Seminar Topic on Four wheel steering system

August 24th, 2010 by CJ Samson | 46 Comments | Filed in Automobiles, Mechanical Seminar Topics

Four-wheel steering, 4WS, also called rear-wheel steering or all-wheel steering, provides a means to actively steer the rear wheels during turning maneuvers. It should not be confused with four-wheel drive in which all four wheels of a vehicle are powered. It improves handling and helps the vehicle make tighter turns. Production-built cars tend to understeer or, in few instances, oversteer. If a car could automatically compensate for an understeer /oversteer problem, the driver would enjoy nearly neutral steering under varying conditions. 4WS is a serious effort on the part of automotive design engineers to provide near-neutral steering.  The front wheels do most of the steering. Rear wheel turning is generally limited to half during an opposite direction turn. When both the front and rear wheels steer toward the… Read the rest

Tags: , ,

Catalytic converter for cars

August 23rd, 2010 by CJ Samson | 39 Comments | Filed in Automobiles, Mechanical Seminar Topics

Millions of cars or the road means only one thing, an excellent source for air pollution. The amount of pollution that all cars produce together can create big problems. The amount of pollution that all cars produce together can cause big problems. Government created laws that restrict the amount of pollution that cars produce to solve it. Auto makers have made many improvements to car engines and fuel systems to keep up with these laws. In 1975, an interesting device called catalytic converter was created. The device, converts harmful pollutants into less harmful emissions before they ever leave the car’s exhaust system.

The exhaust from the combustion in a car engine is comprised of six main ingredients:

  1. Nitrogen gas, Carbon dioxide and water

… Read the rest

Tags: , ,

Hybrid vehicles

August 14th, 2010 by admin | 25 Comments | Filed in Automobiles, Mechanical Seminar Topics, Power & Energy

The dictionary defines hybrid as something of mixed origin. A hybrid vehicle is one that combines a smaller than normal internal combustion gasoline engine with an electric motor. An engine that combines two or more sources of power is called a hybrid engine.

Typical features in a hybrid include the following:
• Produces much less power than an average
• Produces much less pollution than standard gasoline cars
• Usually constructed of ultra light weight materials like carbon fiber or aluminum to overcome the power gap.
• Generally designed to be more aerodynamic than most cars, allowing them to “slice” through the air instead of pushing it out of the way
• A process called regenerative braking is employed to store… Read the rest

Tags: , ,

Working model of Hovercraft

August 5th, 2010 by CJ Samson | 181 Comments | Filed in Automobiles, Mechanical Engineering Projects

The idea of making a Hovercraft dates back to 1716 when Emmanual Swedenborg recorded a design, but it was short lived.  In 1870, Sir John Thornycroft filled patents involving air lubricated hulls. And it was in 1959 a hovercraft was built, by Christopher Sydney Cockerell  by discovering the Momentum Curtain theory. Hover craft also called Air cushion vehicle (ACV) travels on any kind of flat surface. It is supported by a cushion of pressurized air.

Design

  • Can be powered by one or more engines
  • Small crafts have a single engine with the drive split through a gear box
  • Usually one engine drives the fan responsible for lifting the vehicle
  • The other forces air from

hovercraft

Working

Two… Read the rest

Tags: , , ,

Electronic fuel injection (EFI)

July 30th, 2010 by CJ Samson | 39 Comments | Filed in Automobiles, Mechanical Seminar Topics

Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) is a substitute for the conventional metering system which mixes the air and fuel in the correct ratio before feeding it down to the main cylinder to power the vehicle.

Usually in a bike a carburetor is responsible for carrying out this task. But, the downside of using a carburetor is that it has fixed settings and it has certain limitations. To overcome this negative aspect of a new system has been introduced. However, for this brand new system to work, it needs data from several sensors. These sensors include an engine speed sensor, temperature sensor, voltage sensor, throttle position sensor, oxygen sensor and an air flow sensor. The data collected from the various sensors are send to the Electronic control unit… Read the rest

Tags: , ,

Hydrogen (water) Powered vehicle

July 29th, 2010 by CJ Samson | 234 Comments | Filed in Automobiles, Mechanical Engineering Projects, Mechanical Seminar Topics, Power & Energy

Not a Gimmick! Finally the science of Hydrogen automotive power has been made a reality! Technically a device that converts the energy stored in hydrogen into motion can be called a Hydrogen engine. Hydrogen would make a great fuel for the environment since burning Hydrogen produces nothing but water!

