An Integrated Concept To Prototype Capstone Design Experience

The objective of the two-semester Capstone/senior design program, at Saint Martin’s Mechanical Engineering Department, is to prepare student- engineers for the workforce by having them participate fully on a design team to solve an open-ended real-world design problem. Students design, then build/assemble their project. For the senior design project students use their knowledge from all previous courses and creative improvisation. Additionally, socioeconomic and ethical issues are addressed as part of the design paradigm. Team work is emphasized. Problem recognition and statements, definition of the problem, constraints, alternative solutions and their evaluation, considerations of economics and manufacturing, scheduling, and meeting deadlines of the project are stressed. The distinctiveness of this program is the integration of students from the School of Business and the 'end-user' into the design team. The design project further hones oral and written communication skills of the team. This paper discusses the learning objectives and outcomes, structure of the class, organization of the senior design team and essential leadership positions, budget constraints, and other constraints on the project. Numerous projects were accomplished such as a recreational hovercraft, a water desalination system to be used in an orphanage in Tanzania, and an innovative instrumented heating, air conditioning bench top instructional experiment.