Hello everyone, Team MaeChem Silanes has been busy this week following our PDR with starting work on the project. Up to this point we’ve been focusing heavily on researching and creating a good plan for us to follow until the end of the semester, so it’s exciting to finally see our work come to life. Our biggest objectives right now are simulating our reactions in Aspen Plus and modeling our prototype in Solidworks.

The chemical engineers on the team have begun familiarizing themselves with Aspen Plus via online tutorials, and the mechanical engineers are searching for existing references for designing the reactors in our system. By next week we want to simulate the first step in making VTMS, the Grignard reaction, by next week, along with having a concept sketched for a CSTR design. Thanks for tuning in, and we’ll hopefully see you next week!

Hello everyone, this past week was very busy for the team as we traveled to Milliken to present our Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the project. This presentation was a combination of all our research for the project, our proposed plan and an outline of the risks associated with the project. We’re very happy to report that our liaison engineers had nothing but positive feedback to give, and that we’re both on the same page in terms how we will actually produce VTMS through a continuous process.

This week the team also attended 2 professional development workshops put on by IPPD, where we explored the idea of divergent thinking for generating creative ideas and received career tips applicable for engineers entering the industry for the first time. Looking forward, the group will begin diving into Aspen Plus to start simulating our industrial-scale process in preparation for the System Level Design Review (SLDR) in December. We’re very excited to begin work modeling the process, and we hope you’ll continue to follow our progress moving forward!

Hi everyone! This has been a rather exciting week for MaeChem Silanes. We just had our first visit to the SiVance plant! For the majority of the team, it was our first time visiting a chemical plant, so our excitement was unmatched, as we were eager to absorb as much information as possible. We had the opportunity to meet Clif, the R&D manager at Milliken, in person. We also met Shane, one of our liaisons, and Paul, whose enthusiasm while explaining the facilities and various chemical processes that go on at the site was uplifting. Answering his questions was a fun and well-received challenge. It’s incredibly inspiring getting to know and talk to people who love what they do.

Overall, the team gained insight into how a pilot-scale system can turn into a large chemical manufacturing unit. We were also able to obtain a better understanding of the current VTMS production process, and we left with clues and ideas about how we can turn it into a continuous and improved process. Although the road ahead is long, with the support of our coach, Dr. VJ Tocco, and our amazing mentors at Milliken, we are ready to dive deep into our project.

This week we also completed our project roadmap and started our Preliminary Design Report. Moving forward, we might have to change our team’s name to Bookworms as we tackle the literature review with great energy and determination!

We’ve been working hard this past week to establish a project roadmap to follow for the semester. We have a series of deadlines we need to hit throughout the project development, including our Prototype Inspection Day and System Level Design Review, so we want to make sure we’re staying on schedule.

We met with our coach Dr. Tocco and received some advice for conducting background research in preparation for our upcoming meeting at Milliken. Our chemical engineers have been hard at work understanding the chemistry behind producing VTMS so we can be prepared to convert the batch system to continuous.

This week the entire IPPD class met with FPL for a team-building workshop. We all received certificates for White Belt training as part of the Six Sigma organization, learning about improving quality and processes for better product development. We’re excited to apply what we learned to our own project moving forward!

We’re happy to reintroduce ourselves under a new name, Team MaeChem Silanes! The inspiration for the name came from the combination of engineering disciplines involved in this project: MAE is the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering for the mechanical engineers, and Chem represents the Chemical Engineers on the team. Our name also ties in directly to our team logo. The structure is inspired by the skeletal line structure of VTMS and is shown using pipes, while the central Silicon molecule is represented by a gear. The font/color of the team name is also a nod to Milliken’s own logo!

This week we officially met with our liaison at Milliken virtually where we discussed the project in great detail, learned more about Milliken and its role in the semiconductor industry, and received more documentation to help in our design. We are planning to travel to Milliken’s SiVance plant in Gainesville next week to do a walkthrough of their facilities and see the batch process currently in use. Before we meet with Milliken again, the group is doing research on continuous processes and the chemistry involved with producing VTMS so we can ensure our ideas for the project align with our sponsor’s.

We can’t wait to visit Milliken’s facilities in person, and are looking forward to beginning our preliminary designs for this project!

Hello everyone! This is the first of many blog posts for MaeChem Silanes in the 2023-2024 UF IPPD program. We are happy to finally be working together as a team and with Milliken over the next two semesters. These blog posts will detail our progress in designing and creating a continuous batch system to manufacture silanes for the semiconductor industry.

We will be meeting with our team coach to clarify the scope of work for this project and outline our expectations as a group, and are planning to meet with the liaison engineers at Milliken soon after. We’re very excited to share this journey with you all so stay posted as we update our blog weekly.

Team Members:

• Luke Flanagan – Mechanical Engineering
• Patrick O’Sullivan – Chemical Engineering
• Kaylee Conrad – Chemical Engineering
• Faisal Khanfar – Mechanical Engineering
• Paola Oliva – Chemical Engineering
• Michael McGuinness – Chemical Engineering

Coach: Dr. Vincent J. Tocco Jr.

Sponsor: Milliken