University of Southern California
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Advanced Mechanical Design: AME 503
Jigsaw Viewport
The Jigsaw Viewport is the result of a semester of mechanical design exploration. Throughout the course of the semester, students were required to practice product design techniques such as ethnography, product dissection, and prototyping, all while honing technical engineering analysis of mechanical components. The project started out as an individual project, then groups were formed around ideas that other students chose to work on. My idea, the Jigsaw Viewport, was one of the projects that was carried through the course of the semester.
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Ethnography
One of the first steps in the design process is to study how customers interact with a product in its natural environment. This is called ethnography. For this project, I decided to start with a jigsaw. To perform ethnography, I brought a jigsaw and plywood scraps to the shops of a professional, an engineer, and a home DIY user. I had each of them perform various cuts that simulate cutting situations that are common for a jigsaw. I then observed each of the users throughout the entire process and took pictures. A couple glaring issues that I noticed were safety and posture. The users often placed their hands in front of the blade path to hold the workpiece. They were also all hunched over to get a proper view of the cutting path.
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Product Dissection
The second step in the product design process was to dissect an existing product. This not only gives an understanding of the current solution, but also gives insights into where the product's shortcomings are and how it can work better. To continue with the same product, I dissected a jigsaw, which is a well-established product. The dissection revealed a fairly simple but effective mechanical system, which is an ideal design. However, the safety concerns discovered in the ethnography were obvious.
At a later point in the semester, I dissected an electric drill which gave a different perspective on the same genre of product. |
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Customer Needs and Functions
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Once a thorough understanding of the product and its flaws have been developed, the customer needs can be clearly defined. These needs can be organized in a hierarchical order and then mapped to corresponding functions of the requirement. The customer needs define the functions, and the functions guide the design of the product. I defined the customer needs based off of the safety and posture concerns. They mapped to functions that describe a blade guard and blade path viewing system.
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Initial Design and Prototyping
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When the idea of a jigsaw viewport was presented to the class, it was decided that it would be one of the projects to move forward in the design process. A group was formed around the project to hone the functional requirements, create the design, prototype, and storyboard. The functional requirements were mapped to design parameters as the design became more clear. These design parameters turned into a morphology chart that shows different options for each design parameter. Multiple design iterations took these options into account and rated on feasibility to choose a clear design path. Initial CAD drawings were made and simple prototypes were created. The simple prototype revealed the necessity for a sliding blade guard. These initial explorations guided changes into the final design.
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Final Design
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In the end, a design of a detachable jigsaw accessory with a camera, screen, and sliding blade guard was created. Mechanical design principles were applied to design components like hinges, critical bolted joints, springs, and sliding mechanisms. A final CAD model was created and two proof-of-concept mid-fidelity prototypes were made. I created the first one, which contains a bolted joint clamp, sliding guard, and phone holder. This was used with an actual jigsaw to ensure that it would stay in place and wouldn't affect the cutting motion. This prototype was successful. A second team member created a camera system prototype. He attached a USB camera to a drill and drilled marked holes by purely looking at the camera display. He was able to accurately drill these holes by just using the camera. This also proves that the product can be viable. The full report and final presentation can be downloaded below.
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Materials Selection: MASC 583
Eco-Friendly Automotive Wiring Insulation
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This project was an exploration of the materials selection process. I chose a problem which was inspired by the shortcomings of automotive wiring harnesses. Many cars have employed soy-based wiring insulation instead of the traditional XLPE wiring insulation. This is in an effort to cut costs of materials and create an eco-friendly product out of biodegradable, renewable resources. However, there are a few major issues with soy-based wiring. Some wiring harness biodegrade before the life of the car is over, causing unnecessary extra scrap. Rodents also are attracted to the edible soy insulation and may chew through it, with the same negative result.
Therefore, I set up a series of parameters and ranking systems to find an eco-friendly alternative to XLPE insulation. These materials were analyzed over the total lifecycle of the car, from material creation to manufacturing to use to end-of-life. In the end, I found that less carbon emissions and energy could be expended using HDPE insulation, although this may have some logistical challenges. The full report is located below if you are interested in reading it. |
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| spinnie_brennan_masc583_materials_selection_project.pdf |
Technology Development and Implementation: ISE 545
Contactless Check-In and Check-Out
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Contactless Check-In and Check-Out were the results of a group project in the practice of new technology development and implementation. The project was set up by analyzing a product related to the COVID-19 pandemic. My group chose the TouchSource Contactless Suite, a QR code based system for digital way-finding. We analyzed the market for this product to get a place to start for future generations.
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The next step was to generate two new generations of the product we analyzed. The first generation was to be implemented in 2021 while COVID will still be actively affecting the market. Through product development practices, we came up with Contactless Check-In, a QR code based check in solution for medical and pharmaceutical offices. The second generation was to be implemented in 2022 after a COVID vaccine has been widely distributed. For this generation, we came up with Contactless Check-Out, a QR code based PIN pad that allows the user to input any info that they would on a PIN pad via their phone. This allows for PIN security, does not require an app, and avoids contact with foreign surfaces in a germ-conscious society. Both of the markets of these generations were thoroughly analyzed to determine the feasibility of each product. Methods such as S-T analysis, S-curves, profit estimation, innovation type, and others were used. |
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Engineering Information Modeling: AME 505
Flight Delay Predictor
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This project was a practice in artificial intelligence and machine learning methods. My group chose to use machine learning to create a flight delay predictor. The algorithm analyzed multiple years of flight delay data through Random Forest Classifier and Artificial Neural Network methods to predict the delay of an input flight. In the end, the algorithm output a likelihood of flight delay, the amount of delay, and the likelihood of flight cancellation.
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