ISS Commander USN Captain Barry Wilmore holding a 3D printed wrench. Photo Credit: InterestingEngineering.com
Barry Wilmore, International Space Station (ISS) Commander, recently needed a wrench that they didn’t have at hand on-board the ISS…so NASA emailed him one. For the first time ever, an object has been designed on Earth and manufactured in space. In earlier years if a situation arose similar to this then the people on the ISS would have to wait for the next resupply mission which could take months! “Made in Space”, a California company designed a micro gravity printer that sits aboard the ISS. Now astronauts can simply print the desired tool they need.
Now whenever something is needed on the ISS, they can now send the requirements to Made in Space, who then mocks up the part in CAD software before sending the data back to be printed in space. However, this is not the first 3D printed part in space, back in November the printer printed a spare part for itself. This means that they can take less tools with them when they travel to the ISS. 3D printing filament is much lighter than tools! In total, 21 objects have been 3D printed in space, all of which have been brought back to Earth for examination and testing. This can only help to improve the printing process in micro gravity. Now only imagine if we can 3D print a spacecraft…Hey…..It could happen!
The word “engineer” can mean a lot of things. The word “engineering” can mean even more. Both words can be hard to relate to especially if you haven’t studied or practiced the discipline. However, it is often easier to relate to these and similar words by examining a tangible example. Many of the things we use everyday utilize multiple principles of engineering that most simply overlook. I am here to put a mini-spotlight on just one: the trusty stapler. We all know what a stapler does and how it works but what “engineering” principle went into the bringing of our powerful and hinged friend to life, figuratively speaking of course.
Good ‘ole vector statics comes into play in the form of a spring interacting with loaded staples. When the stapler is closed and not moving, an extension spring is elongated usually inside the hood of the staple chamber and provides a component of force in the direction of loaded staples. When you staple together your 20 page single-spaced research paper on naturally occurring composites, this force component slides the next staple into position ready to staple whatever other monstrosity of a report you may have lying around.
The stapler is a machine so it would be smart to assume that machine design and stress analysis are heavy hitters in the world of staplers. Individual staples are easy to remove from one another and that is because they are held together by a weak adhesive. This weak bond is important because if it were too strong, the staple would never succeed to touch the surface of your 40 page chemistry lab report that you worked on all quarter. This bond between the staples has to fail in shear, so the bar that comes on top of the staple must provide enough stress at the bond to shear away the staple from rest, through the thick stack of pages, and onto a low friction finish plate that bends the tips of the staple around the last 9 weeks of your life.
The last but definitely not the least of the engineering principles embedded inside the stapler is material science. When staples are purchased from your local stapler and stapler accessory store they are straight and bent at 90 degree angles on both ends. After being used on your 110 page Matlab project report, these angles can change to 180 degrees or more. Strain hardening occurs at the bent sections of the staple after being used which provides a more secure hold on the pages of which your deepest and most profound thoughts are printed upon.
It is important to keep in mind that the things we buy off the shelf don’t simply appear magically. Even the simplest of these things go through myriads of engineering principles before it’s ever machined or even designed. Just keep that in mind next time you’re using your cellphone or opening a door or even putting on your shoes.
While there are many stunning artificial Christmas trees on the market there is nothing that can beat a real Christmas tree. The species of tree for the festive holiday varies in different parts of the world, they all have roughly the same green foliage and smell. When it comes to getting a tree to decorate for the holidays you’re faced with one problem regardless of the species you go for in that the leaves or needles will turn brown and fall off. A group of schoolgirls in Australia have now come up with a simple solution to make the Christmas tree last longer in the home.
A year 7 class of girls from a school in Rose Bay, Sydney, Australia, looked into what made the foliage of the typical Christmas tree turn brown and shed the needles. They looked at the trees in different conditions. They placed branches into tap water, hot water, beer, energy drinks and a container that had water with the branch being sprayed with hairspray. They performed the experiment with 50 branches of Pinus Radiata, otherwise known as the Monterey Pine tree. They divided the branches into groups of 10 and checked the branches out carefully over a period of 27 days. They used an instrument to measure the leaves health by applying a pulse of light. This measured how efficiently the needles converted light energy to chemical energy.
