Denys Matvyeyev

Engineering Design Portfolio

Introduction

Perhaps because it is an Engineering Design Portfolio I should have started

with my personal definition of the engineering design. But I am not a

philosophical type of person and can’t encompass immense meaning in

just few words. Therefore, as any other engineer would do, I will break

the problem in smaller sub-problems and deal with them separately.

For me design is a synonym of creating, while engineering is ensuring

that something works the way it supposed to. Combined together,

engineering design is creating something that works the way it supposed

to. Simple as it sounds, it requires tremendous effort to design (create)

something new, unique and simple and build it the way that it is stays this

way for good.

For me design is the most problematic. I am extremely strict towards my

solutions - they must satisfy numerous criteria that I set up for them. For

instance, they should be simple, intuitive, the cheapest possible,

extremely productive and revolutionary. At the same time they should be

well engineered - durable, sustainable and safe.

In this portfolio I will go through some of the projects I participated in. I

will start with two biggest challenges of my first year at the University of

Toronto – bridge designs for Structures and Materials course, where I had

to think as an engineer for the first time in my life. I will then briefly

describe my experience in Bridge Inspection Assignment, where I

practiced analysis of a product of someone else’s design. After this I will

describe engineering process behind the biggest project of my first

semester at university – improvement of the current method of pesticide

removal from fruits and vegetables.

However, the biggest part of this portfolio is dedicated to the second

semester project – improving wayfinding method for visually impaired

customers of TTC (Toronto Transit Commission). The whole process

was so big that I had to divide it into four sub-parts: the main solution, 3D

modeling, prototyping and vector graphics.

Looking back at all of my projects, I realize that the most important

aspects of my life that helped me tremendously in all of them were that I

am open-minded, not afraid to dream, a little bit crazy for ideas and

experienced in different areas. I think after developing a good theoretical

basis in terms of engineering I will be able to become an engineer not only

with sometimes insane ideas, but with some real results.

CIV102 Project – Pedestrian Bridge over St. George

Street between Galbraith Building and Bahen Centre

At my first year Structures and Materials course we were asked to design

a truss bridge with at least one intermediate support. The objective was to

design visually appealing bridge with the lowest possible price tag.

In order to ensure both of objectives our team designed the bridge the

way that the smallest in size and therefore cheaper HSS (Hollow

Structural Section) members were used. Using “Bridge Designer”

software available online our team tried all possible designs for the truss

and discovered that using Pratt type for the East side and Warren type for

the West side will minimize maximum forces in its members and as a

result smaller HSS members can be used.

I was responsible for the calculations and design of the intermediate

support as well as for the engineering drawing. Based on rough

calculations for the support, I decided to use three-section truss as the

most effective and efficient in that case. It was not really challenging

because by that time we practiced similar calculations for quite some

time.

Even though we were expected to deliver hand-drawn sketches or the

engineering drawing, I decided to explore Autodesk AutoCAD, which I

was not familiar with before. It was challenging and interesting at the

same time. The program gives limitless possibilities; however, it took me

nearly 48 hours to discover some of them and eventually finish the

drawing on time.

During this project I improved my skills in calculating and designing truss

structures, as well as familiarized myself with some of the rarest truss

designs and various HHS members. I also learned how to draw 2D models

in AutoCAD, 3D was my next goal.

My Calculations for the Support

Engineering Drawing was Done Using AutoCAD

CIV102 Project – Beam Bridge

As the last challenge at Structures and Materials course we were asked to

design and build a cardboard beam bridge. We were said what kind of

testing it will go through and what are the minimum requirement in order

for it to pass. Furthermore, all groups had the same amount and type of

cardboard.

After discussing some of the possible designs our team decided to take our

chances and go ahead with rather risky design. We wanted to combine

beam and truss designs in one, making structure that we could not find

analogies for. In theory, the structure should have been much stronger

than regular beams. Furthermore, such design sparkled some interest

among other students and TA’s.

In real world this kind of structure is not used for various reasons. As we

were explained both beams and trusses are strong and reliable structures

and there is no need to build truss-like elements inside of beams because

it is a) difficult to manufacture, b) unnecessary, because beam can be

reinforces by simply using better steel or by changing its proportions.

However, in our case we had cardboard of limited amount, and therefore

we were open for an experiment.

