Norwich students collaborate with Collins Aerospace for capstone project

A group of four freshly graduated Norwich alumni finalized their educational journey by presenting their capstone project, an aircraft pressure sensor testing apparatus, to Collins Aerospace on April 25. The group of students was tasked with assisting the company by working alongside them to design an apparatus in a semi-automated fashion, from conceptualization to realization.

Four Norwich students took on the challenge: Kenneth Beguhl ’24, Henry Dennee ’24, Tristan Ouellette ’24, and Kennedy Tor ’24. 

The cohort was led by project advisor and Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Scott Smith, and was additionally facilitated by Patrick Gibbons ’90, a principal engineer in the mechanical engineering department at Collins Aerospace and fellow on the Norwich University David Crawford College of Engineering Board of Fellows. 

The sponsored project’s goal was to create an apparatus that could calibrate a pressure sensor from two to twenty-five pound-force per square inch in a semi-automated form. “Throughout the fall semester, the students met with a team of Collins engineers to discuss the needs of conceptual designs,” said Smith. They started out with three main concepts: a cantilever with weights, a piston that was weight-activated, and a dual-tank design with both a supply and testing tank. “The team went through a decision process where they compared the concepts with competitors and determined the dual tank would be the best design,” said Smith.

With their design in mind, the students purchased the necessary equipment but got a taste of the real world when plans hit a snag in the form of supply chain issues which caused the order to be delayed until the end of the semester. The group met with Collins Aerospace and decided on a pivot. “The students assembled their new apparatus and performed leak tests,” said Smith, adding that they disassembled and reassembled the apparatus three times to reduce the leaks. “The controller was being designed and researched while the mechanical side was being assembled,” he said. The finished design features a controller that holds open the valves just long enough for the required pressure step and records the pressure inside the tank, the set point, and the voltage of the sensors. Then, the system is vented for safety.

The students took their work and presented it to Gibbons and additional Collins Aerospace personnel. “They presented in front of senior engineering staff and management, and it was evident that their time spent at Norwich will serve them well in their professional pursuits,” said Gibbons. “The staff were all impressed and I could tell by their reactions that the students’ end product exceeded expectations. I have presented in front of customers like Boeing, Airbus, and Bell a few times, and I am confident that these former students have the engineering attributes to do the same if the opportunity presents.”

The group of four that was highlighted by Gibbons all share an academic background, but also share common interests in the surrounding the field that drew them to work on the project as they prepare to begin their professional journeys in the workforce. Tor holds a strong affinity for the aerospace industry and builds hobby aircraft; Ouellette finds interest in controls and the defense sector; Beguhl signed with General Dynamics Electric Boat as a member of their Shipyard Test Organization; and Dennee is commissioned by the U.S. Air Force as a pilot.

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Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in baccalaureate and graduate degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States of America. Norwich is one of our nation's six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu