Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) is a private university located in&nbsp;Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 1984, as Vellore Engineering College, the institution offers 20 undergraduate, 34 postgraduate, four integrated and four research programs. It has campuses in Vellore, Amravati, Bhopal and Chennai.

VIT is one of the top ranked private universities in India according to NIRF, THE and QS Rankings.&nbsp;Govt. of India has recognized&nbsp;VIT, Vellore as an&nbsp;Institution of Eminence. This has allowed VIT to take independent quality initiatives and move up in world ranking.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

VIT University

Mechanical

The present work focuses on the experimental vibration analysis of hybrid polymer made composite sandwich panels and investigates the mode shape frequency. All the experimental results are compared with the numerical results by using ANSYS software and the error percentage is found out. In the next part of the study, optimization of parameters affecting the natural frequency has been performed. Optimization was carried out using Taguchi method. In addition, the empirical equations of mode shape frequencies were derived using regression analysis. The results from the derived equations are compared with the numerical mode shape frequencies obtained and a good agreement has been found between them. © 2017 Politechnica University of Bucharest. All rights reserved.

School of Mechanical Engineering

Chennai Campus

World University root node

UPB Scientific Bulletin, Series D: Mechanical Engineering

Investigation on dynamic behaviour of sandwich panels made of aluminium and hybrid polymer and optimization of design parameters using Taguchi method

The objective of the present work is to study the temperature and heat flux variation with the variation in the thickness of plasma sprayed ceramic coating on an aluminium alloy piston crown by finite element method using ANSYS. Piston is first designed in Solid Works and then imported to ANSYS wherein temperature and heat flux analysis of different thicknesses are done. Ceramic thickness being considered for analysis are 0.3mm, 0.5mm, 0.7mm, 0.9mm, 1.1mm and 2mm. This showed that with increasing thickness, temperatures on top coating of MgZrO3 increased and the same on bottom most layer of the Aluminium alloy engine decreased. The higher temperatures on top coating led to lower temperatures on the top layer of the piston. This is helpful to increase the life of the piston as it helps to prevent development of thermal stresses. Comparison of the same has been done with an engine piston without any ceramic coatings. Heat flux is also analysed in order to critically understand the extent of heat energy that penetrates the surface of the piston. The analysis shows that greater the coating thickness, lesser is the extent of heat flux into the piston which also helps in increasing the life span. For the purpose of this paper the model of a diesel engine piston and magnesia-stabilized zirconia as ceramic coating are considered. © IAEME Publication.

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology

Effect of thickness of plasma sprayed ceramic coating on the heat flux variations of aluminium alloy piston - Finite element analysis

This paper describes about the steer by touch technology. The steering wheel of a car is replaced with a touch screen (mobile phone) and the signal is sent to a microcontroller which actuates the steering actuator (motor). Steering control is obtained by swiping to left or right on the touch screen. This method eliminates the mechanical components in the car and hence reducing the weight and reducing mechanical wear. The signal to the microcontroller is sent using wireless technology (Bluetooth) and hence reducing wiring. Application software is used to control the steering actuator. By using this technology the steering effort by the driver is eliminated and also the Noise, Vibration, and Harshness (NVH) that is transmitted from the tyres to steering column are eliminated.

A new approach for vehicle maneuverability using steer by touch technology

Wind energy is one of the important renewable energy resources available in nature. It is one of the major resources for production of energy because of its dependability due to the development of the technology and relatively low cost. Wind energy is converted into electrical energy using rotating blades. Due to environmental conditions and large structure, the blades are subjected to various vibration forces that may cause damage to the blades. This leads to a liability in energy production and turbine shutdown. The downtime can be reduced when the blades are diagnosed continuously using structural health condition monitoring. These are considered as a pattern recognition problem which consists of three phases namely, feature extraction, feature selection, and feature classification. In this study, statistical features were extracted from vibration signals, feature selection was carried out using a J48 decision tree algorithm and feature classification was performed using best-first tree algorithm and functional trees algorithm. The better algorithm is suggested for fault diagnosis of wind turbine blade. © 2017 ISA

VIT Unitversity

ISA Transactions

A data driven approach for condition monitoring of wind turbine blade using vibration signals through best-first tree algorithm and functional trees algorithm: A comparative study

The influence of upstream and downstream flow and its effect due to the operating wind turbine at various wind speeds are important in considering the wind turbine spacing in a turbine park. In this research paper study is made towards what extent the wind turbine with a rotor diameter D, influences the flow in upstream and downstream computationally. The reduction in the maximum power coefficient strongly depends on the distance between the turbines and the operating condition of the upstream turbine. Presently, the standard power curve measurements assumes that the turbine wind condition has negligible influence on the flow at two times the rotor diameter upstream. However, the upstream effect due to the operating wind turbine beyond two times the rotor diameter (2D) leads to the consequences of the power estimate for any given turbine and this leads to the wind farm for total power production. Similarly, the downstream of the operating wind turbine is equally important in terms of the power production of the wind turbine park. Numerical simulations are performed on a wind turbine with a rotor diameter of 80 m and the tower height of 100 m with various blade pitch angles. The NACA-63-425 aerofoil is selected for the blade profile in this analysis. The result shows that the influence of the pitch angle will not influence much difference in upstream flow and much difference in the downstream flow. However, at the distance more than two times (> 2D) of the rotor diameter upstream around 3% change in the velocity is observed when compared to the free stream velocity. In the downstream, velocity the influence of operating wind turbine extends up to 6.5D for a velocity of 20m\s. © 2017, Institute of Advanced Scientific Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Journal of Advanced Research in Dynamical and Control Systems

