Major Project Ideas (Brain Storming)

[JohnielWhite]

Good day everyone, I am currently doing an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering and minoring(specializing) in Instrumentations and Control Systems. I will be entering my final year September 2011, and in order to graduate I have to do a major project on anything involving the implementation of Electrical Engineering, preferably Instrumentation and Control System, but not limited to. I am currently in the process of brain storming project ideas and I would like you all to help me in this process. Feel free to share any ideas. Any response will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[edgepflow]

A couple process control applications in industry that have room for improvement include, but are not limited to the following. This may be a nice thing to work on as a senior project since industry would recognize the relavance of the work.

a) Flow control for extreme low flows (i.e 0.2 gpm and less). There are flow control valves, flow meters, and mass flow control units on the market for these flows, but they are not as robust as needed.

b) Pump speed control. This is often done with a variable frequency drive (VFD) pump speed controller for electric motor pumps. Or with current-to-pressure (I/P) converters for pneumatic pumps. The VFDs are well established but pneumatic pump speed control is still costly and not as versatile as needed.

[JohnielWhite]

Thanks for making suggestions. I will now do further research into these then speak to my academic advisor and let you know that outcome. Thanks again for your input and feel free to share any other ideas.

[physics girl phd]

Temperature control systems are always nice too... particularly for going to low temperatures (where you should also worry about humidity, leaking, icing etc.)... but then I'm not sure your advisor will want to fund your liquid helium tank. But that's just because I'm a condensed matter / materials physicist by training (and it was always good to either keep samples cool, or at fixed temp) :wink:

What is your approximate budget -- or do you not have to build, but just design?

[JohnielWhite]

Well it is just a design but if I see it feasible I would go the extra mile and build it :)
Thanks for your input I really like the sound of this and i think it would make a good major project. Please continue sharing your ideas. Thanks again.

[JohnielWhite]

I like both ideas but can you provide any ideas that can improve the agricultural or mining industry in a third world country like Jamaica?

[Stephen Tashi]

Control of Imprecise Constructive Processes:

Processes such as sculpting with clay or drawing with instruments such as charcoal sticks or pencils cannot be executed by machines that merely perform a precise series of movements since the tool used by the machine and the media it operates upon behave in an unpredictable manner. For example, the wear of a charcoal stick is somewhat unpredictable and the way it deposits material depends on the wear pattern. Current technologies in "3D printing" have similiar problems because of the variation in the way material is deposited. Many processes such a soldering, welding etc. can be done by machines in very standardized environments, but can only be done human beings in more unpredictable situations.

It would be interesting to develop a control system that made it possible for a machine to perform an imprecise constructive process. It would be too ambitious to expect to create an "intelligent" robot, but it should be possible go beyond the usual simplistic feedback loop and employ some rudimentary form of artificial intelligence to get the job done.

[JohnielWhite]

This sounds fascinating, however I must admit it is way beyond me. I'm still in aw after reading this, I'll do some research into it though. Thanks for your input it is much appreciated.