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Rotary Vane Pump

Background 

The goal of this project is to gain hands-on experience in how manufacturing processes affect design decisions and how this chain of design decisions affects the production cost.

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Technical Details 

Part 1: Build the pump

  • Learned the fundamental manufacturing processes of: Milling, Turning, Cutting with Water Jet and Laser Cutters, Sheet Metal techniques, Welding, and Sand Casting, among others.​

  • Machined the pump's parts based on engineering drawings and engineering specifications.

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Click on the link below to watch the video that showcases the entire process of manufacturing the pump from stock materials using various manufacturing processes. 

Part 2: Redesign the pump

  • Applied engineering design concepts to redesign the rotary vane pump for Elmer's glue application based on the specifications below: 

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3D CAD of the redesigned pump 

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Design Modifications

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Production cost

Below is the BOM and production cost for one pump, calculated using a software called aPriori. This tool enabled us to select variables that impact manufacturing decisions, such as material costs, manufacturing location, shipping, production processes, and more. 

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Tolerance Analysis

Housing-Rotor 
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0.023

Ball Bearing-Bearing Housing 
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Housing ID-Rotor Thickness
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Ball Bearing-Shaft 
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Outcomes/lesson learned 

Before
After

  • TOTAL parts count: 53

  • Manufacturing Cost: $350

  • Assembly time: 10 mins

  • TOTAL parts count: 35

  • Manufacturing Cost: $241.66

  • Assembly time: 4 mins

  • Gained expertise in material selection for pump applications utilizing Granta EduPack software.

  • Developed an understanding of design decisions based on the manufacturing processes involved in pump production.

  • Conducted geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) for the pump's 2D technical drawings.

  • Applied Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) principles to optimize the pump design for Elmer's glue.

  • Utilized aPriori software to predict production costs by uploading CAD files and selecting appropriate manufacturing processes.

  • Performed tolerance analysis for key components of the pump to ensure precision and quality.

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