You are an EPFL student and you are looking for a semester credited, Bachelors or Masters Project ? Look no further! We have something for you!
If you can’t find your dream project down here, but have an idea or would like to propose your own project to do with us, we are open to suggestions! Feel free to contact us and we can talk about it.
SPRING SEMESTER 2022
COMPETITON PROJECT
AVIONICS
PROJECT STATUS : TAKEN
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The EPFL Rocket Team electronics is based on so called hostboards (Figure 1). Since the hostboard are only microprocessors with a custom interface, they need different HATs (Hardware attached on Top) to perform tasks like sensor data acquisition, GPS localisation and radio communication.
The purpose of this project is to develop a HAT for the rocket’s radio communication. The team have some STM32WL chips in stock. Due to the global semiconductor shortage, it should be based on this microcontroller family. The WL family feature an integrated sub-GHz radio which enables us to use the HAT without the hostboard. It could be used for example as a standalone ground transceiver: The ground station.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Read STM32WL documentation
- Design and manufacture the HAT
- Programming and testing of the HAT
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Electronics
- PCB Design
- Programming
Contact: iacopo.sprenger@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Skrivervik
Number of students: 1
PROJECT STATUS : TAKEN
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The EPFL Rocket Team has been launching sounding rockets for four years but has never recorded video footage onboard one of its rockets. The goal of this semester project is to develop a standalone camera module which can be placed anywhere in the rocket to record video footage ahead of the spaceshot that is planned in 5 years.
The module will consist of a camera, a microcontroller, and a storage device connected on a printed circuit board. The camera module must have a straightforward mounting mechanism such that it can be secured to the rocket’s structure.
The student will start by choosing the main components for his design. Then, the student will design and assemble a PCB and finally program the module for video recording.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Choice of components
- PCB Design
- Device Programming
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Electronics
- PCB Design
- Programming
Contact: iacopo.sprenger@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Beuchat
Number of students: 1
RECOVERY
PROJECT STATUS : TAKEN
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
At the EPFL Rocket Team (ERT), the launch vehicles are opened during flight in order to deploy parachutes.
There are other ways to deploy a parachute, for example, mortars.
These devices usually use an explosive to expulse the parachutes from the rocket at high speed and ensure a correct deployment.
During this semester project, you will do a case study on such a design for application in the ERT including:
1. Feasibility study
2. Assembly dimensioning
3. Cost optimization
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Feasibility Study
- Assembly Dimensioning
- Cost optimization
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Mechanics
- Microtechnics
Contact: dominique.humbert@heig-vd.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Mäusli
Number of students: 1-2
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
At the EPFL Rocket Team (ERT), the launch vehicles are opened during flight in order to deploy parachutes.
This is done either using a mechanical coupler or by over pressuring the body and pushing on a piston, the rocket body being the cylinder. There are other ways to open a rocket, in particular frangible joint assemblies (FJA) (These are not only used in the aerospace industry).
During this semester project, you will do a case study on such assemblies
for application in the ERT including:
1. Feasibility study
2. Assembly dimensioning
3. Cost optimization
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Feasibility Study
- Assembly Dimensioning
- Cost optimization
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Mechanics
- Materials Science
Contact: dominique.humbert@heig-vd.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Mäusli
Number of students: 1-2
PROJECT STATUS : TAKEN
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The goal of this project is to design and build a testing facility to certify avionic cards for a rocket flight.
The avionics uses microcontrollers to record data using sensors such as accelerometers or barometers and trigger events, such as a parachute’s deployment, during a flight. Both the hardware and software of some of our cards are student made. It is therefore important to fully test them to prove their reliability.
The testing facility should be able to simulate flight profiles, by controlling the variation of both the acceleration and the air pressure felt by the avionic cards. A good control over the variables is necessary to reproduce precise flight profiles.
A previous semester project was already conducted on this subject during the spring semester 2021. The result is the prototype of a vacuum centrifuge design that validated the concept.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Learning from existing devices
- Design of the Testing Facility
- Building, programming and testing
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Electronics
- Control Systems
- Mechanical Design
Contact: dominique.humbert@heig-vd.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Krümmen (HEIG-VD)
Number of students: 1-2
STRUCTURE
PROJECT STATUS : TAKEN
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
IMPORTANT: This is a Bachelors Project proposal for GM Students exclusively.
The goal of this project is to design a preliminary dual structural tank with a cryogenic tank for liquid oxygen and a tank for ethanol, with the focus on finding the possible problems of future iterations.
