I am a designer, programmer, analyst, and thinker. I look at problems in a hierarchical framework, to ensure solutions that address the foundational questions. Check out some of my projects below, and be sure to click on the gallery images below the videos for a closer look. There are also some personal interest projects at the far bottom of the page.
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This quad cage is designed to be fully 3D printed on a medium grade SLS printer, like the ones you'd find in a local maker shop. It is completely modular, and has designed failure points on all the spokes from the hub. The intention is that if one of the spokes breaks, it can be easily replaced by simply printing a new one. The primary mode of fastening these spokes together is a printed thread, located at the hub. Additionally, there are two bolts that can be used to further secure the cage.
DJI Phantom Model downloaded here.
This assembly is constrained by vendor described volumes and positioning, including a highly precise angle of the lens. Subsequently, the design goal was to minimize the overall weight and maximize the stiffness of the structure. These goals were achieved with geometric dimensioning and tolerancing around the datum of the threaded hole intended to fit the lens. Additionally, substantial analysis was conducted to ensure any thermal gradients would not distort the required positioning of the camera. The parts featured hold the camera boards (in green) and lens near the window at the desired angle, while also ensuring the parts fit into the vendor-specified envelope.
This hinge bracket was designed after the failure of a previous iteration, which did not take into account fatigue failure and stress concentrations at the joints. Instead, this design is made from two pieces with bend radii intended to reduce the stress of the bracket and increase its lifespan, welded together to form a resilient hinge. Analysis was conducted to ensure this lifespan and operation under varying ocean temperature gradients.
My thesis work was devoted to developing advanced finite element models and adaptive observers of batteries; almost a gas gauge, but for a battery. When a piece of tech, like your phone or laptop, is using battery power, it only trickles a small amount of energy from the battery at a given time. This means that conventional battery management systems, operating in linear regimes, can handle predicting the current state of charge under those conditions. When something like an electric vehicle is drawing charge from a battery, though, it varies wildly in magnitude of power consumed. That's why we need better models, that more accurately recreate those high discharge/charge scenarios, and observers to wrap around them, to better predict the time-dependent change of battery parameters. This graph depicts an observer estimating the physical parameters of a battery (normalized to one, so they can all fit on the same y-axis), using a novel Jacobian adaptive observer. Lots of cool math went into this, which I'm always into.
This guy was designed using two sonar sensors, and a fairly simple PID controller, programmed on an Arduino microcontroller board. He works by using a set-point distance from the sensors to the object he's following, which could be anything, and altering the wheel speed according to that error. In the near future I'm going to teach him some tricks (think doing a spin when I clap, or staying put on command), so stay tuned!
At MIT, I studied the application, design and use of novel adaptive observers for use with Advanced Battery Management Systems. These leverage frequency-domain characteristics of linearized partial differential equation representation of battery to estimate the internal, time-varying parameters.
At a broader level, I expanded my understanding of design and analysis within engineering. This included controller design using LabVIEW for vibration isolation and brushless motors, the design and analysis of a industrial scale pumped-hydro storage unit, design and market-testing of a consumer scale energy storage unit, and the model-order reduction of a nonlinear representation of a battery pack.
At Northeastern, my foundational growth as an engineer began. I focused on the intersection of mechanical and computer design, with a broad base of knowledge in both. I paired SolidWorks design labs with C++ coding courses, thermodynamics lectures with robotics class. This fundamentally defined my dualistic approach to engineering, culiminating in a data-acquisition system for a BAJA SAE vehicle.
While not in class, I spent my time pursuing extracurricular activities in film and engineering. I was president of both the film club and the engineering honor society, and also spent time as a disc-jockey at the nearest radio station.
These are a few of my favorite things.
On sunny days, I enjoy twisting a wrench and troubleshooting any nagging issues with my motorcycle. Routine maintenance and tuning are key to the performance of the machine, both of flesh and metal.
Whenever possible, I like to flex my Adobe Suite skills, especially in Photoshop or Illustrator. I've constructed numerous advertisements for organizations I've been involved in, simply from a desire to express my creative side. I also work on some personal items, just for fun.
Look around! This website was built over a couple of weeks, using the bootsrap framework, javascript, jquery and pre/post-css. It's an on-going work in progress.