Professor Moles said that she believed that the coating of the hairspray stopped the plant from being able to sense chemicals that came from the branches that were dying, which in turn would normally trigger more decay. This works in the same way as leaving a rotten apple in a bowl and it turning the whole bowl bad. Another theory was that the hair spray may have helped to keep moisture in. So it seems that if you want to get the best from your Christmas tree you should give the tree a spray with some hairspray. Of course, it would be advisable to do this before you decorated the tree.
This may be a tad bit late considering the timing. I know I will make sure to remember this next year!
Ballerina in ballet shoes. Photo Credit: rebloggy.com
Now more than ever, kids are being introduced to the possibilities of a career in engineering and the sciences. There are commercials encouraging young scholars to study engineering and plenty of programs to help underrepresented demographics obtain a scientific/technical degree. Even other fields of study such as business and apparel merchandising management (AMM) are offering classes to become better versed in solving technical problems.
CPP Bronco Esthella Gonzalez. Photo Credit: Cal Poly Pomona PolyCentric
A few weeks back, I stumbled upon an article written by Carly Owens about a fellow CPP Bronco named Esthella Gonzalez. Esthella is a recent AMM graduate who took a more technical approach to her senior project. She was tasked with tackling a sports related apparel problem commonly found in ballet. Pointe shoes, the one’s used by ballerinas for dancing on the tips of their toes, have very high wear rates.
Ballerina shoes typically wear out after about 20 hours of normal use and can be completely worn down even after one performance. This has caused a major need for better materials and performers have been calling out for someone to help with this problem for years. Esthella started out her research by running 14 materials through common textile tests also used in the engineering field: tear strength, seam strength, and abrasion resistance. Similar tests also are used to determine mechanical properties of materials and for the classification of materials commonly used in engineering practice.
Seam Strength Test. Photo Credit: 4U2SEA.
Esthella at first dreaded her given task but, through hard work, has achieved great success in here findings. She found that a material called Gabardine, composed of mostly polyester, performed the best overall in all three tests. It outperforms the traditionally used Satin which can run into the thousands to repair. This cost is also compounded by the fact that ballerina shoes are all custom made. After finding success in her two-quarter long project, she was encouraged to continue research and even submitted an article to the academic journal Fibers and Polymers.
Introducing students to the world of science at an early age and encouraging those interested in it to continue their study is only a good thing. Aside from advancements in consumable technology we can expect to see advancements in fields not commonly tied to engineering. The medical field and agricultural economy for example always benefit from new breakthroughs in science and cutting edge equipment. Esthella’s unexpected blend of science, engineering, and apparel is just the tip of the iceberg!
Until next time!
To support the completion of our project, please check out our GoFundMe site and pass it along to your friends. We are nearing our first milestone of $1,000 and need your help! Thanks everyone!
The 2014 year has been a good one to us in terms of technology. Many of these devices have not been publicly displayed enough for people to take notice. So I’m here to fill you in! Here is your list of the top 10 greatest feats in engineering!
10. Form-fitting compression space suit to aid in planetary exploration -Dr. Dava Newman, a professor of Aeronautics, Astronautics and Engineering Systems at MIT, created compression garments that incorporate small, springlike coils that contract in response to heat to improve upon the outdated, clunky spacesuits astronauts currently wear.
9. Simple, cheap, paper test for cancer -Another research team at MIT has definitely achieved success in this department as they developed a simple, cheap, paper test that can diagnose cancer, in a similar fashion to a pregnancy test.
8. Pocket spectrometer is your personal molecular scanner -This pocket friendly device uses near IR spectroscopy to identify the materials of the object it’s scanning. It works in partner with your smartphone via Bluetooth and the data from the scan is sent to the cloud to undergo algorithms, before feedback is sent back to the smartphone.
7. Daewoo’s exosteleton that gives its workers super strength -Daewoo began testing exoskeletons that allow workers to pick up, maneuver and hold objects weighing 30kg with no effort – perfect for their shipbuilders. A backpack carries the power for a system of hydraulic joints and electric motors running up the outside of the legs.
