Until today, I was under the impression that I was not allowed to photograph my colleagues according to General Atomics policy. I learned today that that policy does not, in fact, extend to the people I'm working with because we're all employees of Princeton University rather than General Atomics. So, I don't have any pictures of my colleagues here.
If anyone comments on this post, I would appreciate critique on the ways in which I combine two pictures into one for ease of viewing and comprehension. Do you like the ways I did it, or is there a better way the pictures could be combined? Do you think they should just be left as separate pictures? Finally, I am aware that this post only requires five pictures, but I thought the "starter set" wouldn't be complete without the first five, and I wanted critique on the last one.
If anyone comments on this post, I would appreciate critique on the ways in which I combine two pictures into one for ease of viewing and comprehension. Do you like the ways I did it, or is there a better way the pictures could be combined? Do you think they should just be left as separate pictures? Finally, I am aware that this post only requires five pictures, but I thought the "starter set" wouldn't be complete without the first five, and I wanted critique on the last one.
I have my own desk at DIII-D where I can do digital work, including (theoretically) SolidWorks. I say theoretically because so far, all attempts to install SolidWorks on my computer have been unsuccessful, and although we're trying, I may not have access to SolidWorks for the duration of my internship. If I had access to SolidWorks, I might spend more time here, but as it is, I don't really need SolidWorks to remain involved in my project. I have this space to work in, but most of my internship is being spent elsewhere.
This is where I'm spending most of my time. The above photo is of Alex's room in the Diagnostics Lab, and it's where I've been experimenting with the various iterations of the granule dropper. In recent days, I've been spending hours at a time in front of the desk to the left trying to calibrate various devices to filter carbon granules from 0.3-0.8 millimeters in diameter. It's not easy, but we're making constant improvements and working towards a solution fairly quickly. (The large machine on the table slightly to the right of center, behind the transparent box, is the LGI.)
The main downside of being under 18 years old for my internship project: I'm not allowed to use power tools. Normally, something like the picture above could be done in a few seconds on a band saw. It takes me about a minute using a hacksaw. The restriction makes construction difficult; I often have to ask my colleagues to drill holes and make cuts. That said, I don't mind the restriction too much, since it comes with the opportunity to work on real solutions that may well be implemented on an experimental fusion reactor.
The above photo compilation is of the already-existing granule dropper concept when I arrived. The granules sit in the PVC cup at the top and stack up in the thin tubing extending downwards. Below the tubing is a piezo-electric strip. In its neutral position, it blocks the opening (circular photo insert), but when a voltage is applied across the device, it deforms to one side and allows granules to fall. In theory, by alternating the voltage, the device would oscillate and granules would fall out with regular periodicity. Unfortunately, there were two problems: the device didn't have a sufficiently large amplitude to unblock the tube completely, and the granules kept getting stuck in the tube due to the pressure of the granules above them.
This is the second iteration we tried. Alex bought a subwoofer and we attached a piece of 1mm piano wire to it, sticking straight out. We slid the piano wire through a piece of stationary tubing to confine it to motion in one dimension, and used the tip of the piano wire to block the opening to the tube as the piezo had done (circular photo insert). The subwoofer had a much larger amplitude of oscillation than the piezo, and the piano wire moved far enough to completely block and unblock the opening this time. However, we still had problems with jamming in the tube.
This is a snapshot of my work on the wiring (which I really only worked on during the first week and slightly into the second week of my internship). I connected wires into the four circuit boards in the upper right and routed them to terminal blocks (wire routing shown in the lower left; terminal blocks not shown). The wiring itself was fairly routine, but keeping the wires tidy was extremely difficult.