Landis MacMillan’s Portfolio02/09/2018

Table of Contents

• About Me

• Mechanical Design Engineer

• Engineering Projects

• Mechanical Engineering Intern (2nd Year)

• Mechanical Engineering Intern (1st Year)

• Hobbies: Cars

• Hobbies: Photography

About Me

• I am a 24-year-old from the great state of California. I graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. CU Boulder helped cultivate and grow my passion for solving problems, learning, and creating. I love traveling, photography, playing soccer, working on my car, designing, and building my own projects.

• I have been utilizing my time for the past year and a half increasing my experience and knowledge in mechanical design and I am currently looking for my next opportunity to accelerate and evolve my professional career and my personal life.

Mechanical Design EngineerPrysm Inc. 2016-2017I was hired as a contractor following a successful completion of internships. I handled structural, acoustic, thermal, and mechanical product development activities.

Subsequently, I became the lead for installation processes and procedure development. I focused my efforts on developing installation equipment and processes to maneuver and install large, highly important polycarbonate panels. My efforts ultimately resulted in an installation process that greatly increased safety for the product and the installers, as well as a 60% decrease in installation time.

A list of included projects is below:

1. Panel Lifter

2. Panel Carrier

3. Packaging Consultation

4. Structural Test Fixture

5. Power Supply Test Fixture

Panel Lifter

• Created an installation fixture that reduced installation time and risk when installing a $13000 component

‒ Allowed 2 people to install a 115lb polycarbonate panel

• Design was compatible with all interested parties: mechanical engineers, installation engineers & safety regulations

• Face mounted bracket (2-piece inseparable assembly)‒ Used tabs and self contained fasteners to attach to existing

product features

• Utilized constant force springs as a counter balance‒ Calculated the forces needed to lift panel

• Eliminated the need for fasteners and longer installation times by using the green attachment hook

• Used sheet metal processing to keep design low weight but strong

• Anticipated the need for shipping components and designed for shipping packaging constraints

Panel Lifter: Components

• All components are strong enough to withstand the recommended force ranges

‒ Lowest FOS being 4

• Designed custom constant force spring‒ Communicated with vendor to ensure manufacturability

• Designed plastic injection molded drum components‒ Volume of about 1000‒ Experience working with oversea vendors

• Kept budget low by utilizing off the shelf components where I could

Panel Lifter Installation Process• Developed and perfected the installation process for

installing the panel‒ Created testing procedures and requirements to ensure a

successful design‒ Iterated designs to meet design requirements‒ Discussed with other engineers as well as technicians to

gain valuable input

• Created technical manuals to document and teach the field applications engineers

• Integrated the process with the installation technical coordinators

Panel Carrier

• Designed and developed an installation fixture to transport the panel from its packaging container to its installation site.

‒ Maneuverable through streets, hallways, carpeted rooms, etc.

• Created quick, proof-of-concept testing‒ Used local sources like Home Depot when necessary

• Utilized my manufacturing skills to fabricate prototypes and test rigs

• Designed for certain constraints such as:‒ Maximum shipping dimensions‒ Packaging integration‒ Uneven floors‒ Ease of assembly

Panel Carrier Installation Process• Ran many test characterizing the panels behavior

during installation scenarios‒ Single & double person interactions‒ Caster performance over certain obstacles and surfaces‒ Optimal mounting positions‒ Best ways to navigate buildings‒ Tipping points

• Developed the process for transporting the panel during the installation process.

• Collaborated with field application engineers to gain feedback on carrier’s performance

• Led team installs that focused on process development and correction

• Successfully transported and installed panels on 15 separate accounts

Packaging Consultation

• Performed packaging studies on the shipment of critical design components

‒ Analyzed packaging for defects or potential harmful features

‒ Communicated with the packaging team to change any necessary features

• Developed packaging designs for the panel

• Created and documented unpacking processes and safe practices

• Led design meetings focusing on product packaging and collaborated with lead packaging engineers for design corrections

Contacts Walls

During Push

Packaging Consultation

• Co-led a design project to develop a packaging system that fit the panel inside of an elevator/enclosed space

‒ Pushed for a better system that would be more secure and efficient for product installs