6. We finally have something that can be called a working hoverboard -An interesting use of electromagnetics and the hoverboard was a front for the new take on the technology which has potential for a lot of other great possibilities.
5. Ridiculous 43 Terabits/sec data transfer -The High-Speed Optical Communications team at the Technical University of Denmark set a new record for data transmission this year, passing 43 terabits per second worth of data over a single optical fiber. To put this in perspective, Reddit user candiedbug points out: “At 43 terabits per second you could download Netflix’s entire 3.14 petabyte library in 9.7 minutes.”
4. Google Cardboard lets you experience virtual reality with stuff you already have -With some android software you can create your own virtual reality experience with things possibly lying around your home right now. All you need is some cardboard, Velcro strips, magnets and plastic lenses (and of course an Android device), and you can experience a 3D virtual reality available from numerous apps.
3. Wireless electricity is now a thing -Wireless electricity has been creeping into our lives with the likes of wireless charging smartphone docks where the handheld devices lay on top of a pad. Now, WiTricity have used resonant wireless power transfer technology to develop a commercially viable product that can charge your devices without the need of them being left on a pad. It also works through wood and metal.
2. SpaceX’s FALCON 9 reusable test vehicle reaches 1000m -Elon Musk dreams to colonize Mars in the future but this year his company achieved a milestone with their reusable rocket, reaching 1000m. At a time when budgeting for space sciences is at risk, the industry needs more efficient and less costly solutions to continue our exploration beyond our own planet.
1. Solar power can be generated in the dark -Researchers from MIT and Harvard have created a way for solar panels to absorb and store the energy from the sun’s radiation, which can then be used on demand to create heat.
However, do not forget that we landed on a comet! In my opinion that is the greatest engineering feat! Feel free to look into each one of these great engineering feats yourself!
LED Sign Example. Photo Credit: animationlibrary.com
Welcome back for another round of learning Arduino! I just want to take a moment to thank those who are continuing this journey with me. For those just joining us, please take a look at Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 to clear up any questions! I personally have come a long way since my start in Summer and have worked on some really awesome projects this past quarter. Through the use of my personal Arduino starter kit, I have been able to build an obstacle avoiding car, a temperature controlling HVAC system, and a self-stabilizing wing. These projects were completed for a Control of Mechanical Systems class I took this past quarter and I can’t wait to share them all with you.
In Part 3, we were able to build a simple circuit and breakdown the code to control the circuit. It was a nice intro project that showed how to setup an Arduino code and upload it to the board. This time around the task will be slightly more involved but will show you important coding practices to make future projects more manageable. We will be controlling multiple LED’s and manipulating their states at any given time. Let’s get to it!
What you need:
8 x LED’s (any color)
8 x 330Ohm Resistors (if you don’t know what you have, the color code is orange-orange-brown)
Arduino board
Breadboard
Assorted Jumpers
Friendly Note: We are not responsible for any misuse or risky behavior!
Photo Credit: Vilros Starter Kit Guide by Sparkfun
Place the LED’s anywhere on the breadboard, without plugging any two legs into the same rows. This can cause a short and you will experience unwanted circuit behavior. Also, take care in knowing which leg is the longer length (positive) and the shorter length (negative). You may want to place the LED’s in an organized fashion so that the light sequencing looks nice. Remember, we want to place a resistor in series with the LED’s to protect them from excess current. Next, place jumpers from the positive LED legs to the Arduino inputs such as digital inputs 2 -9. Finally, apply a 5V potential to the positive(+) column on the breadboard and a ground jumper to the negative (-) column. Take a look above for a better view of the circuit layout!
Code
The code below is VERY good at teaching what each part does. Instead of re-analyzing each part again, I will add to it in hopes of clarifying any questions. Simply copy and paste it into your IDE and upload it to your Arduino board. I have included a video demonstration below the code to give you a better visual of what to expect once you run it.
