A compact portfolio exhibiting Preston's past project work and professional experience can be found below.
prestonberchtold@gmail.com
pkb35@nau.edu
At Northern Arizona University, I have taken on a variety of projects from developing a Baja Car subsystem to designing a stay-at-home work out device during the COVID pandemic to developing my own thermo experiment. These projects have brought different perspectives of engineering, adversity, and teamwork.
In the Baja Re-design project, competition rules for the project had changed for 2020 to include an All-Wheel Drive (AWD) system for off-road sections of the track. The team was assigned to create a “plug-n-play” AWD system for the current competition team and any future teams competing. The design consisted of drivetrain and manufacturing specifications for the gear box, two differentials, and two driveshafts.
Baja Subsystem Report
Another project that was influential on me was the “Work-In COVID exercise machine.” As the COVID-19 virus had impacted our society to close gyms and other places of business, the team was assigned to create a work-out device that could be used in the safety of your home. During this time everyone in the community was hit, therefore the project felt more sentimental and impactful as we struggled through it together.
Work-In Final Report
Lastly within my Experimental Methods of Thermal Sciences lecture, a project for designing and creating an experiment procedure was assigned to my team. Within the project, we examined General Atomics 125GPM thermostatic mixing valve and proposed to evaluate each inlet and outlet of the valve to ensure the mixing valve would stay between ±1℃. The project needed in-depth theories and calculations to support the experiment and the error certainty of testing under different temperature conditions.
Experimental Methods Design Project