DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING AND DESIGN
860H1 MENG GROUP PROJECT PROPOSALS 2015/16
Code: FSRC16
Title: Formula Student Racing Car
Contacts:
AUTO/ME students Mr Dick Atkins [email protected]
EEE/EE/CE students Dr H Prance [email protected]
Formula Student is an international student engineering competition held annually around the world. For
the UK competition, the teams are required to design, build, test and race a small formula style car which is
raced at Silverstone circuit in July against over 100 competitors from international universities. The Mobil 1
Sussex Team of Formula Student Racing Car is supported by the Department and mainly sponsored by
Exxon Mobil 1. The details about the IMechE Formula Student competition can be found at
http://www.formulastudent.com/
For the 2015/2016 project, it is planned that a new car will be developed for Class 1 competition which will
take place at Silverstone circuit in July 2016. The project is suitable for ten to twelve team members from
AE/ME and EE/EEE/CE respectively. One to three team members will be needed for each following subsystems : chassis, powertrain, suspension, electronics and control, driving control and car body.
We are particularly keen to hear from EEE/EE/CE students. There are a number of ways that you can
contribute to the team and there is a large degree of flexibility to work on areas that you find interesting that
fit within the aims of the project. Some aspects of the car must be designed and built by the EE students,
including wiring looms and ancillaries (brake light, dashboard etc). Many other aspects of the project,
however, are up to you (and the team). Wireless telemetry is often very useful for the team to monitor the
status of the engine from the pits. Chassis dynamics are another potentially interesting area of investigation
- being able to adapt the mechanical properties of the car to aid handling, acceleration etc.
For all students interested in this project, you are advised to discuss this with other potential team members
(see below).
The following students have been approved to be members of the Formula Student Group in year 4, to
ensure continuity from 2014/15:
Rebecca Geraghty-Shewan (Team Leader) - [email protected]
Tom Westwood (Chief Engineer) - [email protected]
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Title: Sussex rocket project
Contact: Professor Chris Chatwin, [email protected]
Design, Build and Test a multistage solid-fuel Rocket – highly interdisciplinary.
The project consists of formulating a rocket design and its control system.
Elements of the Design
1) Staging masses and fuel, expected altitude
2) Fuel options
3) Control system for dropping stages
4) Rocket mechanical and aeronautical design and fabrication
5) Design of a convergent divergent nozzle to achieve supersonic exit velocity
6) Methods of Manufacture of all components, especially the solid fuel
7) Inertial guidance, instrumentation and control system, computing system
8) Regulatory framework for firing the rocket
9) Safety considerations
At this stage I have no idea what the restrictions are on firing a small rocket, this is for you to find out
Generate a requirements specification, highlighting compromises. Create a general assembly or systems
schematic of your concept and complete an analysis of this. Complete a detailed design of the elements of
the system that you have designed, this should include analysis and calculations. Explore the life cycle and
environmental impact of your design. You may not complete all of these activities but you may add others
like generating the business case for making the system into a new product.
This project requires a good mix of electronics and mechanical engineering students
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Title: Autonomous buggy on campus
Contact: Dr Daniel Roggen, [email protected]
In the previous year a 2-seater gasoline off-road buggy has been modified with servos and a basic CAN
system to be remote controlled. This project picks up where the past project left and aims at turning this
buggy into an autonomous vehicle that can run on campus.
The objective of this project is to extend the current buggy with: better mechatronics (faster, lighter), more
sensors (speed, direction, LIDAR, stereo vision), two-way fast communication, developing buggy control
models, and integrating the entire system with ROS (Robot Operating System) to achieve: 1) path planning,
2) environment mapping, 3) autonomous exploration.
This project involves mechanics, electronics and computer engineering.
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Title: Full body exoskeleton
Contact: Dr Daniel Roggen, [email protected]
An exoskeleton is a robotic body (typically an actuated joint) surrounding human limbs to support the
human motion. They can be used to help elderly, support rehabilitation after injuries, or enhance strength of
soldiers. A Y3 project in 2014/15 showed the proof of concept for a simple arm, with 3D printed mechanics,
simple servo, and EMG-based actuation.
The objective of this project is to design a full-body exoskeleton including knee, hip, arm, shoulder and
back. Sensor wise, torque sensors should be on all joints, current sensors on all actuators, EMG sensors
on key muscle groups, and IMUs on all actuated segments. The data of torque, EMG, current and IMU is
combined to design different assistive profiles and dynamics. On-body energy storage and remote data
transmission and control is realised as well. An integrated solution is desired (i.e. custom electronics,
custom torque sensors if needed, etc). The overall system is assessed in different scenarios such as
rehabilitation, sports, etc.
