Friday 4 November 2011

Wonder Car by city students


Aknisree Karthik
Bangalore:  Do you still have a doubt in the words of American President Barrack Obama? He has warned the students of his nation to work hard as he fears that Indians students might take the lead. True. You will firmly believe it after reading this article based on the project report of the mechanical engineering students of P E S Institute of Technology.
How do you feel while your car automatically drives you to the destination you wish while you sit back and relax watching a movie of your choice on your car wind shield while you are on a long drive? Do you believe when I say that a car can adjust its colour, music and light matching your mood variations?
Do you think all these are possible? Yes it is possible. The mechanical engineering students of PESIT have designed a mechanism for a car, where the car will take you the destination which you wish on its own. The car has a mechanism which enables one to park it automatically.  
The students have worked on a project statement given to them by PACE and fully supported by General Motors. They had to conceptualize, design and build a ‘Sustainable Urban Transport’ (SUT) for the year 2030, which has to be economical with negligible carbon footprint.
The problem required the students to develop the entire manufacturing and industry scenario for the car after a comprehensive market research. They conceptualized this project statement and applied it to an Indian scenario by taking Ahmadabad as the city for targeted market research.

 “We wanted our car to be suitable for Indian roads and the Indian scenario while also being in conformance to all the rules, regulations and conditions set by PACE.
We have been involved in this project for over a year now. It began in August 2010. There were seven teams, consisting of five universities each working on this project. We were heading Team 3. Our team included National Institute of Design (Ahmadabad), Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico), SJCE (Mysore) and Michigan Tech University (USA)” said Vishwanath Sundaram, a team member, PESIT.
Team 3 is currently headed by PESIT, which is working on ‘Steering and Propulsion systems’. The students have done comprehensive analysis on the chassis design and propulsion of the car.  They have also incorporated special steering mechanisms to combat the increase in traffic at 2030. The car has sensors which will detect any obstacles while driving and avoid it. This is an electric car which runs on battery and the steering can be turned up to 90 degree.

“PACE provided the college with the necessary hardware and software to complete the entire project. If we require any special software from one of its partners we can ask them for the same and they will provide it for free” said Vishwas Pai, a team member from PESIT.
As of August 2011, Phase I of the project is complete. Phase I consisted of conceptualization of the car, virtual design and modeling and engineering of the various subsystems. Phase II of the project involves manufacturing of a prototype, providing complete technical specifications of all inner workings of the car and providing data about the different infrastructures and manufacturing units required to actually start the production of the car. Phase II is set to begin by the end of August 2011 and is scheduled to be completed by July 2012.
“The car has many distinct features. Its body will be covered by LED where one can change the whole colour and design of the car whenever he wishes. All the things will be networked. The nearest gas station, food station, the battery levels, etc will be displayed. This will be a gift to parents as they can send their children without any feat anywhere as the car will be monitored and they will know as where the car is” said Prof Sathish, research guide to the project.
The team has won prizes at the International PACE Forum 2011, Vancouver held recently. They have secured 1st places in design and market research. They have won 2nd places in product engineering and manufacturing and has managed to emerge as the winners of overall best collaboration.
National Institute of Design is responsible for the design and the market research of the car. They have provided an intensive research report on the market analysis and what type of car is favorable for the same. SJCE is responsible for the GPS and networking. They are responsible for providing the interface between the user and the car and also the inter car communication protocols.

UIA is responsible for the braking and suspension. They have designed state of the art swiveling suspensions, which is required for slot parking and rough Indian suspension. Michigan Technological University is responsible for the electrical controls in the car and incorporation of drive by wire technology.
 

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