SYNC VII by Publication MESA

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MOM’ SSTORY

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MYSTERYOFGOL FBAL L “ DI MPL ES”CRACKED Page08

V2VTECHNOL OGY

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EDITOR’S NOTE AKASH BODDEDA Hi friends, The best mechanical engineers truly enjoy complex problem solving. They are innovators at heart. If you choose engineering as a career, you will turn ideas into reality and solve problems that better society. You will be right on the cutting edge of technology. “When you want to know how things really work, study them when they're coming apart.” -William Gibson, Zero History Another such attempt is made by the online version of our departmental magazine, SYNC. It is an annual online magazine of Mechanical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. Since its inception, SYNC showcased the excellence of Mechanical Engineering through its luxurious and rich content, which never dissapointed its target readers throughout the globe. So, guess what, turn on some music, kick back, grab our online magazine and relax while reading. I take this opportunity with great pride and announce the launch of SYNC VII, with all new trending technological articles. This magazine is one of its kind and covers interesting articles. It also showcases some of the achievements of SAE-IITG Racing of our institute. I'm sure readers will find it way more exciting. I express my profound gratitude and deep regards to everyone, who contibuted positively to this magazine. A humble "Thank you" If you have any story ideas or updates to share, feel free to contact me at akash.boddeda@gmail.com or http://in.linkedin.com/in/akashboddeda/ Akash Boddeda Editor, Publication Secretary MESA Indian Institute of Technlology Guwahati

MEMBERS Faculty Advisor : Prof. Sashindra K. Kakoty President : Abhishek Jeph Vice-President : Abhijeet Sinha Publication Secretary : Akash Boddeda Publication Members : Gaurav Agarwal, Sanjeev Kumar

CONTENTS 02 03 05 07 08 11 13 17 19 21 22

IITG Racing

SAE IIT GUWAHATI CHAPTER

Mechanical Engineering Is on the Rise new RISHAV RAI

MIT’s Super-Stealthy Robot Cheetah GAURAV AGARWAL

Fuelling The Next Generation Vehicle Technology SANJEEV KUMAR

Mystery Of Golf Balls “Dimples” CRACKED GAURAV AGARWAL

Powertrains Drive Future Engine Design SANJEEV KUMAR

MOM’s Story PRANIT GAIKAR

V2V Technology RISHAB GUPTA

Multiple Barriers Helping to Protect Cars from Dangers RISHAB GUPTA

Intern Story TANMAY SHANKAR

Skills of a Mechanical Design Engineer RISHAV RAI

MESA Activities About MESA

ESA, the Mechanical Engineering Students' Association of IIT Guwahati, aims to play a pivotal role in the development of students as engineers by various out-of-curriculum and extra-curricular activities. MESA aims to inculcate among its members an awareness and appreciation of the various disciplines of not just Mechanical Engineering but also other relevant fields. By way of its activities MESA aims to be a platform for all the students of IIT Guwahati in general and particularly of the students of ME department. MESA seeks to be an active organization of the ME department at IITG which promotes their career interests.

Fresher’s Orientation: MESA held its fresher’s orientation during the early days of the semester, to uplift the feel and enthusiastic spirit among young undergraduates.

Internship Talk: MESA organised its traditional internship talks for pre-final and junior year undergraduate students, where a very good insight is provided on HOW? When? Where? What? Kind of internships to be applied and various advantages and disadvantages are also being discussed by experienced students.

xperience to the attendees and enrich them with knowledge of the technological sector and improve their confidence and drive them ready to change the world they live in, is what it is aimed at

Team-Seismech’14

Gaon Chalo

social initiative by Dr. Karuna Kalita, which aimed at motivating the school students of the rural areas of Assam towards engineering by demonstrating how it can solve their problems. The camp included exhibition of fascinating projects to the school students, quiz competitions, brainstorming video series and a presentation on how to look at science differently. There was also a workshop on drawing for small kids.

SEISMECH’14

eismech, is the flagship event of the Mechanical Engineering Student Association (MESA), IIT Guwahati. It is conceptualized to develop and strengthen the engineering spirit of the students of IIT Guwahati and other North-East colleges.

Group photo at Kukurmara, Assam

MESA organised the first ever Symposium for Mechanical Department on 5th and 6th April 2014 SYNC

IITG Racing

AEINDIA is leading resource for mobility technology. SAEINDIA is an affiliate society of SAE International registered in India, as an Indian non-profit engineering and scientific society dedicated to the advancement of mobility industry in India.

EFFICYCLE 2013 We initiated our journey of efficycle in 2013 by fabricating a tadpole three wheel double seated hybrid (manual + electric) tricycle. We achieved 21st position among 180 teams across India participated for the event.

SAE IIT Guwahati is group of engineers committed to experiencing high end automotive designing and engineering. SAE IIT Guwahati focuses on inculcating and fostering research interest among students and exposing them to new areas of science and engineering through lectures and workshops.

BAJA 2011-12 SAE-IITG participated first SAEINDIA competition with the aim of fabrication of single seated 4 wheel off road vehicle, to take part in series of events spread over a course of 3 days, that test the vehicle for the sound engineering practices that have gone into it, the agility of the vehicle in terms of gradability, speed, acceleration and Maneuverability characteristics and finally its ability to endure that back breaking durability test.

EFFICYCLE 2014

fter a valuable experience of efficycle13 and learning from mistakes we came up with new design and innovative power train as a result of which we stood 6th in dynamics events and secured 13th rank out of 90 teams (participating in the mains after being selected from 250+ teams in virtual round).

Ongoing Projects:SUPRA-SAEINDIA 2015 EFFICYCLE SAENIS presents a new Milestone in the realm of “Green Technology” - SAE Efficycle. This competition is held for undergraduate and graduate students aimed to design, simulate and fabricate a highly efficient human cum electric powered vehicle that’s Aerodynamic and ergonomically stable.

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nergizing concept behind SUPRA SAEINDIA 2015 is to develop a small Formula style race car. The prototype is to be evaluated for its potential as a racing car. A team of 25 enthusiastic engineers are currently working on design, analysis and fabrication of Formula type race car.

Mechanical Engineering Is on the Rise new Rocket Science. Mechanical engineering is all about designing, building, and maintaining machines of all types and sizes. It's an engineering classic, dating to the early days of the industrial revolution, when engineering know-how was needed to harness the potential of the steam engine. But despite its 19thcentury pedigree, M.E. is today at the heart of many cutting-edge technologies. That makes it a hot choice for students. It's by far the most popular undergraduate degree in engineering; according to the American Society for Engineering Education, 16,063 undergrad degrees were awarded in 2006. At the graduate level, it's the third-most-popular discipline among engineering master's and is back in first place among doctorates.

hy the demand? M.E. students have to master key elements of chemical, civil, and electrical engineering, as well as physics and advanced mathematics, particularly calculus. "The breadth of mechanical engineering is unique," explains Larry Silverberg, the associate head of the mechanical and aerospace engineering program at North Carolina State University. "And, no question, that's a selling point." That's particularly true for M.E. students who go to graduate school, with its focus on a narrow area of study. The broadness of the degree means they have a wide array of possibilities to choose from. Traditionally, many mechanical engineers headed for automotive and aerospace, but energy, robotics, and bioengineering are growth areas, too, as is nanotechnology—which is, after all, the manipulation of particles at the nano-level to build microsize machines. Silverberg singles out three sectors critical to America's future: energy, security and defense, and healthcare. "Mechanical engineering plays a big role in all three of those," he says.

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wan Pritchard, who is completing his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at North Carolina State, is head of the hybrid program at Advanced Energy, a company that recently unveiled the first commercially available plug-in hybrid vehicle, a school bus. He's passionate about developing alternative-fuel vehicles, which is why M.E. was his choice. "The coming decade is going to be the decade of energy, and when you think energy, you think mechanical engineering," says Pritchard, 35. That's because, as Iowa State University M.E. Prof. Robert C. Brown explains, mechanical engineers are not only experts in thermodynamics—the study and uses of energy—they know how to apply its laws to bring machines to life. There are four main subdisciplines within M.E.—thermodynamics and fluids, solid mechanics, dynamics and controls, and manufacturing—so students learn early on to work on interdisciplinary teams. And crossdisciplinary research dominates both academia and industry today. "Most of the best research is at the edges of disciplines," where they abut one another, says Joseph Beaman, chairman of the M.E. department at the University of TexasAustin. Many M.E. departments also encourage students to take biology and business classes to enhance their multidisciplinary capacity.

e're No. 1. The range of skills common to mechanical engineering graduates also goes over well in the job market. At Austin, many M.E. students are top prospects on the wish lists of companies scouting prospective hires. Edward Hensel, head of mechanical engineering at rit, says "there's a powerful, pent-up demand in industry for mechanical engineers. In more than 20 years as a teacher, I've not seen the like of it before."

Mechanical Engineering Is on the Rise new Research money is plentiful too, in part because of recent increases in National Science

oundation funding for the physical sciences and engineering. Silverberg says these have particularly favored M.E. "because so many of the critical problems in the forefront now lie in the area of mechanical engineering." His department's research expenditures increased 25 percent over the past five years to $8 million a year. Indeed, North Carolina State recently added two new graduate classesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;one in nanomechanics, the other in biofluidsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to accommodate M.E.'s increasing involvement in nanotechnology and the life sciences.

Anderson, meanwhile, should have her master's completed by spring 2009 and expects to eventually earn a doctorate, too. She's also adamant she wants to keep working at NASA: "It's better than I had hoped. I've really enjoyed it; I really feel it's the right place for me." Clearly, its mission accomplished for Anderson's girlhood dream, thanks in large part to her mechanical engineering education.

-Rishav Rai

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MIT's Super-Stealthy Robot Cheetah Can Run You Down Heading down the track. The higher the force, the faster your speed.

Researchers with MIT-Cheetah Bot

he cheetah is off the leash! Researchers at MIT have built a four-legged robot that runs like the super-fast spotted feline and can even run on its own power, off a treadmill. The robot has now been filmed sprinting like a champ across grassy fields on the MIT university campus.

Robotic cheetah running on grass With better control of how hard the cheetah's feet hit the ground, researchers found that it could run and bound on rough terrain like grassy fields while maintain its speed and balance. Balance is also an important factor in clearing obstacles, which the robotic cheetah does without loosing a beat.

The MIT Cheetah-Bot in Killian DARPA's made all types of robots, from â&#x20AC;&#x153;Big Dog" to "Wild Cat," and soft robots to flying robots. Their latest creepy invention is a robotic "cheetah" that can run, bound, and jump obstacles in its path all while running on a quiet electric motor, giving the robot its stealthy catlike quality.

he key to the robotic cheetah's stealth and agility is how hard its mechanical feet hit the ground, MIT researchers say in their latest video. The researchers working on the project, funded by DARPA, have developed an algorithm that enables them to control how much force the animal's feet exert when they contact the ground, which any sprinter can tell you relates to how fast you go SYNC

Robotic Cheetah-Bot training on treadmill

ou may have noticed that DARPA's latest animal-inspired robot does not move as gracefully as a cheetah sprinting after its prey. That's because the engineers at MIT are still perfecting the robot's motion at high speeds. Cheetahs gallop their prey down, but robo-cheetah is not there, yet. Instead, it bounds across fields. When an animal bounds, it lifts its back two feet off the ground right as its front two feet simultaneously make contact. This way, the animal always has two feet on the ground.

