Team UV has officially transitioned to Engineering A Future (EAF).
Please click the following link or the above picture to redirect to our new website: Engineering A Future !
Be sure to subscribe to our new website & follow it please!
Team UV has officially transitioned to Engineering A Future (EAF).
Please click the following link or the above picture to redirect to our new website: Engineering A Future !
Be sure to subscribe to our new website & follow it please!
Well, it appears that it has become time at last for Team UV to end its journey. Today marks the 345th day that TeamUV.org has been active and I can guarantee you that every one of us here at Team UV has throughly enjoyed and cherished the 29,676,840 seconds that this blog has been running (at the time of publishing this post). During this time we have had the incredible opportunity to share some of our own research and, far more importantly, help to inspire interest in the STEM fields amongst the general public with visitors from 115 countries for a total of nearly 8,300 views and well over 200 likes from 114 WordPress followers, our email followers, and many others.
This blog has far exceeded our expectations and for that we have all of our family, friends, supporters, and readers to thank. Without all of you, we would have never been able to accomplish what we have over the past year. I have been honored to lead this team and to have the chance to interact with all of you on a daily basis, all-the-while growing with my teammates and watching them progress through the challenges of the last 15+ months of our senior project. I believe that I can speak for all of us when I say that the experience of writing to all of you here at Team UV is not one that any of us will soon forget. These are the kinds of memories that stick with you.
The experience afforded to all of Team UV by sharing with you all over the past year will serve us well in the future as we push onwards and upwards in life and face new challenges, and I sincerely hope that our time here will serve all of you in the same way. From compressible flow regimes to programming Arduinos to biomedical diagnostic tests to 3D-printing makeup to insects with gear-like rear legs, we truly have covered a whole lot of incredibly diverse topics here at Team UV, but we have not even begun to scratch the surface of what the world of engineering has to offer. Part of the beauty of the world of engineering is that it truly is limitless. Boundaries to the engineering mindset do not exist and physical barriers to what engineers can do simply serve as challenges for scientists and engineers alike to accept. We hope that we have begun to shed some light on this reality and on the opportunities available within the STEM fields.
We set out hoping to reach just one person out there and help to inspire them to go on to pursue STEM-related careers or simply just to spend some time everyday thinking scientifically. I personally have heard from numerous people over the past year about how we have made a difference within their lives or the lives of their friends or families. I have also heard similar stories from my teammates, and that is the golden metric.
I am beyond proud of my team and what we have been able to accomplish and look forwards to continue to share with our readers about STEM over at our next project: EAF. For those that do not know, Engineering A Future (EAF) is a website that I originally intended to launch back in December 2012 with the goal of inspiring interest in the STEM fields amongst the general public…sound familiar? After preparing and stockpiling posts for a few short weeks, my Winter Break ended and the Winter 2012 quarter started in at Cal Poly Pomona (CPP) and my plans fell apart. I had become far too busy, did not have any help, and simply put had never done anything like EAF (or TeamUV.org) before. EAF was created with good intentions, but was not planned for properly by me, but I can assure you, that has all changed.
Flash forward three years and EngineeringAFuture.com will be relaunching on Monday (July 13th, 2015). This time the website is ready to go, as is the team. I have spent the past few months preparing EAF for its launch and am excited to cut the ribbon Monday morning. EAF will follow the same idea that TeamUV.org has, but will take it to a whole new level. EAF has been optimized with one goal in mind: to get as many people as humanly possible excited about STEM. Crazy, right? Well I believe that I have the perfect team to do it and that we are more than prepared to hit the ground running, help people to learn, learn (ourselves), and just have fun with it. Most of Team UV will be carrying over to EAF: Abraham, Ketton, and Andrew will all be bringing their massive brains, awesome outlooks, and passion for STEM-blogging and connecting with the community over to EAF. Unfortunately, Ben will not be continuing with us at EAF and so we wave a somber goodbye to a valued team member and friend. But fear not, while we may be losing a teammate, we are also introducing some awesome new features.
First is the style of posting. EAF will be posting three times a week (just like Team UV has been), but this time we will be posting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Posts will go live at 0800 (purely so that our followers who check the site early will already have the content up to read, rather than having to wait around for two hours) and the social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) sharing of the posts will be sent out at 1000 hours (two hours later). Post categories have been almost completely revamped and the new categories will consist of:
On top of this, the new website is far more aesthetically pleasing, has many cool features and pages, and will hopefully mean a much more awesome experience for our readers and followers. Lastly, we have some very cool ideas in the works for some awesome new types of content that will launch later on down the road. The website is currently having its finishing touches put on with the About EAF page being finished up offline before transferring it to the site this weekend, a few member bio pages being finished up, and the graphical interface being tweaked a little bit more for Monday’s launch.
In closing, we want to thank our readers/supporters/followers for joining us along this journey and sincerely hope that all of you will continue to follow us over at EAF starting Monday! On Monday, a post redirecting our readers to EAF will be published.
Thank you for your time
Sincerely,
Brian
Team UV Crest, representing our principal application (ISR), and our potential future applications (Mine Detection, Underwater Inspection, and Exploration).
It has been quite an adventure writing the posts for this site, I know I have learned a lot, and hopefully you have too. While this blog catered mostly to people interested in the science technology engineering and math fields I did what I could to make it accessible to all. One of the best ways to learn something new is to try and explain it, so thank you for letting me learn by explaining to you.
Hopefully most of you will continue on the Engineering A Future. I will not, my blog writing journey has reached its end here. It was fun while it lasted stay curious and stay creative, always stretch your minds to the limits!
Ball bearings and technical drawings. Photo Credit: amanoverseas.com
Creativity is a huge part of being an innovative engineer. Thinking outside of the box it what has allowed the human race to advance their science and technology to the levels that we see today. While there are a few exceptions most of the engineering courses taken to receive the final degree focus on building a foundation of knowledge. These classes are designed to give a future engineer a solid base to develop ideas from. Creativity is a difficult thing to teach because it comes to everyone in a different way. Here are a few things that I do to help me become more creative.
The biggest thing, at least for me, is that I keep an idea notebook. It is just a small composition notebook that usually remains in my backpack, but when ever I see something that is frustrating or looks like it could be improved I jot it down. This way I have a list of problems that need solving.
Another thing for me is staying in touch with the advancements in technology by reading science blogs and sometimes the journal articles that they refer to. This keeps me learning and stretching my mind into new areas. Some of these new ideas I can tie to the list of problems that need solving and then I can start designing as system that would solve this problem.
Practicing the creative process is one of the best ways to get better at it. By seeing a problem and then attempting to design a system, either as a thought exercise or on paper, more problems come up, which in turn need solving. By going through this process, solving problems, learning new things, applying these things to existing problems, new and innovative solutions arise.
