Project Overview

Project Overview

The 2016-2017 Honeywell Powder Amplifier capstone team is a continuation of the research done by the 2015-2016 Honeywell Magnetostrictive Actuator capstone team. The 2015-2016 capstone team successfully utilized a magnetostrictive material called Terfenol D that elongates when exposed to a magnetic field. The force created by the Terfenol D during elongation was used to displace a large piston in a hydraulic actuator. This large piston transmitted force through incompressible brake fluid in order to displace a smaller piston. The purpose of this type of actuator is in the field of aviation. As an aircraft increases and decreases elevation, an actuator like this could experience a wide range of temperatures. Due to the large temperature range experienced, brake fluid would either freeze or expand to the point of hysteresis effecting the system. Therefore, the purpose of the 2016-2017 Honeywell Powder Amplifier capstone team was tasked as follows:
“Study various powders and materials from which the surrounding structure of an output amplifier may be fashioned. The need is to match the amplifier body and powder coefficients of expansion such that there is no differential expansion when both powder and the surrounding materials are heated to identical temperatures”
Upon selecting a powder and surrounding material, the team will build a proof-of-concept actuator and demonstrate the following:

  1. That the powder has fine enough particles that it will act like a semi-fluid when the large piston in the amplifier is depressed.                                                                                                                                       
  2. That the demonstrator has an output amplification of at least 10:1.                                                                                                                                              
  3. That the demonstrator will retract to its original position when the force on the large piston is removed.                                                                                                                                                  
  4. That the demonstrator has a method of sealing the large and small such that powder does not leak out of the stroke amplifier over time.                                                                                                                                                      
  5. The team will measure the stroke hysteresis of the demonstrator and provide a curve with the input stroke on the X-axis and the output stroke on the Y-axis. The curve will show both strokes taken in a single open/close cycle with no reversal of input other than that which changes the open command to a close command in order to provide a smooth hysteresis curve” [1]