MIT's Super-Stealthy Robot Cheetah Can Run You Down Heading The next stage in speed is galloping, when the two front feet and back feet separate, hitting the ground at different times. During each gallop, all four feet leave the ground as the animal flies through the air, like the real cheetah in this

Robotic Cheetah Galloping

When tested on an indoor track, the robocheetah could run at a good clip of 10 miles per hour, and the researchers think that it could eventually reach speeds of 30 miles per hour. That still doesn’t hold a candle to an actual cheetah, which can reach speeds of 60 miles per hour in a matter of seconds — but it’s fast where legged robots are concerned. If the robo-cheetah can indeed reach those speeds, it could potentially give Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, who’s been clocked at nearly 28 miles per hour, a run for his money. In any case, the robot is already a multi-sport athlete – it can also do hurdles, leaping over obstacles up to 1.08 feet tall and sprinting onward.

nce the MIT researchers perfect the robotic cheetah's bounding capabilities, it should not be difficult for them to split the legs and gain more speed, according to Sangbae Kim, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. - Gaurav Agarwal

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Fuelling The Next Generation Vehicle Technology ith rapid fueling, long range and zero harmful emissions, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) have a lot to offer consumers. The world’s first trigeneration facility in California has the technology that could help fuel our world’s transition to a clean energy economy.

efficiency of a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine) and a driving range of more than 250 miles between refueling. These are capable of achieving up to 430 miles on a single fill. And of course, FCEVs produce no harmful emissions -- in fact you can cut emissions by 90 percent if you switch from an internal combustion engine to an FCEV.

The impressive tri-gen facility was developed as part of a partnership between the Energy Department, California Air Resources Board, South Coast Air Quality Management District, the Orange County Sanitation District, Southern California Gas Company and private industry. The project is managed by Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., and additional partners include FuelCell Energy and the National Fuel Cell Research Center (NFCRC). The facility is located at the Orange County Sanitation District’s wastewater treatment plant and uses a high-temperature fuel cell and biogas produced from the anaerobic digestion of waste to efficiently produce hydrogen, electricity and heat. The electricity and heat produced are used to power and warm the facility.

eeing these advanced technologies operating in the real world makes it clear that FCEVs and technologies like the trigen facility are going to play a vital role in our nation’s future energy and transportation economies. And because FCEVs can boast rapid fueling, long range, and zero harmful emissions, it’s not hard to imagine why.

-Sanjeev Kumar

he tri-gen facility also produces up to 100 kg of hydrogen per day for a nearby hydrogen fueling station -- enough to fuel 25-50 vehicles. One of three hydrogen stations in Orange County providing hydrogen for FCEVs, the station can quickly refuel a FCEV in only 3 minutes -- fast enough to rival the time spent at any conventional gas station! By having a hydrogen fueling stations on site with the tri-gen facility, the emissions and energy that would otherwise be needed to transport hydrogen to the fueling station are eliminated.

FCEV looks like a conventional gas-powered SUV but operates quietly like an electric vehicle. FCEVs have a fuel cell system efficiency of up to 59 percent (that’s more than double the SYNC

Mystery Of Golf Ball “Dimples” CRACKED

nce upon so it's no wonder that golfers will do everything they can to make the ball go farther. A time, the only balls that went far were the ones that weren't so white. Golfers noticed that battered balls went farther than new, smooth ones, and the balls were modified accordingly, if bemusedly. It doesn't make sense. Air generally moves smoothly over smooth surfaces. A smooth ball should fly easily, the air parting and rushing past it without any turbulence. A rough surface doesn't make for easy airflow. Air dips into crevasses and is stopped short. It eddies and whirls. It creates turbulence, which sucks the ball one way and pushes it another, making it erratic and slow. After all, you don't see any pits being put into the wings of airplanes to make them fly faster. LATEST INSIGHTS DYNAMICS. Tailored golf performance:

balls

INTO

FLUID

improve

golfing

objects such as golf balls, which helps them fly farther.

imples make up the small round indentations on the golf ball. They energize the flow and induce turbulence in the layer of air next to the ball. This turbulent boundary layer can reduce drag. Due to the Dimples the golf ball moves actually a larger distance in air than in vacuum That’s

“INSANE”………………

The study, published in Journal of Turbulence, provides new insights into how the momentum transport is affected by the dimples and how multiple dimple rows interact to generate near wall turbulence. Co-author Nikolaos Beratlis explains: "To most golfers the fact that a golf ball with a roughened surface can give you 150 yards more than a perfectly smooth one sounds like a paradox." He adds: "This additional momentum that dimples give keeps the flow attached to the surface longer reducing the pressure difference between the front and back of the golf ball, thus resulting in less drag.” Why are Golf Balls Dimpled? (A Brief Explanation)

Elements such as trip wires, dimples and sandgrain roughness on the surface of a body have been shown to be effective in reducing drag on SYNC

he dimples, paradoxically, do increase drag slightly. But they also increase "Magnus lift", that peculiar lifting force experienced by rotating bodies travelling through a medium. Magnus lift is present because a driven golf ball has backspin. The same Magnus effect can cause a ball to hook or slice if it has sideways spin. Contrary to simple ideas of trajectories in a vacuum, golf balls do not travel in inverted parabolas. They follow an "impetus trajectory": * * * * (Golfer) * * <-- trajectory \O/ * * | * * --/ \-T--------------------------------------------ground

