Cosmos in the Stacks engines

▼This page is part of a Category:Cal Poly Humboldt course Engr205 Intro to Design.Please leave comments using the talk page. The course runs until mid May 2026. It is currently not open edit.

The Gas and Electric engine models were designed for the engines and technology section of the third floor of the Cal Poly Humboldt library. The project acts as an interactive display model of both gas and electric engines using color coordinated parts and lights to lead the user. The project is intended to be an inspirational, engaging, and fun activity for anyone that come across it within the library. It was designed and constructed during the Spring 2025 semester for the Engineering 205: Introduction to Design class.

Who what when where why

The basis of this project stems from the Engineering 205: Introduction to Design class. Within Engineering 205 students learn about the design process as well as put it into action with a large scale project. The large scale projects are funded usually form an outside source and act as some sort of instalment or product for the given client. For the 2025 Spring Semester the Engineering 205 class worked with both the Cal Poly Humboldt makerspace as well as the Cal Poly Humboldt Library. The Engines project was in collaboration with the Cal Poly Humboldt Library and their Cosmos in the Stacks Program. The Cosmos in the Stacks is a program ran by the library with the goal to, "explore self-guided interactive exhibits in the library stacks and curate an adventure through all the disciplines in the Library of Congress Classification system" (Cosmos in the Stacks Library Cite). As part of this program the Engine project will be placed on the third floor of the library within the engines section as pictured. The area designated to it includes two cleared out bookshelves as well as the space in between the wall and bookshelf.

***Picture***

The Engines project was selected by Gear No.3, a group of 3 engineering students consisting of Sol McJimsey, Opi Gonzales Padilla, and Matthew Simpson.

The objective of this project create a self-guided interactive experience that showcases the gas and electric engines section of the library all while being engaging, interactive, and inspiring to future engineers.

Include a brief intro to the criteria and then include a table with constraints and weights (0-10 highest).

Show examples of the prototyping process including what you learned. A great way to communicate your design your process (and to earn extra points!) is to show your early drawings (by hand and digital), failed attempts and photos of tools, materials and your team (or your hands) as you build this prototype.

• Sample gallery
• 
  Sample caption text.
• 
  More sample caption text. This would look better with different images.:)
• 
  Even more sample caption text.

Describe your final product here with image and labels. Start with the biggest overview first.

A very complete description of how the final project is built. This large section should have lots of pictures. Use the Help:Images#Galleries and probably Template:Steps (e.g. Barrel O' Fun Worm Bin Instructions).

• Sample gallery
• 
  Sample caption text.
• 
  More sample caption text. This would look better with different images.:)
• 
  Even more sample caption text.

A good way to display a process is by making a video explaining your process. See Template:Video for information on how to add and annotate videos.

Description of costs, donations, the fact that this is just proposed, etc. For a simple cost table, see Help:Table examples#Cost Table and Template:Bill of materials for two nice formats.

This is how to operate. It should have a brief introduction. You might want to show images or videos with step-by-step instructions when needed.

1

Remove the alligator clips from both of the solar panels

Remove the alligator clips from the red and black wires that attach to the solar panels by using the wire cutter

2

Strip insulation from solar panel wires

Strip about 3/8 inch of insulation off the solar panel wires by using the 10 or 12-gauge wire stripper (whichever fits better)

Introduce this maintenance section. Help ask the questions:

• Are there any needed actions for maintenance?
• How often?
• Who should perform maintenance?

This is when to maintain what. Please keep the format the same as it populates the kiosk in CCAT.

Daily

• A daily task
• A daily task

Weekly

• a weekly task
• a weekly task

Monthly

• a monthly task
• a monthly task

Yearly

• a yearly task
• a yearly task

Every __ years

• task
• task

Describe the testing results.

Discuss the testing results.

Discuss lessons were learned during this project and what you would do different next time.

Discuss any next steps for the project as it goes on into the future.

This is only how to troubleshoot basic operation. For complex issues, the solution might just say something like contact ________. It should be a table in this format:

Introduce team and semester in the following format:

• Lonny Grafman
• Emilio Velis
• One bullet for each team member.