Students place in engineering competition with unique design

SEATTLE, Wash. – A group of Washington State University mechanical engineering students from Everett took second place in a student design and manufacturing competition at the national American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) conference this week with their unique idea to harvest electricity from rainwater.

It was the first time that the group of five students had the opportunity to attend and compete at a large conference, said Xiaopeng Bi, interim program coordinator and a clinical associate professor at WSU North Puget Sound at Everett. The students created two designs for a generator that could potentially create energy from unused water from rain gutters, washing machines, or showers.

“The idea is very simple,” said Bi. “It’s something that everyone would be able to think of, but nobody has.’’ASEE Crop final

Approximately 4,000 people annually attend the conference, which was held this year in Seattle. The competition is sponsored by the manufacturing division of ASEE.

The Everett mechanical engineering program emphasizes strong hands-on training, says Bi. The students were enrolled in a manufacturing processes course earlier this year in which they created a variety of windmills. Bi initially suggested that they could enter their windmill prototypes in the competition because it called for a design of an energy-related project. The students instead challenged themselves with a new idea of rainwater energy harvester, developed two designs, and built prototypes for a gutter system.

With limited budget, they used the low cost materials available, including a $1 DC motor, LED lights, and simple microcontroller for their demonstration system. The team worked long hours on the project, including on weekends, to make it happen, he said.

While the students designed, manufactured, and tested the prototypes, they also gained experience presenting and demonstrating their system at a national conference, says Bi. It was an opportunity to show the students how they compared with other universities around the country.

“Even though Everett ME is a relatively young program, we are trying to provide the highest possible quality education.’’ he said. “I am glad to see that students gained confidence from the competition. They showed everyone what they can do while they also have the chance to learn from other university students.’’

Team members include John Boone, Andrew Crain, Mark Meister, Oleksander Pankovets, and Bikramjit Singh. Another student, Devon Mallory, helped the team to build the LED power level indicators. In their demonstration, the team also adopted the automatic water sensing and pumping system designed and built by Sergey Fomin and Milen Kosev, two recent graduates from the same program. The project was closely advised by Bi at all stages.

Contact:
Xiaopeng Bi, Interim Program Coordinator, WSU Everett ME Program and Clinical Associate Professor, Mechanical and Materials Engineering,  425-405-1733, xiaopeng.bi@wsu.edu

Tina Hilding, communications coordinator, Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture, (509) 335-5095, thilding@wsu.edu