Mystery Of Golf Ball â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dimplesâ&#x20AC;? CRACKED This is because of the combination of drag (which reduces horizontal speed late in the trajectory) and Magnus lift (which supports the ball during the initial part of the trajectory, making it relatively straight). The trajectory can even curve upwards at first, depending on conditions! Here we see a golf ball in flight, with some relevant vectors:

bottom portion moves fast relative to the air around it; there is more drag on the air passing by the bottom, and the boundary (turbulent) layer is relatively thick; air in the not-too-near region moves more slowly relative to the ball. The Bernoulli force produces lift. (Alternatively, one could say that "the flow lines past the ball are displaced down, so the ball is pushed up.") A difficulty comes near the transition region between laminar flow and turbulent flow. At low speeds, the flow around the ball is laminar. As speed is increased, the bottom part tends to go turbulent first. But turbulent flow can follow a surface much more easily than laminar flow. As a result, the laminar flow lines around the top break away from the surface sooner than otherwise, and there is a net upward displacement of the flow lines. The Magnus lift becomes negative.

he dimples aid the rapid formation of a turbulent boundary layer around the golf ball in flight, giving more lift. Without them the ball would travel in more of a parabolic trajectory, hitting the ground sooner (and not coming straight down). This was discovered by accident in the early days of golf when golfers noticed that old roughened golf balls went farther.

golf ball leaves the tee with a speed of about 70 m/s and a backspin of at least 50 rev/s. The Magnus force can be thought of as due to the relative drag on the air on the top and bottom portions of the golf ball: the top portion is moving slower relative to the air around it, so there is less drag on the air that goes over the ball. The boundary layer is relatively thin, and air in the not-too-near region moves rapidly relative to the ball. The

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Despite the drag, a dimpled golf ball can even go farther in air than it would in vacuum given the same initial velocity and low angle. However, a golf ball shot at 45Â° and 70 m/s in vacuum would go 500 meters to the first bounce, which exceeds all records. Golf Ball Dimples - How Many? A "How many dimples does a golf ball have?" A golf ball usually has anywhere from 330 to 500 dimples - depending on which company designs the ball. The dimples help the ball travel farther and higher.

Mystery Of Golf Ball “Dimples” CRACKED Dimples can reduce the size of the coller fans used in cpu’s as the rpm’s can be very high due to low air drag thus low heating of the motor………..

imples first appeared on golf balls more than 100 years ago when golfers discovered that balls which had been scratched or roughed up traveled farther than smooth balls. "Dimples are what gives a golf ball lift. They create two layers of air going around the ball. The top layer is going faster than the bottom layer which creates turbulence. This reduces the drag and allows the ball to travel farther than a smooth ball," says Bob who is a trained engineer. Different companies have designed golf balls with different numbers of dimples to allow the ball to travel farther. This is quite a science and involves weeks of testing and retesting. Companies can even design golf balls to suit the swing of individual golfers. So a ball used by Tiger Woods might have a completely different dimple pattern than one used by David Duvall. The ideal ball will usually have between 380 and 432 dimples.

Dimples increase the mileage of a fuel car considerably, and very high speeds as high as 400kmph may be possible if properly engineered…………………………..

- Gaurav Agarwal Some of the Insane Changes that we may notice in the near future:-

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Powertrains Drive Future Engine Design

ersonal transportationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;motorcycles, cars, trucks, and busesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;is going through an unprecedented transformation. At no other point in the long history of the internal combustion engine (ICE) has the industry experienced such unrelenting pressure to change. Whether driven by legislation around safety, emissions, fuel consumption, or congestion, or by customer expectations for better performance, features, and quality, demands on engine designers have never been greater. As a result, engine designers are heading back to the drawing board to re-evaluate engine design and what engines need to accomplish to satisfy current market trends. The industry is now experiencing a renaissance in powertrain design, providing solutions for battery electric vehicles, plug-in electric hybrids, and dedicated hybrids, as well as continued improvements in the ICE.

Promising Research One of the most interesting trends is the use of homogenous-charge compression ignition (HCCI), which delivers diesel-like efficiencies in a gasoline engine. This and other improvements in combustion system design enable better fuel consumption, improved performance, cleaner engine-out emissions, and reduced need for expensive, bulky catalytic technology. University of WisconsinMadison student hybrid vehicle gets ready for U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Vehicle Competition. "In parallel with this work, much research pertaining to biofuels as alternatives to conventional gasoline and diesel is being carried out," says Brian Price, an adjunct professor with the Department of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Big strides are being made in improving combustion efficiency and making biofuels from non-food crops, such as grasses and algae."

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Another trend that is gaining momentum is the design of dedicated, down-sized engines for hybrid powertrains. "Hybrid powertrains can have a variety of degrees of hybridization," says Price. "This is basically the balance between how much vehicle performance comes from a battery versus a conventional engine source. Depending on the type of powertrain configuration and power control strategy selected, the powertrain may operate on battery only, engine only, or a combination of battery and engine. The ideal configuration for each customer depends on that person's individual driving needs."

Optimizing Engines

rice is leading several research projects that model hybrid battery/engine sizing scenarios for major manufacturers, including car, bus, and truck companies. He believes that hybrids will be the main new powertrain configurations for the next 30-40 years. "For the first time, engine size is being reduced as the industry re-evaluates what is needed in an engine," says Price. "This is made possible by variable systems, such as cylinder de-activation, variable valve timing, stop/start technology, and greater use of pressure-charging (turbochargers and superchargers)." In the future, one size will not fit all when it comes to powertrain configurations. Customers will need to think more carefully about the type of driving they do and select an appropriately configured product, to realize the full benefits of optimized engines. The continued refinement of technologies has also made engines more mechanically and electronically complex, which adds cost.