• Formed specifications that the design needed to meet

• Generated technical illustrations for user training and installation documentation

‒ Created diagrams to place inside of technical documentation

‒ Wrote detailed process steps with diagrams and imagery

• Collaborated with the technical writers to help them understand the material

• Analyzed and tested prototypes to further accelerate the packaging towards a more efficient system

‒ Produced integration documents to give packaging engineers the specifications required by my installation hardware

Radius: 9.5 Feet

Length: 2.5 Feet

Structural Failure Fixture

• Metal clevis has tolerances that allow the two slots at the bottom to become misaligned

‒ This would put an unequal force balance on the black plastic piece

• Designed a test fixture that would test the effects of misalignment on the plastic piece

‒ Resolution of 0.1mm‒ Design consisted of an aluminum sled that would be pulled

by a screw‒ The tension produced by the screw would be recorded on a

force gauge‒ Maximum force recorded by force gauge upon fracture of

unit under test‒ Mount micrometer to measure change in cylindricity

(alignment)‒ Added spring for force compliance‒ All attached to standard threaded test table

Structural Failure Fixture

• Formed a test procedure and recorded results

• Used data analysis to check and confirm assumptions on distributions

• The maximum tensile load remained relatively constant throughout offset groups

• Discovered and documented trends for failure

• Concluded that the plastic part was strong enough to hold 3 times the maximum force experienced within the product

‒ The max force was pretty consistent within the entire range of misalignment

• Presented my findings to stake holders and recommended the piece is capable of handling misalignment up to 1.5mm

Power Supply Test Fixture

• Developed a test fixture that would test the capability of the product’s power supply post-manufacturing

• Designed a heat dissipation system to prevent loads from over heating during testing

‒ Utilized heat transfer and mass flow knowledge to design appropriately

• Minimized fixture’s footprint and maximized safety

• Features allowed easy transfers for the board under test

• Oriented components to ease wiring

• Assembled fixture including heatsink and load cabling

• Currently in use testing power supplies

Engineering ProjectsCU Boulder 2014-2016Throughout my time at the University of Colorado I engaged in multiple design competitions. These competitions were team based and allowed me to grow and learn within mechanical engineering as well as gain hands-on experience in many aspects of the field.

A list of included projects is below:

1. CU Boulder SAE Baja

2. Drill Powered Vehicle

CU Boulder SAE Baja

• Competition team tasked to design, manufacture, build, and race an offroad vehicle

• Founded inaugural CU Boulder SAE team

• Lead of pedal assemblies and systems‒ As well as: industry relations, communications and

marketing

• Developed the team logo as well as sponsorship relations

• The team finished 39th overall in the 2016 competition, with a 20th placement in the 4-hour endurance race

Pedal Assembly Lead

• Developed pedal design, and managed the cockpit ergonomics

‒ Designed, manufactured, and implemented the entire brake, throttle and pedal sub-system

‒ Contributed to durability testing and troubleshooting of ergonomic and mechanical issues

‒ Wrote a whitepaper documenting my design process, lessons learned and recommendations for future teams

‒ Manufactured my components within the pedal assemblies and many other components outside of the controls group

‒ Chose and edited the driver’s seat to better suit our driver for a long endurance race

‒ Made and routed both brake circuits‒ Collaborated with drivetrain and suspension to integrate

braking systems‒ Utilized FEA to confirm and support designs‒ Presented designs and ideas to fellow teammates and

advisors in design reviews

Drill Powered Vehicle

• Semester long project based class

• Tasked with designing manufacturing and racing a drill powered vehicle

• Grouped with a team of 5

• Chose the position of technical coordinator‒ Led vehicle design, manufacturing, and assembly‒ Designed more than 50% of the parts

• Team finished 3rd in the overall competition

Technical Coordinator

• Managed team shop schedule‒ Delegating manufacturing responsibility to team members

• Initiated a part number labeling system to track parts and documentation

• Developed skills on both the mill, lathe, and within the welding shop

• Sourced and organized material

• Assembled and tested vehicle

• Gained knowledge/insight in:‒ Electric motor design, ergonomics, and steering

components

• Some parts I manufactured on the vehicle are included on this page:

‒ Spindle, rear dropouts, drill-mounting plate, steering wheel, and bearing pillow blocks

Mechanical Engineering Intern (2nd Year)Prysm Inc. 2015During my second internship at Prysm, I performed structural analysis on various proposed designs for the new product’s framing. I supported the software-mechanical testing team with multiple mechanical decisions, including the design of prototype structural columns. In addition, I initiated a dampener design for R&D goals as well as advised and directed the 1st-year intern through proper testing development and data analysis procedures.

