Aerospace Engineering Program

Room 250 Higgins Laboratory

100 Institute Road

Worcester, MA 01609

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Project Presentation Day Program

April 22, 2010

Aerospace Engineering Program

8:30-8:35 Opening Remarks, Professor Nikolaos Gatsonis, Director,

Aerospace Engineering Program

8:35-9:00 Design of Scale-Model Floating Wind Turbine Platforms

Diana Berlo, Christopher Gabrielson, Stephen Hanly, Michal Parzych,

Michael Sacco, Ryan Sebastian

Advisor: Professor David Olinger

9:00-9:25 Design and Simulation of a Space Vehicle Coulomb Tether Experiment

Bryant Eisenbach, Konrad Perry, Neil Toupin

Advisor: Professor Islam Hussein

9:25-9:50 Re-Design of a Thermal Energy Scavenging System for a Gas Turbine

Joseph Miller, Austin Ng, Kile Simpson, Jonathan Sullivan

Advisor: Professor David Olinger

Co-Advisor: Professor Simon Evans

Sponsor: Pratt & Whitney Aircraft

9:50-10:15 Production of a Liquid Microjet

Alessandro Chiumiento, Gregory Coffey, Brendan Perry, Joshua Perry,

Arjun Yadav, John Zeb

Advisor: Professor John Blandino

10:15 -10:30 Break

10:30-10:55 Design of a Small Vacuum Facility for Microflow Experiments

Jairo Argueta, Dimitrios Bakllas, Elias Karam, Samantha Millar, David Wiig

Advisor: Professor Nikolaos Gatsonis

10:55-11:20 Construction and Control Design of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Ashish Palooparambil, Dan Moussette, Jarred Raymond

Advisors: Professor Islam Hussein, Professor William Michelson

11:20-11:45 Design of a Wind Speed Sensor Package for a Guided Parachute

Joel Altman, Samuel Corner, Daniel Herzberg, Nicholas Wheeler

Advisors: Professor David Olinger, Gregory Noetscher (US Army NSRDEC)

Sponsor: U.S. Army Natick Soldiers Research, Development, and Engineering

Center

11:45-12:10 Design and Construction of a Supersonic Wind Tunnel

Kelly Butler, David Cancel, Brian Early, Stacey Morin, Evan Morrison,

Michael Sangenario

Advisor: Professor John Blandino

Co-Advisor: Professor Simon Evans

12:10-12:35 Kite Power

Adam Cartier, Eric Murphy, Travis Perullo, Matthew Tomasko, Kimberly White

Advisor: Professor David Olinger

12:35 Judges convene, HL201; Students complete surveys; lunch available for

students

4:00 Award Presentation Ceremony, HL116

Program

Nathaniel Demmons Senior Engineer Busek Company Nick Simone Engineer Edison Engineering Development Program (EEDP) Engine Simulations and Analysis General Electric Company

Judge Panel

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Page 10

Kite Power

Adam Cartier, Eric Murphy, Travis Perullo, Matthew Tomasko, Kimberly White

Advisor: Professor David Olinger

The goal of this project was to upgrade and modify the current WPI kite power

system that has been in development over the past several years. Kite power

has a potential to improve upon current wind turbine technology by allowing

access to higher wind velocities at large altitudes, while reducing environ-

mental impact. The system developed by previous MQP teams is based on a

large kite tethered to a rocking beam that is 5 meters in length, which turns a

gear train and generator. Modifications to this system in the current project

include; use of more stable, larger sled kites, an upgraded gear shaft, a new

mechanism to change the kite angle of attack and refined data acquisition

tools including the capability to measure kite tether tensions during field and

lab testing. These refinements were thoroughly tested in both the field and

the lab. In the lab testing known loads were applied to the rocking arm end

for the first time during dynamic tests. Wind tunnel tests on rigid, scale-model

sled and delta kite shapes were also conducted to measure aerodynamic

coefficients.

