Week 7

Hi everyone,

This week we decided to create more reference samples containing carbonyl iron and run them through the Q230. The previous carbonyl iron reference sample is known as S-1000 test dust and it contains iron particles with a max diameter of 25 microns. The other two carbonyl iron test dusts are S-3700 which contains iron particles with a max diameter of 6 microns and S-1641 which contains iron particles with a max diameter of 12 microns.  This week I was able to prepare and test reference samples containing S-3700 iron test dust. I was also able to conduct my first ferrograms. To prepare a ferrogram, a sample is mixed with 4ml of hydraulic oil and 1ml of heptane and transferred to a thistle tube. The sample is then metered onto ferrogram slide which is at a decline. Magnets are placed around ferrogram slide creating a magnetic flux which aligns ferrous particles in the direction of the magnetic flux while nonferrous particles are randomly oriented on ferrogram slide. Once the sample fluid has passed across the ferrogram slide it is deposited into a drain, then it is flushed with heptane to dry the slide. Once the ferrogram slide was completely dried, I removed it and looked at the ferrogram slide under a light microscope and took pictures of it. The largest ferrous particles are located closer to ferrogram slide that is closest to thistle tube because the magnetic force acting on a particle is proportional to its volume. I was able to create a ferrogram of reference 18 which contains S-3700 carbonyl iron test dust and is shown to the right at magnification of 40x. 

Final Post

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to wrap up my summer with an overview of what I did. I spent the last ten weeks working on a test platform for a partial stroke piston pressurization pump motor. To do this, I had to design a suitable hydraulic circuit and then implement the details of it ranging from machining mounting plates and selecting hosing to building and calibrating electronic measurement systems. Ultimately, we ran out of time before testing the pump. We did manage to get as far as starting up the supply pump motor and testing all the sensors but the speed encoder. I believe other undergraduates from UMN should be able to finish the project throughout the school year. and then use the test stand to determine the efficiency of the PSPP pump/motor.

Throughout my REU experience, I had the opportunity to pick up several new skills. I learned hands on engineering skills such as how to machine metal and how to build and troubleshoot electronics. I also developed problem solving skills as the challenges I faced in this project were relatively open ended.

To an incoming REU student, I would emphasize the need to develop persistence. Being a good researcher requires intelligence, problem solving, and communication skills, but more than anything successful research requires a willingness to keep going in the face of adversity.

I wish everyone the best of luck in the coming years and I hope we all get to keep accomplishing cool things.

Best regards, 

Mike

Final Post

This summer has been filled with fluid power.

My research consisted of designing an external gear pump and modeling the leakage flow in MATLAB and other software platforms. The goal of the research was to be able to model the leakage flow from a pump based off of the operating conditions and the tolerances of the pump. Our first step in the research was designing the pump in Solidworks so that we could use the specifications in our MATLAB model. Then we modeled the leakage flow in MATLAB and from that, we were able to find the equivalent gap height of the pump.

The next step in the research would be to run experiments on different pumps to see if our simulation data agrees with the data obtained from the experiment. What I learned most from this research experience is that research can be a very long and arduous task, but once one of the goals of the research is accomplished it is a very rewarding feeling and definitely worth all the hard work. Advice that would I offer to future REU students is that you can never ask too many questions and to ask other people in your lab about their research because it may give you ideas for your own research and is not, at least you learned something new.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can attach my PowerPoint presentation anywhere. This has been a great summer, good luck to all of the other REU's.

-Andrew 

Final Post

Its been real and its been fun!

My summer consisted of designing and building a small hydraulic arm that will be used for student outreach in high, middle, and elementary school. The goal was to build off of a previous arm that wasn't reliable. The arm needed to fit a 14inch x 18inch case, plug into the wall, and then be powered by my electrical motors. These motors would then push a syringes filled with water connected to another syringe on the arm, making the arm actuated. My work was not very experimental, but I had the chance to learn very precise 3-D printers such as the Autodesk Ember and the Formlab Form 2,  learned how to run a boss laser engraver, and how to program an Arduino to control electronics. Most of my summer was spent creating my machine in Inventor, fabricating it, and testing out my Arduino programming.

