Engineering – Page 6 – CA Work Experience Program

Day 2 – Biomechanical Adventure, Spreading Happiness, and More Exploration

Walking onto NC State’s Centennial Campus, I was hyped up to gain knowledge from Ph.D. students and walk around campus. After exploring the numerous classrooms, makerspaces, and labs, I had the opportunity to talk to a biomechanical student. She focused on the relationship between musculoskeletal structures and functions of limbs through the use of MRI, strength assessments, functional testing, and computational simulations. One of her research projects involves helping stroke patients regain walking ability through the use of musculoskeletal structures and springs to provide some power to the heel. She is improving the design of the device by gathering data on the range of motion, maximum exertion force, electrical signals, etc.
Afterward, I was once again exploring the library. Finding an electronic whiteboard in the lobby, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to draw a silly face on it. Surprisingly, people started to gather around the board, adding bits and pieces of creativity to my drawing (below). It was so cool seeing how one simple thing can bring so much joy and sense of community to people.

Day 2

For my second day at Plexus, I began the morning with the industrial design group. We discussed how the group designs for the user not just based upon the customer’s needs. The industrial design group begins by defining the user and target audience of the product by creating a persona. A Persona is a document that defines the or many users that might be involved in a product from delivery to end of life. Chad described the most important aspect of industrial design is understanding the user. Therefore, the industrial design team finds users and spends time with the users and designs in multiple stages in the design process to understand their needs. Once the user is understood, a journey map is outlined for the current method of a process or task. Made up of multiple steps detailing the process, the benefits, and the drawbacks of the current method a journey helps to understand the improvements that could be made the product. Additionally, a journey map can be made for the future, what you intend on creating. I also spent some time with Jim and Cara who are Quality Engineers who elaborated on how to further requirements and ensure a products compliance and safety. Quality Engineers are involved throughout the whole process and are involved in narrowing down the idea. Quality Engineers begin by asking “What are your Intendids?”. An Intendids means who, what, where, when, why of your product. For my project in which I am creating a plant watering system, my intendids are a person who is busy either traveling or a working professional between the age of 20-45 who has a plant located in doors at a temperature between 65-75 degrees that needs little to moderate watering located in the United States. Additionally, the Quality Engineers reinforced the importance of SMART requirements, specific, measurable, testable, and repeatable. Additionally, Quality Engineers make sure that products are compliant to both laws and standards in all countries that the product will be sold into. They are in charge of documenting risk, mitigations, and testing. An important aspect of their job is verification in which both mitigations and requirements are tested to ensure that the goals and safety of the product. I forgot to post the environment, requirements, and validation statements from yesterday. I have added my work from today to that document, so you can see my progress towards a plant watering system. Look forward to another great day!

My phone cut out so picture coming soon!

Wateringsystemdicumentation-uhjowp

Pentair Day Two- Meeting in the Pacific Ocean?!?

Day two began with a meeting in the “Pacific Ocean” conference room. This was a huge meeting for Dr. Rai, as she was presenting her current project, in front the heads of Pentair, in order for some funding. There were several high-ranking members present for the meeting, through call, and Dr. Rai did a great job! The conference call had people from all across the nation. It was exciting to see how the high-ranking members would poke and prod at the protentional projects, and how the presenters would stand by their ideas. It was also neat to see that Pentair also uses Lync, just like CA, and they also had the same fears as we do. What if someone lync’s me during my presentation??I After the conference meeting, Dr. Rai and I headed back to her work space and began talking about what was next for me. Because I can’t legally aid any actual business at Pentair, Dr. Rai has given me a side project to work. Building on my exploration of solid works from yesterday, she has tasked me with creating a “Geneva Mechanism”, which is unique gear which turns intermittently, it will rotate, then stop, then rotate automatically, pretty neat. This type of mechanism is used in watches and other objects that require a motor, but not constantly.

