Design Optimization of an Undergraduate ME Lab for Power Generation

Overview

Dr. Stephen Lynch runs a Mechanical Engineering Lab that combines both Heat Transfer and Fluid flow concepts. One of the newer experiments that he and his team developed this past summer involves students studying the airflow through a microchannel. The students access the lab remotely through LABVIEW and are able perform the experiment. However, the current experimental set up has a few major issues.

Objectives

At the beginning of the semester, the experimental set up had 4 major areas of concern:
-The Clamping System of the rig set up allowed air leakage

-The CFD guidelines the lab provided were insufficient for student use

-The hardware of the lab needed update to provide easier remote accessibility

-The LABVIEW software of the experiment needed to provide a more seamless user experiment

Approach

Because the project had different areas of concerns, different approaches were used for each area:

Clamping System

-First, using the specifications given by Dr. Lynch surrounding the O Ring that they used for the project, a minimum clamping force was calculated. To achieve this, a new prototype clamp was designed using SOLIDWORKS. An FEA was performed on the clamps to ensure the clamps would not break under the necessary clamping force. The clamps were then sent to 3D Hub for 3D printing.

CFD

-CFD is performed using SolidWorks flow simulation feature. The analysis focus on microchannel where the heat transfer takes place between the heating pad and internal flow. A detail lab manual is created for student who have limited experience in SolidWorks to able to perform the CFD simulation. The simulation result will be used to compare with the experimental result and theoretical result. including parameters such as outlet temperature, volume metric flow rate, etc. and help students to have a better understanding about heat transfer.

Lab Hardware

-A solenoid valve and a programmable power supply was utilized to establish the remote accessibility. The LabVIEW program can communicate with the power supply, essentially altering voltage and current values, so that the power supply can then control the solenoid valve. The solenoid valve works as an on/off switch to regulate the flow of compressed air. The result of this connection will ultimately allow users to regulate pressure flow using existing LabVIEW codes.

LABVIEW Software

-In the previous LabVIEW program, students could go beyond experimental boundaries and measurements on the LabVIEW interface without warning. Therefore, built-in warnings were coded into the program to prevent students from going beyond a certain temperature and pressure level. Using a control module, the temperature and pressure limits were set as an array of float values. A combination of logical and arithmetic comparisons allowed the program to output a corresponding warning message if either parameter was surpassed incorrectly.

Outcomes

-The sponsor will save $690.25 as a result of this project

-The updated clamping mechanism prevents any noticeable leakage

-The project can now be operated in a remote environment

-The project can now be easily conducted and followed for students in the heat transfer lab ncorrectly.