Bending for Perfection, NASA Reveals Shape-Shifting Wing Design

Bending for Perfection, NASA Reveals Shape-Shifting Wing Design Bending for Perfection, NASA Reveals Shape-Shifting Wing Design Bending for Perfection, NASA Reveals Shape-Shifting Wing Design The research team tested the lattice structure wing at Langley Research Center to determine the efficiency gained from its design.A team of engineers from NASA and MIT has built a new airplane wing that passively alters its shape to respond to changing aerodynamic loads. The flexible mechanical system, assembled from hundreds of identical molded octahedral unit cells, improves performance during such high angle of attack maneuvers as takeoffs and landings.Traditionally, airplane wing design has always been a compromise. This is because each phase of flighttakeoff, landing, cruising, and maneuveringhas an ideal configuration of wing curvatures and aileron flaps. Designing one wing that operates well in all these phases involves tradeoffs in wing shapes that sacrifice fuel efficiency and increase operating costs.There have been previous attempts at passive wing designs. An example is tow steering, which alters the surface of the wing. This involves building composite wings by placing fiber paths into a curvilinear orientation within the plane of the composite ply. The ability to steer fibers in any direction creates more efficient load paths and weight savings, and enabled engineers to tailor the wings stiffness.Recommended for You VR and Drone Technology in a Paper AirplaneNick Cramer, research engineer for NASAs Ames Research Center in California, said that the NASA-MIT team took a very different approach We are tuning the substructure of the wing rather than the surface of the wing.Instead of thick composite framework and skins, their design consists of octahedral unit cells that contain both stiff and flexible components. They bolt together to form an open but stiff cubooctahedral (eight triangular faces and six square faces) lattice framework covered with a thin homogen ous polymer skin. The wings interior is largely empty spaceand designed to twist in predetermined ways under load.The main difference is the skin of our wing is homogenous, Cramer said. As the wing experiences higher attack angles, the internal lattice structure starts to twist down (or washes out) to maintain control authority. When it enters low angles of attack like your cruise conditions it twists back to a more efficient shape for a natural cruise. This is an important condition for takeoff.Washing out, or wing twisting, is especially important for blended body wings, where there is no clear dividing line between the wings and the main body.A vehicle like the X-48 has a high differentiation of the thickness between the center body section and the tip, Cramer said. This causes the tips to experience significant washing out and impacts performance. Washing out of the tips is necessary to maintain control authority and to avoid stalling out early during takeoff.The researchers tes ted the wing at the NASA Langley Research Center in a subsonic wind tunnel. The actual test results showed an efficiency gain high above expected simulated values. At a low angle of attack of -5, the simulated efficiency gain was expected to be close to 0.05%. In the actual test, the efficiency gains at -5 measured at 0.4%. At 5 angle of attack, the simulated efficiency gain was expected to be below 0%, while in actuality the gain measured 0.3%.Since we are using the wings ability to twist as our primary mechanism for inducing roll, you end up producing proverse yawyawing in the same direction as the turnreducing the need for a vertical tail. Our current design shows you dont need flaps for roll authority. For pitch moment control, the overall aircraft would still need some sort of horizontal tail Cramer said.The main problem with lattice structures is scalability. The team injection molded cells from polyetherimide (PEI) reinforced with 20% short chopped glass fibers and unreinforc ed PEI Ultem 2200. They can produce an octahedral building fraktion every 17 seconds for $0.03 or less per cubic centimeter.The single half span wing they tested contained 2,088 substructure building blocks and took approximately 175 person-hours to construct (roughly 5 minutes per building block). The manual plus-rechnen of a single octahedral building block required three bolted connections at one to two minutes per connection.The teams volumetric throughput was about 5,000 cm3/hr. The researchers believe that the production of discrete lattice material systems will benefit greatly from robotic automation assembly.We built multiple robots during the project for the first stage assembly. These were simple relative robots that were able to climb through the lattice structure. Unlike the sophisticated robots found in larger plants, these simple robots have just one specific task to join the unit cells into the lattice structure Cramer said. The robotic assembly already demonstrated a rate of 40 seconds per building block, nearly 40,000 cm3/hr, eight times faster than the teams output.We started with a fundamental toolbox of components, and as we imagined the design, it was like working with virtual Legos, Cramer said. By limiting our design space, we changed our workflow and created a new design that was built upon a repetitive building block to achieve a unique and promising design.Carlos Gonzalez is special projects editor.You May Also Like NASAs Mars Ice Challenge Heats Up