The tanks could be reinforced with a CFRP shell, while mitigating the effect of the cryogenic dilatation of the tanks.
It should withstand the different loads of the rocket, as the compression created from the thrust, the traction from the parachute opening and bending.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composite (CFRP) Simulations
- Tank Design
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- FEM (Finite Element Method) simulations
- Mechanical Design
- Material sciences
Contacts: alexandre.clement@epfl.ch, alfonso.monna@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Michaud
Number of students: 2-3
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The goal of this project is to research the use of ablative materials for supersonic flight uses for the EPFL Rocket team future projects.
After research for possible purposes of ablative material, such as a thermal protection for the nose cone, realize the design of the protection and a thermal analysis of the product.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Research of possible uses
- Thermal analysis for said uses
- Production Procedure report
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Thermal Analysis
- Material science
Contacts: alexandre.clement@epfl.ch, alfonso.monna@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Michaud
Number of students: 1
PROJECT STATUS : TAKEN
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The goal of this project is the research of the delamination of composites fibers during supersonic flight and all possible mitigations.
Some parts of the rocket are submitted to high temperature caused by the ablative compression of air on these exposed parts, such as the nose cone or the fins. These temperatures can cause the delamination of the fibers used on the rocket, and proper modelling of these could improve the performance of the rocket.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Thermal analysis of the composites
- Design or propose mitigations
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Thermal analysis
- Mechanical Design
- Material sciences
Contacts: alexandre.clement@epfl.ch, alfonso.monna@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Michaud
Number of students: 1-2
GROUND SEGMENT
PROJECT STATUS : TAKEN
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The goal of this project is to research, design, simulate and manufacture a compact directional antenna meant to be used in the 868MHz frequency band.
This antenna would be used to replace our current helicoidal antenna in our ground operations. This includes communication with the rocket at all time from integration on the launch rail, to the entire flight, to a safe landing.
Part of this project will be the manufacture of the designed antenna, as well as setting up a production procedure to be able to make similar antennas in different frequency bands.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Research of possible solutions
- Design and Simulation of the Antenna
- Manufacturing and testing of the Antenna
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Antenna Design theory
- Electronics theory
- Antenna manufacturing
- Antennas simulation in HFSS
Contact: yanis.debusschere@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Skrivervik
Number of students: 1
SIMULATIONS
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Since the ERT aims to make its next rocket go supersonic, the Flight Dynamics subsystem needs data to validate their predicted rocket flight performance. There are several methods to validate these simulations, but much less for supersonic flights. Published data are scarce for custom geometries going at supersonic speeds and running experimental tests with a supersonic wind tunnel is challenging because this type of facility is rare in Switzerland.
To tackle this scarcity in validation data, Hermes was born: a small-scale supersonic test rocket to help us acquire data for supersonic flights, validating the results from our computational tools. A few flights have been performed and more are planned, however, Hermes still requires some development in terms of software and hardware. For the former, a Kalman filter needs to be implemented, either post-flight or in-flight (embedded). Then for the latter, the current PCB can be expanded to include recovery capabilities and telemetry as well as see its footprint shrink considerably.
This PCB could also have a low-cost version which could be implemented into other model rockets in order to gather as much flight data as possible, which would help improve our flight simulators.
The aim of this project is therefore to take the current avionics and bring it past the development stage.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Understand the current avionics on Hermes
- Write a functional Kalman Filter
- Incorporate recovery capabilities and telemetry on the current PCB
- Ground and in-flight testing
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Kalman Filtering theory
- Embedded Systems
- PCB Design and manufacturing
Contacts: kevin.marangi@epfl.ch, taha.bouwakdh@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Skaloud
Number of students: 2
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Since the ERT aims to make its next rocket go supersonic, the Flight Dynamics subsystem needs data to validate their predicted rocket flight performance.
There are several methods to validate these simulations, but much less for supersonic flights. Published data are scarce for custom geometries going at supersonic speeds and running experimental tests with a supersonic wind tunnel is challenging because this type of facility is rare in Switzerland.
To tackle this scarcity in validation data, Hermes was born: a small-scale supersonic test rocket to help us acquire data for supersonic flights, validating the results from our computational tools. A few flights have been performed and more are planned. The goal of this project is to elaborate an experimental campaign in subsonic and mainly supersonic regimes in order to implement and test technologies developed by the team (or by yourself) that may be used in Wildhorn, the competition’s rocket, or that generates relevant data for the team’s simulators.
