The ME 23 Project with Gems Sentra is to further develop and calibrate a sealed part leak tester to be accepted as a product test one piece flow system for ultrasonically welded plastic floats. The team will design a fixture to incorporate an ATEQ F620 pressure tester into the production line for the leak testing of Gems Sentra LS-3 and LS-7 floats. The tester will determine if there are leaks through the float welds and into the float body. The tester will be run by an operator, requiring ease of use and safety requirements. The team will design and calibrate the pressure-test system, ensuring that pass and fail parts can accurately be detected by the ATEQ using a test pressure of 100 psi air at room temperature. The steps to design and calibrate the pressure system are optimizing component layout to minimize test volume, calculating the test volume, fabricating a reference volume, determining allowable leak rates, and determining test parameters. The electrical components will be controlled by a Do-More PLC, with physical buttons to start the tester. The PLC must be programmed to control all electrical components, electrical wiring must be updated, and an HDI screen will be programmed to display test results. The tester’s functionality and accuracy will be analyzed to ensure it is ready for implementation. Work instructions will be created to train operators on how to run the tester, and all CAD, documentation and data will be provided to Gems Sentra.

Our team collaborated with Electrical and Computer Engineering 2 on this project.