Kettering University

The Wabash Coating Cell at Innotec has been experiencing difficulties in applying the protective coating on the semi lights that are produced. Currently, spray guns are used to apply the coating. Since there is not an effect overspray collection system in place, all of the overspray is wasted. This is costing Innotec a lot of money. Also, the spray guns have difficulty covering the semi lights. This lack of quality causes a large amount of scrap, also costing a lot of money. A process redesign that increases quality as well as efficiency of the production line is required. This thesis describes the findings of the research of a dip and spin method of applying the coating to the semi lights.

The Waterhill faucet produced by Moen Inc. was the target of a product redesign in an effort to reduce production costs. This thesis focuses upon the process of designing a mounting system for the modified faucet. Previously, the faucet contained the diverter within the valve body. The new proposal utilized an under the deck diverter, allowing for a significant material reduction. The quotation and cost estimation process of newly created parts is also detailed.

Ankle issues at some point will affect nearly seventy-five percent of people during their lifetime; in 2003 alone, there were more than 11 million doctor visits in the United States for ankle problems (Brenner, 2004, Statistics, 2006). There is an annual expenditure of over $200 million on remedies trying to alleviate the pain in the ankle, which does not include the costs associated with these visits to the doctors (Brenner, 2004). A contributing factor to the number of ankle related visits is due in part to the limited knowledge of how the ankle functions during common, everyday activities. This study was conducted to improve the current knowledge base of tibio-talar joint motion. Six subjects walked on a treadmill, located inside a custom bi-plane x-ray system, while their motion was captured using high-speed cameras. 3D motion was analyzed for both the tibia and talus bones. These movements were output numerically and statistically analyzed. This analysis thereby, quantified healthy, uninjured, tibio-talar joint contact area and relative rotations between these two bones.

The Automotive Foundation division of Bosch has recognized a lack of standardization of the data collected from vehicle benchmark studies when following the historical testing methods. There have also been recognized available cost savings based on a reduction in labor and components required to complete a full test schedule. A standardized format for data collection and analysis in addition to overall cost savings can be witnessed through the implementation of a new vehicle benchmarking procedure.

The objective of this project is to design and manufacture a functional, safe, and effective cannulated bone screw used for fusions, fractures, or osteotomies. The study consists of designing and testing a screw for minimal insertion force and torque along with an adequate pull-out force. The testing and analysis is needed to ensure a safe and effective product.

Lowering the cost required to produce a product is critical to be competitive in manufacturing. In our metal fabrication facility an area recognized as in need of improved performance and reduced cost is the lubrication systems on mechanical presses. Key parts of the lubrication systems are the type of oil used, the maintenance program, and the programming of these systems. By considering factors that affect key parts of the system and overcoming bottle necks we can identify opportunities and make recommendations that will improve reliability and decrease cost.

This thesis examines the possibility of a new mechanical assist device to the Spectranetics 0.9 Turbo Elite catheter. Testing was performed on multiple iterations of the wire mesh sheath to determine the best possible design regarding the different variables involved (wire size, tip diameter, core diameter, and picks per inch). The designed proved to clear an average lumen diameter of 4.68mm (n=15). The largest lumen created by this design was 7.25mm. This average diameter created was 61.5% larger than the average of a similar device currently in the field.

This thesis involves the analysis of the impact the manufacturing plants have on battery drain and battery replacements under warranty. Other areas, such as product engineering, shipping lots, the shipping process and dealerships were also studied. General Motors has focused its efforts on the manufacturing plants for the past few years, thinking that the majority of battery drain, and therefore battery replacements, are caused by the assembly process. The assembly plants have taken many steps to improve the assembly process, yet battery replacements under warranty still remain high. This thesis studies the steps taken by the manufacturing plants to reduce battery drain. It also studies new methods currently being developed for testing electrical modules within the assembly plants. It recommends further study into the product engineering process, shipping lots and shipping process, and dealership process.

Delphi Steering is a primary manufacturer of vehicle halfshafts in the automotive industry. Cages, which retain ball bearings within the inner race and the ball grooves of the outer race in outboard joint assemblies, are essential components in the production of halfshafts. In the cage manufacturing process, scrap has historically been an ongoing issue which contributes to high production costs. This thesis project aims to significantly reduce scrap in the cage machining process and seeks to identify and remove the causes of defects and errors in cage manufacturing using a set of quality management methods.

