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The University of Michigan's ultra-low vibration lab
(ULVL) has already accomplished two major scientific milestones since its
opening in 2014: measuring heat fluxes at the nanoscale and establishing that
LEDs can be used to cool electronic devices.
Noel Perkins, former
associate chair for Facilities and Planning with the Department of Mechanical
Engineering, describes this addition as a building-within-a-building. The
Nanoengineering Lab, located on the ground floor, contains eight
ultra-low-vibration chambers for nanoscale metrology, mechanical, temperature
and interference testing.
Supporting these discoveries are ULVL's
negative-stiffness
vibration isolation platforms, designed by Minus K
Technology, which have enabled record low vibration levels in all ULVL chambers
ranging from VC-K to VC-M at frequencies above 2.5 Hz.
The ULVL is a
part of the new Center of Excellence in Nano Mechanical Science and Engineering
(NAMSE) a recent addition to the G.G. Brown Laboratories on the North Campus of
the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Noel Perkins, former Associate
Chair for Facilities and Planning with the Department of Mechanical
Engineering, describes this addition as a "building-within-a-building." The
nanoengineering lab, located on the ground floor, contains eight ultra-low
vibration chambers for nanoscale metrology, mechanical, temperature, and
interference testing.
The chambers are structurally isolated from the
balance of the building. Vibration isolation tables are mounted on pillars that
are part of an 8 ft (2.4m) thick seismic mass, which is isolated from the
chamber floors. Even researchers' footsteps will not disturb
experiments.
"With the emergence of nanotechnology and nanoengineering
of the last two decades, a relatively small number of institutions and agencies
have been able to construct facilities for ultra-sensitive measurements, and I
know of none that are focused on the mission of a mechanical engineering
department," says Edgar Meyhofer, professor of mechanical engineering and
biomedical engineering at the university.
Article
continued...(Including Custom Low-Vibration Chamber, Cooling Supercomputers,
Engineering a Solution for the Lab, Record-Low VC-M
Level)
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