NCSU Mechanical Engineering Seniors Win Student Safety Engineering Design Contest
December 22, 2006
By C. Heeter, G. Ngaile, and Jeff List, NCSU

A senior design team from North Carolina State University (NCSU) was the winner of the 2005/2006 Student Safety Engineering Design Contest. This annual competition promotes safety engineering as a field of study and encourages students to consider safety engineering as a career option. Contest sponsors are the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' (ASME) Safety Engineering and Risk Analysis Division (SERAD) and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Mechanical engineering seniors at NCSU are required to complete a one-semester capstone design project for which Norfolk Southern sponsored one of the spring 2006 projects. Under the guidance of Professor Gracious Ngaile, six teams were given the task of developing an autonomous tie plate insertion machine with the overall purpose of replacing a human operator during the insertion of a tie plate from the edge of the crosstie to the proper position under the rail. Such a machine will improve overall safety for railway maintenance teams. The design process spanned a period of three months during which the teams had to generate feasible concepts; critically assess optimal solutions to satisfy project specifications; conduct analyses for the chosen design; prepare detailed drawings; and construct and test a prototype. Figures 1 and 2 show the conceived design of the Autonomous Tie Plate Insertion Machine.

Engineers representing Norfolk Southern, Mr. Dexter Roberts and Mr. Philip Bissette, judged the project, and the team with the best overall design was invited to enter their design report in the Student Safety Engineering Design Contest. The winning team consisted of: William Best, Kurt Blomquist, Jason Giaquinto, Corey Kinard, and Jeffrey List. A $2000 cash prize was awarded to the team and $500 to the faculty advisor.

From left to right: Prof. Gracious Ngaile, Mr. Dexter Roberts (NS Engineer), Mr. Corey Kinard,
Mr.Philip Bissette (NS Engineer), Mr. Jeffrey List, Mr. Jason Giaquinto, and Mr. William Best

Figure 1: Prototype Testing		Figure 2: Autonomous Tie Plate Insertion Machine