Sam Ryckman is the graduate division winner of the 2023 Ann and Dave
Braun Student Inventor Award at South Dakota Mines.
Two South Dakota Mines students are winners of the 2023
Braun Student Inventor Award. Kathy Mathieu, a mechanical engineering major, and
her senior design team won an award for an invention that recycles PLA type plastic
into 3D printable material. Sam Ryckman, a graduate student in computer science
and engineering, won the graduate award for a differential belt speed reducer
that has many applications, including robotics.
The Ann and Dave Braun Student Inventor Award
includes $5,000 in cash and a free patent application from McKee, Voorhees
& Sease, PLC or Goodhue, Coleman, & Owens, P.C. This award was
established to recognize a South Dakota Mines student who has made a
significant discovery or invention while enrolled at the university.
Ryckman’s invention is a very high reduction gearbox
that can fit in an extremely small footprint. By mounting an electric motor
inside a gearbox, he solved several problems associated with more conventional
gearboxes. His differential belt speed reducer invention can support a wide
range of applications from robotics to multiple forms of automation.
“When compared to cycloidal or harmonic gearboxes
which are typically used in low-space high-torque applications, this design
provides a combination of high reduction and compactness that standard
variations of these options do not provide,” Ryckman says.
Mathieu along with a mechanical engineering senior
design team of students won the undergraduate award for an invention that improves
the recycling of plastic used in 3D printers. The system includes a grinder to
shred plastic for melting in an extruder and a spooling system that allows
extruded plastic thread to cool before being wound on a spool for later
printing. Other students on the team include Andy Perez, Kelvin Su, Blake Hyla,
Taylor Kirkvold and Macauley Haag.
The Braun Inventor
Award judges’ panel made note of the exceptional quality of this year’s
submissions from all entrants. Many of the entries that did not make the top
two places for the Braun Award were represented at the annual CEO Business
Competition. Some will represent Mines at the upcoming South Dakota
Governor’s Giant Vision Awards later this month.