Benjamin Egan

Mechanical Engineer Physicist

Professional Portfolio

Table of Contents

Title Page……………………………...…..………………...1

Table of Contents…………………....………….....………...2

Resume………………………….…...…..……..…………...3

Transcripts…………………………...……..…...………...4-5

Experience/Design Projects………...……..…..….……...6-12

Computer Aided Design Projects………......…..…...…..13-16

Programming Design Project………...……..…...….……...17

Achievements/Awards……………....……..…………....…18

Memberships and Volunteer Activities…...……….……….19

Letters of Recommendation…………..….…........…….20, 21

OBJECTIVE: To incorporate my product design skills and manufacturing knowledge in order to improve quality and efficiencies within the Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Field.

EDUCATION: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI Bachelor of Science: Mechanical Engineering BSME Attended: 09/06 – 12/08 Graduated: December 2008 GPA: 3.547 University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse, WI Bachelor of Science: Physics Minor: Mathematics BSP

Attended: 01/03 - 05/06, Graduated: December 2007

EXPERIENCE: Stratus Automation Corporation, Kent, WA 01/10 - Current, Mechanical Design Engineer

• Designed custom material transport and storage systems for hard drive manufacturers.

• Solely responsible for 3 major design projects totaling $1.5M

• Project manager including consulting and purchasing from vendors, scheduling, production management, shipping & receiving and cost benefit analysis.

• Dealt effectively with customers, suppliers and coworkers on a daily basis to achieve results in a timely manner; handing various responsibilities and projects simultaneously.

• Designed with material processing (machining, welding, heat treating, post-processing)

• Incorporated a wide variety of materials in design (Ferrous Metals, polymers, rubbers, epoxy's)

• Effectively worked to improve overall quality and overcome production problems.

• Helped research and develop new processing methods with collaborative assistance from coworkers

• Came up with unique solutions and engineering designs to overcome physical obstacles.

Automation Components Incorporated (ACI), Middleton, WI 6/06 – 8/08, Design/Manufacturing Engineering Team Member (Including Internship)

• Designed and manufactured temperature sensors and temperature housing.

• Translated mechanical/electrical concepts to produced designs within engineering specifications.

• Influenced product designs through extensive research and management collaboration.

• Worked hand in hand with Quality Manager to resolve manufacturability problems.

• Developed innovative sensor testing techniques to meet changing assembly guidelines.

• Worked to improve group dynamics to enhance internal collaborative growth.

• Consistently challenged myself by learning new programs and processes.

• One of four production people used to gain Honeywell as a client ($3M business investment). Solid Works, Pro/Engineer, Mechanica, AutoDesk Inventor, MathCAD, AutoCAD, Graphical Analysis, EES, Mathmatica, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, Visual Basic, C++, Java, ANSYS, Handy Board Interfacing, OrCAD Suite (PCB Editor, Capture, Allegro)

Professional Portfolio Available Upon Request

Design Work Stratus Automation designs automated material handling equipment for the hard disk drive and solar cell manufacturing industry. My design projects have dealt specifically with the automated transport and storage of the hard disk drives. As these disk drives move from one process to another, they must be stocked in storage. My machine takes these drives from 4 different locations and stores then on a shelving system for later use. This is all controlled without the aid of human interaction and is defined by a set of parameters that give priority and placement location to the specific disk drives. From there, the technician can select a certain batch of drives to be removed from the shelf and sent to various locations. This machine is also rated for class 10 cleanrooms. The stocker machine was designed from the ground up using the Solidworks CAD program. Every component was tested and fitted virtually before physical production began. Being the project manager and the only mechanical engineer, I was involved in every aspect of its creation. From all of the design work, to dealing with customer requests to working with vendors to physical production, alignment and testing.

Solidworks design of the Stocker Machine

Physical Stocker Machine

Currently the machine consists of 4 motion axis, 3 translational and 1 rotational. All of these axis are linear encoder and servo motor driven for the micron precision required. The vertical axis is a toothed pulley design with counterweight assistance. The conveyor systems are small servo motor and belt driven roller systems with photo-micro, ultrasonic and thru beam sensors. RFID tag readers are also used to read the incoming disk drive information in order to determine its correct destination. The drive train system is also a toothed pulley design using a 3:1 reduction ratio. The entire machine is covered in anti-static polycarbonate panels for safety.

