Thermodynamic modeling of solder melting and solidification for proposed squishbot design
Name
558536185-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
7.95 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
04bb0456901adca48a52c5bbeed7c795
Author(s)
Utz, Robert (Robert C.)
Advisor(s)
Martin Culpepper.
Date Issued
2009
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
This thesis develops a thermodynamic simulation of the melting and solidification of a substance resting on a surface. The simulation was created in an effort to develop a single actuator joint locking and unlocking mechanism for Squishbot. The Squishbot is a proposed robot that has the ability to climb walls and change shape in order to gain entry into normally inaccessible areas. By using COMSOL Multiphysics, a simple model was developed and tested. Under these conditions, the solder melting phase transition took 2.25 seconds to melt and 2.65 seconds to solidify. These results, as well as observations about the behavior of the program's numerical solver, seem to suggest that the proposed joint locking system is feasible. A framework is laid out to proceed with improved and more specific models for use as an optimization tool.
Description
Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 52).
Subjects
Mechanical Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
M.I.T. theses are protected by
copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but
reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written
permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but
reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written
permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
Persistent DSpace Link