// for tips on how to make random() even more random.
index = random(8); // pick a random number between 0 and 7
delayTime = 100;
digitalWrite(ledPins[index], HIGH); // turn LED on
delay(delayTime); // pause to slow down
digitalWrite(ledPins[index], LOW); // turn LED off
}
Video Demonstration:
Here’s what you should expect to see in your circuit! Enjoy!
In future projects you will most likely need to use For Loops and Arrays to complete tasks efficiently and to consolidate writing space. These components of code show up in all different forms of script such as VBA and Matlab so learning it now will make you better prepared. Have some fun with the code above by playing with the timing of delays and with the mixing of functions. If you’re wondering what multiple LED’s are even used for just imagine a marquee display. They are made up of a bunch of LED’s that turn on and off independently to form a desired letter, symbol, or shape.
Thanks for reading Part 4 of my Learning Arduino series and don’t forget to visit our GoFundMe site to help us reach our fundraising goal!
First off, contrary to what I stated in my previous post, today’s post will not discuss one way in which UUV technology is being optimized for the purpose of undersea warfare through the utilization of advanced biomimetics, as I ran out of time to prepare that post and thus will publish it in my next round of posts.
Today I will be sharing something a little bit different…the design of a full body suit that was recently worn by a man who was swallowed whole by a 25 ft. anaconda…on purpose. I’ll decline to comment on the validity of this kind of feat, as that is not what I am here to write about, but will rather focus on what is effectively a pretty interesting case study in engineering design.
Anytime something must be designed to be used by humans, the level of engineering required is almost immediately stepped up [for many reasons, including (but not limited to) the increased importance of safety], and this is no exception. In all product design, engineers must begin by determining the problem statement and the constraints imposed by that statement. Dr. Cynthia Bir (a biomedical engineer), one of the project leads for the suit design, would have begun by looking at the facts: there is a man, who will be ingested by an anaconda, and that man must then come back out of the anaconda without being harmed. As ridiculous as this must sound, it is actually quite reflective of the absurd nature of the design/operational constraints that engineers must often meet. Next, Dr. Bir would have had to conduct literary (or possibly even experimental) research into the aspects of the problem statement (the snake itself, and all aspects of the human-snake interaction to take place) and then determine/look at the consequences associated with this problem statement; that is, what are the specific risks posed to the user in this scenario (in this case: constriction, snake bite, and acid attack from the gastrointestinal acids). Next, she would have started in with generating concepts, selecting a few concepts to further develop, doing some base-line evaluation and analysis of those concepts in order to cut it down to one final design, and then starting in with the actual design/calculations/analysis/testing of her chosen design. I should note that engineering design is never this simple and is actually a very complex process, that generally sees many iterations and a great deal of looping back to earlier steps of the design process.
So, as we stated before, Dr. Bir had already deciphered the situation, conducted relevant research (how a snake attacks its prey, what kind of acids are present in the snake’s stomach, etc.), resolved the situation into the key parameters/constraints associated with the situation (ability to resist snake bite, constriction, and stomach acids), and now would have come up with a few concepts. Undoubtedly, one of the decisions that would have been made early on would revolve around what kind of material system to use in the design: one material for the entire suit or multiple materials used throughout the suit. In this case, it would have been very difficult to use one material for the entire suit, as the application calls for many different material properties (hardness, strength, and fracture toughness for the snake bite, stiffness and compressive strength for the constriction, and resistance to chemical attack for the acids, etc.) and thus it would be far more economical to use multiple materials (each one targeting a few key constraints) on the suit (as opposed to having to develop a whole new material to meet all of the specific needs of the suit). In fact, this is exactly what Dr. Bir and her team did.
The innermost layer of the suit actually served a different purpose: to monitor the vital signs of the man being swallowed (his heart rate, respiration rate, core body temperature, etc.), as if something began to go wrong, they would want to stop the experiment immediately. This layer consisted of a biometric vest that was paired through Bluetooth to the project team’s computers, giving them live updates of all of his vitals (it is interesting to note that these kinds of vests are also used by special operators, astronauts, some athletes during training, and many others).
