Students put their projects on display

YSU engineering students build on their lessons with extracurricular projects.
By ANGIE SCHMITT
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- It was 10 p.m. Tuesday when Erik Beegle's mechanical engineering team put the finishing touches on its human-powered vehicle, better known as a recumbent bicycle.
Since fall semester, the group of four had been toying with the vehicle's steering and low-slung frame. At 2 p.m. Wednesday, they set it on display in Youngstown State University's Moser Hall.
Engineering students from a range of disciplines displayed the practical applications of their lessons from 2 to 6 p.m. for the university's annual Design Day. The event serves as a forum for projects completed by YSU engineering students to represent the university at competitions beyond campus boundaries, said university spokesman Ron Cole.
The bizarre-looking bicycle was the product of Beegle's team's schooling in ergonomics -- the interaction between a person and a machine.
The human-powered vehicle, with its reclined posture, broke world speed records when it was introduced into the cycling world in 1934.
"When your body's in a straight position, you're going to get more power to your legs," said Beegle.
The YSU team will test the project's capacity for speed at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Human Powered Vehicle Challenge in May, he said.
Concrete canoe
Civil engineering student Bill Pitoscia's team turned the principles used in human powered vehicles upside down when it set out to create a water-worthy canoe from sidewalk concrete.
Pitoscia and about 12 other civil engineering students built a mold for the vessel, christened "Concrete Pete," using Styrofoam and polyurethane. The group took extra care to construct a flat bottom for the boat to prevent tipping, he said.
"It's teaching us that concrete can be used as a versatile building material," said Pitoscia.
The canoe was fast enough to win YSU's team 3rd place at the American Society of Civil Engineers Ohio Valley Regional Conference this month.
Like most students who displayed work Wednesday, Pitoscia's teammates constructed their project outside of classroom hours and did not receive school credit for their efforts.
Design Day, Cole said, "is just a way for them to show their colleagues what they've been working on all year. ... They're using the skills they've learned in their classes."
Turbine
Engineering major Dale Seginak and his team tried to incorporate lessons from all of their classes in designing a dual-rotor wind turbine.
The turbine captures wind using three wooden blades, turning rotors fitted with 20 magnets. The motion creates an alternating current that wires energy to a digital monitoring device. It is capable of powering eight 60-watt light bulbs, Seginak said.
With mechanical, electrical and digital aspects, Seginak's wind turbine was designed to test a range of skills.
"We encapsulated everything that we learned," said Seginak.