The process of sheet metal hemming is generally a three-step process that is utilized during the assembly of production automotive closure panels. The hem has a significant impact on a vehicle?s overall perceived quality. A vehicle with perceived high quality has a hem with small bend radii and tight panel gaps. The desired tight gaps and small radii have been difficult to achieve with aluminum closure panels due to aluminum?s lack of formability in comparison to steel. Recently, new aluminum alloys have been developed and the need arose for a simple, controlled, reproducible fixture to evaluate the bendability and hemmability of aluminum alloys. The test chosen for this task was the three-point bend test. The maximum fiber strain at the outer bend radius and the hem line surface quality was observed to determine the correlation between aluminum three-point bend testing and production-type hemming. Additionally, a comparison of the material pre-strains and strain paths was also investigated. When the proper punch geometry and gap setup was chosen the three-point bend test was capable of producing similar maximum outer fiber strains produced in production-type hemming processes. It was discovered that the current method of pre-straining may not fully represent the pre-strains of a production closure panel. The current method of pre-straining bend test samples produces positive major and very small minor strains, while the production hem samples produce positive major and minor strains. The three-point bend is also capable of evaluating and distinguishing different aluminum alloys similar to production-type hemming based on surface quality ratings. During bend testing and examination of the production hem samples material B was bent around a smaller radius than material A without showing signs of cracking. Overall, the three-point bend test was determined to be an effective tool in determining the bendability/hemmability of aluminum alloys and is capable of producing similar outer fiber strains to production-type hemming processes.

Muscle pain affects millions of people, yet treatment outcomes are very poor. This thesis first sought to study surface electromyography (sEMG) to determine whether or not fatigued muscles exhibit different sEMG signal characteristics than those of healthy normal muscles. The second objective of this thesis was to determine if a prototype sEMG instrument was capable of measuring signal characteristics that would allow it to differentiate between fatigued and healthy normal muscles. If so, then a third objective of this thesis was to conduct clinical testing to evaluate whether or not mild, non-invasive electrical stimulation had an effect on muscle fatigue as evidenced by changes in sEMG signal. Such finding could provide insight into the therapeutic effect of electrical stimulation devices, which might lead to novel treatment strategies for muscle pain. As a result of this work, it was determined that the prototype sEMG instrument was not capable of measuring signal characteristics that would permit differentiation between healthy normal and fatigued muscles, thus obviating the ability to test the effect of mild electrical stimulation on fatigued muscles.

Downtime caused by numerous preventable factors were decreasing machine availability on the 4T65 channel plate Lucas Cell operations. The low availability was resulting in a loss of parts produced during planned production time, which resulted in cost losses due to the overtime needed to make up the production losses. Detailed analysis was conducted to determine the factors causing the downtime. Once the factors were determined, investigation into how to fix the issues was completed and implementations towards problem elimination were made. Continued data analysis through the Andon system will be made, which alerts when abnormalities happen and will continue to be used to determine downtime problems to fix in the future.

The Titanium Double Harpoon Soft Tissue Anchoring system is a device that can be used to repair full or partial tears of the rotator cuff. It utilizes ZipLoop Technology which allows the surgeon to complete a repair without having to tie arthroscopic knots.

The thesis showed a progression of a successful Installation Qualification and Operators Qualification. The purpose for the Installation Qualification (IQ) was to ensure the equipment and its ancillary support systems are installed correctly and are operating safely. The purpose for the Operational Qualification (OQ) is to summarize and document the acceptable operation window for key process parameters for the LLD Braid replication.

This thesis is used to prove a new production method for an eductor housing panel that is made by Jedco Inc. It entails a detailed descriptions of the new production method, its improvements over the old process method, and a cost analysis proving the cost savings of the project.

The lack of plentiful data regarding the proposed mobility advantages of the Mechanical Counter Pressure (MCP) suit concept facilitated the preliminary testing of the joint torques produced by the concept. The current space suit, the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), is a gas pressurized suit, sometimes referred to as a "gas bag" approach to providing the pressurized environment for the crewmember. The MCP concept applies pressure to the body surface through elastic materials stretched around crewmember's body. A test apparatus was created using an anthropomorphic mannequin arm modified to eliminate rotational flexures and a simple test stand to which it is mounted. A MCP sleeve, based off of the longitudinal and hoop stresses of a pressure vessel, was fabricated using Neoprene rubber. The first layer applied longitudinal stresses along the arm and second layer, the hoop layer, applied stress around the circumference of the arm. As verified by testing, the layers applied approximately 4.3 psid of pressure against the arm. This is equivalent to the pressures provided by the EMU. The joint torques were tested using a force gauge and calculated using the length of the arm. The resulting torques were similar to those of the EMU. Using the theoretical calculations, it would be possible to improve the design by selecting different material based on their properties.

