MENG 487/488 - Mechanical Design: Process and Implementation

Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science

Course Objectives
MENG 487/488 is the capstone design course in the mechanical engineering program. This
course is a unique opportunity to apply and demonstrate your broad and detailed knowledge of
engineering in a team effort to design, construct, and test a functioning engineering system. This
course requires quality design, analyses/experiments to support the design effort, and the
fabrication/testing of the engineered system, as well as proper documentation and presentation of
results to a technical audience. In addition to this, you are expected to learn the following design-
related concepts:

 Start your design work early

 Iterate on your design often
 Treat all documents as “living documents” and update them frequently
 Record everything in your notebook
 Use tests, models, prototypes, etc. to justify your ideas
 Providing adequate time to complete a task by “sandbagging” the expected time
 Working collaboratively with a team

This course is primarily intended for mechanical engineering seniors and electrical
engineering seniors. It is only very rarely appropriate for other students. Prerequisites include
MENG 280 and MENG 361.

Reference texts
 Shigley’s Mechanical Engineering Design, R. Budynas and K. Nisbett, McGraw-Hill,
2013
 Making Things Move, D. Roberts, McGraw-Hill, 2012
 FE Reference Handbook (http://goo.gl/ZYIxhF)

Format
The class will consist of one lecture per week held in Becton C039. The lecture will usually last
one hour, but may extend longer on occasion, especially in the Fall. Students will be organized
into teams, preferably teams of four, with one student chosen by the instructors as the team
leader. The team will meet weekly with one of the course instructors to review team progress,
establish goals for the following week, and review the work done. There is also four hours
scheduled per week for teams to work together in lab (some of this time will be used for the
lecture). Attendance is mandatory for lecture, scheduled lab time, and team-instructor meetings.

Teams will need to meet and work outside of scheduled course time in order to complete the
expected project goals. While this work time is not supervised by the instructors directly, teams
are accountable to each other and the team leader.

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Three design reviews will be held each semester, and will potentially be scheduled on a Tuesday
if a team fails a prior review. Instructors will work to cluster design reviews so that they meet
with as many teams as possible in a single session.

Class will not meet during Reading Period, except for the final design presentations. There is no
final exam, as final presentations serve this purpose.

Instructors
 Dr. Joran Booth ([email protected]; Mason M5)

Support Staff
 Glenn Weston-Murphy ([email protected]; Becton CO46), Engineering
design specialist
 Kevin Ryan ([email protected]; Becton CO46), Electronics specialist

Note: you must always do due diligence prior to meeting with support staff in order to not
waste their time. For example, if you wish to meet with Kevin, you must bring a schematic or
diagram of your circuit design. The schematic can be hand-drawn, but it should be completed
prior to the meeting

Teaching Fellows
 Walter Bircher ([email protected]; Mason 110)

Office Hours
Office hours will consist of the lab period following lecture and the team meetings with an
individual instructor. If teams or students need additional time, we will make ourselves available
upon request.

Course Requirements
The primary requirement of this course is the successful completion and documentation of your
team’s project. To facilitate the process, the following deliverables are required:

Team Requirements

Design reviews – Your team will have three design reviews each sememster. Each design review
will focus on specific achievements necessary for the continuation of the project. Design reviews
are not graded, but must be passed if the team is to continue in the course. If a team fails a design
review, they will be given specific feedback to correct for the next time and another opportunity
the following Tuesday or Thursday, whichever comes first. Teams are permitted up to four
attempts for each design review.

Project binder – Each team must maintain a project binder that has the following sections:

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  Design documentation – These documents, which your team will prepare for all
assignments requiring written work, will detail various aspects of the design and analysis
for the project. This documentation helps others understand your design decisions.
 Drawings – CAD, wiring diagrams, and programming flowcharts
 Presentations – Slides from the Concept, Prototype and Detailed Design Presentations
 3-9 reports – Weekly 3-9 reports

The team binder will be due one week after a successfully passed design review. The team binder
will contain all the above documentation and corrections requested during design reviews. The
documentation should all be treated as “living documents” and should be updated as the project
progresses.

