November 12, 2009
Students brainstorming to reduce not-so-good vibrations at Husky Stadium
The Husky Stadium crowd roars and you watch excitedly on TV as the purple-clad running back races downfield. He’s at the 40 yard line, then the 30, then — hey, why is the darn camera shaking so much?
Good question, and one that’s been asked for years. The TV camera platforms, or “buckets,” at the south end of Husky Stadium tend to vibrate slightly when the crowds get heated up — even a little — and that vibration makes work tough for TV camera operators.
But now, UW students in Introduction to Mechanical Design, ME 395, are on the case, brainstorming ways to secure the platforms and steady those cameras. Sixteen students in all — four groups of four — are at work on the problem and will present their designs on Dec. 3.
It’s informally being called the Husky Vibration project, and a mechanical engineering alumnus named Jeff Siegmeth got it all started. He calls it “a neat opportunity for students to fix a real-life problem.”
Siegmeth, who enjoyed the study of vibration when at the UW, said he’s noticed the shaky platform for years and knows that camera operators “complain about not being able to hold a cross-field shot” because of the movement. “It’s very difficult to zoom in and hold a stabilized shot without (the subject) shaking all over the viewfinder.”
Siegmeth talked with Per Reinhall, professor of mechanical engineering and a mentor during his college days, who agreed it posed an interesting challenge. They took the question to the students of Vipin Kumar, associate professor of mechanical engineering, who is teaching ME 395, Introduction to Mechanical Design, this fall. Kumar decided the problem was interesting enough to include as a project in the course.
The hope is that the ME 395 students might come up with a design that would be further explored in ME 499, a special projects course, and ME 495, a design lab where a student could work the problem as a senior capstone project. “Maybe one of those same students in ME 395 will decide to carry the project on,” Siegmeth said.
Of course, Siegmeth, Reinhall and the others are not free to just start working away at Husky Stadium, but they say they’re talking with the building’s facilities folks. “A lot of things are still up in the air,” Siegmeth said.
Meanwhile, he and Reinhall have been studying the nature of the vibration. Reinhall said they even replicated the slight shake in the camera buckets when the stadium was empty. “It’s a pretty lively structure, it’s a steel structure, and that is a problem for the cameras,” he said.
So, students are studying the matter, and will factor in engineering, cost and feasibility to their proposed designs. They will present their plans at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3, in Room 246 of the Mechanical Engineering Building, and the public is welcome.
But it’s worth asking: Do the more experienced Reinhall and Siegmeth also have their own fixes in mind?
“We have a couple of ideas,” said Siegmeth. “There’s an infinite number of solutions. It could be anything from a sort of rubber pad you put underneath the tripod or some kind of elaborate shock and strut system. The sky’s the limit.” Reinhall said it could be “like an engine mount, with rubber underneath.”
Reinhall sounded optimistic they’ll achieve their goal. “I do think that with some very simple means we might improve the situation, and decrease the vibrations.”
Kumar, instructor of ME 395, said, “Part of the students’ job is to define the problem … we don’t expect them to come out with implementing a solution in a matter of six weeks. But the hope is that they will end up in a place where another team can pick it up and actually develop and implement a solution.”
Siegmeth said he knows it’s a very ambitious goal, but he ventured, “if all goes well, there will be no vibration problem with the cameras next football season.”
