Mechanical Citrus Juicer
Jan. 2020 - Apr. 2020
Project Description
Our Mechanical Engineering Design 1 class was split into groups of six and tasked with designing a mechanical citrus juicer with a written report that included the following: CAD drawings of the design, an exploded assembly view, kinematic analysis of the assembly, stress analysis of critical components, discussion of material selection, and discussion of failure modes.
Personal Contribution to Project
During one of our group meetings, we decided that all members should design and sketch their own juicer with the intention of presenting each idea at our next meeting. This would facilitate discussion and assist with subsystem selection for the final design. My concept sketch, a three-bar slider-crank juicer, can be seen below. I wanted to create something very unorthodox and creative, yet practical, to spark ideas and have all of us approach our final design from a different angle. My idea for an adjustable height, which can be seen on the drawing, transformed into our final design having a D-shaped shaft with set screws on the back to allow for height adjustability. There were also design decisions and recommendations I helped make throughout the CAD process, which one of my group members was responsible for.
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Also, for the written report, I contributed to the material selection. I listed out each material we used, such as carbon steel, ABS plastic, and cast iron to name a few, and substantiated why we assigned each component of the juicer its respective material with references and graphs. For a few components, I also mentioned the manufacturing processes necessary to fabricate the component.
Shortcomings & Lessons Learned
When coming together to reveal our concept sketches, two members told the group they had not done theirs. Although they should have been prepared to present to the rest of the group, I believe one of us should have sent a reminder in our chat a few days before our meet to make sure everyone was doing their task and staying accountable. In addition, one member ended up doing a bit more work than the others for the project as a whole. Although it was voluntary, it would have been better to divide the work more evenly among us. Despite all of this, the project overall went very smoothly with everyone completing what they needed to on time for the final report. For future projects though, I intend to remind my group members about approaching deadlines to ensure we are all doing our part and divide the work more evenly.
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Also, due to the COVID-19 situation, we were unable to make our final meetings in person, and with classes transitioning online and people going home, our usual schedules became very disrupted. However, we handled this well by still meeting up online and discussing the necessary steps we needed to take to complete the project promptly. We all learned how to cope with this dynamic situation and adjust accordingly.
Results
We were all able to complete our respective sections of the report on time and score a great grade. More importantly though, we learned how to work in a team despite the long distance and commit to the personal deadlines we established when beginning our respective report sections.
Overall Experience & Skills Attained
Through this project, I learned how and why to select certain materials for certain applications. I also gained more experience in sketching and working within a team, further improving my communication and task management skills.