Undergraduate Research Opportunities in Manufacturing Engineering

Machine Design and Automation
Andre Sharon, Professor and Director, The Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation
http://www.fhcmi.org
sharon@bu.edu

Laser-Based Interference Lithography System for Writing High-Power Gratings
In partnership with MIT and an industrial partner, we have been developing a new process for the manufacture of high accuracy, large-scale diffraction gratings. Applications such as high power lasers used for Inertial Confinement Fusion research require gratings that cannot be produced via current techniques. These gratings are nearly a meter in length by half meter in width, with closely placed lines, typically on a 400nm to 1000 nm pitch, with a phase accuracy of 10 nm over the entire length. The system under development writes lines by scanning an interference pattern of two UV laser beams over the optical substrate. A high speed metrology system optically steers the interference pattern to correct for errors in the mechanical motion of the scan.

Automated Myocyte Cell Extraction
Pharmaceutical companies have a growing need for myocyte cell solutions to test new drugs and develop therapies for disease prevention. The current method for extracting myocyte cells from tissue is manual and requires a trained technician or scientist to conduct a series of tasks over a four hour period. We have developed a myocyte cell extraction system in which most of the routine tasks are automated. The system uses pressure-based liquid infusion with volumetric feedback control. The resulting system not only reduces labor and operation costs, but improves the survivability rate of the cells as well.

Development of a Cryogenic Micropump
Under sponsorship of the United States Air Force through a Phase II SBIR, we have worked in conjunction with a Prime Contractor on the design and fabrication of a micropump system for satellite applications. These pumps are used to maintain sensors at cryogenic temperatures for precise, low noise readings, and need to meet extreme temperature and reliability requirements. Fabrication of these pumps necessitated ultraprecision fabrication techniques including diamond machining and turning, resulting in 2 microns of clearance between moving parts.