Washington University in St. Louis
Biomedical Engineering Design
Progress Reports
11/17/14
Current status of project:
Have a preliminary manifold design based on a micro gas generator that can be altered to fit the final inflator design. Nylon samples have been obtained for bag design.
Work planned for next week:
Meeting with Dr. Yin to decide final inflator design. Bag and finalized manifold design.
Anything needed from client or TA or instructor to continue work: No
11/10/14
Current status of project:
Researched a number of options of inflator designs - specifically some micro-inflators currently used in automobiles. Ordered nylon sample for airbag prototype.
Work planned for next week:
Research on electrical needs of project - initiation of airbag deployment. Manifold design - how to attach these devices to a hat.
Anything needed from client or TA or instructor to continue work: No
11/3/14
Current status of project:
Following selection of our design, we met with Dr. Elbert to discuss the next steps in the design process and we set progress goals for the following 2 week period to make sure we are on track.
Work planned for next week:
Research on detailed airbag design - how they are currently constructed, specifically the inflator - to determine how to adapt this construction to our design. Acquire a Nylon 6,6 sample.
Anything needed from client or TA or instructor to continue work: No
10/27/14
Current status of project:
Completed our progress report, analyzed our possible solutions and selected our final design - the airbag in the cap brim.
Work planned for next week:
Update website with progress report and second presentation. Begin detailed design process of airbag in cap brim.
Anything needed from client or TA or instructor to continue work: No
10/20/14
Current status of project:
We have brainstormed potential solutions and finished updating our design specifications.
Work planned for next week:
Analyze solutions and select best design.
Write progress report.
Anything needed from client or TA or instructor to continue work: No
10/13/14
Current status of project:
Updated our design specifications to include force of impact and energy absorption determinations based on fracture forces of facial bones (based on previous studies).
Work planned for next week:
Finalize list of possible solutions and begin work on progress report.
Anything needed from client or TA or instructor to continue work: No
10/6/14
Current status of project:
Finished initial draft of website. Brainstormed and evaluated several solutions including a collar airbag and a cap brim airbag, as well as on ground solutions such as an airbag or deployable net.
Work planned for next week:
Update design specifications.
Anything needed from client or TA or instructor to continue work: No
Date: 9/30/2014
Current status of project: Currently brainstorming and researching possible designs. Contacting companies for information. During further research into feasibility/speed of tracking system.
Work planned for next week: Beginning website setup and continued brainstorming and researching.
Anything needed from client or TA or instructor to continue work: No
Date: 9/22/14
Current status of project: Preliminary Research, Scope, and Specifications complete. In the beginning stages of brainstorming possible solutions.
Work planned for next week: Meet with Dr. Elbert to discuss initial project solutions. Begin setting up project website. Begin researching feasibility of solutions.
Anything needed from client or TA or instructor to continue work: No
Date: 9/15/2014
Current status of project:
We have re-done our scope to narrow the scope of the project to only the protection device (not the tracking system). We also researched non-baseball existing devices, e.g. bicyclist collar airbag which deploys to act as a helmet, avalanche jacket that deploys airbag over head, airbag that deploys automatically when an elderly person falls.
Work planned for next week:
Write paper! Put together a complete list of specific design requirements. Plan presentation.
9/8/2014
Current status of project:
Continuing on our work from last week, we are currently researching existing solutions to the problem, as well as existing ball tracking technology. We also established the scope for our project.
Work planned for next week:
We have brainstormed several ideas, and as we learn more from our research, we will discuss the feasibility of these ideas. We plan on interviewing a baseball player/consultant for ideas, restrictions, etc. We will reach out to companies such as Hawkeye for information on their existing ball tracking technology, as well as companies that produce existing protective gear for pitchers (isoBlox).
Date: 9/2/14
This past week we formed our group and chose our project. The group consists of Jonathan Lipsey, Julien Levy, and Nathan Vercaemert. Our project will be to design a device that will protect baseball pitchers from being hit by line drive balls batted back at them. Our mentor/client for this project is Dr. Donald Elbert from the BME department here at WashU. We met with Dr. Elbert on Thursday, August 28th where we confirmed that we would work on this project and discussed preliminary ideas.
Our initial thought is to design a device that can track and predict the trajectory of the baseball after it is batted. If this system detects that the ball could possibly hit the pitcher, some type of device will be deployed to stop the ball and protect the pitcher, such as an inflatable object embedded in the pitcher’s cap or some sort of net (depending on the accuracy of the tracking system, the response could be limited to only if the ball were to hit the pitcher’s neck and head).
We also carried out some preliminary research. We looked into existing ball tracking technologies used tennis and soccer which either use cameras or electromagnetic sensing to detect the ball. In addition we researched existing pitcher protection devices, included a large, padded cap currently available for MLB pitchers.