To concept, design, and manage the procurement, build, and checkout of a test system to pressure check and determine leakage in NASA development heat exchangers and various other equipment. A test panel was constructed and used to perform leakage testing on a development heat exchanger, proving it's design to be effective.

The automotive industry of the 21st century has incredible expectations placed on its products, especially in crash safety. When a new bumper program begins at Cosma Engineering, only a rough design is known and initial iterations require costly CAE analysis to create a baseline design. This thesis used a design of experiments method to create sixty-three bumper models by varying generic parameters. IIHS/RCAR crash tests were performed using LS-DYNA, and an approximation model was constructed to predict the force and displacement values at buckling. Now engineers can use custom approximation software to estimate bumper crash performance early in design.

This thesis deals with the optimization of the cylinder head joint on a directly injected two cylinder two stroke. The main goal was to eliminate the necessity of a secondary, post engine hot test, torquing operation. In combination with this, difficulties associated with development of parts using low cost Asian suppliers is addressed. The result is a solution consisting of a newly developed fastener specification and head gasket which meet all given criteria for cost, durability, and leakage.

This thesis investigated the chain strand vibration (moan noise) variability between BorgWarner (BW) 44-93 transfer cases. After follwoing BW test procedures and creating new ones, it was determined that variability between the chain and sprockets was the cause for the variation in noise levels. Part inspection data revealed that chain length and measurement over pins on the sprockets is driving the variation. It was reccomended to conduct a similar study between more parts, including the same 44-93 transfer case and other vehicle lines.

This thesis discusses the research, development, and actions required to install a method of gaining modal data at Pratt & Whitney Auto Air. Strengths and weaknesses of three testing methods are analyzed and justification is given for the method chosen. Explanations are also given on the nature of modal analysis and why is is important. For the purpose of FEA analysis, a overview of composite materials and how they are produced is included to show how material properties can be affected. For the experimental modal analysis portion, there is a detailed testing procedure for use of the modal hammer. The procedure contains all information relating to the test equipment. Data gathered is summarized within the text and the raw data is located in the appendices. Based on the research and data gathered, conclusions and recomendations were made toward the continuing the project at Auto Air.

This thesis will cover the cost of a Grohmann Machine to apply door seals. Europe has the machine and the US has been working on the manual process. This thesis will go over the validation process, show the savings with the automated machine vs. the manual and will determine if this machine should be implemented into the plants.

Throughout the Hydraulics and Cylinder Division of Parker Hannifin Corporation, a number of reoccurring mistakes and errors such as bad packaging methods, wrong parts and accessories, cross shipment, bad paint job, and wrong paint color have been identified in the Painting and Shipping Department. In order to eliminate some of the mistakes, standardized work procedures and new employee trainings have been created based on the Lean Management and ISO 9000. The work was accomplished by reviewing the current work instructions and finding alternatives that will improve the processes while maintaining continuous workflow and current work productions rates such as the number of parts shipped per day as well as the amount of dollars required to attain daily goals. Each process underwent multiple time studies for verification purpose. The use of set guidelines improves employee performance and the ability to minimize errors, while maintaining desirable production rates. In addition, new employees trainings reduce the number of questions and decrease the amount of time spent figuring out the correct way to accomplish the desired work. Furthermore, set guidelines and training are accessible at any time to all employees, increasing the quality of the products, customer satisfaction, and decreasing the number of errors. It also makes traceability easier, errors easier to identify, errors easier to correct, and errors easier to favor constant processes improvement. Finally, companies that follow Lean Management, ISO 9000, and continuous workflow through all stages of productions are able to better market their products and provide and exceed the customer satisfaction through guaranteed quality control and continuous innovations. They are able to identify the mistakes and errors before the products reach the customers.

The goal of this thesis is to evaluate the most efficient and cost effective heating and ventilation system for General Motors Flint Metal Center that is monitored/controlled by the current Energy Management System. This thesis evaluates the current heating system and investigates options for improvement. It recommends converting the Administration Building's heating system from steam to forced hot water and the Plant to a natural gas heating system in an attempt to generate energy savings. This thesis also evaluates the current Energy Management System; how it works, what are its faults, and how can it be improved. The end result is achieving the plant floor and office temperatures mandated by the WFG Energy & Utility Services Group. This will lead to measurable energy cost savings.

