SHELBY — The rubber hit the road Friday afternoon for a group of students at North Central State College.
Teams of College-NOW Engineering Academy students took their capstone projects for a test drive during the annual Kehoe Grand Prix.
Juniors raced mousetrap cars in the morning, followed by seniors racing electric go karts. The go karts were allowed to run up to an hour, each competing to wrack up laps before their battery expired.
One team, sponsored by Land Moto, lasted nearly the entire hour without stops and wracked up 73 miles.
“Our sponsor giving us a nice battery and motor definitely helped out on how fast we can go and how long they can last,” said Joe McCormick, an Ashland High School student and driver for the team.
Although the class met once a week, McCormick and his teammates chose to meet more frequently.
“We tried to put six to eight hours in a week, at least,” he said.
Each team member took on a portion of the project.
“We’re able to collaborate with electrical, CAD (computer assisted design) and 3D drawing, mechanical,” said Galion’s Jason Gledhill, the project manager for the team.
While the Grand Prix is an exciting finale, Prof. Mike Beebe said the project’s greatest learning benefits come from the creating rather than the results.
Students followed the design process used in the “real world” of engineering. The semester started with a research phase, then designed and built a vehicle with the frame, steering, braking and gearing systems of their choice.
“The real core of it is to manage a project and work in a team,” Beebe said. “We try to apply the theory with some type of project so they can see it in action.”
Each team will have to complete a final report and presentation before the semester ends.
The two-year College-NOW program allows high school students to earn an associates degree in conjunction with their high school diploma. NCSC currently has College-NOW programs in business, engineering technology and bioscience.
Director Darcy Carns said students can get a job with their associates in integrated engineering technology, but most students continue with their schooling.
“Most of our students have their sights set on higher education,” she said. “About 85 to 90 percent of them do transfer into a bachelor’s program.”
Following the Grand Prix, students from NCSC’s bachelor’s program tested out their projects, which included a test dummy launcher and an adaptable bike trailer for transporting a wheelchair user.
One senior capstone group worked to develop a brain and skull for the crash dummy, with a sensor implanted in each.
The goal of the experiment was to better understand the impact of a bicycle crash on the brain. Since the brain floats in a layer of fluid encapsulated in the skull, the impact of a crash on the brain is likely different than the impact on the skull.
The experiment was done in partnership with Humanectics, a crash testing and safety company, and has real world implications.
“Right now all the dummies that we have, all the sensors are mounted pretty rigidly into the skull, so they move with the skull rather than the brain,” explained senior Chase Mullins.
“We’re hoping that data looks different between the skull and between the sensor in the brain. Otherwise, we have to rethink some things.”
