Diseño de un módulo de medición de cilindros para una fresadora vertical CNC

Abstract

This paper describes the design of a cylinder measurement module for a vertical CNC milling machine. Ad Astra Rocket Company (AARC) focuses in the development of the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR®). Its subsidiary, Ad Astra Rocket Company Costa Rica (AARC-CR), investigates the thermo dynamical characteristics of the rocket. With this goal in mind, Ing. Juan Ignacio Del Valle is working on his doctoral thesis titled “Experimental model of the interactions between plasma and its confinement walls in high power helicoidal sources”. The confinement of the plasma occurs inside a cylinder in the rocket, caused by the magnetic field generated by a high power magnetic coil. The cylinder gets eroded because of the plasma leaks due to the variation of the magnetic confinement field. This doctoral thesis depends of a series of measurements of the inner surface of the cylinder, to determine the behavior of the plasma with in the magnetic field, allowing optimizing the life span of the components of the rocket. AARC-CR doesn’t have the proper instruments to do these measurements, so they depend on the availability of the measurement machines of other companies. This is why this project attempts to design a measurement module that can be added to a vertical CNC milling machine, so that AARC-CR can perform the measurements in their facilities without any inconveniences.