Dr. Kaitra Awarded $195k from the DoD Army Research Office
In 2002, J. Marden and L. Allen from Pennsylvania State University showed that the
force output of motors, irrespective of their design, mechanism of action, size or
origin (natural/biological or synthetic/engineered) followed one of two very specific
relationships with the mass of the motor – force output = 887∙mass2/3 for motors generating
a constant, translational force, and force output = 55∙mass for motors generating
a non-steady cyclical force. Simply put, over millennia of natural evolution and the
centuries of human engineering, the force to mass relationship is very tightly maintained
in motors and that higher force output has always been accompanied by an equivalent
increase in the mass of the motor. Dr. Katira has been awarded $195k from the DoD
Army Research Office to identify the mechanical and/or thermodynamic origins of this
“Universal Performance Characteristic” of Motors. The award is part of a larger grant
to Columbia University, New York with whom Dr. Katira will be collaborating. Dr. Katira
will be working with experimental researchers at Columbia University on analyzing
design elements common to motors ranging from the nano (10-9 m) to the macro scale
(101 m) scales that make them follow this tight “Force Production to Mass” constraint.
The understanding of this relationship is critical, if we ever aim to build tiny machines
that can generate extremely large forces. Currently, two ME undergraduate students,
Olivia Orren and Courtney Earley are working on this project with Dr. Katira. They
are analyzing similarities between the tiny molecular motors called myosin, that drive
muscle contraction in humans, and a two stroke IC engine to see what could potentially
constrain both of these motors, made of completely different materials and powering
mechanisms, to the same force vs mass constraint.