Vectorply Welcomes Newest Composite Materials Engineer Noah Baumann

/in , /by

Vectorply is excited to onboard our newest Composite Materials Engineer, Noah Baumann. Noah joined the team May 6th, 2024, from Carstens Industries, where he held a similar role. He brings prior experience in mechanical design engineering working with a variety of mediums, from windows to boats to vehicles.

Noah graduated from North Dakota State University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. In his new role at Vectorply, Noah will assist customers with the technical aspects of their projects through our Vectorlam software and working alongside Composite Test Engineer Xavier Rachel in our lab, setting up infusions, testing parts, and more.

Vice President of Composites Engineering, Trevor Gundberg speaks, highly of Noah, saying, “Vectorply is ecstatic to further expand our engineering department and believe with Noah’s skill set and experience that he is a great fit. As a North Dakota State graduate myself, I am thoroughly impressed with the program and know that Noah is coming into this role well-equipped and ready.”

Vectorply Volunteers with Project Greene Light

/in , /by

Over the past year, a team of Vectorply employees have participated in a leadership program led by the East Alabama Chamber of Commerce. Throughout the program, they have toured various businesses within East Alabama, learned how to be strong leaders, and had opportunities to give back to the community.

The community service project they chose to complete was cleaning up the Project Greene Light house. Project Greene Light is a resource house for foster children within the Russell County community. Their mission is to provide support for foster children, through sponsoring birthdays, providing them with emergency clothing kits, and opening their house as a safe space for foster children and birth families to visit with one another.

In addition to bringing further awareness to their mission, our team pressure washed the house, planted flowers around the entrance, and painted parts of the exterior to ensure the outside of the house felt as welcoming as the inside.

Thank you, Brian Hickman, Chase Ramsey, Jeremy Story, and Kaylene Griffis, for your involvement in this project. Also, a big thank you to Project Greene Light for providing a safe place for foster children and families within Russell County.

To learn more about Project Greene Light or how to get involved, visit https://projectgreenelight.org/.

Auburn Engineers team up with Vectorply for HERC Challenge

/in , /by

Every year engineering students worldwide compete in the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) to design and engineer human-powered rovers. Teams endure a series of challenges from obstacle courses and missions to judges scoring based on design and functionality. The goal of this project is to further interest in scientific exploration and for students to better understand the task requirements of roving vehicles on the moon.

For the past semester, several senior students from Auburn University’s engineering school visited Vectorply to work on their rover’s wheels. With speed and weight key deciding factors in the race, Auburn HERC team members were tasked with creating new non-pneumatic wheels for their rover. Throughout this process, they partnered with our engineering team to learn the value of mold-prep and fabricated laminates via open molding and infusion.

Composites Engineer Xavier Rachel, an Auburn University Mechanical Engineering Graduate (Class of 2020) led the team throughout this project. Over the course of four months, Xavier demonstrated and oversaw various processes of vacuum infusion and open molding, answering their questions and meeting with them after hours to ensure that everything ran smoothly. “Working with students from my alma mater was an exciting experience and this project was a fun challenge,” Xavier said. “Getting to share the benefits and versatility of our materials to the next generation of graduates was very special.”

The wheels were designed with layers of our C-LT 1800 carbon fabric and filled with polyurethane foam, while the hubs were attached using J-B Weld. Team member Ashley Eng noted, “Our wheels were the most reliable part of the rover and had no issues at all. They held up extremely well for both our runs on the obstacle course and are still in great condition.”

The competition took place April 19th-20th in Huntsville, Alabama where out of the 62 teams participating, Auburn’s HERC placed 13th in the college sector.

To learn more about the HERC project and its origin, click here: About Human Exploration Rover Challenge – NASA