Project Presentation Day Program · The goals of this Major Qualifying Project (MQP) project were the design of thermal, mechanical, and power subsystems for a CubeSat supporting

Aerospace Engineering Program

Room 250 Higgins Laboratory

100 Institute Road

Worcester, MA 01609

http://www.me.wpi.edu/Aero/index.html

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Project Presentation Day Program

April 19, 2012

Aerospace Engineering Program

Page 11

Design of a Moving Bar Wake Generator for a Linear Compressor

Cascade

Joao Baiense, Francisca Chichester, Michael Egan, Steven Madamba, Sasha

Moore, Juliana Wakeman

Advisor: Professor Simon Evans

The goal of this project was to design, construct, and commission a moving

bar wake generator to enhance the quality of the experimental results for the

existing linear compressor cascade built by a previous Major Qualifying Pro-

ject group. The compressor stage flow model was improved by the addition of

wake turbulence, simulating the wake shed by an upstream blade row. Exist-

ing compressor rigs were researched to determine appropriate design param-

eters, the linear cascade was modified to allow for the passing of bars, and

the wake generator mechanism was constructed. A blade with pressure tap-

pings was also designed for better assessment of the flow around the blades.

With regards to commissioning the cascade, the necessary instrumentation

was calibrated and the effectiveness of passive flow control was evaluated.

8:30-8:40 Opening Remarks

Professor Nikolaos Gatsonis, Director, Aerospace Engineering Program

8:40-9:00 Multi-MAV Deployment

Adam Campisi, Samuel Daley, Joseph Danner, Samantha Hilerio, Alexander

Hindley, James Kirk, John Pearsall, Christopher Sanchez

Advisor: Professor Michael Demetriou; Co-Advisor: Professor Stephen Nestinger

9:00-9:20 Design and Analysis for a CubeSat Mission

Celena Dopart, Rob Morlath, Erik Oliver, Jake Schomaker

Advisor: Professor Nikolaos Gatsonis

9:20-9:40 Mechanical, Power, and Thermal Subsystem Design for a CubeSat

Joe Bauer, Michael Carter, Kaitlyn Kelley, Ernie Mello, Sam Neu, Alex Or-

phanos, Tim Shaffer, Andrew Withrow

Advisor: Professor John Blandino

9:40-10:00 Attitude Determination and Control System Design for a CubeSat Mission

Elizabeth Dawson, Nell Nassiff, Dianna Velez

Advisor: Professor Michael Demetriou

10:00-10:20 Design of an Aerodynamic Thrust Disk and Spinning Rotor for a Scale-Model

Floating Wind Turbine

James Harvell, Andreia Petrosan, William Rios, Dustin Vinci

Advisor: Professor David Olinger

10:20-10:35 Break

10:35-10:55 Design of Setups for Plasma Propulsion Plume Experiments

Andrew Baker, Andrew Bingham, Christopher Boucher

Advisor: Professor Nikolas Gatsonis

10:55-11:15 Design of a Kite-Powered Water Pump and Airborne Wind Turbine

Kyle Bartosik, Jennifer Gill, Andrew Lybarger, Daniel Nyren, John Wilder


11:15-11:35 SAE Aero Design East Competition, Micro Class Entry (Team 2)

Steven Andrews, Benjamin Grossman-Ponemon, Shauna-Marie Hendricks,

Geoffrey Hong, Christopher McKenzie, Kyle Morette

Advisor: Professor Simon Evans; Co-Advisor: Prof. David Olinger

11:35-11:55 SAE Aero Design East Competition, Micro Class Entry (Team 1)

James Blair, Ethan Connors, Paul Crosby, David Irwin, Keegan Mehrtens,

Carlos Sarria

Advisor: Professor David Olinger; Co-Advisor: Prof. Simon Evans

11:55-12:15 Design of a Moving Bar Wake Generator for a Linear Compressor Cascade

Joao Baiense, Francisca Chichester, Michael Egan, Steven Madamba, Sasha

Moore, Juliana Wakeman

Advisor: Professor Simon Evans

12:15 Judges Convene, HL229; Students complete surveys; lunch available

1:30 Award Presentation Ceremony, HL116

Program

Page 1

Judge Panel

Sergei Averkin

PhD Candidate

WPI

Michael Hecht

Senior Research Scientist

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Cal Tech

George Jumper

Adjunct Faculty

WPI

Raffaele Potami

Research Data Scientist

WPI

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Page 10

SAE Aero Design East Competition, Micro Class Entry (Team 1)

