Senior Design Projects Spring 2014

BAE Systems Lift Assist

BAE Systems Lift Assist

Team Members

Troy Drabek, Computer Engineering; Daniel Greene,
Electrical Engineering; Brandon Miller and Gabe
Martinez, Mechanical Engineering; Taylor Jayne,
Biomedical Engineering

Advisor

Trever Hassell, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sponsor

BAE Systems

Project Overview

BAE Systems asked our team to design and prototype their personal Lift Assist concept. The device is intended to be available commercially and for military application to ease the labor of soldiers. We have modeled and constructed a fully electrical device to assist any person with a lift exceeding their strength capacity. The device takes the burden of the grip and weight of the object while the user manipulates the object’s position with light mechanical input. The Lift Assist allows lifts of various requirements and object geometries— proving its usability on almost any job.


DTE Battery Monitoring

DTE Battery Monitoring

Team Members

Stephen Knudstrup, Connor Denman, Tyler Lemke,
Anthony Swisz, and Anthony Chartrand, Electrical
Engineering

Advisor

Trever Hassell, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sponsor

DTE Energy

Project Overview

DTE Energy has a large number of DC Systems, over 200, which fall under NERC standards that were created as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The new standard, PRC-005-2, will require more frequent inspections, which in turn will put a strain on the company’s DC systems work force. However, NERC also specifies a list of attributes a monitoring device must have to substitute inspections by personnel. The opportunity arises to find, test, and implement an appropriate monitoring device(s).


Geomagnetically-Induced Current Monitoring

Geomagnetically-Induced Current Monitoring

Team Members

Christopher Cena, Kevin Furlong, Nuoya Xu, and
John Yurgil, Electrical Engineering

Advisor

John Lukowski, Electrical and Computer
Engineering

Sponsor

ITC Holdings

Project Overview

ITC Holdings is the nation’s largest independent electricity transmission company. ITC operates high-voltage transmission systems in the midwestern United States, serving a combined peak load in excess of 25,000 megawatts. Geomagnetically-Induced Currents (GICs) are currents induced in the electrical transmission system as a result of interactions between solar winds and the Earth’s magnetosphere. These currents can cause equipment damage and are even responsible for causing widespread blackouts in the past. Regulations may require transmission companies, like ITC, to monitor GICs in the future. Our team has been tasked with designing, building, and testing a GIC detection system.


Intelligent Railroad Signal Maintainer

Intelligent Railroad Signal Maintainer

Team Members

Will Dallmann and Ron Campbell, Electrical
Engineering; Katherine May and Michael Mandalari,
Computer Engineering

Advisor

Duane Bucheger, Electrical and Computer
Engineering

Sponsor

Norfolk Southern Railway, Union Pacific Railroad,
and Michigan Tech Rail Transportation Program

Project Overview

In the rail industry, maintenance crews oftentimes have to disable railroad crossing signals in order to work on track near the crossing signal. The crews disable the crossing signals using jumper cables to deactivate the crossing signal system. Very rarely these jumper cables are forgotten, leaving the possibility of a train passing through a disabled crossing signal. Our goal is to develop a solution that could minimize the human error involved with forgotten jumper cables and use this solution to improve the safety of the public and rail industry.


Chrysler Intake Camshaft Position Tracking

Chrysler Intake Camshaft Position Tracking

Team Members

Jonathan Mahowald, Computer Engineering; and
Andrew Krystiniak, Bryan Haslinger, and Jeffrey
DuShane, Electrical Engineering

Advisor

Daniel Fuhrmann, Electrical and Computer
Engineering

Sponsor

Chrysler

Project Overview

With the continuing push for higher fuel efficiency engines by automakers and legislators, performance and precision are being sought out wherever possible. Chrysler seeks to be able to better control their Variable Valve Timing and Exhaust Gas Recirculation by improving their calibration of the Camshaft Position Sensor. There is inherent mechanical error in the placement of this sensor during manufacturing. Our team is analyzing the Manifold Absolute Pressure sensor data in order to measure the offset of the Camshaft Position Sensor allowing for techniques that will improve fuel efficiency.