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Title: Design & Manufacture of Safer Semi- Recumbent Bicycle
Contact: Dr Jean-Pierre Pirault, [email protected]
This project will generate a design for a semi-recumbent bicycle in which the rider is protected by a
lightweight cage which is part of the bicycle structure and has some storage area. Some analysis will be
required to look at the steering geometry and various aspects of stability and ride and handling and side
wind susceptibility.
The concept is aimed at a practical city bike in which the rider has a lower profile but with structural
protection for front, rear and side impact. The bicycle should also be equipped with active sensor emitters
which will warn drivers of their proximity.
An ergonomic mock-up is to be made for position, comfort and visibility testing, and a complete prototype
produced.
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Code: JP-02
Title: Hybrid Mixed Flight UAV with Hybrid Propulsion System
Contact: Dr Jean-Pierre Pirault, [email protected]
The object of this project is to evolve a low noise commercial application long flight duration hovering UAV
which has reasonable translational capability allowing hovering deployment over a distance.
The project is to design, analyse, comparatively cost & make static demonstrator for a low profile long
stroke opposed piston (OP) 2-cycle compression ignition engine which inherently has at least 4 power take
off points. This configuration enables a potential variety of propulsion arrangements for a mixed flight UAV
(ie hovering or translational). One basic arrangement allows a multiplicity of propeller/fan propulsion
driven by lightweight belts. Another arrangement can use some of the engine power to drive a generator
which then supplies electric motor driven propellers. A further arrangement comprises a combination of the
two previously mentioned systems, i.e. some belt driven propellers and some “hybrid” electrically driven
propellers. The OP engine is chosen as it is a light weight, high fuel efficiency and fully balanced single
cylinder arrangement which does not need a cylinder head and has a long and narrow aspect with two
crankshafts/4 power take-offs.
The design can make use of new or second-hand proprietary components from model aero engines. The
airframe should be designed for hovering and translational flight modes. The airframe and certain other
parts such as deployable aerofoils, and an extensive lightweight acoustic attentuators, will be printed in a
clear plastic to allow a static demonstrator assembly. The students may liaise for advice and help with
members of a start-up company that is exploring the concept.
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Title: A resonating free-piston generator
Contact: Dr Julian Dunne, [email protected]
Free piston engines are considered an attractive option for use as range extenders in electric vehicles, or
as generators in domestic combined heat and power (CHP) systems. Most free piston engines use a
bounce chamber but a new concept exploits mechanical resonance which provides a number of
advantages. Resonance build-up is achieved via timed-control of the gas pressure forces whereas the
resonant motion amplitude is pseudo-damping-controlled by force feedback from the motor/generator
system. Feedback control of the gas pressure, and the motor/generator, and are therefore essential
activities of the concept.
A previous Year-4 MEng Group has successfully designed and built a linear resonating single-cylinder
opposed-semi-free-piston generator which is driven by compressed-air (rather than by timed-combustion).
This has been achieved by fully-controlling the air-supply valves, and by adapting the electrical generator to
achieve appropriate generator force control, The Group will have realized the resonance phenomenon in
hardware by the time this project starts but a deeper understanding is needed for fired combustion.
This follow-on project will examine resonance behaviour more fully in order to understand the impact of
stochastic variability in the gas pressure, by controlling the compressed-air flow to the free-piston generator.
The dynamics and control simulation model developed in Simulink by the 2014-15 Group, will be adapted
to emulate stochastic variability. In addition, use will be made of AVL engine simulation software to
understand how stable robustly-controlled resonance can be arranged to occur with fired combustion
(state-of-the -art AVL engine simulation tools are now available to the University). The objectives of the
project are:
.
i)
To adapt the Simulink model to simulate stochastic variability in the air supply.
ii)
To control the air supply valves to emulate stochastic variability in the hardware.
iii)
To adapt the control system to achieve robust control of the generator, in the present of
stochastic variability of the air-supply,
The particular tasks in the project therefore are as follows:
1) Review the existing mechanical and electrical hardware.
2) Review the control system design.
3) Extend the Simulink model to include stochastic variability in the air supply and, if necessary,
modify the control strategy.
4) Implement the control strategy on the generator hardware to demonstrate
stable generation in the presence of stochastic variability.
5) Extend the hardware data capture capability to verify the Simulink model.
The project requires a mix of skills in mechanical, automotive, electronics, and computer systems
engineering.
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Title: A flywheel-based kinetic energy and storage system for a bicycle.
Contact: Dr Julian Dunne, [email protected]
Kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) are now being considered to improve the regenerative braking
efficiency of various types of transport system to reduce running costs and to reduce green-house gas
emissions, such as CO2. The idea of using energy recovery systems for electric and hybrid electric road
vehicles are well-established but the options for bicycles are less clear. Hilly cycle journeys for example,
could benefit significantly from being fitted with KERS but they remain expensive, and are mainly still only
adopted by F1.