James Blair, Ethan Connors, Paul Crosby, David Irwin, Keegan Mehrtens,

Carlos Sarria

Advisor: Professor David Olinger; Co-Advisor: Professor Simon Evans

The goal of this project was to design and construct a remote controlled air-

craft as an entry in the Micro Class of the 2012 SAE Aero Design East Compe-

tition. To succeed at the competition, the plane had to be as light as possible,

carry a high payload fraction, and be stowed in a box with a 24”x18”x8” interi-

or dimension. The final design has a 51 inch wingspan, weighs 0.813

pounds, and is capable of carrying a payload of 2.2 pounds after being hand

launched. Innovations such as modular assembly jigs in the fabrication pro-

cess allow the aircraft to be constructed in less than 8 hours. This report de-

tails the goals of the competition, design process, and final blueprint of the

aircraft. Through analysis of aerodynamics, structures, and materials select-

ed, the team was able to create a lightweight aircraft with a high payload frac-

tion. By conducting flight testing and analysis, the team has been able to fine

tune the aircraft and expects promising results at the competition, scheduled

for late April, 2012.

Page 9

SAE Aero Design East Competition, Micro Class Entry (Team 2)

Steven Andrews, Benjamin Grossman-Poneman, Shauna-Marie Hendricks,

Geoffrey Hong, Christopher McKenzie, Kyle Morette

Advisor: Professor Simon Evans; Co-Advisor: Professor David Olinger

The goal of this MQP was to design, construct, and fly a remote control air-

craft for the 2012 SAE Aero East Heavy Lift Competition, Micro Class. The SAE

competition restricted the size, weight and launch method of the aircraft. The

aircraft must disassemble to fit in a 24”×18”×8” box, be assembled by a

team of two in three minutes, and complete a circuit carrying its payload. To

remain competitive, the aircraft needed to maintain a high payload percent-

age, be simple to construct, stable at different weights, and durable. General

aircraft parameters were selected through the aircraft design process. The

detailed design of the aircraft was conducted using computer aided design

software, and then the parts were manufactured from balsa wood using the

laser cutting machine. Throughout the design process, wind tunnel tests were

performed on scaled models fabricated by the rapid prototype machine. Ulti-

mately, a flightworthy aircraft was constructed that met competition require-

ments. Future tests will confirm aircraft design analysis.


Multi-Mav Deployment

Adam Campisi, Samuel Daley, Joseph Danner, Samantha Hilerio, Alexander

Hindley, James Kirk, John Pearsall, Christopher Sanchez


Co-Advisor: Professor Stephen Nestinger

The goal of this project was to develop a system of coordinated micro aerial

vehicles along with an unmanned ground vehicle in order to advance the

development of collaborative systems. The design objectives were to maxim-

ize flight time and mobility of a quad-rotor, and to minimize the size of the

system. Analysis, design, construction, and testing of an autonomous quad-

rotor and ground vehicle for collaborative operations were completed. The

resulting system was capable of deployment and hover.

Page 3

Design and Analysis for a CubeSat Mission

Celana Dopart, Rob Morlath, Erik Oliver, Jake Schomaker

Advisor: Professor Nikolaos Gatsonis

This project supports the design of a three-unit Cube Satellite (CubeSat) mission

pursued by WPI, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Space Research Cen-

tre in Poland. The mission goal is to perform solar and terrestrial X-ray spectroscopy

using the Sphinx-NG instrument, in a high-altitude, polar, sun-synchronous orbit.

Orbital and radiation analyses are performed using the Satellite Tool Kit. The plasma

environment anticipated during the mission is assessed for future charging analysis.

The selection and integration of a magnetometer and a GPS sensor are presented.

The magnetic fields induced by CubeSat’s three magnetic torquers are obtained

using COMSOL and guide the integration of the magnetometer. A preliminary design

of the command and data handling subsystem is presented.


Design of a Kite-Powered Water Pump and Airborne Wind Turbine

Kyle Bartosik, Jennifer Gill, Andrew Lybarger, Daniel Nyren, John Wilder


The goal of this project was two-fold, to adapt the existing WPI Kite Power

System to pump water, and to develop a new airborne energy system that

harvests electricity from the wind using a turbine suspended from a large kite.

