Team Members

Derek Colon, Ryan Edwards, Colby Farrand, Ria Fettig, Rachel Jones, Mikaela Juda, Cyril Moran

Abstract

Our team’s Hedgehog concept was to provide increased ease of use, efficient material selection, high levels of safety, and consistent shaking patterns for the shaker table design. This was accomplished by utilizing a belt and pulley system to provide smooth shaking patterns, reduced material cost, increased safety by reducing motor strain and containing all components, and ease of integrated control features for user friendliness. The belt and pulley system translates motion to two rods that move the well plate at their intersection. Our design’s ability to incorporate a variety of user selected shaking patterns makes it competitive in the market due to the current limited availability of shaking patterns. Our user interface system allows the user to select the pattern type, speed, and amount of time to run, which makes the system easy to learn and use. The cost of the system is optimized since belts are the cheapest method to translate motion compared to actuators, lead screws, and rack and pinion systems. Also, our system primarily uses OTS parts and manufactured parts made from common materials and sizes to optimize the cost and manufacturing time. Additionally, smooth shaking patterns are accomplished by the use of a belt and pulley system since it reduces the strain on the motor, thus reducing vibrations and heat dissipation from the motor. Overall, our design is unique due to adjustable parameters, increased ease of use, optimized material cost, and consistent shaking patterns and high levels of safety accomplished through a belt and pulley system.