Fault Detection and isolation of Combined Heat and Power Units

Project Title: Fault Detection and isolation of Combined Heat and Power Units

Project Description:
The development of a fault detection scheme for industrial combined heat and power units (CHP) is required. The CHP units are operated unmanned, an onboard microcontroller connected to a central control via a modem link. Prediction of the fouling in the heat recovery process will allow reduced energy loss and unit down-time. The CHP units incorporate two heat exchangers for waste heat recovery; theses are prone to surface fouling , causing serious maintenance problems, loss of revenue and reduced energy recovery. The build up of surface deposits on either side of the heat exchangers is difficult to detect at an early stage from direct examination of data from sensors, and a unit can operate for many months with a reduced heat transfer rate. Often the first sign that a heat exchanger has fouling problems is when an alarm is triggered due to abnormal operating temperatures in the fluid. Analysis of historical data will be carried out to develop an appropriate method of detecting fouling build up in each heat exchanger at an early stage.

Product Details:
A software program will be developed for detecting the on-set of fouling deposits which can be used by CHP engineers to rectify fouling problems at a planned unit stop reducing downtime and increasing heat recovery. The program will incorporate a technique for distinguishing between assignable fault conditions and random data variation to provide statistical justification of a developing fault condition.

Resources Required:
Matlab software

Evaluation of alternative materials for use in 3D printing – creating 3D printing simulator using HP printer for evaluation purposes

Project Title: Evaluation of alternative materials for use in 3D printing – creating 3D printing simulator using HP printer for evaluation purposes.

Project Description:

Evaluation of alternative materials for use in 3D printing – creating 3D printing simulator using HP printer for evaluation purposes. The proposal is to use a HP Bubble Jet Printer to simulate the ZCorp machine to enable different powdered materials to be evaluated without causing any damage or invalidating any service contracts on the ZCorp 406 machine.

Product Details:

3D printer simulator.

Resources Required:

CAD System,
HP Bubble Jet Printer (Black)
Z Corp 3D printer
Materials testing

Development of a Process Loop Simulator for Supervisory Statistical Process

Project Title: Development of a process loop simulator for supervisory statistical process control analysis 

Project Description:
Statistical Process Control (SPC) tools have been traditionally applied to discrete manufacturing rather than continuous process industries. Major problems are encountered when directly applying SPC to continuous processes due to autocorrelated data and the complexity of the data structures. SPC tools can be used to supervise process loops however. The development of a process control loop simulator is required for the continued development of such techniques.

Product Details:
A software program will be developed based on a model of a heat exchanger unit controlled by a three term controller. Noise models and uncertainty will be incorporated to simulate realistic process data for SPC analysis. The program will allow the application of on-line series models for research purposes.

Resources Required:
Matlab computing environment

Development of a Hardware in the Loop/ Rapid Controller Prototyping facility for automotive chassis control

Project Title: Development of a Hardware in the Loop/ Rapid Controller Prototyping facility for automotive chassis control

Project Description:

This project will involve the development of a hardware-in-the-loop/Rapid controller prototyping facility for automotive controller evaluation. The initial phase of the project will focus on the mechatronic design and implementation of actuators and sensors to model the tyre forces at each wheel. These could include, hydraulics and/or electromagnetic machines. The second phase is to interface this hardware with the vehicle dynamics software. The third phase is to incorporate a real Electronic Control Unit running in the software/hardware loop.

Product Details:
A hardware in the loop/rapid controller prototyping facility

Resources Required:
No additional resources

Courses Suitability:

  • Computer Network Technology
  • Electronic Systems Design
  • Design and Manufacture
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Mechatronics
  • Virtual Product Development

Detection of Diesel Generator Coupling Failure

Project Title: Detection of Diesel Generator Coupling Failure

Project Description:

A fault detection system is required for the drive coupling of an experimental 40kW diesel generator. Sensors for measuring the rotational speed of the unit are fitted on the generator, not the diesel engine. Consequently, in the event of the coupling shearing, as has happened previously, the plant control system causes the unit to overspeed. A statistical model is required of the engine speed that will be compared with the measured speed of the generator to check for excessive shear in the drive coupling.

Product Details:
A fault detection program will be developed that can be incorporated into the control system, and will initiate an emergency shutdown procedure in the event of coupling failure. Residuals of the model will be monitored with statistical process control tools to allow a distinction to be made between sensor noise and an assignable fault condition.

Resources Required:
PC + mathematical analysis software such as Matlab

A Wind Turbine for developing countries or remote communities capable of sustaining a small family

Project Title:
A Wind Turbine for developing countries or remote communities capable of sustaining a small family.

Project Description:

Design to utilise components that are readily available from a redundant automobile.

Objective:
• Design and test a small wind turbine that includes a mechanism of turning into and out of the wind that is reliable.

• Design a power storage and dumping strategy to maintain a small family in both heat and sufficient electricity.
Project Title: Line of sight estimation program for optimum security cctv coverage

Resources Required:
PC + mathematical analysis software such as Matlab

Various Images of the GPS Navigation Robot Project

Various Images of the GPS Navigation Robot Project: (Designed In Pro-E) 

 ISOMETRIC VIEW

ISOMETRIC VIEW

 TOP VIEW

TOP VIEW

 FRONT VIEW

FRONT VIEW

 SIDE VIEW

SIDE VIEW

ADDED FEATURES IN OUR BOT

 Our GPS Navigation Robot Project has its unique code of 16 characters. It is encrypted in the permanenthidden storage memory unit of microprocessor, where it acts as a “black box” of our bot. The entire history is stored in it. It is a separate process which saves only the event history (control signal and direction Total Power Consumption till last update) of 64MB RAM at very high processing speed of 12KB/sec.