Biometric vest. Photo Credit: Gizmodo.com
Next, came a thermal control layer in the way of a vest fitted with a pumped liquid cooling loop heat exchanger which essentially sends cold (colder than the man’s body temperature) water through small tubes that run across his body. The temperature difference between the man’s body and the water in the tubes drives heat transfer out of the man’s body into the tubes, thus cooling the man’s core temperature. This is important in order to make sure that the man does not overheat, because he will be wearing a number of thick layers of various materials and will be inside of the snake’s stomach so that he will be exposed to his own internal heat generation, the snake’s internal heat generation, and all of his insulating layers.
Water cooled vest. Photo Credit: Gizmodo.com
Next comes a chemical suit (not pictured) to provide the chemical resistance that we mentioned earlier. After this, a layer of chain mill (like that worn by Renaissance knights or people who dive with sharks) is added in order to block the snake bite.
Chain mill. Photo Credit: Gizmodo.com
On top of this comes a rigid carbon fiber shell that must be made custom to conform to the user’s torso and is used to resist damage to the ribs/chest cavity by constriction of the snake’s muscles. The torso shell was designed with a factor of safety of a little over 3 (meaning that the shell’s strength is over 3 times the stress that it will be subjected to during the event) and was tested by wrapping a thick rope around the shell and pulling the rope with tow trucks at either end.
On top of all of this, the user donned a thick layer of neoprene (think a wetsuit) to keep all of the other layers together and cover any otherwise unprotected parts of his body; this layer was then dusted with pig’s blood in order to attract the snake and ensure that the snake would actually want to ingest the man. Other things (a few of the many other things) that had to be considered in the design of this suit would have included the weight of each component, thickness (to ensure mobility of appendages), range of motion (note the fact that the torso shell is sleeveless), thermal conductivities of all materials (for proper heat transfer calculations), possible interference with the Bluetooth signal, ability to put on/take off the suit, and of course ability to breathe! The ability to breath is vastly secured by a combination of three things: the carbon fiber torso shell, none of the layers being too restrictive, and a sealed face mask (which also serves as eye/face protection from any objects or acids, thus the mask must also be chemical-resistant) with an external air hose (which must also be resistant to chemical infiltration) fed by an air supply from the project crew.
Face mask with air supply. Photo Credit: Gizmodo.com
Presumably leak-testing of the suit and air-supply lines. Photo Credit: aol.com
So there you have it, an interesting look at some of the engineering considerations behind one of the strangest things I have ever heard of anyone wanting to do. This just goes to show that the possible applications of the world of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are truly limitless!
Please be sure to check back Thursday for a Presentation post by Andrew and please remember to help us to share our fundraising campaign at GoFundMe.com/TeamUV
Although most people I know use mechanical pencils, traditional wooden pencils are still as important today as when they were first introduced. Wooden writing utensils are still used in compasses and colored pencils which means they will continue to need sharpening. Before receiving this prompt, I never realized how complex a simple wall or desk mounted sharpener really is. As a kid, I would utilize the class sharpener to avoid boring lessons or to talk to my friend but didn’t know the engineering involved to make such a device work. I’m not talking about an angled sharpener but rather a planetary sharpener like shown below:
Planetary Sharpener with External Case Removed. Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org
Planetary sharpeners installed in classrooms or offices in the 60’s can still be found in fully functional form. These things were designed to take abuse, misuse, and to stand the test of time. Taking a look at a mounted sharpener I was able to come to three engineering conclusions…
Planetary Sharpeners must be designed for ease of use
It’s safe to assume that a sharpener is going to be used by both adults and children at some point in its life cycle. This means that a designer needs to ensure that a child can apply sufficient force to crank the mechanism with ease. If this condition isn’t met then the market for such a product would become limited to adults working in office settings.
Material selection is key
As stated above, planetary sharpeners can be found in perfect working order even in run down and abandoned buildings who have gone years untouched. I attribute this to great material selection. Most sharpeners are manufactured out of steel which has been hardened to resist wear and deformation.
