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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.
2009 Electrical Engineering Senior Design Projects
Instrumentation and Controls for SAE Formula Hybrid Car
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.
Formula Hybrid Electrical Drivetrain
Tim Carlson, Randy DeCoster, Ryan Jipp, Jeff Kazmierski
Advisor: Dr. Stephen Williams
The Formula Hybrid Electrical Drivetrain team is one of multiple subgroups on the MSOE Formula Hybrid race car project. The goal of the overall project is to design a hybrid technology race car to compete in an official Formula Hybrid competition. This subgroup specifically is responsible for the electrical systems pertaining to the drive train system of the vehicle. This involved design, fundraising, construction, and testing of multiple subsystems that are essential for the vehicle’s operation. These include the vehicle’s accumulator, motors, controller, rectifier units and intersystem wiring.
HVAC Energy Harvester
Jason Pries, Dan Rumler, Mathew Schmidt, Craig Schultz
Advisor: Dr. Stephen Williams
Sponsor: Johnson Controls
Many heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems control the airflow through the ductwork based on feedback from wireless sensor networks that monitor quantities such as temperature and pressure. Currently, these networks are powered either through wired connections or batteries, both of which have drawbacks. The wired solution has significant installation costs. In addition, the notion of using wired connections has become increasingly outdated by the proliferation of wireless technology in recent years. The battery powered solution is more flexible, but has a shortened lifespan and increased maintenance costs as compared to the wired solution.
The abundance of renewable energy that exists within HVAC systems presents energy harvesting as a novel technique for powering sensor networks. HVAC Energy Harvesters (HVAC-EHs) combine the longevity of wired power with the flexibility of battery power by placing small wind turbines inside a duct system. The energy extracted from the airflow within the ducts is used to power temperature sensors and charge super capacitors that act as energy storage devices. Although it is designed with a specific sensor in mind, the HVAC-EH system could serve as an effective power source for any low power wireless sensor capable of running on 2.5 volts.
Meter Parking System
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.
H.O.M.E. System
Nick Gibson, Jim Murray, Ben Neher, Tim Richmond, Chris Thuss
Advisor: Dr. Steven Reyer
The Home Office Mobile-Network Extender (HOME) is a landline replacement solution that allows the user to make and receive phone calls using their existing cordless phones. This allows for the convenience of a home phone network without paying for landline phone service. This product will be competing with two existing solutions on the market that complete the same task at a higher price premium. The HOME System has two interfaces. It connects to a cell phone using Bluetooth® and connects to the home phone network using a standard RJ11 phone cable. The design consists of a microcontroller that controls the operation of several components within the circuit that work together to transfer digital information obtained from the cell phone using the Bluetooth® module to analog information that is output on an RJ11 cable and vice versa.
The Brew Crew’s Automated Brewing System
Eric Butzler, Jordan Engedahl, Ed Thiry
Advisor: Dr. Steven Reyer
The automated brewing system allows the brewer to control the brewing process via an easy-to-use touch screen interface. Geared more towards the microbrewers, brew pubs and larger scale home brewers, the automated brewing system enables large scale brewing to be done without the need of more than one or two brewers. The brewing system utilizes programmable logic controller (PLC) technology to control the different aspects of the brewing process. Having both hardware and software implemented safety features, the system meets federal regulations in the areas of electricity and water hazards and food industry standards. The automated brewing system produces a non-alcoholic brew that can be consumed, or can be fermented if the brewer so chooses.