UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

MENG 30003 Mechatronics 3

NOVEMBER 2018

COURSEWORK SPECIFICATION

SUMMARY
1. The coursework for this Unit is an open design exercise to be completed
individually by each student. General information about the exercise is
provided in the section below headed Introduction.
2. The work required is specified in the section below headed Tasks to be
completed. This year's exercise is to produce a design for a automated
projection screen as can be seen in university lecture theatres. The
specification for the design is given below in the section headed Specification.
3. Each student must submit a report containing their attempt at fulfilling the
specified tasks. Information on how to prepare and submit the report is
provided below in the section headed Report preparation and submission.
4. The marking scheme for the Coursework is described below in the section
headed Assessment scheme.
5. Important information about plagiarism and cheating in the context of this
exercise is given in the section headed Important notes on plagiarism and
cheating. By submitting your report you agree to compliance with the
university's rules on cheating and plagiarism as described in this secion.

INTRODUCTION
About Open Design
1. An open design exercise is one where the only information provided is the
system specification and the task descriptions and the student has total
freedom to fulfil the tasks in the way they consider most suitable.
2. There are many possible solutions to the coursework and no single correct or
best solution. You should aim to complete the tasks in a way that fulfils the
specification as well as possible.
3. The information provided for the tasks has been carefully calibrated to allow
many different solutions. Students sometimes think there is too little
information given for open design tasks but providing more information would
constrain the number of different designs and it becomes much more difficult
to separate good design work from poor work and to identify plagiarism.
4. The course notes for Mechatronics are your primary source of reference, they
contain the necessary information to complete the exercise making good
design decisions. Inevitably there will also be useful information in relevant
text books and technical documents so you should read more widely to find
answers to any questions you have that are not answered in the course notes.
At the time the coursework is issued you will not have covered some aspects

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 of mechatronic design in the lectures but the deadline for submission is after
all relevant topics have been discussed in lectures.
5. The tasks and report requirements are designed to minimise the amount of
writing and drawing you need to do. The emphasis of design coursework is
very strongly on thinking about solutions and working them out. It should be
an enjoyable exercise! If you have thought a lot about your solutions then you
will be able to write shot concise an precise answers to the tasks.

About the subject of the design

The aim of the coursework is to specify the main mechatronic components of an
automated projection screen. In most lecture rooms the projection screen at the front
of the room can be raised or lowered automatically using a switch or switches
mounted on the wall in a convenient position. The mechanical design is very simple:
The screen is made from a flexible plastic-coated cloth suspended from a steel rod.
The ends of the rod are supported via bearings by brackets that are fixed to the wall.
An electric motor is used to raise and lower the screen by rotating the rod. To raise the
screen it is simply wound around the rod. The rod and the motor are usually
contained within a single metal housing, for an example, look at the screen in one of
the lecture rooms in Queen's Building.

In operation, the screen is controlled manually by one or more switches (there are
many different designs). Additionally the screens have an automatic 'stop' built into
them which means that the motor automatically stops winding when the screen
reaches either fully down or fully up. Automatic projection screens are a good
example of a simple mechatronic system that has sensors, a controller, a motor, and
some form of motor drive.

The aim of the coursework is to give you experience of designing a mechatronic

system to fulfil a specification (given below under the heading Specification:
Automatic projection screen). You are guided through the process by a set of tasks
in the following section, your objective is to complete the tasks.

TASKS TO BE COMPLETED
Task 1 Sensor specification
The aim of this task is for you to communicate to us clearly and concisely how you
intend to acquire the information required to control the screen so that it stops
automatically as required by the specification. Include the following in your answer

i) State the type(s) of sensor(s) used.

ii) Provide a high quality scan of a hand-drawn concept diagram (or diagrams) to
show where and how the sensor(s) is/are mounted.
iii) in less than 100 words, describe how the sensor(s) detect when screen is wound or
unwound so we can understand how your design works.
iv) In less than 100 words state the reasons for your choice of sensor(s).

Task 2 Controller Design

The aim of this task is for you to produce a controller design that would implement
the specified behaviour. We will assess your design on (i) whether it is feasible, ie

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whether it would work and (ii)how well it fulfils the specification. Include the
following in your answer:

i) Draw a state transition diagram representing the operation of your controller.

ii) Provide a circuit diagram for the controller. You must indicate on your diagram
how your controller connects with other components of the system.
iii) If you decide to use a microcontroller then you must provide the software source
code so we can understand how the controller works.
iv) In less than 150 words, state the options you considered for how to implement the
controller and the reasons for your choice.