Page 9

Design and Construction of a Supersonic Wind Tunnel

Kelly Butler, David Cancel, Brian Early, Stacey Morin, Evan Morrison, Michael

Sangenario

Advisor: Professor John Blandino

Co-Advisor: Professor Simon Evans

The goal of this project was to design and build a small-scale supersonic wind

tunnel to be used for education and research. The tunnel is an indraft type,

designed for use with the WPI Vacuum Test Facility. A key feature is an adjust-

able contour designed to allow testing at Mach numbers ranging from 2 to 4

with a minimum test time between 7 to 10 seconds. This paper presents the

analysis used to estimate obtainable test time given the existing vacuum

facility and the design of the contour using the method of characteristics.

Details of the mechanical design, construction, and testing of the mechanism

used to adjust the contour are also presented.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Page 2

Design of Scale-Model Floating Wind Turbine Platforms

Design of Scale-Model Floating Wind Turbine Platforms

Diana Berlo, Christopher Gabrielson, Stephen Hanly, Michal Parzych, Michael

Sacco, Ryan Sebastian

Advisor: Professor David Olinger

The goal of this project was to design and build scale models of a tension leg

platform and a shallow draft barge floating wind turbine, and to perform hy-

drodynamic tests. The models are scaled 100:1 from prototypes developed

by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Massachusetts Institute of

Technology. This report details the design process for the model turbine com-

ponents, including revisions and suggestions for improvement. Components

were modeled in SolidWorks, then fabricated using a rapid prototyping sys-

tem or machine tools. A data acquisition system (accelerometer, inclinome-

ter, and load cell sensors) developed by a concurrent master’s student pro-

ject were integrated into the models to collect data during testing. Models

were tested in fresh water to determine buoyancy, draft, and response to

various wave conditions. Successful preliminary tests were performed in the

6 foot by 6 foot flume at Alden Research Laboratory with the turbine models

in a towing condition - the configuration used to transport the turbines from

the shore to the desired location of operation. Future testing using the devel-

oped scale models will study operating conditions where the platforms are

moored with cables to the ocean floor.

Nathaniel Demmons Senior Engineer Busek Company Nick Simone Engineer Edison Engineering Development Program (EEDP) Engine Simulations and Analysis General Electric Company

Page 3

Design and Simulation of a Space Vehicle Coulomb Tether

Experiment

Bryant Eisenbach, Konrad Perry, Neil Toupin

Advisor: Professor Islam Hussein

Coulomb tethering is an attractive option for controlling the relative motion of two or

more spacecraft in space. As it is a developing technology, little research has been

done into the feasibility of a control scheme involving a Coulomb Tether. The goal of this

project was to construct several simulations and build an experimental setup for future

research into controlling these forces.

Theory was refined and analysis was performed to build the simulation.

Results for one-dimensional, two and three-craft formulations were derived. Further, the

experimental setup was designed and construction on it was begun.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Page 8

Design of a Wind Speed Sensor Package for a Guided Parachute

Joel Altman, Samuel Corner, Daniel Herzberg, Nicholas Wheeler

Advisors: Professor David Olinger, Gregory Noetscher (US Army NSRDEC)

Sponsor: U.S. Army Natick Soldiers Research, Development, and Engineering

Center

Currently, when deploying guided parachutes, a static value for wind velocity

speed and direction is input into the guidance software of the parachute be-

fore it is deployed. Since wind is variable in both speed and direction during

parachute descent, real time wind velocity data would markedly improve the

parachute’s landing accuracy. To help solve this problem, our group designed

a mechanical folding arm to extend a sensor package into the free-stream

wind in order to accurately measure the wind velocity in real time and trans-

mit the data to the parachute’s guidance unit. A finite element analysis simu-

lation study using SolidWorks Flow Simulation was conducted to determine

the flow field around a parachute payload in order to properly size the length

of the mechanical folding arm. The wind sensor package was comprised of

five Kiel probes – a shrouded variation of standard pitot probes – arranged

orthogonally so as to determine wind speed in the three Cartesian directions.

The folding mechanical arm was powered by hydraulic pressure. When an

internal hose is pressurized, the arm extends, and when the hose is depres-

surized, the arm retracts, with the help of springs. Testing of the sensor pack-

age yielded a series of equations which can be used to determine wind speed

component data from the raw pressure readings of the sensors.

