January 2, 2013 - January 3, 2013

January 2, 2013

Both Ben Willis and Jon Kulakofsky have contacted me to inquire about when they should come in to do work in the lab. I told Ben to come in tomorrow so we can talk about the computer program, and I suggested that Jon come in on Friday when Alex will be here so they can set up the GPU/CPU cooling system together. I plan to find out if there is a meeting tomorrow and told Jon I will let him know since he will not be here working in the lab that day.

At the start of a new year and a new contract for me I will highlight the goals of the next three months:

1. Splice fibers when Brendan is finished machining new parts. (I'll work on this)

2. Flush pipes/ run heater and water pump to test the system. ( Jim will be in charge of this, Ben or I will simply be helping.)

3. Work on computer program (it's almost complete, just needs to be fine tuned and a new equation put in to compensate for new hardware. Ban has some ideas for improvement. I will speak with him about this tomorrow )

4. Work on ventilation system in the room ( Parts need to be purchased and then assembled with a little ingenuity. Purchasing and assembly require Dr. Jones and Jim's oversight respectively)

5. Solder/Install new Integrated Circuit to run thermocuople. ( I am waiting for the chip to come in to start.)

At the moment I am learning about chip instillation, common lines, and connecting pins to other pins/lines. It is my hope that when the chip does come in, I will be able to start right away. Maybe one place I can start is to solder lead wires to each of the thermocouples and insulate them...

I have also updated my hours and the Google Calendar for the duration of my new contract: January 1, 2013 to March 31, 2013.

Update

The IC has come in the mail. Dr. Jones had ordered three of them. Although I do not want to start soldering the chip today, I think that I will solder the leads to the thermocouples if I can.

One of the leads needs to be about 3' and the other about 4'. This will give us plenty of room to move the DAQ and rotate the PVC pipe as needed.