NASA Ames Research Center
January 8 – April 27, 2018
Goals of your project/s
To make a fully articulating 1/144th scale Large Civil Tilt Rotor (LCTR2). Learning C/C++ on the way. Finalize a publication on a case study done in 2014 on turbulence intensity. Create a 1/600th scale wind tunnel for external testing and also make structures to establish data based on previous case study.
Describe what you did during the internship
To create a fully articulating system for the Large Civil Tilt Rotor (LCTR2) where pitch and yaw can be adjusted and accurately shown with exact degrees on an LCD display. Learning C/C++ on the way and how to program in an object oriented language. Finalize a report for publication on a case study of turbulence intensity at the 1/50th scale 80- by 120-Foot Wind Tunnels (80×120) to evaluate the flow quality in the test section. This report became 912 pages by the end. Create a 1/600th scale 80×120 model to make scaled down testing of external structures more feasible with possible robustness all external testing. Creating a diffuser that would not choke the flow and also minimize centralized flow so as not to reduce the drive systems speed. This wind tunnel theoretically should be able to go slightly above 100 knots in air speed and also to accurately replicate characteristics of the 80×120 for this subsonic testing. Through additive manufacturing create the inlet for the 1/600th scale 80×120 and various other items for different purposes elaborated on later. Through 3D printing these objects they had a tolerance of 0.001 inches which retains the accuracy that is needed for this testing.
Did you achieve your goals? What were the results and conclusions?
Goals were achieved and finished. The result was a report that will be published in the next 2 months, a system for the LCTR2 that was capable of pitch and yaw, and the LCD screen was still being integrated before the project was made non-essential in our time. The wind tunnel was finished and capable of any range with the fans using arduinos for pulse width modulation.
Describe positive lessons learned from this experience
Learned how to work more as a team in a work environment where you’re not competing with everyone in academia. Learned C/C++ and more about controls and object oriented programming. Also relearned a lot about circuitry from arduinos. Figured out how to work with employees at NASA who think on a much more complicated level than the typical undergraduate level which was a huge learning curve.
Describe negative lessons learned from this experience
Learned how much of an impact a budget can have and also how when the government shuts down how that effects a lot of people. We were removed from our housing and not allowed to work for a few days, which was intense when we had all just gotten a week and a half before getting removed.