Planetary Gearset
Lastly, if you have ever taken the case off of a mounted sharpener, I’m sure you’ve seen the cutting cylinders used to sharpen. The internal mechanism is basically a planetary gearset. A sun gear is usually centered in the middle of the train with planet gears connecting it to an outer ring. This allows the center of the outer ring to revolve around the center of the inner ring or vice versa. In the case of a sharpener, the inner sun gear is replaced with the pencil and the connecting planetary gears are replaced with rotating cutting cylinders. These helical cylinders are designed to cut and are angled to form a point which also forms the point of a pencil. More information about planetary gears can be found here.
Planetary Gearset. Orange Sun Gear, 3x Teal Planetary Gears, and Blue Outer Ring Gear. Photo Credit: Reddit.com
Whether it be a door handle, a cup, or even a pencil sharpener, it’s sometimes easy to dismiss the complexity of our everyday products. The beauty of engineering is taking a complicated task and making it routinely easy for anyone to do.
Until next time!
To support the completion of our project please check out ourGoFundMesite and pass it along to your friends. We have already raised $500 and we couldn’t be more excited! Thanks everyone!
Photo rendering of a futuristic underwater robotic eel. Photo Credit: DefenseOne.com
While the vast majority of the attention with regards to unmanned vehicles is generally seized by unmanned aerial vehicles (or UAVs, which have almost become a household acronym in this day and age), the aerial environment is by no means the only one within which militaries benefit through the use of unmanned vehicles. In fact the same reasons that UAVs prove so valuable in the aerial environment (information gathering, reconnaissance, surveillance, unmanned combat, logistics support, etc.) also exist for UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicles) and UUVs (Unmanned Underwater/Undersea Vehicles…by the way do you realize that if you shorten UUV to UV, you get half of Team UV’s name? Rest assured this is no coincidence, our senior project aims to provide a stealthy, highly maneuverable ISR UUV, but we shorten it to UV – underwater vehicle – because with our compact size it would be impossible to man the vehicle, although UV is also an acronym for Unmanned Vehicle…plus “Team UV” is catchier than “Team UUV”…).
Click image for larger picture.
In the design of our UV, we are essentially optimizing the vehicle for ISR (Information/Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) type missions; we do this by providing for higher speeds, smoother maneuvering, increased stealth (on the fronts of thermal, magnetic, and flow signature, cavitation, noise, and overall inconspicuousness), and requiring little to no human interaction. All of these mission objectives that we have for our UV increase the vehicle’s performance and stealth, making it a much more efficient solution to be used by our troops to conduct naval ISR from a distance and thus, help to save lives. While our primary application is ISR, which directly serves the military, it is important to note that UUVs are not only used by the military, but are also used by harbor security, underwater inspection contractors, marine biologists, and even recreational users in some cases. The range of applications for UUVs has no end in sight, as can be seen by the small sampling of applications for UUVs listed below.
ISR: UUVs can be used (for example) to conduct reconnaissance (R) in order to obtain the necessary intelligence (I) (strategic, operational, or tactical) for effective military action and/or to provide maritime surveillance (S) of key areas along our coastline or to protect homeland ports.
Mine detection: In areas such as the Persian Gulf, UUVs have been used to detect and (in some cases) clear sea mines.
Underwater inspection: UUVs may be used to conduct underwater inspections of outfalls, pipelines, or other underwater structures that may be too deep, dangerous, or inconvenient for humans to inspect.
Exploration: UUVs have also been used extensively by scientists, filmmakers, and even recreational users to explore the underwater habitat.
Underwater mapping: UUVs are used by the military and some other governmental agencies to map the sea floor.
Collection of weather data: The military also uses UUVs in order to collect data with regards to weather, subsea currents, faultline activity, and other related subjects. (While a little off topic, it is interesting to note that the military actually has a huge presence in the field of weather sciences and the USAF actually has a squadron – the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron – that flies directly into hurricanes and tropical storms, armed with loads of sensors for data collection!)
Object recovery: UUVs are used in recovery of sunken items from depths traditionally seen as unreachable by humans (in recent news, the US Navy’s Bluefin-21 drone has been used extensively in the search for the downed Malaysian MH370 plane; UUVs have also famously been used to recover items from historic shipwrecks).
