Past Projects

I served as the project manager and mechanical design lead on a team with three other automation engineers to design and build a fully automated vertical farming system for our 5 month long project work course. I utilized Solidworks to prototype/design the farm with a 3D model and then worked with a company in Finland to source the parts to build the design. Additionally software using PLCs was developed for the control of things within the farm such as the lights and water system. As part of the project work we also gave business presentations to showcase the viability of our product in the market, gave research presentations on vertical farming, and did technical presentations on the state of our project throughout the semester. This was part of a course for my master’s degree program at Aalto University. Here is our final project report: Final_report_2023_topic_CRAS-08. More documentation on this project can be found on this website: https://wiki.aalto.fi/display/AEEproject/Plug+And+Play+Solution+for+Vertical+Farming

 

In 2019, I started working in the smart materials and structures lab at Ohio State University (https://u.osu.edu/smsl/). Over the few years I worked there I gained my research skills which culminated in a final thesis project. I spent over a year researching the magnetic and flexible material Metglas for applications in a sensor system. Below is my final thesis and my defense presentation.

Cressman Thesis

Cressman_DefensePresentation

 

For my senior capstone project I followed the Product Design track within mechanical engineering. With this capstone project route, I worked with three other mechanical engineering students to go through the whole product design process starting back with research and project definition, ending with prototyping. This was a full year project that allowed me to utilize many of my engineering skills. Below you can find our final poster presentation. Here is the link to the website for our project: OSU Entering and Exiting Vehicles Capstone. This website outlines our whole process. Here is a poster that overviews our project: 4684_4685 Vehicle Capstone Poster

 

For this year’s solar district cup hosted by the department of energy, I served as the financial co-lead and battery storage lead. I worked with a multidisciplinary team of Ohio State Students to use industry software like Aurora Solar and ReOPT lite along with current research to design, model, and analyze a solar plus storage system for a district use case of Auraria Colorado Higher Education Campus. Starting back in fall of 2020 we began our initial design and financial analysis which we submitted and were named as finalists. Then starting in the spring we began to add our battery storage elements to our design. Looking at the resiliency of the system we were able to select the best battery for the system.  As part of this project competition we had to design the most optimal solar system in regard to solar panels, energy production, design elements, environmental zoning, integration with the existing grid, battery storage, and financial feasibility. I got to learn even more this second year of the competition about tax regulations on solar systems and the different types of solar developer and user relationships like power purchase agreements. For the financial models I got to use industry tools including  SAM, and NREL CREST financial models. As the financial co-lead I analyzed our system for multiple financial cases and was able to factor in different elements to find a financially sound purchase agreement. At the end of spring, we submitted our full project outline and presented to judges and solar experts. Overall, we won third place for our district! So proud of all of our accomplishments! Below you can see the video of our final presentation:

This project competition was hosted by Honda in order to innovate solutions that could help use a digital twin and real time data acquisition with living laboratory techniques to study students while implementing sustainable solutions. Our team consisting of a business, material science engineering, and mechanical engineering major (me), went through a problem solving process to define a problem and possible solutions. Using Miro board to help virtually work on our project, our team ended up focusing on harnessing energy created by students to off set campus energy usage. Our idea was called untAPP’d and used an app that could track students energy generation when they used things such as gym equipment. Using energy generating equipment not only could the campus power usage be offset, but the use of an app could be used to reward students or just spread awareness. See our final pitch presentation video below:

 

For the solar district cup hosted by the department of energy I served as the financial lead and worked with a multidisciplinary team of Ohio State students to design, model, and analyze a solar plus storage system for a district use case. We competed against 63 colleges from across the country and our design earned us the title of finalist. Our district case was Ball State University located in Indiana and as part of this project competition we had to design an optimal solar system with electrical components, assess the electrical system integration with the existing grid, assess a storage system, perform financial analysis, create financial models, and create an environment focused development plan. Throughout the process I learned a lot about all of the factors that play a role into actual solar system implementation and even got to utilize industry software including AuroraSolar, ReOpt Lite, SAM, and NREL CREST financial models. This project also included a lot of research into existing technologies, current financial incentives in place, and environmental research. As the financial lead I analyzed our system for multiple cases and was able to factor in incentives, taxes, loans, and funds to create a financially sound system. In the end we submitted a full project proposal and presented an overview of our project to judges from various companies and organizations in April 2020. We were named finalists and below you can find a recording of our presentation.