Hydrogen Powered vehicle essentially consists of the following

1)      Fuel tank

Liquid hydrogen is stored in a tank at the rear of the car and is pumped forward to the fuel cell stack as and when required.

2)      Fuel Cell Stack

When Hydrogen is combined with Oxygen in a fuel cell a chemical reaction creates electricity.

Hydrogen Powered vehicle

1)      Battery Pack

Read the rest

Tags: , ,

Over speed indicator and Accident Avoidance systems in a four wheeler

July 18th, 2010 by CJ Samson | 148 Comments | Filed in Automobiles, Mechanical Engineering Projects, Mechanical Seminar Topics

Except for the Autobahn in Germany, almost all roads have specific speed limits. And it is difficult for the driver to always look out for speed limits signs and adjust his speed accordingly. Over speed indicator is a device that tells the driver if he is exceeding the particular speed limit. With the over speed indicator in your car you can be sure that you are not going get yourself booked for over speeding. The system has a computer which stores the speed limits of different areas. The GPS in the system feeds the exact location of the car to the computer which looks up in its database to determine the permissible speed for the area and limits the car within the allowable speed.

Accident Avoidance… Read the rest

Tags: ,

Adaptive Cruise Control System

July 16th, 2010 by CJ Samson | 11 Comments | Filed in Automobiles, Mechanical Seminar Topics

There is no denying the convenience of cruise control. Conventional cruise control systems however, are not always practical when it comes to driving in moderate traffic. Whenever the vehicle in front of you is moving slower than you are, you need to depress the brakes and de-activate the system.  When traffic clears you need to press the accelerator, return to the desired speed and reset the cruise control.

Not very convenient, huh?

Imagine a cruise control system that not only controls your speed, to match the cars ahead of you but also controls the braking as well. Car companies like Daimler Chrysler, BMW, Jaguar, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Volvo and Ford have found the technology!

Using advanced Radar technology, Adaptive cruise control automatically… Read the rest

Tags: ,

Fabrication of Spark plug testing machine

July 16th, 2010 by CJ Samson | 21 Comments | Filed in Automobiles, Mechanical Engineering Projects

This is a simple mechanical engineering project which can be executed at low cost.

Construction

A Spark plug tester essentially consists of a metallic portion followed by something that looks almost similar to a Spark Plug and a connecting port in a tubular arrangement.

Fabrication of Spark plug testing machine

What does the tester do?

The Spark plug tester performs the following functions to check the proper working of the Spark plug.

1. Checks if the Spark plug is accepting current from the wires that go to the spark plug.

2. Proper firing of the Spark plug

The main idea of using a spark plug tester is to avoid the removal of the spark plug and testing it. This leads to saving valuable time.

How does it perform the above functions?

a)     Testing the wires:… Read the rest

Tags: ,

Automatic Multi-level parking (AMLP)

July 8th, 2010 by CJ Samson | 13 Comments | Filed in Automobiles, Mechanical Engineering Projects

What if you had a foot print area of 50X50 feet and you were supposed to park 200 cars in it?

After a while of using your grey cells, you would possibly stumble upon this idea called Multi-level car park (MLCP) . The idea of a structure designed particularly for Automobiles, having a number of floors or levels so as to facilitate parking.  Just the way people stack up houses to make flats! Putting one over the other so as to maximize the use of the available space.  In a MLCP you would have to seek a vacant parking slot and park your car exactly in the space provided and it might turn out to be an issue for amateur drivers! Moreover, retrieval of the car… Read the rest

Tags: , , ,

« Older Entries