Force/area protection: UUVs could also be used to thwart undersea attacks and help to safeguard our troops as well as key areas (i.e. harbors).
Attack missions: Lastly, UUVs could also be used in the opposite capacity by going on the offensive.
U.S. Navy Bluefin-21 drone (left) and TPL-25 (Towed Pinger Locator). Photo Credit: wsj.net; telegraph.co.uk
As more conflicts arise and scientists and engineers continue to push the boundaries of technology, the role of UUVs in undersea warfare is only set to increase; this is especially true when budgetary considerations are taken into account in that the cost of a small UUV is almost negligible in comparison to a full-scale submarine. This is not to say that a UUV can replace a full-scale submarine, nor that they even share the same roles; however, as submarine fleets diminish due to the astronomical costs associated with initial acquisition and subsequent maintenance, the number of UUVs used by the military will only continue to rise. When you pair this with the fact that, as the current UUV technology becomes older and less expensive, more and more groups (whether for better or worse) will have access to UUVs, the reason that further developing UUV technology is of such great interest to the defense industry becomes more and more apparent.
Hopefully this post served as a helpful primer on unmanned drone technology and the role(s) that UUVs play in the defense (and other) industry(industries). This upcoming Tuesday (12-16), I will be continuing off this post with a Well Read post discussing one way in which UUV technology is being optimized for the purpose of undersea warfare through the utilization of advanced biomimetics (that is, by mimicking the various ways by which fish swim!). Be sure to check back Sunday for an Open Mind post form Andrew and please continue to help us to share our fundraising efforts at GoFundMe.com/TeamUV
Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM) of the insect’s leg gears. Photo Credit: livescience.com
Nature is a great engineer. So many of the innovations that have propelled humankind through the ages can be found in nature. On average, a gear is one of the smallest components of almost anything that moves. These components handle everything from timing to power transfer. Humans have only been using these tools for maybe 1000 years. Scientists have discovered that nature has been using them for much much longer. The rear legs of a plant hopper are bound together using gears so that the legs spring at exactly the same time propelling the insect where it needs to go without requiring any more complicated thought. Pretty much all the great ideas can be found in nature and this is one of the reasons why biomimicry is becoming more and more popular. Read more about the discovery here
Movie explosion special effects. Photo Credit: screenjunkies.com
Prompt: Entertainment engineering brings to light some of the more light-hearted aspects of engineering. Entertainment in itself is one of America’s most popular pass times and encompasses subjects such as film, television, music, games, reading, comedy, theater, circuses, magic, street performance, parades, fireworks, animal shows, and the list just goes on and on. Entertainment holds a very special place in the world and always has; whether in the form of the plays of Ancient Greece, the jesters of the medieval times, the shooting exhibitions from the days of the wild west, the black & white films that the soldiers of early wars watched to forget about their harsh reality, or the 3D special effects that seem to captivate us all on the building-sized screens of today, entertainment has always been there to help relieve the stress of those who indulge in it. Today this is especially important for the citizens of this great country as we work longer hours, spend more time stressed, and find the well-appreciated release provided through entertainment to be more and more refreshing. For all these reasons and many more, the entertainment industry is here to stay and will constantly require great engineers to keep it afloat and help it to progress. Pick 3 forms of entertainment and describe how a mechanical engineer could contribute to them, or 1 form and 3 considerations.
One interesting subset of physics and engineering that is very often modeled in movies, but is vastly overlooked, is that of fluid mechanics. Although not usually noted, fluids (liquids, gases) are not the only things that can be described by fluid mechanics; fluid mechanics is often applied to study the movement of plasmas and the flow of granulated material (i.e. sand) for example. Perhaps more significantly, fluid mechanics finds vast application in the way of FSI (Fluid-Structure Interaction), which finds usage in all kinds of fields, such as the movement of bridges in high winds, aeroacoustics (such as was seen in my earlier post on owl stealth), and the effect of water hammer on piping materials to name just a few applications. An interesting phenomena that is frequently seen in movies, and that requires a lot of work in the way of application of fluid-structure interaction theory and computational physics, is the movement of fields of tall grass in the wind. This motion is actually quite comparable to the movement marine plants in tidal currents and thus is often analyzed similarly. To learn more about the movement of grass fields in the wind, head on over to FYFD.
