15th annual Honours Project Exhibition
27 August 2009
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Picture of a flying platform with coaxial counter-rotating rotors.
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You are invited to attend the School of Mechanical Engineering's 15th annual Honours Project Exhibition, a display of exciting projects developed by the engineers of tomorrow.
This must-see event is a highlight in the science and technology calendar. It will feature diverse projects such as the Formula SAE Racing Car, the Ballbot (a robot capable of balancing on a ball), the Monowheel or Wheelbike similar to the one in Star Wars Episode III and the Hi Speed Bio-diesel Bike capable of breaking a land speed record - all under one roof at the Adelaide Showgrounds.
Come and try your hand on Edgar the self-balancing scooter, or pit yourself against the computer to keep a pendulum inverted upright, or try to get a ball in the centre of a floating table.
This is a unique opportunity to encounter engineering in practice, to learn what it really means to be an engineer and to engage with final year engineering students as they share their experiences.
When: Thursday, 22 October, 9am to 4pm
Where: Adelaide Showgrounds. Goyder Pavillion
FREE entry
FREE car and bus parking off Rose Terrace
Bus drop off zone Goodwood Road
Showground Map
Promotional Flyer of 2009 Final Year Project Exhibition (pdf 327 kB).
For more information contact Vicky Samra.
www.mecheng.adelaide.edu.au
Robotic Musicians Win National Prize
15 January 2009
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Picture of the prize winning robotic concertina device.
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In 2008 NICTA (www.nicta.com.au) launched a competition, The Candiago Cup Challenge, for machines that play musical instruments, and the School of Mechanical Engineering submitted a successful proposal for sponsorship from NICTA to enter. The underlying rationale of the competition is to foster and promote Embedded Systems (devices containing computers that are not themselves computers).
The students undertook the design of a robotic concertina for the competition as part of their Master's course: Advanced Digital Control, under the supervision of Dr Steven Grainger. The course is concerned with the design and analysis of digital control systems which are a form of embedded system.
The instrument is a 48-key Stagi 'English' Tenor Concertina. Interestingly, the Concertina was invented by the British Scientist, Sir Charles Wheatstone, more famously known (at least in Engineering circles) for The Wheatstone Bridge - an electric circuit used for measuring unknown resistances.
The skills developed during the project are directly applicable to the real-world of embedded systems.
The members of the winning team were:
- Mohsen Bazghaleh
- Yudi Wang
- Long Xin
- Jia You
- Chen Fei Yu
- Yin Yuan
The students now have their sights set on attending the Artemis competition in Nice, France, in association with NICTA
For further information contact Dr. Steven Grainger.
Students Fly Supersonic Jet Engine
15 October 2008
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Launch of University of Adelaide Ramjet at Woomera on October 4, 2008. Multi-image high-speed photo courtesy of Tony Virgo.
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University of Adelaide Ramjet Project Team, just before attaching their ramjet payload (centred) to the Zuni accelerator rocket.
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School of Mechanical Engineering students have successfully designed, constructed and test flown a supersonic ramjet engine at the Woomera rocket range as part of their final year project, where they were able to put into practise four years of University study. The project required the students to aerodynamically compress air into a combustion chamber when travelling at supersonic speed, then inject, vapourise and burn liquid fuel while at the same time deploying an array of sensors to study the aerothermal physics, both inside and outside the engine. It is an incredibly challenging task, requiring skills in fluid dynamics, structural analysis, computational fluid dynamics, combustion, mechanical design, mechatronics and project management.
The ramjet was accelerated to Mach 1.6 and achieved its aim of injection and combustion of liquid fuel while travelling at supersonic speed.
The students in the ramjet team were (from left in the photograph) Josh Carr, Lara Parkinson, Ryan Faulkner, Ed Harrison and James Tennant. Andrea Boyd (not shown), who was also part of the team, was responsible for sensor data capture and telemetry and at this time was positioned 5 km away at the data-link receiving station.
Engines such as the one designed by our students will one day be used to power high-speed jet aircraft and low-cost space launch systems. These engines are air-breathing, that is, they use the oxygen in the air to burn with fuel, eliminating the requirement to carry oxidiser thereby significantly reducing weight and cost.
This project was very generously supported by BAE Systems and the Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith Fund. BAE Systems manufactured the ramjet to the students' specifications using a state-of-the-art computer controlled machining centre. It's a great example of how industry and academia and work together on an exciting educational project.
For further information contact Dr. Con Doolan
or Dr. Vincent Wheatley .
Submarine stealth is target of new research
25 June 2008
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One of Australia's Collins Class submarines, HMAS Collins.
