Engineering Design Final Project

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DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

February 2021

Engineering Practice

Abarth have noticed the success of the BMW convertible Mini Cooper and want to integrate a similar design

into their Fiat 595 Abarth. As an elite engineering team at Abarth you have been asked to produce a proof-

of-concept design for a new roof. When folded it should rest above the window line, as in the BMW Mini

Cooper. Based on the outputs of your work, the technical lead will determine the viability of the concept and

decide whether to move the design forwards for detailing and production.

Figure 1: Car roof on (left) Fiat 595 Abarth, and (right) BMW Mini Cooper

You are to submit a design portfolio including:

▪ Technical requirements for the design with evaluated design options

▪ A recommended design output for production, including assembly drawings.

▪ Via performance modelling, motor and gearing analysis and selection that complies with

requirements.

▪ A layout design of the gearbox, with appropriate associated calculations and evidence.

▪ Design, interface, and control of the mechatronic roof control system.

You are acting as a technical designer performing a feasibility study for the car roof during technical design

stages. This means you should propose with evidence the best mechanism, motor, and gearbox combination

following your design process, but are not expected to produce a completed system. After (if) your

recommendations are accepted, your designs will be handed to detail designers to complete and finalise.

You will work in groups of 3 for this exercise, which will continue through to the end of the semester. This

assessment accounts for 100% of the mark for this unit.

We are concerned with you understanding the WHYs more than the WHATs. Unless otherwise stated,

presenting only WHAT your design consists of will not receive highest marks. Throughout the exercise and in

reporting we are mainly concerned with:

- The design process you have gone through, and your understanding of it

- The assumptions and decisions you have made, and their implications

- Your rationale for design decisions that you make

Support will consist of:

- Mondays 2pm on BB Collaborate Ultra: Live session presenting key content and activities for the week.

- Padlet: Q&A question boards

- Fridays 10am – 12pm: Supported project working time via bookable sessions, link on BB.

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The fundamental dimensions that you should target are as shown in Figure 2. The mechanism will be

connected to the car within the boundary marked (a) and the mechanism should reach the windscreen at

the location marked (b). The mechanism will sit atop the chassis when retracted and does need to be stored.

When collapsed, the mechanism should fit within boundary (a).

Figure 2: Target Dimensions

The structure of the mechanism, the gearing and gear ratio, and the motor are all your own choice. Several

guiding principles and constraints have been provided by the company:

- The design, cost, and performance of the roof system must be in keeping with the car itself.

- You must consider operation of the mechanism to ensure it will work in the common operating

environments of the car.

- Safety of the passengers is of highest priority.

- You do not need to consider the mechanism that secures the roof to the windscreen – this will be

designed elsewhere.

- You DO need to consider the sensing by which the roof controls its motion, see Mechatronics

document.

- As a feasibility design there is margin for error. Bodywork and fixtures can be adjusted within reason if

of benefit to the design.

- Both sides should be driven by a centrally-mounted motor gearbox system, powered by the 12V battery

held within the car.

- To increase simplicity and robustness, the design should utilise a single DC motor and no sliding joints.

- The roof will be flexible material, but you do not need to consider the way in which it folds while

retracting.

It is very difficult to create a mechanism that adheres exactly to all dimensions given, and you will have to

make compromises. As a technical feasibility exercise we are more concerned with you demonstrating

capability than producing a perfect system. While we would prefer a mechanism that adheres to Figure 2,

priority should be given to good process, analysis, and understanding over minor dimensional variance.

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Assessment:

The submission has two parts:

1. Design Portfolio: Report and technical drawings detailing your design process and analysis. Drawings

are due at a design freeze on Friday 7th May at 12pm on BB, and the whole portfolio is due on

Friday 14th May at 12pm on BB.

2. Project Review Meeting: A 15 minute Q&A session between your group and a panel of staff,

querying your process, output, and professional practice. These sessions are to be scheduled, and

will occur between Monday 17th May and Weds 19th May (Summer Revision week).

Your report should be no longer than 17 pages (excluding title page, A3 drawings, and reference list) and

adhere to the following. Page counts in brackets are for guidance only and can be altered as you see fit.

1. Title page, including group number, names, and student numbers

2. Introduction and context of the problem (1 page)

3. PDS, including stakeholders and design priorities (1 page)

4. Concept development, design, and selection (2 pages)

5. Technical analyses (2 - 4 pages)

6. Mechanism Design, development, and manufacture (4 – 6 pages), including mechanism, motors,

gearbox

7. Mechatronic control system (2 page)

8. Design evaluation (1 page)

Sections 5 and 6 should separate your analysis and your design process within your report. Section 5 should

present the building of your model(s) and all included analysis, explaining all assumptions and why you have

made the model as you have. It should confidence that your analysis is of appropriate quality to make

decisions. Section 6 should present the process for your design, including all iterations and rationale for

decisions made. It should give confidence that your decisions are appropriate quality.

The mechatronic control system section has been specified for you to run parallel to other design work.

Detailed guidance is on Blackboard, and you can start (and complete!) much of it straight away.

Your design output will be assessed through your solution specification and your A3 drawings. Make sure

that all accurately describe and communicate the designs you produce. Specifically we expect your output to

contain the following, although it may be advantageous to include more:

- A solution specification that shows performance of your system against your requirements.

- A technical assembly drawing showing full layout of your mechanism when deployed and retracted +

example fixing arrangements.

- A technical part drawing of at least one component including all information needed for manufacture

- A layout / schematic of your gearbox, showing locations and sizes of all gears and their meshing

arrangements. You should consider how to minimise gearbox size, but do not need to fully design

casings and/or fixings.

