Kimi Ceridon

Areas Kimi Ceridon is Knowledgeable in:

Techniques Kimi Ceridon Uses:

Kimi Ceridon's Problem Solving Skills:

1. Engineered thermal solutions
2. Project management and planning
3. Electromechanical integration
4. Mechanical modeling and analysis (structural, thermal and fluid)
5. Experiment and test design and execution
6. Mechanical engineering design
7. Design for harsh environment with shock an vibration
8. Technical research and development.

Kimi Ceridon's Problem Solving Experience:

1. AIR PURIFIER TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND DESIGN
   
   This effort generated and evaluated concepts for air purification. The home air purifiers is saturated and the client was interested in new technologies and technologies available in alternative industries. During the first phase of this project, I researched:
   - Contaminants in air and their affects on humans
   - Methods to eliminate or rendering harmless contaminates
   - Competitive technologies used for home air purification
   - Technologies and intellectual property use for air purification in other industries.
   From research, a team generated hundreds of concepts for eliminating or rendering contaminates harmless. Each concept was evaluated on merit, feasibility, effectiveness, potential development costs and development risks and perceived product cost. Several product concepts were generated and the client is currently in the process of partnering with another industry on development.
2. IMPROVED HAIR DRYER DESIGN
   
   This effort was to generate and evaluate concepts for a hair dryer that is quieter and better performing than other products. During the Phase 1, I evaluated thermal, fluid dynamic and acoustic performance of products on the market including an evaluation of how properties such as air velocity, bulk flow rate, temperature, relative humidity, dew point and mechanical action contribute to drying hair. In Phase 2, a target product specification was developed and a preliminary breadboard was built to independently evaluate how noise reduction strategies affected performance. In parallel with this effort, concepts for a new turbine/fan design were under development. Concepts and technologies that proved promising from breadboard testing resulted in the following SLA conceptual design. This design incorporated strategies for housing design, damping material, intake design, flow conditioning and turbine design.
3. WATER RECREATIONAL EQUIPMENT
   
   This project developed a new recreational toy for traveling on water at an average walking speed using leg power while expending a similar effort. Phase 1 evaluated the feasibility of the concept through the evaluation of:
   - Hull design
   - Power requirements for 4mph
   - Capabilities of human walking up to 4mph
   - Capabilities human paddling a canoe
   - Dynamics of the canoe paddling stroke
   Phase 2 generated several concepts and small-scale prototypes were built to compare the performance of three methods for paddling – a rotary wheel, an ellipitical stroke and a flat flipper. From prototyping, calculations, analysis and risk evaluation, the elliptical stroke machine was developed. The final two phases developed a full size proof-of-concept prototype and a pre-production prototype. The preproduction prototype reached speeds of 2.5mph under an average effort and up to 4mph under a sprint effort.
4. ELASTOMER CUSHION QUALITY CONTROL TESTER
   
   The client for this project is developing a new method for cushioning in sports equipment. Rather than using open-celled foam, this new technology utilizes elastomeric air cushions designed to provide a specific force feedback through cushion shape, material selection and specified air expulsion rate. I designed a robust and user friendly testing apparatus to evaluate the quality of new and used cushions. The effort included:
   - Building a prototype apparatus including sensor and actuator selection and labview programming
   - Completing initial part characterization to determine test parameters
   - Specifying and recommending the capital equipment, apparatus design, sensor selection and test parameters.
5. FUME HOOD TEST STAND
   
   The client for this develops scrubbers for silicon procession equipment. For the development of a new scrubber for use with a high flow reactive process, a test stand design and installation at a remote site was required. The design and installation included:
   - Heat exchanger selection
   - Reactive gas recombination calculations to size settling chamber
   - Test sand design and electrical rack layout and wiring
   - Modular design for shipping for on-site installation
   Based on rough dimensions of the fume hood a layout was used to construct the test stand at the customer's site. On-site installation occurred over one week and included test stand build, wiring, process connections, plumbing, soldering and initial troubleshooting. The installation was nearly flawless and the test stand remains in use one year after its expected life.
6. POWER TRANSFORMER RE-DESIGN TO ADDRESS THERMAL FAILURES 
   
   The client for this project designs plasma generators for processing solar panels. This generator utilizes a 20kW power transformer. The production design exhibited overheating at installation sights. For this effort, I analyzed and base-lined the initial design using thermal finite element analysis software. Design alternatives that fit in the exact same design envelop, were sensitive to current manufacturing methods and utilized existing parts for inventory depletion were design. The base-line model was used to evaluate the performance of these design alternatives. A backwards compatible solution was found and implemented.
7. BOOSTER MODULE (MRBA) MECHANICAL DESIGN
   
   A Regular Power Cartridge provides DC power to a toolstring power bus. As toolstring length increases, dissipation reduces output to below operational levels. MRBA is a module to convert AC to DC at alternative locations. MRBA met the following environmental qualifications:
   - 2,500 x 4-axis x 500g shock
   - 5g vibration sweep to 200Hz
   - 3.2g random vibration
   - 100 thermal cycles (-20 to 200°C)
   - 1000hours at 200°C
   It was featured in the following press release - “The largest and most complex MDT string ever, was run for Shell in GOM late August. The string consisted of 18 MDT modules, which was made possible using the MRBA booster module. . . This was also the heaviest toolstring ever run. . . at 6,940lbs. . .This result was far better then the success criteria set by Shell. . . . “. . . It was successful, set several "world firsts" records, and performed without a problem.”, Rick Stocker, Shell.”
8. ELECTRONICS CHASSIS REDESIGN
   
   The prototype product performance exceeded expectations resulting in immediate demand for production of 200 per month. Due to design limitations, manufacturing was unable to meet the demand and the sales price did not fully support material cost and labor. I managed this project as a 3-month effort that met the following:
   - 30% Material cost reduction
   - Reliability improvement including design for shipping shock and vibration.
   - 50% Reduction of assembly time
   - Exceeding thermal and structural performance of original product.
   - Manufacturing documentation with plumbing and wiring drawings
   - New technology implementation (alternative materials, flexible plumbing, flow drill, standardization)
   - Guide vendors in cost and timeline strategies.
9. GREEN MACHINE
   
   A top US manufacturer of PCs, laptops, servers, data storage devices and computer peripherals recently set a goal to become the ‘greenest technology company on the planet’ by incorporating green and sustainable practices into its company stewardship. One goal is to proactively implement green and sustainable practices early in the design process. This project investigated sustainability and green practices for product development and manufacturing cycles. This effort focused on information gathering and investigation to define common sustainable and green practices and tools into product development and manufacturing cycles. During this I completed the following activities:
   - Develop preliminary mechanical parameters for material substitutions
   - Preliminary LCA for to compare alternative materials.
   - Investigation into sustainable and green practices of competitors.
10. Remote Cooling using Cold Electromagnetic Valves to Drive an External Flow Loop on a Gifford-McMahon Cryocooler
    
    A major limitation of Gifford-McMahon, G-M, cryocoolers is the requirement to conduction cool the refrigeration load. A number of earlier attempts to use check valves to rectify the oscillating pressure from the G-M expansion in an external flow loop were unsuccessful because of valve leakage. A G-M cryocooler has been modified with the addition of Boreas style cold electromagnetic valves to utilize the oscillating pressure to drive the unidirectional flow in an external cooling loop. The cold valve of the Boreas cooler demonstrated minimum leakage and acceptable electrical dissipation even at 4.5 K. Preliminary analysis indicated that the G-M blow down process could be used to power the external flow without seriously degrading the G-M cooler capacity. The same title was presented at 11th Annual International Cryocooler Convention and published in Cryocoolers 11.