This week we presented our preliminary design report (PDR) to three other IPPD groups, coaches, and staff. This was a great opportunity for our team to display our hard work and receive constructive feedback. Constructive questions from the audience are pushing us to deepen our technical analysis and better justify our strategic decisions. Moving forward, we will implement the lessons learned from this practice run into our final PDR presentation next week in Cincinati, Ohio.
The team faced a significant problem that they had to address this week. We contacted the supplier of the high temperature thermoelectric generator (TEG) we were interested in acquiring and found out it is no longer being produced. Fortunately, we were able to talk with a subject matter expert and gain lots of valuable insight. After meeting with our coach and liaisons, we have decided to still pursue the TEG concept with our immediate focus on researching the feasibility of creating such a device, including exploring materials like silicon carbide, and investigating how results could be scaled up from a lower temperature device. While working together, we also created the preliminary design architecture for our project. Lastly, the team finalized plans for visiting the GE Aerospace site in Cincinati, Ohio and presenting the preliminary design report.
This week the team met to discuss different ways we could address our scope of work. At the team meeting, each member presented one (or more) ideas that could be used as solutions to the problem of waste heat. Through this process we were able to derive a few concepts that moved forward in crafting a decision matrix. We also started working on a draft of our preliminary design review. On an aerodynamic level, we strengthened our understanding of the isolator and engine bay flow states which will be beneficial moving forward.
Looking to next week, we’ll be meeting with one of our liaison engineers in person. Additionally, we’ll be focusing on calculating quantitative values for our concepts to benefit both the decision matrix and specifications/requirements.
This week, FLARE met on 9/15/2025 to work on our Product Design Specifications (PDS). This is an important document that transforms customer wants and needs into requirements and specifications. We made sure to draft specifications that can be measured by technical performance measures (TPMs). These TPMs can be used as goals to guide the research and development phase of our project, and benchmarks to guide our prototyping and testing phase.
On Tuesday, 9/16/2025 we met before class to work on our project roadmap for this semester. This document encompasses our planned work until the systems level design review (SLDR). We also developed a project risk table to catalog our major concerns and mitigation strategies. In class, we presented our project as a team and were met with helpful questions. Later in the week we met with our coach and GE liaisons to review the documentation we created, get their feedback, and ask some questions. Lastly, we wanted to congratulate our members who recently participated in a Team Building Workshop & White Belt Six Sigma Training!
We’d like to introduce our team’s name and logo, FLARE: flight level aerothermal recovery of energy. This acronym is a reference to the pyrotechnic device of the same name and symbolizes the energetic qualities of our project. The color scheme and flight vehicle design are both an homage to our university.
This week we met with the IPPD lab manager on Tuesday 9/9/25 to gain access to the lab space. After that, we met as a team to continue discussing our scope of work, complete some group assignments, and prepare for our meeting with our GE Aerospace liaisons later in the week. During class this week we underwent a heavy brainstorming session to try and come up with novel solutions for our problem. On Thursday, 9/11/25 we met with our coach to share these updates, and on 9/12/25 we met with the GE Aerospace liaisons to formally introduce ourselves, ask some questions, and outline expectations going forward.
Hello everyone, welcome to our IPPD blog! We are Team 09, sponsored by GE Aerospace and coached by Dr. Bruce Carroll. Our mission is to develop a waste heat recovery system for hypersonic propulsion.
This week we introduced ourselves, met outside of class to start discussing our project, and met with our coach. We’re looking forward to tackling this ambitious project! Be on the lookout for our official team name and logo coming soon!
Meet our team: