Part of the Advanced Energy Systems group supporting heritage Aerojet Rocketdyne energy projects as a Mechanical Designer.

-Oxy-fired Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustor (Oxy-PFBC)Program description: AR is working with DOE, the Canadian Government (CanmetEnergy) and Linde to build a pilot scale (1 MWth) Oxy-PFBC for coal combustion. The goal is to demonstrate stable bed operation with efficient sulfur capture within the fluidized bed (>95%).Mechanical Design Roles: -Generate plot plans for placement of major equipment -Create interface control drawings (and documents) -Design bed ash and fly ash pressure let-down systems -Design sampling system to extract, purge, and depressurized solid particle samples from the reactor -Size major solids and pressure control valves and work to identify suppliers -Built a cold flow test rig to investigate bed stability and heat transfer propertiesSystems Engineering -Generated Facilities Requirements Document to coordinate work between AR, CanmetEnergy, and Linde -Specified and negotiated requirements for process flow rates and chemical compositions

RL10Program description: Upper stage engine (20K thrust Lox/Hydrogen) for Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles, the program is based out of West Palm Beach, FL. Worked remotely from Los Angeles to provide design support.Mechanical Design Roles -Worked to justify and implement drawing changes. Worked with component engineers or manufacturing to resolve chronic manufacturing issues or exploit opportunities for cost savings. Would define the drawing change, and provide justification that the change would not affect the fit, form, or function of the part (stress calculations, tolerance stack-ups, functional analysis). This was a unique challenge since the engine has been in production for over 50 years, and much of the original documentation is very difficult to find; often had to infer the original design intent based how a component is defined and how and where it is installed. -Production Support: Provided rework dispositions (accept as-is, rework, or scrap) for hardware that was built out of print. -Threaded feature locking assessment: Program had discovered that an engine assembly drawing had for years left off a call-out to apply lockwire to a threaded joint. Was tasked investigating all three versions of the engine (as well as turbo-machinery and valves) to ensure that all threaded features were properly defined with some sort of locking or retention feature. -Management Roles: Was in charge of coordinating and distributing work to 2 other LA based designers. Trained these designers on how to utilize the site specific procedures, provided a quality check of their work, and track their time spent.

Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV)Program description: Post boost kinetic warhead used to intercept and destroy ICBMs. AR was designing a new divert thruster.Mechanical Design Roles -In response to propellant water hammer concerns, was tasked with redesigning the propellant lines to a larger diameter tube while still meeting the existing interface definitions. This was particularly challenging since the existing envelope constraints made it very difficult to fit and route a large diameter tube (itself with constraints on bend radius, bend angle, and minimum straight lengths between bends). The reroute successfully fit in the allocated envelope and manufacturing constraints.RS-68Program description: First stage engine for Delta IV launch vehicle (700k thrust Lox/Hydrogen)Mechanical Design Roles -Worked to justify and implement drawing changes. Similar in scope to RL10Production Support: I provided rework dispositions. Similar in scope to RL10 -Updated the top level engine assembly drawing and CAD model (Pro/E) -Swivel fitting elimination: Designed new flared tube fittings with a weld retained nut to replace the old wire retained nuts (which caused leakage issues). -Heat-exchanger nozzle blanket redesign: Worked to define interface requirements of a new ablative heat shield for the HEX nozzle. -Heat-exchanger nozzle buckling test: Built a test fixture to induce buckling on the HEX shell in order to help anchor a buckling model and clear an issue for high priority flight.

Concentrated Solar PowerProgram description: 110 MW concentrated solar plant using molten salt as the heat storage mediumMechanical Design Roles -Provided the design for the receiver vessel panels and for the emergency coolant vesselSpace Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) Program description: Main propulsion system for the Space Shuttle (500k thrust Lox/Hydrogen)Mechanical Design Roles -Worked to justify and implement drawing changes. Similar in scope to RL10 -Production Support: I provided rework dispositions. Similar in scope to RL10 -Converted vellum drawings to Pro/E -Completed building a top level Pro/E assembly of SSME (30,000+ parts) -Designed the thrust vector actuator supports for the SSME Test Adapter Project (fitting a SSME to a J-2X interface)

Worked on a team of four to design and build a unique and educational musical instrument for childrenDesigned a method of interfacing hand movements with music synthesizers to produce sounds

Oversaw the strict adherence to process validation protocols for peripheral artery cathetersDeveloped and justified new protocols for laser welding process validationExpedited the release of a new tip assembly to manufacturing

Contributed to the development of Parker fuel tank inerting systemsPerformed fatigue, vibration, and thermoshock testing on development units; monitored long term performance and integrity of development unitsDeveloped extensive tools to analyze both theoretical and test data in MatLabOversaw performance testing on a state of the art oxygen sensor developed by a vendor