Eventually we build pi-beam bridge with truss in its upper half. Truss

acted as diaphragms along the entire length as well as increased its

buckling stress. As a result the maximum weight it could support in

theory was well above a kilo-Newton.

However, due to misunderstanding, members of our team that we

responsible for construction of the bridge did some critical mistakes while

cutting the cardboard. As a result many parts were glued together instead

of being solid pieces. That fact dramatically decreased maximum stress

the bridge could handle and unfortunately it failed at the very first test.

This project was one of the biggest lessons during my first year experience

at University of Toronto. Even though we learned it the hard way, this

project showed how important full understanding between team

members can be. Furthermore, our team still curious whether our

unconventional design would work if built properly; so we are planning

to participate in next year contests with the same design.

3D Model of Our Bridge

Bridge after the Failure under the Load

Praxis I – 30 Bond Street Bridge Inspection

As an assignment in one of our courses we were asked to choose any

pedestrian bridge in City of Toronto and inspect it in accordance with

various provincial codes and standards.

Our team chose a pedestrian bridge between The Li Ka Shing Institute

and St. Michael’s Hospital. It was recently built (2010) 18-meters long

bridge over Bond Street, downtown Toronto. Probably because it was

brand new, bridge met all Ontario provincial standards. Personally, I was

responsible for checking the accessibility code, which our bridge satisfied

on all levels: angle of the ramp was within allowable range, door opening

button was installed on the proper level, walking area was wide enough

for two wheelchairs to pass each other easily, the carpet surface had

proper elevation. Overall, 30 Bond Street was well designed and built.

However, we discovered that the final price of $2,000,000 CAD was

enormous for a bridge of such type and length. For example, bridge

manufacturing company Excel estimates the maximum price for a beam

bridge of such length in $130,000 USD (15 times cheaper). Upon

researching we found out that such a big price tag was caused by

framework, which was designed and built in Germany and then shipped

to Canada, and its external glass panels, which were manufactured in

Italy.

Our team suggested two Canadian companies Price Steel Ltd. and MD

Glass that could be alternative local suppliers. Hiring these companies

could reduce shipping price dramatically. We also wanted to suggest

changing carpet floor surface to vinyl tiles that usually used in hospitals,

however, the day before the presentation flooring in the bridge was

changed to ceramic tiles.

This bridge inspection was beneficial for all of us, as we familiarized

ourselves with local engineering and construction standards. That was also

the first time we did some proper research, identified the problem and

suggested possible solutions. At the same time this assignment showed us

how many various factors an engineer has to account for.

Picture of the Bridge

One of my Slides from the Presentation

Praxis I – Design of Pesticides Removal Method for

Fruits and Vegetables. Part 1 - Participation in the

Main Solution Design

Our team was presented with a design brief, where we were asked to

provide at least 3 possible solutions for a problem of removing pesticides

from the surface of fruits and vegetables. Our main solution was a result

of group brainstorming with further scoping. We all agreed that the price

should be the lowest possible and it should not require any special training

or change in person’s daily routine.

As we started to think about it, analogy with dishes raised and a

dishwasher was a natural consequence. At first we were skeptical, but

then we realized that there is a way to use already popular and widely

available product in slightly different context.

As a main solution we suggested to build a tray for a dishwasher, where

dirty fruits and vegetables will be placed and later washed using Rinse

program. Rinse program (or alternative) is a short option (about 10

minutes long) available on the most of contemporary dishwashers

regardless of their class. During this option only cold or slightly heated

water (up to 35o C) is used in the amount of about 3 gallons per wash.

Our design also included a cartridge with soap that would be attachable to

a water dispenser inside of a dishwasher to increase washing efficiency.

In our opinions that was an elegant and working solution; however,

teaching team expressed their concern about water pressure and high

temperature. In order to support our solution we created an experiment,

where we washed in a dishwasher a carrot, an apple, a tomato, a piece of

broccoli, a banana, a kiwi, an orange and one yellow pepper. The

dishwasher we used was manufactured by Kitchen Aid (Model:

W10084453A). We put vegetables and fruits on the lower level of the

dishwasher in two sieves. Ten minutes later, when it was done we

examined products and tasted them. As we expected none of specimens

were damaged or changed its taste.

This experience was very important in terms of supporting information

and reference for any of my future engineering designs. I learned that I

should be ready to support any of my claims regardless of my personal

opinion and beliefs. Furthermore, I realized that a research of reference

designs can help tremendously.

