UNLV SPRING 2017 SENIOR DESIGN COMPETITION GRAND PRIZE
WINNER
Eric Monahan
The UNLV curriculum requires engineering students to
participate in a two semester Senior Design Competition as a capstone to our
undergraduate careers. The competition requires teams of engineers to undertake
a design project and compete against other engineering groups in an event
sponsored by local businesses.
For the Spring 2017 competition, I worked with my friends
James Mellott, EE, and Isaac Robinson, CPE, to develop a non-contact voltage
detection glove with memory we called 'The Electrical Tester'. Our design aims
to improve the safety of electrical workers by offering passive detection
rather than the currently available active detection devices. An early version
of The Electrical Tester prototype is displayed below. Later versions
incorporated a composite housing to protect the PCB with the goal of ultimately
developing a PCB the size of a typical wristwatch to provide a fit the average
user will find comfortable and familiar.
An early prototype of 'The Electrical Tester'
The competition culminated in an awards banquet where
teams of competitors received peer recognition and monetary awards within
several categories, as well as an overall winner selected for a Grand Prize
among the teams. Among the 31 competing teams in the competition, 'The
Electrical Tester' won for both the Sustainability award, sponsored by NV
Energy, and for the Grand Prize, sponsored by National Securities Technologies.
Winning the Grand Prize in a competition with so many great teams of young
engineers was an honor and an event I will always remember. A special thank you
directed to Dr. Baker and to our senior design advisor, Brandon Blackstone, for
their guidance throughout this competition and during my time at UNLV. Lastly,
thank you to the sponsors for supporting UNLV's engineering curriculum,
specifically, Cox Communications, NSTec, and NV Energy. The picture below was
taken immediately following the announcement for the Grand Prize. Standing,
left to right, are 'The Electrical Tester' design team members Isaac Robinson,
Eric Monahan and James Mellott. Seated, left to right, are UNLV President Len
Jessup, Mrs. Harriet Cox, and UNLV's Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering
Dean Rama Venkat.
UNLV Spring 2017 Senior Design Competition
Grand Prize Winner: The Electrical Tester
I am including links containing more information relevant
to my Senior Design project:
Senior Design: The Electrical Tester Final Report
The Electrical Tester Design Competition Poster
The Electrical Tester Design Competition Poster