In addition to the ME 481 Senior Capstone class, there are six design courses required of all Mechanical Engineering majors. Three of those courses participate in Design Day. For the complete competition schedules, please see the Design Day Booklet.

In ME 371 Mechanical Design I students are required to design and manufacture mechanisms that incorporate at least one linkage, one gear set and one cam-follower combination.

These projects are on display during Design Day from 9:00 until noon in Rooms 1225 and 1230, First Floor of the Engineering Building. The team with the best design, as voted on by pre-collegiate visitors, is awarded the Sparty Plaque.

In ME 471 Mechanical Design II students were asked to design, build and test a small scale horizontal motion conveyor system to transport cereal during processing. The design scope includes (1) the drive mechanism, (2) the pan, (3) the supports, and (4) all associated hardware. The loading/unloading heights are 1 meter (low), and 5 meters (high). Students will present their designs, simulations and scale prototypes.

The competition is held in the Room 1345, First floor of the Engineering Building from 8:00am until noon. The winning team receives the Leonardo da Vinci Machine Design Award. Please see the Design Day Booklet for information on the competition schedule.

The ME 412 Heat Transfer Laboratory goal is to achieve the greatest reduction in the temperature of 1 liter of boiling water in 15 minutes using a single heat pipe. The heat pipe must be manufactured by the project team. A vacuum pump will be available to lower the pressure inside the heat pipe. There are no maximum dimensions for the pipe, but it must have a minimum height of 20 cm. Teams are evaluated according to the thermal energy their pipe extracts from the water and the weight of their heat pipe (lower is better). Each team also prepares a YouTube video for presentation to the audience during the competition, which explains the operating principles of its device.

This competition takes place in the Room 1240, First Floor of the Engineering Building from 8:00 until noon on Design Day. Please see the Design Day Booklet for information on the competition schedule.