Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
61 Internet Connected Chess Board
Jeffrey Ito
Joel Mathews
Ritish Raje
Thomas Furlong design_document1.pdf
design_document2.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
other1.pdf
presentation1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
Team Members: Joel Matthews (jpmathe2), Ritish Raje (rraje2), Jeffrey Ito (jito2)

Title: Internet Connected Chess Board

Problem: Chess is an age old board game. In recent years, it has been taken to the internet where players can play each other from all over the world. However, players lose the tactile feeling of moving physical pieces on a chess board.

Solution: Build a chess board that connects to a PC allowing players to maintain the ability to play each other from all over the world but regain the physical interface of a chess board. The board would move pieces in real time. One of the players could be playing on an app/website while the other player is on the physical board.

Similar to Project 37 from Fall 2017, Hall effect sensors can be used to detect and determine which pieces are where on the board. This information will be transferred to the computer through Bluetooth. When the opponent completes their move, the information will be transferred back to the board. To minimize the mechanical complexity of the project, LEDs underneath the board will light up underneath the opponent's piece that needs to be moved and where it needs to be moved. The player will not be allowed to make his/her next move until the opponent's piece has been placed in the appropriate location.

original post: https://courses.engr.illinois.edu/ece445/pace/view-topic.asp?id=30568

Control System and User Interface for Hydraulic Bike

Iain Brearton

Featured Project

Parker-Hannifin, a fluid power systems company, hosts an annual competition for the design of a chainless bicycle. A MechSE senior design team of mechanical engineers have created a hydraulic circuit with electromechanical valves, but need a control system, user interface, and electrical power for their system. The user would be able to choose between several operating modes (fluid paths), listed at the end.

My solution to this problem is a custom-designed control system and user interface. Based on sensor feedback and user inputs, the system would change operating modes (fluid paths). Additionally, the system could be improved to suggest the best operating mode by implementing a PI or PID controller. The system would not change modes without user interaction due to safety - previous years' bicycles have gone faster than 20mph.

Previous approaches to this problem have usually not included an electrical engineer. As a result, several teams have historically used commercially-available systems such as Parker's IQAN system (link below) or discrete logic due to a lack of technical knowledge (link below). Apart from these two examples, very little public documentation exists on the electrical control systems used by previous competitors, but I believe that designing a control system and user interface from scratch will be a unique and new approach to controlling the hydraulic system.

I am aiming for a 1-person team as there are 6 MechSE counterparts. I emailed Professor Carney on 10/3/14 and he thought the general concept was acceptable.

Operating modes, simplified:

Direct drive (rider's pedaling power goes directly to hydraulic motor)

Coasting (no power input, motor input and output "shorted")

Charge accumulators (store energy in expanding rubber balloons)

Discharge accumulators (use stored energy to supply power to motor)

Regenerative braking (use motor energy to charge accumulators)

Download Competition Specs: https://uofi.box.com/shared/static/gst4s78tcdmfnwpjmf9hkvuzlu8jf771.pdf

Team using IQAN system (top right corner): https://engineering.purdue.edu/ABE/InfoFor/CurrentStudents/SeniorProjects/2012/GeskeLamneckSparenbergEtAl

Team using discrete logic (page 19): http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/86206/ME450?sequence=1