ME340 ME Design Methodology Spring 2015

Design Project - Cordless Handheld Vacuum

1.0 Statement of Market Need:
ACME Tool Company has a product family of 18V cordless drills, saws and sanders
that have been very successful in the consumer market. Their marketing
department recommends expanding the product line to include a cordless handheld
vacuum. ACME routinely outsources their engineering work to the lowest bidder.
The product will be produced in their factory outside Shanghai. They have invited
several product development firms from around the world (including your company)
to compete in the design and construction of a demonstration prototype. A jury
consisting of corporate executives, typical customers and investors will judge your
design based on its economic potential, aesthetics, ergonomics, and performance.
The winning firm will be awarded a lucrative production contract.
2.0 Design Constraints:
1. The product is to be available for purchase by November 15, 2016, (for the
Christmas season).
2. Your vacuum must be cordless and handheld. It must provide a means to retain
all material that is collected and a simple means to empty the collection system.
3. Your product must meet the needs of a typical consumer, and you must
convincingly show that it does so.
4. Your team will be given a sample 18V cordless drill from the product family. Your
design must use the same NiCd battery pack, the same battery pack connector
and the same DC electric motor. You may use as much or as little of the rest of
the drill as your team decides.
5. You must construct demonstration prototypes (an alpha and two betas). Your
demonstration prototypes must contain the original motor, original battery
connector and original battery pack from your sample drill. You are no t
permitted to make any functional modifications to the battery pack or motor.
You may only use the original charger provided with your sample drill to charge
the battery pack.
6. You may not use components cannibalized from an existing vacuum for the final
demonstration (second beta) prototype.
7. The final prototype must contain at least one component that has been
fabricated using rapid prototyping, water jet, CNC or casting methods.
8. The final prototype will be tested in timed head-to-head competition against
other prototypes. However, note that the primary goal of this project is to design
an economically viable consumer product, not just to win a competition.
9. Your team will be limited to a $30 reimbursement for all materials and
components. These must be sourced, and will be purchased by your instructor
on your behalf from the following vendors only:
a. McMaster-Carr (http://www.mcmaster.com), and
b. Jameco (http://www.jameco.com).
Items such as nuts and bolts, washers, common fasteners, etc. will be available
from the MNE Instrument Room in 23 Reber and the Learning Factory.
3.0 Performance

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ME340 ME Design Methodology Spring 2015

You must provide theoretical predictions for:
a) flow rate of air intake under free operating conditions
b) stagnation vacuum when the intake is blocked
c) expected battery life under free operating conditions
You must demonstrate that your product is reliable.
To assess the performance of your design, one of your team members will use your
vacuum to collect uncooked white rice. This will occur in direct competition against
other teams. Performance will be measured by the amount of rice collected in a
certain amount of time.
1. Uncooked white rice will be poured onto a table.
2. One of your team members will operate your vacuum.
3. All vacuums must be off before the start of each heat. At a verbal signal from a
judge, each vacuum will be activated and the rice collected.
4. Each test will be timed with a manual stop watch to provide a quantitative
performance metric.
5. At the end of each 10-second test, the rice must be poured into a cup to
demonstrate emptying the collection system.
6. The rice will then be weighed to determine the amount collected.
7. The two performers collecting the most rice from each section will advance to
compete against prototypes from the other class sections.
8. If any rice exits through the exhaust that team will be disqualified and the
prototype judged as unsafe.
9. Adherence to competition constraints will be judged by the Rules Committee
consisting of an elected member from each team. Non-compliance will result in
disqualification.
4.0 Evaluation Criteria
4.1 Product Assessment
5% Progress reports
5% Letter of Intent
5% Customer Needs Memo
5% External Search and Benchmarking Memo
5% Design Specifications Memo
5% Concept Generation Memo
5% Concept Selection Memo
5% Theoretical Analysis Memo
15% First Prototype Evaluation Memo and Presentation/Demonstration
5% Component and Material Selection Memo
5% Fabrication Process Memo

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ME340 ME Design Methodology Spring 2015

5% Safety Memo
5% Economic Justification Memo
5% Industrial Design Memo
15%

Final Prototype Performance, Evaluation Memo and

Presentation/Demonstration

5% Performance Memo
100
This is 40% of the course grade
%

At the discretion of the instructor, extra points may be awarded for:

a) Competition within class section = 5 pts (first), 3 pts (second), 2 pts (third), 1
pt (fourth)
b) Attendance at the Learning Factory Project Showcase (5 pts)

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ME340 ME Design Methodology Spring 2015

4.2 Experimental validation
1. Safety goggles must be worn during all testing.
2. Prior to the competition, air flow rate will be measured with a flow meter.
3. Prior to the competition, stagnation vacuum will be measured with a vacuum
gage or manometer.
4. This should be obvious, but your product must have an on/off switch and all
electrical connections in the final prototype must be soldered.

5.0 Manufacturing your prototypes:

You must construct alpha (functional) and beta (demonstration) prototypes. At least one
component of your beta product must be a produced on a rapid prototyping (RP) machine, or
on the OMAX Waterjet cutter. You are allowed a maximum of 3 cubic inches of total material
(sum of model and support material) on the RP machine. This is the total amount allowed
for your group for the entire semester. The minimum thickness for any part feature is 2 mm
(.080), otherwise, it will break! (1/10 is even safer). You can use the Catalyst software (at
the Learning Factory) to estimate material usage and to check if your file is valid. All RP part
requests will be processed on a first-come first-serve basis. There will be large number of
parts in the queue, so do not expect overnite service! A typical turnaround time is 2-4 days.
All RP job requests must be submitted not later than April 16. Submit your RP files at the
Learning Factory (in .stl file format only) on a CD or memory stick. Name your files using the
convention: Team#_psuid_filename.stl (where: team # = 3A, 3B, etc.; psuid = email id of
contact person). Place a unique identifying feature directly on your part so that you will be
able to distinguish it from the 70 other groups who are designing the same product.
You may cut 2-D planar parts on the Omax Waterjet cutter (not more than four minutes total
cutting time, it is best suited for metal or Lexan) or the Epilog Laser Cutter (Acrylic) in the
Learning Factory. Common thicknesses of Lexan (1/8, , 1/16) and aluminum are
available for your use. All other parts may be made on the manual machine tools in the
Learning Factory. You are encouraged to consult with the staff of the Learning Factory for
advice on how to build your parts.

Reporting requirements: See document on ANGEL

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