George Villanueva was born and raised in Kahului, Maui and graduated from Maui High School in 2019. He is an upcoming third year at Oregon State University majoring in Mechanical Engineering and pursuing a minor in Aerospace Engineering. He has interest in CAD design, robotics, 3D printing and aerospace technology. George is the upcoming Event Coordinator for OSU’s Society of Asian Scientist and Engineers Chapter and looks forward to becoming an active member in OSU’s AIAA Club. After graduation, George eventually plans to work for companies such as NASA, SpaceX, or Boeing or return home to work in Hawai’i. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with friends, playing video games, watching anime, and graphic design.
Home Island: Maui
High School: Maui High School
Institution when accepted: Oregon State University
Akamai Project: Creating an As-built Mechanical Model for HiVIS to Identify Upgrade Locations
Project Site: Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) – Kihei, Maui
Mentor:Â Ryan Swindle
Project Abstract:
The Air Force Research Laboratory plans to upgrade their High Resolution Visible and Infrared Spectrograph (HiVIS) on its AEOS telescope in order to improve its performance. These consist of an infrared polarimeter and a dichroic mirror between visible and infrared channels. However, in order for these upgrades to be added the space and space limitations that the upgrades will be placed in must be determined. The focus of the project is to easily determine the design limitations and placement of the upgrades as the only current methods to determine them are from part drawings or by physically dismantling the instrument. To determine the space and space limitations, a mechanical computer aided design or CAD model of HiVIS was constructed using a 3D CAD software called SolidWorks. Using data from existing part drawings, the parts were modeled in 3D. Each portion of the spectrograph was modeled separately beginning with the parts in the infrared channel then the visible channel. After the parts were modeled, they were then assembled into their components and then arranged based on the light ray pattern from an optical design software known as Zemax. As a result, by completing the mechanical CAD model of HiVIS the location and space constraints for these optical upgrades could be accurately determined within the CAD model. Furthermore, mount designs for the optics within these upgrades are to be designed utilizing the discovered limits and tolerances. In the future, this CAD model could be utilized for determining future upgrade placements and designs.