GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION
Offered Winter 2004 & 2005
Credits: 4
Prerequisites: Senior Standing in engineering (any department) and permission of instructor (contact Prof. Bob Dennis or Prof. Nilton Renno).

LECTURE TIMES AND LOCATIONS
Winter 2004: Lectures: T/Th 1:30-2:30
January 2004: JPL Guest Lectures will be in the Space Research Building, room 2246 or in an adjacent classroom
    NOTE: THE JPL GUEST LECTURES ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC: ALL ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND.  Invite a freind!
    Please see the SYLLABUS, page 3,  for a list of lecture topics by date
February 2004: Shared lectures with ME450 are in the Chrysler Auditorium
The remaining lectures for the term are in room 1003 EECS

labs T/Th 2:30 - 5:30, room to be announced in lecture

Instructors:
Bob Dennis (Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Department of Surgery, Institute of Gerontology)
Nilton Renno (AOSS)
Assistants: Steven Emanuel
           Line van Nieuwstadt

HOW TO ENROLL:
1- MAKE SURE YOU ARE QUALIFIED (you must be a senior in any engineering department)
2- Make sure you can get the credit you wish to recieve (contact your undergraduate program advisor.  See the table below)
3- Contact one of the course instructors to get permission:  Ask the instructor to grant permission by sending an e-mail to Wanda Dobberstein and CC the instructor on the e-mail.
4- In this e-mail, include the following information:
        your full name
        your UM student ID number
        your unique name
        your class standing (should be "senior")
        your department
5- Wanda will issue the override for you when the instructor replies to the e-mail.

Ordering Materials for Prototypes
All orders and puchases must be pre-approved by Prof. Dennis or Renno.  You must follow the guidelines posted below for all purchases.  Questions about purchases should be directed to Bobbi Walunas in AOSS.

Purchasing guidelines and forms:
Purchasing Policies
List of projects for purchasing (with account information)
Directions for access to the Purchasing database
Purchasing Form (requires File Maker Pro v.5)
Purchasing Form (a *.JPG which you can print out and fill in by hand if you do not have File Maker Pro v.5)

PROJECTS THIS TERM
In the second week of class we will select a major project, divide that project into sub-projects, and develop a system-level design project with several design teams working together to achieve a final integrated system design.  Suggestions will be added to the list below for discussion during the first two weeks of class.