This is the method that I use to come up with new ideas and inject creativity into my work. Please feel free to comment with methods that you use. Everyone’s mind works a little differently and there are so many different ways to find inspiration.
Photo Credit: tiesteach.org
As many of you are aware, we are in the transitioning phase of this website as we close out TeamUV.org and transition to EngineeringAFuture.com over the next two months, so this will be Andrew’s last Open Mind post here at Team UV, but not to fear, there are still two months of posts left here and the same types of articles will be carried over onto EAF (Engineering A Future), so without further ado, please enjoy the following:
Last week, I had one of the best educational experiences of my life: a whole day of teaching 6th graders about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)! My lovely girlfriend is a 6th grade, Math and Science teacher and was constantly asked by her students as to when I would visit her class. With the build of DORY in full swing and wrapping up my undergraduate degree, I just couldn’t make time for a visit during the school year. In the last few months, my interest in teaching has grown, especially teaching about science, technology, and engineering. I knew I would take the opportunity to speak to her kiddos the first chance I could get.
A self-balancing wing my controls team made for class.
My girlfriend and I made plans for me to visit the second to last day of their school year. Her kids and I couldn’t be more excited. I made a presentation about STEM and how it applies to our everyday lives. I appealed to their interests by highlighting: famous people and how they use technology, popular electronics and how they wouldn’t be around without STEM, and popular social apps and how they came to existence using STEM. I also showed them famous celebrity engineers such as Ashton Kutcher, Rowan Atkinson, and Michael Gambon. I then continued to show them projects I worked on in my undergrad such as an obstacle avoiding cart and DORY, as well as a live demonstration of a self-balancing wing. They had so many questions with some that showed real engineering intuition. Seeing the excitement in their eyes and the “light bulbs” turn on was a fulfilling moment for me.
Homopolar Motor. Photo Credit: yourepeat.com
At the end of my presentation, I gave them a little background on electrical motors and brought materials to help them make their first simple motor. With a couple of magnets, a battery, copper wire, and a bit of patience they all made a homopolar motor. One team even had their motor spin for 14 minutes before the wire fell off. We even had time to make paper bridges which turned into a very competitive activity!
Paper bridge. Photo Credit: tallbridgeguy.com
Although the day was filled with laughter and excitement, it didn’t come easy! Often times we (meaning my girlfriend!) would have to correct the kids when they would get too roudy or speak out of turn. By the end of the day, we were both so exhausted. I have a new appreciation for middle school teachers and am glad I had the chance to try out the position. It is one difficult career! Teaching 11 year olds may not be in my future, but teaching STEM classes could definitely be!
Until next time…
Stressed guy. Photo Credit: lifechirocenter.com
“Things present themselves to you, and it’s how you choose to deal with them that reveals who you are. We all say a lot of things, don’t we, about who we are and how we think. But in the end it’s your actions, how you respond to circumstance that reveals your character.” – Cate Blachett
Problems are simply a part of life and are statistically unavoidable. However, just because everyone has problems does not mean we all approach them in the same way. It is your individual mindset that determines this. Two people can look at the same problem and have polar opposite outlooks. Personally, years in the higher education system have given me an engineering mindset which contains problem solving skills which I believe are the most valuable tools at my disposal because they can be applied to almost any problem in engineering and in life. To solve almost any problem you need to take the time to identify what you’re given, what you’re trying to find, and what are the steps to your solution. Easy right?
This is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of how the engineering mindset can solve almost any problem. It is truly a universal tool that can be applied almost anywhere. As a young man about to enter the ‘real’ world in just a few months, I can confidently say I am ready for anything thanks to the mindset I have acquired.
Today Team UV will be skipping our usual Presentation post as we are out of state in Washington for the 2015 National Conference on Undergraduate Research, where we will be presenting some of our research that we have conducted thus far in the work on our project. We have traveled some 1,500 miles from California to Nevada to Idaho to Oregon to finally Washington while transporting our propulsion system demonstrator SHEILA-D (Submerged Hydrodynamically propelled Explorer, Implementation: Los Angeles – Demonstrator) and our vehicle DORY (Dynamic Observational Reconnaissance through biomimicrY), and are excited to be presenting our research later today.
NCUR 2015 banner. Photo Credit: EWU.edu
More info to come later in the week. Until next time!
Team UV
Dory and Sheila-D in the top row and post-presentation team congratulatory pizza and beer at the Cal Poly Pomona brewery (Innovation Brew Works) in the bottom photo.
Photo Credit: Andrew Blancarte
First off, we want to apologize for missing our Thursday post, it has been a very hectic week for Team UV with almost all of the members going without sleep for 30 hours and above at some point or another; for example, I personally received about 8 hours of sleep total between Sunday morning and Thursday evening and at one point had to go about 30 hours without eating in order to get everything accomplished, but alas!, it was for a good cause and now Team UV can finally relax! (well, relax relative to other people, haha)
This past week and a half Team UV has had a week straight of building, testing, and programming for our vehicle, final exams, grad school visits, reports and projects due, graduation stuff, and of course completing our senior project! On Thursday, we delivered our final project presentation to the Mechanical Engineering board responsible for assigning our grades (we all received A’s), turned in our 140 page project report, and did a live demonstration of our vehicle Dory (Dynamic Observational Reconnaissance through biomimcrY). Dory (our Phase III vehicle) can be seen in the picture above, next to our Phase I propulsion system demonstrator Sheila-D (Submerged Hydrodynamically propelled Explorer, Implementation: Los Angeles – Deomonstrator)! (Read more about Sheila on our About page)
So this marks the “official” end of our senior project; however, this does not mark the end of the project altogether. We still have a lot of work to do regarding improving the build, adding more features, completing more advanced testing, and overall producing a more polished solution. Additionally, we will be attending the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) at Eastern Washington University from April 16th-18th, the California State University system-wide Student Research Conference (CSU SRC) from May 1st-2nd (we are attending this because we won our session and award money at the Cal Poly Pomona Student Research Conference on March 6th), the Cal Poly Pomona (CPP) Senior Project Symposium at the end of May, and hopefully the CPP Symposium Showcase at that same time (this highlights the top project team from each engineering department).
Additionally, we will be looking to submit to some journals, quite possibly looking into at least one patent. Lastly, this website will continue publishing posts until the project ends, at which point these types of posts will continue on EngineeringAFuture.com. Anyways, thank you all for your continued support and I would like to remind everyone that we still have our fundraising campaign (GoFundMe.com/TeamUV), which will continue as long as the project is running as we still have quite a few costs ahead of us!
Please check back in tomorrow for a Well Read post from Ben!
