University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 32, May 22

          Field hardness tester judged the top senior design
     
     Ahammer-like device for measuring the hardness of
athletic playing fields earned a first-place prize in a
recent competition of mechanical engineering designs by
graduating seniors.
     "Athletes may be prone to impact injuries when the
field is too hard, and an overly soft field may increase the
risk of twisted ankles and pulled muscles," explained James
Cermak, one of four seniors who created an Athletic Field
Hardness Tester at the request of Roger K. Bowman,
Facilities Management/grounds and mover services.
     The winning team also included Jerome C. Posatko,
Christian Fermani and Donald Longo. As first-place winners,
the students won $100 from the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers (ASME). They also will be invited to
discuss the project during an upcoming ASME meeting.
     Each year, the mechanical engineering senior design
class at UD prompts students to "use their knowledge of
theories to synthesize new products for real customers,"
said faculty member Dick Wilkins Jr. This year's course was
supervised by Wilkins and his colleague in mechanical
engineering, Michael Keefe.
     As part of the course, "capstone" projects are
evaluated by UD faculty and ASME judges, who determine how
effectively the students converted customer "wants" or needs
into engineering data, Wilkins said.
     "The first challenge, for students, is to identify
their customers' wants, which can sometimes be expressed as
a fuzzy request," he added. "For example, the customer might
say, `I want it to look racy.' The student must translate
that request into numbers that can be tracked."
     Bowman approached the winning design team because he
needed a scientific way to test athletic field conditions.
The new Athletic Field Hardness Tester features a hammer
attached to an accelerometer that measures how rapidly
deceleration occurs upon impact. Hardness data can then be
analyzed using an existing "playability index" based on
athletes' ratings of field conditions, Bowman said.
     The ASME judges also awarded second- and third-place
prizes. An improved fan coil unit for an air-conditioning
device earned the $75 second place prize for students
Geoffrey Rishel, Carrie Longstaff, Jaki Kedersha and Renee
Peterson. Students Megan Donofrio, Nigel Flahart and Heather
Owen claimed the $50 third place prize for a device that
measures the laxity of the human knee.
     The design competition lets students "solve real-world
problems for real people," Wilkins said. During the event,
for instance, students Keith Metzger, Steve Rosenberg, Tim
Clark and Eric Ramos demonstrated an accessible, motorized
storage or book bag for a wheelchair.
     The device, designed for the John Archer School of
Harford County, Md., for persons with disabilities, was
specifically tailored to meet the needs of a young man with
muscular dystrophy. Because he has a limited range of
mobility, the students explained, others must hand him books
and supplies from the bookbag attached to the back of his
wheelchair.
     The students' solution was a bookbag run by an electric
motor that can be attached to the side of the man's chair.
With the push of a button, the storage bag can be elevated
and tilted, allowing the client to retrieve whatever he
needs-without help. The bag can then be restored to its
original position.
     Also during the design presentations, students unveiled
a device for transporting wheelchairs to the beach. The
technology was designed for the Harbor Health Care and
Rehabilitation Center in Lewes, Del., which cares for
children with disabilities. Although some wheelchairs are
specially designed for use on the beach, UD students said,
children using special equipment such as respirators or
monitors cannot be removed from the wheelchairs they use
every day.
     That's why students Chris Lawler, Kevin Stolfo,
Cleveland Dargan and Robert Banks designed a four-wheeled
vehicle with a ramp and platform. Wheelchairs can be safely
secured atop the platform, and two people can easily move
the transport over sand. According to the student engineers,
the client was delighted with the transport, which will be
put to use this summer.
     Other devices included a remote manipulator arm, a
seven-meter-tall photographic bipod, a tanker truck
discharge valve and the chassis for a formula Society for
Automotive Engineers (SAE) race car. The search for 1997-98
projects is now underway. For more information, contact
Wilkins at 831-2006 or Wilkins@udel.edu.
                                      -Ginger Pinholster and
                                          Sue Swyers Moncure