Departments & Divisions > Mechanical Engineering > Students > Current Undergraduate > Design Projects

Industrial Design Projects (ME 229 and ME 495)

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Me495

Two of the most important components of our department’s program are ME 229 and ME 495.  These project-based courses complement the other core and elective design courses that are taken throughout the program.  Lectures on a number of topics of importance to the design process, including project management, sustainability, safety, patents and standards are also given during ME 229 and ME 495. A measure of the value we place on design is that all faculty members serve as an advisor for at least one group in the ME 495 course, which gives students access to the wide range of expertise in our department. 

ME 229 is a three credit second year design course.  Teams of four students solve one of four design problems that have been supplied by a sponsor.  The students produce a technical report and make a presentation to their peers, the project sponsors, faculty members, an industrial engineer and communication specialists from the Graham Centre. Along with completing their design projects, students also learn AutoCAD®.

ME 495 is the department’s six credit capstone design course.  Teams of three students work to solve a practical engineering problem supplied by an industrial sponsor. Students spend the fall term and part of the winter term evaluating design alternatives, developing and analyzing a final design, and preparing a technical report (about 50 pages) and a final presentation. In addition to developing detailed drawings and specifications, many teams also build a prototype of their final design. 
Click to see examples of ME 495 projects from 2006/2007 academic year.
Click to see examples of ME 495 projects from 2007/2008 academic year.

Benefits For Industrial Sponsors:
Sponsors are provided with progress and final reports, and are invited to attend the final presentations.   Participating in these projects provides sponsors with an opportunity to address an engineering problem utilizing the talents of engineering students, who bring a new perspective and youthful enthusiasm to design problems.  Students have access to extensive laboratory facilities as well as specialized software, such as finite element and computational fluid dynamics programs.  One indication of the benefit that our sponsors see in participating is that a large number of projects each year are provided by organizations that have participated in ME 495 in the past.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering would like to thank the following organizations and individuals for sponsoring design projects in 2007-08 and 2008-09: Sponsors List.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering would also like to thank Shell Canada Limited for their financial support of ME 495, which has been used to support two engineers-in-residence (Ken Coutu and Rick Retzlaff), design group expenses and the final presentation event.

Further information:
For more information on how your organization can participate in our industrial design projects, please contact our design course coordinators:

Click for more information on participating in ME 495. 
Click to download the ME 495 project proposal form.