Wesley Williams

Last week was incredibly active with conferences in Alabama (me) and Italy (Dr. Bird) and the UNC Coastal Studies Institute Ocean Energy Symposium (both of us).  Prior to that we enjoyed a visit from Michael Haan who toured our labs to check in on our progress and watch out latest gearbox on the test stand (video linked below).

Laminated Running_Full Setup

The past few weeks have been busy with the acquisition of two new pieces of equipment for the Mission Critical Operations Automated Manufacturing Cell.  The Lulzbot Mini is a 3D printer that uses Fused Filament Fabrication to produce parts with a variety of materials.  The Epilog Helix Laser Cutter/Engraver features a 75 watt CO2 laser and a work area of 24″ x 18″.  In addition to their obvious manufacturing utility, these machines will be part of an engineering test bed introducing students to the importance of network security on industrial systems.

Spring 2016 has brought some new faces to our research groups.

Sina Modaresahmadi has joined the Magnetic Gearing research group.  He comes to UNC Charlotte from Iran and is pursuing a PhD in Mechanical Engineering.

Andrew Paustian has joined the Mission Critical Operations research group to help with CAD and mechanical documentation.  He is pursuing his MS degree in Applied Energy and Electromechanical Systems.

Alzarrio Rolle is helping with additive manufacturing using the Dimension FDM printers and the Form 1+ SLA machine.  He started his MS degree in Applied Energy and Electromechanical Systems this semester.

“Madeline the Robot Tamer” is a really lovely video about Madeline Gannon, a woman who dances, so to speak, with robots. As a resident at Pier 9, she developed Quipt, “a gesture-based control software that

Source: Madeline the Robot Tamer

We aren’t here yet in the lab, but it sets a nice mark for Philip to aim for in his work with the Baxter Research Robot.

Members of UNCC MGWT senior design team.

Brandon, Chris, Jarad, Josh, and Nick presented their work from the first semester of senior design earlier this month at the senior design expo.  The group has been working to retrofit a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) with a magnetic gear.  The project is funded through the Coastal Studies Institute to investigate the applications of magnetic gears to ocean energy generation to increase reliability and lower the levelized cost of energy (LCOE).

This December saw several of our research assistants graduate.

Josh Warne was an undergraduate research assistant working on the magnetic gearing research, he has taken a position with Phillips Corportation, HAAS

Keith Loftus was an undergraduate research assistant working on the Mission Critical Operations grant, he will be continuing on as a graduate student in the Applied Energy and Electromechanical Systems program at UNC Charlotte

Kiran Uppalapati was a graduate researcher, whose PhD research focused on simulations of magnetic gearing topologies. He will be putting his finite element analysis skills to good use in the position he has accepted at COMSOL.

Siming Deng was a graduate research assistant working on the Mission Critical Operations Grant on the server and security side. He will be joining a software company in the RTP area of NC in January.