an affordable cost.