Lamar Launderers TSGC Design Challenge

Tim Describing the system and how it works

2010-09-09T05:09:00.001-07:00

One Last Thing...

2010-06-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to the Beaumont Enterprise Newspaper article that was written about our project.

Feel free to check it out.

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/lamar_team_builds_lunar_space_washer.html

Well... That's it for us...

2010-05-21T13:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, so....

The Launderers have graduated. We're super happy that we were able to work on this project. It was, by far, the pinnacle of our collegiate career, and we're happy that we were able to work together.

We're leaving our followers with these last pictures of our final design and a link to the news paper article that was written about us.

The Beaumont Enterprise came by and interviewed us on Wednesday, May 19th, and the story ran today on the Front Page. We were very happy with everything, and this article was a great way to close out the project.

Here's the link, and the last few pictures are above.

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/lamar_team_builds_lunar_space_washer.html

Thanks for following us. We had a blast.

~The Lamar Launderers

Showcase Pics

2010-04-30T15:08:00.001-07:00

Since the Showcase:

2010-04-30T14:57:00.001-07:00

Alright, since the showcase, we've kept pretty busy.

After wasting too much time preparing for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam 2 weeks ago, we got back to our testing.

We were always a little nervous about how our urethane drum was always pinched between the agitator arms and the press mechanism, so we took the machine apart (again) and cut the press down to a less stressful shape. We were really pleased with the results, as it still gives beautifully distributed pressure across the drum, without the annoying pinching and stretching side-effects.

With the press re-shaped, it was time to get down to business and really get to testing. We threw in about 15 articles of clothing (10 good-sized towels and 5 T-shirts) and got to washing. We adjusted agitator timers, got the press to push farther than it ever had, and were finally satisfied with what we had.

Everything worked great. We were super happy.

Now it was time to see how well we could get rid of stains. Dr. Jim Jordan of the geology department at Lamar University VERY graciously donated some Lunar Soil Simulant for our testing purposes. We bough some cheap white T-shirts and went to town. We stained them with ketchup, mustard, coffee, tomato sauce, and both wet and dry lunar soil simulant.

We washed everything with five minute agitation cycles and a completely full load. Things went really well, up until the very last rinse cycle...

Our motor was set to go... but instead of pushing the paddle forward, the machine just made a loud klunking noise and shut itself off.

We froze, paranoid about what would happen next.

We unplugged the machine, checked everything out and decided to plug it back in.

Nothing happened.

Tim unplugged it, and a huge spark nearly took off his eyebrows...

Turns out we fried one of our relays. The control relays we were using simply weren't rated for motor applications. So we bought some new ones. They'll be in by Monday, we'll re-wire everything and go to town again.

Believe it or not, things are still looking up. We've got NASA Engineers coming to see the design on Wednesday, when we present to all our Lamar faculty and peers. It should make for some good times.

Thanks for sticking with us... We have some new photos from the showcase (thanks to Tim's wife, Maria) that we're about to upload.

~The Lamar Launderers.

2010-04-22T07:27:00.000-07:00

2010-04-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

Success Beyond Belief

2010-04-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

Well, we did it.

We finally washed some clothes last night, Tuesday, April 20th, and it was glorious.

But it taught us that we had a few more finishing touches to do.... Added weight from the water and clothes cause the entire cam system to sag, so we are having new cam support rollers machined today. Our Expansion chamber takes on far too much water, so we'll re-plumb that.
And arguably the worst of all, our press pinches the bag far too much...

So tonight, we worked pretty hard, removing the back plate of the Washer (hopefully for the last time!) and cut off nearly a third of the press paddle, and now it works beautifully. We are very excited to get the clothing and water back in the system, and really measure how well it washes.

We think we've figured out a way to quantify how clean the clothes are, by measuring both the particles of dirt/soilage per given area and the color of the stain, using some kind of digitized color profile. It should be more exciting than it sounds.

The real news tonight is that we have videos!
We've got 3 videos, all showing basically the same thing, but have a look and enjoy. We hope you're as proud of it as we are.

Thanks for your support,

~The Launderers.

2010-04-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

Pictures are coming soon, we promise!

