Tim's Portfolio
I am a product engineer with experience in consumer appliance manufacturing and lab instrument automation. I graduated with a B.S./M.S. in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2020 and have worked in consulting roles since then. I also have a strong background in software development, specifically for robotics and machine learning.
Below are some projects that I have had the pleasure to work on, I hope you enjoy!
Product Design
Ducom Joint Simulator
During my time as a product engineer at Ducom Instruments I was the lead designer of a product used for testing the wear resistance of components used in the ball joint of a hip prosthetic. In designing the unit I had to consider the mechanics of the joint, with the intent being to simulate and accelerate the wear that a hip joint typically undergoes.
The material properties of the prosthetic were a major factor of the design, as one of the main goals of the test was to analyze the size and shape of the debris that formed to ensure that harmful particles would not be absorbed by surrounding tissue of a patient.
Over the course of the project I worked closely with a research team who was purchasing the product with the interest in finding improvements to existing prosthetic designs. I was also advised by a team of experts in developing tribological and biomedical testing units at Ducom.
Formula-1-Style Brakes
Rotor Design
Custom disk-style brake rotors were CNC machined in-house out of hardened steel. In-depth analysis was made to mitigate the risk of fatigue cracking from thermal expansion.
Caliper Selection
The brake calipers were selected to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the braking system.
Brake Line Design
We designed the hydraulic circuit, selected components, and negotiated with vendors to cut costs.
Regen Integration
We developed a system with dual hydraulic and electrical regenerative braking that was seamlessly controlled by the drive through one brake pedal.
Steam-Powered Phone Charger
Have you ever been on a long camping trip and felt the panic that comes when you realize your batteries are dying? This device can help in a pinch! If you are boiling water for food, the steam that gets released is lost to the environment as waste. This system lets you capture that heat and store it as electricity!
Formula 1-Style Steering Wheel
One of the safety issues faced by a driver of a blazing fast formula 1-style electric race car is not being able to properly control the car! When there are buttons, knobs, and screens littered throughout the chassis, it can be nerve wracking just to see what speed you're going, check your battery voltage, or turn on regenerative braking.
I set out to fix this by building a custom steering wheel to housed all of the inputs/outputs that a driver would need to interface with while driving.
Regen Bike
One of the most frustrating aspects of biking is the struggle to get back up to speed after braking. The thing is, it doesn't have to be! Just like hybrid and electric cars, regenerative braking can be used on a bicycle to regain energy typically lost as heat from using standard bike brakes.
This design retrofitted and existing bicycle with a hydraulic circuit that gives it regenerative braking capabilities. At the push of a button, the circuit activates and will store the energy of the bike in a high-pressure accumulator. Another push and you get a nice boost to help you up that hill!
Robotics
Flying Squirrel Glider
Flying squirrels utilize a winglike membrane called a patagium to assist in controlling their flight when they jump from tree to tree in the wild. My team observed that this mechanic could be useful in developing low cost and light-weight drones that need to perform a controlled drop, for instance in a scenario where resources are dropped over a disaster area.
Using a circuit that detected the glider's orientation, we could give commands to a servo motor to adjust the patagium shape and keep the glider in the air longer.
RoboCrop
This little robot will do its best to keep your green friends happy and healthy! With a four-wheel omnidirectional drive, RoboCrop can maneuver in any direction to find the brightest spot in a room. It detects light using a photo resistor circuit and will automatically move your plant out of the shadows and into the sun.
Have trouble watering your plants? No problem! RoboCrop measures how moist the soil is and will let you know when you need to share a cold drink with your plant.
Servo Crane
My team and I designed and manufactured crane assembly to meet mass and geometry constraints and lift a weight to a goal height.
4-Legged Walker
We also designed and assembled small walking robot with 4-bar linkages for walking gate to mimic that of a dog.
Structural Design & Analysis
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Technologies used:
SolidWorks
ANSYS
Siemens NX
Astronaut's coat hanger
Brake Rotor Thermal Optimization
Water bottle gripper
Mounting bracket for truck engine
Race Car Hub Optimization
Programming
Technologies:
Python
C++
MATLAB
Type112
Spectrogram generator for voice recognition via FFT
Battleship AI
Fatigue Stress Grapher
Developed an application for DTNA that analyzes stress element data from NX, a CAD/FEA package, and presents how the part being loaded will perform under various numbers of fatigue cycles for custom materials used in truck components. For more on Goodman diagrams see tec-science.
Fabrication & Manufacturing
Skills:
CNC mills, manual mill & lathe, 3D printing, laser cutting, soldering
3D prints
CNC mill projects
Manual mill/lathe work
Miscellaneous Projects
