Awards & Nominations
Tampa Bolt has received the following awards and nominations. Way to go!
Global Nominee
Phase-Change Actuator
High-Level Project Summary
We propose an actuator whose movement is initiated by changing the phase of 1-propanol (or similar alcohol) from liquid to gas. 1-propanol remains liquid under the temperature constraints given in the problem and can be allowed to passively cool to a liquid for repeated use. This solution is scalable to allow for more force or actuator travel as needed. At the AAA battery scale, we can produce 400N of force, converting a small amount of 1-propanol to gas with a 20W heater in about 3 seconds.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
We propose an actuator whose movement is initiated by changing the phase of 1-propanol (or similar alcohol) from liquid to gas. 1-propanol remains liquid under the temperature constraints given in the problem and can be allowed to passively cool to a liquid for repeated use. Our solution is non destructive and produces no debris. This should allow testing of all parts on earth before deployment to space.
This solution is scalable to allow for more force or actuator travel as needed. At the AAA battery scale, we can produce 400N of force, converting a small amount of 1-propanol to gas with a 20W heater in about 3 seconds. By pre-heating the liquid to near its boiling point, we can put it through the phase change relatively quickly when activation is needed. The force should be sufficient to release stored energy in a spring or other device to complete separation.
We propose improvements to the product for longer trips, such as encapsulating the 1-propanol in plastic or a metal accordion to ensure no leakage. Further investigation into materials for all parts of the device is warranted.
Space Agency Data
We began our project with a review of prior work. We read the resources provided on the Space Apps challenge resources page about reefing line cutters, the Lightband separation system and the GMI Launch Locks.
We found these documents extremely useful for understanding the scope of the applications where our device may be useful. It also helped us realize that solving just a little bit of the problem, specifically the initiation of a mechanical process, could be enough to make a contribution.
Hackathon Journey
We met as the only two participants to arrive for the kick-off in-person. (Others participated online.) We lucked out in that both of us had an interest in the Let It Go challenge when we read the challenge descriptions. Since that was the challenge we liked in common, we went for it. We had a good complement of skills at our disposal. and we were lucky in this regard as well. In the future, we may want to build a team bigger than two people. A two person team is certainly agile, but many hands make light work and some additional expertise in some areas would have lead us to explore more materials and allow us to better establish the feasibility of the concept.
References
Documents:
Reefing Line Cutters (https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/CSM12_Earth_Landing_Subsystem_pp93-98.pdf)
Lightband separation system (https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2020/ip_8.html)
GMI Launch Locks (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20110016488/downloads/20110016488.pdf)
NIST: 1-propanol (https://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/cbook.cgi?ID=C71238&Mask=4)
The Properties of Alcohols (https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_Chemistry/The_Basics_of_GOB_Chemistry_(Ball_et_al.)/14%3A_Organic_Compounds_of_Oxygen/14.03%3A_Physical_Properties_of_Alcohols)
Videos:
Air Force SBIR: Lightband (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JaEk66p4_4)
Hold Down Release Mechanisms (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFABKpqWG9Q)
Tools:
Google Drive
OpenShot Video Editor
Zoom videoconferencing
OpenSCAD
Blender
Tags
#hardware #launchlocks #nonpyrotechnic
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.