The presence of special-cause variation in multi-swedge assembly machines at TG Fluid Systems USA has made it impossible to achieve the required process capability to produce a consistent fuel line assembly. To achieve the desired process capability on multi-swedge assembly machines a feedback loop poka-yoke was implemented. With the presence of a feedback loop poka-yoke, process capability would be improved and product would become more consistent saving the company approximately $2571.05 per year.

As a company ATEK Medical is always looking for ways to apply lean manufacturing principles to the current and future production lines. Evaluations are performed on the product flow, material handling, packaging, and organization of the workspace in multiple areas of the whole facility by multiple levels of employees. The idea of moving all of the production lines between Cleanrooms 5 and 6, just into cleanroom 5 developed. This thesis explains all of the steps taken in ensuring that this layout change was a success. These steps include researching the requirements, developing multiple layouts to order to find the best, and creating a detailed outline for the moving of the equipment.

The perpetual quality of fastened joints determines not only the functionality of the vehicle, but also has a large impact on customer satisfaction in the near and long term. The ability of the assembly plant to accurately meet the torque specifications for these fastened joints is a result of both the assembly process and more importantly the design of the joint. Identifying and eliminating poorly designed fastening operations during the launch phase will save the company time and resources.

The implementation of ACE tools at PWAA highlighted the inefficiency of the engineering department. Through careful observation it was found that a major source of engineering lost time was due to the computer programs they use. To combat this problem, this thesis centered on creating standard work instructions for various processes that would be completed by an engineer using SAP or Solumina on a daily basis. This engineering business documentation proved to be a success, limiting errors made, giving step by step instruction, and decreasing training time. Since the induction of SWI?s there has been a reduction of lost time by the engineering department and an increase of productivity.

Design of an independent rear suspension system for 1967-1970 Mustangs. The system must require no welding by the installer. The system must also allow for removal of the differential without removing the cradle.

This thesis is discusses the development of a steering knuckle transducer that is used to measure on vehicle brake torque. The scope of this thesis involves the design, testing, and calibration of the transducer. The thesis also includes a conclusions and recommendations chapter that will be useful if the project is pursued further.

The Product Engineering division has been developing smaller scale engineering tools in MathCAD and Microsoft Excel to calculate needed information. The dynamic interaction of the components and their affect on lock and unlock performance is difficult to predict and understand without a dynamic model. A dynamic model built correctly will incorporate and improve upon most of these engineering resources. The simulation will save time for both the engineering and design groups. Eaton is currently using less efficient, more expensive, and time consuming methods of design, troubleshooting, and validation testing of current production than necessary. The current engineering tools are for the majority only static and do not take into account many of the dynamic mechanical principles/transitions and their effect on overall performance. A simulation of this dynamic performance was needed. The simulation was created successfully. The validation and correlation testing was completed on time. The output of the simulation has a 12% error to the test data. These results are extremely positive giving the variance that exists in the tester data and lack of resolution on the machine. The tool is now in the process of being implemented into the design process.

This thesis discusses the theory and principles that apply to the new manufacturing methods of the GM Powertrain Warren Transmission plant. With the theory and principles in place the installation of a new procedure to track first time quality across the assembly room was initiated. The new tracking method includes verification stations which document the number of nonconformities per operation. The data is then presented in various metrics for performance evaluations. The quality team and assembly team can then tackle the nonconforming issues presented to improve the quality of the final product.

Designing and developing an air inlet panel using the best design practices described in this thesis will ensure the bulk of manufacturing and functionality concerns that arise during initial production runs are addressed. Furthermore, utilizing this approach to cowl panels will create significantly less opportunity for quality issues.

Hamilton Sundstrand designs and manufactures components and systems for commercial and military jet engines. Weight is a significant design consideration in the aerospace field. Without compromising safety, lighter designs are continuously strived for to stay competitive. HS is also responsible for designing mounts for components. An accurate process for analyzing brackets is crucial in preventing failure while maintaining a light weight design. Predicting the stresses in bolted connections is difficult due to the nonlinear behavior of friction and contact. Shell models are easier to use and can be solved using a linear static method, minimizing build and solve time. However, shell models predict erroneously high stresses around the bolt hole due to artificial stiffening which triggers redesigns and heavier brackets. Eliminating this artificial stress from the analysis will ensure light weight bracket designs.

Shaft swaging is a method of material forming, used to create ridges on which a gear is pressed. These is a common method for securing gears to shafts in the electric gearmotor industry. This paper attempts quantify the strength of swages used, as well as to design an improved feature (a knurl) for securing the two parts together. This paper describes the processes that are performed to create the parts used in this study, as well as standard production parts, the tests used to capture their performance, and the process of designing an improved feature to join gears and shafts used in electric gearmotors.