Transmission System Guidelines for Line Commutated Motor Starting

Transmission System Guidelines for Line Commutated Motor Starting

Team Members

Daniel Parent, Jon Hohol, Andrew Martin, and
Connor Dziubinski, Electrical Engineering

Advisor

Trever Hassell, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sponsor

American Transmission Co. (ATC)

Project Overview

ATC asked our team to assist in the development of improved guidelines and best practices for the starting of line commutated motors. For example, when a utility wants to connect a new load/large motor to the grid, ATC must specify the starting criteria based on the motor’s characteristics (inputs) and the need to maintain strict voltage and power quality criteria on the transmission grid (outputs). A single set of guidelines and standards will facilitate more efficient transmission planning activities within ATC. For the motor manufacturers and end users, the guidelines relate to improved safety and motor operation/life.


Wireless Data Acquisition and Signal Processing Using Mobile Devices (Fishfinder)

Team Members

Yixiong (Elliot) Tang, Brian Vandevoorde, and Shane
Clifford, Electrical Engineering; Kyle Krueger and
Josh Frankovich, Computer Engineering

Advisor

Duane Bucheger, Electrical and Computer
Engineering

Sponsor

ZTA Technologies LLC

Project Overview

Our team determined the feasibility of creating a prototype of a wireless mobile fish finder. The unit will look to use a commercially available sonar transducer and transmit the signal wirelessly to a smartphone to be processed.


Cinetic Automation Database Development

Cinetic Automation Database Development

Team Members

Jakkapong Saksrisuwan, Computer Engineering;
Justin Wright and Adam Wilkinson, Electrical
Engineering

Advisor

Trever Hassell, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sponsor

Cinetic Automation

Project Overview

Our goal is to create a database with an easy-to- use user interface for Cinetic Automation. The database contains various fields related to how Cinetic Automation works.


Clock Testing Vision Monitoring

Clock Testing Vision Monitoring

Team Members

Nathan Hierl and Nathan Hampshire, Computer
Engineering; Jie Peng and Qianman Wang,
Electrical Engineering; Zhengyang Gu, Electrical
Engineering Technology

Advisor

Shiyan Hu, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sponsor

American Time

Project Overview

American Time has developed a reputation as “The Clock Experts” by providing synchronized clock solutions for schools, universities, health care facilities, businesses, and manufacturing plants since 1980. Key products include wired and wireless synchronized clock systems, IP network clocks, as well as a wide range of analog and digital wall clocks. In order to assist in quality control testing of newly produced clocks, our goal is to produce a software application using OpenCV and C++ that can detect and analyze clock timekeeping defects.


Eaton Low Cost Torque Sensor

Eaton Low Cost Torque Sensor

Team Members

Keegan Larkin, Computer Engineering; Matthew
Frantz and Derrick Hilicker, Mechanical Engineering;
Patrick McKeon, Ryan Olson, and Robert Lemaux,
Electrical Engineering

Advisor

Duane Bucheger, Electrical and Computer
Engineering

Sponsor

Eaton

Project Overview

Our team researched and tested torque sensors for use in heavy-duty automotive applications to assist in gear shifting. To test possible torque sensors, we developed a dynamometer capable of testing sensors under a variety of conditions, including but not limited to temperature and varying torques.


Transmission Torque Converter Clutch Control Law Refinement/Optimization

Transmission Torque Converter Clutch Control Law Refinement/Optimization

Team Members

Chenchen Cui, Shane Grady, Jing Liu, Jacob
Shuler, and Andrew Szajna, Electrical Engineering

Advisor

Jeff Burl, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sponsor

Ford Motor Company

Project Overview

Our project consists of analysis and simulation of a control system for a lock-up clutch within a torque converter. Using a MATLAB script and simulink, we developed a model of a torque converter in conjunction with Ford Motor Company. Once this model was complete, we determined stability margin, mean square tracking error, normalized root mean square control input, percent overshoot, and rise time. These performance measures were used to select gains for various controllers.