Suggested by Jeff Simmonds, Guest Lecturer from JPL:
Mars "Tourist" camera: must be cheap and remotely deployable
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Suggested by Rachit (Richie) Jain <rachitj@engin.umich.edu>
1. a dust filter to select (living) objects carried by the dust
2. a filter or screen to isolate or shield the rover from dust storms
3. a mars environment simulator built on campus
4. a mechanism to raise and lower the height of the vehicle to drive over rocks and not damage the body, or to manuever through low height clearance areas
5. a rover that can flip itself over if it is turned over, or can drive upside down or right side up
6. a way to enclose the rover in its own shell during inactive periods to avoid dust exposure or keep the rover warm...sort of like a turtle climbing inside its shell
7. a broom or sweeper to clean the solar panels of dust, in case they are dirty, to increase the amount of energy that can be converted with the solar panels.
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Suggested by Eileen Denz <edenz@engin.umich.edu>
1. The simulated Mars habitat. This sounds like a very interesting project. It should seek to simulate the Mars environment as closely as possible, but it
should also be able to be modified to emulate different envionments on Mars, and to update it as we learn more about the Mars environment. It should also be able to be scalable - at first only large enough to test small instruments, but there should be some way of enlarging it or duplicating it on a large scale to test vehicles and human missions.
 2. Sample return. This is an important part of future Mars research and is also a challenge. I don't have any specific ideas at the moment, but it is a project I would be interested in working on more.
 3. Small autonomous "labs". We have two ways to measure/observere Mars right now - Orbiters which can study Mars features as they change, but can't really
study anything on the surface in detail (other than visually) - and rovers which can study visual and non visual things on the surface but don't stay in one place for very long. I'm sure there are things that scientits want to observe for periods of time on the surface, and at the moment the only way to do so is with landers which are very expensive.   I was thinking about creating a small measuement device (4" square) that could be dropped by a rover and would have it's own power device and way to relay information and could take measurments autonomously over a period of time. The goal would be for these things to be cheap and simple to make so that a great many of them could be dropped.  I'm not sure which things it would be intersting/feasible to measure this way, but it presents an interesting challenge.
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Suggested by Bob Dennis (course co-instructor):
Mars environment simulator, to be integrated with sensors and controllers, maybe work with Michigan Mars Rover team to develop specifications.  Can also include smaller projects from this course and future terms to test the effect of the simulated Mars environment, such as dust filters and samplers, etc.
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Multiple students suggested this:
 multiple "pods" with simple instruments and electronics dropped onto the surface from a satellite (or plane). A group can explore uses and limitations of such systems  (here's a simple calculation - if a pod of 20kg is designed we can take 45(!!!) of them to Mars (MSL is 900kg) ). We can explore mechanisms of EDL (and use the ideas to win drop the egg contest!) or system level design of such a device.
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From Mike Charlton:
1) Taking advantage of the lander. Putting solar collecters to gather power. Use it for a drilling platform, communications center, extra power for things on the rover, etc.
2) Something to drill into the surface to a depth that would be useful for water searches, 1-2m.
3) Electrically charge dust sensitive areas to repulse the charged dust from them. (Our speaker said the Japanese did this with their solar panels on a asteriod lander that was never finished)
4) Incorporating fuel cells and the water that is made by them. (Joke: Look! We found water on Mars right behind the rover! :)
5) Wind generators (Not very practical?)
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From Kevin Toller:
(1)A bio-inspired temerature regulation system for key electronics and other instruments.
One idea I'm thinking of is placing the temperature regulation cavity or section closer to the reactor (making it too hot) and running a phase change
temperature controller around it (to remove heat to the outside as necessary).  The most robust designs probably will not be electronically intensive, but the
proof of concetp tests on whatever systems we try will definitely be.  Obviously this is a very ChemE and ME problem, hopfully keeping both ME's and
BME's happy.
(2)A rock "splitter" and new ideas on how to identify samples without grinding into a powder
I'm not really sure how we would do this, but that's probably a good thing... I can see it having exciting mechanical and electrical challenges and possibly
some BME's would be interested in finding less invasive ways to examine the samples.  I forsee the proof of concept for this one to be more exciting than
most, beginning with preliminary tests on the amount of power consumption/impulsive force necessary to split various rocks and if a low-mass splitter is even plausible.
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From Erik Vossman:
(1) System to control temperature fluctuations to increase duration of mission.
(2) Fuel: methanogens that produce methane from CO2 and H, which CO2 is readily available from mars atmosphere, and these things can live in  a mars environment. At the bottom of the article it said, "NASA is currently looking into ways to send these to mars and produce methane based fuel that could one day be used to propel a rocket back to earth!!! I will bring it in to class.
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From Line vN:
Project ideas:
1.  Microwave detector RF front end
2.  Microwave detector power supply and packaging
3.  Dust particle collector mechanical system
4.  Dust particle chemical analyzer
5.  Dust particle controller
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From David Pekarek:
Consider a 'rover' that doesn't drive but rather burrows.  Scientists really want to examine the ice below the surface and search for life forms, well a subterranean device as many sampling opportunities as possible.  Furthermore, I think (and may be incorrect) that an underground rover would be better insulated and protected from the weather.  We could incorporate the biological ideas of burrowing animals both in terms of digging and insulation.  I suppose the idea may require that some communications tools and weather monitoring devices should be left on the surface.
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From Ernest F. "Charlie" Hasselbrink, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Michigan:
2D Comprehensive Gas Chromotograph/Mass Spectrometry (2DGC/MS) system which we hope to send to Mars sometime in the coming decade for the Mars Analytical Chemistry Experiment (MACE).  In order to get the device up to a certain Technical Readiness Level, we're building a field-portable version right now that can be field-tested in Mars-like environments (e.g. deserts) here onearth.   Mechanical Engineering students might be able to make a significant contribution by designing a cooling subsystem that is used for the 2DGC.
    The problem essentially is to design, build, and test a closed-loop liquid cooling system that chills a 5-cm segment of metal capillary tubing in the system.  This doesn't sound glamorous at first, but wait! -- the constraints make this interesting.  This 5cm section of capillary is the linchpin of the whole system -- it's the part that make normal gas chromatography "2D".  This thing gets ohmically heated to ~250C, and it must be held "hot" for a period of time and then cooled as quickly as possible with very little power input.  Right now, these things are cooled by ~40 L/min of gas, but this isn't an option for a Mars trip, since pumping all that costs >20W.   So we're using direct liquid cooling in the hopes that it will require very little pumping power.
    The constraints of the liquid cooling system are that it must:
        - (a) run entirely off of DC 24V/12V power -- both pump and chiller
        - (b) chill the working fluid to at least -25C, preferably -40C
        - (c) have a flowrate of about 2 cc/s
        - (d) use <1 W of power for pumping (the chiller power budget is open, however ... in space, we'll be using a radiator to get the fluid cold)
Students will need to find/size an appropriate pump, design a  heat exchanger and decide on a cooling sub-subsystem (probably a thermoelectric unit, but other options can be explored), and design the path for flow to go over the thermal modulator uniformly, but with minimum losses (to keep the pumping power low).  There are some good optimization issues to explore as well: if you pump too fast, you're wasting power, but if you pump too slow, the coolant might warm up too much before it reaches the modulator.    Obviously, I have some ideas for how to do all this, but there are a number of unresolved issues we could use some help with.
We are under time constraints, and would like to see a working prototype by the end of February, and an integrated final design by the end of March at the latest.  The team working on this project can expect to have a weekly 1 hr meeting with me in addition to probably 10 hours of expected work *per student* (40 person-hours, roughly) per week, from now until April 1.   But the good news for this team is that the project will probably be less demanding at the end of the semester, when everyone else is panicking.

