Nathan Vance

Electric Vehicle Conversion

  • Converted a Mazda RX-7 to a fast-launching EV

  • Used a combination of readily-available components and custom-designed parts

  • Total conversion cost was $9,537

  • Accomplished it's target 40 mile per charge range

  • Safety measures included for legal city and highway use.


Electric Mazda 1985 RX-7

Mattress Cooler Design & Prototyping with Peltier Unit

  • Created a mattress cooler that improves upon existing designs

  • Uses Peltier Devices in a unique configuration for high COP

  • Can heat as well as cool

  • Very quiet design with few moving parts

  • Arduino based temperature control programmed in C


Parking Structure Design & Analysis

  • Designed a 40 vehicle parking system for a Design of Machine Elements course

  • Required to have 5 min retrieval time, 12 hours continuous operation, minimal footprint, and 5 year service interval, using COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) parts

  • We designed frame, gear system, moving parts

  • We did analysis by hand calculations and SolidWorks FE Analysis.


Speaker Design & Performance Modeling

  • Speaker system design and build

  • 2 way system with LFE

  • Used hand calculations, design software for enclosure, compensation circuits and crossover.

  • Employed microphone measured post testing to refine the design