Gripper design used to pick and place disk drive cassettes

Drive train used to drive vertical axis

View from the inside of machine showing disk drive cassettes on shelving

Electrical wiring

Design Project #2 Custom Wire Technologies (CWT), of Port Washington Wisconsin, makes springs, catheters, stints and other fine medical parts. These parts are packaged in plastic bags and then are shipped to the customer. The plastic bags are cut and sealed manually which requires a lot of time and money. CWT was looking into saving time and money by designing and building a machine that could perform this task quickly and need minimal maintenance. Our group decided to take on this extensive venture as our Mechanical Engineering 479 design project. Through careful planning of the mechanical and electronic system design we were able to build a well running, effective machine that delivers on all of the requirements given by CWT. It needed to be able to make bags for the varying length parts and be able to input the number of bags needed.

The bag machine was built around a tolomatic slide that is approximately 5 feet long. The

bag spool is mounted under the machine on the carriage that the machine is mounted to. With a series of grippers we can pull the bag off the roll and make a series of bags of different lengths and widths. Because the bag coming off the roll is continuous and unsealed we have included a cutter and sealer that will be run on a pneumatic slide. The sealer will slide in once the bag has been pulled to its specified length to cut and seal. The pneumatic slide will then pull the sealer away to stay out of the rest of the process. The Programmable Language Controller will control the entire process, except for a series of initial inputs from the operator like length and bag count. All of the components, except for the tolomatic slide, will be pneumatic and controlled by pressurized air; the tolomatic slide will be controlled by a stepper motor which we have programmed in order to get the proper speed for pulling out the bags at a rather controlled speed. The PID loop for this process will be programmed into the tolomatic. With an initial input from a user of a specific length the machine will adjust for that length of bag and continue the loop until the total count is reached.

The overall cost of the machine totaled $12,233 without labor. The estimated labor cost of

producing the bags by hand during 2007 was $5,546. The estimated loss of production due to manual production was $24,032. By implementing this machine into production, the yearly savings for CWT is $29,578. Therefore this machine had paid for itself in about a half of a year.

Below you will find various figures and schematics pertaining to this design project. There is

also a written report, PowerPoint Presentation and Three Minute Video entailing the build of this project from start to finish.

The link to this project’s video is as follows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvFROFUi_70

Disclaimer: Used with permission from Custom Wire Technologies

Figure 1: Entire Assembled Bag Machine in SolidWORKS

Figure 2: Top View of Assembled Components

Figure 3: Bag Cutter and Sealer with Air Cylinder

Figure 4: Zoomed In Pulley System for Bags

Figure 5: Wiring Schematic – Digital Input, 1st Card (of 4)

Figure 6: Wiring Schematic – Digital Output, 2nd Card (of 2)

Figure 7: Picture of finished Panel Box

Figure 8: PLC with E-Stop

Computer Aided Design Work In order to gain experience with the Solid Works CAD package, I began to model various vehicle components. Beginning with the design of the rim, I have since built upon the entire assembly. Thus far the components modeled include tires, brake rotors, brake caliper assembly (pistons, spring supports, lines, pads) and suspension components (coilover, compression spring, inner piston, adjustable mounting and adjustable stiffness dampening). This is an on-going build in which I hope to eventually build and assemble the major components of an automobile. The major dimensions are all to size with the minor dimensions according roughly to scale.

Figure 13: Wheel, Tire and Suspension Assembly

Figure 14: Suspension Assembly

Figure 15: Suspension Assembly Up Close

Figure 16: Brake Assembly

Computer Aided Design Work 2 Based upon my previous 2D AutoCAD work, this industrial thermostat enclosure encompasses a housing that is not only easy to use but aesthetically pleasing. The model uses a variety of features ranging from simple cuts and extrudes to complex surface operations. The printed control board is currently in use at my previous employer Automation Components Incorporated. The board's dimensions are accurate to ±0.005mm. A complete mold assembly has also been created for a molding press.

