Kyle Riffle

Mechanical Engineer • Project Manager


1. Heating Coils



Designing experiments to compare empirical and simulated results



Heating coils abound in everyday life and one common application is in the now ubiquitous vaporizer. Desiring to build a better water pipe, we set out to augment existing designs with the addition of a nichrome heating element to the plant material-containing vessel of the waterpipe. Nichrome is available in several gauges, and coil design is more of an art than a science, so we set out to determine experimentally which combination of wire length and gauge would provide the fastest heating of the vessel. Nine different heating coils were constructed and tested on a 14mm glass tube. Thermocouples were placed inside the tube and on the heating coil to monitor temperature, and temperatures were recorded and plotted in Excel. Overall, shorter coils and thicker wire heated faster. This result makes sense because this combination provides the lowest resistance and thus the highest rate of current flow through the wire. Overall, 20g nichrome wire heats the fastest, reaching the target temperature of 300 degrees Celsius in just 30 seconds.



2. Quadcopter Drone



CAD and hands-on machining and assembly



Starting from a set containing the basic electronics, I designed and built a low-power drone. I started by modeling the existing parts in SolidWorks. I modeled the parts I would require and created part drawings. Using the drawings, I built the parts using rapid prototyping and manual milling processes. With parts complete, I created explode and assembly diagrams to document final assembly of the drone. Flight testing was a success, proving that all previous steps had been carried out correctly.



3. SAE Baja Powertrain Design



Two years and two hats - designing to win



Serving as both a project manager and an engineer, I worked on powertrain components on our 2019 Baja race vehicle in addition to managing the project as a whole. Design work included the overall powertrain format and packaging to meet space requirements and SAE rules. I also created simulations to calculate stresses on each component in the powertrain, and designed testing and documentation for setting up the CVT. Later in the project I fabricated the covers and bracketry for the powertrain, and assembled the powertrain several times during testing and competition.

For more information on my role as Project Manager, click here.



4. JetBoil™ Flash Model



Parts, Assemblies, Motion and Renders in SolidWorks



This project involved measuring parts using calipers and then modelling them to build the 5 subassemblies that make up a JetBoil Flash backpacking stove. Modelling required the use of geometric patterns, complex extrusions, cuts and revolvements in order to ensure that the model matched the actual parts. Once modelling was complete, I overlayed JetBoil graphics to make the model matched the actual product, then set anchor points to create an animation of the stove's parts being assembled.



5. TELEMETRY OF A CUBESAT



Projectile motion and polar coordinates in MATLAB



This was a fun project. Programming using advanced function calls and polar coordinates, I determined that a 5 kg Cubesat would require an initial velocity of 9.5 km/s and a launch angle of 89.5 degrees to reach lower earth orbit and orbit as many times as possible without further intervention. The satellite launched from Cape Canaveral (i.e. ϴ = π/4) and made 5.25 revolutions in 11.6 hours before crashing back to earth’s surface. During its voyage it made an elliptical orbit that slowly got smaller due to gravity and atmospheric drag, which both changed as the satellite’s altitude changed. The satellite’s course is plotted here with earth in the middle, showing its altitude and position above the earth.


I took this project a step further by examining the 5 kg satellite’s velocity and altitude. I was surprised when I realized that the satellite’s velocity peaks twice per revolution, but this makes sense once you look at where the velocity peaks; velocity peaks when the satellite travelling parallel to earth’s surface. This phenomena is easily understood by plotting velocity and altitude as functions of time on the same plot.