I greatly enjoyed working on this project for ME 370, as well as learning all of the valuable course material this semester. Constructing this portfolio has reinforced in me how each of the different steps, from need finding and ideation to analysis and prototyping, was in creating the final product. Each one of these steps helped to flush out further aspects of the design and highlight areas where problems were likely to occur. Assuming that one can design a fully functional prototype from an initial sketch without any changes seems to be entirely impossible. Even if it were, there would be many missed opportunities for improvement along the way. I hope you have enjoyed viewing my project as much as I enjoyed making it!

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Throughout this project, I have discovered many aspects of my own work that I excel at, but also common challenges that I face. I find that I often have a desire for perfection that can be both positive and negative in my work. It can be useful for driving me to complete my projects with the highest level that I can achieve, but often backfires when I spend too much time focusing on a specific aspect of a project and leave the rest to suffer. I feel that I have also done a good job with organization among my group this semester, with the planning of meetings and setting goals for the group. It was also important for me to ensure that everyone felt that their opinions and work was appreciated. Too often I have seen groups were some members are ignored and their ideas discarded just because they don't feel comfortable speaking up for themselves within the group. One challenge area for myself is parting with my own ideas in place of others. It can be hard to look at the flaws of a personal idea that you have grown attached to, even when others may have a better idea. I have gotten better at letting my ideas die this semester and recognizing how valuable the input and ideas of the rest of the team are.

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I have gained a vast amount of new knowledge in this course that I believe will be valuable to me for my entire career as an engineer. In analyzing gear trains, I feel I learned best from experimenting with different problems that allowed me to visualize what different gear parameters result in. The gear train clock bonus problem was especially useful for me, as it forced me to think beyond the simple problems and to see a real world example. Graphical linkage synthesis was another area of study in which the focus on visual learning greatly increased my understanding of the course concepts. Seeing the PVA analysis applied to the graphical interface was a great tool, and greatly increased my ability to understand the DFA analysis when the topic was covered. I am very fascinated by the coupler curves that we studied during GLS, and hope to be able to study these, and their underlying designs, more in the future.

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Of the many positive experiences that I have gained from ME 370, I would say the most valuable to me was our study of linkages. When thinking of machine designs on my own in the past, and during ME 270 in a previous semester, I found myself limited in solution possibilities due to my limited knowledge of linkage mechanisms. The study of these linkage mechanisms in this course has not only shown me how they can be a valuable resource for design, but also how to study their functions with specific calculations with PVA and DFA analysis. That being said, these calculations were also some of the more challenging of the course material, due to the volume of equations that must be used. I have a more difficult time visualizing the problem being solved when it begins to take a more large scale/abstract nature, which prevents me from grasping the meaning as easily. My interest in the concepts, however, has pushed me to learn the material as well as possible. I was amazed by the many different possibilities that different combinations of slider and crank mechanisms allow for, and am eager to apply them to future designs.

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I am excited to begin applying these fundamental concepts that I have learned in ME 370 to real world engineering problems. This summer, I will be working for Whirlpool Corporation (which produces consumer appliances under brands such as KitchenAid and Maytag) in their WERLD intern program. A possible application of ME 370 knowledge could be in the use of planetary gears in some of KitchenAid's mixing appliances. It would be important to analyze these gear trains when making modifications to the product to predict and measure the speed and torque outputs of the mixing device. For an application such as this, it would also be important to conduct PVA and DFA analysis on the components in order to asses the forces within the gears and any linkages involved. For a consumer product company such as Whirlpool, reliability is an important factor when consumers asses products, therefore requiring precise calculations and thorough consideration of these factors. I believe that my work in ME 370 has prepared me well to handle these sorts of applications.