Figure 17: Epsilon Housing Assembly

Figure 18: Printed Circuit Board

Programming Design The objective was to design and write a program to model the popular cell phone game “Snake”. This was a three week project based in the Java programming language. This project required an extensive knowledge of various computer design parameters such as arrays, prototyping, graphic implementation, recursion and event handling. Not only were computer related skills required for this project but also real-world design steps were to be used. These would include a project outline, variable definitions, user interactions, reliable workability and simplification of design. After the program was written, extensive error checking was implemented in order to ensure a quality program free of defects and programming bugs. Sample Coding from Program: //Post: A Food and/or Poisen item is created randomly if not already present. public void showFood(){ if(Math.random()<=.1){ //10% chance of appearing every second double randomizer = Math.random(); if(isFoodPresent == false && randomizer >= .4){ //food had 60% chance of appearing if not already present isFoodPresent = true; foodXPosition = (15*((int)(0 + Math.random()*33))); foodYPosition = (15*((int)(0 + Math.random()*33))); food = new Rectangle(foodXPosition,foodYPosition,15,15); food.setBackground(new Color(((int)(Math.random()*(256))), ((int)(Math.random()*(256))),((int)(Math.random()*(256))))); add(food,0); foodColor = food.getBackground(); removeFood(); //goes to start a remove timer repaint(); } if(isPoisenPresent == false && randomizer < .4){ //poisen has 40% chance of appearing if not already present isPoisenPresent = true; poisenXPosition = (15*((int)(0 + Math.random()*33))); poisenYPosition = (15*((int)(0 + Math.random()*33))); poisenRectangle = new Rectangle(poisenXPosition,poisenYPosition,15,15); poisenOval = new Oval(poisenXPosition,poisenYPosition,15,15); poisenRectangle.setBackground(new Color(((int)(Math.random()*(256))), ((int)(Math.random()*(256))),((int)(Math.random()*(256))))); poisenOval.setBackground(new Color(((int)(Math.random()*(256))), ((int)(Math.random()*(256))),((int)(Math.random()*(256))))); add(poisenRectangle,0); add(poisenOval,0); poisenColor = poisenOval.getBackground(); removePoisen(); //goes to start a remove timer repaint(); } } } //Post: Food Remove Timer is created and started

Achievements & Awards

• Commencement Honors (Magna Cum Laude) -Graduated with High Honors GPA: 3.547

• Deans List for Six Semesters

• 5 years of American Karate taken. Graduated with a First degree black belt in 1995. (Shows Perseverance, Discipline, Respect)

• Created two albums to showcase my music ability. Every aspect of the production was done by me, which includes the following.

o Instrumental Sampling and Creating o Sound Engineering o Music Production o Lyrical Content o Album Design o Distribution, Promotion and Show Booking

• Helped out with the set design of two theatrical presentations for the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse

Roles and Volunteer Activities

Leadership Roles Officer for the Social Actions Theater Group

• Balancing of funds

• Booking of performance locations

• Group Leader to guide others with skit design

• Helped in designing the web site

• Helped to write and deliver Grant proposals

Memberships

Member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Society

• Conferred honor upon their alma mater by exemplary character.

• The Nation’s second-oldest honor society and Internationally Recognized

• Must be apart of the top 1/5th of my class.

• Members include Buzz Aldrin, Equador’s former president Leon Cordero, Time Magazine’s man of the year Andy Grove, Jeff Bezos, Charles Draper, James Van Allen and 19 Nobel Laureates

Member of the Order of the Engineer

• Pledge to practice integrity and respect.

• Acknowledge my obligation to serve humanity in honest enterprise. Engineers without Borders/Engineers for a Sustainable World

• Plans for a University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Chapter

• Future projects include bridge design, sustainable living conditions, clean water implementations, flood control

National Scholars Honor Society

• Recognizes excellence and high achievement

Volunteer Activities Meals on Wheels

• Donated my time on Saturdays to bring warm meals to those who were unable to provide for themselves

State Park Conservation

• Clean up of Camping Grounds

• Weed Removal

• Tree and Bush Relocation

• Maintaining of Trails

Professional References

Professor Yaoyu Li, Ph. D -Professor for the Control and Design of Mechatronic Systems 479 class.

Yaoyu Li, Ph. D., Assistant Professor P.O. Box 784, Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53201 ------------------------------------------- Office: EMS 907, 3200 North Cramer Street, Milwaukee, WI 53211 Phone: 414-229-3960 Mobile: 414-791-3318 Fax: 414-229-6958 Email: yyli@uwm.edu Website: http://www.uwm.edu/~yyli ===========================================

Austin Wolters, Production Manager of Stratus Automation

Austin Wolters, Production Manager Email: arpondel25@yahoo.com ------------------------------------------ 20704 Island Pkwy E, Lake Tapps, Wa 98391 TEL: 253.880.298 ============================================

Paul Hannon, Engineering Manager of ACI -Former manager at my previous employer and internship provider.

Paul Hannon, Design Engineer Email: phannon@workaci.com ----------------------------------------- Automation Components, Inc. (ACI) 2305 Pleasant View Road, Middleton, WI 53562 TEL: 608.831.2585 FAX: 608.831.7407 http://www.workaci.com/ ===========================================

Matthew Sanderson, Mechanical Engineer at Adaptive Displays -Former colleague and design partner

Matthew Sanderson, Mechanical Engineer Email: matu2002@hotmail.com ------------------------------------------ 2630 N. Murray Ave APT 108, Milwaukee, 53211 TEL: 651.253.2184 ============================================