Electric Hydrofoil Gearbox

Through my consulting business, Doll Motors, I develop custom gearboxes for electric boats. These programs include design, sourcing, assembly, and validation testing on a custom AC dynamometer I built. My gearbox units are currently operating on high-performance hydrofoiling electric boats, where they meet demanding weight, performance, and reliability targets.

PDU for Electric Canoe

Developed the PDU (and HMI) design for Kara Solar's center console electric canoes. Deliverables included schematic, 3D CAD, and supporting calculations / specifications. The design included a Victron BMV, Torqueedo Torqlink throttle, 2x parallel Elcon UHF Chargers, main battery, aux battery, DC-DC converter, and galvanic isolator.

Metal 3D Printer

Led a team of engineers developing the commercial product for Digital Alloys, and supported the Joule Printing research program. The metal 3D printing process required 2 kA of electrical power, and a high-speed (3 m/s, 3 g) gantry system, with an extremely rigid base.

Electric Jetski Seat Structure

The Electric Jetski Seat Structure project aimed to rapidly prototype a lightweight two-seater structure for the Valo Hyperfoil, an electric jetski. I designed a fixture-less assembly of laser-cut and bent aluminum sheet metal, sourced through OSH Cut. From concept to prototype delivery, the project was completed in just four weeks.

Vertical Lift for Kitchen Appliance

Designed and built a chain-driven vertical lift with linear rails. The structure was a steel weldment made from laser-cut tubes. Much attention was spent designing and testing the safety system, which operated with a resistive rubber trim sensor and a COTS certified safety controller. The closed-loop position control was accomplished with a custom Arduino program and shaft-mounted encoder. The drive was a brushed 24VDC motor with worm-box. The electronics package included a custom PCB interconnection board.

Plastic 3D Printer

Co-founded NVBOTS, and led the development of the NVPro. This was a an automated plastic 3D printer, with a patented part removal system. This was an exiting time in the 3D printing industry, and I was lucky to have experienced it along side of my co-founders.

Electric Longtail Conversion

Kara Solar and Motores Amazonas are developing sustainable solar power and river transportation infrastructure in the Amazon basin. The goal of the Electric Longtail Conversion project was to quickly convert an existing ICE longtail to electric. Based on the testing results of this conversion, Motores Amazonas developed a custom electric longtail for production. To learn how new electric technology was being adopted in practice, I traveled into the Amazon rainforest to work with indigenous communities.

Solar Power Microgrid

Designed the infrastructure for a standalone solar microgrid to support electric canoe operations in remote Amazon communities. My work included the mechanical design of the solar array structure and the electrical specification of the system, selecting panel strings, MPPTs, inverters, and calculated power losses for each sub-system. The design emphasized reliability, modularity, and ease of maintenance in challenging rainforest conditions.