Task 3 Motor
The aim of this task is for you to show that you can select an appropriate type of
motor (from those described in the notes, PMDC, BLDC, DC-shunt, DC-series, DC-
compound, Step motor, AC-induction motor) and specify it correctly based on the
system Specification. Include the following in your answer:

i) List the mechanical output requirements of the motor or motor+gearbox

combination (just give the final answers, include your calculations as an appendix to
the report).
ii) In less than 150 words, state whether or not you would use a gearbox in series with
the motor and give your reasons for your choice. If you have chosen to use a gearbox,
state a suitable gear ratio. (assume a gearbox efficiency of 0.7 in any calculations for
which it efficiency is required you do not have to source an actual gearbox)
iii) Complete the table in the report template giving reasons why each of the motor
types listed above is suitable or not suitable for the system. Additionally, in less than
100 words, state the type of motor you would use and explain why you think it is the
best option. You do not have to source an actual motor.
iv) State whether the motor is powered directly from the mains electrical supply or
whether it requires a low voltage DC supply.

Task 4 Motor Drive specificatin

The aim of this task is for you to show that you can specify an appropriate device for
controlling the electrical power supplied to the motor. Include the following in your
answer:

i) In less than 200 words state the type of device you would use to control power to
the motor (for example a motor switcher or device that switches power to the motor,
or a motor drive). If you use a motor drive, state whether you will need feedback
control, giving the reasons for your decision. If you decide to use feedback control
describe where in the system the feedback controller will be implemented and any
additional sensor(s) required (you do not have to source an actual device or design
a feedback controller).
ii) Estimate the electrical power rating for the device you have chosen in part (i)
above.

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SPECIFICATION: AUTOMATED PROJECTION SCREEN
1. The screen is made from a single sheet of white plastic-coated cloth material 3
m wide (side-to-side) by 3 m long (top to bottom) and 3 mm thick. The
density of the material is 1,500 kg/m3.

2. The top edge of the screen is attached to a cylindrical rod (the winding rod)
which is rotated by a motor to wind the screen up and down. The diameter of
the rod is 1.6 cm. When fully wound the screen is wrapped around the rod. A
second cylindrical rod is glued along the bottom edge of the screen to act as a
tension weight to keep the screen from creasing. The mass of the rod used to
tension the screen is 5 kg.

3. You may ignore the design of the mechanical components used to mount the
motor and the winding rod to the wall. You may assume that the mechanical
loss in the bearings supporting the winding rod and the moment of inertia of
the rod are negligible.

4. The screen is controlled using two push-buttons on a small control box located
on the wall next to the screen at a height convenient for humans to reach.

5. The buttons on the control box are mounted one above the other, the upper-
most button is labelled UP and the lower-most button is labelled DOWN

6. When the DOWN button is pressed, if the screen is not already fully down, it
is unwound by the motor until it reaches its fully-down position.

7. When the UP button is pressed, if the screen is not already fully up, it is
wound by the motor until it reaches its fully-up position.

8. Neither the UP nor the DOWN button have any effect if pressed while the
screen is moving.

9. The screen should change from its fully-up position to fully-down position,
and from its fully down position to its fully up position in 20 seconds +/- 2
seconds.

10. If a power cut occurs while the screen is moving, when power is restored the
screen will remain stationary and one of the buttons must be pressed to resume
operation.

11. The motor stops automatically when the screen reaches either the fully up or
fully down position

12. The design of the system should prioritise low cost and reliability.

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REPORT PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION
Preparation
You must use the supplied template for your report. Paste your answers into the
appropriate sections of the report taking care to follow the instructions. The template
is provided (1) so that you don't have to spend time formatting your report and can
concentrate on addressing the tasks. (2) so that we can mark your work quickly and
efficiently. Do not alter the layout, margins, line spacing, font, or exceed word limits,
these are checked automatically and marks will be lost for formatting errors.
Occasionally students alter the format in an attempt to exceed the word limit without
us noticing. We will notice, and additional marks will be lost for exceeding the word
limit. In all cases the word limit is much greater than necessary to provide complete
answers to the questions. If you think you haven't enough space to write an answer
the reasons are either
1. you have not expressed yourself concisely - refine the text.
2. you are providing more information than necessary - decide what is important.
3. you are not answering the question - read it again.

Notice that the body of the report (refer to template) should just contain the answers
and no calculations. There is space at the back of the report to add your calculations.
You need only include the main stages in calculations but you must format them using
an equation editor and add brief but explicit text as necessary to explain the
parameters and the method (as per derivations in a maths text book). The reason for
this is to allow us to assess your work more quickly. It takes a lot of time to assess
open design exercises because there is no single correct answer and each report must
be considered individually for its merits. One of the assessed criteria is whether you
can present information clearly and concisely, if we get lost in your calculations and
can't understand what you've done, you are not going to score very highly for clarity.

