Trinity University

Eight Semester Design Sequence

Throughout a student's eight semesters at Trinity, design is utilized to motivate and tie together their engineering education.

First Year Design Project - Water Balloon Launcher

The water balloon launcher has become the standard design project for ENGR 1382, Engineering Analysis and Design II. The goal is to design a device that will accurately launch a water balloon through the air over a 50 yard range to a target. The target is a 10 ft horizontal square which belongs to the competing group. The best performing design is determined through a friendly competition where two groups launch balloons at the other's target.

The group that scores the most "hits" within a specified time advances to the next level of competition until all but one group is eliminated.

This project originated in the mind of Dr. Richard Swope and was first put into practice during the spring semester of 1982. In its inception, the project's goal was to design a launcher that, when placed on the goal line of the football field, could launch a balloon through a large hoop on the five yard line, another large hoop on the fory five yard line and hit Dr. Swope who was standing on the fifty yard line.

The team that could hit Dr. Swope two out of five times received and automatic A for the course. The project received national press coverage during the eight year period that Dr. Swope taught this design course. The balloon launch project continues to be a large part of the curriculum for the Engineering and Design II course which Dr. Bill Collins now oversees.

Sophomore Design Projects

For the past two years, Sophomore Design (ENGR 2181/82) has been involved in Service Learning projects, in which we go to different community organizations, and design objects and devices that will be used by members or clients of the organization.

In 2006-07, the class designed a suspension for a "LifeStrides" classroom in Houston High School. This devices permits a developmentally-disabled student to be suspended in an upright position so that he or she can initiate their own motion, and interact with their environment.

In 2007-08, we teamed up with our local chapter of Goodwill to design accommodations for grounds maintenance equipment. Because Goodwill provides grounds maintenance personnel through the AbilityONE program, at least 75% of the workforce must have some sort of disability that makes entering the workforce difficult. Developing accommodations that permit physically disabled people to use equipment like lawnmowers and string trimmers enables Goodwill to expand their job opportunities. In May 2008, one of the accommodations developed by a sophomore design team won third place in the NISH National Scholar Award Competition. Each of the nine team members of the project spilt $3000, and matching awards of $3000 were provided to both the Engineering Science Department and Goodwill. Local media coverage of Trinity's award was provided by the San Antonio Express News, KABB FOX 29, as well as the Trinity Public Relations department.

Junior Design Projects 

The first semester junior design project (ENGR 3181) involves the design of a traffic light controller for a major intersection using FPGAs (Altera development tools). Students work individually to design, build and test their controller. Real-life constraints such as the need to give access to emergency vehicles are discussed and incorporated. The second semester project (ENGR 3182) emphasizes deconstruction of an appliance, analyzing appliance against necessary design criteria, testing, and design improvement.

Senior Design Projects

Each year, senior design groups undertake a year long capstone design project in consultation with a faculty advisor.
One faculty member acts as administrator for all the design group. Late in the Junior year, students have the opportunity to propose their own senior design projects - or to work with faculty or industrial advisors on one of their proposals. Then, student groups spend the fall analyzing the needs of the client/problem, setting and analyzing criteria for a successful project, investigating alternative solutions, and finally refining their optimal design. The spring is spent implementing, testing, and refining the design. Some examples of recent projects are:

'Accessible Home Vital Signs Monitoring System,' which won a national competition, beating other major universities. From the project report, The scope of the project is to design and construct an accessible home vital signs monitoring system which is non-invasive, accessible, safe, and accurate. The purpose of this report is present on all aspects of the project. This covers the initial research stage, ordering of parts, construction of the case, coding for the project, and final human testing. The average difference between the basis obtained from the clinic and the test runs for weight was 0.5 lbs. The average difference for blood oxygen level was 0.8% within a range of 95-99%, all normal. All patients? heart rates were within the specified range of 60-100 beats per minute. There is room for improvement in a few places with regard to the functionality and usability of the device. Rubber feet should be added to the base of the device and more audio support should be added to aid the hard of hearing when data is being collected, allowing them to know that the device is still working.

Rainwater Catchment System,' in which a group designed and built a system to capture and store rainwater for use in landscaping and gardent watering during periods of drought.

'Red Rover,' where a team sponsored by the Texas Space Grant Design Challenge analyzed the mission requirements for a two-person manned rover for Martian activity, including command and control, payload, power and communications budgets, and locomotion. The group designed and constructed a 1:6 scale rover model, tested the model (in earth gravity), then scaled the results to a full-scale rover in Martian gravity. The results of this project were disseminated at two state-wide showcases in Houston.

'Trinity Robotics,' who designed and built a line-following robot that could navigate an electrical-tape course, recognize and follow direction markings, and locate and retrieve "radioactive waste" (colored soda cans). This was done while avoiding "factory workers" (barbie dolls) on the course. This group took second in the IEEE Region 5 Competition (12 states in the southwestern USA).'