Hubble Telescope. Photo Credit: NASA.org
I approached this Open Mind a little differently from my latest round of posts. Instead of developing ideas and solutions over the course of a month, I gave myself a “pop” design challenge. The topic: If you were the lead designer for a new NASA Telescope, what considerations would be most important to you? My goal: Instead of developing the best or most important considerations for this challenge, I would develop the first three considerations that popped into my head.
My first thought dealt with finances. As the project manager, I would need to know how much funding the team has and what it will be used for. To me, the days of dumping money into a project especially for exploration are far and few between. It’s unfortunate but there are companies out there that are reviving the passion for space and underwater exploration; our team included. In order to justify spending money on a new exploration project, the team will absolutely have to design intelligently. By using sustainable materials and avoiding “reinventing the wheel”, the design team can focus on improving technology already available thus potentially saving money.
The second thought to pop up was about the project’s overall life cycle. As a manager, I would need to establish an efficient way to not only start and end the project, but see if the telescope has life after decommission. Can anything off the telescope be used or recycled after it’s no longer needed? There’s more to “design” now than ever since there’s a push to go green in all industries. Anything from control systems to frame material can be inspected and potentially approved for reuse. These parts don’t have to be used for serious missions but can be utilized in testing scenarios or for higher education.
The final thought before I called time revolved around power generation. Fuel supply and consumption are always design concerns for any project but none more than in space/underwater applications. There are particles of various sizes translating across space. If a designer can harness the power of small impacts on the telescope by the particles or generate rotational motion from the moving particles, power can be generated. This power can be used to charge batteries in times of need.
Well there you have it, an expedited Open Mind that took place in less than one minute. Take a look at other Team UV Open Minds from previous months and don’t forget to support our GoFundMe site!
Until next time!
Cracked egg. Photo Credit: WashingtonPost.com
Boiled eggs are delicious, I’m pretty sure no one will object to that, but have you ever thought of unboiling eggs? A group of chemists out of UC Irvine and Australia have made this discovery which has the potential to change the biotechnology industry and dramatically reduce the time and cost for production of cancer treatments among other applications!
Now this wasn’t done simply for the sake of unboiling eggs, it was used to demonstrate how powerful this new technique of returning tangled proteins to their original form really is. Proteins are made of chains of amino acids that are folded and arranged in a specific way. Changes in pH and/or temperature disrupt the bonds holding the proteins in their original shape causing it to deform and tangle. So when you cook an egg you are actually tangling proteins which causes them to change from clear to white. The process is known as denaturation and is problematic for scientists who are trying to recycle valuable proteins after use. Previous methods of solving this issue exist but they are time consuming and expensive. This new process, however, gives results in minutes.
Professor Colin Raston’s vortex fluid device. Photo Credit: WashingtonPost.com
In the findings published in ChemBioChem, egg-whites were first boiled for 20 minutes at 90 degrees Celsius (194 deg. F) (plenty of time to tangle the delicious proteins). To revert a protein in the cooked eggs called lysozyme, urea was added to liquefy the solid whites. The resulting substance was then placed in a vortex fluid device which is a high powered machine designed by Professor Colin Raston’s laboratory at South Australia’s Flinders University. This machine applied shear stress to the proteins which encouraged them to untangle and re-fold to their original form.
There is huge potential for this discovery that can streamline protein manufacturing and make cancer treatments more affordable. Think about this next time you’re making omelets. For more information on the findings please visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cbic.201402427/abstract
Prompt: Mechanical engineering is inherently ambiguous to those without an intimate knowledge of its principles. As mechanical engineering students, there is an excellent chance that most of the people you know believe that your job consists of working on cars, acting in the role of a technician, or some related role. Even people from many other engineering disciplines rarely know exactly what we study or what we do. None of these people are to blame; rather, this is simply a consequence of the fact that the only people who take (many) actual mechanical engineering classes are mechanical engineers (/mechanical engineering students). When a person grows up and moves along through the educational system, they take classes in History, Mathematics, Literature, Biology, Chemistry, Art, etc., and perhaps even Physics, but they never take any sort of engineering class unless that is the career path they choose to follow. As a result, many people who could have possibly unearthed a deep love for engineering never received the chance to do so. In recent years, many K-12 schools have been moving to fix this and have been especially working to expose traditionally-underrepresented student groups to the world of engineering at an early age. Come up with either 3 ideas (or one idea from 3 perspectives) to help spread awareness with regards to the existence of the world of engineering (more specifically, mechanical engineering) to people at a younger age, thus hypothesizing as to how we can help more possible future (mechanical) engineers discover their ambitions.
“Ownbot” a robot created by engineering students from Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand). Photo Credit: victoria.ac.nz
It’s true. When I say that I’m studying mechanical engineering, people think I work on cars or I’m learning to work on cars. Even after explaining what I actually learn in my classes, most people stop listening after about ten seconds and conclude that just I’m a “fancy” mechanic. Not the case. When I was as freshman in high school I had no idea what engineering was. All I heard was that it involved a lot of math and it was not for everyone. I agree with both statements but the latter I think overstated. How can you decide something is not right for you if you don’t even know what it is? This is why I’ve come up with three ways to spread awareness of the world of engineering.
1) Teach team oriented problem solving, systematic reasoning, and creative problem solving at a young age.
I feel too many kids do not know how to work together effectively or know how to logically solve a problem they’ve never faced before. I was with my thirteen year old cousin recently and asked him to set up a music stand for me while I got everything else ready. There were three pieces to the stand and after 30 seconds of trying he said it was broken. It clearly wasn’t. Now I’m not saying he’s “dumb” but he had no idea how to logically figure out how to solve this problem. He just simply tried one thing, it didn’t work, and decided it was must be broken. That is not the kind of world I want to live in which is why these kinds of things should be taught much earlier. Even if you have no idea how to solve something, there are creative, logical, and scientific steps you can take to better understand what is going on. MIT has developed programs like Scratch to teach these ideas to kids through basic programming. http://scratch.mit.edu/
2) Presentations
Now I’m not saying a thorough and extensive lecture on PID control to 5th graders, but a very well polished presentation on how cool engineering can be. I think people have to be exposed to a more visual representation of what an engineer actually does instead of rumors and hear-say. I’m sure 10 year old Abe would have been incredibly impressed and inspired if he saw an underwater vehicle designed and created by students at the local university. How all these engineering principles came together into something that he could touch and see move around a pool so swiftly and majestically. A really good presentation can make the word “engineer” seem not so scary for an entire generation.
3) Engineering Competitions
I think recently more schools have gotten into engineering competitions. There’s high school solar boat, elementary school robot programming, and even model bridge building competitions. These are incredibly fun because most of these projects are in collaboration with engineering programs at universities so young minds can really get into the engineering mindset through a mentor. I did solar boat and it was one of the most fulfilling things I did at Warren High. If I wasn’t a part of it then and there I probably wouldn’t have chosen mechanical engineering as my major so I definitely encourage more of these types of competitions.