Powertrains Drive Future Engine Design

owertrains of the future will involve more sensors for increasingly sophisticated control systems, variable devices, power-enhancing technologies such as turbocharging, and inevitably some form of battery," says Price. "The business-case assessment of viable product configurations, involving the use of new business models for plug-in charging, maintenance contracts, and end-of-life disposal, will need to be thought through very carefully and considered as a complete system."

Future Demand With more sophisticated powertrains in the future, and increasing requirements regarding long-term emissions compliance and end-oflife disposal (already legislated in Europe and Japan), manufacturers will need to think carefully about support services for maintenance, rescue services, financing, etc. Because most forms of powertrains in the future will have some degree of electrification, well-developed networks of chargers will be critical for supporting battery electric vehicles.

and utilize the latest in material and manufacturing advances. Engineers who want some guidance in this direction should consider programs like UWMadison's Master of Engineering in Engine Systems program, a distance program for working professional engineers. "Coursework like this will truly prepare engines architects for the future," says Price. "They will be able to rethink their own approach to the design and development of engines and expand their specialist skills to cover a broader range of aspects in developing the next generation of powertrain solutions". -Sanjeev Kumar

"I have a Ph.D. student who is just completing his thesis in this area," says Price. "He has developed mathematical models that map out an idealized network of electric charge-points, which provide maximum coverage with minimal investment in infrastructure." Even with the rise of electrification in powertrain configurations and electronic controls, there will still be vital roles for mechanical engineers in optimizing engines for high reliability, high efficiency, and low cost of operation. "As a mechanical engineer who has been doing engine and gearbox design for over 30 years, I've never know a more exciting time to be a mechanical engineer in this industry," says Price, who indicates that mechanical engineers must be more prepared to think about creative solutions

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MOMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Story After the successful launch of lunar satellite Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, my mother, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) decided that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time for India to reach the Mars and my concept was born. Then in 2010 scientists started my feasibility study and named me as Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM).

Mars, the fourth planet of our solar system, is at an average distance of 24,92,09,300 km from Earth. Considering this average distance to Mars, if we put this number into perspective: a trip from Jammu to Kanyakumari is around 3,369 km, so going to Mars would be like taking 73,971 trips from Jammu to Kanyakumari plus an additional travel of 1,001 km! So me and my creators knew that we were looking forward for a very long journey, in short, a lot of problems. Scientist had to find solution for all those problems.

Second, while determining the position of Mars at a given time was not a huge problem, however, taking into account every factor that contributes to determination of the arrival time of the craft near the planet is definitely a problem. Then the most significant challenge for the scientists was to consider fuel costs, and optimise the mission cost by launching the mission during a time when Earth & Mars are relatively close. Like this all the problems were solved and my feasibility study was completed.

Then The government of India approved the project on 3 August 2012, after the ISRO completed 125 crore (US$20 million) of required studies for the orbiter. Mangalyaan â&#x20AC;&#x201C; SYNC

the satellite which was going to orbit the mars and is successfully orbiting now - is built with a cost of Rs. 454 crores (that is around Rs.4 per Indian, Rs. 12 per km!). My total cost was approximately $70 million and I am the cheapest inter-planetary mission ever to be undertaken since Martian exploration began. My low cost was ascribed by Kopillil Radhakrishnan, the chairman of ISRO, to various factors, including a "modular approach", a small number of ground tests and long (18-20 hour) working days for scientists. So there was a lot of hard work from all these guys in making me a historical success.

n orbital mechanics, the Hohmann transfer orbit is an elliptical orbit used to transfer between two circular orbits of different radii in the same plane. ISRO had already tracked the fuel saving Hohmann transfer orbit. Only the problem was, a fuel saving Hohmann transfer orbit occur every 26 months, in this case, November 2013, 2016 and 2018. And my on-martianorbit mission life was calculated to be six-toten months. So if scientists had lost this November 2013 chance then they would had to wait for 2 years which was more than my life around the mars. So they made a proper time table for my different steps. The first step was to launch rocket containing Mangalyaan. Mangalyaan indeed took the benefit of this transfer orbit that occurred in 13

MOM’s Story November 2013. The space agency had planned the launch on 28 October 2013 but was postponed to 5 November 2013 following the delay in ISRO's spacecraft tracking ships to take up pre-determined positions due to poor weather in the Pacific Ocean.

he Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, commonly known by its abbreviation PSLV, is an expendable launch system developed and operated by ISRO. It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into sun synchronous orbits, a service that was, until the advent of the PSLV, commercially available only from Russia. And it was this launch vehicle that launched my rocket.

Assembly of the PSLV-XL launch vehicle, designated C25, started on 5 August 2013. The mounting of the five scientific instruments was completed at ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, and the finished spacecraft was shipped to Sriharikota on 2 October 2013 for integration to the PSLV-XL launch vehicle. The satellite's development was fast-tracked and completed in a record 15 months. American space agency has been incredibly supportive of me. NASA’s futuristic Deep Space Network (a collection of huge satellite antennas around the world that allow for navigation in interplanetary space) has been crucial for me, helping the Mangalyaan navigate the space where India’s own Deep Space Network has no reach. Around the time when I was to be launched, American Government was facing a government

