Engineering Capstone Project. What would you like engineered for Camaro?

[CamaroZ28cc]

Originally Posted by Forrest

My stepbrother is working on the laser ignition. Its pretty interesting. Oh, and Liquid Oxygen? Now. My fusion reacor getting loose would melt a hole in the pacement no doubt, but
MY GAWD MAN!
Ever seen a crash involving liquid oxygen? Woah You need shades for THAT. That stuff will eliminate a whole intersection.

This Marshmellow plant didn't even contain enough liquid oxygen to fuel NASA's rocket. Notice the shockwave by the way.



Yup. That City Block is GONE. But awesome suggestions by the way

Had to jump in here, love the idea of engineering something new for the camaro. A passenger seat actuator for up/down adjustment would be great. Just about everyone who has a gf/wife would love you for it and it should be realtively cheap to manufacture, test, mount, and tell the rest of us how to build it .

Just as an FYI, I've worked on that site in Henderson. It was not a marshmellow plant and the explosion had nothing to do with liquid oxygen. It was a manufacturing facility for ammonium perchlorate (An oxidizer in solid rocket fuel) owned by AMPAC (then PEPCON).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammoniu...ite_propellant



They now operate a cutting edge biological in-situ treatment facility there to protect the vegas wash (Common name for the aquifer that feeds Lake Mead from the Vegas side) from the perchlorate dissolved in the groundwater as a result of the explosion, pretty cool stuff, IMO.

[MontyCarlo]

There are a few fusion experiments a high schooler could actually create. None of them generate more power than they're consuming, of course, but they're still fusion, and that's pretty sweet.

[walls]

Originally Posted by MontyCarlo

There are a few fusion experiments a high schooler could actually create. None of them generate more power than they're consuming, of course, but they're still fusion, and that's pretty sweet.

None of them are cold fusion. That would be like inventing pixy dust and flying to never never land.

[StoutFiles]

Last year was a course on alternate generators and mechanical transfer through means other than Fossil Fuels or EFI/Carb Engines. Same Teacher. Well, Last year, I built a Cold Nuclear Fusion Reactor...and scored an 84%

Being an engineer myself, this is quite the lie you just told. If you were able to somehow build this reactor by yourself you would be world famous.

Also, it's commonly known that all engineering projects are group work so don't claim YOU built something when it's a team effort.

[The_Stache]

Originally Posted by walls

1. DI V8. Already being tested in the concept Escalade.Actaully ferrari are going to be the first to unveil a DIV8 in the new 458, but that doesnt mean it cant maintain the hp of a camaro and reduce fuel consumption
2. 6 speed Manual transmission. Pretty sure the Camaro has this one already!Listed mostly for poeple like you who like to take assumptions...
3. Regenerative braking - used to power ALL of the electrics of the vehicle and charge the battery for startups. This leaves the engine to do what it is meant to do, move the vehicle. How's this going to operate when you're not using the brakes? Like on 200 mile road trips or even 50 mile commutes?Ever heard of a stored charge... commonly known as a battery? oh wait if it has a battery it must be an electric car? dude pop your hood you have one in your gas car. this is how you maintain the charge and power the necessary components while removing parasitic loss on the engine
4. Electric water pump (powered by the brakes). See above.See above
5. Electric AC compressor (powered by the brakes). See above.See above
6. Electric radiator fan (powered by the brakes). See above.See above
7. No alternator (job performed by brakes). SEE ABOVE!? Unless you're making the Camaro an electric vehicle...then you can do all of this stuff from a battery.See above
8. Laser charge ignition (Fords working on it atm). This never seemed cost effective to me. It doesn't take a lot of spark to ignite gas and air.learn to physics... all you need is ignition the amount of spark is irrelivant
9. Forced induction - whether turbo/supercharger/compressed (DI). Emissions due to heat suffer a bit when you burn more air and more fuel to produce more power out of a smaller motor.agree.. this is why the fuel efficent forced induction applications pretty much all use intercoolers, to cool the charge
10. Refridgerated/cooled charge (why has NOBODY ever looked into this.. we already carry around a compressor?) Has nobody tried Liquid oxygen? Heard of the Hindenburg?wow just wow.. should stop now.. You do know that the Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen right?
11. Variable cylinder displacement (afm, dod, whatever you want to call it). Already in use with the L99.so does that mean it cant be used in combination with a DIV8? seeing a pattern here? using current tech and building on it?
12. exotic building materials (titanium, carbon, boron, graphite, etc). Not cost effective. Want exotic materials? Buy an exotic car.Cost was not part of the issue, we are after a goal of 50MPG with the same performance, read the thesis sir.
13. Low rolling resistance tires (an engineering feat to get same performance with less resistance). Pretty sure this will never happen. The same Mu K that affects rolling resistance affects grip. And tires will always need to grip.Maybe the reason it would be an engineering feat?
14. Engine idle shutdown. Why?umm did you read the thesis at all? its been proven to reduce fuel consumption by 5%
15. Redesigned differential, there HAS to be a way to more efficiently split the power to the wheels. Engine spins some gears...gears spin a shaft...shaft spins a differential...differential spins the rear wheels. You can shorten distances between these parts or you can make these parts lighter but you can't get rid of these parts. If you want a better solution than a Camaro, they exist in true mid and rear engine cars that cost a lot more.so if you thing something cant be done we call it finished?