The project wasn't completely finished and will need be to be manufactured and assembled once I leave. Once everything is assembled, testing of the system will need to carried out to work out to find any bugs or design flaws.

My biggest takeaways from my experience were the manufacturing techniques I was able to learn, my new experience with electronics, and the friends I was able to make (you guys :)).

Below is a picture of it in Inventor and
of a prototype I built that wasn't electrically powered:

Final Post

Hi everyone,

I hope you've all been having wonderful summer experiences! I can't believe how quickly the summer flew by.

I've been doing experimental research with an inverted liquid piston air compressor. It involved fabricating different porous media (which are sort of like coarse sponges) and taking high speed videos of the interface between the air and water while running the compressor. I ran tests without porous media, with interrupted stacked plate porous media, and with vertical rod porous media. I also tested the effects of hydrophobic coating for the interrupted stacked plates. I found that longer length plates, wider spacing, and smaller diameters result in greater stability, that compression ratio has little effect, and that the hydrophobic coating results in less air bubbles being entrained in the water but more splashing. My experiments helped characterize interface behavior at different operating frequencies and stroke lengths. This knowledge is important to determine sizing and applications for this technology.

The next steps involve testing different spacing of the vertical rods, testing the vertical rods with hydrophobic coating, designing and testing vertical rods with the same porosity as the interrupted stacked plates, and trying a stepped cylinder that keeps the water height constant when the porous media is plunging into it.

The biggest takeaway for me is the experience of doing research. It's very different from my experiences in internships. The work is much less defined, which can be challenging - with a new technology, there are so many facets to explore, so it's challenging to decide which are most important. I also felt more ownership with my work, as the only person working on the project. I was in charge of every part in my setup and making sure things were running and being analyzed properly.

New REU's should expect to learn a lot about the research experience and fluid power. You'll become an expert in some aspect of fluid power! Research can be frustrating and overwhelming at times - there are so many related papers and textbooks, and it's tricky to balance background reading to better understand what's happening in your project and doing hands-on work for your project. Things also tend to break or behave strangely in research; know that it's okay to be frustrated and to ask for help.

My poster is below. Thanks for a great summer, and best wishes to all of the other REU's!
Rochelle

Final Blog: Summary of My REU Experience

Hello everyone!

We are finally approaching the end of our REU program. Iowa State University was great and Dr. Brian Steward was even better - very open and understanding to my questions (which I had a ton of).

My project was interesting. I was building a test stand that would be used in Iowa State fluid power courses to teach students about cylinder cushions. It was a lot of designing and brainstorming for the best ideas. The overall objective for this project was to have everything running, and we met this goal! The test stand was finalized with sensors and electric circuits, we are able to collect data, and the hydraulic circuit was completed. The next steps would be to have everything more permanent. For now, the test stand was built in a way to have everything work for the time being. We have to clean up the electric circuit box, secure the senors in a more permanent setting, and more.

The ultimate goal of this test stand is to better the computer simulation that we have here. The simulation runs but we are trying to validate this model with physical testing. With more data and maybe better equipment to gather more accurate and precise data, the model will keep improving. An improved computer simulation will allow for a new design process, rather than having to test cylinders through trial and error which costs valuable time and money.

All new REUs should expect the best out of their experiences. While it may be intimidating at first, the experience is well worth it. I have yet to take a Fluid Mechanics course at my home university so I was very scared that I would not know enough of... well, anything! But I have learnt so much during this REU, and I am going back to school with a confidence that I did not expect to leave with.

I hope everyone enjoyed their time as much as I did, but I am very ready to go home.

- Seong


Here is my poster that I will be presenting to faculty and other REU students at Iowa State University!

Design and Fabrication of Soft Pneumatic Muscles

Commercially available pneumatic muscles are bulky and have limited movements of contraction and extension. During summer my goal was to create silicone cast pneumatic muscles by designing a mold and using 3-D printers to then create these molds that could overcome these movement limitations. These are important because they can be used to create more wearable exoskeletons.