Overall there has been a bigger push to teach kids how to do things they could never do before. Building, problem solving, and working together. They are all a big part of engineering but of life also. In today’s 21st century I don’t think you can progress without these skills so I’m glad that I learned them in the classroom. Hopefully in the coming years more people will realize how important and interesting the field of engineering really is.
Not the university mentioned in the post, but you get the gif! Photo Credit: gifpins.com
Facility maintenance engineers are often under-appreciated in the world of science and technology but their important roles should not be overlooked. They are tasked with various duties such as retrofitting machines and components, replacing equipment, and preparing maintenance schedules to make sure everything is working smoothly and continuously. A strong background in machine design, electromechanical interfacing, HVAC design, and project management is required to keep a facility in working order. Of all the other things not mentioned already a facility maintenance engineer has to assess damage and create a recovery plan in the case of a system failure. Just last July, a local university campus experienced a terrible water main rupture. The break of the 100 year old, 30 inch main resulted in the release of more than 20 million gallons of water compromising 900 vehicles, submerging athletic fields, and flooding nearby structures. What a tough gig for any engineer! The goal of this brief Open Mind is to show how I would reconstruct after such a terrible event.
Students making the best of the situation. Photo Credit: NBC News
The first plan after analyzing what exactly happened is to perform a major clean up. I would establish a best way to clear the parking structures and other flooded areas to minimize damage done to structures, vehicles, and exposed equipment. Pumps would have to be sized and storage/where the water will go will have to be determined.
Next, deep analysis of structural integrity will be performed to make sure all exposed buildings are sound. Not only can water lead to mold and soften building material but it can also get into the thinnest cracks causing localized damage over the long run. All exposed building would have to be cleared before being opened for use.
Pipe Robot. Photo Credit: technovelgy.com
Finally, active prevention action will be used to ensure no further catastrophes happen again and if they do, not to the magnitude of this recent event. I would undergo a full and regular inspection of all major systems used by the campus/business. Emergency detection systems can be developed to continuously monitor various system parameters and issue an alarm when critical levels are reached. In an ideal world with endless money, I would also employ inspection robots that can go into piping networks or other systems that are hard to inspect and have them repair issues as they come up. Easier said than done!
Look out for my next installment of Learning Arduino this week where I cover more example sketches and projects! Also, continue to share and support our GoFundMe site! We have raised over $1,600 thanks to our generous donors!
Until next time…
Team UV Badge, representing our principal application (ISR), and our potential future applications (Mine Detection, Underwater Inspection, and Exploration).
Team UV would like to update our readers and supporters with regards to the progress you all have helped us to make through our fundraising campaign. As of today (January 7th, 1525 hours), we have raised $1,620 of our goal thanks to your donations!
As a way of saying thank you and hoping to share a little more about our project with you, we will be publishing some images of our project over the next few weeks. The reason we have refrained from posting any pictures from our project in the past was due to the proprietary nature of many of the systems on our vehicle (and the vehicle as a whole), but we are realizing more and more how important it is that we share a little more of what we are doing with our supporters. So without further ado, below we have posted 2 pictures of SHEILA-D (Submerged Hydrodynamically-propelled Explorer, Implementation: Los Angeles – Demonstrator).
SHEILA-D was our propulsion system demonstrator that we designed, built, and tested over a span of 36 days and 850 (by conservative estimates) man hours during Phase I of our project (which took place during our Machine Design lecture/lab combo in Spring 2014). The goal for SHEILA, was to demonstrate the ability to provide thrust with our innovative underwater propulsion system, and in this respect we succeeded. However, we were aware of many shortcomings from this initial design (i.e. poor material choice as influenced by cost/time limitations, poor tolerances, etc.) and thus revamped our efforts with regards to the propulsion system during Phase II [the senior project portion/development of the entire vehicle from late Spring 2014-mid Spring 2015 (project symposium)]. For more information on the history and plans for this project, please check out our About page.
We are currently in the purchasing portion of Phase II (to be followed by manufacturing/assembly, programming, testing, final analyses, and report/presentation preparation) and thus could use funding now more than ever. We would like to thank all of you for supporting our efforts and ask that you please continue to share our website and our fundraising campaign (GoFundMe.com/TeamUV) with as many people as possible. No donation is too small and for those who know the team personally, offline donations are welcomed as well.
This post will be reposted on our fundraising page, and 1 week from now we will post some pictures of the original Phase II full-vehicle concept, with the actual Phase II vehicle computer model pictures coming 1-2 weeks after that, so please be sure to check back often and remember, tomorrow Ben will be posting a Presentation post at 1000 hours!
Staplers. Photo Credit: Staples-3p.com
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.
Christmas tree. Photo Credit: images.clipartpanda.com
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!
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:
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.
/*
This sketch was written by SparkFun Electronics,
with lots of help from the Arduino community.
This code is completely free for any use.
Visit http://www.arduino.cc to learn about the Arduino.
Version 2.0 6/2012 MDG
*/
// To keep track of all the LED pins, we’ll use an “array”.
// An array lets you store a group of variables, and refer to them
// by their position, or “index”. Think of it as empty boxes that you
//are assigning a value to and that you can address at any time!
//Here we’re creating an array of
// eight integers, and initializing them to a set of values:
int ledPins[] = {2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9};
// The first element of an array is index 0.
// We’ve put the value “2” in index 0, “3” in index 1, etc.
// The final index in the above array is 7, which contains
// the value “9”.
// We’re using the values in this array to specify the pin numbers
// that the eight LEDs are connected to. LED 0 is connected to
// pin 2, LED 1 is connected to pin 3, etc.
void setup()
{
int index;
// In this sketch, we’ll use “for() loops” to step variables from
// one value to another, and perform a set of instructions for
// each step. For() loops are a very handy way to get numbers to
// count up or down.
// Every for() loop has three statements separated by
// semicolons (;):
// 1. Something to do before starting
// 2. A test to perform; as long as it’s true, keep looping
// 3. Something to do after each loop (increase a variable)
// For the for() loop below, these are the three statements:
// 1. index = 0; Before starting, make index = 0.
// 2. index <= 7; If index is less or equal to 7,
// run the following code.
// (When index = 8, continue with the sketch.)
// 3. index++ Putting “++” after a variable means
// “add one to it”.
// (You can also use “index = index + 1”.)
// Every time you go through the loop, the statements following
// the for() (within the brackets) will run.
// When the test in statement 2 is finally false, the sketch
// will continue.
// Here we’ll use a for() loop to initialize all the LED pins
// to outputs. This is much easier than writing eight separate
// statements to do the same thing.