We've been pretty busy with the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam this past weekend, but we'll pick back up where we left off early this week.

We'll finally have pictures of the completed design, a video of the design in action, and some test data that we'd love to share with everyone.

We're looking forward to keeping everyone updated, so just hang on a bit longer.

~The Lamar Launderers.

Showcase Success!

2010-04-13T05:45:00.000-07:00

After a lot of hard work (and more nights working past 3 a.m. than we'd like to remember), the Lamar Launderers were able to complete their prototype!

With mechanical and electrical systems (finally) working flawlessly, we were able to perform rudimentary tests, only to find that our solenoid valves were improper for our application.

This having been said, we were still able to present at the TSGC Design showcase yesterday, Monday, April 12th, and demonstrate the agitation and press method that the design uses.

Everything went off without a hitch. Judges and spectators (as well as a few rival teams) were blown away by the working prototype. The awards that our hard work earned for us are listed below:

-Best Team
-Forum Favorite Team
-Best Poster
-Best Model
-Best Oral Presentation
-Best Paper
-Best Patch
-Best Collaboration (with over 9 distributors and suppliers)
-Best photo documentation (semester II team)
-Best photo of a team member on the verge (for the picture of our contributor, Colby Henslee with our drum mold on his head)
-Best rendition of an old tradition (for our reinstatement of the Lamar tradition to forget about Tuesday Tag Ups until Wednesday morning, thus making Wednesday Whazzups)

This means we won 11 1st place prizes out of a possible 33 categories.

We would just like to thank anyone and everyone that helped make our success possible, including
Jason Blake, Aaron Chinn, and Teddy Weitzel from Sage Automation for all their assistance
Steve Ingraham from I-Corp Inc. for helping us with manufactured parts
Cecil Brandon from Advanced Urethane Products Inc for our urethane drum
Dr. Chu and Dr. Aung from Lamar University for all their support
DXP enterprises for their donations
Allen-Bradley and Reynolds Electric Company for providing us with parts at cost prices
TSGC Coordinator Debbie Mullins, who is always a pleasure to work with
and finally our NASA JSC Mentor, Evelyne Orndoff, who submitted this project for study and supported our team throughout all of our work.

2010-04-02T17:35:00.000-07:00

We got our Cam Moving today!

After doing a quick test on the motors, we worked pretty hard today trying to get the belt properly situated around the cam. With everything in place, we tried the unthinkable and turned on the motor, and to our delight, the cam moved perfectly. It was great to see moving parts on our design. Everything's really coming together.

We'll be posting more pictures and maybe a few videos in the next few days.

~The Launderers.

2010-04-01T16:29:00.000-07:00

2010-04-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

Fasteners Fasteners Fasteners...

2010-04-01T16:08:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know how to upload more than 5 pictures at a time?

2010-04-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

2010-04-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

2010-04-01T15:48:00.000-07:00

We've been wicked busy lately with all of our new parts. There's been a lot of prefabrication work to do, and we've made some great headway on our assembly. Pictures are worth more than words, so see for yourself.

2010-03-24T08:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures of our parts.

2010-03-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

It's been SUPER busy here. These past few weeks were full of writing midterm reports, designing presentations and parts parts parts. We've worked hard to order everything so that we will have them on time for the Showcase, and things are finally looking up. We received a huge shipment of parts in last week and got to work. Below are a few photos of us working. We were able to complete the frame design, just so we could get a good idea of the full size of the concept. We're very proud of what we've done so far, and are really looking forward to continuing our work and doing the best we can at the Showcase.

Newer stuff

2010-03-02T13:00:00.001-08:00

Here are some images of the framing system for the washing machine. Aluminum extrusion from a company called 80/20 is going to be used. I use this stuff at work all the time and it's a great time saver in designing equipment.

2010-02-25T06:24:00.000-08:00

Below is a quick video of our cam and agitator arm design in motion.

Check it out.

Pictures of the Design

2010-02-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

Below are some 3-D models of our Design. As said before, we have begun ordering and manufacturing parts, and construction should begin within the next 3 to 4 weeks. We are really looking forward to making a functional model of our system, and presenting it on April 12th at the TSGC Showcase.

