Hands-on at-home Fluids Projects
Team Description
Having a hands-on lab component to fluid dynamics courses has always been an important part of the pedagogy. However, traditional instruction has required expensive room-sized equipment that is used by relatively large groups, limiting the time for exploration and real understanding of the important principles. The goal of this project is to develop a series of instructional kits that can be purchased by individual students and used at home, permitting a more creative and individualized exploration of the material, and a greater sense of ownership and depth of understanding. Although intended to support college-level fluid dynamics courses, there are opportunities to generalize to K-12 as well. The kits that are planned or in development include: manometry, propulsion thrust stand, wind tunnel with force balance, pipe flow losses, fan/pump characteristics, and flow separation and form drag. The kits are enabled by the recent development of high-power ducted fans, inexpensive DC power supplies, and inexpensive motor controllers. The task needed for the project: development and iterative refinement of prototypes, 3D printing of prototypes, development and testing of lab handouts for student assembly instructions and test instructions, conducting focus sessions with student groups to improve the product, sourcing appropriate off-the-shelf components, developing final parts for injection molding for at scale deployment. If you have an interest in thinking about a new way of learning, and/or interest in remote-controlled vehicles and model construction/design, this project may be a good fit for you!
Methods & Technologies
CAD, 3D printing, design for assembly and manufacturing, injection molding, mechanical design, engineering pedagogy development
Academic Majors of Interest
Aerospace Engineering
Bioengineering
Chemical Engineering
Civil Engineering
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Fire Protection Engineering
Materials Science and Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Education
Physics
Preferred Interests & Preparation
Having completed a fluid dynamics course is helpful, but not necessary. Use of solidworks for prototype design, 3D printing, mechanical assembly with simple tools, simple electronics skills (being safe with 110v, simple soldering), interest/comfort in interviewing stakeholders and conducting focus sessions with test users.
Meeting Schedule & Location
Fridays 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Leidos Lab AJC - 1106
Faculty Mentor
Ken Kiger (he/him)
Mechanical Engineering