This thesis is a comprehensive benchmarking study on high performance seating and what attributes should be included when designing a high performance seat.

Blank scrap rejection rates are high at GM Mansfield on TP-11 and TP-12 and in need of reduction. In particular purchased laser-welded blanks result in large inventory costs when they are scrapped due to their purchase price of approximately $19.00 per blank. This thesis investigates and proposes an improved blank reject scrap accounting system, as well as investigates reasons for high blank rejection rates on the two focus presses.

This thesis was conducted to bring the new side stand retraction course into required specification. Once within spec tests were run on the new course and the course at the Florida Engineering Center. These results along with results from past tests on the old TTF retraction course were compared to validate the results on the new course and to verify the need for the new course.

During the design process of transfer case housings at ArvinMeritor Inc., there are very few guidelines for structural integrity design focus. The current design methods hinge upon personal experience in the design field and the experiences of co-workers one may turn to as resources. ArvinMeritor Inc. would like some form of suggestive material for designers that would portray tried and true methods for improving structural integrity in their parts. This will allow ArvinMeritor to decrease the weight of its products during the design optimization process. This thesis investigates the legitimacy of using various techniques to enhance the TG-2213 transfer case?s structural rigidity. The techniques include: wall thickness variation, bearing cup depth variation, and internal rib use. These techniques are evaluated for the TG-2213 transfer case and a recommendation is made for the TG-2213 and for generalized use.

This thesis included the selection of six materials that cover the range of materials that Webasto has to choose from for use as rollerblind fabric. A failure mode effects analysis was created, identifying potential problems with rollerblind fabric. Using this FMEA, each material was evaluated via testing or surrogate data for its worthiness in each area identified. At the end of this exercise, an optimal material was identified based on the testing performed and cost.

The thesis contains the information on the steps taken to make a machine for a manufacturing process. It also contains detail drawings of the machine.

A large amount of downtime on a single piece of equipment is cause for a close examination of the reasons for that downtime and a significant effort to minimize the downtime. If the cam machine's 9% downtime were improved, either by modifying its problem areas, or by replacing the machine, there is potential for $71,088 in savings every year.

Calibration methods for the polyurethane foam used in crash testing for FMVSS 213.

This project consist of developing a MS Excel based reference tool used for chassis design.

This thesis is a proposal for the improvement of the shipping department at ZF Lemforder. The research is broken up into three categories: Product flow equipment, loading and unloading equipment, and Organization of shipping. The research that was conducted was a search of products or processes that could improve the shipping department. Once several products were found that could be beneficial pricing was found for these processes. The current pricing and the pricing of these new systems were analyzed and compared. The conclusions and recommendations are the proposal to ZF Lemforder for the improvement of the shipping department

The purpose of this thesis project is to reduce the number of rejects from the GMT191 and GMT345/GMX020 FHVAC assembly lines. In successfully doing so, First Time Quality should increase along with an increase in throughput. Several tasks were performed to achieve this goal. An investigation into the cause of false rejections looks at issues with the testers, the parts themselves, or any issues caused during assembly. Rework procedures have been provided to aid operators in quickly and correctly troubleshooting tester and component issues. The design and utilization of tools or devices to aid in troubleshooting rejects is included. An improvement to the manner in which reject data is stored and reviewed has been investigated with solutions provided to simplify the process and make it more efficient.

Total joint replacement for painful arthritis of the hip is one of the most flourishing surgeries of the last century. Pain relief is achieved in ninety-five percent or more of patients, and the majority of patients who undergo surgery have greater mobility and increased function. Over the last two decades, however, physicians? and patients? understanding of the risks, benefits, and goals of total joint arthroplasty has evolved and the limitations of artificial joints are becoming clearer. Hip replacement prosthetic joints using a polymer / metal bearing have been only guaranteed for a 10 year lifetime due to mechanism failure. This failure resulting in the unexpectedly short lifetime is caused by implant loosening as a result of osteolysis. Analysis of the periprosthetic tissue indicates evidence of debris concentration due to material wear of the prosthetic joint. With debris from the material being a main contributor to why these replacements fail, femoral head surface characterization research is imperative to understand the effects of femoral head and acetabular cup wear on the failure of hip replacement prosthetic joints.

