Microfloats
Project Overview
This project, a Senior Capstone at Georgia Tech, has the goal of creating a fleet of smaller profilers to imitate the movement of Metridium Senile larvae, a type of benthic larvae and indicator species. The intended product would be able to reach a depth of 100m, travel at 5mm/s, maintain operational for four week periods of time, and transmit depth and velocity data when collected. My role in this project included creating a method for manufacturing the prototype casings, improving the design of the electronics casing, and more. I was on this project for around four months before the Georgia Tech students I was working with graduated/left the project, which is when I lost contact with the status of the project.
ABS Curing
My main role in this project has been developing a method to cure the ABS shells of the profilers so that they are waterproof down to 100m depth and have as little warp as possible in the curing process. To do this, I repurposed a Form Labs curing bath into an acetone mist chamber that distributed acetone mist to cure the ABS. I successfully made a process for waterproofing a shell down to 1m with a .0001" change in radius from before curing. Unfortunately, the project changed hands on the Georgia Tech side with some students' graduation after I reached this point and I lost contact with the project.
Electronics Organization
My role in electronics organization was to alter the existing design of the battery casing and electronics tray which fit inside the small capsule. Since the capsule was so small, this presented a new challenge every time we wanted to add a new sensor, button, switch, etc. I enjoyed being able to blend my love of design with my experience with electronic assembly to make it as easy to assemble as I could, even with some tricky soldering jobs. I did this design work in OnShape since I don't currently have a Solidworks license, but when I attend college I am looking forward to getting my own license and developing my skills in this software more.
