Electrical engineering senior design projects put the skills you've learned over the last four years to the test. These team projects exemplify the ingenuity and talent of MSOE students.
Rockwell Automation Pump Control Card
Team Members: Cory Barthel (EE), Sam Knapp (EE), Anthony Nguyen (EE), August Schrab (EE)Faculty Advisor: Dr. Steve Williams
Sponsor: Rockwell Automation
Rockwell Automation has a need for its PowerFlex750 series variable frequency drives to improve pump control functionality, in order to gain a more competitive position in the standard AC drives market. The solution is a Pump Control Card for the PowerFlex750 drives, which enhances the PowerFlex750’s pump capabilities.
The Pump Control Card will give the PowerFlex750 the ability to perform functionalities such as pump cascading, pressure control for pump applications, and motor diagnostics. The project includes a pump display stand that will be used to demonstrate the capabilities of the Pump Control Card.
SAE Formula Hybrid
Team Members: Blake Buvid (ME), Daniel Ertl (EE), Adam Hassig (EE), Sven Krause (EE), Ryan May (EE), David Paton (ME), Kristin Tiarks (ME)
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Steve Williams
Sponsors: Alltrax, American Acrylics, Bender, Cooper Power Systems, CORE Consulting, DigiCOPY, electricmotorsport.com, Fastenal, GraybaR, HB Performance Systems, IEWC, Milwaukee Electric Tool, Omron, Rockwell Automation, Speaker, Speedy Metals, StanekTool, West Coast Magnetics
Each year, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) holds a variety of design challenges focused on the advancement of the transportation industry. The most challenging and exciting of these is the Formula-Hybrid Competition. Formula Hybrid challenges students to design, fabricate and test a Formula-1 inspired, electric-hybrid race car. The goal of this is to provide an experience that is built around creative thinking, innovative designs, team work, and brisk decision making.
They repurposed 48 M28™ LITHIUM-ION Battery Packs from Milwaukee Electric Tool (the same battery packs found on many household tools) to power their car.
The students competed at the SAE Formula Hybrid International Competition at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway and won first place in the Hybrid-Electric Class and the second place GM Best Engineered Hybrid Systems Award. They also stopped in Indianapolis to participate in the Indy 500 Emerging Tech Day. While there, they took first place in the "Hybrids in Progress." Congratulations to the 2010-11 SAE Formula Hybrid Team!
Auto TRAN (Tuning with Real-Time Accuracy Now)
Team Members: Sandy Allabastro (EE), Andrew Bendtsen (EE), Mike Halverson (EE), Brian Schumacher (EE)
Faculty Advisor: Professor Hue Tran
This is a device that sits on a table and is fitted to the guitar. The motors are fixed in two sets of three to fit the design of almost every type of guitar. There is an input jack for electric guitars. The signal is then sent through a filter to filter out the high frequencies as well as the harmonics. The signal is then sent to the microcontroller to convert the signal to a PWM signal to tell the motors how far to turn and what way to turn the peg on the guitar. There is also an LCD interface to choose what type of tuning the guitar should be tuned to. There is a button to tell the system to move to the next string. There are LED lights on top of each string indicating that the string is in tune or not. This will benefit guitar players from beginners to experts. Beginner players will find it helpful because they might not know what an in-tune guitar sounds like, and for experts to tune their guitar quickly. This device has many uses for all skill levels.
Triton’s Horn
Team Members: Corey LiDonne (EE), Michael Patelski (EE), Mathias Simeth (EE), Ryan Smaglik (EE)
Faculty Advisor: Professor Hue Tran
Sponsors: Kohler Co., Plexus Co.
Triton’sHorn is a completely touch-free faucet control solution that is ideal for both residential and medical applications. Faucets tend to be high traffic areas for germs and bacteria; and touch-free faucets on the market today are not ideal for home use because they do not allow for touch-free control of both water pressure and temperature. The Triton’sHorn solution allows the user to control both water pressure and temperature via simple, deliberate hand motions and also incorporates an efficient and visually appealing user interface.
Autonomous Robot
Team Members: Andrew Ohland (EE), Jazeb Jaka (EE), Aleksandar Lalusic (EE), Ryan Christie (EE)
Faculty Advisor: Professor Hue Tran
The autonomous robot system is designed to be an improvement on the robot project within the embedded systems course outcomes. The robot will use a series of sensors and a camera to visually and systematically navigate throughout its surroundings. The robot, on its three-wheel chassis, will have 360 degrees of total movement, allowing for fluent control of object avoidance. The camera, able to move within a 170/80 degree pan and tilt axis, will direct the robot towards a non-obstructed and sufficiently lighted path. The camera itself acts as an image recognizing device, photo resistor and visual guidance system, allowing for the autonomous movement of the robot. The robot will be powered by an industrial grade power tool battery, and controlled through the ATmega128 microprocessor, allowing for full integration of all included systems and a possibility of being used within the electrical engineering curriculum.
Instrumentation and Controls for SAE Formula Hybrid Car
Team Members: Nathan Bahr, Jason Kothrade, Matthew Peppler, Sam Sheeks, Sam Yost
Advisor: Dr. Stephen Williams
The Instrumentation and Controls team is a subgroup of the 2009 SAE Formula Hybrid Car project. The main purpose of the Instrumentation and Controls team is to assist in designing and building a competition-ready car with the specific focus of creating a driver interface and meeting all electrical safety rules and regulations. Ease of use and simplicity are the main focus points for the driver interface. This interface includes systems such as the brake pedal, accelerator pedal, speed display, and battery voltage display. The team is also responsible for ensuring that the vehicle adheres to the strict safety regulations set forth in the 2009 SAE Formula Hybrid Rules. This is accomplished through the design of a high voltage warning system and an emergency stop system.
Meter Parking System
Team Members: Floyd Bayiha, Kadi Guiro, Todd Lane, Erin Reeves, Rob Van Den Berg
Advisor: Dr. Steven Reyer
There is a need for a cost effective and efficient city parking system that will improve the monitoring and flow of street parking. The Meter Parking System will improve the quality of city street parking by providing an efficient monitoring system utilizing sensors and wireless technology that allows for individual parking space surveillance to determine the period of time a car has been parked. Upon time expiration for any given space, the system will notify city parking personnel of the offense and the spot occupancy so that personnel will only proceed to ticket spots where offenders are present. The system will also provide the meters the ability to reset time allotted to spaces upon the departure of cars whose time had not yet expired.