Oscillating Air Engine
Freshman engineering project
2 minutes
Project overview: The air engine project is the main project that freshman engineering students at George Fox do in their first term. The basic idea is that you create an oscillating air engine (wobbler engine) from scratch with the tools and materials provided by GFU. In the project, students are expected to come up with an initial concept that is focused on one of 5 goals: speed, cost, torque, efficiency, or coast. The students also need to derive equations for the size relations between parts, create hand drawings with specific measurements, make a bill of materials that does not exceed the budget of $33, create a 3d model of the engine, use the 3d model of the engine to create drawings for machining, machine and assemble the engine, and finally, showcase your engine and compete in the category that you selected. Needless to say, it’s a massive project for first year engineering students.
For my engine, I ended up making an inline 3-cylinder engine. Several people have tried this design before, but mine was the second one in the 19-year history of this project to work. Because of this, my engine was showcased as one of the best engines of the class, and I’ve now donated it to the engineering department to show prospective students what is possible.