A list of included projects is below:

1. Damper Design

2. Simulated Stile Design

Screen Characterization Testing• Tension on product’s screen (6000-9000lb) created a

drum-like affect‒ Reverberation was not suitable for customer experience

nor the image quality

• Tested the amount of time it took for two points to become reasonably damped

‒ Used Airpot Snubbers (adjustable one way dampers)

• Placed Snubbers on the perimeter

• Used lasers to measure the oscillations of the panel ‒ Measured range: +/- 1mm‒ Used data to find snubber’s optimal setting

• Volumetric flow and spring rate became design constraints

Damper Design

• 2 important features‒ Convolutions

‒ Spring rate

‒ Snap-fit‒ Retaining feature

• Used Solidworks Simulation to optimize convolution sizes based on spring rate

• 4 Major dimensions that can affect the spring rate‒ The thickness of the convolutions‒ Height of each convolution‒ Difference between outer and inner diameters of

convolution (depth)‒ Number of convolutions

• Produced a product that directly benefitted the customer experience

Simulated Stile Design

• Product’s image panel is supported by stiles that are in between the projected pathways of IR and UV waves

‒ Stile’s surface finish was possibly affecting laser software and visual censors

• I designed sheet metal parts that mimicked the shape of the stile for 3 test rigs

‒ Used for testing surface finish affects on the visual screen and the visual software control system

‒ Used symmetric designs to simplify manufacturing and assembly

Stile

profile

20.8 mm

-70 mm -35 mm

122 mm

17° 20°23°

Top

View

Stile Testing Results

• Installed stiles into testing rig

• Started and ran system

• The reflectivity of the stiles caused a lot of noise in the IR censors

‒ Prevented software from painting screen

• Tested different surface finishes on the stiles‒ About six finishes were tested

• One subject mitigated/absorbed the reflected signals

• Recommended paint as a manufactured finish and notified the responsible engineer

‒ Paint has become recommended finish for all components within the laser’s field

Location of installation

Black Paint

Mechanical Engineering Intern (1st Year)Prysm Inc. 2014I designed and prototyped a future mechanical ducting system for a new product, with a focus on modular design that could be easily repaired and maintained through 1 component of the screen. I tested and recorded data, and reported the results to a group of engineers, providing recommendations for each design issue.

The project can be see below

Ducting Design

• Designed a ducting system that made improvements from the previous design

‒ Simplified to one enclose‒ Less resistance to fluid flow

• Designed to be modular with the current system

• Created a cascading cooling system‒ Exhaust would be routed to its own plenum after passing

heatsink

• Routed the air to minimize pressure loss

• Multiple fan configurations:‒ 2x60mm‒ 1x80mm

• Exhaust intake plenum ratio‒ 50/50 Area‒ 60/40 Area

1

2

Heatsink Location

50/50 60/40

Test Setup

• Took measurements from 6 air speed ports

• Performed simulated leak testing‒ Features were previously designed into model

• 4 pressure ports around heatsink

• Measuring Instruments:‒ Hot-wire anemometer‒ Etech HD755 Manometer

• Testing 10 modules stacked together‒ Represented maximum length

• Produced results then gave recommended design actions for:

‒ Fan choices/orientation‒ Heatsink fin spacing‒ Leak sensitivity ‒ Fan failure sensitivity

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Hobbies: Cars

• Grew up with cars

• Offroad enthiusiast

• Love to get hands on experience

• Intrigued by the mechanics

• Some of my projects: ‒ Timing belt swap‒ Suspension spacer design & fabrication‒ Golf cart overhaul

Hobbies: Photography

• Chance for me to express my creativity

• Opportunity to explore and find adventures

• Great outlet for me to learn and grow in a different area of my life