students display their project at design showcase
 

Past Global Projects

Driving Simulator for Intelligent Vehicle Evaluations

Sponsor: Volvo Group
Partner University: Chalmers University (Sweden)

Penn State students teamed with students at Chalmers to address the difficulty of testing autonomous, automated, and driver warning systems on the open road. The scope of work included the following:

  1. Perform a literature review to identify standards and regulations covering viewable areas within vehicles, pedal locations, steering wheel locations, dashboard layouts, etc. Summarize market-to-market commonalities and differences in these regulations.
  2. Investigate all Volvo/Mack truck platforms in USA and Swedish markets to determine measurements of viewing areas relative to the driver for the windshield, side windows, A-pillars, rear mirrors, key points on the dashboard, and locations of any common add-on screens for third-party vendors. The goal is to determine commonalities and differences in positions in order to guide the range of mounting locations for screens for a driving simulator, to cover as many different vehicles as possible.
  3. Identify where possible commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components can be integrated or readily modified to fit the display, steering wheel, and pedal positions for these vehicles. Compare COTS solutions to identify which vehicles may be excluded — despite all modifications — from the study. Using a design methodology, perform a down-select of COTS solutions that can be utilized and/or readily modified for driving simulator purposes. The resulting design choice needs to be coordinated with a global team (another student team in North America working on the North American fleet) to ensure interoperability.
  4. Purchase and set up a minimum display system that, with student-guided modifications, representing the most common viewing locations across a majority of vehicles, with displays that are most representative of typical viewing areas in heavy trucks.
  5. Deliverables: (a) Technical specification and report on how the chosen concept was decided, common dimensions, constraints, design methodology, COTS options and pricing, and design modifications; (b) A CAD design layout of the driving simulator and basic I/O schematic of the system; (c) A functional prototype; (d) Videos of a working system.

An EGR System Design for a Diesel Research Engine

Sponsor: Volvo Group
Partner University: Chalmers University (Sweden)

External Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) feeds the exhaust gas from an engine back into the intake manifold, primarily for control of NOx emissions. An EGR system was to be developed for the experimental work on a Volvo research engine at University of Michigan. The scope of work included the following:

  1. Research the operational needs and functions of an EGR system. Communicate plans and understand concepts based on discussion with UM, Volvo, and Volvo CTP.
  2. Develop an engineering design based on engine specifications, EGR specifications (mass flow, exhaust temperature and space availability), calculations and simulations of the required system.
  3. Design modifications of the engine manifold flow paths to connect the EGR flow path
  4. Design a control and measurement system for the EGR throttle valve to vary the EGR flow in the intake manifold using existing EGR cooler and control valve. This involves achieving correct flow rate and air-to-fuel ratios for various load applications.
  5. Establish instrumentation for EGR variables (mass flow sensor, thermocouples, CO2 content)
  6. Provide engineering layout and prints of all components.

Lubricator Testing Process Improvement

Sponsor: Well Master Corporation
Partner University: Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China)

This project focused on the creation of test equipment and a process of test for the in-line production inspection testing for a lubricator. Well Master’s supply partners in China produce well head equipment called a lubricator. Each lubricator is required to undergo pressure testing at 7500psi, a very time-consuming and labor intensive process. The scope scope of work included the following:

  1. Quality, robust and repeatable tooling and process: The goal is to create a machine or tooling along with a process that will detect a quality concerns during the inspection process.
  2. Time-efficient process: While maintaining the safety of the operators, the process should target 5 minutes or less of prep time.
  3. Transferable design: There are two manufacturing locations and the home office QC department that would each benefit from the test method. These outputs are to be completed and packaged in a usable form for engineers and manufacturing personnel.

To produce the above results, the team was required to address the following four specifics of the manufacturing process: Input from manufacturing process; Tooling Design; Process Specifications; and Quality Assurance and Control.


 
 

About

Our mission is to help bring the real-world into the classroom by providing engineering students with practical hands-on experience through industry-sponsored and client-based capstone design projects. Since its inception, the Learning Factory has completed more than 1,800 projects for more than 500 different sponsors, and nearly 9,000 engineering students at Penn State University Park participated in such a project.

The Learning Factory

The Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA 16802