// This for() loop will make index = 0, then run the pinMode()
// statement within the brackets. It will then do the same thing
// for index = 2, index = 3, etc. all the way to index = 7.
for(index = 0; index <= 7; index++)
{
pinMode(ledPins[index],OUTPUT);
// ledPins[index] is replaced by the value in the array.
// For example, ledPins[0] is 2
}
}
void loop()
{
// This loop() calls functions that we’ve written further below.
// We’ve disabled some of these by commenting them out (putting
// “//” in front of them). To try different LED displays, remove
// the “//” in front of the ones you’d like to run, and add “//”
// in front of those you don’t to comment out (and disable) those
// lines.
oneAfterAnotherNoLoop(); // Light up all the LEDs in turn
//oneAfterAnotherLoop(); // Same as oneAfterAnotherNoLoop,
// but with much less typing
//oneOnAtATime(); // Turn on one LED at a time,
// scrolling down the line
//pingPong(); // Light the LEDs middle to the edges
//marquee(); // Chase lights like you see on signs
//randomLED(); // Blink LEDs randomly
}
/*
oneAfterAnotherNoLoop()
This function will light one LED, delay for delayTime, then light
the next LED, and repeat until all the LEDs are on. It will then
turn them off in the reverse order.
This function does NOT use a for() loop. We’ve done it the hard way
to show you how much easier life can be when you use for() loops.
Take a look at oneAfterAnotherLoop() further down, which does
exactly the same thing with much less typing.
*/
void oneAfterAnotherNoLoop()
{
int delayTime = 100; // time (milliseconds) to pause between LEDs
// make this smaller for faster switching
// turn all the LEDs on:
digitalWrite(ledPins[0], HIGH); //Turns on LED #0 (pin 2)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[1], HIGH); //Turns on LED #1 (pin 3)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[2], HIGH); //Turns on LED #2 (pin 4)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[3], HIGH); //Turns on LED #3 (pin 5)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[4], HIGH); //Turns on LED #4 (pin 6)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[5], HIGH); //Turns on LED #5 (pin 7)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[6], HIGH); //Turns on LED #6 (pin 8)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[7], HIGH); //Turns on LED #7 (pin 9)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
// turn all the LEDs off:
digitalWrite(ledPins[7], LOW); //Turn off LED #7 (pin 9)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[6], LOW); //Turn off LED #6 (pin 8)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[5], LOW); //Turn off LED #5 (pin 7)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[4], LOW); //Turn off LED #4 (pin 6)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[3], LOW); //Turn off LED #3 (pin 5)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[2], LOW); //Turn off LED #2 (pin 4)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[1], LOW); //Turn off LED #1 (pin 3)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
digitalWrite(ledPins[0], LOW); //Turn off LED #0 (pin 2)
delay(delayTime); //wait delayTime milliseconds
}
/*
oneAfterAnotherLoop()
This function does exactly the same thing as oneAfterAnotherNoLoop(),
but it takes advantage of for() loops and the array to do it with
much less typing.
*/
void oneAfterAnotherLoop()
{
int index;
int delayTime = 100; // milliseconds to pause between LEDs
// make this smaller for faster switching
// Turn all the LEDs on:
// This for() loop will step index from 0 to 7
// (putting “++” after a variable means add one to it)
// and will then use digitalWrite() to turn that LED on.
for(index = 0; index <= 7; index++)
{
digitalWrite(ledPins[index], HIGH);
delay(delayTime);
}
// Turn all the LEDs off:
// This for() loop will step index from 7 to 0
// (putting “–” after a variable means subtract one from it)
// and will then use digitalWrite() to turn that LED off.
for(index = 7; index >= 0; index–)
{
digitalWrite(ledPins[index], LOW);
delay(delayTime);
}
}
/*
oneOnAtATime()
This function will step through the LEDs,
lighting only one at at time.
*/
void oneOnAtATime()
{
int index;
int delayTime = 100; // milliseconds to pause between LEDs
// make this smaller for faster switching
// step through the LEDs, from 0 to 7
for(index = 0; index <= 7; index++)
{
digitalWrite(ledPins[index], HIGH); // turn LED on
delay(delayTime); // pause to slow down
digitalWrite(ledPins[index], LOW); // turn LED off
}
}
/*
pingPong()
This function will step through the LEDs,
lighting one at at time in both directions.
*/
void pingPong()
{
int index;
int delayTime = 100; // milliseconds to pause between LEDs
// make this smaller for faster switching
// step through the LEDs, from 0 to 7
for(index = 0; index <= 7; index++)
{
digitalWrite(ledPins[index], HIGH); // turn LED on
delay(delayTime); // pause to slow down
digitalWrite(ledPins[index], LOW); // turn LED off
}
// step through the LEDs, from 7 to 0
for(index = 7; index >= 0; index–)
{
digitalWrite(ledPins[index], HIGH); // turn LED on
delay(delayTime); // pause to slow down
digitalWrite(ledPins[index], LOW); // turn LED off
}
}
/*
marquee()
This function will mimic “chase lights” like those around signs.
*/
void marquee()
{
int index;
int delayTime = 200; // milliseconds to pause between LEDs
// Make this smaller for faster switching
// Step through the first four LEDs
// (We’ll light up one in the lower 4 and one in the upper 4)
for(index = 0; index <= 3; index++) // Step from 0 to 3
{
digitalWrite(ledPins[index], HIGH); // Turn a LED on
digitalWrite(ledPins[index+4], HIGH); // Skip four, and turn that LED on
delay(delayTime); // Pause to slow down the sequence
digitalWrite(ledPins[index], LOW); // Turn the LED off
digitalWrite(ledPins[index+4], LOW); // Skip four, and turn that LED off
}
}
/*
randomLED()
This function will turn on random LEDs. Can you modify it so it
also lights them for random times?
*/
void randomLED()
{
int index;
int delayTime;
// The random() function will return a semi-random number each
// time it is called. See http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/Random
// 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!
Until next time!
Intergranular crack propagation due to Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC). Photo Credit: NASA.gov
In my opinion, the single most important course I’ve taken in my undergraduate curriculum at Cal Poly Pomona by far has to be…HRT 318 Wines, Beers, and Spirits. And I think anyone who has taken that course will agree. Cheers.
However, the most important course I’ve taken in my MECHANICAL ENGINEERING curriculum has to be ME 315 Engineering Materials. Now, I’ve never cared much for chemistry, but this course ignited interest in a possible career of goggles, lab coats, and studying microstructures. The “material” in this course answers a question that I’ve always had: “Why did they use that material?” It seems like a very easy question to answer but there is so much that goes into answering it that it is, in fact, a science. The course covers dislocations to alloying techniques to fatigue of polymers and everything in between. This is the course that made me say, “Wow, chemistry is cool!” And yes that is a very nerdy statement, but I stand by it. The course covers the properties of certain types of pure metals, alloys, polymers, composites and how these properties can be used to select the correct material for the application. Not only this but how to change these properties to have a more effective material or a completely different material after processing. And if that wasn’t enough, even goes over how to perform a myriad of tests to have experimental evidence of predicted properties. It really is the basis of how we live our lives and how everything is made. Very profound stuff. I was very fortunate to have had a professor who was very passionate about the subject and inspired students to pursue a career in materials.