All that being said, some of these things are possible if you want a 3 million dollar Camaro. Some of these things aren't possible in this realm of physics.Thanks einstien, and what university did you get your engineering degree from?

wow dude wow.. some major assumptions there... my responses in blue since you like colors..

[Forrest]

Originally Posted by walls

And at the risk of being banned from this forum, I must be ask the OP to explain to me how he managed to get cold fusion to work...because there are no patents for working cold fusion and extensive dollars placed into programs in this country by our government have only yielded a few electron volts. In fact, cold fusion is considered a pathological science. The only place where practical fusion of any kind exists in this solar system (unless Martians have figured this out) is inside the glowing ball of plasma aptly named the Sun.

So, how did you get cold fusion to power the electrical wing of your high school?

To You....

Originally Posted by remjay

He's full of it. 12K degF? That's about 2000 degF hotter than the surface of the sun.

Also, I clicked through the link about "his" (looks like a big team involvement for something claimed solely as his own) anti-glare tech for windshields. Looks like a typical highschool project to me, i.e. let's just put together a bunch of generally known information from the internet and a few quotes from the top of a professor's head, and call it our own product. Please...

And you...

I got a lot of help from http://www.fusor.net/, A place where other people, like me, who have managed to creat some in their backyard. Also, in sub atmospheric conditions to where you control the atmoshpere through a vaccum... Temperatures can get nuts.
Look at this article, basically he was my 'mentor'. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_633276.html
"Contained temperatures easily can top 10 million degrees. Voltages used to power up can reach 50,000 volts or more"
I used 75,000 Volts
Also, i will claim that it was not "my" project, but I did the page on the moth eyes, and did the research behind it. Okay, and I took the information from nature and applied it to a windshieild's PVB interface using a particular laser etching, and picked in the process where it should go while at the plant...
Nobody created lightning. It was natures idea. But we came up with a way to harness electricity. So, do we not give Franklin Props for making a light because nature had already thought of electricity before? Its called innovation, and its a form of inventing. You use it a lot. So i say its most likely a legit form of creating something.

Originally Posted by CamaroZ28cc

Had to jump in here, love the idea of engineering something new for the camaro. A passenger seat actuator for up/down adjustment would be great. Just about everyone who has a gf/wife would love you for it and it should be realtively cheap to manufacture, test, mount, and tell the rest of us how to build it .

Just as an FYI, I've worked on that site in Henderson. It was not a marshmellow plant and the explosion had nothing to do with liquid oxygen. It was a manufacturing facility for ammonium perchlorate (An oxidizer in solid rocket fuel) owned by AMPAC (then PEPCON).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammoniu...ite_propellant



They now operate a cutting edge biological in-situ treatment facility there to protect the vegas wash (Common name for the aquifer that feeds Lake Mead from the Vegas side) from the perchlorate dissolved in the groundwater as a result of the explosion, pretty cool stuff, IMO.

Ah. Well thank you for the information Sometimes it sucks to be ill informed :P Thus the failure of the internet. and Thank you for the cunstructive imput. Your the only one in the past few posts. :P

Originally Posted by MontyCarlo

There are a few fusion experiments a high schooler could actually create. None of them generate more power than they're consuming, of course, but they're still fusion, and that's pretty sweet.