Produce all diagrams to a professional standard, above all they must be very clear.
Hand-drawn concept diagrams should be drawn in black ink with hand-written
annotation using upper-case letters. The background of drawings should be
completely white (be careful if scanning using grayscale rather than black and white).
numerical results should be correctly formatted units and an appropriate number of
significant figures and decimal places.

Submission
Submission is via SAFE, this is what to do:
1. Prepare your report using the template as described above.
2. Convert the report to PDF format. Check your report has converted to PDF
correctly by opening it and reading it through for errors.
3. Change the filename of the PDF document to be your candidate number and
no other characters other than the .pdf extension Ensure that you use the
correct number, your candidate number is used for exams and is not the same
as your student number.
4. Submit your coursework document via SAFE before the deadline Wednesday
12th December, 12pm midday. The system clock used by SAFE to apply the
deadline is accurate to within 60 seconds and penalties for late submission are
automatically applied as described in the student handbook.

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 5. For information about electronic submission via SAFE, refer to the SAFE
online help pages. Go to support from the top menu, click on Frequently
Asked Questions, scroll down to Student. This is what is says :
How can I submit my work?
Visit your SAFE Department page, click Assessments. Each assessment has a
"header" (short code) to identify it. Click on a header link for details of where to
submit and view feedback. If submitting online via SAFE, this link will go straight to
your SAFE Coursework Repository for the assessment, where you can submit your
work online.
6. You are strongly advised to submit your coursework well in advance of the
deadline, last minute failures to work out correctly how to use SAFE to submit
coursework are not allowable as a reason for late submission. It is your
responsibility to check that the PDF document is valid has uploaded.

ASSESSMENT SCHEME
Credit will be given for evidence of the following skills used appropriately. The
ability to:
1. comprehend this document and correctly understand the requirements for the
coursework
2. adhere to a report template without deviation or error.
3. communicate clearly and concisely in written English.
4. produce drawings and illustrations to a high standard.
5. format numerical values and mathematical notation correctly.
6. produce a viable design, that is, one which could be prototyped and would
work according to the specification.
7. produce an optimum design that fulfils the specification in detail.
8. recognise important considerations and separate them from unimportant or
lesser important considerations when designing.
9. identify the main reasons why the components chosen for the system in each
task are the most suitable and to choose suitable components.
10. perform a mechanical analysis of the system to identify correctly the
requirements for the motor.
11. analyse system behaviour given in the specification and represent it in the
form of a state transition diagram.
12. design a simple controller to implement the specified system behaviour.
13. to produce a holistic design where each component is most appropriate given
the choices of other components.

Marks are not awarded 'per task' but for evidence of the qualities listed above.

IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT PLAGIARISM AND CHEATING

1. Engineering design is a highly creative endeavour. It is particular important for design exercises
such as the Mechatronics coursework that we are confident that the work you submit is entirely
your own. During the assessment we will seek to resolve any uncertainty we have about the
originality of work submitted.

2. The coursework exercise for M30003 Mechatronics 3 contributes 40% or 4 credit points of the
total credit for the Unit. It is important that you understand (1) how plagiarism and cheating should

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 be interpreted in the context of this exercise (2) the potential consequences if your work is shown
to have plagiarised other work, or been prepared dishonestly.

3. The Coursework must be completed independently. You must not give any information about any
part of your solutions to any other person, or receive any information that provides any part of a
solution to any of the tasks, to any other person whether or not they are a member of the university.

4. You must not research existing implementations of the system set for the Coursework, or use
technical information from existing implementations regardless of how it was obtained.

5. You must not work together with any other student(s) in preparing your answer to the coursework
tasks. If we reasonably suspect that reports from different individuals have been produced with
some degree of collaboration we might ask all the individuals concerned to meet with us so that we
can assess the work accurately.

6. You may use any published information that is non-specific to the system set for Coursework. List
the sources of information you have used at the end of your report under the heading 'References'
and cite the reference where it is used in the body of your report. There is no need to cite the
Mechatronic Course Notes or include them in a reference list.

7. The University treats plagiarism and cheating seriously. We perform several types of check, both
electronic and manual, on the work you submit to assess whether you are the sole originator of the
intellectual property contained within it.

8. By submitting your report you agree to comply with the rules of the university as interpreted
above. If it is subsequently found that you were not the sole originator of the work submitted in
your report, we will follow the formal disciplinary procedure for cheating and dishonesty
described in the Rules and Ordinances of the University.

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