Develop a renewable means of energy storage that addresses the carbon-intensive production of electrochemical batteries. 

Currently, electric vehicles are limited in their environmental benefits due to the enormous carbon cost of the battery materials and manufacturing. It is possible to design mechanical batteries without relying on harmful materials, however. Out of the many mechanical battery solutions available, the final design centered around a vacuum-sealed flywheel supported by magnetic bearings—the vacuum and magnetic bearings are essential components for increasing the energy capacity, reducing wear, and improving efficiency. The output of the flywheel was connected to a continuously variable transmission (CVT) through a rolling clutch. The CVT was controlled in part by the rotation of the flywheel—where fast rotation corresponds to higher gear ratios—and in part by the user, who can adjust the aperture of the v-belt CVT to increase or decrease the output speed of the system.

Over the course of this project more than one thousand Finite Element Analysis simulations were run to simulate thorough usage, each set of simulations was automated and tabulated by parametric Python scripts. The overall system is capable of containing 105Wh, weighs 9.7kg, and fits within a 30x32x22cm space. Although this represents the work completed during the ES100 course, efforts have continued in making the system more efficient, powerful, and intuitive by compactifying the clutch and CVT components.

In a team of 15 engineers, meet with a client to understand a problem that they or their company faces. Using this information, design a solution.

In order to reduce the improper sorting of waste on Harvard campus, the ES96 course took on Harvard Waste Management as a client. The client was thoroughly interviewed throughout the process of exploring the problem space, determining stakeholders, and iterating through the design process. Over the semester, the focus of the proposed solution shifted specifically toward reducing cardboard in the “trash” section of the outgoing dumpsters.

The team adopted a three-point solution to the issue, separating into groups of five. While the other groups focused on upstream, social solutions, the Intermediary group sought to implement a physical catch-all for Harvard Waste Management. This solution was quite simply a conveyor machine installed at all dumpster sites with which the dumpster would interface. This machine—called the Intermediary as it was a middleman between the user and the dumpster—would allow the dock workers to check incoming trash and recycling streams for incorrectly sorted objects and swap them between streams. If the contents of the intermediary passed visual inspection, then they would be conveyed into the dumpster.

Material and construction analyses were performed to determine a machine of this type could be built within the budget of Harvard Waste Management.

Apply mathematical concepts to a MATLAB framework with the goal of producing a fully functional Finite Element Analysis interpreter.

After being given the shell of a Finite Element Analysis app written in MATLAB, code was designed and implemented to convert an Abaqus input file into readable data structures. This data was used to calculate the mass matrix, stiffness matrix, and forces of the nodes in the model. The stresses and strains within each element of the mesh were calculated using the resultant displacements. The code was compatible with bar, triangle, and quad elements. By the end of the semester, the functionality was broadened to accept a diverse set of mesh elements, forces, and boundary conditions. The software was expanded to include dynamic, harmonic, and, lastly, 3D simulations using linear tetrahedral elements.

This project not only cemented finite element analysis techniques but gave an inside look at how existing software operates. The curriculum included Abaqus simulations alongside the code writing to exemplify the capabilities of modern FEA software.