This project distinguishes itself by its large covering of rocketry aspects as much as it involves design, manufacturing and testing skills. Ideally, the candidate should be available for more than a semester as the supersonic launches happen in only March and October every year.
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Fluid Dynamics
- Structural Mechanics
- Manufacturing
Contacts: kevin.marangi@epfl.ch, taha.bouwakdh@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Noca
Number of students: 3
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The aim of this project is to design an optimization tool fast enough to operate in design phase for future rockets.
This tool should generate an optimized design of a rocket under specified constraints, for subsonic, transonic, and supersonic regimes.
The project can be tackled with different approaches, from purely mathematical point of views or programming techniques, using dynamic tools developed by the team. The project should also prepare a platform to add new technologies in the future such as thrust or attitude control.
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Physics: Classical/Analytical mechanics
- Fluid Dynamics
- Matlab/Python
- Mathematical optimization
Contacts: kevin.marangi@epfl.ch, taha.bouwakdh@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Noca
Number of students: 3
PROJECT STATUS : TAKEN
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The aim of this project is to build a small experimental setup to study flow in the supersonic regime and test imperfections on the rocket body.
The work should focus on designing and building a small scale setup using supersonic air jets produced by pumps to generate the flow and schlieren photography to visualize it and record it for further analysis.
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Physics: Optics
- Fluid Dynamics
- Manufacturing
- Sensors
Contacts: kevin.marangi@epfl.ch, taha.bouwakdh@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Noca
Number of students: 3
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
This project derives from a recent wind tunnel test of our Bella Lui II rocket, which was carried out at Swiss F1 team, Sauber, in June 2021. Preliminary experimental results were obtained from the obtained raw data and were then compared with 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of the corresponding rocket for the same velocity and Angle of Attack (AoA) ranges. The overall trends for both experimental and CFD results were matching, although there was with a certain discrepancy between them.
This project has the following principal objectives:
• Improve/Automatise the post-processing procedure to gain time-efficiency when processing raw data from future wind tunnel tests at Sauber.
• Finetune CFD simulations to match better the results obtained from the performed wind tunnel test.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Understand how the post-processing of the wind tunnel test & the CFD simulations were performed.
- Develop a method to reduce the post-processing stage after a wind tunnel test.
- Find which CFD parameters need to be changed for a better physical accuracy of the simulations.
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Excel/Matlab/Python
- CFD on Ansys Fluent
- Experimental Fluid mechanics
- Aerodynamics
Contacts: kevin.marangi@epfl.ch, taha.bouwakdh@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Noca
Number of students: 1
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The aim of this project is to study the impact of the aerodynamic loading onto the rocket’s airframe coupling Computational Fluid Dynamics and Finite Element Analysis simulations, whose combination is usually called Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) . Since the rocket is expected to reach Mach 2.0 (twice the speed of sound), this type of simulations is critical to determine the structural integrity of the rocket because of the relatively large stresses (thermal and structural) due to flying in the supersonic regime.
The rocket that is shown below – Hermes I – was a smaller supersonic test rocket in which some FSI simulations were already carried out. The idea is to use a single simulation software suite to facilitate the compatibility between the fluid simulations’ results and the structural/thermal ones, which is why these simulations are currently done via ANSYS Fluent (fluid part) and ANSYS Mechanical (structural part).
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Generate pressure fields for the relevant portions of the flight
- Use this pressure field as boundary conditions for the FEA analysis
- Analyse the data and determine the structural integrity of the rocket
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- CFD (ANSYS Fluent)
- FEA (preferably ANSYS Mechanical)
- Fluid dynamics (Especially compressible flows)
- Mechanics of Solids
Contacts: kevin.marangi@epfl.ch, taha.bouwakdh@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Noca
Number of students: 2
RESEARCH PROJECTS
ICARUS
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
As part of our research project on Thrust Vector Control, we developed last year a drone prototype allowing us to test our first control algorithm. Last semester a new design of the entire drone has been studied and the goal is now to upgrade our current drone in order to support the flight testing campaigns.
This work includes the redesign and manufacture of several part of the current drone in order to fulfil a enhanced set of requirements. It is mainly about designing a new structure with newer legs as well as designing the two degree of freedom of gimbal mechanism and choosing of the actuators. The student will build his redesign on the current drone and the proposed new version to have an comprehensive improved design.
As a finalization of this project, the students will be asked to manufacture the drone and adjust its design if required. Then, the new drone shall be fully characterized from its mechanical properties to the identification of the actuators and propelling system.