We look forward to seeing everyone there,

~The Lamar Launderers

2010-02-18T10:10:00.000-08:00

So So So Sorry

2010-02-11T15:35:00.001-08:00

Wow... We're so sorry that it's been so long since we've updated everyone.

Here's what happened at the end of last semester and what's happened so far this year:

The showcase went off without a hitch. The Lamar Launderers proudly represented Lamar University and we felt like we did a nice job presenting our concept. When all was said and done, we walked away with these five awards:

-Best Poster
-Best use of 3-D modelling Program
-Best Photo Documentation of Project (Semester I Team)
-3rd place for Oral Presentation
-Honorable Mention for Patch Design

More importantly, the Lamar Launderers made some great contacts with other schools and teams, as well as NASA employees and other "big-wigs" that we were very happy to meet.

So far this year, the Lamar Launderers have been focusing on purchasing parts to begin constructing our design.

We've been in contact with Advanced Urethane Inc., and they seem very excited to assist us as much as possible. The Team has also been shopping around for assorted parts, including motors and water tanks that will be necessary for our presentation.

Other than that, the Team has run some basic experimentation and calculations dealing with the press mechanism, and we are very pleased with their results.

So that just about sums it up. We're happy to be posting again, and even more so to be working on, and finalizing our project that we're so proud of. We'll be posting more pictures and information when we have them.

Thanks for following us,

~The Lamar Launderers

There's Water on the Moon

2009-11-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

It's official, NASA has found water on the Moon.

After crashing the LCROSS probe into the Lunar surface last month, NASA scientists have been able to analyze the plume created by the impact.

And it's true, withing the dark, shadowed craters on the Moon lie pockets of frozen water. This is a huge asset for NASA's plans to build a long term habitat on the Lunar Surface. With such a precious resource being readily available on the Moon already, NASA will save millions of dollars in transport costs alone... And that's not even mentioning how much easier it will be to get water for their Washing Machine.

Great news, NASA. We're glad to hear it.
~The Lamar Launderers

TSGC Design Showcase Coming Up

2009-11-12T19:30:00.000-08:00

We'd like to let everyone know that this Monday, November 16th the Lamar Launderers will be presenting at the TSGC design showcase.

This is everything we've been working towards this semester and Monday will bear the fruit of our labors.

This week we've prefected our presentation, created the poster that clearly expresses all of our ideas. We really made some headway on our design and we are very proud of our work.

We'll post pictures of what we presented and other pictures from the Showcase next week.

Once again, we thank everyone who has supported us this Semester. There's been a lot of hard work, but we're very happy with how everything has turned out. We couldn't have done it without your help.

~The Lamar Launderers

2009-10-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

Although not directly related to our project, we would just like to let everyone know that today, Wednesday October 28th, NASA completed a successful test launch of the new ARES-I launch vehicle.

This unmanned test-flight checked all the onboard flight systems as well as the separation system from the 1st stage- Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) and the 2nd- upper stage of the rocket (which was a dummy for this flight.)

The link below will allow you to watch the short video of the test-flight.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html#

Another week, another update

2009-10-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the end of the Level II assignments for TSGC. We submitted our midterm report, power point presentation, and our patch design.

Included in our midterm report were pictures of our urethane drum concept generated in AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor. They're posted above.

We have also been in contact with Dr. Srinivasan (Lamar University's materials science professor and consultant for materials for all Senior Design projects) about our urethane drum concept, and he approves of our material choice. However, he suggested that we research how urethane deterioration is affected by low pressure environments. As soon as we have this information, we'll post it, and keep everyone informed.

This week, we are attempting to contact Allen Bradley with regards to controls for the system. We're compiling a list of our requirements now, and that list will be soon be sent to them, and they should be able to provide us with all the extra information (and hopefully supplies) that we need.

Thanks for keeping up with us, stay tuned for more.

~The Lamar Launderers

Where We Are Now

2009-10-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, long story short: we've been through quite a few ideas about the design of our washing machine and have picked a favorite.

Right now, when astronauts are done with their clothes in space, they throw them out the airlock and let them burn up in the atmosphere. Obviously, this isn't an ideal way of dealing with soiled clothes, so a washing machine is necessary. That's where we come in.