Study on influence of operating wind turbine on upstream and downstream flow using K-epsilon turbulence model

The objective of this work is to devise an intelligent and autonomous sprinkler system that operates based on the real-time moisture content in the soil to be watered. A moisture sensor that was submerged in the soil was interfaced to a sprinkler and programmed to control the water supply based on the moisture fraction present in the soil. Moreover, the IoT-enabled controller allows the control the sprinkler remotely in the extraordinary situations. The system is built as a low-cost model as compared to the earlier reported sprinkler systems using different wireless modules. The IoT feature in the present system can be an additional advantage as the user, from anywhere in the world, based on any forecast of thunderstorm can seize the watering process from a remote area, in the process saving a lot of water and preventing the death of plants through overwatering. This work proves the possibility of replacing conventional sprinklers with the smart sprinklers with IoT capability at relatively lower cost. © Research India Publications.

International Journal of Applied Engineering Research

Autonomous sprinkler system with internet of things

Aluminium alloy AA2219 reinforced with graphene/MWCNT nanocomposites having near theoretical densities has been successfully fabricated by high-energy ball milling followed by vacuum hot pressing. Effect of varying graphene and MWCNT content was studied on different aspects of processing of the composites. The particle size increases during milling due to cold welding; but the presence of reinforcement restricts and the resultant microstructures exhibited a layered morphology with graphene/MWCNT between particle boundaries. The composite with 0.5 wt.% reinforcement (graphene/MWCNT) content exhibited peak hardness, and further additions led to a decrease in hardness owing to the agglomeration of reinforcement at particle interfaces. The present study reveals that graphene is a better reinforcement compared to MWCNTs in aluminium matrix. This is attributed to the sheet-like morphology of graphene which covers the matrix powder particles more effectively compared to tube-like MWCNTs in providing more matrix–reinforcement contact points leading to better sintering. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC and ASM International.

Metallography, Microstructure, and Analysis

Processing and Characterization of Graphene and Multi-wall Carbon Nanotube-Reinforced Aluminium Alloy AA2219 Composites Processed by Ball Milling and Vacuum Hot Pressing

Path planning is an important aspect of any mobile robot navigation to find a hazard-free path and an optimal path. Currently, the A* algorithm is considered to be one of the prominent algorithms for path planning in a known environment. However, with the rise of neural networks and machine learning, newer promising algorithms are emerging in this domain. Our work compares one such algorithm namely the Hopfield neural network-based path planning algorithm with A* in a static environment. Both the Hopfield network and the A* algorithm were implemented while minimizing the total run times of the programs. For this, both the algorithms were run in MATLAB environment and a set of mazes were then executed and their run times were compared. Based on the study, the A* algorithm fared better and the Hopfield network showed promising results with scope for further reduction in its run time. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017.

Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing Artificial Intelligence and Evolutionary Computations in Engineering Systems

A Comparative Study Between Hopfield Neural Network and A* Path Planning Algorithms for Mobile Robot

This work aims to develop an automated sensing system to aid rescue team and their operations after an earthquake. Earthquakes lead to great damage of property and loss of lives. Only, robust and intelligent planning systems can reduce the loss. The unpredictable scale of disaster is beyond the scope of human mission planning and hence results in extremely hopeless conditions and further not suitable for rescue operations. Disasters like earthquakes needs immediate attention and the victims must be pulled out of danger without delay. In addition, the structural conditions may be unfavorable, dangerous and unknown. Hence, there is a fundamental need to investigate such conditions without compromising victim's safety. Techniques need to be developed for the safer access to victims under these hostile conditions. So, now-adays the robotic systems for Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) have become a thrust area that needs a greater attention. In this paper, a movable robotic system is proposed to detect the human existence in unmanned geographical structures. The system constitutes monitoring sensors and equipment for studying the conditions of human body and transmit the data to server. These portable robots make localization tracking to communicate over wireless sensor networks. The sensing system on the USAR mobile robot will contain a camera unit, thermal and PIR based imaging, processor (probably a laptop for high-end processing), high frequency based detection (motion and existence) and a GPS module for latitude and longitude detection.

Development of automated sensing system to aid rescue operations after an earthquake

This chapter focuses on replacing natural arms with artificial arms with movement controlled by EEG signals. The selected features were classified using C4.5 decision tree algorithm, best first decision tree algorithm, Naïve Bayes algorithm, Bayes net algorithm, K star algorithm and ripple down rule learner algorithm. The results of statistical and histogram features are discussed and conclusions of the study are presented.