Quarnstric| Virtual Planetary Exploration
Virtual Planetary Exploration
Multifunctional Integrated Hand Tool (MIHT)
Summary
The core idea of this project is to provide ease to astronauts at work.The astronauts in their bulky spacesuits which often leads to muscle fatigue in a small amount of time and to decrease the time wasted to switch among the various tools, the need for developing a multi functional tool arises. For that purpose we came across the idea of combining various tools to one in order to perform multiple functions. The heart of this design is a hammer with a tongs and scoop. Thin coating of self healing composite with steel at the head and aluminium is used on the handle portion for this tool. The main functions of this tool are hammering, picking and scooping.
How We Addressed This Challenge
We try to develop an integrated tool (hammer,scoop and tong) whose basic function is hammering but can also perform several other functions like picking and scooping of a sample. We integrate different tools just to save the space and workload carried by the astronaut, as they are already equipped with several heavy loads. Our tool is compact and also weigh less (material used is light weight). The material used in this tool is aluminium, steel and self healing composite (like metal matrix composite). As the hammering action induces larger stress on hammer face so its life is less as compared to scoop and tong. To overcome this problem we coat our hammering surface with self healing composite which enhance the life of the tool. Basically we try to make a tool which can perform several other functions too (now we need not to carry extra tools for other functions) and also try to increase the life and reduce the weight of our material.
How We Developed This Project
With the team consisting of mechanical engineers, we actually had a narrow choice of themes to choose from. After deciding which theme to work on, our primary task was to consider aspects of the extreme conditions of these extraterrestrial places to come to a conclusion for making a tool. Studying the different conditions gave us the insight about which tools we are going to integrate. This was not a random decision but was an intelligent decision on the choice of tools which complement each other in achieving the goal of the task.
Various design aspects and efficiency in terms of human comfort were considered for designing the integrated tool.
The team then developed a CAD model on SOLIDWORKS with the dimension refrencing from the existing tools and an innovative approach to the material for better tool life and lightweight results.
How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project
Our project is mainly inspired by the information of tools given by NASA which is used by astronauts for various operations like breaking the rocks for testing, collection of material without touching it with their own hand directly as we are not aware of the material and it might be harmful for the skin.
Some modifications are further made in the material. The normally used material for hammer head is steel but in a new planet of which we have no idea, we cannot compromise with strength of the material chosen and hence, we are using thin coating of self healing material on the head whereas, the handle material was kept same as that used by professionals. Moreover, the dimensions are used in tool is made by using the existing one as referance.
Project Demo
Data & Resources
[1] White, S.R., Sottos, N.R., Geubelle, P.H., Moore, J.S., Kessler, M.R., Sriram, S.R., 2002.Autonomic healing of polymer composites (vol 409, pg 794, 2001). Nature 415 (6873),817.
[2] Das, R., Melchior, C., & Karumbaiah, K. M. (2016). Self-healing composites for aerospace applications. In Advanced composite materials for aerospace engineering (pp. 333-364). Woodhead Publishing.
[3] Cordier, P., Tournilhac, F., Soulie-Ziakovic, C., Leibler, L., 2008. Self-healing and thermor-eversible rubber from supramolecular assembly. Nature 451 (7181), 977-980.
[4] Garcia, S.J., Fischer, H.R., 2014. 9-Self-healing polymer systems: properties, synthesis and applications. In: Aguilar, M.R., Rom?an, J.S. (Eds.), Smart Polymers and Their Applications. Woodhead Publishing, pp. 271-298.
[5] Blaiszik, B.J., Kramer, S.L.B., Olugebefola, S.C., Moore, J.S., Sottos, N.R., White, S.R., 2010.Self-healing polymers and composites. Annual Review of Materials Research 40 (1),179-211.
[6] Hamilton, A.R., Sottos, N.R., White, S.R., 2010. Self-healing of internal damage in synthetic vascular materials. Advanced Materials 22 (45), 5159.
[7] https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/pdf/A16_PressKit.pdf
[8] https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/other/jsc23454toolcatalog.pdf