My Pancreas in the Workplace

My pancreas doesn't work, but I do.

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It has been a while since my last update…The truth is, I’ve had less to write about since most of my work has been on a computer doing stuff that I can’t share with you. But I’ve been learning a lot, and I think I have enough to do a post with a few pictures. So back to that computer stuff. I’ve been designing a circuit board to do cool things. I finished the schematic and am now working on component placement and creating footprints and 3D models for the new parts. It’s pretty cool and challenging. There has been a lot that has been completely new to me, but I’ve had great mentors and have gotten feedback during the design review. Once I finished the schematic, I scheduled a design review with my department, and we all got together to look over the design, talk through things, and suggest any changes. Once I finish the next two parts (component placement and routing) and go through two more design reviews, we will order the boards and begin testing.

In my free time, I’ve been doing some designing of my own ideas. I’ve put together some drawings that have now been forwarded to a project manager, so hopefully they might become a reality or get something started. I’ve also gotten to spend a little more time in the R&D lab, which despite all the other cool things I’ve been doing, has started to shine as my favorite place.

I got to put together some boards today from scratch. I started with some blank breadboards and pins and soldered them carefully while looking through a microscope. I’ve only soldered larger components before, so this was slightly difficult but surprisingly fun. I then soldered wires connecting certain pins from a schematic, and I even made it look like Robin.

I also got to assemble some 14-pin connectors by separating a reel, cutting a section, and using a vise to secure the connectors.

Working here has still been a blast. I came in a couple times last weekend and was surprised to see other employees enjoying the extra work opportunity. We ordered pizzas, talked about Halo and Comic-Con, and actually got work done too.

I also decided to get a skateboard yesterday. I’ve missed my longboard, and I haven’t skateboarded since like middle school. I’ve taken some time to adjust to my new board in Tandem’s parking lot when I’m here in the evening. It’s not too warm, there aren’t cars driving around, and the pavement is pretty smooth.

It’s weird to think that I only have a month left. I really like it here and am hoping to move back after I graduate this year. Tandem is wonderful, and San Diego is growing on me despite the heat. Check in next time for some potential non-work-related content and a very likely picture of an injury I’ll get in the Tandem parking lot.

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Happy CATSual Friday!

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I just scared a Tandem cleaning lady....maybe I shouldn’t work at 8:30 at night.

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CSII Investigator

The results are in! After over 40 hours of testing, I graphed all of my data on the plot below:

Pretty, right? It hurts to see a graph without its axes labeled, but since I’m supposed to keep what I’m investigating a secret, you get to have no idea what this plot represents. But hey, it’s still pretty. And for those of you dying to know, the Justice League winner is none other than Icon! Most of you probably have no idea who that is, so his victory in this study is a real success for him. In other news, my second research project is coming along nicely too. I’m testing a whole lot of terrific t:slims. You could say I’m a CSII investigator. For those of you who don’t know, CSII stands for Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion (the official name for insulin pump therapy). So as a CSII investigator, I investigate pumps….now I want to make that my official job title.

I bring more in for questioning every day, or I guess I should say I bring them out. After a short test at my desk, we head outside where I put them through a rigorous testing environment. I perform my CSI^3 (CSII investigator just got more abbreviated) duties while reading Halo books. What a great time!

This investigation should be completed soon, and then I think I’ll be moving back to Altium, working on schematics and PCB design. That means leaving the lab for a while and returning to my cubicle. But that is okay because I’ve made my desk pretty awesome. With my birthday and cool work equipment, my cube looks pretty neat.

I am still waiting on receiving a bunch of Batcat pictures to hang everywhere, but someone was nice and covered my walls with birthday pictures last week, so at least they aren’t empty. Next time, I’ll update you on my newest project and introduce you to the ideas behind our group intern project! -Diabatic

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Holy crap, you guys. Plastic Man has taken the lead. Only Icon and Blue Beetle are left to take the title. What an epic and unexpected turn of events.

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The Job for Me

Is R&D. Within one week of work, I got 2 desks – one in the office space with a dual screen computer to use programs like Altium and do a lot of my computer-based work, and one in the Research and Development lab with a laptop, oscilloscope, multimeter, and a bunch of other neat equipment. And I thought my job was cool before – it just keeps getting better! My research is classified, naturally. You have to be a member of the Justice League for me to reveal its secrets, but I can tell you the codename of the project – Wombat. No, not Manbat.

Wombat. As in Working On Missions - Batman At Tandem Wonderful Options for Managing ‘Betes at All Times Warrior’s Operation Manual for Battling Annoying T1D Anyways…. My first project is researching something cool. I love that I get to do hands-on work on projects that are actually useful. The ideas I’ve been involved with so far have been related to ideas I’ve personally had when thinking about how to improve pumps, so it makes my job that much more amazing and meaningful. I can’t go into details, but I have used my good friend, the oscilloscope a bit.

I’ve been testing 20 different objects, and I was given a lot of freedom on how to organize everything. So naturally, I’m reporting on the results of Justice League members. Batman had the lead for a while, the Flash was waaaay beyond everyone else (in a bad way – he just accelerated too quickly :P), and Zatara really surprised me today by taking the lead. I have 5 heroes left, and I’ll let you all know who our winner is in my next post!

So stay tuned for the coolest member of the Justice League, chosen by science (which will be kind of ironic if it’s Zatara). Anyways, you’ll also learn about the other project I’m working on – say hello to my third desk:

That’s right. I’m outside now. I love my job.

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Apparently the way to make friends as an adult is to bring ice cream cake to work.

