Project Title: Mass Production of thin brick tile sheets

Project Sponsor: OGIP

Project Team: Frank Breon, Michael Dowdell, Kathryn Sawarynski, Erin Staryszak, Lauren Watts, Jason Zambotti

Faculty Coach: Dr. Paul H. Cohen

Date: Fall 2003

Executive Summary: The OGIP company produces brick tile sheets for use in the construction of prefabricated building structures. The sheets are currently assembled manually, with skilled brick laying labor. The company would like to implement a mass production of this procedure with an automated process. An automated process of the entire brick tile sheet assembly was designed. The team modeled a mechanism for lifting and aligning the bricks through the use of vacuum mounted and pneumatic end effecter.

Trays for alignment of the bricks in the x, y, and z axes were also designed and prototyped. The team researched the effect of using a carbon fiber backing for rigidity purposes during transportation of the sheets prior to the addition of cement.

Additional research was done on an epoxy resin that would properly secure the carbon fiber to the back of the brick tiles. This process of securing the bricks with the carbon fiber and epoxy was modeled using another end effecter. Furthermore, recommendations were made concerning a thin film material that would protect the front surface of the brick during the application of the glue and the cement to the sheets.