UCONN Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Job Ticket s3

UCONN Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Job Ticket

Sponsoring Company: Paramount Machine Company, Inc.

Project Title: Automated Assembly Process to Reduce Cycle Time

Prime Contacts: Matt Peterson [email protected]

The Engineering Challenge: Paramount Machine Company, located in Manchester CT, is a 35 year old company that specializes in precision machining and assemblies for the aerospace industry. They have received the United Technologies (UTC) Gold Supplier award and its customer base includes United Technologies Aerospace Systems (UTAS).

One of the high volume assemblies that Paramount supplies to UTC is an aluminum shaft and steel gear assembly (see figures 1 and 2) that is used in the lubrication system of a gas turbine engine component. The design intent requires that the gear have a diametrical interference fit on the shaft. This is accomplished by heating and cooling the individual components and then manually assembling them (figure 3). This is a very time consuming process and Paramount desires to reduce the overall cycle time of each assembly.

Figure 1 Aluminum Shaft Figure 2 Steel Gear Figure 3 Assembly Description of Problem/Project:

Investigate, design and demonstrate a more automated process for the heating, cooling and assembly of the shaft and gear to reduce the cycle time for each assembly.

Expected Deliverables/Approach:

 Review all blueprint and process requirements.

 Conduct a cycle time study to baseline the current process.

 Conduct thermal heating and cooling simulations to determine the radial gap at assembly and the required time to ensure sufficient interference fit prior to removal from the assembly tooling.

 Identify an automated method to assemble the gear and shaft.

 Fabricate a prototype system.

 Demonstrate the operation and resulting cycle time.

 A bill of materials (BOM) for all components

 All CAD models and technical data

 Instruction manual for operation and calibration of the resulting system.

 Is there a specific software package required for the projects? Y ___ N _X__

Which package (name/version) ______

 U.S. Citizen/Person (green card) Required? Y_X___ N ____

 Will Export Controlled data be used in project (EAR/ITAR) Y _X____N___

 NDA/IP Agreements required? Y _X__ N __  Other considerations: Paramount will make available their machine shop and tool design facilities to the student team.