In the fall and winter of 2022-2023, I worked as an intern for the company Accelerate Wind. This company focuses on rooftop wind, and is specifically designing a spoiler to allow for a horizontal axis wind turbine to be successful on the edge of a roof.

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My primary focus for the first part of the internship was designing the connections for an upcoming field test of our half-scale spoiler. These connections had to both safely connect the spoiler to the shipping containers we were using as a stand-in "roof" and allow for load cells to take accurate force measurements depending on wind speed. I also designed "emergency" connection points, which supported the spoiler on the shipping container beyond the limitations of the load cells and up to the maximum wind speeds we expected to meet on our site. Designing these components involved CADing in OnShape, FEA analysis, and communication with the manufacturer. Due to my experience machining and working from drawings as well as creating them, it often wasn't until we did a design review with our manufacturer that I had to make manufacturing-based design changes, a process that really built my confidence with talking to manufacturers directly and designing parts such that they are less expensive to manufacture.

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Additionally, I worked for this company long enough to be a part of onsite testing. I set up and sourced necessary equipment for multiple sensor tests, including designing a base to test anemometers and sourcing lights and other components for a fake snow test to analyze real world airflow patterns.

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In the field, I was an asset, as I was well versed in quick prototyping, often necessary when technology and testing meets the real world, and I had experience driving a telehandler from previous farm work, a skill that turned out to be a necessity.

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Finally, I performed a considerable amount of research into FMEA analysis, especially DFMEA, allowing us to do preliminary analyses on the current version of our design.