This thesis documents the changes of a horn assembly and further proves how the new horn assembly changes impacted the performance. It includes the modification of an existing design that will prevent the system from degrading from environmental effects. In addition to design, horn background and market trends are examined.

A study into the contributing factors which effect the noise an automatic transmission shifter produces when cycling its shift interlock.

This thesis uses Ansys, a finite element modeling software, to perform a non-linear structural analysis of a modified flange/seal system. The flanges in this project were used as interconnects between superconducting RF cavities in a 1.3 GHz cryomodule. Fermi National Accelerator Lab is developing these cryomodules for the International Linear Collider (ILC). The proposed flange modification investigated in this thesis is the addition of slots. These slots will allow radial insertion of the bolts in the flanges and reduce the overall length of the 1.3 GHz cryomodule, and thus reduce the length of the ILC.

This thesis project was conducted with the intent of understanding the mindset of Nissan customers. Nissan does not score well in J.D. Powers and Associates surveys so by understanding the expectations and needs the customer has of their vehicle, they can better cater to their demands. In order to compete in the customer market, it was important to understand all customers, which was done by comparing the mindsets of competitor customers in similar segments. Nissan's understanding of the customers in the market will improve their ability to better satisfy the customers needs, which will eventually raise scores on the surveys as Nissan works to accomodate the customer mindset.

High cost of production, poor quality performance, and manufacturing difficulty of the Renovator-20 has heightened product concern. The hydraulic drive system is the main source of the problems experienced by the Renovator-20. Utilizing an integrated hydrostatic transmission in place of the hydraulic system, the author derived a functional design. If the concept unit were used as a guide for Renovator-20 production the company could expect to see increased quality performance and simpler assembly.

High NVH leves on the Nissan X61B HVAC have led to customer complaints. The levels increase over time as the unit is used. These levels can be reduced to an acceptable point through three design changes to the system. If these changes are implemented the NVH issues currently being experienced will be eliminated resulting in increased customer satisfaction.

Total hip arthroplasty requires many artifical components. This thesis focuses on one component of the acetabular prosthesis: the cement mantle between the liner and the shell. Cement is most often used between these two components during revision hip arthroplasty. Reviewing studies archived on PubMed, a well-known medical publication database, led to the conclusion that the best cement thickness is 2 - 4mm. Only two studies were found that directly tested the strength of the cement bond between the liner and the shell of acetabular prostheses. More testing is needed to determine the overall significance of cement mantle thickness between the acetabular liner and shell.

An alternative chrome plating method that will produce a chrome-like finish for plastic parts that can be used on any type of material, is environmentally friendly, faster than current methods, and is more comparible to a painting process than a plating process.

The purpose of this project has been to determine the best technical approach to integrate flexible on-board Material Handling Equipment into the Army?s future 34 ton semi-trailer concept, the Multi-Functional Trailer (MFT). Current technologies and combinations of them are examined in the effort to choose the best possible solution. CAD designs and scenarios are set up to aid in the final recommendation for the project.

The objective of this project is to design build and test an articulating finger for a multifunctional prosthetic hand using a differential drive system to drive the proximal and distal phalanges The creation of an anthropomorphic articulating prosthetic finger will help improve the quality of life among amputees Current robotic prosthetic finger designs have limitations like design space that limit the amount of motors that can be used to achieve the desired motion Using a differential gear drive eliminates this problem by allowing only one motor to drive all three joints of the finger This thesis uses CAD design programs prototype fabrication and machining techniques to create an articulating prosthetic finger with a differential gear drive

As you are well aware, in 2003 Ford required that all of its suppliers no longer supply parts containing or plated with hexavalent chromium and many other prohibitive substances as of January 2004. That deadline has since been pushed back to June 2005. They made this requirement, because of the End of Life (ELV) Directive. This was put into European law in October of 2000. Its purpose is to de-pollute all ELV prior to them being dismantled so that they can be properly recycled. This includes metal components such as clips and fasteners as well as non metal components like foams and rubber. Hex chrome seems to be the biggest problem of all prohibitive substances. Most metal components are plated with hex chrome, because of its ability to prevent corrosion and it is cheaper than many of the alternatives. It has also been discovered that hex chrome is hazardous to humans.

The escalading cost of aluminum necessitates Quality Boat Lifts, Inc. to find a more material efficient design for their boatlifts. A design utilizing a smaller beam size in a truss shape would decrease aluminum usage by more than 50% while not compromising load strength.

Thesis includes research, design and testing of timing chain lubrication orifice to reduce warranty failures of DaimlerChrysler 2.7L engine.