On July 21, five mechanical engineering students will jet to the finish line of a senior design project that was two years in the making.
In spring 2020, teams鈥 dreams of building the electrically propelled boat they had spent the year designing were cut short due to COVID-19. But come fall 2021, the Department of Mechanical Engineering formed a new team to finish what they started: to create an eco-friendly boat to compete at the American Society of Naval Engineers鈥 (ASNE) annual Promoting Electrical Propulsion competition. 听
Team members Dhawal Bhanderi, Aaron O鈥機onnell, Kevin Parker, Hannah Thompson, and Danial Alborzi had access to designs and notes from the previous two teams that they worked from. 鈥淗aving the previous work was helpful to get our background knowledge and catch up, but we decided to make some changes due to budget and building constraints,鈥 says Bhanderi.
Contrary to the original team鈥檚 designs, Bhanderi and his team chose to build a single-hulled unmanned boat using the same modified propulsion system as the previous team. 鈥淲e wanted to keep it simple and use the same materials they had. The original team designed a trimaran, but because of how large that boat would be, we didn鈥檛 have any way to build it. The MIX was shut down due to the pandemic, so we didn鈥檛 have access to the 3D printer we would need,鈥 says O鈥機onnell.
Because the team knew their boat would race others at the competition, they designed it with speed and viability in mind. 鈥淥ur main focus was building a battery-powered boat that could last those five miles,鈥 says O鈥機onnell. 鈥淏ut we want to win too, of course,鈥 says Bhanderi.听
The result was a 7-foot long, eight-horse-power unmanned boat that the team couldn鈥檛 be happier with. The students tested their ship before presenting it to faculty, peers, and industry sponsors at the department鈥檚 senior design day. 鈥淲e were celebrating when we saw it working in the water,鈥 says Bhanderi. 听
And while they鈥檙e excited to see the fabrication of the boat finally reach completion, they are even more excited to bring it to ASNE鈥檚 competition.听