1. Alex Lull
Mechanical Engineering Portfolio

2. “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift”
Steve Prefontaine
I have a strong ability to utilize learned
skills to devise creative and simple
solutions to assignments and projects and
would like to continue as a goal-oriented
student eager to further learning and
experience in mechanical engineering. I
have excellent time management skills
and work well with others to attack
problems of varying difficulty.
I. Exhaust Heat Recollection: Cascade
Steel Rolling Mills
II. Athletic Wheelchair Attachment
Design
III. Hydraulic Fracturing Research Report
IV. Failure Analysis of Car Mirror
V. Oscillating Air Engine
VI. Robot Maze
VII. Stereo Speaker
VIII.Wind-Blox Internship

3. Exhaust Heat Recollection:
Cascade Steel Rolling Mills
Design a power cycle to generate electricity off of the reheat furnaces
exhaust stack
 Parameters
◦ 700 OF Heat flow
◦ 15 kg/s flow rate
 Outcome
◦ Cycle options
 Organic Rankine Power Cycle
 Supercritical CO2 Brayton Power Cycle
 Kalina Power Cycle
◦ Predicted Results
 0.5 – 1.5 MW of generated electricity
 $150,000 - $500,000 annual savings
 $1 - $3 million capital cost
 Project Still in Development
 Skills
◦ EES Programming
◦ Strong thermodynamic process and heat transfer
understanding
 An understanding past the theoretical view
◦ Client and third party communication development
◦ Research skills
◦ Team work integration

4. Athletic Wheelchair Attachment
Design an easy to use attachment device for wheelchair athletes to connect their athletic wheelchair to their full
time wheelchair. This will allow the athlete to navigate ramps, turns, doors and other obstacles without the
assistance of another individual.
Parameters
◦ Attach with one hand
◦ Small, under $100
 Skills
◦ Solidworks
◦ Strong team analytical skills
◦ Client relations
◦ Mechanical creativity
◦ Engineering design cycle

5. Hydraulic Fracturing Research
Report
To research and understand in detail the process,
background, and effects of hydraulic fracturing of
shale rock for natural gas and oil production.
 Report Overview
◦ Geological Summary
◦ Hydraulic Fracturing Process
 Well construction
 Location
 Drilling
 Casing and Cementing
 Fracturing Process
◦ Social Impacts
 Groundwater Concerns
 Air Quality Concerns
◦ Benefits
 Skills
◦ Extensive knowledge on hydraulic
fracturing
◦ Strong ability to conduct positive
research
◦ Ability to key multiple ideas together

6. Failure Analysis of Car Mirror
Find and conduct failure analysis on a metal part to present findings of why the part failed in
service, and suggestions on how to improve the part.
 Skills
◦ More advanced 3D modeling using Solidworks
◦ Understanding of fatigue analysis using both hand calculations and computer
software
◦ Ability to understand results of fatigue analysis to improve quality of product
designs
◦ Basic reverse engineering

7. Oscillating Air Engine
To design and build an oscillating air powered
engine with two different design goals in mind. My
selected design goals were for cost efficiency or
cost per revolution and max coast duration with no
propellant.
 Fabrication time: 20 Hours, 30 Minutes
 Total cost: $11.41
◦ Cost per revolution: $0.011 @ 1023 RPM &
15 PSI propellant
 Skills
◦ Hand drawing design
◦ Active geometry calculations
◦ Design goal engineering
◦ Machining skills

8. Robot Maze
Design an Arduino program that utilized the sensors and motors of the robot to navigate it
through a maze to the end, perform a 360 degree spin, and then leave the maze through the
start.
 Skills
◦ Knowledge and understanding of the
Arduino platform along with the
programming language C#
◦ Work with component electronics
◦ Ability to calibrate analog inputs into useful
information for software to use

9. Stereo Speaker Project
To use knowledge gained in electronics to design low pass and high pass filter system for a
stereo amplifier circuit, and then to assemble the circuit and construct an enclosure that allows
the user to play music or sound via an auxiliary cable. Allows for volume adjustment,
 Skills
◦ Voltage regulation
◦ Signal filtering
◦ Operational amplifiers
◦ Soldering
◦ Circuit design and schematic analysis

10. Simon Game
To develop a common game, Simon, from the programming
of a Nexys FPGA board using the Verilog software and coding
platform.
 Summary
◦ Incremental, random sequence of button lighting that
must be repeated correctly by the player
◦ Included a cheat mode that displayed the next move,
or repeated the current sequence
◦ Stored user input and compared to random sequence.
 Skills
◦ Fundamental understanding of Verilog
◦ Fundamental understanding of digital logic
◦ Ability to do incremental coding