2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

A multi-disciplinary team of engineering students taking a non-conventional senior capstone course designed, built, and tested a professional-grade vacuum evaporator for university students in the food sciences. In lieu of a traditional senior capstone design course, students from the various engineering disciplines have the option of enrolling in an integrated design experience where they are placed in collaborative teams to complete real-world projects sponsored by external industry stakeholders. The program comprises four parties: (1) the design team of senior engineering students who are responsible for all design decisions, analysis, and manufacturing; (2) a faculty coach to mentor and guide the team in best practices; (3) the sponsor, who provides the scope of the design need and funding, (4) and program administration who coordinate course matter, grades, and events.
In this project students were hired by researchers in the field of food science to build a vacuum evaporator for a pilot plant that can also be used as a learning platform for students. Vacuum evaporators are used in the food industry to produce concentrated products of liquid foods that are free of volatile contents, such as tomato paste, condensed milk, or concentrated fruit juice. The apparatus was to be fully operational, up to the standards of the food industry and have extra features to fully measure internal conditions. In addition, a transparent condenser was designed to provide visual access to its internal operation.
Using the principles of human-centered design, every facet of the project was completed with the needs of food science students as paramount. Senior-level food science students were involved during testing to provide feedback and evaluate the effectiveness of the design to produce desired food products and to teach fundamental principles. The case is made that such projects provide a real-world experience as an effective capstone design challenge to senior engineers as well as provide a service and innovations tailored to the specific needs of engineering and non-engineering students alike.