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NOTES FROM OUR TELECONFERENCE ON THURSDAY JANUARY 15, 2004 (From Line vN):

Items students put on the board:
1.  4 wheels instead of 6
2.  artificial cell - packaging ideas
3.  thermal management - passive systems
4.  suspension system
5.  alternative rover for accessing cliff walls
6.  rock splitting techniques
7.  solar panel dust sweeper
8.  deployable camera (I don't know if they mean 'disposable' thus inexpensive cameras)
9.  small payloads over a general area
10.  missile type capsule

From Mike Sander:
1.  tourist cam
2.  balloon carrying imager/camera
3.  hazard detection and avoidance for MSL EDL challenges:  currently baselining SAR
4.  thermal management system.
5.  MSL as a weather station, for post primary mission goal
6.  use MSL as a software testbed post primary mission, to test autonomous navigation

One more idea from Line:  design our own rover, focusing on two or three payload and/or system challenges?  We could include a rock splitter, and/or investigate the passive thermal issue, etc.
 
 

CREDIT BY DEPARTMENT (Each student must verify this information with their program advisor!)
Students in individual departments will have different opportunities to recieve credit for this course.  You MUST verify with your curriculum advisor whether or not you will recieve credit toward your program, and how you can count this course toward your degree (see table below).

If you wish to take this course, please contact your undergraduate program advisor.  Have them contact me (Bob Dennis) if they have any questions.

Negotiations are ongoing with each department.  Each department sets the policy for granting credit toward degree for this course.  The policy for each department probably will not be set until at least one student from that department shows interest and contacts their departmental advisor.  At that point, we will negotiate to determine the appropriate credit toward program (Senior Design Requirement, Tech Elective, or Free Elective)

DEPARTMENT	Senior Design Requirement	Tech Elective	Free Elective	Program Advoisors <1>, <2>, ...	Notes
Aerospace			YES	<K.G. Powell> <Iain Boyd>
AOSS		YES	YES	<Margaret Reid>
Biomedical	YES  (see notes below)	YES	YES	<Susan Bitzer>
Chemical	YES  (see notes below)	YES	YES	<Susan Montgomery>
Civil & Environ.			YES	<Avery Demond>
Computer Sci.			YES	<T.Teorey>
Computer Eng.	YES		YES	<Jeff Fessler, Mark Brehob>
Electrical	YES		YES	<Jeff Fessler, Andrew Yagle>
Engin. Physics			YES	<D. Umstadter>  <Pam Derry>
I O & E			YES	<Yili Liu>
Materials Sci	Special Cases Only	YES	YES	<John Halloran>
Mechanical	YES	YES	YES	<Greg Hulbert>   <Sue Gow>
Naval Arch			YES	<D. G. Karr>
Nuclear			YES	<Alex Bielajew>  <Pam Derry>

ME:  Students can elect ENG450 as a replacement for ME450 with permission of the ME undergraduate curriculum advisor.  Those students who already have credit for ME450 may participate in ENG450 as "supervisors" (advanced students, or Project Managers), but would do so by registering for ME490 with Prof. Dennis.  They can enroll for 3 credits, not 4.  They will then be required to satisfy the standard ME490 requirements. Students can not get full credit for both ME450 and ENG450.

BME: Students can elect ENG450 as a replacement for BME450 with the permission of their undergraduate program advisor.

MatSci: Generally ENG450 is NOT considered a replacement for the senior design course in Materials Science, but it is possible to negotiate a replacement on a case-by-case basis with the undergraduate program advisor and the instructor for ENG450.  Individual students must have a compelling rationale and must also demonstrate that the course will have adequate content in materials design.

EE & CE: Students should consult with their program advisor if they have any questions.

Mars Fact Sheet  (from Ilya Wagner <ivagner@umich.edu>, original source: compiled by the Michigan Mars Rover team)
Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control:  a differing view on how to approach space exploration
CNN technical information on Spirit:  interesting facts and a rotatable view of the Spirit rover
NASA/JPL Mars Rover Animations:  interesting animations of the rover mission: launch, EDL, etc.
Mars Exploration Rover (MER):  MER home page at NASA, with the latest images from Mars
NASA/JPL/MER:  page of links to other pages
Goddard Space Flight Center:  home page
How the Mars Rover Works: howstuffworks.com
Mars in 3-D!  newest images of mars with 3-dimensional views
Papers and references on Mars robotic outposts, contributed by Anna Paulson (U-Michigan)
 
 

Course development and administrative links:

CoE presentation 10-21-2003

ENG450 "Straw Man"