Wind acting on a field of tall grass. Photo Credit: Tumblr.com
Additionally, if anyone has ever seen an action movie, chances are there was some shooting in it, and chances are if there was a lot of shooting in it, someone got shot. In some particularly gruesome movies, the bullet is shown to impact the skin and create the wound. The field of terminal ballistics (consisting of entry, internal, and exit ballistics) is highly complex and to model the bullet-target interaction correctly takes a vast knowledge of materials, fracture mechanics, and many other fields of physics and engineering.
Bullet-apple interaction from a study at MIT. Photo Credit: Flickr.com
Lastly, explosions have become a focal point of the majority of movies out there these days; their modeling requires a vast knowledge of combustion theory, flame-front propagation, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and (once again) fluid-structure interaction.
Explosion modeling. Photo Credit: Tokyo-gas.co.jp
So just remember, next time you see a movie and think to yourself ‘How do they make it look so real?’ or ‘These special effects are incredible!’, you have the worlds of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to thank for helping to create a realistic experience!
CFD study of airflow through a disc brake installed on a wheel/tire. Photo Credit: apps.exchange.autodesk.com
For much of our design we had to do some complicated analysis on the way the water acts around our vehicle. To do this we had to do some Computational Fluid Dynamics. The complex math involved in these calculations has been briefly touched on in past posts, but this post is here to tell you how we did it. Autodesk offers a massive suite of analysis software for free to students and one of them does the analysis we need: Autodesk Simulation CFD. There are many great tutorials out there on how to do this but here are the basics we used.
Create an external volume: our device interacts with the water around it so we needed to model that.
Then we assigned materials to each component. Each part has a different density and surface finish that will affect its interactions with the water so we needed to assign these values.
Then we set the boundary conditions. These are values of pressure or velocity that remain constant or change at a prescribed rate. For ours we set our pressure far away from the device to zero gauge pressure.
Next we assigned a rotational velocity to our propulsor. This sucker moves the water so we gotta have it spinning.
Then we mesh the whole thing. The automesh feature in the program does a pretty good job. The mesh connects all of the data points; the calculations will be done at each of these points so the more of them there are the longer the analysis will take.
Then click solve and take a nap, these things can take a while to solve!
All of this analysis is right at your fingertips if you know where to look (and happen to be a student!) It’s pretty cool the things you can find out!
A company called CyPhy Works has discovered a way to make UAVs that have “unlimited” run time! How is this possible you might ask?? Well it’s rather elementary.
If you think about it, all your household appliances use the same cutting-edge technology. A power cord. Or in this case, a microfilament that provides energy, direct communication, high definition video, and receives data from sensors quickly and reliably. But you might think that having this “tether” is a huge drawback as the microfilament could get snagged and that would be the end of the UAV. This problem has been carefully considered. The UAV actually dispenses the spool of microfilament as it moves so it will never be in tension to hold it down. And if worst comes to worst, if someone decides to cut the microfilament, the UAV can simply return to its point of origin on battery power.
Helen Grainer, founder of CyPhy Works, says that this is a solution that solves the problem that most UV’s have and that is loss of communication when employed for duty. UVs go into bunkers, inside a building, around a corner. All lose communication and by the time communication is restored it’s already too late. Too late to recover the UV itself or any information it might have stumbled upon. The latest of CyPhy Works’ projects is the Pocket Flyer UAV that has a battery life of 2 hours or longer, with a microfilament cable that can spool up to 76 yards, and has replaceable spools for the drone to use after completion of each mission. The point of having a UAV so small is so soldiers always have a drone on their person no matter the situation and it can be run using an OS on a smart phone or other similar devices. These UVs are ready for production to get them into the hands of soldiers who need them the most. Here’s the incredible video of the prototype, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMdCnRg81qE