As part of the Intro to Design in Mechanical Engineering course at Ohio State we are tasked with designing, building, coding, and presenting a fully functioning prototype project using an Arduino microcontroller. For my prototype project I designed a system that would allow the user to remotely turn on and off their lights. This system was also capable of acting as an alarm clock that would flick on the light switch in the morning to wake the user up. For this project I first designed my electrical system utilizing an IR sensor, remote control, LCD screen, real time clock module, high torque servo and shift register. I tested each component as I added it to my system by writing supporting code. Once my electrical system and code were debugged I added necessary mechanical components like it’s box and arm to turn on and off the light switch. In the end I wrote a report including full schematics, a 3D model, code, and a design outline and presented my design to professors and other students. My final report document is linked below along with photos of my project. A video of my prototype project can also be seen below.

Video of Project:

Link to my final report: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kLwFPdt6tGnUlvShhUjUB0w012z7i-xd/view?usp=sharing

For the 2020 HackOhio hackathon I teamed up with some of my other eminence fellows to design a system called ColumBUS over the course of 24 hours (well technically 25 hours because of daylight savings fall back). Together we developed a bus rider check in system that allows for better communication between bus riders and drivers. Seeing in our own Columbus community how we could improve our COTA bus system to make it more safe, reliable, and environmentally friendly we created this system. ColumBUS works by allowing a rider to check in to a specific bus line through an app or physical buttons located at a bus stop. The number of riders checked in for a specific line at a bus stop is then relayed to the bus driver as he/she approaches the bus stop using geofencing and a driver portal side of the system. This solves the problem of buses making unnecessary stops when they don’t need to pick up anybody which overall helps make the buses run more efficiently both in regards to time and the environment. This system also helps riders feel more safe as they are accounted for and cannot be passed over at night (as I once was on a Columbus bus line).  It also can provide helpful data to bus systems and allow them to actually track where most of their riders are getting on at. Overall, I primarily helped to code and create the rider ios app side of our design. We used our system to apply for the Honda/Mobikit mobility sponsored category and ended up winning first place. This then opened the door for us as we got to present our idea to the CEO of COTA, executives at Honda, and executives at Mobikit. We still continue to develop our system today with the aid of all of these companies as we aim to continue to help improve the Columbus community and communities across the globe.

 

 

Coming into college I knew I wanted to study abroad, but being a mechanical engineer it seemed pretty hard to work around the strictly outlined set of classes. When looking at possible study abroad programs for the month of May, I stumbled upon a new study abroad service learning project titled “Solar Engineering in Tanzania.” I had always wanted to travel to Africa and loved the idea of getting to acquire new engineering skills in solar energy outside of my normal course work, so I signed up for the trip. I traveled with 8 other students and two professors on this trip with our main goal being to design and implement a solar powered lighting system in a dormitory/study space at an orphanage school in Arusha, Tanzania. I was the only mechanical engineer on this trip, but I was lucky enough to be able to learn from some of the electrical engineering students and some of the local engineers throughout our time together about electrical systems. As part of this project as students we made decisions about how we wanted our system to be mapped, performed calculations to determine the correct solar panel size, designed a battery box and solar panel mount, worked with local welders to get these designs fabricated, worked with local shop owners to get our solar panel and necessary supplies, installed all of the lighting fixtures and wiring, and came up with innovative solutions to problems we faced along the way. It was important to us that our project was locally sourced using only the technology available in Tanzania so if anything were to break it could easily be fixed. Outlines of some of our designs and final pictures of our solar lighting system can be found below.

Our trip was centered around solar engineering, but while in Tanzania we also got exposure to other forms of local engineering. Throughout the trip we got to talk with local engineering shop owners, a solar panel company, an e-waste expert, a sustainable farmer, and Arusha technical school professors and students.  These were unique experiences that gave me a new perspective on what engineering is and what it looks like in places outside of just the US. We also got to experience much of the culture and wild life Tanzania has to offer  through marketplace visits, hikes in mountain villages, a safari, and all of our daily interactions with Tanzanians. It was definitely a trip I will never forget!

Here is a video of our trip:

 

This summer I worked at Goodyear Tire and Rubber headquarters in Akron, Ohio in the global engineering department as part of the innovation team. On the innovation team, I worked in the process development center, a fast paced environment where we were constantly creating and improving tire manufacturing equipment for the future. In the process development center we had full tire building capabilities so I got a lot of hands on experience building tires and learning the tire building processes and machines. Our desks were also right next to the machines we were working on, which was convenient for rapid prototyping and testing of designs. Every day was different in the process development center as parts broke and new parts got implemented, meaning that as an intern I had to be able to constantly adapt and shift priorities around. Throughout the summer I got to work on a variety of projects including dye designs, conveyor systems, and other design projects, most of which I cannot talk about due to the protection of these projects. I gained many skills including 3D modeling in Inventor, understanding of factory layouts and manufacturing, interpretation of engineering drawings, creation of engineering drawings, coordination of projects with outside companies, understanding of tire production machinery, working with a diverse team of engineers, presentation of projects, and interpersonal skills. Unfortunately I cannot provide any pictures or files of the projects I worked on due to the company protection of these projects.