SPUR: thermoelectric energy-recovery test rig

Led a 3-person team through the rig's design, drawings, fabrication, assembly and testing.

Investigate whether thermoelectric generators could recover waste heat from metro braking.

• A limited project budget and capstone schedule.
• Simulation setup and constraint issues that could not be resolved within the available time.

• Developed test-rig designs with input from the school machinist and evaluated material and cost trade-offs with a teammate.
• Produced the drawing package for the school machinist.
• Fabricated and assembled nearly all of the rig; completed stock cutting, press fits, deburring and finishing.
• Worked on Ansys fluid-simulation setup, then used SolidWorks to inform the initial design.
• Built LabVIEW data acquisition with mentor guidance and plotted test results in MATLAB.

Chose

Used SolidWorks to inform the initial design.

Rejected

Continuing the Ansys fluid-simulation setup within the capstone schedule.

Why

Setup and constraint issues could not be resolved within the available project time.

Built and tested the initial rig during the August–December 2025 capstone. The team measured voltage and temperature to check for power generation. Further development toward optimization and resizing is on hold for now.

Developed with my capstone teammates (one designed the cover), with design input from the school machinist and mentor guidance on LabVIEW data acquisition.