Praxis I – Design of Pesticides Removal Method for

Fruits and Vegetables. Part 2 – Participation in the

Alternative Solution Design

As an alternative solution I suggested and later designed a device for

cleaning fruits and vegetables off pesticides that could be installed at the

points of purchase (supermarkets, convenient stores, private vendors).

The main advantage of the following method is that required result is

reached before the product gets to the consumer and therefore no effort

or money spending is required from their side.

While working on the problem, our team realized that perfect solution

for our problem would be to emancipate a customer from the problem.

Changing the industry of pest control was out of scope of our brief;

therefore, we focused on the idea of cleaning the food on its way from the

field to consumer. We could not find any reasonable solution to clean

product right after it was harvested or at the intermediate points of

transportation. As a result, supermarkets and other retail locations

became our primary goal. We realized that in case we can come up with

effective and efficient device, retailers would be willing to pay for it and

later use the idea of fruits and vegetables cleaned off pesticides in their

marketing.

Ideally only those vegetables chosen by a customer should be cleaned after

their permission. Cash register is the perfect place for such device. Apart

from its main purpose it should be cheap, easy to use by unfamiliar with it

personnel and applicable to current structure of the cash register.

Eventually, our solution was a modified plastic bag stand. This devise is to

be installed at the place of current stands; therefore its dimensions at the

base are 13” x 13”.

The lower part of our stand looks exactly the same as current stands with

hooks for the bags. However, the top part of it has cleaning part. It

consists of two inclined surfaces that are covered with spongy material

impregnated with cleaning chemical. This part of the device is responsible

for cleaning a bottom part of a vegetable. The tilted surfaces are attached

to the walls of the bag holder by two rails each. At the same time, each

rail is inside of a spring, which pushes the inclined surface away from the

walls of the holder. At the point where both surfaces connect, there are

coarse strings covered with the same chemical as spongy areas.

Whenever the customer want to purchase a vegetable or a fruit, the

cashier pushes it through the device. The spongy part cleans the bottom

part of the fruit. As it gets to the very bottom of the tilted surfaces, the

rails start to move through the holes in the walls and surfaces spread apart

letting the fruit continue going down. As it goes further down, strings

clean the sides and the top part of the fruit. Then the fruit falls directly to

the bag, and strings return tilted surfaces back to their initial position.

That was a good solution in general; however upon further investigation

we realized that spongy surfaces and strings would get dirty rather quickly

and they also can be hazardous because some fruits can leave their

particles on the strings. If a

customer is allergic to the

fruit, whose particle left

on the strings from the

previous customer, it can

cause severe seizure and

possible death. For these

reasons Cash Register

Cleaning Device was

mentioned in the report

only as a possible

alternative.

Praxis II – Navigation for the Blind within TTC

Our team was assigned to design a better wayfinding method for visually

impaired customers of TTC (Toronto Transit Commission). In particular

RFP was focused on subway stations, which in some cases have extremely

complicated layout. According to the RFP, solution should not cause

inconvenience to other commuters, should avoid any additional undesired

attention, take user a short amount of time to learn how to get from point

A to B and also should minimize cost for implementer and blind people.

Our team had many various ideas, but solution that I suggested was

eventually chosen as our final.

When I was thinking about the problem, I wanted it to be more or less

personalized. Ideally, the system should provide unique directions to

every blind individual and at the same time stay applicable to the third

largest transportation system in North America. Personally I did not want

to rely on any kind of electronic guiding device, because of a big number

of potential problems (batteries, controls and technophobia in general). I

also wanted my solution to work for all king of customers, including new

to the city and tourists. As a result I scoped it to the solution within the

station.

I didn’t want my solution to require any special training; therefore, I

decided to research the ways blind people interact with the world and the

ways they navigate. Upon research I found out that cane is the most

common tool used by visually impaired people to walk. As a result I

considered tactile surfaces as a solution rather naturally. Furthermore, I

found out that it is really hard for the blind to walk straight and tactile

surfaces are extremely helpful in this case. Hence, I decided to improve

current tactile surfaces system in TTC the way that it will guide users to

the destination of their choice.

