More Controls improvements for the Testbed Week 4 Update

kwilllia 2016-2017 AFRL Thermal Orientation Test Bed

This week the Thermal Orientation Testbed team worked to continue to make improvements to the structure and accuracy of the testbed. Our controls team worked to mount limit switches to control the rotation of the test bed. They are also looking into a emergency stop for safety and for an inclinometer which will help us monitor the orientation of the test bed. Both of these improvements will be important down the road for testing and for eventually implementing the test bed for the airforce. Our Manufacturing team also worked to improve the structure of the test bed. We had some parts machined to fit our test bed better and to limit errant rotation of the test bed. We are also making sure that all parts of the test bed will be compatible with the vacuum chamber that the test bed will be in. we are also designing additional mounts for the motor shafts to ensure stability. Moving forward we intent to start testing with weights which will include designing the mounting for the weights we use.