This project is a continuation of ongoing research at Worcester Polytechnic

Institute in the area of high altitude kites. These high altitude kites can oper-

ate at higher altitudes than wind turbines where there is an increase in wind

speed and therefore, available power. The main objective of the water pump

project was to retrofit the existing kite power system with a mechanical water

pump and to build and test a head simulation valve. The mechanical pump

and head simulation valve were installed on the system. Lab testing shows

that this system is viable for mechanically pumping water out of a well using

only the power from the kite system. The second part of the project was to

design an airborne wind turbine that could be supported beneath a high alti-

tude kite. The team constructed and installed a housing unit for a small verti-

cal-axis wind turbine to be supported beneath the high altitude kite. Wind

tunnel testing and field testing of the vertical axis turbine were conducted.

More field testing is needed in the future on the kite-powered water pump

and a scaled-up airborne wind turbine.

Page 7

Design of Setups for Plasma Propulsion Plume Experiments

Andrew Baker, Andrew Bingham, Christopher Boucher

Advisor: Professor Nicolas Gatsonis

The project involves design, analysis and fabrication of setups to be used in

experiments with plasma plumes from electric micropropulsion devices. The

setup for a 1.25m diameter 1.845m long large vacuum chamber includes a

fixed plasma source stand and a translating plasma diagnostics stand. Design

and structural analysis are performed using Solidworks and COMSOL Multiphys-

ics. The setup for a 0.57m diameter, 0.55m long small vacuum chamber in-

cludes a plasma diagnostics stand placed on a manual translation table along

the plume axis. The realized design involves motorized transverse and rotary

stages to align a Langmuir probe with the direction of the ion plume flow. Esti-

mates of plume properties needed for probe sizing are obtained with simula-

tions using a particle in cell plasma code.


Mechanical, Power, and Thermal Subsystem Design for a CubeSat

Joe Bauer, Michael Carter, Kaitlyn Kelley, Ernie Mello, Sam Neu, Alex Orphanos, Tim

Shaffer, Andrew Withrow

Advisor: Professor John Blandino

The goals of this Major Qualifying Project (MQP) project were the design of thermal,

mechanical, and power subsystems for a CubeSat supporting a university-led sci-

ence mission to orbit an X-ray spectrophotometer. The spacecraft thermal analysis

included calculation of unsteady temperature distributions over the course of sever-

al orbits. This analysis included radiation from the sun and earth as well as a pre-

liminary analysis of heat generation from internal components. The mechanical

design included component and assembly-level, solid models of several spacecraft

configurations and a preliminary stress analysis. The power subsystem design in-

cluded component selection for power generation, management, and distribution

as well as energy storage. Additionally, each subsystem team proposed basic exper-

iments in a vacuum chamber that would serve as proof of concept testing and com-

ponent validation.

Page 5

Attitude Determination and Control System Design for a CubeSat

Mission

Elizabeth Dawson, Nell Nassiff, Dianna Velez


This project continues the design and testing of the Attitude Determination

and Control Subsystem (ADCS) for a nano-satellite. The primary mission ob-

jective is solar X-ray spectroscopy using the Sphinx-NG instrument, which

requires that the CubeSat fly in a high-altitude, polar, sun- synchronous orbit

pointing to the sun with 1-2 degrees of accuracy. The ADCS requires gyro-

scopes, sun sensors, and a magnetometer for attitude determination. Atti-

tude control is executed using magnetorquers as actuators. This project fo-

cused on the analysis of attitude determination algorithms and control poli-

cies to select the most efficient and accurate methods. After method selec-

tion, simulations of the ADCS were conducted, and research was performed

concerning hardware testing for the ADCS.

.


Design of an Aerodynamic Thrust Disk and Spinning Rotor for a Scale-

Model Floating Wind Turbine

Jame Harvell, Andreia Petrosan, William Rios, Dustin Vinci


The goal of this project was to design and build an aerodynamic thrust disk

and spinning rotor for a 100:1 scale model of tension leg platform and spar

buoy floating wind turbines. The project outlines the steps taken to design

and build the thrust disk, rotor, underwater adjustable frame used for testing,

and the ring design used to make the tension leg platform floating wind tur-

bine more resistant to oncoming waves and currents. The model was tested

in Alden Labs in Holden, MA under operating conditions.

Documents

Project Presentation Day Program · The goals of this Major Qualifying Project (MQP) project were the design of thermal, mechanical, and power subsystems for a CubeSat supporting