I remembered the way of navigation I saw in Sunnybrook Hospital. There

they had a board with a list of departments in the hospital. Each

department was assigned a certain color, which was mapped by the line of

the same color on the walls. Instructions suggested following the line of

respective department. I found it fascinating, as there is no need to

remember complicated layout of the floor, directions are quick and

simple and chances for mistake are minimized. By this point I already had

an idea of combining this idea and tactile surfaces – different tactile

surfaces represent different directions. The same way as in Sunnybrook, a

person identifies their final destination at some initial point and follows

respective tactile surface to their final destination.

Then I thought about the information stand, where customers will obtain

directions to the point of their interest. Following the same concept that I

saw in the hospital, information stand did not have to provide complicated

step by step directions, it only have to introduce the customer to the

system, give a choice of possible directions and describe type of the line to

follow. After summarizing all my ideas, I realized that it should be simply

a board with “you are here” identifier and different lines going from there

towards different directions.

When I discussed it with my partners, in order to make the method easier

and faster, we decided to make some pre-choices for users. When we

were working on designing the patterns and info stand we realized that

giving the user a choice whether to use an elevator, escalator or stairs

overcomplicates the system. Furthermore, we wanted the system to be as

fast as possible, and we believe giving a customer multiple choices might

take much more time for relatively nonessential convenience. Therefore,

considering that elevators and escalators can be out of order or on

maintenance, stairs was the only option left. In case there are more than

one entrance to the platform, our solution would not provide them with

an option that will lead them to the one we consider the most efficient.

Putting such restrictions made our final solution much simpler – we

needed only one patter leading to one side of the platform. Taking into

account the layout of the whole subway system we decided to have only 5

patterns, which represent South, North, East and West directions as well

as Exit. We agreed that the same pattern would lead to towards the same

direction at all subway stations. As a result experienced visually impaired

person would be able to identify their direction by simply recognizing the

pattern. In addition to this we suggested to each pattern have its own

color so regular TTC users will know that in order to get, for example, to

the Northbound trains they just have to follow blue line. Therefore, our

solution also improves navigation in TTC for regular people too. We

suggested the following colors for 5 directions: North (cold) – blue,

South (hot) – red, East (sun rises) – yellow, West (associated with

money) – green, and black for Exit, as a neutral color.

With regards to info stand we wanted it to be as simple as possible. We

decided to install an elevated button in the middle of the surface, with

“You Are Here” written on it in both regular text and Braille. We expect

the person to push it intuitively, and it will initialize quick verbal

instruction and directions. However, even if the person did not press the

button, they still will be able to obtain all necessary information from the

instructions written in Braille.

On the sides of the button the info stand will have minimized copies of the

patterns leading to different directions. At the same time if the pattern is

to right from the button, the actual pattern can be found to the right from

the stand. All the instructions will be in both English and Braille, so that

regular people can use it for themselves or to assist blind.

As for the patterns, we combined all our research and decided to make all

of them 57 cm wide (shoulder width), which is exactly the space a person

need to walk comfortably. So the person will be actually walking on it and

will be able to feel it with both a cane and their feet. That gave us some

space for experimenting and by testing we identified the following 5

pattern as the most distinctive from each other:

The material we suggested for such patterns was thermoplastic or cold

plastic. Both materials are very durable and easy to apply. Thermoplastic,

for instance, is used for road marking in Europe and proved to last at least

8 times longer than regular materials used. Furthermore, its height can be

increased to a desired level –this option frequently used in road marking

to warn drivers.

Information Stand and Tactile Surfaces

Praxis II– 3D Model of the Subway Station for Blind

People Navigation Project

Another subpart for this project was to design a 3D model of the Queen’s

Park Subway Station. We decided that having a 3D model of the subway

station at our poster during the showcase will highly increase the

comprehension of the concept. However, because nobody in our team

knew how to make it, my partner Denis Burkov and I decided to attempt

to draw it using textbooks and YouTube tutorials.

We started by rather simple 2D plan of the main platform. Due to

security concerns we were neither able to obtain blueprints, nor to take

measurements on site. Therefore, Denis went to the station and measured

it with his steps, which allowed us to have more or less realistic

proportions.

As soon as we were done with 2D layout, we used Extrude function to

make 3D objects out of 2D shapes. That was the way we started to work

in 3D; however, later we discovered easier ways to accomplish the same

results by switching to 3D modeling mode and using preset objects such

as box, cylinder, cone and etcetera.