+1 Thanks to enmbry riddles funding, we had a whole truck load of liquid ditritium that we poured into it. deffinately was NOT cost effective. but cool. lol

Originally Posted by walls

None of them are cold fusion. That would be like inventing pixy dust and flying to never never land.

Its coldER fusion to be precise. Less than Ten million degrees of normal fusion to be sure.

Originally Posted by StoutFiles

Being an engineer myself, this is quite the lie you just told. If you were able to somehow build this reactor by yourself you would be world famous.

Also, it's commonly known that all engineering projects are group work so don't claim YOU built something when it's a team effort.

Ah but you see, when you have lazy partners and you doccument everything in your engineering notebook and they try to hitch a ride. Your doccumentation provides the answer you did the work by yourself. You as an engineer should know this. And I'm not world famous because I'm not the first. But thanks for the criticism.

[Forrest]

And can we not try to hate on each other so much? Yes it was hydrogen not liquid oxygen. But whatever. Its a brainstorming thread All ideas are welcome I just may say no because I'd get a F haha. But I really do appreciate all the responses with ideas.
Those of you with criticism.....
haha. Just kidding. But I really do like the amount of responses I'm getting. Seems to me everyone wants a DIY seat adjuster?

[96rss/ls6]

I feel likethis could be a good way for someone to get good ideas to make products ,if you cant come up with your own. I have tons of ideas but like everyone else have no way to make them happen. I have an idea that would get you an A and would be right up your alley. It also wouldnt be that hard to make, but lets make a deal you get a idea, I get a copy of the product! pm me if you wanna talk. The heck with an A, I think we could make some money. I would buy it!

[racert33]

Originally Posted by UsedTaHaveA68

1. I like the idea posted earlier of making things lighter. You asked for suggestions:
a. Suspension components (A-arms, trailing arms, control arms, etc.). Redesigned using titanium and offering camber adjustment for both front and rear (I think Pedders said stock there was none).
b. The rear suspension/differential cradle (I guess that's what you might call it).
c. Gears in the tranny and differential (titanium? Is that even feasible?)
2. A new differential unit that allows for changing of the gears without replacing the entire freaking unit for $2000.
3. DI for the V-8
4. A new, more efficient valve train. I'm surprised after all these years the modern valve train still looks like it does.
5. Something that measures torque and horsepower instantaneously. Maybe something that connects to the driveshaft. With all the fancy, small potentiometers and other instruments that measure force, surely something small and reliable can be implemented somewhere in the drivetrain to give you an instant torque and horsepower reading.


That's about the extent of my creativity, which isn't much, but I tried to keep things somewhat within reason and possibility. Good luck on whatever you choose, and keep is informed!

i have thought the same thing for a while now. ever since i took apart my first engine i have wondered how it can be the most effecient design. besides, didn't you say the project was supposed to be about engines.

[patriotpa]

Originally Posted by EMB135Driver

How about engineering a lot of the current components out of lower-weight Materials to put the whole car on a diet to shed about 300-400 lbs. Would make for a great presentation, and I know people would be all over it.

Having done the Riddle Run-around myself, I wish you the best of luck.

Great idea. Low weight high strength materials all around. Make the car as light as possible, while maintaining price point and manufacturability. Guaranteed that one will get you a nice job @ GM!

[SoloSK71]

It is more than just a term project, but I can't wait until a Lambo level clutchless manual transmission is available.

Having driven one of them compared to what GM, Ford and Chrysler offer there is no comparison at all. These things are orders of magnitude better.

- SK

[R6P]

Hide away headlights

[Forrest]

Originally Posted by ChevyTech

Hide away headlights

? Like for earlier corvettes kinda?

Originally Posted by racert33

i have thought the same thing for a while now. ever since i took apart my first engine i have wondered how it can be the most effecient design. besides, didn't you say the project was supposed to be about engines.

YEah, someone mentioned throttle bodies. But the drivetrain would be different...A lot of R&D thats for sure.

Originally Posted by SoloSK71

It is more than just a term project, but I can't wait until a Lambo level clutchless manual transmission is available.

Having driven one of them compared to what GM, Ford and Chrysler offer there is no comparison at all. These things are orders of magnitude better.

- SK

Lol I'll leave that to Lambos for now xD

[R6P]

Originally Posted by Forrest

? Like for earlier corvettes kinda? xD

No, more like the '69 Rally Sport !