After explaining my project, Dr. Rai walked me through the Pentair project process and how my process should mirror theirs. The process is longer than I expected, but thorough and seems to be quite effective. For me, I began by figuring out the dimensions of my product. Before I could start my project, I joined Dr. Rai in her meeting with some of her project team members down in Florida. The meeting was shorter than the one in the morning and was just a weekly check-up on operations. Next, I began to create the mechanism in solid works. I learned more skills on the software and it became even more complex than yesterday. I did notice, however, that I was starting to understand the basics of the software and was getting quicker and quicker. In the time left in the day, I was able to create 3 of the key pieces necessary for the mechanism, progress I am quite proud of!

Aditya Day 1: It’s Like Sketchup, but a lot harder!

Pentair Day One.

Today was my first day at Pentair. When I first arrived, I was toured around the offices and got my own visitors badge, which I would use to enter in and out the building for the next two weeks. After the “tour”, I sat down with Dr. Rai and the day began. First, she explained what her job is, what Pentair is in general and then the specific project she is working on right now. Pentair is an aquatic engineering company that deals with anything from monitoring water levels to creating water pumps. Dr. Rai’s current project is focusing on a fish pump, that can safely transport fish. She let me read her recent presentation on the project, the one she pitched to the company for approval. I realized that Pentair is quite a dominant company in its respective field! After this was it was already time for lunch, where I ate my food and explored the large vending machine found on the lower floor of the building, safe to say it blows the SEA vending machines out of the water. After lunch, Dr. Rai set me up with a program called solid works. She explained that this was a software that most engineers of the company used. The software is meant to prototype parts and pieces and is connected to a 3-D printer. It is similar to sketch-up, but a lot more complex! After getting a quick tutorial I was tasked with creating a specific piece. It was definitely a challenging journey, but I felt a great sense of accomplishment once I finished! After this Dr. Rai and I discussed our plans for the week and then just like that it was the end of the day!

Day 1 – Creating Bone Adhesive Samples

This afternoon, I began my Work Experience Program at Dr. Ken Gall’s lab in the Chesterfield at downtown Durham (a Duke labspace). After receiving a short tour of the lab space from a friendly student, I met with the supervisor Dr. Kirillova and Olivia, one of the undergraduate students working in the lab, and we discussed the specific project they are currently working on. Dr. Kirillova is working with another startup, Launchpad Medical LLC, to create a bioresorbable bone adhesive that can ideally be used efficiently and effectively with future medical patients that require bone treatment. To my surprise, the creation of such mineral-organic bone adhesive was inspired by the sandcastle worm, an animal that secretes unique fluids that has the power to “glue sand together.” I learned today that the bone adhesive used in the lab is formally known as “tetranite,” a powder made up of tetracalcium phosphate (Ca4O(PO4)2) and O-phospho-L-serine. The adhesive is unique in that its initial powder form turns gooey immediately after contacting water and eventually solidifies into a solid. In theory, the adhesive may be applied in between two broken bones and solidify quickly to hold the bones together. The substance’s strength and porosity can be adjusted based on the porosity of the bone marrow being treated. For example, a cortical bone requires a “uniform layer of adhesive” because it is less porous and a cancellous bone will host an “irregular adhesive that penetrates into pores” due to its higher porosity. Additionally, the bone adhesive is biodegradable, so in theory, the adhesive will extinguish itself overtime within the bone and new bone marrow will form to fully heal the broken bone. In fact, previously conducted research on a rabbit revealed that 75% of original bone tissue reformed in just one year after it was originally broken, using the bone adhesive to mend the broken bones back together.

As I mentioned earlier, the bone adhesive can be modified for different strengths and porosity using “fillers.” (Usually, higher porosity will decrease the strength of the adhesive, so finding the right balance for different applications is crucial to the use of these adhesives). The three main fillers I learned about were NaCl, fibers, and powdered titanium, which we tested today in the lab for the first time! Generally, adhesives with added NaCl demonstrate higher porosity and that with added fibers yields higher strength; the titanium has yet to provide conclusions. Today, I learned how the samples of bone adhesives with added fillers are made in the lab prior to being tested for strength and porosity. Olivia prepared samples with added titanium powder, and I had to exciting opportunity to prepare samples with added NaCl.

