Engineering TV : Simulation

Festo Airmotion Ride Simulator

CurtisEllzey — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:00:00 GMT

The interplay of fluidic muscles and mechatronic systems in the Airmotion_ride makes it possible to generate an extraordinary range of driving and flight simulations. A hexapod structure using parallel kinematics, with six Festo fluidic muscles, creates a realistic driving and flying sensation. In this project, leading pneumatics supplier Festo demonstrates an exciting, cost-effective alternative to complicated hydraulic constructions. Also watch this episode: Festo CMXR Robotic Control. For more information, go to: Festo.

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THINERGY Application Development Platform

CurtisEllzey — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:00:00 GMT
THINERGY thin-film micro-energy cells deliver a highly efficient, safe, rechargeable and powerful energy storage solution in an extremely thin form factor—roughly the size of a postage stamp. The newly released Application Development Platform (ADP) tool from Infinite Power Solutions provides a simple method to charge, discharge and monitor THINERGY MECs during device evaluation and system integration. The ADP’s built-in demo mode provides pre-defined loads (constant resistance, constant current, pulsed current and standard LED load) to discharge the battery while displaying the time, state of charge, and discharge voltage/current. In addition, the ADP serves as a development platform to allow users to develop their own applications on a separate breadboard, and allows the user to connect various energy harvesting circuits to charge the battery—enabling the developer to easily prototype and emulate their entire microelectronic system. Also watch this episode: THINERGY Micro-Energy Cells. For more information, go to: Infinite Power Solutions.

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Seismic Protection System

CurtisEllzey — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:13:00 GMT
While woodframe structures have historically performed well with regard to life safety in regions of moderate to high seismicity, these types of low-rise structures have sustained significant structural and non-structural damage in recent earthquakes. This NEESWood project, funded by the National Science Foundation, seeks to take on the challenge of developing a seismic design philosophy that will provide the necessary mechanisms to safely increase the height of woodframe structures in active seismic zones of the U.S. as well as mitigating damage to low-rise woodframe structures. This project incorporates the use of economical seismic protection systems such as supplemental dampers and base isolation systems in order to further increase energy dissipation capacity and/or increase the natural period of the woodframe buildings. In Part 2 of this Engineering TV interview at Colorado State University, Prof. van de Lindt digs deeper into the Friction Pendulum Sliders used to remove ground acceleration away from the structures to minimize damage.

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Friction Pendulum Sliders

CurtisEllzey — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:42:00 GMT
At Colorado State University, Prof. John van de Lindt has applied a base isolation system to a light-frame wood building for shake-table testing. The test structure is supported on a base isolation system consisting of four sliding bearings. The bearings are friction pendulum system (FPS) bearings that isolate the building from the earthquake ground motion by allowing the building to “slide” laterally and vertically on a concave surface. In Part 1 of this Engineering TV interview, Prof. van de Lindt discusses the "Friction Pendulum Sliders" and how they could allow homebuilders across earthquake-prone areas to significantly reduce the damage to homes from large earthquakes.

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Earthquake Shake Table

CurtisEllzey — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:52:00 GMT
At Colorado State University, civil engineering professor Dr. John van de Lindt conducted a series of earthquake shake table tests of a half-scale two-story residential building with an integrated one car garage as part of a National Science Foundation funded NEESWood project task related to seismic protection systems. The overall goal of that task is to enable applications of protective systems to woodframe buildings by integrating them into the performance-based seismic design philosophy developed within the project as a whole. The tests consisted of three 2% in 50-year ground motions from three different California earthquakes. In this Engineering TV interview, Prof. van de Lindt discusses the engineering behind the CSU earthquake shake table as well as others around the world involved in the NEESWood program, including the world's largest in Miki City, Japan.

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Imagination Station - Mars Rover

CurtisEllzey — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:12:00 GMT
The Mars Rover Project is one of the efforts of the Purdue Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS). The EPICS team has designed and built this exhibit with its community partner, Imagination Station-Black in Lafayette, Indiana. Applying new and innovative technologies, the ISB team designs interactive and fun exhibits for a local children’s museum. The Mars Rover Project is an exhibit that allows students to navigate a solar-powered rover wirelessly across a mock Martian landscape to make geological discoveries. The purpose of the exhibit is to give visitors a better understanding of the terrain covering the planet, as well as the level of difficulty in sending missions to Mars.

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EPICS at Purdue University

CurtisEllzey — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:43:00 GMT
EPICS is a unique program in which teams of undergraduates are designing, building, and deploying real systems to solve engineering-based problems for local community service and education organizations. Purdue’s EPICS program is the national model in engineering for marrying learning and engagement. With support from the National Science Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Service plus Microsoft Research, Hewlett-Packard, and National Instruments, EPICS programs are operating at 15 universities. Peer teams at multiple EPICS sites are collaborating to address community problems of national scope. EPICS has received major awards from the Carnegie Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the American Society for Engineering Education, the IEEE Education Society, Campus Compact, the Corporate and Foundation Alliance, Purdue University, and the Governor and Legislature of Indiana.