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Addicted to Altium

So I got to start learning how to use Altium Designer this week. It is basically a tool that allows us to turn our circuit ideas and schematics into complete PCB (printed circuit board) models. There are so many options and abilities that I have yet to explore, but I got through a basic tutorial and made a multivibrator in the process. I’ve used LTSpice before to make a variety of schematics and do some simple analysis for classes and labs. So the beginning steps in creating the schematic file were pretty similar and familiar.

Look up some components, change some values and settings, rotate and place, and wire everything together—boom, schematic done. Now the new part was bringing this information into a PCB setting. This created a file shown below where I would concern myself with the placement and routing.

Now this part is important because the location of components, especially in comparison to each other makes or breaks the design. I put the transistors, capacitors, resistors, and connector onto my PCB, and then I got to route everything for the first time. As you can see below, the components are connected by thin yellow lines representing the wires in my schematic diagram. I crossed some wires below, so I flipped the components around and made those connections a whole lot better.

In my previous experience, I’ve made schematics and then wired my circuits using real wires. Obviously, for actual products, we want to minimize the size and avoid excess wires. Long wires not only impact the design electromagnetically, but they would also make TSA a loootttt more of a pain than it already is.

I probably enjoyed this part the most. It was like a really cool and fun puzzle (too nerdy?). The blue lines represent the routing I did—creating a conductive path in replacement of my traditional wire use. You can see these paths if you look at a circuit board. This is where the signals travel. Some constraints are paths cannot cross (you could short something, and issues arise if you even put them too close together) and the paths should be as short a possible (but a slightly longer path can be preferred with other design issues in mind). There are many different solutions for my setup and even more for different component placements. You can also route on both sides of the board sometimes, allowing for less traffic with crossing paths. I got to try this as well by switching layers and drawing some red paths to show routing on the top of the board. Finally, I brought this design to a 3D model, and it looked pretty fricking cool.

The transparency could be adjusted to see the routing, and I could import some circuit component files to get images for my resistors and capacitors. For some reason, I already had transistors…but overall, I really enjoyed playing with this program. Like I said, there is still so much to learn and explore, but I really enjoy it and look forward to working with Altium more in the future.

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My 5 Minutes of Nerd Fame

I got notified quite a few times last week that I showed up in a number of 3D printing articles thanks to my design project last year. I’m still so thankful to be a part of a meaningful and valuable project, but it’s kinda weird to show up in this stuff....here’s one of the articles: http://www.designworldonline.com/researchers-use-3d-printing-to-cut-costs-of-medical-appliances/?

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Waking up into a Dream

I have wanted to work for Tandem for years, and I was so excited to work there after talking to a variety of people who said I’d fit in well. But honestly, after only a short time at Tandem, I realized it wasn’t what I expected.

It is even better. I knew Tandem had a casual environment, but I was a bit nervous showing up in a hat on my first day (I feel uncomfortable without hats). All the interns went on a tour, and I quickly saw a number of hats, and I was happy to see someone in a Joker shirt and a baseball cap. So I can say I fit in just fine in my DC Comics gear and hats. :) After some initiation presentations (including some introductory diabetes information, which I felt rather familiar with), we split up into our departments and met with our managers. My boss is actually away for the first two weeks, and the second in command was also absent, so I have been working with two other electrical engineers who have been introducing me to some of the basics. Most of what I deal with is classified, but imagine cutting a t:slim in half and looking inside. That’s what I get to play with, and I actually have half of a t:slim on my desk so I can see the internal circuitry. I also have a scaled up version for testing that I can hook up to my computer and run commands on, using a terminal to make the pump vibrate, beep, change colors, deliver insulin, and much more. The fun doesn’t end there. I was immediately given schematics of the pump – seven pages of beauty showing various modules so I can track signals and get a better idea of how the pump does what it does and what it needs to do it. I have been reading data sheets for some of the components – I’m currently taking notes on about 200 pages of information on the IC that controls battery monitoring. You’ll soon see an update on my introduction to Altium, the software we use to design the electronics – going from basic schematics to beautiful three dimensional printed circuit board models. And that’s still not all! Stay tuned for the beginning of my adventures away from my desk. I’ll be heading to the lab to get some more hands-on experience.

I haven’t even completed my first week, but I am beyond excited to see what this summer internship has in store for me!

[dykabetik]

I am PUMPED to be working for the genius company that came up with this in just 4 DAYS. And yes, I’d totally put this on my belt. :)

[workingdiabatic]

Another summer has started, and that means another internship (and the last considering I graduate next year). I have been given the amazing opportunity to work for Tandem Diabetes Care, and I am so excited to start in a week! I’ll be an electrical engineering intern, so I’ll get to explore many tasks this department specializes in, from testing circuit boards to designing them in Altium. I’ll post updates frequently and let you know how my dream job is coming. And a huge shout out to Students with Diabetes for making this possible and helping me connect with Tandem!

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We finished our project and got really positive feedback! We were able to print a couple full scale AFOs (Ankle Foot Orthosis) in PLA and PETG and test a variety of 3D-printed materials (PLA, Carbon Fiber PLA, Polypropylene, PETG, and Nylon) with a MTS and fatigue cycle machine against the original polypropylene sheet. We presented the design advisory board and Shriners Children’s Hospital with a summary of our results and an overview of the process to go from 3D scans of patients’ legs to a 3D printed AFO in a matter of hours. This project was great to be a part of, and I am excited to see how they continue it in future years.

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Creating a stl file to print!

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I've been working on the research poster for my project...I think it's pretty pretty.

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Running 3 Markov Chains while watching Monk.

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Starting to record data! I am using splot to deblend each of the 17 spectral lines we are looking for to get flux and equivalent width information. 17 lines for over 200 galaxies....should be fun!