John Erringtons Engineering Design Website
Year 3: Designs involving active and self-powered systems.
Curriculum; Students suggestions; Approach;Follow up; Example calculation;Lecture support;
Line following robot; Practical robots; Fire fighting robot; Bomb disposal robot; Demolition robot; Rescue robot;
Heat pumps; Recommended Resources; MatWeb
What is energy?; Energy has the ability to do work; What has most energy?; Potential energy; PE Calculation; Kinetic Energy; KE calculation; KE of rotating body; Example of flywheel; Conservation of energy; Falling briefcase; What happens when it hits the floor?; Waste heat; Fallen briefcase; Energy of a hot body; Energy of a doughnut; Energy stored in a stretched spring; Energy stored in a spring; Force; Spring energy example; Converting energy; Energy in stretched rubber band; Entropy?; Stretching a rubber band; Rubber band energy example; Energy stored in a battery; What has most energy?; Conversion efficiency; Rate of release of energy; Releasing energy in a spring; Some ways energy is released; Accelerating the spring; Partitioning energy transfer; Other energy sources; Limit to available energy from battery during rapid discharge ; Energy of a charged capacitor; Summary; Examples of Energy storage;
Sensors; More about sensors; Actuators; Actuators; Electrical Actuators; Hydraulic Actuators; 32 – 63 mm bore hydraulic cylinder; Pneumatic Actuators; Power for hydraulic and pneumatic systems; DC motors; DC Motor characteristics; Application ; Why use a DC motor ; AC motors; AC motors: synchronous and induction motors; Hydraulic actuators; Hydraulic pumps and cylinders; Flow control valves; Pneumatic actuators; Pneumatic cylinders; Pneumatic grippers;
Sensors; Trip switches; Strain gauges; Optical sensors; Photodiodes; OptoSwitches; Proximity sensors; Non-contact sensors (1); Non-contact sensors (2); Proximity switches; Rotary and linear position; Rotary shaft encoder; Absolute rotary encoder; Incremental rotary encoder; Rotary position sensors; Linear position; Potentiometric sensors; Open loop control; Servo systems;
Batteries and alternatives;
How batteries work: Work function and contact potential;
Work function;
Periodic table of the elements;
Simple 'battery' cell;
Alessandro Volta;
Primary – or - Secondary;
Primary Cell;
Rechargeable cells;
Battery types compared;
Other power sources for portable equipment;
Seebeck effect - thermocouples;
Peltier effect;
Thermopile;
Thermogenerator;
Thermoelectric generators;
Fuel cells;
Hydrogen fuel cell diagram;
How a fuel cell works
Hydrogen economy;
Hydrogen economy - opponents;
Gas turbine generators;
Miniature Gas-Turbine Power Generator;
Gas turbine for power generation;
Miniature Gas-Turbine Power Generator (2);
Diagram of gas turbine generator;
Miniature Gas-Turbine Power Generator (3);
UltraCapacitors;
Solar (Photovoltaic or PV) cells;
What does this mean for a design;
Solar battery example applications;
PV summary;
Resources
Specifications; Engineering Design issues 1: line detection; Engineering Design issues 2: motive power; Line detection; 3-sensor line detection; 3-sensor line detection: further; Line detection: State transition mapping; State transition diagram; State transition diagram; Partially completed state transition diagram; Analysis of S.T.D.; Motor calculation; Size of motor;
AGV's; Guidance methods; Inductive guidance; Electro-magnetic field; Guidance and steering; Floor installation ; Advantages & disadvantages of wire guidance; Autonomous guided robots; DARPA Grand challenge; DARPA Challenge winner;
Definitions; Heating; Cooling & Refrigeration; Insulation; K-value; U-value; R-value; Total thermal transmittance of multiple insulating layers; Insulation: values terms and calculations; Comparison of K values for materials; Examples of cooling by vaporisation; Evaporative cooling; Block diagram of refrigerator / heat pump; Heat pump cycle; Work function and contact potential; Seebeck effect - thermocouples; Peltier effect; Applications.
