RESEARCH
My research interest includes design of Contact Aided Compliant Mechanisms (CCMs) and development of control strategy for hybrid vehicles. A brief introduction is given below about each research area.
Compliant Mechanisms:
My work so far has focused on the synthesis of non smooth path generating Compliant Mechanisms with self contact of members present in it.
Compliant mechanisms (CMs) are single-body, elastic continua that are designed to deform as desired upon application of forces. Like jointed, rigid-body mechanisms, CMs transmit and transform force and motion. The use of CMs in place of rigid-body mechanisms brings many advantages in performance and manufacturing to some applications, especially at the microscale. The benefits related to the performance include reducing or eliminating friction and backlash due to the absence of kinematic joints. The manufacturing advantages include assembly-free single-body construction and scalability for microsystems applications. CMs have already been used in many applications in MEMS, adaptive structures, surgical tools, etc. Inorder to enhance the capabilities of CMs, CCMs were introduced to trace non smooth paths. A CCM is a single piece elastic body that uses intermittent contacts in addition to elastic deformation to transmit force and motion. They use intermittent contact interactions in conjunction with a single, monotonic, bounded input to synthesize compliant mechanisms that trace required paths
Development of Control Strategy for Hybrid vehicles:
The depletion of fossil fuels increases the focus of researchers towards the fuel efficient engines. One way to reduce the fuel consumption is by incorporating a hybrid power train instead of a conventional one. A hybrid power train consists of two power sources to drive the vehicle. Based on the requirement of the vehicle, power can be taken from either of the power source or from both.
A control strategy is developed to operate the engine in most efficient region while running it with the vehicle along with an Integrated Motor Generator (IMG). An IMG stores the excess energy whenever available, example while braking and coasting, supplies the energy when ever required i.e. at the time of acceleration of vehicle. A Supervisory Powertrain Controller (SPC) is designed to control and instruct the Engine Management System (EMS), gear shift system, IMG controller, Battery controller and clutch controller.