Written Resources

Design Methods Reference Books

"Electronics, Project Management and Design", by D. Joseph Stadtmiller, published by Prentice Hall, 2001.
(Paperback w/ CD-ROM: ISBN 0-13-012729-9)

"Engineering Design Methods", by Nigel Cross, published by Wiley
(ISBN 0-471-94228-6)

"Engineering Design for Electrical Engineers" by Alan D. Wilcox, published by Prentice Hall
(ISBN 0-13-278136-0)

"Strategies for Creative Problem Solving" by H. Scott Fogler and Steven E. LeBlanc, published by Prentice Hall
(ISBN 0-13-179318-7)

Sensors and Instrumentation Reference Books

"Measurement, Instrumentation and Sensors Handbook", ed. John Webster, published by CRC Press and IEEE Press, 1999.
(ISBN 0-8493-8347-1)

"Electronic Instrument Handbook", by Clyde Coombs, published by McGraw Hill, 1999.
(Hardcover: ISBN 0071350160, Paperback: ISBN 007026186)

"Capacitive Sensors", by L. Baxter, IEEE Series on Electronic Technology, 1997.
(ISBN 0-7803-1130-2)

High Speed Design Issues

High Speed Digital Design: A Handbook of Black Magic by Howard W. Johnson & Martin Graham, published by Prentice Hall
(ISBN 0-13-395724-1)

Control System and User Interface for Hydraulic Bike

Iain Brearton

Featured Project

Parker-Hannifin, a fluid power systems company, hosts an annual competition for the design of a chainless bicycle. A MechSE senior design team of mechanical engineers have created a hydraulic circuit with electromechanical valves, but need a control system, user interface, and electrical power for their system. The user would be able to choose between several operating modes (fluid paths), listed at the end.

My solution to this problem is a custom-designed control system and user interface. Based on sensor feedback and user inputs, the system would change operating modes (fluid paths). Additionally, the system could be improved to suggest the best operating mode by implementing a PI or PID controller. The system would not change modes without user interaction due to safety - previous years' bicycles have gone faster than 20mph.

Previous approaches to this problem have usually not included an electrical engineer. As a result, several teams have historically used commercially-available systems such as Parker's IQAN system (link below) or discrete logic due to a lack of technical knowledge (link below). Apart from these two examples, very little public documentation exists on the electrical control systems used by previous competitors, but I believe that designing a control system and user interface from scratch will be a unique and new approach to controlling the hydraulic system.

I am aiming for a 1-person team as there are 6 MechSE counterparts. I emailed Professor Carney on 10/3/14 and he thought the general concept was acceptable.

Operating modes, simplified:

Direct drive (rider's pedaling power goes directly to hydraulic motor)

Coasting (no power input, motor input and output "shorted")

Charge accumulators (store energy in expanding rubber balloons)

Discharge accumulators (use stored energy to supply power to motor)

Regenerative braking (use motor energy to charge accumulators)

Download Competition Specs: https://uofi.box.com/shared/static/gst4s78tcdmfnwpjmf9hkvuzlu8jf771.pdf

Team using IQAN system (top right corner): https://engineering.purdue.edu/ABE/InfoFor/CurrentStudents/SeniorProjects/2012/GeskeLamneckSparenbergEtAl

Team using discrete logic (page 19): http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/86206/ME450?sequence=1