College of Engineering News • Iowa State University

Resource Hub – a network of readily available equipment and services for ISU students

Posted on | eedebner

From airplanes to Mars rovers, students can find every tool they need to complete their projects through the Undergraduate Resource Hub at Iowa State University.

The Resource Hub is a collaborative effort between the College of Engineering and the College of Design to share construction, machining and fabrication equipment and personnel.

“Having those services and personnel available makes all the difference to students and their projects,” says Bill Rickard, teaching laboratory coordinator for the Department of Aerospace Engineering.

Two student groups have improved their projects thanks to the Resource Hub.

Designing next generation solar-powered aircrafts

[Photo] Team LASER group photo.
Team LASER (Light Aircraft Solar Extended Range)
Rohan Sharma, senior in aerospace engineering, is leading Team Project LASER (Light Aircraft Solar Extended Range) to build a solar-powered, unmanned aerial vehicle. The group wants to claim the world record for the farthest distance traveled in a straight line by such an aircraft.

He explained that the team originally designed and built their aircraft’s main body section, called the fuselage, using simple shapes, such as cylinders and frustums. This design proved to be too heavy for the group’s goals, so the team is using services through the Resource Hub to design more complex, glider-like fuselages.

Sharma said the new fuselages are bulbous in nature while maintaining a smooth cylindrical shape throughout the entire body. This new design reduces the overall weight and its drag or air resistance. Initially, the LASER team made every part by hand, which he says increased the number of errors that occurred during the manufacturing.

The CNC (computer numerical controlled) machine and 3-D foam cutter at the Resource Hub has made all the difference. The team used a CNC machine to cut an extremely strong and lightweight material, called carbon fiber, into parts for one of their latest aircraft models.

The LASER team uses the 3-D foam cutter to make their airplane wings. The foam cutter is essentially an eight by eight machine that can cut blocks of foam into almost any shape using a solid long hot wire.

“The great thing about doing it here is you keep it in house,” he said about the Resource Hub. “There is a team of student tech mentors that already understands your project. They’re already familiar with the needs and expectations of it.”

Designing next generation space exploration vehicles

[Photo] Team MAVRIC group photo.
Team MAVRIC (Mars Analog Vehicle for Robotic Inspection and Construction)
 Josh Delarm, senior in mechanical engineering, heads Iowa State’s Team MAVRIC (Mars Analog Vehicle for Robotic Inspection and Construction). He led MAVRIC during World Space Week 2013, the largest public space event on Earth, when the team entered a rover design for a Mars simulation event that took place at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.

The rover performed well, however, Delarm said they noticed its frame shook slightly and its wheels wobbled loosely. He added that many of those structural flaws were caused by hand measurements and assembly. The team even tried making a model with welded construction, but the results weren’t much better.

“Before, we had to cut and weld everything ourselves, which introduced a lot of error in our design,” he said about the Mars rover. “We had to make full sets of extra parts for something simple like a wheel replacement.”

Delarm said this dilemma led MAVRIC members to the Resource Hub where they took a Mastercam training course. He says they learned how to design virtual parts on a computer using a 3-D mechanical CAD (computer-aided design) program, called Solidworks. The design could then be transferred directly to a CNC mill that creates computer calculated and precise parts.

“We’ve been able to use MasterCam to redesign the rover parts to be built using CNC technology so that we can use them on both sides,” he said.

As a result, Delarm says the group can design and manufacture a more cost efficient and lighter rover because there are fewer parts. An added bonus—the parts can also be used interchangeably on either side of its frame.

Submitting a service request

The Resource Hub serves ISU students by making it easier to find necessary shop and lab resources to build ISU projects. The Resource Hub also provides the training necessary to use these resources with skilled student tech mentors.

In addition, the student tech mentors are available to build ISU-related parts which require the use of the higher skill level equipment that many undergraduate students may not have the expertise to operate.

Students can submit service requests for projects at any of the labs listed below or online at the Resource Hub website.

 

 

 

 

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