THE ROBOTICS FORUM OF VIT , PUNE-37

To:
Prof. Hemant Abhyankar,
Principal,
VIT, Pune-37.

PROPOSAL TO DEVELOP ‘ROTATION COUNTER’ FOR

‘FLYWHEEL EXPERIMENT’ BEING CONDUCTED IN CIVIL
DEPARTMENT

BACKGROUND:
There is one experiment ‘to find out moment of inertia of a flywheel’
being conducted for FE students for Applied Mechanics subject in Civil
Department. In this experiment, a weight is suspended from flywheel shaft
with help of string wound on the shaft and it is allowed to fall on ground.
Here, students are supposed to note:
1) Rotations of flywheel from start till weight reaches ground (N1),
2) Time of fall(T),
3) Rotations of flywheel from start till flywheel stops rotating
completely (N2).
At present, students are measuring the rotations manually, but they can’t
measure it properly when speed of rotation is high and rotations continue
for long time. Earlier, there was one mechanical device using gears to
count the rotations, but it is not in working condition now. It is also not
possible to count fractional rotations manually or with available
mechanical device. Three students have to work simultaneously to
measure each reading. Students need to operate stopwatch carefully to
measure fall time. Consequently, experimental value of moment of inertia
deviates much from theoretical value.

PROPOSED DEVICE:
To overcome these difficulties, we, TRF members have planned to
develop an electronic device to note the readings. We will use proximity
sensors, touch sensors, microcontroller, LCD display. The advantages of this
will be
1) It will increase accuracy of observations.
2) It will avoid human error and give faithful readings.
3) One student is sufficient to note all readings.
 4) We will be able to measure fractional rotations.
5) We can store previous 4-5 results.
6) This device can be used for other similar experiments with little
change.
We will be able to complete it within 2-3 weeks. Total cost of device
will not go beyond Rs.1500. We will be able to repair it in future if
there are minor damages. We request you to grant financial assistance
for the project.

MODUS OPERANDY:
This activity will be executed under TRF (The Robotics Forum) of
VIT in Motion Control Laboratory in Electrical Department. Under the
guidance of Prof. Milind Patwardhan, following students are working on the
project:
1) Vaibhav Gorde (FE, Electronics branch),
2) Abhishek Yadav ( SE, E&TC branch),
3) Balaji S. (SE, Comp Branch),
4) Akshay C. (SE, Comp Branch),
5) Esswar B. (SE, Comp Branch).

NEXT PLANS:
1) If other colleges want similar device for their laboratories TRF is
ready to sell it to them also. This comes under ‘Services to
Community’ scheme.
2) In our college, there are many such problems to which simple
electronic solutions are available. TRF will be happy to provide
solutions. We want other departments to contact TRF for such
problems.

Forwarded by:

Prof. Suhas Nitsure, Prof. Milind Patwardhan, Prof. Harshvardhan Khare,

H.O.D., Head of TRF, H.O.D.,
Civil Dept. Electrical Dept. Electrical Dept.