With all this said, taking the course did not make me an expert of material science, but this course did inspire me to take more materials related courses such as composites and corrosion science, both of which I highly recommend. I was not planning on it but if all goes well, I will be getting my materials minor this spring along with my mechanical engineering bachelor of science. So in conclusion, ME 315. Best. Class. Ever.
Blinking Light Courtesy of Batsocks
As with many things in life, you must learn to crawl before you can walk. Learning how to actually use an Arduino board is no different therefore we will continue our Arduino Journey by completing a simple project. The first thing a novice should learn is how to control an LED. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are small, powerful lights that are used in many different applications such as notification lights in our phones, displays, and in sensors. Designers most often times don’t want their LEDs to always be on or at their full brightness so controlling an LED’s state will be the focus of this project.
The first thing an inventor needs to do is gather all necessary components to build the project. This includes the following:
1 x LED (any color)
1 x 330 ohm resistor
Various jumper wires
Arduino Uno (or similar board)
Protoboard (to place your components)
Arduino Code (I’ll cover this after hooking everything up!)
Most beginner kits will have these basic components already but if you are missing anything your local electronics store should carry it. The setup of the circuit is very straight forward as shown below. NOTE: Be smart with your decisions! We are not responsible for misuse of electronics and injury! Before connecting anything together, it’s safe practice to disconnect the Arduino board from your computer or power source. This essentially cuts power to the board allowing the user to move things around without the risk of shock. Place a jumper wire from the 5V output on the Arduino to the red positive vertical strip on the protoboard. Do the same for ground; running a jumper from GND to the negative strip on the protoboard. The two vertical columns on the side of the protoboard are all connected to together. Anything placed on the vertical positive column will be charged to 5V. Anything placed along the negative ground column will be grounded. Conversely, the middle rows of the protoboard are connected horizontally. Anything placed along the same row will be connected together.
Courtesy of Vilros Starter Kit Guide by Sparkfun
Place a jumper wire from any pin (such as pin 13) to any location in the middle of the protoboard. Now we place our LED. The two legs of our LED are of different lengths. The longer leg should be connected to positive (+) and the shorter leg should be connected to negative (ground). LED’s are diodes which mean that the current is meant to flow from positive to negative, so knowing which leg is which is important. The positive leg of the LED is connected in the same row at the jumper from pin 13. Now that we have placed our LED we can place our resistor. Resistors are components that reduce current flow and act to lower voltage in circuits. It is used in this project to protect our LED by reducing the current flowing through it. One leg is placed in the same row as the negative LED leg and the other is connected to ground completing our circuit. You most likely have to bend the legs of your resistor by 90o to fit into the protoboard. If you are lost, just take a look above at the layout diagram to clear things up!
Now that we have hooked up all of our components, we can move onto the code. For the Arduino code to successfully operate two “functions” are necessary to define. The first is setup() which essentially sets up all the pins we need to work with. We can make our pins operate as inputs or outputs depending on what our project needs. For this specific task all we need to do is set pin 13 (or the pin you’re using) as an output. This is done by saying: pinmode(13,OUTPUT);
The next function is called loop() which runs indefinitely until we unplug our Arduino board. Here we place our desired actions, calculations, and operations. For this project we need to make the LED turn on and then turn off. This is done by saying: digitalWrite(13, HIGH) and digitalWrite(13,LOW). Setting our pin HIGH means supplying the pin with 5V, which turns our LED on. LOW supplies the pin with 0V which turns the LED off. Adding the delay, as shown in the code below, pauses the loop for a given amount of time (measured in milliseconds). Adjusting the delay value will change how long the LED stays on versus the time it stays off. You can simply copy the code below into your code window and it should work. All that’s left to do is connect your Arduino board to the computer, click verify, click upload, and your project will be up and running!
CODE
void setup()
{
pinMode(13,OUTPUT);
}
//this is setting up pin number 13 on the arduino board as the output pin.
//the first value in the parenthesis is a pin and the second value is the function.
//now we move onto the loop which will run forever until the board is unplugged or reset.
void loop()
{
digitalWrite(13, HIGH); // LED on.
//digitalWrite is a function used to make an ouput HIGH or LOW, 5V or 0V.
delay(1000);
//this pauses the loop for a given amount of time measured in milliseconds
digitalWrite(13, LOW); //LED off.
delay(1000);
}
As I said before, adjusting your delay values will result in different blinking rates so go ahead and try it out! Keep a look out for my next tutorial on controlling multiple LED’s.
We appreciate all of your support! Please check out our GoFundMe site to help us complete our senior project. Thanks!
The Cal Poly Pomona (CPP) school year has just begun but, for some of us on Team UV, the end of our undergraduate career is quickly approaching. I recently enrolled in my last quarter and it feels amazing to almost be done after such a long journey. I also want to note that no one is more excited about this than my parents and girlfriend! For this week’s Open Mind, we were given a reflective prompt regarding which class we would say is the most vital in an undergraduate Mechanical Engineering career and which class we personally enjoyed the most.
Mechanical Engineering word cloud. Photo Credit: Oregon State University
In case you didn’t know, Mechanical Engineering curriculum covers many different sciences and engineering fields. In a very short and summarized fashion, CPP mechanical engineering students receive education in mechanical/machine design, electrical engineering, thermal fluids, material and structural analysis, coding, and the control of all these subjects when used together. The real list of classes is a mile long but I’m sure you get the picture: CPP Mechanicals are versatile!
Choosing one class out of more than 198 units and deeming it THE MOST IMPORTANT CLASS YOU WILL EVER TAKE is difficult because, for me, it has to be all encompassing. The first class that satisfies this condition would have to be ME 325/L Machine Design/Lab. The goal of this class is to instill students with the ability to design sound mechanical components. Topics covered in this class include the design and analysis of: brakes, clutches, gears, belt systems, and power-transmitting shafts, to name just a few subjects. In order to safely and effectively perform such designs, one would need background knowledge of, at the absolute least, stress analysis, material selection, classical mechanics, and something very unique. That special something is engineering intuition or in other words, the ability to make decisions without the help of a book or equation. Sometimes engineers don’t have all the information necessary to make a design happen but they can make an educated assumption and check on that assumption later on. ME 325 is one of the only classes that gives students the opportunity to build their intuition and see how it effects the outcome of their design. The ability to make solid design decisions and think creatively is invaluable to their education and is very desirable in industry. An added bonus of this class is at least one design, build, and run project. Here students can utilize other fields of engineering such as electrical and electronics engineering and thermal fluids to complete a given task. For example, Team UV used our knowledge of fluid mechanics, electronics, classical mechanics, and materials engineering to develop a propulsion system (SHEILA-D!) as our final project.
