MIT: Independent Activities Period: IAP

IAP 2017 Activities by Sponsor - Mechanical Engineering

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An Introduction to Nonimaging Optics

Thomas Cooper, Posdoctoral Fellow

Jan/23 Mon 01:00PM-04:00PM 1-246
Jan/27 Fri 01:00PM-04:00PM 1-246
Jan/30 Mon 01:00PM-04:00PM 1-246
Feb/03 Fri 01:00PM-04:00PM 1-246

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/13
Limited to 15 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: Please bring a laptop; knowledge of Solidworks is an asset

An Introduction to Nonimaging Optics

Build your own solar concentrator! In this short interactive course, the subject of nonimaging optics will be introduced, with a focus on its application to solar energy collection. The course will consist of four sessions, each comprising a one-hour lecture, followed by a two-hour hands-on tutorial session where participants will 3D print their own solar concentrator prototype! On the last session, the solar concentrators will be tested to reveal who achieved the best concentrator design!

ENROLL HERE: https://goo.gl/forms/rOZrMTEv27UEArO73

Session 1: Fundamentals of nonimaging optics

What is nonimaging optics?
Conservation of étendue
The edge-ray principle
Thermodynamics of solar concentration
PROJECT: Problem statement and preliminary optical design

Session 2: Solar concentrator design

Nonparabolic solar concentrators
Nonimaging secondary concentrators with imaging primaries
Design of secondaries: the CPC, CEC, trumpet, tailored edge-ray concentrator
Aplanatic optics
PROJECT: Preliminary optical design due

Session 3: Non-tracking solar concentrators

Maximum concentration for one- and two-axis trackers
Source/acceptance map matching
Maximum concentration for non-tracking solar concentrators
Design of non-tracking solar concentrators
PROJECT: Ray-tracing simulation; preparation of 3D printed prototype

Session 4: Performance assessment

Solar concentrator modeling and testing
PROJECT: Live testing of solar concentrator prototypes

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Thomas Cooper, 7-006, 617 253-7488, COOPERT@MIT.EDU


Effective Speaking

Barbara Smith

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/09
Limited to 50 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

Have you always wondered why some people seem at ease in public speaking? Have others told you to speak up because you speak too softly, or perhaps you are self-conscious because of your foreign accent? Well, this course is for you! You will learn the proper techniques for projecting your voice and delivering that talk.

Students must sign up by 1/9/17 and must attend all 4 classes. Please send an email to bsmith@mit.edu to sign up. Enrollment limited to 50. 

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Barbara Smith, 5-320, 617-253-0137, bsmith@mit.edu


Effective Speaking

Jan/10 Tue 05:00PM-07:00PM 3-333
Jan/12 Thu 05:00PM-07:00PM 3-333
Jan/17 Tue 05:00PM-07:00PM 3-333
Jan/19 Thu 05:00PM-07:00PM 3-333

Barbara Smith


How to Design Electric Vehicles - Lecture

Lennon Rodgers, Research Scientist, Ryan Chin, Lecturer, CEO of Optimus Ride, Sanjay Sarma, Vice President for Open Learning

Enrollment: Limited Enrollment
Sign-up by 01/06
Limited to 40 participants
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: None - open to all MIT students/staff

If you are interested in designing and building electric vehicles (EVs), then this IAP class is for you.

The course is split into two parts: [1] Lecture and [2] Lab and separate enrollment is necessary. 

The lecture-style sessions are where industry experts, MIT faculty and researchers will present the basic building blocks of EVs including: battery systems, electric motors, motor controllers, overall vehicle systems integration, current market trends, cost challenges, competitive technologies, and future applications including urban mobility, autonomous vehicles, EV infrastructure, energy storage for utilities, and the role of policy and incentives. You may attend one or all of the lecture sessions.

To register please fill out this form (only once for both the lecture and lab)

Sponsor(s): MIT-SUTD International Design Center, Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Lennon Rodgers, design-ev@mit.edu


How to Design EVs - Lecture

Jan/10 Tue 01:30PM-04:30PM 32-155
Jan/11 Wed 01:30PM-04:30PM 32-155
Jan/12 Thu 01:30PM-04:30PM 32-155
Jan/17 Tue 01:30PM-04:30PM 32-155
Jan/18 Wed 01:30PM-04:30PM 32-155
Jan/19 Thu 01:30PM-04:30PM 32-155

Details coming soon... 