One man decided to wash his shorts by putting them in a bag with soap and water and massaging the bag. We thought we might take this idea to the next level.

Basically, what we want to do is take away the solid metal drum of a regular horizontal axis washing machine and replace it with a flexible tub. Clothing, water and detergant will fill the tub completely and actuator arms will be driven by a customized ring-cam mechanism to massage the tub, creating the agitation needed to get the clothes clean. At the end of the cycle, a press will be applied to the tub and large amounts of water will be reclaimed.

That's a quick look into our chosen design. We've run this idea as well as all our other ones against each specified criteria, creating a Pugh Chart or decision matrix (included in our midterm report), and it looks like this idea is our best bet.

Anyway, the showcase is only four short weeks away and we're looking forward to getting to see everyone's projects and showing ours off as well.

Thanks for your interest,

~The Lamar Launderers

2009-10-08T10:50:00.001-07:00

This is our completed patch design. It will be submitted with our midterm report in the next couple weeks.

2009-10-07T14:07:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delay between posts. It's been a busy week.

Alright. Let's see where we left off... What we've done so far. Here goes:

When we first chose this particular TSGC design project, we were intent on saving large amounts of energy in the drying process, as opposed to the washing cycle. Our original hypothesis was to use the free vacuum of space to drop the pressure surrounding the clothes, allowing any water to evaporate and thus leaving the clothes dry. We conducted rudimentary experiments using a Vacuum tube, air conditioner pump, and a paper towel. It seemed that our theory was viable, we just needed to do more research.

We started by contacting the physics department here on campus. After explaining our theory, we were told that the principles sounded right, and further experimentation would be needed. We were then referred to the geology department because they are currently conducting experiments simulating ambient lunar pressures and temperatures. With a solid theory and access to people who knew the types of equipment we should use, we felt it was time to meet with our mentor.

On Friday, September 11th, we took a trip to NASA's Johnson Space Center to meet with Evelynne Orndoff. She and Robert Trevino were able to sit down with us for a solid 2 hours and answered all the questions we had and re-focused our project. We were told that drying the clothes shouldn't be our main concern; we should be focusing on saving power during the wash cycle and reclaiming as much water as possible.

With our questions answered and our focus realigned, we set back to work designing washing machines that would recover as much water as possible. We'll post some pictures of our design sessions and ideas in the next few days.

Stay tuned, more to come...

~The Lamar Launderers

2009-09-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

Alright,

We're 5 weeks into our project. We've had some ups and downs, but we're going strong. I'll get to a quick recap of what's happened so far later, but first, some introductions:

If you go from left to right in our profile picture, you'll start with Ms. Evelynne Orndoff. She is our mentor and contact at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Ms. Orndoff is the one who originally suggested this particular design challenge, and we are very happy to have her expertise if we should have any questions.

Next on the list is David Cutler II. David is a 23 year old engineering student currently working as a custom machine designer at Sage Automation- and has been for 4 years. David is working towards his mechanical engineering degree, but he alreday has an associates degree in Computer Aided Drafting Technology, as well as a Bachelor of Science deree in Industrial Technologies from Lamar University.

As team leader, 28 year old Timothy Stephens brings the most experience to the group with 8 1/2 years of professional machine design experience. Timothy also has an associates degree in Computer Aided Drafting Technology earned from Lamar Institute of Technology.

Finally, Justin Coletta is an academic scholarship student working toward a degree in mechanical engineering. At 21, Justin brings a unique and untested perspective which helps inspire creativity among the team. Justin also brings a passion for space exploration technology and aspirations to work for NASA in the near future.

All student team members are currently seniors in Lamar University's Mechanical Engineering program and will graduate in May of 2010.

First Post- Let's see how this goes

2009-09-29T10:19:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

This is the official kick-off of the Lamar Launderer's Blog. We will be using this as a way of communicating our progress with anyone who might be interested.

Right now, we're still trying to get things in order. Pretty soon, we will have some pictures up and provide a good summary of what we've accomplished so far. We'll be updating periodically just to make sure that everyone is kept "in-the-know" about everything that we're doing.

Thanks for stopping by and all your support.

~The Lamar Launderers