Since I only have one ME class left I can safely name my favorite undergraduate class: ME 439 Control of Mechanical Systems. I am currently taking this class but it has quickly turned into the most exciting part of my week. I have really taken an interest in robotics and micro-controlling as shown in my Learning Arduino posts and my preparation this summer has really helped me out. Students in this class utilize their knowledge of system modeling and response to help control mechanical systems. Our in-class projects heavily rely on Arduino usage and the use of really cool electronics such as ultrasonic sensors (to determine distance) and motors (for actuation). Keep an eye out for these new projects as they are completed in my Learning Arduino series!
So there you have it! I’m sure that the other members of Team UV have different opinions on which classes are the most important so check back for their posts! Till next time…
USS Annapolis rests in the Arctic Ocean after surfacing through three feet of ice. Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org
A vastly interesting concept within mechanical engineering (as well as many other fields of engineering) is that of stability, which takes many forms, so today we are going to focus on a form of stability that would perhaps be more common within naval architecture/engineering, namely: hydrostatic stability of submarines. Hydrostatic refers to the application of water-based fluids mechanics (mechanics comprising of statics and dynamics) to situations in which there is no fluid (or in the case of hydrostatics, water) flow; this is to say that the fluid is stationary (or static, as opposed to dynamic). This truly is a topic you could spend a lifetime studying, and as such, I am only going to give a very brief primer on the category (with nearly enough pictures to rival the word count of the article!) to the end of revealing just how much consideration goes into something that most people would never stop to think about.
First off, let’s explore what we know about stability, even if we have never taken an engineering class on the subject. What do you think of when you hear the word stability? Perhaps you envision trying to balance on an exercise ball, or maybe trying to balance (hopefully successfully) your dinner plate in one hand while trying to keep the family dog at arm’s length to keep her from eating your food when you go to sit down, or maybe you think of that uncomfortable flight home for Thanksgiving with the airplane pitching, rolling, and yawing all over the place; these are all forms of stability and can each easily be complex enough of phenomena to spend an entire career studying!
Pitching, rolling, and yawing rotations in an airplane. Photo Credit: cfi-wiki.net
Just as in an airplane, where you have to worry about controlling any inherent pitching, rolling, and yawing for stability of the aircraft, in a submarine, you have to worry about controlling rotations about these same three axis: lateral (from port to starboard side), longitudinal (from the bow to stern), and vertical (from the bottom on up). One big distinction between the stability of aerial, ground-based, and surface (ships) vehicles and that of submarines, is the fact that submarines have two very different modes of hydrostatic stability: surfaced and submerged. Surface hydrostatic stability refers to how stable the submarine is when it is sitting on the surface (important to note, that if the submarine are moving on the surface, this would be hydrodynamic stability, not static, which opens up a whole new can of worms to deal with). On the surface, submarines are inherently unstable, the main reason being the shape of the submarine. Submarines are essentially shaped like cylinders with dome-like caps; this is done for hydrodynamic reasons, including, but not limited to streamlining, or the reduction of drag by utilizing a shape that influences the external fluid flow to be smooth (this is analogous to how you have probably heard people talk about how ‘aerodynamic’ their car is/isn’t).
Now, when we take our submarine and drop it in the water, we encounter something known as Archimedes’ Principle, which states that the buoyant force (the force that the fluid/water is exerting upwards on the body) and the weight of the displaced fluid (water) are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. When we have only a small portion of the submarine below the surface, the center of buoyancy (i.e. the center of the displaced fluid) is much lower than our center of gravity, making our submarine easy to tip over (perhaps while playing soccer or football, or some other sport, you have heard someone say that someone else who has a heavy build and is average to lower height is ‘hard to tip over on account of their low center of gravity/mass, which is not exactly the same as this situation, but ought to aid in understanding). Think about if you were to go float in the pool and take a big rock (please don’t try this at home, as it could be quite dangerous) and hold it high over your head straight up in the air. If you held it straight up, you would probably be pretty stable, but if you were to pivot your arms so that they were no longer directly above your head, the rock would carry them through further rotation and you would find a new stable position with the rock underneath you. Now, if our submarine was submerged, then we have displaced our entire volume’s worth of water, so that the center of buoyancy (CB) now lies in the center of the cylinder. Submarines are typically designed to have their center of gravity (CG) near (or a little lower than) the center of that cylinder, thus when fully submerged, their centers of buoyancy and gravity nearly coincide, leading to a very stable state (think taking the rock from earlier and hugging it against your chest while underwater, you no longer feel like you’re going to tip over!). This is a major consideration in submarine design that gets very complex, especially when you realize that you can have this CB-CG offset in all three directions (lateral, longitudinal, and vertical)! To make matters worse, every time you add anything into the submarine, its own CG affects that of the submarine, requiring the use of ballasts to relocate the CG.
Hydrostatic stability was the meat of this article; however, while hydrodynamic stability (as well as the unabridged discussion of hydrostatic stability) is beyond the scope of this article, it will be quite educational to comment on this next subject real quick. As we saw before, the big fight with regards to submarine stability involves balancing the effects of buoyancy and gravity in 3-Dimensional space. Well, what do we do when the submarine is moving and needs to remain stable? This is where control surfaces and variable ballasts come into play. Variable ballasts are essentially tanks that you can pump water into/out of to shift the position of the CG & CB on the fly. This technically could be used for controlling submarine movement, but more often than not is used to accomplish tasks such as surfacing and submerging (and can also be used to dictate the rate at which this happens).
Ballast tank operation for surfacing/submerging. Photo Credit: Weebly.com
It is interesting to note, that not even this is an easy design task, as there are a ridiculous amount of things to consider, all the way down to location of the valves/vent holes (air vents up top to make sure no air gets trapped in the tanks, changing CG/CB; water valves down low to make sure all of the water can be pumped out, once again to control effects on CG/CB). Rather than purely use the ballasts for steering/motion control, submarines use their control surfaces and a special type of variable ballast called the trim tanks.
The control surfaces point the submarine in the right direction, while the trim tanks adjust trim/attitude, or the angle at which the submarine is pointed upwards or downwards. As a last note on hydrodynamic stability, I want to relay the fact that the information above seems to neglect quite a few other effects. It seems this way because it is this way; there are endless possibilities for how the fluid flow may interact with the submarine to affect stability. The topmost (main) picture of this article, which shows a submarine surfaced during polar operations demonstrates the fact that surface stability also has to account for things such as punching through three feet of ice and then remaining seated against it or perhaps the effect of wave impact on a surfaced submarine (it should be noted that along with stealth, waves and other surface effects are among the main reasons submarines do not travel long distances on the surface, especially in rough weather!).
