Fan Dyno DOE
Problem statement
Since they were founded in 1924 as an electric tool manufacturer for the US Navy [1], Milwaukee Tool has prided itself on one thing over everything else: quality. Milwaukee’s entire legacy rests upon their ability to make robust, reliable, and powerful power tools for the countless hardworking Americans that count on these tools to do their jobs every day. At the heart of many of these tools are their industry leading, cutting-edge electric motors. Milwaukee spends enormous amounts of time and money developing, testing, and validating these motors to ensure they can meet end user needs and withstand the abuse that power tools see, and one of the most important steps in this process is load testing these motors to ensure that they will last. Current solutions, such as eddy current brakes, magnetic particle brakes, and AC motors have limitations at high RPMs, can be very expensive to implement, and their performance can vary in different environmental conditions. To combat these complications, Milwaukee hopes to use something much simpler to load their motors: air resistance. Our team intends to perform an experimental study to see how a dynamometer can be constructed using an off the shelf fan and varying inlet and outlet geometries to supply the desired to load to Milwaukee’s motors. Ultimately, the results of this experiment will allow us to make an Excel spreadsheet that can tell them what fan size to use to achieve the desired load, simplifying and streamlining their testing process. Milwaukee’s continued innovation and development in their electric motors will produce better products that will help them stake their claim of the $32.2 billion global power tool industry [2]. Works cited: [1] “Our company – continuous innovation for over 85 years,” Milwaukee Tool. [Online]. Available: https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Company/Milwaukee-Story. [Accessed: 29-Sep-2022]. [2] “Power tools market size & share: Industry report, 2020-2027,” Power Tools Market Size & Share | Industry Report, 2020-2027. [Online]. Available: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/power-tools-market#:~:text=The%20global%20power%20tools%20market,are%20termed%20as%20power%20tools. [Accessed: 29-Sep-2022].
Team members
Walker Voichick – leader
Dan O’Brien – communicator
Alex Turgeson – accountant
Rory Donahue – admin
Client
Michael Rohrer, Milwaukee Tool