Drummond Biles
Mechanical Engineering PhD Candidate | University of New Hampshire
MIRL
During my undergraduate career I worked at the Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Research Lab (MIRL). MIRL worked to investigate the earth's magnetic field through both ground and rocket based observations. During my time there I worked on a number of projects, which ranged from building instrumentation to designing components for rocket based instrumentation. Below I will detail a few projects that I worked on including:
-
Performed re-design and fabrication of magnetometer coil systems
-
Analysis of cooling system for in flight imaging
-
Design of remote unmanned observatory platform
Magnetometer Coils
One of the main instruments used in MIRL was an induction coil magnetometer (ICM). These coils used spools of copper wire connected together to detect small changes in the magnetic field. The systems were deployed around the world and therefore had tight requirements to remain robust in field environments.
Shown to the left are 7 ICMs each with 16 spools of copper wire. These spools were then wired and placed onto a metal core. My first task in MIRL was the construction of a number of these systems, which included the design of brackets to mount the coils in a 2-axis arrangement. This arrangement plus the control boxes are also shown to the left
Cooling of Rocket Based Imager
As well as performing ground based measurements of the magnetic field, MIRL also performed a series of rocket campaigns which would fly through the Aurora. One of the systems on the rocket was a rear facing imaging system, which was used during flight. The imaging system would rotate opposite of the rocket and take images during the entirety of the flight. To ensure the highest signal to noise ratio on the data collected the imaging system had to be kept as cold as possible. My task was to investigate the system used previously and perform a thermal analysis and redesign of the thermal components of the imaging system.
​
Testing thermal heat sink to collect heat transfer characteristics with which to run simulations.
Development of a Stilt Structure for Remote Observations in Antarctica
To perform all of the ground based measurements MIRL had to position instruments in some harsh environments. One position was in the Antarctic. To position instruments there a structure had to be developed which could support the observatory​.
To Download PDF of presentation, click here