Keeping the Lights On

Keeping the Lights On Keeping the Lights On Keeping the Lights On?Change can be difficult. When youve spent your whole life with a certain way of overcoming the darkness, you dont necessarily jump at the chance to find a new light. But with rising costs and falling energy efficiency, it looked as if the day of the incandescent light bulb had ended. Familiar and pleasing to the eye though they were, it still appeared it was time for them to go the way of the eight-track player.But a gruppe at MIT has been working on new technology that just might help the incandescent light bulb stay alive and compete with both light emitting diode (LED) bulbs and compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs. The answer may be looking you in the mirror.Our S3Tec Energy Frontier Research Center, funded through the Department of Energy, had a team working on ways to tailor the emission of a hot surface, says Professor Gang Chen, the head of the department of engineering at MIT. Electricity converting into light efficiency is interesting. It can be infrared when youre talking about incandescent, which is not useful. But maybe reflecting light on a cold surface could help and the konzeptioning went forward.Chen says the setup is that wavelengths would go through filament material, hit a mirror-like substance, a photonic crystal, and reflect until it heats up to give light to the bulb. The eye picks up the light easier this way, he says, adding that it helps with part of the issue of incandescent efficiency.Theoretical (top) and experimental (bottom) iso-frequency contours of photonic crystal slabs superimposed on each other. Image MITIt can go beyond just lighting a room potentially, with an added benefit being that some of the energy could be recycled in effect, he says. There is also the possibility that this can translate to areas like thermo-photovoltaics but more exploration would need to be done here, he says.The next steps include further demonstrating the efficiency to understand ju st where it might rank as a competitor to LEDs and CFLs. We need to do a better technology assessment in how it will do against the energy-efficient bulbs now being sold and to see whether this is just a niche market or something bigger, he says. Its definitely been a good starting point.For Chen, its been energizing just watching people run with old technology and make it come to life. Sometimes it just takes the right timing with design tools in place and good energy, he says. Its been great to see whats happened so far.Regardless of its future, the incandescent light bulb remains a marvel, one more example of Thomas Edisons well-known persistence, which has been lighting homes since the 19th century. This latest work doesnt necessarily mean people will some day stop buying the energy-efficient LED and CFL bulbs but it shows that old technology doesnt necessarily have to be thrown away. Sometimes we need to look at how it might work differently. It does get you thinking about how this all started, he says. The bulb itself is an amazing invention.Eric Butterman is an independent writer.Learn more about the latest energy technologies atASMEs Power and Energy. For Further Discussion We need to do a better technology assessment in how it will do against the energy-efficient bulbs now being sold and to see whether this is just a niche market or something bigger.Prof. Gang Chen, MIT

Customize this Outstanding Contract Recruiter Resume Sample

Customize this Outstanding Contract Recruiter Resume SampleCustomize this Outstanding Contract Recruiter Resume SampleCreate Resume Michael Masterson100 Broadway LaneNew Parkland, CA, 91010Cell (555) 987-1234example-emailexample.comProfessional SummarySuccess-oriented oilfield services Contract Recruiter experienced in filling interim, time sensitive and consulting roles with quality talent for global oil industry worksites. Proven talent in procurement of motivated team members as optimum cultural fit toward maximum enhancement of existing personnel talents. Dedicated to personal career mission of efficient candidate discovery, effective role communication and successful contract negotiation in a timely manner.Core QualificationsJobViteSalesforce.comContract LawApplicant ScreeningComprehensive InterviewsTalent AssessmentSecurity ClearancesExperienceContract Recruiter, August 2011-PresentNorth Slope Drilling Associates-New Cityland, CARecruit oilfield workers and drilling experts fo r contract engagement on the North Slope of Alaska.Screen consenting applicants using background and security experts and role associated skills assessments.Negotiate approximately 220 quarterly contracts including scope of work, travel considerations, behavioral expectations, contingencies, compensation and duration, as applicable to both California and Alaska state laws.Provide ongoing excellence in recruitment with 98% of all contracted workers continuing within subsequent arrangements and terms with the organization.Contract Recruiter, March 2006-July 2011Anadrill Experts-New Cityland, CARecruited average of 180 contract personnel annually for project proposal processes within the global oilfield services industry.Provided candidates with location details, geographic information and cultural specifics toward smooth transition as part of international contracts.Achieved clearances associated with recruitment of military base stationed contract workers.Education2006 Bachelors Degr ee, HR ManagementUniversity of California New Cityland, CAliforniaCustomize Resume