When the DigIndy Tunnel System is complete, Citizens Energy Group will be responsible for maintaining more than 30 screens leading to the tunnel, keeping each free from debris accumulation.
Through Citizens’ Partnership for Excellence in Research and Learning (PERL) program, a multi-disciplinary group of seniors in the R.B. Annis School of Engineering at the University of Indianapolis (UIndy) designed a prototype device during the 2021-2022 academic year that can clean the screens.
Currently, Citizens pays a contractor to clean the four active screening sites leading to the tunnel. However, additional screening structures will create the need for an efficient, universal cleaning mechanism to save time and money.
The requirements of the project were that the device had to be portable, remotely driven, and able to clean all screen debris buildup without allowing debris to flow into the tunnel or touch the ground surface above the screening structure.
The students visited a tunnel screen structure to gain a better understanding of the sanitary sewer system before starting the design process, which included alternative analyses, 3D modeling, subsystems testing, and stress analysis. The students used these design techniques to fabricate and test a full-scale functional prototype.
The final prototype featured a remote-controlled robot with a hydraulic bucket arm that can scrape off and catch debris from the screening structures, minimizing the time that operations and maintenance crews are in confined spaces.
Throughout the school year, the students gave four presentations about their design to Citizens staff, as well as at the Annual UIndy Scholar showcase event and at the American Society of Engineering Education conference.
The group was mentored by UIndy graduate Payton Staman, Engineer I. “I was proud to mentor the team and was excited to see the functionality of the final prototype,” he said. “It’s encouraging to see the students’ growth throughout the semester, and I am thankful that Citizens values students’ education by providing real-world projects through our PERL program.”
Staman said the out-of-the-box thinking employed by the students helped further Citizens’ efforts to reach a final solution. During the project handoff, UIndy provided all the shop drawings, CAD models, operation and maintenance manuals, and design details for Citizens to proceed with the concept if desired.
Engineering students at the University of Indianapolis designed a prototype device that can clean debris from screens that lead to the DigIndy Tunnel System.
