The first part of August saw members of the magnetic gearing research team head to Boone, NC for the 2018 Appalachian Energy Summit. It was three days of solid presentations, workshops, and networking with energy professionals from across the region and the nation as a whole. Sina and David also brought back an honorable mention in the student research poster competition.
Brent Summerville at Appalachian State University was kind enough to give a tour of the Beech Mountain Small Wind Research and Demonstration Site after the recent Appalachian Energy Summit.
The mobile lab designed and constructed by the building sciences students provided some welcome shelter from the rain.
I featured a number of clever design elements including stools/storage that mount of the wall when not in use.
We got the magnetic gearing researchers and alumni last week to celebrate Kang’s successful PhD defense and landing a new job up in Boston. Kang has worked on multiple magnetic gearbox topologies over the past four years and we wish him the best as he heads off to his new job.
It was great having Hydrovision in Charlotte last week. The MHK track had some great presentations and it was an awesome opportunity to teach down some new vendors. It was good to see a number of familiar faces from the NC Renewable Ocean Energy Program, including Jonathan Colby, Mike Muglia, and Bill Staby. One interesting participant was partnering with Oak Ridge to additively manufacture components for their microturbines.
Casey Nichols was one of the Mechanical Engineering Technology graduates at this Saturday’s commencement ceremony. Casey has been an undergraduate research assistant in the magnetic gearing research group for the past year, funded by both the NC Space Grant and the UNC Coastal Studies Institute. This summer he is interning at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) in Boulder, CO. Casey will be back though as he continues work on his master’s degree in the fall and from the looks of the travel pictures he still has his eyes on places to install some magnetic gearboxes.
Kang and I are back after attending Waterpower Week in DC. There were some great presentations and posters in the sessions and it was great to see a large number of familiar faces from the NC Renewable Ocean Energy Program.
Kang Li presenting at a Marine Energy Technology Symposium session in Washington DC, 2018.
Noah Weiss and Mick Mohr are heading to the UK this May to represent UNC Charlotte at the International Mechanical Engineering Society Railway Challenge. Take a look at the link below and consider a donation to help them with incidentals related to this travel as they represent the university with the hard work that has gone into their senior design project.
https://www.gofundme.com/railwaychallengeUK
