Michigan State University

Physics Tutor

Project Introduction

  • Title: Infinite Life Gearshaft Design

  • Course: Engineering Design and Manufacturing

  • Team: Your name and your teammate's name

  • Objective: To engineer a gearshaft that withstands infinite life against fatigue failure, under specified motor forces.

Problem Identification

  • Challenge: Design a gearshaft to resist fatigue failure with given motor forces and known dimensions, except for the shaft CD.

  • Initial Approach: Divided the work – my teammate focused on stress analysis, while I concentrated on designing the shaft based on this analysis.

Design Process

  • Analysis: Converted torques into shear and moment equations to understand reaction forces and moments along the shaft.

  • Prototype Drawing: Drafted a prototype to simplify the identification of critical points for design.

Challenges and Solutions

  • Critical Point Determination: Faced difficulty in pinpointing the most crucial areas on the shaft for design purposes.

  • Innovative Solution: Developed a MATLAB program to automate the design process, targeting a factor of safety of 1.5.

  • Material Consideration: Conducted extensive material research to find suitable materials that balanced cost, weight, and thermal properties.

Final Design and Results

  • Outcome: Achieved a balanced design considering manufacturing constraints and market dimensions.

  • Iterative Process: Underwent multiple design iterations to ensure compatibility with bearing sizes and manufacturing capabilities.

  • Reflections: Emphasized the iterative nature of design and the importance of adapting to manufacturing realities.

Skills and Techniques

  • Computational Design: Utilized MATLAB for optimizing design constraints and factor of safety calculations.

  • Stress Analysis: Applied principles of mechanical stress analysis in the design process.

  • Material Research: Engaged in thorough material research to inform design decisions.

Reflection and Personal Growth

  • Developed a keen understanding of the relationship between design, material selection, and manufacturing constraints.

  • Enhanced problem-solving and computational skills through the application of MATLAB in the design process.

  • Learned the value of teamwork and effective communication in a collaborative engineering project.