Lennon Rodgers - Research Scientist, Ryan Chin - Lecturer, CEO of Optimus Ride, Sanjay Sarma - Vice President for Open Learning


LabVIEW For-Credit Courses

David Trumper

Enrollment: Pre-register on WebSIS
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

There are two new for-credit courses on LabVIEW being offered this IAP. You can take either or both. Pre-register on WebSIS. Short description of each course appears below. Full details can be found here.

2.S974/6.S197 LabVIEW for Controls and Mechatronics (Prof. David Trumper, MIT & Jeannie Falcon, National Instruments) - 3 units
January 11, 12; 10 am-5 pm; 1-004

This is an introductory seminar on LabVIEW for Controls that will cover the following topics: 
·         LabVIEW to instrument your .m file textual algorithms
·         Control design and numerical simulation
·         Real-time implementation with high-speed I/O for control prototyping
·         System identification to aid in plant modeling
·         Digital filter design to take out measurement noise
·         Programming FPGAs with LabVIEW

2.S973/6.S198 Introduction to LabVIEW: Programming Language for Controlling Hardware for Engineering Applications (Prof. David Trumper & and Hope Harrison, MIT) - 6 units
MWF, January 13, 18, 20, 23, 25, 27, 30; 12-2:30 pm and Feb 1, 12-1 pm; 36-156

This class will teach you the basics of programming in LabVIEW which is a language for controlling hardware in automated scientific experiments and engineering. At the end of the class you will take the Certified LabVIEW Associate Developer (CLAD) Exam, which will give you internationally recognized certification.

 

 

 

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Contact: Laura Zaganjori, 617-258-5620, LAURAZ@MIT.EDU


Musical Instrument Design Workshop/Make-a-thon

Ken Zolot, Senior Lecturer

Feb/03 Fri 01:30PM-05:30PM tbd

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 02/02
Limited to 100 participants
Prereq: none

Join visiting students from Berklee College of Music as we explore the frontiers of musical instrument design and fabrication. This event will feature multi-disciplinary teams building new musical instruments. Students will: construct interfaces for musical expression using sensors and sound design software; work in interdisciplinary teams and use rapid prototyping skills; explore the possibilities of network enabled musical performance; investigate how embedded technologies or biometric sensors can turn household objects or humans into sound outputs, and design new ways to sync music with one’s everyday life. Topics will also include entrepreneurship and new product launch strategies.

Please note that the workshop will be held at a special off-campus location. We'll send you directions once you've enrolled. Please enroll for the Feb 3 workshop by completing this form:

http://bit.ly/iapmusic

This is session is a pre-semester sneak preview of a full-term new subject, 2.S972, described here:

http://web.mit.edu/founders/www/2.S972.html

Students can enroll in 2.S972 without attending the IAP workshop on Feb 3, or can attend the IAP workshop on Feb 3 without enrolling in 2.S972.

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Ken Zolot, 32-G528, ZOLOT@MIT.EDU


Physics and Chemistry of Porous Materials and Its Energy Applications

Sungwoo Yang, Research scientist

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/27
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

Chemistry is a key to controlling the structure of a material, which ultimately determines the way that various carriers, such as photons, phonons, electrons, ions and molecules, propagate through materials. In this class, I will show how understanding the underlying physics and chemistry of porous materials can unlock a variety of sustainable energy applications including thermal energy storage, water harvesting from air, and solar-thermal energy conversion. The focus of this class is on three emerging porous materials: 1) metal organic frameworks (MOFs), 2) 3-dimensional graphene (3dGR), and 3) aerogels.  

By combining MOFs and 3dGR, we have demonstrated high thermal energy density (495 Wh kg-1 and 218 Wh L) at the component level. Furthermore, we demonstrated that by optimizing a water harvesting device with MOFs, ~2.8 L kg-1 at a relative humidity of 20% can be obtained – addressing the increasing problem of water scarcity.

Finally, the chemistry and physics of aerogels will be discussed. This thermally insulating and optically transparent aerogel has great promise for solar-thermal conversion applications. We demonstrated tempurates of 240 °C under un-concentrated solar illumination in ambient conditions, which can replace conventional heat systems based on natural gas combustion.

I will conclude by sharing future outlook about the critical role that chemistry and mechncial engineering inter-play for developing advanced materials for sustainable energy conversion. 

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Sungwoo Yang, 7-034, 919 724-0662, SWYANG@MIT.EDU


Feb/02 Thu 10:00AM-11:00AM 7-034B
Feb/03 Fri 10:00AM-11:00AM 7-034B

Sungwoo Yang - Research scientist


Problem-Solving for Engineers

Erik Fogg, Project Lead, Stroud International, Nat Greene, CEO, Stroud International

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/18
Limited to 30 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

Hey look, buddy, you’re an engineer. That means you solve problems. Not problems like, “What is beauty?” because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. You solve practical problems.

