Yuchen Ding

Design Portfolio

MSc Mechanical Engineering University of California, Los Angeles yuchen.ding10@outlook.com +1 213-716-0980

Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) UAV

Research and Development Project

Sony/AeroSense Inc. (Tokyo, Japan)

08/2016-09/2016

One month internship working for AeroSense Inc (a Sony subsidiary company). Helped and supported the research and development of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAV used for emergency medicine delivery. My job was mainly divided into two parts: 1. Analyzed, repaired and maintained old full size prototype; 2. Designed and manufactured new 2:3 scale prototype. In order to reduce the cost and shorten manufacturing time, a simplified 2:3 scale testbench was designed and built, which reduced the cost to 10% of original budget (500,000 Japanese Yen) and saved 2/3 of time.

Analysis of Full-Size VTOL Prototype Loss-of-Control after Flight Mode Transition Phenomenon: After the VTOL transited from fixed-wing mode to hover mode, it turned into uncontrollable pitch-up and/or roll aside and crashed. Reasons: • Initial reason: Wind gust • Aerodynamics and Flight Dynamics reason: 1. Low stability aircraft configuration 2. Too large vertical fin area and caused one wing stall 3. Center of Gravity in the wrong position 4. Transition at very low speed • Control issue: Slow response of balancing system in hover • Hardware issue: Low thrust of ducted fans

New 2:3 Scale UAV Analysis and CAD Design

Simplified 2:3 Scale UAV Testbench CAD (Creo 2.0) Design, Laser Cutting Drawing and Finished Prototype

Five-bar Planar Parallel Robotic Arm Project

A five-bar planar parallel robotic arm was designed and prototyped for robotics course team project. The forward and inverse kinematics analysis of robot arm was conducted. The robot arm was designed and analyzed using SolidWorks, manufactured by 3D printing.

UCLA (Los Angeles, US) 03/2016-06/2016

UK British Model Flying Association University Heavy Lift Challenge

Led a team of 3, designed a heavy lift unmanned aircraft. Represented University of Liverpool to win 2nd place in BMFA 2015 Heavy Lift Challenge, got highest score among all UK universities. I designed and manufactured the propulsion system, payload system, fuselage, vertical and horizontal tail of the aircraft. Pro/Engineer was used as CAD software. Lathe, milling, laser cutting, 3D printing, vacuum bagging techniques were used in prototyping.

University of Liverpool, UK 09/2014-06/2015

In order to increase the thrust of propulsion system, a reduction gearbox was designed for the motor. During design and material selection, ceramic bearing, glass fiber reinforced nylon gears, fluoropolymer lubricant grease were decided to use for better performance. Propeller was carefully chosen and matched for the system. A thrust test bench was designed and built to test the thrust. Due to this design, the thrust was improved by 70% to the previous year with the same motor set.

The payload was 2 and 4 kilogram of water. Water bottles usually used as the payload pods, which are dead weight and generated drag. I designed the payload pods in specially chosen airfoil shape, which generated lift and much lower drag. The payload pods were made from prepreg carbon fiber sheet with vacuum bagging technique.

Reduced the weight of fuselage and tails by 45% because of efficient and smart structure design and use of composite material.

Microlight Aircraft Development Project

Cooperated with teammates, designed a 2 seats, 450kg aircraft according to the regulations and market research. Used Pro/E to design the wing structure and control mechanism, BOM was created to manage the design. Selected material and manufacturing process for each component. Selected the parts manufacturers and suppliers, estimated the cost and production rates: £21,500 per aircraft, 150 aircrafts per year.

University of Liverpool, UK 01/2014-05/2014

One Week Airplane Project

Designed and built an indoor RC aircraft with special configuration. Tested with wind tunnel. Achieved excellent maneuverability, high AoA performance and controllability at very low flight speed.

University of Liverpool, UK 12/2012

Personal Light Jet Project

Used pre-configured spreadsheets designed a twin-engine, two-seat personal light jet, with Price Induction DGEN 390 turbofan engine.

University of Liverpool, UK 09/2014-02/2015

3001 THE SPACE ODYSSEY

Cooperated with friends in Architecture Dept., designed an orbit ring structure over Earth to participate THE JACQUES ROUGERIE FOUNDATION "Innovation and Architecture for Space" Award. Based on calculation, the orbit ring is about 645km high above the equator, with several space elevators linking the structure to the ground and the whole project will be finished in A.D. 3001 06/2015-09/2015