This week, Gator Waves ended the semester with the SLDR event on Tuesday, December 7th. We presented our design, prototype results, and spring plans to the other attending teams and coaches. Our liaison, Dr. Subhash, was also in attendance for this event. During the time leading up to our presentation, we were able to chat with other teams about their progress, as well as enjoy the refreshments provided by the IPPD staff. Feedback on our presentation included some technical suggestions from Dr. Schwartz regarding the implementation of bearings, as well as some positive feedback from the other teams regarding our use of visuals to explain the theory and function of our design.

We also submitted the final draft of our SLDR report on Tuesday after implementing the adjustments suggested by our coach and the IPPD staff. We have also passed the document along to our liaison and await his approval and signature.

While wrapping up the week, our team also finished our prototype redesign and began taking data using a longer incident bar. Our results were still unexpected and did not align with our understanding of the theory, and so before moving forward into next semester, we will be focusing on making sure we have an explanation for our current results. Overall, the semester has been challenging, but with our plan in place for the spring, we look forward to what we can accomplish next year!

After returning from Thanksgiving break, Gator Waves spent this past week focusing on the upcoming SLDR event and the redesign of our fall prototype. Leading up to Tuesday, our team spent time preparing our presentation and finalizing the draft of our report. On November 30th, we participated in the peer review SLDR event. This allowed us to receive feedback from other teams regarding our presentation style and content. The suggestions were helpful and informative, and many of them are being incorporated into the final presentation for the real SLDR event on December 7th. Furthermore, after the peer review, we had a meeting with our coach Dr. Hans van Oostrom, where we discussed his feedback as well as some suggestions he had for proceeding with our redesign of the fall prototype.

On Wednesday morning, our team met with Dr. Subhash to discuss the upcoming SLDR event and our progress with the project. We received a great deal of feedback regarding the update of the fall prototype, which has led to a new design of the housing and the need to order a number of additional materials (steel bars, strain gauges, etc). On Wednesday afternoon, the electrical engineers met to discuss the design of a PCB for the circuits currently used in operating the prototype. During this meeting, we also reached out to some professors for advice on selecting sensors for the control system.

Moving forward, our team is putting the final touches on the SLDR report and presentation for Tuesday, December 7th. Furthermore, the plan is to have new timing measurements taken using the redesigned prototype by the end of the semester. This information will help influence our plans moving forward for the spring.

This week was centered around the Prototype Inspection Day event held on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 16th. On Sunday of the previous week, the team met to collect data on the timing precision and stress wave propagation in preparation for the event. Furthermore, our team created an eight minute presentation that summarizes our project, design challenges, and prototype results. On Tuesday, we gave this presentation to eight different judges. After presenting, we were able to answer questions they had regarding our material, demo our prototype, and receive their feedback.

The feedback from some of the judges indicated to our team that we need to adjust our plans for the rest of the semester to better address some additional design challenges that were identified. Concerns about the physical capabilities of our proposed system and the timing requirements were raised. Our team held several meetings during the remainder of the week to discuss these concerns and how we want to proceed with tackling them. An action plan was developed and sent to our coach as a feedback memo.

On Thursday, our team visited LDRAM once again to discuss our test set up with the lab members. After receiving helpful advice on how to mitigate noise in strain gauge signals, we were able to spend time testing aspects of our prototype with the oscilloscope at the laboratory, which is of much higher quality than the one that was available to our team during our Sunday tests.

On Saturday of this week, the electrical engineers met to further investigate the mitigation of noise within the measurement system, and also attempt to interface with an accelerometer we were able to obtain from the IPPD stock. During this meeting, some preliminary data was collected regarding the acceleration of the striker rod while being fired using the solenoid.

This week, Gator Waves continued the manufacturing and assembly of a prototype in preparation for November 16th. The mechanical engineers manufactured the brass bushings, and the 3D printing of the housing was completed. The electrical engineers met to set up a measuring system for the timing consistency. We spoke with our coach on Tuesday to review our progress and expectations for Prototype Inspection Day, and on Wednesday we discussed the same topics with our liaison, Dr. Subhash.

During meetings on Thursday and Friday, the housing was assembled and strain gauges were attached to the appropriate steel rods for measuring the stress wave propagation. Also, the solenoid shell was wrapped with copper wire and tested with the steel rod to make sure that everything was in working order.

On Sunday, the team met to collect data on the timing precision and the stress wave propagation. The meeting featured a good amount of troubleshooting, but ultimately data on the consistency of the timing was collected and will be used in the upcoming Prototype Inspection Day presentation. Moving forward, Gator Waves will continue to prepare their presentation and visual materials for the event. Moreover, while collecting the test data on Sunday, several design considerations were brought to light that will be investigated in the coming days.

After gaining approval for manufacturing from our liaison last week, Gator Waves utilized this week to turn our focus to working on the prototype. The mechanical engineers of the team spent time on Thursday manufacturing components such as the bushings, track, and steel bars. Also, files for the solenoid casing were sent to the lab for 3D printing as well.

On Sunday, the electrical engineers of the team met to discuss the current driving circuit that Ian designed, and also to discuss the progress and future plans for testing a control system with the solenoid. Additionally, there were considerations of the measurement method that will be used for the prototype.

As Prototype Inspection Day approaches, our team has also been considering what type of feedback we wish to receive, and how we plan on collecting that feedback. Moving into next week, the team will continue with the manufacturing and assembly process. Data collection will also need to occur in order to be analyzed and presented by November 16th. We will seek feedback from our coach and liaison on our progress, and any suggestions they might have regarding how to approach Prototype Inspection Day. 

This week, Gator Waves moved forward with working on the development of a prototype. We met with our coach Dr. van Oostrom in order to discuss our progress on the design, as well as to discuss scheduling for one on one meetings to go over peer feedback.

The mechanical engineers of the team compiled a bill of materials and created drawings of the prototype we will be building. On Wednesday, we met with our liaison Dr. Subhash to present these items as well as our progress on the control system. After presenting the drawings and bill of materials, we were given the okay by Dr. Subhash to begin manufacturing the necessary components of our prototype. Also, Ian was able to build and test the circuit design for driving current through the solenoid. With a nail as the test plunger, the circuit functioned as anticipated.

Moving forward, our team will begin the manufacturing, testing, and assembly of our prototype. Also, the testing of control loop designs on an FPGA will be underway.