For my last week here at LASP, I was given the job to build a plate to test a piece of equipment. The equipment to be tested is called PAM, though I can’t recall what it stands for, but I know it is a small satellite that needs to open up once it is launched in space. But of course we need to make sure it opens up correctly before sending the satellite into space. I worked on building this piece by myself with the guidance of both Dmitry and Dana, a mechanical engineer. I think it was a good first piece for me to work on to get the whole engineering experience and it also gave me the chance to see how Solidworks is used in the engineering industry.
Beginning part for my burner wire assembly.
My first step was to simply draw a square, but to do this I also had to take in consider how big the burner wire piece is. The assembly is called a burner wire assembly because it takes a nichrome wire burning a Vectarn yarn to open up the satellite. The nichrome wire is bent at an angle and then an electric current is passed through it to heat up the wire. Because the wire is bent, the stress causes the wire to burn anything it is touching at the angle point. The Vectarn yarn will be close enough to the nichrome wire that it burns and pops open the satellite with no problems, hopefully. Nichrome wire is a great tool that is resistant to electricity, which is why it is used as a heating element and is already used is typical day-to-day products such as toasters and hair dryers. I’m not too sure why Dana choose a Vectarn yarn loop for the satellite, so I’m assuming its because of how strong it is, which will be important to hold the side pieces of the satellite together until it is ready to open.
This is a close up of the burner wire assembly piece on the satellite. The bright green piece on the left, is a side of the satellite that will open up like a door once the yarn, the thin horizontal white piece in the center, is burned through.
Here is a close up of the actual burner wire assembly piece. The nichrome wire is the red bent piece in the center and next to it is the Vectarn yarn. The test is to see if the nichrome wire will burn the yarn correctly. The plate I’m building is needed to hold the main component, which is the bright pink, in place.
After building the plate, I also had to attach rails to the plate so that we can stand up the whole assembly on a table. We also needed it to be raised to loop a new yarn through the burner wire assembly to continue more testing, if needed. Overall this is the completed setup of the burner wire testing assembly, all that is left is to order the necessary parts and build it together. Sadly, since this is my last week of my internship, I will not be here to see the completed setup. However it does not deter from the fact that I was able to help and gain useful experience from this small project. I do hope my testing plate works and everything runs smoothly, but as I learned throughout this internship, most experiments don’t happen like that.
This weekend was the Fourth of July and what a great way to spend it than seeing a Rockies game. Dmitry invited me to go see the game with his wife and friend. I got to meet Timo, Dmitry’s friend, on the very left in red and Aly, Dmitry’s wife, second from right. Aly is pregnant with a boy and is due next week! They both seem very excited and are ready for the challenges that come with being a parent. I had lots of fun chatting with everyone and learning more about the rules of baseball. At the end of it, the Rockies won against the Cardinals. This weekend was a great way to end my internship and I wish the best of luck to both Aly and Dmitry.
On Tuesday, I plan on coming into LASP and saying my farewells. I will also be wrapping up anything else with my project and passing it along to the next person that will be finishing it.
I want to give everybody I worked with a great big thank you in helping me gain useful knowledge and expanding my skill sets. I am beyond grateful to Pinhead and Dmitry for giving me the opportunity to learn more about the future field I wish to work in. Thank you to everybody that reads this and joining me on this journey!
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