Pre-Proposal for ME 492/493 Project
A Device for the
Adhesion and Cohesion in Space of H2O
COMPANY: NASA
CONTACT ENGINEER: None Yet
STUDENT MEMBERS: Donald Durgan
Jennifer Meyer
Eric Lovejoy
Afton-Dawn Johnson
What the Design Should Do:
Our team will design a device to capture and contain traveling water droplets in reduced gravity. That is, the device will force multiple collisions of any given droplet, thereby promoting coalescence and adhesion. In addition to the containment device, we will devise a system to emitwater droplets of approximately 1mm in diameter into the containment device. Due to safety constraints, the entire apparatus must be fully encased.
When the Design Is to Be Delivered/What Will Be Delivered in June 2006:
The apparatus must be completed by the time of flight with NASA. Flight dates will be determined by NASA, and will be March 30, 2006 at the soonest, and July 20, 2006 at the latest. We will deliver a safety proposal (Test Equipment Data Package) to NASA pre-flight. This date is also determined by NASA and will fall between February 22, 2006 and June 7, 2006.
What our team delivers in June of 2006 will be partially dependent on our flight date. At the least, we will provide complete detailed drawings of our containment device and apparatus, Bill of Materials, a report outlining our design process, and an analysis of the design and results. We also hope to deliver the apparatus, and depending on flight date, video footage of our experiment.
Assessment of Opportunities:
Our team will have freedom to design a device which will address issues faced by our astronauts in space. Our capstone design activities will include a containment device, a system to emit water droplets into the containment device, a video set-up to record our experiments, and packaging for the apparatus which will both conform to NASA’s safety standards and allow us to successfully perform experiments. Included in the specifications for our containment device will be the number of collisions between droplets and the surface of the device, and amount of water contained in the device at the finish of the experiment. In addition, there will be a simple electrical system to power the droplet emitter and video.
Analysis methods employed by our team will likely include statics, dynamics, strength and properties of materials, vibrations, and statistics. Verification activities are likely to include proof-of-concept testing and the evaluation of working principles.
Our idea for identifying ideal geometries to capture and contain traveling water droplets in reduced gravity has been reviewed by Professor Weislogel and deemed to be worthwhile. The pre-proposal will be reviewed by additional members of the design faculty to ensure that the project is worth pursuing.