Automotive engineering disseration ideas

andythelandy

andythelandy

andythelandy

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Basically I am returning for my final year Bsc automotive engeering next month and that means disseration! I know they're are a lot of car nerds on this forum so I thought I'd make a thread to see if anyone has any idea's, my main interest is in engines i'm pretty fasinated in the technology that goes into making them evermore efficient, i've thought about maybe doing a project on hybrids, the project has to be something that I can collect data on, and also I want it to be something that shows potential employers that I did a project on something relevant, it may be interesting to do a dissertation on wacking a turbo on an mx5 for example but its nothing new, if I can show idea's that are very much what the automotive industry is working on I think I have a better chance!
 
I was going to say something on Hybrids, as its always good to do something forward thinking on a dissertation, Seems a ittle bit obvious though, How about specifically range extenders on hybrids? I.E like the new i3
 
Eliot said:
I was going to say something on Hybrids, as its always good to do something forward thinking on a dissertation, Seems a ittle bit obvious though, How about specifically range extenders on hybrids? I.E like the new i3
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I think it being obvious isn't a huge issue, and yeh i'll have a look at at the new i3 I don't know a lot about it thanks.
 
How about controlling acceleration so it uses the minimal amount of fuel, it's a bit fiddly to accelerate slowly and smoothly, but if I had an Eco-mode to control all the footwork then it would make life easier.
Obviously if I mash the pedal then I want it to turn itself off, otherwise a gentle acceleration is fine.

That'll be a nice bit of signal processing to work out what the accelerator is doing and how to convert that into efficient forward motion.
 
The most important thing to remember with writing a dissertation is to not try to reinvent the wheel. I struggled with mine in this aspect - I had all these good ideas but no way to implement them, as they had already been tried and they had downfalls. Instead, think about refining a process; for example, (and I wish I'd done this), something like looking at the condition of engine oil over time and how to detect it, instead of servicing a car over time or miles, its done on oil condition.
 
It all seems like sound advice guys thanks, I think maybe doing a comparison might be a good idea? Something like are hybids a valid technology?, I have my doubts personally but I could get a lot of data to try and proove otherwise and take compisons with different technolgies e.g Toyota's vs Vauxhalls and also compare them to things like the blue motion Polo.
 
A piece on the evolution of the internal combustion engine from its incarnation, including the introduction of diesel engines, current battery technology and where the internal combustion engine may be in 50 years?

Or is that too easy and lacks 'imagination'?

You could call it "Bang or suck: the history of the internal combustion engine".

When the royalties come in from this bestseller a 10% cut will do.
 
Hybrids certainly would be something you'll be able to get stuck in to, but now there is such a huge variation in the technologies, you might get overwhelmed with it a little.

I work in hybrid performance/economy.

Perhaps as you're in to engines, try to concentrate on looking to to how to take advantage of the most efficient points of an engine.

Hybrids are a valid choice if used in the right situation, they're also necessary as a means to develop the technology further that will then feed in to better electric cars and range extended cars that rely less and less on combustion.
 
AndrewNR said:
A piece on the evolution of the internal combustion engine from its incarnation, including the introduction of diesel engines, current battery technology and where the internal combustion engine may be in 50 years?

Or is that too easy and lacks 'imagination'?

You could call it "Bang or suck: the history of the internal combustion engine".

When the royalties come in from this bestseller a 10% cut will do.
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I always given the impression a dissertation was aiming to research something, i.e. explore something new, a way of advancing a technology or a field of engineering etc.

I don't think writing a history book would be well received as an engineering dissertation.

I would suggest you aim to demonstrate your technical ability as part of an engineering degree, so try to stay away from slightly wooly topics and really delve into something that would pique the interest of a would be employer. Just be wary not to overstretch yourself, as 'quite hard' topic done well will garner you more marks than a 'really hard' topic done averagely IME.

If they're looking at your CV and see that you've got great technical knowledge of energy recovery systems I would suggest that would be more appealing than someone who knows about the history of engines :p
 
bitslice said:
How about controlling acceleration so it uses the minimal amount of fuel, it's a bit fiddly to accelerate slowly and smoothly, but if I had an Eco-mode to control all the footwork then it would make life easier.
Obviously if I mash the pedal then I want it to turn itself off, otherwise a gentle acceleration is fine.

That'll be a nice bit of signal processing to work out what the accelerator is doing and how to convert that into efficient forward motion.
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Many cars come with this feature nowadays, e.g. BWM EcoPro, which makes the pedal spongy as hell so that it reduces the amount of acceleration you can do compared to the pedal in normal mode. So it's already been done unfortunately.
Gaverick said:
Something to do with KERS or other energy recovery tech seems to be the main future potential to me.
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KERS is very much just another name for what's already used in hybrid cars today (of course in a bit of a different scale and cost).
 