Design presentations and a technical design demonstration – Your team will be required to
give a presentation at the end of the semester and a technical demonstration of your prototype.

Weekly design meetings – Each team will meet weekly with the teaching team during the lab
period. The purposes of these meetings are to monitor performance, to review the project
schedule, and to provide feedback.

Individual Requirements

Individual design notebooks – Your design notebook (or “lab notebook”) is a record of your
individual contributions to the design process and will be used to evaluate your level of effort on
the project. The lab notebook will include your project notes, calculations, and sketches. Also,
the lab notebook should catalog contributions to the project in terms of CAD drawings, wiring
diagrams, programming notes, and fabricated/procured components. Lab notebooks will be
reviewed biweekly in lecture.

Individual development – You will be evaluated by the quality of your technical contribution to
the team project, and how well you demonstrate your own development as an engineer. This is
evaluated primarily in the form of instructor judgement as a result of reported contributions as
recorded in the 3-9 reports, peer evaluations, and the final design deliverables.

Grading
Individual contribution

o Individual design notebooks 7%

o Peer reviews 1%
o Instructor judgment (determined based on peer reviews) 10%

Team collaboration

o Team binder progress / 3-9 reports 14%

o Design Review Submission (team binder content) 40%
o Final Design Presentation 8%

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 o Physical prototype demonstration 20%

Late Work Policy

Assignments turned in within the first 24 hours after a deadline will receive 25% off the final
grade. Assignments turned in after 24 hours after a deadline will receive 50% off the final grade.
If a single member on a team has a Dean’s Excuse for a late team submission, the excuse applies
to the whole team.

We understand that you all have other obligations outside of this course. In dealing with all
assignments, students need to act professionally, which includes negotiating for alternate
arrangements that the entire team can agree to. Once an extension has been negotiated, it cannot
be negotiated again. If you have a conflict that prevents your team from submitting a
deliverable, arrangements must be made at least 2 days in advance. In-class presentations,
design reviews, and demonstrations are not eligible for extensions, except with a Dean’s
excuse. The only exception to this is a medical emergency or other severe emergencies. In the
case of a medical emergency, the individual or team should contact the instructors as soon after
the emergency as reasonably possible and be prepared to provide documentation of the
emergency, such as a doctor’s note.

Mechanical Engineering Program Outcomes Required by ABET

This capstone course in Mechanical Engineering is the culmination of your undergraduate
engineering education. The course provides the opportunity to apply what you have learned
through coursework and your life experiences to the activity that is the essence of engineering:
DESIGN.

The accrediting agency for engineering programs, ABET, specifies the required educational
outcomes for all undergraduate engineering majors. As established by ABET, engineering
programs must demonstrate that their graduates have:

1. An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science and engineering

2. An ability to design and conduct experiments as well as to analyze data
3. An ability to design a system, component or process to meet desired needs
4. An ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams
5. An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility
6. An ability to communicate effectively
7. The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a
global and societal context
8. Recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in life-long learning
9. Knowledge of contemporary issues
10. An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for
engineering practice

Additional ABET requirements for graduates of mechanical engineering programs include:

1. Knowledge of chemistry and calculus-based physics

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 2. Ability to apply advanced mathematics through multivariate calculus and differential
equations
3. Familiarity with statistics and linear algebra
4. The ability to work professionally in both thermal and mechanical systems areas
including the design and realization of such systems

Further, ABET requires that students must be prepared for engineering practice through the
curriculum, culminating in a major design experience based on knowledge and skills acquired in
earlier coursework and incorporating engineering standards and realistic constraints. These
include economic, environmental, sustainability, manufacturability, ethical, health/safety, social,
and political standards and/or constraints.

At Yale, MENG 487/488 is one of the mechanical engineering program’s primary methods to
address these requirements.

Note: this syllabus is a living document. We have planned out the semester as well as possible,
but it is inevitable that minor adjustments will be made alone the way. We will update these
documents and communicate those changes if and when they occur.