(The following story by Natalie Crofts appeared on the BYU Newsnet website on March 31, 2009.)
PROVO, Utah — A senior capstone project that makes Union Pacific trains almost one percent more efficient could save $4.6 million a year.
Union Pacific, the largest railroad network in the country, asked a group of engineering seniors to design a nose fairing to put on the front of the first engine to increase the efficiency of the engines by making the train more aerodynamic.
Students built models of the trains and used a wind tunnel and computer program to help determine what strategy would be the most effective.
In order to design the fairing, students were challenged with complying with federal railroad regulations and ensuring the final product would be cost-effective.
“It was a lot more difficult than we thought,” said Brad Griffitts, from Hayden, Idaho. “On paper it seems like a fairly simple idea, but we had to do a lot of testing.”
Reducing the amount of fuel Union Pacific’s trains need could also help the environment.
“This is part of the overall push to go green for everybody to save fuel and cut costs,” said Eric McKane, a student from Tuscan, Ariz. working on the project. “There’s a huge push right now for companies to go green and this is one of the side projects of it.”
Griffitts said that this type of project is especially important now.
“This is a big project in that fact that it addresses a lot of concerns that we have in this day about saving money and being environmentally friendly,” Griffitts said.
A prototype is being made of the students’ design that will be given to Union Pacific for testing on a full-scale train in Colorado. After testing, Union Pacific may opt to put the fairing on its trains. Working on the project gave students the opportunity to see how they can apply principles they learned in class.
“This gives them a real world application of engineering,” said Steve Gorrell, an associate professor of mechanical engineering who supervised. “There was no textbook solution they could go to. They had to work together and overcome problems.”
Students enjoyed the opportunity to work on a project that could make a difference in a real company.
“It makes it more worth it because it’s an actual problem,” said Zach Collins, of Draper. “They didn’t know in the beginning if it would actually save anything, but we can save millions a year. It’s fun to work on something real instead of just school work.”
The students’ work will be featured in a capstone project showcase today at 12:45 p.m. in the Wilkinson Center Ballroom.