Date of Award

6-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2022.

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Robert Marks

Abstract

For this senior design project, the team partnered with a startup, Dishcraft Robotics, to design and create a device that would decrease the time it takes to unload and load their products in and out of a truck. The team’s design, Cart Loader, consists of an aluminum structure that is able to hold their products. Outfitted with a rail system on the truck and the liftgate, the Cart Loader can move onto the liftgate and roll inside the truck, where the products can then be rolled off the Cart Loader. There was extensive finite element analysis done to ensure that the structure could handle the loads of the products. The Cart Loader can withstand loads of up to 1500 lbs with a factor of safety of 1.82. Even without the physical truck, testing was done on the Cart Loader. The Cart Loader ended up reducing the loading time from 60 minutes to 27.1 minutes. In addition, the Cart Loader accomplished the customer’s goals of a device that secures their products, is easy to use, and carries a large portion of their products in one load.

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