Page 7

Construction and Control Design of an Autonomous Underwater

Vehicle

Ashish Palooparambil, Dan Mousette, Jarred Raymond

Advisors: Professor Islam Hussein, Professor William Michelson

Autonomous vehicles are increasingly being investigated for oceanographic

studies, and underwater surveillance and search operations. Research cur-

rently being done in the area of autonomous underwater craft is often hin-

dered by expense. This project seeks to complete the construction, optimiza-

tion, and control software development of an inexpensive miniature underwa-

ter vehicle. During the course of the project all of the vehicle’s mechanical

and electrical subsystems were completed. Propeller-driven primary thrusters

using a magnetically coupled drive system were optimized and manufactured.

A battery powered electrical subsystem was also designed and installed on

the vehicle. A simulation of the vehicle’s control algorithm was developed in

MATLAB and several full vehicle tests were conducted in the WPI swimming

pool.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Page 4

Re-Design of a Thermal Energy Scavenging System for a Gas

Turbine

Joseph Miller, Austin Ng, Kile Simpson, Jonathan Sullivan

Advisor: Professor David Olinger

Co-Advisor: Professor Simon Evans

Sponsor: Pratt & Whitney Aircraft

The goal of this project was to develop a thermoelectric scavenging device for use

on a Pratt and Whitney gas turbine engine during static testing. Design require-

ments include an overall system size of less than 3”x3”x3” and the ability to pro-

duce a steady 10V at 300 mA. This project extended previous efforts by a WPI MQP

group. Modifications were made to many of the original components to further the

goal of creating a more robust assembly. Computer models were created and ex-

amined in parallel with experimental results to select optimized configurations and

operating conditions. Vibration and thermal failure modes were analyzed to ensure

the final design would function in the test environment. Finally, an endurance test

was run on a hot steam pipe in the WPI Powerhouse to simulate use by a client in

the field. The device successfully converts thermal energy into electricity but at a

lower power levels than required by Pratt and Whitney. Suggested solutions are

provided to overcome the lack of adequate power generation.

Page 5

Production of a Liquid Microjet

Alessandro Chiumiento, Gregory Coffey, Brendan Perry, Joshua Perry, Arjun

Yadav, John Zeb

Advisor: Professor John Blandino

Microjets can be applied to a variety of areas such as spacecraft propulsion,

mass spectroscopy, and biomedical devices. The purpose of this MQP was to

design and build diagnostics that effectively characterize a microjet produced

from electrospray (ES), flow focusing (FF) and electro-flow focusing (EFF).

These techniques produce a fine spray of droplets on the order of microns.

Stable FF was achieved but only for a short duration. There was no stable ES

or EFF due to voltage constraints and stability issues. A motion control system

for diagnostic testing was developed but not implemented due to these is-

sues. Future work includes redesigning the flow delivery system to resolve the

stability problems and further developing the diagnostic equipment.

This project involves the integration of a small vacuum chamber facility (SVaC) designed

for microflow experiments. The structure that supports the bell jar and associated

equipment is designed and fabricated for a maximum load of 363 kg with a deflection

of less than 1 mm . This project also estimates computationally the mass flow rate of a

gas at pressure 0.01-10 Pa flowing through an orifice of diameter between 1-100 microns

into a bell jar pressure of 10-5-10-2 Torr based on the available pumping speed of the SVaC.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Page 6

Design of a Small Vacuum Facility for Microflow Experiments

Jairo Argueta, Dimitrios Bakllas, Elias Karam, Samantha Millar, David Wiig

Advisor: Professor Nikolaos Gatsonis

The project considers the integration of an automated hoist system with the

support table of the Small Vacuum Facility (SVF). The procured free-standing

hoist can lift the 114-kg bell-jar cover and clear 76 cm from the support table.

Design iterations using structural analysis software determine the optimal

position of the hoist, the design of integration components, and the structural

impact on the support table. Fabrication of parts and integration is pursued

with commercial vendors. The project involves also the estimation of mass

flow rates for free-molecular and continuum flows through 0.1–100 micron-

diameter orifices into the 10-3–10-9 Torr bell-jar. The results are coupled with

throughput analysis of the SVF’s diffusion pump to establish the feasibility of

planned microflow experiments.