Project Report

EM 662 Quality Engineering, Fall2017

Design of experiment on a Catapult

Prepared by:
Xinli Sha
Submitted to
Dr. Ben Baliga Ph.D., P.E., P.E.M.
Professor and Graduate Director,
Engineering Management, St Cloud State University.

Oct, 2017

Plymouth, MN
Introduction
In this paper, the plan and implementation of a guided project that integrates the

learning and application of the Taguchi Method into a catapult and test optimization

experience will be presented. The catapult has several controllable factors and a response

easily measured. It has been used for over 10 years in hundreds of classes for helping

students learn the process of DOE and understand the meaning behind it. The project was

such a good experience through which students can learn and apply the theory of Taguchi

method in the real-world practice. In addition, it also provides an effective framework in

which students are exposed to all elements of a real-life product development process,

from design, analysis, prototyping, testing, to performance optimization. In this time, as

my last ID number is even, so I was assigned to conduct a 4 factors 3 levels experiment.

This means that 4 factors were evaluated, each at three levels, and each treatment was run

five times. At the end of the experiment, the significant factors that affect the distance of

the ball is thrown by the catapult can be determined and based on the results, the output

for specific levels can be predicted and demonstrated by the catapult in the real practice.

Methodology
Taguchi Methodology
Robust Design method, also called the Taguchi Method, was enhanced by Dr. Genichi

Taguchi, greatly improves engineering productivity. The Taguchi method is a kind of low

cost, high efficiency quality engineering method, it emphasizes that the quality of the

product is improved not by test, but by design. Its basic idea is that put the robust design

to the process of production and manufacturing, by consciously considering the noise

factors (environmental variation during the products usage, manufacturing variation, and

component deterioration) and the cost of failure in the field the Robust Design method
helps ensure customer satisfaction. Robust Design focuses on improving the fundamental

function of the product or process, thus facilitating flexible designs and concurrent

engineering. Indeed, it is the most powerful method available to reduce product cost,

improve quality, and simultaneously reduce development interval.

DOE (design of experiment)

The experimental design (DOE), is the study of how to develop the appropriate

experiment to conduct effective statistical analysis of the experimental data. It has been

fruitful for solving the problem of optimization of multi factors, improving product

quality and reducing the production cost. It has also been widely used for the United

States and Japan enterprises. The experimental design can also be applied to the

improvement of enterprise management, adjust product structure, develop efficient

production plan.

Objective:
The objective of this project is to analyze effect of factors on a random experiment

using the catapult projection model. It includes conducting and interpreting Means and

analysis of Variance and also constructing contour plots, 3D surface plots and interaction

plots which reflects the variation of Responses with respect to factors is a part of this

project.

Data collection and analysis

The catapult has 5 factors with three possible levels each. The factors are:

1. arm position

2. start position

3. Stop position
 4. Peg

5. Band

As I was assigned to conduct a 4 factors with 3 levels experiment and I chose start

angle, stop position, Arm position and Peg as the four factors and the setting is showing

as below.

The factors are levels for the experiment were:

start angle stop Arm Peg

position position

120 4 3 2

130 5 4 3

140 6 5 4
this case study has 4 factors with 3 levels and the degree of freedom is 4*(3-1)+1=9.

From the orthogonal array, we can determine that L9 fits this experiment best.

Then I conducted the experiment and the results are as follows

R1 R2 R3 R4 R5
 30 30 29 28 28

19 20 20.5 20.5 22

10 8 9 9.5 10

23 23 24.5 24.5 24

28 28.5 29 30 30.5

23 23 22 22 22

35 36 36 36 36.5

27 29 30 30 29

27.5 32.5 28 28 28

After doing all of this, then use the Minitab to do analysis.

ANOM:
Analysis means gives the means for standard deviations, signal-noise ratios and means at

different levels for each factor. As per the project requirement, the signal to noise objective

chosen is nominal the best.

The main effects plot for Signal to Noise ratio and Mean for the experiment are plotted.
From the main effects plot of the S/N ratio, it can be identified that the condition Nominal

the best is satisfied at the following levels for the factor

Angle: 130 STOP: 4 Arm: 3 PEG: 3

ANOVA:
A statistical analysis tool that separates the total variability found within a data set into two

components: random and systematic factors. The random factors do not have any statistical

influence on the given data set, while the systematic factors do. The ANOVA test is used

to determine the impact independent variables have on the dependent variable.

Analysis of variance is carried out and the ANOVA table is obtained as below:
We can see that Minitab cannot workout the F and P value which can be calculation by

hand. The following is hand calculation results.

Counter plot
Surface Plot
Interaction plot:
An interaction plot is used to show how the relationship between one categorical factor and

a continuous response depends on the value of the second categorical factor.

Predicted Values:
It can be seen from the main effects pots for SN ratios that the best levels for the factors

for satisfying nominal the best condition are:

Angle: 130 STOP: 4 Arm: 3 PEG: 3

Using predict Taguchi results on the Minitab with using the above factor levels and the

best setting is observed. The predictions are as below:

Conclusion
Stop position and Peg position has been the most important factors that influence the

distance. At the meanwhile, based on the rule of nominal is best, the value which

predicted by Minitab is well observed in the real practice. DOE is really a good method

that can be applied to practice

References:
Eriksson, L., Johansson, E., Kettaneh-Wold, N., Wikstrm, C., & Wold, S. (2000).
Design of experiments. Principles and applications, 172-174.
Anderson, M. J., & Whitcomb, P. J. (2000). Design of experiments. John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.