As this project aimed to develop the long-term flying platform for the team to test their algorithms, some flexibility and great communication with the other team members to understand their future needs are required.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Design a new prototype
- Build the prototype
- Characterise the new design.
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- CAD
- Manufacturing
- Team communication and adaptability
Contact: Icarus@epflrocketteam.ch
Supervisor: Prof. TBD
Number of students: 0/1
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
As part of our research project on Thrust Vector Control, we started developing last year a drone prototype allowing us to test our first guidance, navigation and control algorithms.
This work focus on developing a new Kalman filter to estimate the state of a rocket for the purpose of an active MPC control
As a finalization of your work, you will be required to test extensively the developed algorithm on our simulator, and benchmark it on our drone.
As there are other projects revolving around developing a guidance, navigation and control algorithms, you will be required to work in parallel and collaborate with other students and members of the team.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Develop and test the filter on the simulator.
- Deploy and test the filter on our test drone
- Deploy and test the filter on a sounding rocket
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Kalman filter theory
- C++/Python
- ROS/Eigen
Contact: Icarus@epflrocketteam.ch
Supervisor: TBD
Number of students: 0/1
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
As part of our research project on Thrust Vector Control, we started developing last year a drone prototype allowing us to test our first guidance, navigation and control algorithms.
This work will include comparing our guidance algorithm with others used in the industry, improving the existing guidance algorithms and developing new ones for controlled descent and landing.
As a finalisation of your work, you will be required to assess the performances of your algorithm by testing it on our simulator, in real-time on a raspberry pi and on our drone.
As there are other projects revolving around developing a guidance, navigation and control algorithms, you will be required to work in parallel and collaborate with other students and members of the team.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Compare existing guidance algorithms
- Improve and adapt ascent and descent phase guidance
- Benchmark and test your algorithm in the simulator and on the drone
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Optimal Control (MPC)
- C++/Python
- Familiarity with ROS (Robot Operating System) is a plus
Contact: Icarus@epflrocketteam.ch
Supervisor: TBD
Number of students: 0/1-2
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
As part of our research project on Thrust Vector Control, we started developing last year a new controller, based on model predictive control.
This work focuses on improving the existing MPC controller, especially its speed of execution. You might also need to develop a new way to assist the controller, like developing a new data-driven controller which would run alongside the MPC.
As a finalization of your work, you will be required to test and benchmark the controller in our simulator, in real-time on a raspberry pi and on our drone.
As there are other projects revolving around developing guidance, navigation and control algorithms, you will be required to work in parallel and collaborate with other students and members of the team.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Getting familiar with the existing controller
- Improving its speed and implementation
- Testing and benchmark its performance
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Model Predictive Control
- C++ / Python
- Familiarity with ROS (Robot Operating System) is a plus
Contact: Icarus@epflrocketteam.ch
Supervisor: Prof. TBD
Number of students: 0/1
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
As part of our research project on Thrust Vector Control, we started developing last year our first guidance, navigation and control algorithms.
This controller should focus on stability of the launch vehicle and robustness against perturbations rather than tracking performances. You will also be required to benchmark the robust controller you developed against our existing optimal controller (MPC), to conclude which one or which combination of the two would be more suited for the thrust vector control of a rocket.
As a finalisation of your work, you will be required to test all the algorithms in our simulator, in real-time on a raspberry pi and on our drone.
As there are other projects revolving around developing a guidance, navigation and control algorithms, you will be required to work in parallel and collaborate with other students and members of the team.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Developing a robust controller
- Benchmarking the robust and optimal controllers
- Analysing the results
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Robust Control
- Electronics
- C++ / Python
- Familiarity with ROS (Robot Operating System) is a plus
Contact: Icarus@epflrocketteam.ch
Supervisor: Prof. TBD
Number of students: 0/1
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
As part of our research project on Thrust Vector Control, we developed last year a real time computing rocket simulator to support and test our Guidance Navigation and Control algorithm. The simulator is developed using ROS (Robot Operating System) and is based on a six-degree-of-freedom rigid body with varying mass dynamic model.
The goal of this work is to correct and modify the physics behind the simulator to make it more reliable and more accurate to fully match the simulation with the real vehicle behavior.
The first step in this work is to review all the equations used with a special attention on the aerodynamic model, and correct them if necessary. The reliability improvements also include a lot of work on the proper simulation of the different actuators’ behavior as well as the refining and evaluation of the different uncertainties and disturbances.
