TDK-Lambda Sponsorships

TDK-Lambda partnered with Michigan State University Solar Racing Team as they prepare for the American Solar Challenge. MSU Solar Racing aims to efficiently design and manufacture solar-powered vehicles and promote sustainability and STEM education. They have built five vehicles since 2000, driving the automotive industry towards a cleaner, greener future. This year, students are constructing their first Multi-Occupant Vehicle, for which TDK-Lambda has provided various power supplies.

TDK-Lambda recently helped sponsor Northern Illinois University with their NIU Mars Rover project by supplying them with 4 pieces of the i6A4W020A033V-001-R!

The AMNO & CO ROV Team competed in 2016's MATE international Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) competition, and received the Safety Conscious award, the Sharkpedo Innovation award, Best Engineering Presentation and 3rd place overall at the Explorer class. The AMNO & CO ROV Team competed against 32 teams, mainly from colleges and universities all over the world, in NASA's 40-foot deep Neutral Buoyancy Lab – the deepest their ROV has ever been. This was made possible with the help of TDK-Lambda throughout the year's design process.

The power converters provided by TDK-Lambda were an essential part of the ROV's control system. 2016 was the first year AMNO & CO ROV Team competed in the Explorer class, and it required the ROV be powered off of 48 volts and 50 amps rather than the 12 volts and 25 amps they were accustomed to. For some systems, they were glad to have the extra power, but for other systems – such as thrusters, sensors and delicate electronics – precautions had to be taken to make sure they were never exposed to higher voltages than they could safely handle. To integrate TDK-Lambda power converters into the control system, custom printed circuit boards were designed that would safely hold the converters and distribute the correct power to various subsystems. These converters were an essential part of the most complicated control system ever made by the AMNO & CO ROV Team.

The AMNO & CO ROV Team been participating in the MATE ROV competition for seven years, and as a result have had a number of wonderful opportunities. These include mentoring younger teams, internships, scholarships and the honor of being invited to President Obama's 6th annual White House Science Fair (as a result of placing 1st in the mostly high school category last year)! They were able to present their work to the people in attendance, including NASA astronauts, engineers and members of President Obama's administration (including the Secretary of Nanotechnology and the Director of Science and Technology Policy).

The design team at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts has been working to design and fabricate a mechanical testing platform that realistically simulates the riding forces of a bicycle in a bike lane. By mimicking real bicycle-related forces, the system will help the Intelligent Human-Machine Systems Laboratory investigate bicyclist safety and the effectiveness of different bike lane designs. The team's device has been designed in a way that has never been attempted. The device moves the ground supports laterally beneath the rider, identically to real bicycle wheels. To achieve this, motor-driven wheels are mounted perpendicular to the bike's frame. These motors accelerate the entire bike horizontally, allowing for small lane shifts and slaloms. As the rider turns the handlebars, these motors will drive the front wheels to roll in the direction of the turn. This effect will allow the rider to balance through steering. The rear wheels will be controlled by the angle of the bike frame and will lag behind the front wheels.

University of Waterloo took a traditional rod hockey game, ripped out the existing mechanicals, added stepper motors, and made the whole thing playable with USB gamepads. It turned out very well! The Computer Engineering group had hundreds of people through their booth during the day to see the poster and demo.

This is Jonathan in the Ottawa Senators jersey and Tim is in the green Dallas Stars colors. The bottom photo shows the 24V power supply in action during the design phase. Finally, they also have a YouTube channel where several videos allow you to track their progress all the way up to final completion.