Senior Design Projects Spring 2007

Electromagnetic Compatibility

Advisor

Don Secor, Electrical Engineering

Sponsor

Johnson Controls, Inc.

Team Members

Scott Hager, Ida Barrie, Derek Dougherty, Justin McHenry

Project Overview

Electromagnetic Compatibility is defined as a product’s ability to reject admittance of, as well as not cause Electromagnetic interference. The level of this compliance is at an application-defined point such that receiving EMI causes the product to neither behave outside of its designed function nor transmit strong enough to cause abnormal interference in another product. The team launched into a rather abrupt appreciation of a rich and deep discipline of Electrical Engineering known as Electromagnetics. So much so that an instantly recognizable mantra was uncovered that quickly revealed a subtle and often missed point in designing circuits for EMC compliance. The Dichotomy of EMC:

• What is Good Practice for the Circuit isn’t necessarily Best for EMC.
• What is Good Practice for EMC isn’t necessarily Best for the Circuit. The team met several times with Johnson Controls via teleconference to go over introductions, get a feeling for the landscape of the project and discuss the specific year-long goals and successive break-down of this project into the following basic goals...
• Take a high frequency Switch-Mode Power Supply (SMPS) design and modify the schematic and layout to pass automotive EMC requirements. Students will have the opportunity to design a coupon board for this circuit.
• Codec Circuit – students to work with telematics board provided by JCI and perform modifications to improve Radiated Emissions (RE) on the board through component changes.
• CPU/Flash/RAM – students to work with telematics board provided by JCI and perform modifications to improve RE performance on the board through component changes.
• Perform a correlation study for RE between the JCI’s CISPR 25 chamber and MTU’s test facility.

Verification of Transmission Line Impedance through use of Phasor Measurement Units

Advisor

Dr. Leonard J. Bohmann, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Sponsor

American Electric Power

Team Members

Kevin Jensen, Kevin Demeny, Ryan Hendrickson, James Tuttle

Project Overview

Power system estimation depends on accurate models of the transmission lines. In most cases the calculated line impedance may be accurate enough, but at times the surface topography complicates the calculations. Using a Phasor Measuring Unit (PMU), it is possible to capture actual line current and voltage measurements which are synchronized in time from both ends of the line. A PMU uses GPS timestamps to synchronize the measured variables, which makes it a powerful tool in observing the conditions of the electric power system. Using these tools, the team is charged to create a better impedance model using these measurements.

Capacitor Bank Control and Protection using the SEL-451

Advisors

Dr. Bruce Mork, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Sponsor

ITCTransmission

Team Members

Kevin Thompson, Mohammed Aleisa, Joshua Jauquet, Nicole Measel

Project Overview

Our senior design challenge was to design a complete control and protection scheme for a grounded single-wye capacitor bank using the SEL-451 relay.

Vehicle Noise Fingerprinting Method and System

Advisor

John Lukowski, Electrical Engineering

Sponsor

Ford Motor Company

Team Members

Thomas Courtade, Brian Erickson, Brett Schauer, Jeshua Smith

Project Overview

The number of sensor and actuators employed in a typical automobile has grown tremendously due to increased demands in fuel efficiency, reduced emissions, increased safety, performance and reliability. The Vehicle Noise Fingerprinting sensor design team has designed and developed a data acquisition and post-processing system which gives automotive test engineers improved capability to acquire, analyze and evaluate vehicle sensor signals and control integrity. These tools provide a platform to rapidly perform safety factor assessments and determine overall vehicle health. Ford Motor Company is the sponsor of this project.

Steer By Wire

Advisors

Dr. John Lukowski, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Sponsor

General Motors Corporation

Team Members

Karl Irish, William MacDonald, Brandon Krieger, Andrew Block, Nate Walker

Project Overview

Steer-by wire is a senior design project with the goal of replacing the mechanical system for a vehicle with an electrical system. The proposed system is composed of electric motors, motor controllers, position and speed sensors, all supervised by a dSpace CPU. The final goal of the project is to create an electrical steering system that “feels” like mechanical linkage, while being able to outperform a mechanical system in handling.

Repacker Machine Improvements

Advisor

Dr. Dennis Wiitanen, Electrical Engineering

Sponsor

Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Team Members

Timothy Riley, Trever Hassell, Ryan Morris, Maribeth Powers, Lora Latvis, Adam Carpenter

Project Overview

The objective of the Repacker Machine Improvement project was to make an existing prototype machine more operator-friendly, efficient and robust. The Repacker orients and groups personal care products that failed to pass through the main assembly line packaging process. By using a machine to group the product, the sponsor can reduce costs associated with using an outside co-packer. The main problem with this process was the system that transferred product from the Repacker to a packaging conveyor. The team was responsible for the design of the new system and for the installation of the mechanical and electrical components.

Autonomous Vehicle Control

Advisor

Don Secor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Sponsor

Armor Holdings, Stewart & Stevenson

Team Members

Jason Chlopek, Matt Bland, Trenton Noreen, Jon Petrosky, Brandon Smith

Project Overview

The loss of human life in vehicle convoys has been significantly increasing in recent military conflicts. The need for new technology to deter this statistic has become a high priority. Senior design team 7 has been tasked with designing and constructing a means of autonomously controlling the steering, braking and acceleration of the Armor Holdings/Stewart & Stevenson Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV). The designed solution must be field installable and cannot permanently modify the vehicle in any way i.e. no cutting, drilling, welding, etc on the existing chassis. The design must be suitable for a vehicle convoy setting.