Matching Items (6)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Automotive
- Creators: Engineering Programs
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Description
Mathematical and analytical approach at the floor and diffuser of a Formula 1 vehicle and how they produce downforce. Reaches a conclusion about how engineers and aerodynamicists creates the desired effects underneath the vehicle to produce substantial downforce.
ContributorsMarcantonio, Nicholas Joseph (Author) / Rajadas, John (Thesis director) / Hillery, Scott (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Engineering Programs (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
All around the automotive industry, the chassis dynamometer exists in a variety of configurations but all function to provide one common goal. The underlying goal is to measure a vehicle’s performance by measuring torque output and taking that measurement to calculate horsepower. This data is crucial in situations of testing development vehicles or for tuning heavily modified vehicles. While the current models in the industry serve their purposes for what they were intended to do, in theory, an additional system can be introduced to the dyno to render the system into an electric generator.
The hardware will consist of electric motors functioning as a generator by reversing the rotation of the motor (regenerative braking). Using the dynamometer with the additional motor system paired with a local battery, the entire system can be run off by their tuning service. When considering the Dynojet and Dynapack dynamometer, it was calculated that an estimated return of 81.5% of electricity used can be generated. Different factors such as how frequent the dyno is used and for how long affect the savings. With a generous estimate of 6 hours dyno run time a day for 250 business days and the cost of electricity being 13.19 cents/kwh the Dynapack came out to $326.45 a year and $1424.52 for the Dynojet. With the return of electricity, the amount saved comes out to $266.18 for the Dynapack and $1161.50 for the Dynojet. This will alleviate electrical costs dramatically in the long term allowing for performance shops to invest their saved money into more tools and equipment.
The hardware will consist of electric motors functioning as a generator by reversing the rotation of the motor (regenerative braking). Using the dynamometer with the additional motor system paired with a local battery, the entire system can be run off by their tuning service. When considering the Dynojet and Dynapack dynamometer, it was calculated that an estimated return of 81.5% of electricity used can be generated. Different factors such as how frequent the dyno is used and for how long affect the savings. With a generous estimate of 6 hours dyno run time a day for 250 business days and the cost of electricity being 13.19 cents/kwh the Dynapack came out to $326.45 a year and $1424.52 for the Dynojet. With the return of electricity, the amount saved comes out to $266.18 for the Dynapack and $1161.50 for the Dynojet. This will alleviate electrical costs dramatically in the long term allowing for performance shops to invest their saved money into more tools and equipment.
ContributorsCrisostomo, Ryan-Xavier Eddie (Author) / Contes, James (Thesis director) / Wishart, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
With the growing popularity and advancements in automation technology, Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) have become the pinnacle of ground-vehicle transportation. Connectivity has the potential to allow all vehicles—new or old, automated or non-automated—to communicate with each other at all times and greatly reduce the possibility of a multi-vehicle collision. This project sought to achieve a better understanding of CAV communication technologies by attempting to design, integrate, test, and validate a vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) amongst three automated ground-vehicle prototypes. The end goal was to determine what current technology best satisfies Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication with a real-time physical demonstration. Although different technologies, such as dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) and cellular vehicle to everything (C-V2X) were initially investigated, due to time and budget constraints, a FreeWave ZumLink Z9-PE DEVKIT (900 MHz radio) was used to create a wireless network amongst the ground-vehicle prototypes. The initial testing to create a wireless network was successful and demonstrated but creating a true VANET was unsuccessful as the radios communicate strictly peer to peer. Future work needed to complete the simulated VANET includes programming the ZumLink radios to send and receive data using message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT) protocol to share data amongst multiple vehicles, as well as programming the vehicle controller to send and receive data utilizing terminal control protocol (TCP) to ensure no data loss and all data is communicated in correct sequence.
ContributorsDunn, Brandon (Author) / Chen, Yan (Thesis director) / Wishart, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Engineering Programs (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Sport Utility Vehicles have grown to be one of the most popular vehicle choices in the automotive industry. This thesis explores the history of SUVs with their roots starting in the 1930s up until 2020 in order to understand the essence of what an SUV is. The definition applied to the SUV for this thesis is as follows: a vehicle that is larger and more capable than the average sedan by offering more interior space, cargo area, and possibly off-road capability. This definition must be sufficiently broad to encompass the diverse market that manufactures are calling SUVs. Then the trends of what current (2020) SUVs are experiencing are analyzed from three major aspects: sociology, economics, and technology. Sociology focuses on the roles an SUV fulfills and the type of people who own SUVs. The economics section reviews the profitability of SUVs and their dependence on a nation’s economic strength. Technology pertains to the trends in safety features and other advances such as autonomous or electric vehicles. From these current and past trends, predictions could be made on future SUVs. In regards to sociology, trends indicate that SUVs will be more comfortable as newly entering luxury brands will be able to innovate aspects of comfort. In addition, SUVs will offer more performance models so manufacturers can reach a wider variety of demographics. Economic trends revealed that SUVs are at risk of losing popularity as the economy enters a hard time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Technological trends revealed that hybrids and electric vehicles will now move into the SUV market starting with the more compact sizes to help improve manufacturer’s fleet fuel efficiency.
ContributorsMarske, Trevor Holmes (Author) / Henderson, Mark (Thesis director) / Contes, James (Committee member) / Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Parents in STEM careers are more apt to guide their kids towards STEM careers (Sherburne-Michigan, 2017). There are STEM programs and classes for students who are interested in related fields, but the conundrum is that students need to be interested in order to choose to participate. The goal of this creative project was to introduce engineering concepts in a high school class to reveal and investigate the ways in which engineering concepts can be successfully introduced to a larger student populace to increase interest in engineering programs, courses, and degrees. A lesson plan and corresponding materials - including circuit kits and a simulated ball launching station with graphical display - were made to accomplish this goal. Throughout the lesson students were asked to (1) use given materials to accomplish a goal, (2) predict outcomes based on conceptual understanding and mathematical calculations, (3) test predictions, (4) record data, and (5) analyze data to generate results. The students first created a simple circuit to understand the circuit components and learn general electrical engineering concepts. A simple light dimmer circuit let students demonstrate understanding of electrical concepts (e.g., voltage, current resistance) before using the circuit to a simulated motor in order to launch a ball. The students were then asked to predict the time and height of a ball launched with various settings of their control circuit. The students were able to test their theories with the simulated launcher test set up shown in Figure 25 and collect data to create a parabolic height versus time graph. Based on the measured graph, the students were able to record their results and compare calculated values to real-world measured values. The results of the study suggest ways to introduce students to engineering while developing hands-on concept modeling of projectile motion and circuit design in math classrooms. Additionally, this lesson identifies a rich topic for teachers and STEM education researchers to explore lesson plans with interdisciplinary connections to engineering. This report will include the inspiration for the product, related work, iterative design process, and the final design. This information will be followed by user feedback, a project reflection, and lessons learned. The report will conclude with a summary and a discussion of future work.
ContributorsBurgess, Kylee Rae (Author) / Jordan, Shawn (Thesis director) / Sohoni, Sohum (Committee member) / Kinach, Barbara (Committee member) / Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Engineering, and more specifically, electrical engineering can be a difficult topic to explain through spoken communication. Along with taking years of education to learn and understand necessary topics, the field is riddled with jargon and items that may take lectures to explain. However, this type of education may not be feasible for a younger or inexperienced audience. Therefore, engineers must find new ways to explain such difficult topics, especially in an attempt to garner interest in children, for example, through art.
ContributorsHedges, Madison (Author) / Aukes, Daniel (Thesis director) / Weeks, Eric (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Engineering Programs (Contributor) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor)
Created2023-12