Background

Project B.L.A.S.T. has been commissioned by the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination in order to study long-term effects of space travel, specifically micro-gravity, on human organoids. These human organoids will be contained in a SpaceTango Cubelab and sent to the International Space Station (ISS) to board a SpaceX Falcon 9. Before launch, the Human Imagination Center wants to observe the initial Falcon 9 launch acceleration of the organoids, which experiences large G-forces. For simulating the effects of the G-forces, a request was made to design an experimental centrifuge to accurately replicate the launch acceleration profile of a Falcon 9. The previous team, from UCSD's Spring 2020 MAE 156B course, was able to design and analyze the dynamics of the centrifuge system, and were able to produce a dynamic simulation that involves a 14-foot-swinging-bucket-centrifuge with a 6-foot-counterweighted-arm that rotates at a maximum of 100 rpm.

Objectives

This year's team was tasked to complete the controls and electrical design for the centrifuge, as well as the final manufacturing and assembly process for the overall system. After finalizing all components of the centrifuge system, the team will then replicate different acceleration launch profiles of the Falcon 9 through many simulations and maintain an error within +/- 4%. Throughout the whole electrical system, safety will be prioritized by implementing brakes, fuses, wire gauges, and emergency-stop switches. Safety protocols will go through standards proposed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard Association and the International Standards Organization (ISO).

Final Design Description

The electrical system will be contained in a control panel that will hold all electrical components such as the Talon SRX, the Raspberry Pi (RPi), the relay with the PCB, power supplies (12 VDC and 5VDC), the battery, and many wires. Receptacles will be incorporated outside the panel in order to have better cable management. This control panel, along with its electrical components, will be designed to control the behavior of the centrifuge by communicating the Raspberry Pi to the Talon SRX controller. A code will be created and will be able to simulate different acceleration launch profiles. An electrical diagram will be placed inside the control panel in order to provide future users a reference of the electrical connections throughout the system.

Performance Results

The performance of the motor and replication of the acceleration profile was conducted through the use of Simulink and ANSYS. Dynamic analysis of the motor, the arm, and the experiment box provided the team with theoretical results. Physical testing will be conducted in the summer of 2021 as the whole centrifuge system will be built. Currently, the team is working on optimizing the electrical system and the programming so that when the system is fully built, acceleration profiles may be replicated immediately.

Link to Executive Summary