Concept to reality.

The approach

Eight design decisions across architecture, sub-systems, and supplier engineering.

• Conceived a three-input material flow: two sorting bowls feeding separate indexing stations for the top and bottom PCB holders, with conductive wire entering perpendicular and all three converging at a single welding station.
• Designed two different indexing solutions matched to feed-rate requirements — an 8-position rotary table for the bottom holder, a 2-position rotary for the top — both pneumatically driven.
• Designed a wire end station using two pneumatic grippers on slides to maintain wire tension throughout the cycle and advance the wire by a programmable pitch via HMI input.
• Selected ultrasonic welding for the plastic PCB holders, paired with a pick-and-place using two pneumatic cylinders in tandem perpendicular to each other — cylinder forces sized for the welding head mass, strokes set by inter-station distances.
• Solved a fixture hold-down problem on the top PCB holder by designing a vacuum hold using pneumatic pressure drop within the fixture rather than mechanical clamping — proposed during team review, adopted as final solution.
• Specified an aluminium bolt-together structure with no welded joints, because parts were manufactured overseas and shipped to Saint-Laurent for in-house assembly — the no-weld constraint drove section sizing, joint geometry, and fastener selection.
• Authored a new bilingual dimensioning standard (metric and imperial, to ASME Y14.5) to bridge North American design intent with Chinese supplier manufacturing — adopted as department-wide practice beyond this project.
• Added smaller refinements through design review: guarding on the bottom indexing station to prevent flying parts, and a roller guide system to orient the conductive wire correctly during feed.

2-position pneumatic indexer

8-position pneumatic indexer

End unit

Ultrasonic welder

The outcome

From concept to manufacturing handover in seven months.

The approach

Six design decisions to land a retrofit in a tight, active footprint.

• Combined lift and rotation into a synchronised two-cylinder pneumatic system: one cylinder driving the 150 mm lift stroke, a second driving a pivoted arm for the 90° rotation. Pneumatic chosen over electric or hydraulic to leverage existing factory air supply at lower cost and faster integration.
• Specified a slewing ring bearing on an X-frame substructure to carry axial, radial, and moment loads in a single component within the tight footprint.
• Selected UHMW polyethylene contact pads at the pallet interface for low friction during rotation and durability under cyclic wear, with no lubrication required.
• Tied the lifting arms into the existing conveyor frame via shaft-and-flange bearing assemblies, so the new mechanism load-shared with the original structure rather than needing a new support frame.
• Sized actuators from first principles: static force analysis for the lift cylinder against a 100 kg pallet load over 150 mm stroke; rotation torque calculated from rotational dynamics including the UHMW friction coefficient.
• Validated load-bearing components and fastener sizing with FEA against cyclic pallet loads.

The outcome

Installed inside an active line, running ever since.

The approach

Six design decisions across architecture, materials, and process integration.

• Configured a two-level conveyor architecture to handle both pavers and the metallic base plates with their legs on parallel paths within a single line.
• Integrated acid etching directly into the transport line rather than treating it as a separate station — eliminating a manual handling step and its associated ergonomic and chemical exposure risks.
• Specified stainless steel for every acid-exposed component (frames, shafts, drive gears, mesh belt) for corrosion resistance and long-term integrity in the chemical environment.
• Selected an open-structure stainless mesh belt rather than a solid or slatted alternative: acid drains uniformly across the paver underside instead of pooling, preventing inconsistent over-etching and the surface defects it causes.
• Sized the frame for the 110 lb paver load case via detailed structural calculations; calculated drive torque and motor power, then sized shafts and transmission components to match.
• Developed layout options in AutoCAD with the director and production team to ensure fit within the existing plant footprint and the operational flow downstream into the sealing line.

The outcome

Deployed in production, defect-free, running in a corrosive environment.

The approach · pneumatic system

Double-acting cylinder with crank-angle-referenced valve timing.

• Selected a double-acting pneumatic cylinder (80 mm bore, 50 mm stroke, ~75.4 psi) to replace the petrol cylinder block. Air is supplied to the top of the cylinder on the downstroke and switched to the bottom on the upstroke — a power stroke in both directions maintains continuous crank rotation without a flywheel change.
• Replaced the original camshaft timing with a custom electronic system: ATMEGA 16 microcontroller reading an IR sensor against a profiled wooden timing disc keyed to the crankshaft, switching a 3-way solenoid valve to route air to alternating sides of the cylinder. Valve switching is crank-angle-referenced rather than fixed-delay — smooth operation across all RPM without rigid timing offsets.

Top stroke — crank 0° to 180°

Bottom stroke — crank 180° to 360°

The approach · mounting bracket

Bespoke bracket — cylinder loads carried through the existing crankcase stud pattern.

• Designed a steel mounting bracket from 100 mm × 50 mm C-section (5 mm wall) with 25 mm × 25 mm × 3 mm L-angle stiffeners welded on. A central Ø50 mm pass-through accommodates the piston rod; a short alignment collar welded to the base ensures concentricity with the bore axis. Four Ø10 mm holes bolt directly to the existing cylinder block stud pattern — no new holes in the engine.
• Solved a stroke-length mismatch — pneumatic cylinder stroke of 50 mm against the crank's 42 mm throw — by introducing an 8 mm steel packing spacer between the bracket and cylinder block. Arrived at iteratively: a 5 mm welded ring was trialled first but produced sub-optimal piston travel before the correct offset was determined.

Bracket — SolidWorks multi-view

Fabricated bracket

The approach · motion conversion

U-link connector — bridging a pneumatic piston rod to a petrol engine's connecting rod.

• Designed a U-link from 25 mm wide, 3 mm thick bent steel flat to bridge the pneumatic piston rod to the original connecting rod. A 13 mm nut welded to the top face fastens to the piston rod via a tapped stud (original threaded end removed, 13 mm × 30 mm tapped hole drilled in). Ø10 mm holes through the side faces retain the existing gudgeon pin and needle sleeve bearing — the entire kinematic chain below the piston is preserved with no modification to the crankcase.

U-link — SolidWorks model

U-link installed in crankcase

The outcome

A running zero-emission two-wheeler, delivered in six months.