Photo by the Department of Defence.
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Australia's Collins Class submarines could benefit from new research at the University of Adelaide that aims to improve their stealth capabilities.
Submarines are designed to be undetectable and rely on stealth to operate effectively. But keeping such a large vessel quiet is a huge challenge.
The University's School of Mechanical Engineering will receive funding of $530,000 to investigate a new stealth solution for the Collins Class submarines. The funding has been provided under the Department of Defence's Capability and Technology Demonstrator (CTD) Program, which is managed by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO).
"The Collins Class submarines are propelled by electric motors, which makes them almost silent," says research leader Dr Carl Howard from the School of Mechanical Engineering.
"However, if the batteries that power the electric motors become flat, they must be recharged with an electrical generator that is powered by a diesel engine. During the recharging operation the noise from the diesel engines reduces the stealth capabilities of the submarine. The aim of the project is to improve the stealth of the submarine during the recharging operation."
Dr Howard will conduct laboratory testing on improved vibration absorbers to reduce the noise - or "acoustic signature" - of the submarine.
"If the tests prove fruitful, this work could be vital in improving the operational effectiveness of the submarines," he says.
Dr Howard's work builds on the expertise within the University's Acoustics, Vibration and Control research group, which has been researching solutions for industry for more than 20 years. It also builds on the University of Adelaide's longstanding research partnership with the DSTO.
The University of Adelaide is also a partner in another CTD project aimed at creating miniaturised GPS anti-jam modules that can be easily fitted to Defence Force vehicles. The funding for this project has been awarded to Tenix Systems. Mr Matthew Trinkle from the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering is a collaborative partner in this research.
The University of Adelaide has considerable strengths in research and education that relate specifically to the defence and security industries. Among various Masters-level degree programs run by the University are a Master of Marine Engineering, offered in conjunction with Australian defence company ASC, and a Master of Sciences (Defence Signal Information Processing), which is part of the Continuing Education Initiative program conducted by DSTO.
For more information about defence and security research and education at the University, visit: www.adelaide.edu.au/desec
Additional details about this media release can be found at http://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news27361.html
Gyro-therm burner ignites a flame in Sweden
20 June 2008
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Testing the Gyro-therm burner at the MEFOS pilot-scale facility in Lulea, Sweden.
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The University of Adelaide's Gyro-therm burner technology has taken a
big step forward through an international partnership with Swedish steel company LKAB,
industrial research company MEFOS, and local company FCT-Combustion.
This partnership has supported the first pilot-scale
trials of the burner firing pulverised fuels in a rotary iron pellet kiln.
Those trials measured a 40% reduction in NOx emissions with
this burner than with the best alternative configurations,
when corrected to the same wall temperature to account for the higher heat flux.
"The success of these pilot-scale trials has justified a
full-scale trial scheduled for September in an iron pellet
kiln in our Kiruna plant" said Mr Stefan Savonen,
LKAB's Manager for Energy and Environment.
"LKAB is also pleased to be a partner with The University of Adelaide, FCT-Combustion and
Lulea University of Technology, in an ARC Linkage grant application to
further develop the technology for our kilns".
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The Gyro-therm burner and pilot-scale kiln at MEFOS in action.
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The Gyro-therm burner was invented in the School of Mechanical Engineering
during the PhD thesis of Graham "Gus" Nathan under the supervision of
Professor "Sam" Luxton and first patented in 1988. Since then,
an extensive research program on this burner has been undertaken
by the Fluid Mechanics Energy and Combustion (Fluid-MEC) Research Group of the Faculty,
which also comprises staff from Chemical Engineering and Applied Mathematics.
"Since its invention, 15 PhD and 2 Masters theses have been undertaken
by our group, leading to 36 journal papers, 75 peer-reviewed conference
papers and 4 patents" said Gus, now a professor in the School.
"This research by our team is under-pinning the commercial
development and application of the technology".
The Gyro-therm burner was first tested in a gas-fired cement kiln
of the Angaston plant of Adelaide Brighton Cement in 1991 under
Mr Con Manias, now Managing Director of FCT-Combustion.
"We knew that the technology had real potential when we
demonstrated for the first time, a reduction in NOx emissions
by over 50% and an increase in fuel efficiency by about 8%" Con said.
"Nevertheless, a lot of further research and development has been
required to take the technology from firing gas to pulverised fuels".
Since those trials Con has championed the commercial
application of the technology through FCT-Combustion,
which holds the commercial rights to the technology.
"The success of these trials also provide a strong boost
to our plans to apply the technology to pulverised fuel burners
in the cement and lime industries", Con said.