Submarine-surface wave interaction CFD study. Media Credit: Engineering.com
Well, that is more than the average person ever hoped to know about submarine stability, that much I am sure of, but I hope that you have enjoyed learning along with Team UV. Please check back for our next post on Sunday (an Open Mind post by Andrew) and our Veteran’s Day salute this upcoming Tuesday. In closing, I will leave you with a really cool info-graphic put together by BAE Systems showing some of the work that goes into actually determining the location of a newly designed submarine’s CG & CB!
It’s been some time since I posted Part 1 of this series. In my first post, I covered the idea behind Arduino and the many applications of their boards. I have taken the past month to gain experience in micro-controlling and, as promised, I will share more of my educational journey.
Photo Credit: Future Electronics
Layout
Since an Arduino board interprets inputs and controls outputs, it only makes sense that you mostly see inputs and outputs on the front face. For the sake of keeping this guide as concise as possible without technical overload, I will only highlight the most critical parts of the board. As shown in the orientation above, the UNO R3 (a popular starter Arduino board) has digital pins up top that can be used as an input and/or output. Working around the board clockwise, we have a reset button that can be used to disrupt the current task and start from the beginning again. Next, we have the ATmega328 micro-controller which acts as the brain of the board. Below the brain, we have another strip of inputs and outputs. Starting from the far left, the user has freedom to use 6 analog inputs which can be used for sensors or other components. The next 3 pins are unregulated voltage (Vin) and two ground pins. The last 3 pins are a regulated source of 5V, 3.3V, and a reset pin. Lastly, we find the external power supply and the USB plug for power and communication purposes.
Inputs and Outputs
The 14 digital pins located up top can be used as inputs or outputs to fit various needs. They operate at 5V and can stand up to 40mA of current. Some pins have special functions but I will cover that when the times comes to use them.
The 6 analog inputs on the UNO have the same 5V operations level and provide 10 bits of resolution. Working with analog and digital signals at the same time can be a bit tricky but, like stated above, I will get to that when the project calls for it.
Power
The UNO R3 can be powered via an external power supply such as a wall adapter or by USB connection. The board can be supplied with 6 to 20V but anything above 12V is NOT recommended. The board can become very hot at higher voltages! Connecting a USB cable supplies the board with 5V but more potential can be supplied using an external power supply. This is important for driving components that may need more power than the regulated 5V supplied by USB.
Software
Standing by the idea of making coding and micro-controlling easy to learn, the software supplied by Arduino allows the user to jump right in without any headaches. The IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is easy to setup and looks very clean. A sample screenshot is included below to help highlight some important areas.
Arduino IDE Screenshot. Photo Credit: Majd Srour
The 5 buttons at the top left starting from the right are: verify, upload, new, open, and save. Verify is used to compile your code and approve it for use. Upload sends your code to the Arduino board. New opens up a new “sketch”, or code. Open allows the user to open an existing sketch and Save is self-explanatory. The magnifying glass to the top right is a serial monitor that shows what the Arduino is transmitting and is useful for debugging. The large white field is open space to write your code and the black field below is a message area where the IDE tells you of any errors.
What a post! I hope Part 2 doesn’t confuse you and if you have any questions, please feel free to comment. I will get back to you as best as I can but just know that I’m learning this environment for the first time too! My next post will get into our first project dealing with LED’s and code debugging. I will also include a video to help you visualize what all is going on. Until next time!
Arduino RC car. Photo Credit: Instructables.com
After finishing that last final of the academic year, it’s all too easy to walk away from campus and fully immerse yourself into what I call “Summer Mode”. There’s no homework to worry about, no lectures to listen to, and NO DEADLINES. This is a time of pure relaxation and wearing sweatpants (unless you have to work but that’s a different story). Summer after summer, I have fallen for this paradise only wishing I had been more productive in my free time. This summer I made a commitment to better myself both personally and professionally.
Out of all the goals I had set for myself this break, I have chosen to show you one. As a mechanical engineering student, our time in the electrical and electronics field can be limited to one class and one lab. We almost have to take it upon ourselves to learn more than just the basics. After taking a few classes dealing with measurements, system response, and sensors, I realized that I have a deep fascination of electronics and computer programming. I figured the best way to continue my education in these fields was to buy an Arduino starter kit online.
You’re probably wondering…what is an Arduino? Arduino is an open-source physical computing platform first introduced in 2005. It was designed to provide students with an inexpensive and easy way to learn electronics, fast. Today, Arduino provides both microcontroller boards and a simple Integrated Development Environment (IDE) software. The uses are endless and projects can range from controlling simple robots to controlling 3D printers.
Arduino UNO board courtesy of Sparkfun. Photo Credit: Sparkfun.com
An Arduino board is a tool for gathering various inputs from sensors or switches and quickly reacting through outputs such as motors or actuators. The board controls this process by an uploaded program written in the IDE. This enables the creator to make a connection between the physical world and the electronics world.
I ordered the Ultimate Arduino Uno Starter Kit by Vilros which can be found online. It has a wide variety of basic components from simple resistors to a LCD screen module and of course the Arduino board itself. The included tutorials range from turning a LED on and off to displaying captured data on the LCD module. I plan to show you my completed projects in the next few posts of this series, as well as the code used to make them all work. Please stay tuned!
Visit Arduino.cc if you would like to explore the world of Arduino for yourself!
New Team UV member photos have been posted on the Member Bios page! Go there now to view the pictures and read up on the individual members of Team UV!
Welcome to the official website of Team UV!
Team UV is a senior project team made up of five Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student from Cal Poly Pomona, namely: Brian, Andrew, Ketton, Abraham, Ben. The team is incredibly passionate about all things engineering and industries covering a diverse spectrum ranging from biomedical to entertainment to defense (and many others).
Team UV’s objective is to develop an underwater vehicle (UV) which operates off of an innovative propulsion system (developed by the team in a previous class) and touts stealth, higher speeds (relative to other UVs), smooth maneuvering, and little to no human interaction. The deadline (as shown by the countdown calendar in the margin) is May 29th, 2015, giving us about 10 months from today to achieve our goal. The aim of this website is to share our passion with others, hopefully get other people interested in STEM, and to hopefully raise some money in order to help Team UV to reach their goals and achieve their dreams! For more information on the team and its goals, read the Member Bios and About pages!
We will be posting to this website at the least three times a week:
Additional posts may be made throughout the week.
Please explore our website and follow Team UV by email, WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (All of which can be found in the margin)!
Enjoy!