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Kenai said:
I always given the impression a dissertation was aiming to research something, i.e. explore something new, a way of advancing a technology or a field of engineering etc.

I don't think writing a history book would be well received as an engineering dissertation.

I would suggest you aim to demonstrate your technical ability as part of an engineering degree, so try to stay away from slightly wooly topics and really delve into something that would pique the interest of a would be employer. Just be wary not to overstretch yourself, as 'quite hard' topic done well will garner you more marks than a 'really hard' topic done averagely IME.

If they're looking at your CV and see that you've got great technical knowledge of energy recovery systems I would suggest that would be more appealing than someone who knows about the history of engines :p
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Depends if he wants to be a motoring journalist or an automotive engineer I suppose. :p

His main interest is engines, so as mentioned it will be the usual tripe: hybrids/KERS etc.

I agree, don't do something OTT like "How to improve battery efficiency by 87%" as you'll write an introduction and have to start all over until you get to "Battery efficiency; they're pretty good".

Personally I'd do a piece on KERS as you could probably obtain a lot of information from F1, show how it is now fitted in some road cars and perhaps explain its wider appeal etc?
 
I'm with OP on this, returning from placement onto final year of a BEng Mech / Auto degree.

I had originally thought of cylinder deactivation 3 years ago, but that is now on the market unfortunately. I'm also looking along ways to improve efficiency either by retaining an IC engine or looking into hybrid technologies. An area I'm having a think about energy regeneration using something which is already present in the vehicle, but it's difficult to think of something which hasn't been done already, as previously mentioned.

I can see myself doing something generic to Mechanical Engineering or Nuclear at this rate (my placement and job after uni is in the nuclear sector), but automotive is where my passion really is.
 
AndrewNR said:
Depends if he wants to be a motoring journalist or an automotive engineer I suppose. :p

His main interest is engines, so as mentioned it will be the usual tripe: hybrids/KERS etc.

I agree, don't do something OTT like "How to improve battery efficiency by 87%" as you'll write an introduction and have to start all over until you get to "Battery efficiency; they're pretty good".

Personally I'd do a piece on KERS as you could probably obtain a lot of information from F1, show how it is now fitted in some road cars and perhaps explain its wider appeal etc?
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I would hope he's aiming to be an engineer if he's doing an engineering degree :p

I think with a bachelors level dissertation what you want to be doing is taking something existing, that interests you and you understand that you can write a considerable amount about technically and gives you opportunity to explore some improvements/optimisations/alternative uses etc.

For example, with recovering energy from braking, you can write about how it works, the benefits it brings and then go on to explore effectiveness of different front/rear bias setups to find a theoretical optimal balance.

You definitely want to being exploring something new in one fashion or another, just be careful not to over egg it. The difficulty you face in automotive is the fact it's currently having a lot of money thrown at it and so many ideas are already being explored.

You could potentially write to a few company R&D sectors and ask if they have any topic suggestions? An industrial link up could prove very beneficial and open up a useful door come graduation. IIRC I had a couple of months into the new term before nailing down my topic, so if you were to fire off correspondence now you'd have a bit of time. I would imagine this road would lead you to things more like improving airflow into an engine by CFD analysis of various valve and port designs for example, much more nitty gritty rather than over arching general topics.

Edit - Just as a rough reference, the 'structure' of my bachelors engineering dissertation was to identify a problem initially, that meant I could conduct a lit review of the general topic area and theories behind it, before analysing in depth what the problem was and why it occurred (relating back to what i'd discovered in the lit review stage). From there I could then propose solutions (some based on what i'd learned from lit review, some my own thinking), test and analyse them before finishing up with a conclusion and recommendation to resolve the originally identified problem.
 
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Some kind of proper engine usage monitoring to drive servicing intervals? You can look at how methods used in the aero industry could be applied to the automotive side of things.
 
Alibaba99 said:
Some kind of proper engine usage monitoring to drive servicing intervals? You can look at how methods used in the aero industry could be applied to the automotive side of things.
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I was going to mention this, like the oil contamination detection on helicopter gearboxes etc.

Here are a few things that came to mind, probably all wrong.

- Lean Burn something something
- Wideband / EGT for economy
- Those active grill flaps / aero on new fords (and old mitsu 3000GT :) )
- Variable lenght intakes/intake voume & geo

All things that could be interesting to research/attempt to improve!
 
I'm a bit of a dunce when it comes to engines (my degree is in electronic engineering) but in your shoes I'd be tempted to look at the inefficiencies and areas of energy loss within the internal combustion engine and see if there is an area you can focus on to improve this energy loss.

Vague as hell but as I say, not my area of expertise :p

As has been said, trying to re-invent the wheel isn't a good idea. For my one I took the idea of active noise control using a Lotus prototype as inspiration. I then simplified this into an after market retrofit to reduce low frequency tyre roar.

Best of luck with it!
 
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