The process by which the sample is made is quite interesting. I was provided with the luxury of using a pre-made mixture of tetranite and NaCl, but in theory I would have first calculated the right amounts of each separate powder and mixed them together. After massing out the correct amount of the combined powder into a small mixing apparatus, I ensured that the powders were mixed homogeneously to create the most accurate sample. I then pipetted 405 microliters of deionized water into the mixer and quickly mixed the water in before the bone adhesive started to solidify. The immediate reaction between the powder and the water really surprised me at first! To create a sample of a specific shape and size, I put the new gooey substance into a syringe and excreted it into a small cylindrical mold, scraping off the top edges for excess material in order to ensure a smooth sample. The substance fully solidified after about 15 minutes, and I used a drill bit to pop it out of the mold and put it in a phosphate buffered saline. This vial was placed in a warm water bath at 37*C (close to body temperature), and we plan to polish the samples after they sit in the water for another 48 hours. The solid samples will be strength tested in order to predict their strength performance in real-world applications, like when inside patients’ bones.

I am happy to say that my first day at the Chesterfield lab was an exciting and rewarding one. I was delighted to be given the wonderful opportunity to actually create some samples myself! At first, I was a bit apprehensive of my abilities to create a sample that would match the quality of the ones Olivia made. Yet, after about three tries, I can confidently say that I made a sample that was much better than what I had expected. After spending less than four hours in the lab today, I left feeling that I had accomplished something substantial and learned about a project that truly intrigued me. Overall, the state-of-the-art lab equipment in Suite 420 was more impressive than anything I have ever laid my eyes on, and I cannot wait for another day of learning at the lab tomorrow!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Day 1 – Introduction to Aerodynamics

Arriving on NC State’s Centennial campus, I was warmly greeted by Dr. G and two Ph.D. students. They gave me an introduction to aerodynamics and showed me their current research projects: understanding, formulating, and calculating equations that fully represent the motions and aerodynamics of a bug’s wing during flight.
As an introduction to aerodynamics, I learned about Reynold’s number, leading-edge vortex, CFDs, and more. The Reynold’s number is essential in computing the aerodynamics of an object, accounting for four variables: size, viscosity, velocity, and density. When Reynold’s number stays constant, the aerodynamics of the object stays constant. The leading edge vortex is created when an airfoil is angled in a way that does not allow fluid to pass over it smoothly. Other vortices can form and detach at the tail-end of the airfoil. Below is an image displaying the change in vortices due to the change in airfoil angle. CFDs, also known as computational fluid dynamics, accurately and colorfully shows how fluid would pass over an object.

Figure #1. The Forming of Vortices in Relation to Airfoil Angle.

Day 1

Today, was my first day at Plexus. Plexus is a contract engineering company meaning that they engineer product for other people and do not create any of their own products. After touring their massive labs and design areas, I met with Mr. Alan who is a Product manager. He talked me through how Plexus acquires work and the life cycle of the project. I found it very interesting that every project went through at least six stages with four of them having testing. I have included a picture below of the six stages being requirements, prototyping, engineering confidence, alpha, beta, and then production. This process can take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. I thought that it was really cool that as an engineer at Plexus you could work on such a variety of projects and see a variety of projects in such a short time period. I had lunch with the Product Managers and learned the wide backgrounds that they come from. While they all had engineering degrees, they ranged from computer engineering to industrial engineering. After lunch I spoke with Jesse, he showed me how they write requirements at Plexus. The most important rule with requirements is that they cannot be subjective as they will be tested; therefore, the requirements must be test able. At Plexus, a requirement that must be in the final product is indicated with a shall in the statement. Additionally, something that is nice to have is indicated with a should. Once these, requirements have been written similar Verification statements are written that describe how one can be certain that the product delivered meets the requirements. Another important aspect of Product Management is called an architecture, this documentation, outlines components that will interact and varies from detailed interactions between individual pieces to broad overviews of what the product does in general. I look forward to another great day.