While working on the model we learned how to work with various 3D

objects, such as those mentioned above and planes; we also mastered in

texture application and later rendering of the model. We attempted to

explore lightening, but we did not have enough time to finish it.

Even though each of us was involved in absolutely all parts of the drawing,

Denis was focused the most on the platform and upper level and I was

responsible for creation of the information stand and tactile surfaces.

Tactile surfaces were rather simple: I drew auxiliary borders for patterns

and then drew Plane Surfaces within these borders. We later combined all

the planes in unions, as Denis discovered that AutoCAD works faster

when big objects are in unions.

It was much harder to create an information stand. At first, I created a

plane with a map and extruded required parts of it. Then it took a lot of

time to recline this plane in proper way. Eventually I used 3D Align tool,

with allowed to rotate in desired direction. However, during Alignment

some of the parts of the plane changed their location with respect to the

other parts of the plane. It took us a few hours before we discovered the

option of changing the orientation of the coordinate system. Only by

changing the orientation, we were able to make proper modification to

our tilted info plane. After that we uses curved planes and modified boxes

to crease the body of the stand.

This experience was particularly interesting and useful, as I obtained

experience in 3D modeling. We used it for illustrations on our poster and

for walk through experience on the large screen during our final

presentation. I am planning to continue working in AutoCAD and

therefore, I have plans to learn it properly during the summer break.

View of the 3D Model Used in Poster Design

3D Model of the Information Stand

Poster for Blind People Navigation Project

For the presentation of our solution during the showcase we were

supposed to have a large poster to illustrate the main aspects of our

solution. In order to accomplish it, we were supposed to use vector

graphics software, which none of us was familiar with. As a result, the

same way as with 3D model, my partner Denis Burkov and I spent some

time learning the basics of Adobe Illustrator.

At first, I watched numerous tutorial videos on YouTube and then spent

couple hours experimenting with various tools and options. Some of the

most useful tools were basic shapes, pen, grid and layers. The second step

was to create the layout of the poster. We wanted the heading to standout

and ensure that person will understand the topic of the poster right away.

For that reason we dedicated nearly 1/5 at the top of the poster to the

heading and added TTC logo and Blind Person sign next to it.

We then wanted to ensure some kind of natural flow of reading. So we

divided the rest of the poster in four even parts and made the leftmost top

sector dedicated to wayfinding process. We used triangular shapes

pointing down between the points in order to ensure correct reading

direction. Intuitively it should lead them towards information stand

section, continued by Tactile Surfaces part.

As for information on the poster, we wanted to have just the most

essential points of the design. For the info stand we briefly described the

function of three main elements, while for Tactile Surfaces section we

simply provided the patters we are suggesting to use. As it was suggested

in “Slide:ology” by Nancy Duarte for the color scheme we decided to use

colors from the field. We decided to go with grey (subway cars) and blue

(color associated with accessibility). Bright blue was later changed to baby

blue in order to harmonize the color scheme.

As for the pictures we had to save some of the AutoCAD views as PDF,

and then insert it in our poster in order to ensure vector format of the

picture.

Overall, I think that this poster was a successful project as it was covering

the most important aspects of our solution, while being concise and

simple.

Direction We Expected People to Read the Poster

The Final Version of the Poster

Praxis II – Prototypes for Blind People Navigation

Project

Another important part of that project was to create prototypes of the

tactile patterns.

At first we wanted to build them purely for the critique assignment as a

demonstration of our idea. However, later we realized that we will need t

do some testing and therefore, we decided to build full-size prototypes.

For our first version, we found 3mm thick cardboard plates at arts supply

shop. We used 5 of these plates as a base, and used the rest to make the

actual pattern. As a result we got one-meter-long, full-scale testing

prototypes. These patterns were later used by our team member who did

testing.

However, for the final showcase we decided to make better prototypes

that would be made of tougher material, so that people could actually

walk on them without breaking. At the same art supply store we found

the same kind of plates, but made of plastic. In order to minimize the

price we did our base 60 cm (3 cm larger than the width of a tactile

surface), and glued different patterns to both sides of the base. As a result

we used 3 plates of plastic, instead of 7, as we did for cardboard

prototypes.

Overall, both prototypes performed well and accomplished the mission

they were created for. I am fully satisfied with both materials and willing

to use them in the future for the similar projects.

Working on the Plastic Prototypes

Working on the Cardboard

Prototypes

Testing out Designs