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shutdown and despite that, NASA stood by its word of providing communications and navigation facilities. Two weeks after my launch, NASA’s MAVEN, the mission of which is to study the upper Martian atmosphere, was launched. Then on 5 November 2013 I was launched by PSLV-C25 at 14:38 hours. And then my journey started. The updates from ISRO: 07-11-2013 The first orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting at 01:17 hrs (IST) on Nov 07, 2013 has been successfully completed 08-11-2013 The second orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting at 02:18:51 hrs (IST) on Nov 08, 2013, with a burn time of 570.6 seconds has been successfully completed. The observed change in Apogee is from 28814 km to 40186 km. 09-11-2013 The third orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting at 02:10:43 hrs (IST) on Nov 09, 2013, with a burn time of 707 seconds has been successfully completed. The observed change in Apogee is from 40186km to 71636km. 11-11-2013 In the fourth orbit-raising operation conducted this morning (Nov 11, 2013), the apogee (farthest point to Earth) of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft was raised from 71,623 km to 78,276 km by imparting an incremental velocity of 35 metres/second (as against 130 metres/second originally planned to raise apogee to about 100,000 [1 lakh] km). The spacecraft is in normal health. 12-11-2013 Fourth supplementary orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting at 05:03:50

MOMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Story hrs (IST) on Nov 12, 2013, with a burn Time of 303.8 seconds has been successfully completed. The observed change in Apogee is from 78276km to 118642km. 12-11-2013 Fourth supplementary orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting at 05:03:50 hrs (IST) on Nov 12, 2013, with a burn Time of 303.8 seconds has been successfully completed. The observed change in Apogee is from 78276km to 118642km. 16-11-2013 The fifth orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting at 01:27 hrs (IST) on Nov 16, 2013, with a burn Time of 243.5 seconds has been successfully completed. The observed change in Apogee is from 118642km to 192874km. 01-12-2013 the right orientation to perform Trans Mars Injection (TMI) operation has been completed successfully at 00:30 hrs IST on Dec 1, 2013 at 00:49 hrs (IST) on Sunday Dec 01, 2013. progress. completed successfully. The liquid engine burn time was 1328.89 sec and the imparted incremental velocity was 647.96 m/sec.

9,25,000 km at around 1:14 hrs (IST) on Dec 4, 2013. 11-12-2013 The first Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM) of Spacecraft was carried out successfully at 06:30 hrs (IST) by firing the 22 Newton Thrusters for a duration of 40.5 seconds. The spacecraft is travelling at a distance of about 29 lakh (2.9 million) km away from Earth. 12-06-2014 Orbiter Spacecraft using Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN). The spacecraft and its five scientific instruments are in good health. Spacecraft and the Earth is 102million km. A radio signal from the Earth to the Spacecraft now takes about 340 seconds. The spacecraft so far has travelled a distance of 466 million km as part of its total Journey of 680 million km. (TCM-2) of India's Mars Orbiter Spacecraft was successfully performed on June 11, 2014 at 1630 hrs IST. TCM -2 was performed by firing the spacecraftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 22 Newton thrusters for a duration of 16 seconds. 15-09-2014 -tagged commands to execute Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) uploading and verification in progress.

Spacecraft is powered for long distance communication, subsequent to successful Trans Mars Injection (TMI) manoeuvre

Sep 24, 2014 early morning.

02-12-2013 Spacecraft has travelled a distance of 5,36,000 km by 17:00 hrs (IST) of Dec 2, 2013. It has crossed the distance to Moon's orbit around Earth (mean distance 3,85,000 km) this morning.

16-09-2014 Time-tagged commands to execute Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) uploaded. 17-09-2014 Uploading of commands for Fourth Trajectory Correction Manoeuver and test-firing of Main Liquid Engine (scheduled for Sep 22, 2014) is in progress.

04-12-2013 Spacecraft has traversed beyond the Sphere of Influence (SOI) of Earth extending about

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22-09-2014 Test Firing of Main Liquid Engine of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft is Successful.

MOMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Story 24-09-2014 Spacecraft successfully enters Martian Orbit

Orbit trajectory Diagram

And in this way India became the first country to put its satellite in the martian orbit in its 1st attempt Six countries have tried their hands to send missions to Mars, India being the seventh. Only United States, Russia, and France were a part of this Mars club, until today. No country, until today, had ever had a successful Mars mission at the first attempt.

here have been several critics of me given the low-profile objectives. But in fact, I am a very significant mission for ISRO and India. These critics were produced due to my cheapness. But I am very crucial as I will help ISRO understand the dynamics of cruising a space craft for almost a year in an inter-planetary spacial area. I will also aid scientists to gain better knowledge about deepspace communications, experience hands-on contingencies and in the process, figure out better ways to manage future interplanetary missions. All the information that shall be gathered through me will go a long way to help future missions to Mars and other planets.

- Pranit Gaikar

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Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications - V2V Technology

ehicle-to-vehicle-V2V communications comprises a wireless network where automobiles send messages to each other with information about what they’re doing. This data would include speed, location, direction of travel, braking, and loss of stability. Vehicle-to-vehicle technology uses dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), a standard set forth by bodies like FCC and ISO. Sometimes it’s described as being a Wi-Fi network because one of the possible frequencies is 5.9GHz, which is used by Wi-Fi, but it’s more accurate to say “Wi-Fi-like.” The range is up to 300 meters or 1000 feet or about 10 seconds at highway speeds (not 3 seconds as some reports say). V2V is currently in active development by General motors, which demonstrated the system in 2006 using Cadillac vehicles. Other automakers working on V2V include BMW, Daimler, Honda, Audi, and Volvo.

ehicle-to-vehicle communications moved one step closer to reality this week with the Obama administration’s plans to push the technology forward. The February 3rd announcement outlines a set of proposed rules would be announced for comment by the time this administration departs in 2017, with hopes that sometime around 2020, cars will communicate with each other and alert drivers to roadside hazards ahead. What happened this week was a plan by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to have a plan.