The objectives of the project are:
.
i)
To design a KERS for a bicycle.
ii)
To build a KERS and to retrofit it to a particular bicycle
This project will explore the design and build issues surrounding the options for KERS on a bicycle by
addressing the following topics:
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The ‘economics’ of kinetic energy recovery for a bicycle versus existing hybrid bicycles.
The market for KERS on bicycles.
The technical benefits of KERS for bicycles.
A comparison of the efficiency of alternatives such as hybrid bicycles, versus use of KERS.
A consideration of the best type of transmissions to use on bicycles.
The design, adaptation, and retrofitting issues associated with a KERS.
The creation of a dynamic model and a control simulation capability to assess the practical
operation of the KERS and the likely rider energy savings, and reduction in fatigue levels.
The design of the KERS for a particular type of bicycle.
The manufacture of the KERS and the manufacture or selection of the transmission.
The retrofitting of the KERS to the bicycle.
The project requires a mix of skills in mechanical, automotive, electronics, and computer systems
engineering.
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Title: Automated bending and stretching tool for flexible electronics
Contact: Dr Niko Munzenrieder, [email protected]
Nowadays, electronics is diverging from being bulky and rigid, and is becoming lightweight and flexible.
This development not only leads to new applications covering all aspects of wearable electronics, ranging
from smart textiles to skin mount devices but also enables new cost efficient roll-to-roll fabrication
techniques. Extremely bendable electronics can e.g. be realized by the use of micrometer thin substrates.
However, bendability is not enough for some envisioned applications. Epidermal electronics, smart implants,
or artificial electronic skins for robots require elastic electronic devices. Since the stretchability of human
skin varies between 20% and 70%, elastic electronics needs to be able to survive an at least equal amount
of strain.
This implies that flexible electronic devices do not only have to provide a sufficient electronic performance,
but their mechanical properties have to be optimized simultaneously. To quantify the mechanical properties
it is required to perform bending and stretching test which simulate the everyday use of a flexible electronic
system. It is possible to perform all the required tasks by mounting the flexible sample under test between
two movable plates of a custom build mechanical testing tool. Here, an increase of the plate distance
induces tensile strain into the sample, while a reduction of the plate distance can bend the sample to a
desired radius. The use of “Lego mindstorms” in combination with commercial of-the-shelf sensors provides
a cheap and universal platform to build a mechanical tester optimized for specific applications. This project
will focus on the design and manufacturing of a testing tool for the mechanical characterization of flexible
electronic devices.
The goals of the proposed group project are summarized as follows:
1)
Design and manufacturing of a mechanical tool using “Lego mindstorms”, able to apply a
defined amount of tensile strain to flexible and/or elastomeric polymer samples.
2)
The manufactured strain tester has to be controllable using a PC and the forces applied to the
sample have to be measured using an additional force sensor.
3)
Verification of the functionally by the mechanical characterization of a stretchable electronic thinfilm sensor or transistor.
The project can be divided into the following tasks:
a) Familiarization with the mechanical properties of flexible/stretchable electronics.
b) Determination of the required dimensions of the testing tool
c) Selection of the needed “Lego mindstorms” and manufacturing of the tester
d) Selection of an appropriate force sensor and integration into the tester
e) Programming of a computer interface to control the tester and read out the force sensor
simultaneously (e.g. using LabView).
f) Mechanical endurance test (repeated stretching/relaxing) of an elastomeric thin-film strain
sensor or transistor.
This project includes aspects of mechanical as well as electrical engineering, and is a chance to work in a
new research field with future applications in fields ranging from wearable sports and entertainment
equipment to biocompatible implants.
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Title: Industry proposed project
Contact: Dr Helen Prance, [email protected]
I am in contact with Eschmann Equipment, Lancing – the medical equipment company that a current
placement student, Tom Westwood, has been working with. They wish to propose a group project and I am
meeting with them on 3 June, so more details will be available after that.
If you are interested in working very closely with a company, please take a look at their website,
http://www.eschmann.co.uk/ and let me know that you are interested.
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Code: VK-01
Title: Flow sensor development and Measurement Automation for Turbine Blade Flow Experiments
Contact: Dr Vasu Kanjirakkad, [email protected]
The project aims to develop a self-reliant instrumentation and testing system for turbine blade row
aerodynamic testing. The work involves the mechanical and electrical installation of flow sensing
instrumentation. The work would involve design of a hot-wire circuitry and robotic motion controllers for
probe movement. The ultimate aim will be to produce successful experimental results from the proposed
setup. The students are expected to work in a hands-on environment in the TFMRC. Application of CFD
would be useful.
Note: this project has been developed on request of the following team. They are looking for one more
Mech/Auto student to join them.
Konstantinos Patmanidis, [email protected]
Daniel Bailey, [email protected]
David Scholtz, [email protected]
Alistair Cheeseman, [email protected]