Faurecia is a global leader in automotive equipment with operations in 34 countries and over $20 Billion in annual sales. Faurecia supplies 1 in 3 vehicles worldwide and is currently:
Multiple teams in ME 113, thanks for the generosity of Faurecia, will be working on projects related to improving the user experience of older adults as car drivers and passengers.
Problem: Drivers and passengers who use mobility aids have difficulty stowing them in the back seat or trunk because of their weight and bulk. In addition, once the walker (or wheelchair) is put in the car, the driver must typically stand or walk a few steps unaided to the driver's side door. Getting into or out of the driver's seat may also be a challenge for this population as well as older adults in general.
Aim: Explore designs which would allow a driver, passenger, caregiver to safely stow and retrieve his/her mobility aid.
Problem:Getting into and out of a vehicle becomes more difficult when flexibility and muscle strength decrease with age. There is a large population of otherwise healthy people that, when they age, find it difficult to get in and out of cars. An alternate population to consider is drivers or passengers who use mobility aids. This is a good problem to address, since none of the heretofore proposed solutions seem to have been widely accepted.
Aim:Explore designs which would allow an older adult or a user of a mobility aid to safely get in and out of a car.
Problem:Getting between the vehicle and the door of the home: The last 100 meters There is both the danger of falling and inhibitions due to the fear of falling, especially in bad weather. It would be useful to develop a system that instils confidence even under adverse weather and terrain. Also, there are issues that older adults face with moving items (e.g. groceries) from vehicle to home. Usually, if needed, people get help loading at the supermarket, but what about when they get home? It is important to develop aids that both avoid injuries and liability while maintaining the individual’s dignity.
Background:There is a whole range of challenges and opportunities beyond what has been highlighted. Choose a target user, vehicle scenario, and a situation to address.
Multiple teams in ME 113 will be working on a project to integrate solar modules onto a Volkswagen e-Golf sponsored by Porsche. The aim of the project will be to develop skills in module manufacturing and characterization, CFD design work and manufacturing to aerodynamically modify vehicles, and electric integration to tie the system together. The end goal is to have a functional prototype that will be mounted on the vehicle, and will produce power while driving and stationary.
Problem:Solar modules are typically too bulky and not sufficiently flexible enough to put on vehicles. The goal of this team will be to design modules that can conform to these requirements safely and without requiring modification of the car.
Aim:The module manufacturing team will work on the design and manufacture of the solar modules, including the cell layout, soldering, and encapsulation for the solar panels. Finally, this team will attach the cells to the roof rack mounting system.
Problem:Mounting solar cells directly onto a car can permanently damage the exterior of the car. Mounting cells straight to the car also negatively impacts aerodynamic performance.
Aim:Design a product to attach the modules to the top of the e-Golf’s roof rack. Use CFD for optimized aerodynamic performance. This system is critical to vehicle safety, and must meet margins of safety to not detach from the vehicle in strong winds and high driving speeds.
Problem:Solar panels need a way to store energy, and it is extremely difficult to do so with the car’s high-voltage battery without heavily modifying the car. However, fitting a battery into a car safely and with good aesthetics is not simple.
Aim:The integration team will design the electrical integration of the solar panels. They will be responsible for the wiring once it comes out of the roof rack holder, and will wire it into the car (without making the car less watertight) before integrating it with a battery inside the car.
Problem:The power output of a solar panel has a fairly large dependency on its angle relative to the sun. Mounting solar panels on a car may result in decreased efficiency due to the angle of the car.
Aim:Design a system that will allow the roof rack to tilt or rotate toward the sun. This must be done in a manner that integrates with the roof rack design team, and is sufficiently safety tested to not compromise the integrity of the solar panel mount.
Ampaire, Inc. is an aerospace startup located in Southern California, and is dedicated to developing technologies to enable high performance zero emissions aircraft. One of our industry’s major challenges is developing aircraft-grade battery packs that are both lightweight and safe. A key enabling technology is an efficient vapor cooling system that results in minimal pack weight penalty.
Problem:The student team will design, analyze, and demonstrate a battery pack cooling system for the proposed application. The design will be evaluated empirically using a simulated battery pack provided by Ampaire. In lieu of battery cells, electrical resistance heaters representing realistic battery cell dimensions and power output will be used. A baseline arrangement of cells within the panel will be provided, though students may modify the layout to improve performance.
Laing O'Rourke, a UK based company, is one of the world's largest private construction companies. Our annual revenue is around $5Billion USD. Depending on the stage of our current works we employ anywhere from 10,000 - 50,000 employees. Our projects portfolio tends towards $100Million+ construction projects of facilities, airports, mining, gas processing plants, roadways, and defense.
The Engineering Excellence Group - Sydney Australia (EnExG) is a quasi independent group within Laing O'Rouke that reports directly to the board. EnExG's role is to continually audit our broad spectrum of operations to uncover opportunities to create, find, imagine, lead, inspire, support, and enable fundamental research & insights to shepherd through to practice.
Background:We are challenging the traditional demarcation between man and machine in industrial robotics cells. What would robot cells look like if they were designed to inherently include humans, if the robots acted as capability catalysts and truly enabled us to apply our expertise rather than 'just doing the job for us'? Would the resultant cell be more flexible? agile? adaptive to change? capable? liked by the workforce?
Aim:Finding a suitable candidate target within our operations for, design of, and evaluation of such a cell.