The Lord of the Motors: the Return of Direct Current - A practical introduction to DC motors

General description

Saradon has been brought back forth to Middle Spain and is assembling an army.

You are Fredu Baltes, the "nephew" of Bogdan who discovered the ring.

You have been assigned a very important mission to destroy the Ring, but a hammer wouldn't do. It has to be thrown back where it was forged, in Mount Doom, deep inside Murcior, the barren realm of Saradon.

Somebody has the stupid idea that you should travel a very long distance in secret to Murcior, with all the dangers that comes. Also, eagles aren't taxis and they are not kind enough to drop you there.

You dismiss the idea and fire that guy. You have decided that you are traveling BY CAR.

"But gasoline hasn't yet been invented in this universe!" - you might ask. You are using an electric motor, of course! Powered by the lightning bolts Grandalf can summon.

However, there's another problem. You have no idea how to design and build one...

We, the Elves of Madridlórien, can teach you everything about the construction of a DC motor from the beginning and how to control its speed.

But you will have to arrive here first. Don't you worry, we're not nearly as far as Murcior is...

And besides, the time you save going by electric car can be well spend eating amazing Spanelvish food and mead, and contemplate our amazing and magical city!

Although, we may copy your discoveries so that we can also have more electric cars in our magic-polluted city... :)

Academic information

Fields of activity:

Applied Sciences , Automotive Engineering , Control Engineering/Systems engineering , Electrical/Electromechanical Engineering , Electronic/Electrotechnical Engineering , Industrial Engineering , Machine & Instrument engineering/Design , Mechanical Engineering , Mechatronics

Content and topics:

Construction of a DC motor from the beginning, winding its rotor on a simple pencil, generating the inductor with magnets and building its thinner and brushes with simple pieces of copper. Motor speed control. A power transistor pair and a diode, to make a chopper or chopper that will allow to obtain a square wave whose average value can be adjusted and with the motor speed control. A microcontroller will be used to generate the signal. Measurement of engine speed. It will be done in two phases, initially with a disk of Newton by visual inspection of the disc color change and then by a couple LED - photodiode, as a transmitter-receiver set whose transmission channel will only be allowed through a hole drilled in Newton's disk. This will allow the frequency of current pulses generated by the photodiode to be used as a measure of the speed of rotation. Design and assembly of the printed circuit board (PCB) of the complete system.

Learning goals and objectives:

Knowledge of fundamental functions of analog electronics, such as amplification and modulation. Basic programming knowledge of a microcontroller Fundamental knowledge of optoelectronic techniques acquired primarily from experimental form. Fundamental knowledge of switching power electronics. Practical knowledge of the operation of an electric motor. Complete construction and starting from scratch. Learning design techniques, manufacturing and assembly of printed circuit boards (PCB).

Examination type:

Presentation or final project

ECTS credits issued:

Not known yet

Information for applicants

Selection criteria:

Motivational letter and answers to the proposed questions.

Practical arrangements

All of the following are covered by the event fee:

Lodging:

Hostel and country house.

Meals:

Three meals per day, at least one of them hot.

Transportation:

Bus, train and subway (provided by organisers).