Remember: We want to know WHY you have made your design decisions, and WHY the design output is

as you have made it. Stating only WHAT the output is will receive lower grades only.

Stage-gates:

There will be two informal formative stage-gates for quick feedback on your work should you wish to access

it. These include:

1. Concept analysis, convergence table, and selected concept, due Friday 12th March (week 18).

2. Output graphs from your analysis model, and explanation of your selected motor and gear ratio, due

Monday 19th April (week 21).

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Outline Process:

You should initially research the problem and decide on key priorities and requirements for your design

output. To get you started, this may include requirements relating to:

- Deployment and retraction times of the mechanism

- Power consumption and efficiency

- Wider performance characteristics (e.g. speed of car while deploying, swept area during deployment)

- Cost and manufacturing requirements given market sector

- Maximum and minimum dimensions; e.g. max size when packed down, min cabin size when deployed.

- Safety for the passengers

Concept Design: You should produce several different mechanism concepts showing different layouts and

assessing their performance against key specifications (i.e. performance, dimensions, reliability, durability,

etc.). Assessment should be a quantitative process and utilise controlled convergence to select the best

design. At least 3 concepts should be shown in your report, although you may develop many more during

your process.

Analysis and design iterations: Develop your analysis model and use it to understand, explore, and optimise

performance of your chosen design. You should use your model to explore key performance characteristics

(e.g. deployment time and energy use) and make design decisions (e.g. motor selection, dimensions, gear

ratios, damping where used, etc.).

Your initial model will likely not be very realistic or accurate. We expect you to extend your model

substantially to increase realism, your understanding of system performance, and to use this information to

improve your design itself. There are many things you could include, and it is your choice how you decide to

do so, and how you justify this choice. Example extensions include:

- Modelling a varying centre of mass for the mechanism

- Including damping in your model and your design

- Calculating basic aerodynamics and including in your motor / gearing selections

- Calculating loadings on the roof and basic strength/strain of the design

Component Selection: Motor and gears should be selected off-the-shelf using best practice. You should

design gear layouts. We will be using Bosch motors (catalogue on Blackboard), and recommend KHK Gears,

although you may choose other suppliers if you wish.

As this is a technical feasibility study we do not expect fully dimensioned technical drawings for all

components. You must, however, fully communicate your final designs such that they can be understood,

which will include technical assembly drawings of, for example, the mechanism and gear arrangements.

Some important points on processes and support:

Your design process will involve iteration. You will have to make estimations, use preliminary values, and

revisit and evaluate these at a later date.

For highest marks you must show the iterations and/or stages you have gone through to design your system.

Example stages are given below. These should be extended (or removed) according to your process:

- Stage 1: Motor and gearbox selection via deployment time

- Stage 2: Refinement of gear ratios via energy use

- Stage 3: System damping, and refinement of gear ratios

- Stage 4: Gear selection and layout design

- Etc…

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Suggested basic schedule:

Week Input Activities Output

16 - Problem Brief - Review and research the problem - Identify stakeholders and priorities - Prepare a preliminary PDS - Begin exploring concepts using Lego and Linkage

- Preliminary PDS - Preliminary concept designs

17 Reading week – Bookable session and Padlet available

18 - Basic design concepts - Basic PDS and problem context

- Refine concepts - Formalise PDS - Generate FBDs, system diagrams, and basic performance characteristics for concepts - Assess concepts against PDS and select best to take forward - Prepare mid-session hand-in

- Formal PDS - Selected concept - Mid-session hand-in - Basic analysis modes

Mid-project hand-in: Friday March 12th via Blackboard

19 - Formal PDS - Selected concept - Basic analysis (masses, loads, FBDs)

- Prepare analysis/modelling spreadsheet - Create model of inverse pendulum - Model and iterate motor / gear ratio combinations - Begin to extend model

- Working spreadsheet of selected concept - Selected preliminary motor and gear ratio combinations

20 - Prelim design - Motor and gear ratio selections

- Consider mechanism assembly and manufacture, and iterate design - Begin BOM - Begin mechanism costing

- Refined mechanism design - First-pass BOM and costing

Easter Break

Mid-project hand-in: Monday April 19th via Blackboard

21 - Working spreadsheet for basic analysis - Selected preliminary motor / gear ratios

- Identify gear box options, select gear types and stage ratios - Calculate gearbox efficiency and bring into model - Create initial layout design for gearbox - Continue extending model to increase accuracy and realism - Refinements where needed: - motor, and gearing selections where needed - calculate system energy use - mechanism design (dimensions, fixings, etc.)

- Advanced modelling spreadsheet - Selected gear ratios, gear types, and preliminary arrangement - Refined mechanism design

22 - Detailed / advanced modelling spreadsheet - Preliminary gearbox layout design - Refined mechanism design

- Iterations and refinement of modelling and design - Refine gearbox design, ensuring feasibility of manufacture and assembly - Refine BOM, costing, and assembly - Begin preparing report - Begin preparing drawings

- Basic report and drawings - Refined mechanism design

23 - Detailed / advanced modelling spreadsheet - Preliminary gearbox layout design - Refined mechanism design

- Final iterations and refinement of modelling and design (mechanism, gearbox, mechatronics) - Assess design against PDS and produce PSS - Continue preparing report - Finalise drawings

- Basic report - Finalised design, including mechanism, motor, and gearbox - Finalised drawings

Design Freeze: Drawings due Friday 7th May at 12pm on BB.

24 - Finalised mechanism, motor selection, and gearbox design - Report and technical drawings

- Finalise report - Prepare virtual poster for Project Review

Portfolio due: 12pm 14.05.2021 on Blackboard.