 In our Robot the location of memory unit is sent to main processor (ARM 9).when the code is accessed the complete event history is shown to administrator. It enable by performing the separate internet protocol (IP) based server to note the event history.

 The system gets its updation once in two minutes at 12KB/sec .At that time the motor is in OFF state, where the memory management is essential, so it holds nearly 10 to100KB data.

 We are trying to manipulate in most appropriate forms. It is used locate even at remote area.

CONCLUSION:

       Our GPS Navigation Robot Mechanical Project design is cumulative approach of both the electronic and mechanical ideas. It is designed with various references and guidance taken from our faculty, books, sites and journals. We put up our innovative ideas by analyzing serious present day issue, and trying to work out with it.

Mechanical Approach of the GPS Navigation Robot Project

Mechanical Approach:

Kinematics:

The GPS Navigation Robot Project we have designed to traverse on all terrains is on the concept of getting support from all the sides and having the ability to move ahead. The dimensions of the robot are 1600*965*810 mm.                                                     .

Design of Wheels and Motors:

The locomotion of bot is designed with six wheels so that the stability of the vehicle is high and moreover while climbing the steps or moving in rough terrain it will be able to have more support. Wheels of diameter400mm and thickness200mm are used. The wheels with V-THREAD profiles are selected to meet the desired need to move in all terrain. D.C Motors with specification of 40kg torque and 150rpm are designed to meet the desired speed and the load ratings. Similarly in total there are six motors one for each wheel hence each wheel will be having independent drive. The motors are placed in the wheel hubs supported by c-clamps.

Mechanism of Linkage:

          Kinematic of bot has three linkages in total. Each linkage supports two wheels. The front two wheels of each side are connected by one linkage and the rear wheels are connected by another linkage. Each linkage is designed on the concept of Double Rocker Mechanism. According to which there are two cranks connected to the main link. Similarly in this model the two C-clamps which are connected with the main link and the wheel acts like crank. Due to the presence of this type of linkages there is no separate suspension mechanism needed. At all point of times and at all positions always all six wheels will be touching the ground. This is the most advantageous point of having linkages.

 Double Rocker Mechanism

          In the above diagram A and B are the two cranks and c is the main linkage which is shown in the Double Rocker mechanism.  

FIG: shows the linkage in connection with the wheel

Steering Principle:

Apart from six D.C Motors, four servo motors are placed in between the C-clamps and linkage except the two middle wheels. So the wheels can be turned in any direction. The wheels if properly turned to the required angle, the entire vehicle may completely turn in its position up to 360°.The directional gyro which is of electronic model when fixed in the correct axis can find out how much exactly the wheel’s angle is displaced. Hence when the wheel has been turned to the required angle the action from the micro controller can be given to cutoff the voltage to the servo motor there by removing its action.  As each wheel has independent drive hence while turning the differential drive is obtained by giving variable supply to motor.

Material Selection of Chassis and Other Surfaces:

The chassis is the platform for electronic and mechanical tools. The chassis which should be light in weight as well as having high load capacity should be selected. Hence it was designed to use CNC Titanium or EPO resin.

 The two surfaces which are extruded from the chassis are shown transparent in the diagram drawn in the   pro-e modeling. This is due to the fact that both the surfaces are made of a transparent glass fiber made of carbon composite so whatever changes or deformations taking place could also be easily identified and rectified easily. Antenna is placed in the rear end, while the camera setup is placed in the front end. The camera setup has both stereo and C-MOS camera.

Control Architecture of the GPS Navigation Robot Project

Our GPS Navigation Robot holds a micro processor and three micro controllers for multi task assignment.

The camera action, memory allocation, motor action and GPS way point verification are the synchronous process, where the continuous clock pulse is required.

Here by we use the Control Architecture,

ARM 9 with VME bus based micro processor.

ARM 7, ATMEL 89C51, Motorola 69HC11 are the three micro controllers used for speed and motion control drivers, GPS sensors and E-stop and Image Processing analysis respectively.

All the data has been send through IEEE 1394 fire wire bus controlled at fixed sequence.

Control Architecture of the GPS Navigation Robot Project

GPS Navigation Robot Final Year Mechanical Project

Positioning Sensors Used To Navigate On Rough Terrain:

Global Positioning Sensor:

Constructional Working of GPS:

GPS sensor for Navigation Robot is used to navigate the bot reach the fixed destination. Here we use differential gps system, where the carrier frequency is very high even at low signal status certain adaptive methodologies to reach our destination. The functional block shows how the operation is performed by our bot. 

Functional Block Diagram of the GPS Navigation Robot:

 Functional Block Diagram of the GPS Navigation Robot

The block diagram of Final Year Mechanical Project clearly shows the functional working of gps that is here the set point (current position) is compared the first waypoint. Once the destination is reached the program memory enqueue the second way point and so on. If the designated waypoint is not reached again it checks till the destination is reached. 

Performing the Navigation Using GPS and Camera:

The effective way of using adaptive robotic technology is performing the complex operation simultaneously to do the desired operation. Similarly we have performed the simultaneous operation by performing both obstacle avoidance and positioning using stereo camera and gps sensor respectively. The main advantage of performing this GPS Navigation Robot operation is maximum nearness error can be avoided that is created during real time positioning. The block diagram clearly shows how the navigation is performed.

 Performing the Navigation Using GPS and Camera

e-Stopping:

we perform the e-stop operation by providing stop signal to the driver .this we attain by converting the availabe frequency (crystal frequency) to PWM signal by using PWM converter .this signal is fed to the motor driver to stop the bot it is be. The block diagam shows the operaton of e-stopping.

e-Stopping