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Simply put first generation of V2V systems would warn the driver but not take control of the car. Later implementations would improve to brake or steer around obstacles and eventually merge with self-driving cars. Here’s our rundown of V2V technologies and some of the implications…

2V would be a mesh network, meaning every node (car, smart traffic signal, etc.) could send, capture and retransmit signals. Five to 10 hops on the network would gather traffic conditions a mile ahead. That’s enough time for even the most distracted driver to take his foot off the gas. On the first cars, V2V warnings might come to the driver as an alert, perhaps a red light that flashes in the instrument panel, or an amber then red alert for escalating problems. It might indicate the direction of the threat. All that is fluid for now since V2V is still a concept with several thousand working prototypes or retrofitted test cars. Most of the prototypes have advanced to stage where the cars brake and sometimes steer around hazards. Why? It’s more exciting for a legislator or journalist to see a car that stops or swerves, not one with a flashing lamp. V2V communications transmit and receive messages at the 5.8-5.9 GHz frequency. The FCC is currently considering whether to allow “Unlicensed NationInformation Infrastructure” devices (that provide short-range, high-speed, unlicensed wireless connections for, among other applications, Wi-Fi-enabled radio local area networks, cordless telephones, and fixed 17

Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications - V2V Technology outdoor broadband transceivers used by wireless Internet service providers) to operate in the same area of the wireless spectrum as V2V.Given that Wi-Fi use is growing exponentially, “opening” the 5.8-5.9 GHz part of the spectrum could result in many more devices transmitting and receiving information on the same or similar frequencies, which could potentially interfere with V2V communications in ways harmful to its safety intent. What V2V could track and report 2V could capture and transmit these inputs, among others. By the time V2V arrives in cars, some may be stripped out for the sake of simplicity or cost-cutting.

V       

 

Vehicle speed Vehicle position and heading (direction of travel) On or off the throttle (accelerating, driving, slowing) Brakes on, anti-lock braking Lane changes Stability control, traction control engaged Windshield wipers on, defroster on, headlamps on in daytime (raining, snowing) Brakes on, anti-lock braking Gear position (a car in reverse might be backing out of a parking stall)

Modest benefits as the V2V fleet grows, more later The benefits of cell phones began as soon as there were two of them but they changed the world only when they became ubiquitous. V2V works the same way. You don’t need every car to be V2V equipped but you need a lot of them. Here’s why…

Early on in the V2V era, if your car has V2V and the car in front of you without V2V panicbrakes, you’ve got to be alert. You may be helped if your car has forward collision which often comes on cars with a lane departure warning camera. You may be bailed out if your car has adaptive cruise control. At the very least, with these tech aids, the accident will be less severe. If both cars have V2V and you’re following closely, you’d be warned as the driver of the V2V car ahead comes off the gas, possibly as he brakes, and once more — possibly a flashing red LED — as he panic brakes. If you’re farther back, one warning might be enough. In a pack of a dozen cars where three or four have V2V, the odds favor enough of them reacting to a traffic emergency so that all drivers will brake sooner, whether from in-car warnings or seeing V2V cars braking all around. If not, what might have become a six-car pileup becomes two cars or none at all. When every car on the road has V2V controlling autonomous driving features, cars would automatically weave their way through intersections without the need for traffic lights. Cars would slow as needed to slip into a gap between crossing cars. It’s a spectacular in animated demos.

-Rishab Gupta

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Multiple Barriers Helping to Protect Cars from Dangers

e all know that the Earth is covered by the atmosphere. But perhaps it’s less known that within the atmospheric shield there are multiple layers that help protect us from all kinds of dangers.

In the previous two articles in this series we looked at Nissan's Forward Emergency Braking technology, the Emergency Assist for Pedal Misapplication, the Blind Spot Warning system and the Lane Departure Warning system. All of these technologies can help the driver avoid getting too close to dangers.

The layer of the atmosphere up to 10-17km above the Earth’s surface is called the troposphere. Above this is the stratosphere, in which there is the ozone layer that filters the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. Above the stratosphere comes the mesosphere, where most meteors burn up so they don’t hit the surface. Just as the Earth is protected by multiple layers, Nissan has a similar vision called "Safety Shield.” Through development of multiple layers of safety features, Nissan's comprehensive approach to safety inspired technologies that help reduce or keep dangers away as much as possible.

Aiming society:

for

zero-accident

ehicle safety has improved markedly over the past several decades. In 1970, the number of people killed in traffic accidents in Japan was 16,765. In 2013, it was 4,411—a drop of three - quarters in 43 years. One of the reasons is surely the advancements in safety technology, such as the car body design, seat belts and air bags, which help protect car occupants when there is an impact.

However, the number of traffic accidents and injuries themselves have not really changed. In order to realize a safer car society we need safety technology that helps prevent accidents from happening, not only reducing the damage if they occur. If we can fully develop this kind of technology, then a zero-accident future might be attainable. To avoid colliding with other cars or pedestrians, drivers must avoid getting close to danger in the first place.

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Avoiding danger through three processes

n order to avoid getting too close to dangers, the driver should first be aware of his or her surroundings. The Forward Emergency Braking technology assists the driver by monitoring the distance and speed of the vehicle in front, while the Lane Departure Warning system can detect certain lane markings on the road as well as the relative location of the car. After awareness comes judgment. While it is the driver's responsibility to make accurate decisions regarding potential danger, the car can help with this judgment with the assistance of newly-developed technologies. For example, with the Forward Emergency Braking, the system judges the possibility of collision based on the information it perceives. If it judges the risk of collision to be high, the next step is action.

