Firsts

This last month has been a month of firsts.

At the end of October, I got my first abstract accepted for a conference. I wrote an abstract on the turbine selection method I've used to select my turbine, and submitted it to the World Renewable Energy Congress (WREC) Conference in May 2011 which will take place in Sweden. All this means that I actually have to write the paper I had envisaged when I wrote the abstract (argh, might be quite difficult!) and I will require a trip to Sweden in May next year to present it (yeay!).

I've spent most of the time since finishing my first year report designing my turbine test rig. I've ordered the first few components and these have been slowly starting to arrive. I'm particularly excited about the torque transducer, a little shaft inside a box that will measure the torque coming from my turbine. It uses strain gauges bonded to the shaft, and a wireless transmission of the torque valve back to the output. Can't believe how much of a geek I'm turning into...

HBM Torque Transducer

As some of the components designs have been fixed, I've also cut my first pieces out. The workshop in the university has acquired a 2D laser cutter, able to cut some plastics and wood. The designs from CAD can be directly loaded onto it, meaning a short lead time between designing and actually holding the finished component. This has been quite exciting for me again, I've been able to draw something on my computer, then a few minutes later I can hold it in my hand. I've now built my first assembly in the rig.

First assembly for the rig

The other side to the turbine rig is the way to control the head, and allow it to vary between the required values. As the turbine testing will be carried out in the university's Hydro Lab, it must be able to fit in there. We've been looking at the many different options to use and control the flow available from the header tanks in the lab. It's not something I had immediately thought of, how will I control the head? I mean, the aim of the test is to test the turbine, so that's what I've been focussing on, but there are many other parts behind the main headline test that need to be thought of and designed to ensure the testing is relevant, accurate and repeatable. This is my first foray into experimental research, and I'm learning a lot.

All in all, the PhD seems to be progressing OK. There are a few frustrations I'm hitting up against. As in all universities, the workshop are overworked, so any custom pieces I need them to make may have a long lead time. I also have to give myself a bit of a kick up the backside. I've got a lot of different parts to this project, the turbine experiment, turbine modelling, grid control development, literature, papers etc. and I need to keep on top of all of them. At the moment, I feel as if I'm letting some of them fall by the wayside to allow for the things that excite me the most currently - most particularly the turbine rig. I need to also keep myself in check, make sure that I don't make rushed decisions on things.

During the last week of October I was Deputy Stage Manager (DSM) for my first show, Bad Girls - The Musical. A DSM controls the show, giving the go for the start, all the lighting, sound and other cues. The first few runs through the show were very stressful, trying to make sure that everything happened. But as the week went on, all the technical team got used to the play and we really clicked. They were all fantastic, especially as for most of them it was the first time they had had a technical role. The play was reviewed by the Bristol Evening Post, the review can be found here. Overall, I think the play went amazingly well, I'm looking forward to the next one now.

And the next show isn't too far away. The final first is that I'm producing a talent show at church, with lots of help obviously (thanks in anticipation Howard, Vera, Cherry, and all the performers!). So Saturday night will be an evening of interesting talents, very much looking forward to it!

SAM

One Year On

One year in, 2 and a half left. How time flies...

(There are some more random photos again to brighten life up a little!)

Star cakes made for a bake sale at church

In the last month since coming back from Greece I've been mainly writing up. I had already written up all of the turbine selection work, so this report was mainly a summary of that, and the literature I've found on my concept design, as well as some initial results from simulations of the systems. Although writing up is never fun, it has been a very useful process. It has helped me to get a deeper understanding into different control techniques and methods. It has shown me where the holes are in my current research and plan the future tasks. My supervisors, Bernard and Julian, have also re-introduced me into academic report writing, which was something very different to working in industry. After many late nights, early mornings and fiddling with Word to get everything in, I finally managed to hand in my report on the 4th October, only one working day late. I will be the first to admit it's neither perfect nor complete. However, I'm quite pleased with it. Now comes viva time...

Cress head man (he didn't grow any cress sadly)

Along side the work on my report, I've been looking at developing a rig to put a turbine in. This will then be put in the hydrolab in the basement of the Engineering building here, and will form the basis of my mechanical experiments. Designing this not only requires thought about how it will work, but also what I want to test, measure and what I want to show with these tests. So to do this I've been re-introducing myself to 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD). I remember the hours and days spent whilst I was an undergrad sat in front of a computer designing things. It's amazing how annoying, frustrating and fun it is all at the same time. I've also spent an afternoon learning how to mill, as the workshop here have 2 mills and 2 lathes students can use. When I start designing and building, I've got to try and manufacture as much as possible myself as it will take a long time if I put a job into the workshop.

Trees are the poems the earth writes upon the sky (Bristol Zoo)

Bad Girls is going really well still. The cast are absolutely amazing, the set is coming together. It's performing at the end of the month, so I'm going to be fairly stressed and tired then I think. Fingers crossed that everything goes well!

I've also been tasked to organise a DIY Talent show at church, where the audience perform. I've not really organised anything since the failed Variety Show in my final year at Shrivenham. I'm slowly getting performers volunteering, and have enough to fill half a show now. I'm hoping that more turn up, otherwise it's going to be a lot of Sam, which no-one really wants...

A railway warning

I also fulfilled a boyhood fantasy at the beginning of October. Since I can remember I played with Lego, I contribute it to one of the main reasons to becoming an engineer. So, with some friends we took a day trip to Legoland Windsor. It was fantastic, the rides were possibly a bit childish, but to be honest, I'm rather childish too, so they fitted me down to the ground. I especially liked the miniature Prince Albert Bridge in their miniland.

Winning the cup!

So, I've got an interesting few weeks ahead. I'm going to be building soon, getting my hands dirty, and moving forward with the electrical side. Bad Girls will be amazing, if anyone can do come and see it (there is some adult content), you can buy tickets here, and I'm taking the youth fellowship from church out in Bristol tomorrow. This could be dangerous...

For now

SAM