Most engineers can solve simple problems--but hard ones? Those are the ones that really matter. Being able to solve hard problems will make you a truly great engineer, and with that skill you can go change the world.

Join us this IAP and learn the behaviors of great problem-solvers, across engineering disciplines.

Problem-solving is a core aspect of any technical profession, particularly engineering. Engineers are taught many tools that they can use to solve problems, and in business they are likely to be taught problem-solving methodologies that lay out steps they can take while solving problems. But rarely are they taught skills or behaviors with which to use these tools and methodologies. Instead, they are taught to guess or brainstorm potential root causes while attempting to solve the problem, and against hard problems, they fail. This course will introduce engineers to the behaviors they need to nurture in order to solve hard problems, and give them opportunities to practice using them. They will be able to take these new behaviors and improve their problem-solving in the future.

Please sign up for this course by sending an email to fogg.erik@gmail.com.

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Erik Fogg, (781) 715-5492, fogg.erik@gmail.com


Problem-Solving for Engineers

Jan/23 Mon 12:30PM-05:00PM 3-370
Jan/24 Tue 12:30PM-05:00PM 3-370
Jan/25 Wed 12:30PM-05:00PM 3-370
Jan/26 Thu 12:30PM-05:00PM 3-370

Four days, four hours per day, with a quick break. Classes will include a brief lecture, followed by group work with support from teachers, and presentations to the class for feedback. Students will work as groups on a hard problem in their lives or communities throughout the class. Expect some homework.

Erik Fogg - Project Lead, Stroud International, Nat Greene - CEO, Stroud International


Thesis Boot Camp: Exercises and Strategies for Writing a Major Technical Report

Amy Carleton, Lecturer: Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication, Jane Kokernak, Lecturer: Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication

Feb/02 Thu 10:00AM-01:00PM 1-190
Feb/03 Fri 10:00AM-01:00PM 3-370

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Limited to 60 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

Embarking on any research-based writing project, like the undergraduate thesis or a technical report, can often seem daunting. How does one choose a suitable topic or focus? What is an approach for conducting and cataloguing a literature search? What are strategies for outlining and drafting your final document? What are the qualities of effective technical prose?

This IAP workshop will offer students a strategic and intense opportunity to prepare for their upcoming thesis or other large writing project by

 - conducting genre analysis of sample theses and reports,
 - formulating a viable research question,
 - generating a preliminary research bibliography,
 - examining the features of effective prose, and
 - designing a realistic timeline keyed to the chief writing tasks.

Day one will focus on the components of thesis and report writing, the research question, and background research with help from an MIT research Librarian.  On day two, we will isolate features of technical prose and their application to your writing, design a project timeline and get quick feedback, and address questions specific to your project.  Participants are asked to bring laptops and any project guidelines to the meetings. Note: while the emphasis is on undergraduate research in MechE, anyone is welcome to attend.

Attendance capped at 60.

To register, fill out the Google form here: http://bit.ly/2ijWgXK

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Mechanical Engineering, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Contact: Amy Carleton, amymarie@mit.edu


Turning failure into success - there is no market for plasmonics

Svetlana Boriskina, Research Scientist

Jan/24 Tue 11:00AM-12:00PM room 3-270

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/22
Prereq: none

Plasmonics is a sub-area of nanotechnology that aims at using metals for focusing and guiding light. Unlike conventional optics, plasmonics enables unrivalled high concentration of optical energy well beyond the diffraction limit. However, a significant part of this energy is dissipated as heat. Plasmonic losses present a major hurdle in the development of plasmonic devices and circuits that can compete with other mature technologies. 

However, plasmonics is a horizontal scientific discipline, not a vertical market. Consumers only ultimately care about effective products at a good price, and not about the scientific thinking that led to the product development. In many cases, the product that makes it to the market is very different from the one scientists had in mind when they embarked on their research projects. Plasmonics is an excellent illustration of this point, and emerging applications of plasmonics leverage rather than fight Ohmic losses in metals to achieve new enhanced functionalities. 

The lecture will give a brief intro to plasmonics, and will discuss emerging technologies and products that make use of plasmonic effects and span a wide range of end-user markets and applications. 

Please register by Jan 22 

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Contact: Svetlana Boriskina, 7-006, 617 253-7488, SBORISK@MIT.EDU