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D-BOX: Putting the "Motion" in Motion Pictures

CurtisEllzey — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:55:00 GMT
At CEDIA 2008, Philippe Roy, Chief Technology Officer for D-BOX, discusses how they are bringing home entertainment into a whole new dimension. D-BOX Motion Code is a sophisticated, groundbreaking technology that creates real-life motion perfectly synchronized to on-screen movie and gaming action. All the motion is encoded frame by frame by a skilled D-BOX motion artist. You simply pop your Blu-ray disc or DVD of a title that appears in the D-BOX Motion Code Library (over 800 titles currently available) in your Blu-ray or DVD player. The D-BOX Controller automatically matches the movie in the player, downloads the corresponding D-BOX Motion Code and sends it to your D-BOX-equipped seating. Their home theater seating, and racing and flight simulator models for gaming, use proprietary advanced robotics technology, built-in commercial-grade motion actuators including pistons, low-friction motion devices and high-tech motors. They’re small but powerful and robust, and have the capability of producing up to 2 Gs of acceleration.

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NI Labview Nintendo Power Pad

CurtisEllzey — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:03:00 GMT
In the spirit of the Beijing Olympics, National Instruments featured this interactive LabVIEW demonstration at NI Week 2008. Competitors could compete in a video game reminiscent of the original Konami Track & Field series. The game was programmed using NI LabVIEW graphical programming software and the control interface utilizes the classic Nintendo Power Pad, a mat with twelve pressure-sensors embedded between two layers of flexible plastic. Other competitions included a fencing match and a remote-control car race.

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Pneumatics Test Station

CurtisEllzey — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:49:00 GMT
As an interdisciplinary, high-technology field in the engineering of controllable mechanical systems, the Master of Science in Mechatronic Systems Engineering program synergizes student's knowledge by integrating the areas of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science. The pneumatics test station affords students the opportunity to test their knowledge of pneumatics by building the system from scratch.

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Four-Wheel Drive Chassis Dynamometer

CurtisEllzey — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:03:00 GMT
Lawrence Tech's College of Engineering combines academic rigor and excellence with a wealth of practical experience. With the Institute's unique four-wheel drive chassis dynamometer, students can explore innovative engineering solutions. The dyno features individual wheel torque electronic controls of one, two, three, or all four drive wheels and speed capability of up to 100 mph, four individual wheel power absorbers with 175 HP per wheel capability for continuous operation and up to 350 HP intermittently, and an adjustable 89-135 inch wheelbase with an extension up to 175 inches. Students can explore open and limited slip differentials, locking differentials, viscous drive, traction control, and other mechanical and mechatronic driveline systems.

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Mechatronics Hydraulic Test Station

CurtisEllzey — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:42:00 GMT
The Master of Science in Mechatronic Systems Engineering (MSMSE) program at Lawrence Technological Institute in Michigan provides engineers with advanced scientific and engineering knowledge in an emerging high technology field – Mechatronic Systems Engineering. In this video, Mark Schmidt, a Lab Technician in the Mechanical Engineering Department details one of the tests required for their undergraduate students, a closed-loop Hydraulic Test Station. Students are expected to assemble the system from scratch, which includes voltage input signals, hydraulic valves, an actuator that has an LVDT displacement transducer, and a data acquisition system.

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FPGA-Based Engine Control System

CurtisEllzey — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:21:00 GMT
The Challenge: Building a full-authority, FPGA-based engine control system for a high-performance motorcycle engine. The Solution: Using National Instruments CompactRIO and LabVIEW environment to focus directly on engine control software and I/O board development. Drivven, an automotive control and data acquisition solutions provider, needed reliable, high-performance hardware to prototype an engine control system for a 2004 Yamaha YZF-R6 motorcycle. Engine control requires deterministic loop times on the order of milliseconds and precise fuel and spark timing on the order of microseconds. In addition, the target engine revs to 15,500 RPM. At this speed, there is less than 4 ms per crankshaft rotation, and the system must precisely control fuel and spark events in the angle domain to less than 1 degree. For this project, Drivven chose a four-slot NI CompactRIO embedded system because of its flexibility, small size, and rugged form factor. With this system, they could easily add sensors and actuators while quickly and easily visualizing the data. In addition, they could mount the controller in the extremely limited space available in a super-sport motorcycle.

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HEV Experimentation & Assessment

CurtisEllzey — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:08:00 GMT
The objective of the Hybrid Electric Vehicle Experimentation and Assessment (HEVEA) research program is to develop Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) Fuel Economy and performance Test Operating Procedures (TOP), determine the fuel economy benefits of HEV using quantifiable test data; develop and validate TARDEC M&S models; and provide a tool to predict hybrid electric drive cycle performance and fuel economy. TARDEC has tested 9 conventional and 7 hybrid electric vehicles. DTC (US Army Developmental Test Command) maintains primary-road, secondary-road and level and hilly cross-country test courses for natural environment endurance testing of vehicles in the temperate climate of Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. The Munson Test Area, located at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center, contains 30 all-weather permanent courses designed to evaluate performance and measure physical characteristics of wheeled, tracked, and towed vehicles. Courses include various obstacles, shock and vibration courses and slopes up to 60 percent.

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BEAR: Berkeley Aerobot Team

CurtisEllzey — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:26:00 GMT
The Berkeley Aerobot (BEAR) project is a collective, interdisciplinary research effort at UC Berkeley that encompasses the disciplines of hybrid systems theory, navigation, control, computer vision, communication, and multi-agent coordination, since 1996. They currently operate six fully instrumented helicopters, in addition to many fixed- and rotary wing vehicles under development, equipped with GPS/INS, camera, and other sensors on board, which they have been using to validate their control systems design algorithms for UAVs. In addition, they also have four mobile ground-based robots for pursuit-evasion games between the ground based robots and UAVs.

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