Multiple Barriers Helping to Protect Cars from Dangers

he Emergency Brake system warns the driver through an audible alert, and if it determines that a collision is unavoidable, it applies braking to assist the driver, avoiding or mitigating a collision. Awareness, judgment, actionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;these are the three processes through which Safety Shield technologies can help drivers avoid certain dangers. Here we can see how advances in technology can help drivers avoid accidents before they happen. Technology that is aware of what is happening around the vehicle is continuously moving forward, along with systems that judge and act based on this enhanced perception. When in the future we have fully realized the automated car, this Safety Shield philosophy will surely guide its fundamental technologies.

-Rishab Gupta

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Intern Story

did an internship during the summer after my 2nd year, working at Prof. Howie Choset’s Biorobotics Lab, at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. CMU is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, towards the north east of the US. When I first reached, I had a small tour of the lab, and got an idea of the various projects that were going on in the lab (a few fellow interns had their projects decided before they arrived). I had wanted to use this opportunity to delve deeper into robot autonomy and intelligence, and finally decided to work on an on-going project called the Crawler. It really appealed to me - it involves a huge variety of advanced robotic concepts, and there was always much more to be achieved.

weather throughout in the picturesque city of bridges, Pittsburgh. Visiting spots where the Dark Knight was shot (on the CMU campus!), going downtown to get food late in the evening, drinking the oh-so-bitter American coffee, even getting free tickets for a Pirates baseball game from Howie the day before I left!

ll in all, the overall experience at Carnegie Mellon was out of the world. “I would love to go there again, and take up research alongside the best in the world”.

-Tanmay Shankar Pre-Final Year

o be involved in a project that CMU is pursuing along with Boeing (designed to automate the manufacturing process of aircrafts) gave me a lot of insight into how research and development works on a professional level. The technical proficiency of every member of the lab, their attitude towards their work, and sheer hard work and dedication personally inspired me to stay put in the lab till 2 am, and make the most of my opportunity. My fellow interns and I soon understood why the RI and CMU are widely considered among the best in the world for robotics. Howie’s snake robots themselves were incredibly complex, and 15 years of research developed them into formidable creatures. We met with the likes of Matt Mason, Chris Atkeson, Ralph Hollis, Hartmut Geyer, Nathan Michaels and Max Likhachev, who were all kind enough to show us around their labs and talk about their research. For a professor to spend time with us - it was a humbling experience.

f course, it wasn’t all work and no play. Our lab had pizza parties every week, and Howie encouraged us to order food on him if we were working 16 hours a day on a weekend. We were welcomed by nice

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Skills of a Mechanical Design Engineer esigning in the mechanical engineering field has gone through many phases. In the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;80s, a designer was different from an engineer, who was different from a design engineer. Nowadays, a single mechanical design engineer is responsible for all three job descriptions. You might be tempted to ask, what exactly is a mechanical design engineer? Instead of simply giving you a definition, we chose to define this profession according to the latest job postings from some leading companies in mechanics technology. These are the five most important skills that every mechanical design engineer should have:

BoM (Bill of Materials) of his mechanical system within any given software.

1) Project Management A mechanical design engineer should be able to develop a project from concept definition to production detail design. He/she will ensure design solutions meet the mechanical systemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s requirements as well as applicable regulations and best industry practices. He should also be familiar with the associated manufacturing processes, assembly techniques and drafting conventions. Finally, he must be able to support the development and execution of project plans which could include schedule and budget planning, conceptual design, prototyping, design for reliability and manufacturability, interfacing with vendors, qualification testing and documentation.

4) PLM Skills With Product Lifecycle Management systems gaining more and more followers, leading companies expect their mechanical design engineers to be familiar with PLM interface technology such as Windchill or ENOVIA. It is critical to know how to use a PLM interface to manage information, store and track files, and navigate administrative functions such as design changes and approvals on the company server.

2) CAD Software Skills A mechanical design engineer should master at least one of the popular CAD software programs (Pro-Engineer, CATIA, SolidWork, NX, etc.) at an advanced level, and be able to create virtual mock-ups and PoCs of required ideas. He should also be able to draft 2D detailed plans and modify existing CAD files if required. Knowing common drafting standards such as ANSI/ASME Y14 is a plus. In addition, a mechanical design engineer is expected to be able to provide CTF (Critical to Function) dimensions and a fully detailed 3D model that can be used for manufacturing. Finally, he must be able to create the complete

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3) FEA Software Skills A mechanical design engineer should be aware of the FEA solutions available, including both pre and post-processing software (ANSA, PATRAN, FEMGEN, and the solvers NASTRAN, SAMCEF, ABAQUS). He should understand the basics of finite element theory and be fluent in the classic main steps of calculation. A mechanical design engineer is expected to compute the results given by the software to define critical zones, improve the design, and generate reports.

5) Communication Skills In addition to speaking English fluently, mastering another language is a big asset when working for an international company. The mechanical design engineer must be able to manage actions and deliverables while at the same time communicating and coordinating effectively with suppliers, customers, and other engineering disciplines. He must be able to work effectively with international teams consisting of multiple disciplines, and communicate effectively with engineers and supporting functions which could include pilots, flight mechanics, technicians, and management. Finally, he is expected to prepare general and technical presentations and communicate his ideas clearly to non-technical staff. -Rishav Rai

Mec hani c alEngi neer i ngSt udent s ' As s oc i at i on( MESA) Depar t mentofMec hani c alEngi neer i ng I ndi anI ns t i t ut eofT ec hnol ogyGuwahat i

CONTACTS EMAI L: mes a@i i t g. er net . i n WEBSI TE: www. i i t g. er net . i n/ mes a