The student will also be asked to develop a characterizing methodology of the build hardware to ensure a proper match with simulated model.
The second step in this work consists of fully evaluating the precision of the simulation against flight and test data for various vehicles and testing set-up.
As the simulator is implemented to support the GNC developed in parallel by the Icarus team, this project will have to adapt and work in coordination with other simulator semester projects as well as the rest of the team.
PROJECT TIMELINE
Simulator physics correction- Simulation accuracy improvement
- Simulation accuracy evaluation
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Rigid Body Dynamic
- C++, Python
- Familiarity with ROS (Robot operating system) is a plus
Contact: Icarus@epflrocketteam.ch
Supervisor: Prof. TBD
Number of students: 0/1
PROJECT STATUS : TAKEN
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
As part of our research project on Thrust Vector Control, we developed last semester a real time computing rocket simulator to support and test our Guidance Navigation and Control algorithm. The simulator is developed using ROS (Robot Operating System) and is based on a six-degree-of-freedom rigid body with varying mass dynamic model.
The goal of this work is to develop a new GUI with a new UX and improve our 3D visualization which shows our rocket simulation and planned trajectory. You would also need to develop new features like adding a dialog box to choose between sensors and actuators, adding a homepage that let you customize your rocket and environment variables, etc.
As the simulator will be continuously improved in parallel and new features will be added, the student will have to work in close coordination with other members of the team.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Design the new UI/UX
- Implement the new UI
- Design and develop a new 3D visualization
- Design and implement new features
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- UI/UX development
- C++, Python, Qt
- Familiarity with ROS (Robot operating system) is a plus
Contact: Icarus@epflrocketteam.ch
Supervisor: Prof. TBD
Number of students: 0/1
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
As part of our research project on Thrust Vector Control, we developed last semester a real time computing rocket simulator to support and test our Guidance Navigation and Control algorithms.
The actual simulator used ROS (Robot Operating System) and is highly modular allowing to test our code in a Software-in-the-Loop, Processor-in-the-Loop as well as Hardware-in-the-Loop configuration with little modifications.
This work will focus on expanding the capabilities of the simulator by adding new features that will support further development of the GNC algorithms. The features will mainly be focused on simulating more sensors and actuators as well as adding support for the landing phase. The student is also welcomed to propose and add more features to the simulator.
As the simulator is implemented to support the GNC developed in parallel by the Icarus team, this project will have to adapt and work in coordination with the other simulator semester projects as well as the rest of the team.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Familiarity with the actual architecture of the simulator
- Addition of new actuators
- Addition of new sensors
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Software engineering
- C++, Python
- Familiarity with ROS (Robot operating system) is a plus
Contact: Icarus@epflrocketteam.ch
Supervisor: Prof. TBD
Number of students: 0/1
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
As part of our research project on Thrust Vector Control, we developed a mechanism that can actuate and steer the bi-liquid engine that the team is developing.
This work includes developing an electronic board to interface with the mechanism. You will need to design PCB board to house the electronics and develop a firmware that accept a desired input and convert it into a command for the actuators.
As a finalisation of this project, and to validate the developed hardware and software, the student will need to test pre-programmed sequences on the bi-liquid engine during a static-fire test. The results of these tests will be used to identify and characterise the system.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Design the PCB.
- Develop the code to interfacewith the actuators.
- Testing and characterising the system.
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Electronics
- PCB Design
- Firmware Development
- Interfacing with motor drivers
Contact: Icarus@epflrocketteam.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Beuchat
Number of students: 0/1
PROJECT STATUS : FREE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
As part of our research project on Thrust Vector Control, we will develop an actively controlled hopper rocket to test our algorithms on a Bi-Liquid engine developed by the team.
This work includes the design of a landing damping system module. This mechanism shall fulfil a given set of requirements and allows a rocket of 50kg to safely land without tipping over. The design shall be proven using a Finite Element Method Simulation.
As a proof of work and finalization of this project, the student would be asked to submit a comprehensive manufacturing plan and procedure.
As this module will be fitted first on the hopper rocked designed in parallel, this project would have to work in coordination with the team to ensure a correct design. This will be supervised by a system engineer.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Selection of the leg design
- Design of the module
- Sizing using FEM Simulation
- Prototype manufacturing
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- Mechanical Design
- CAD
- FEM Simulation
- Team communication and adaptability
Contact: Icarus@epflrocketteam.ch
Supervisor: Prof. TBD
Number of students: 0/1
BI-LIQUID
PROJECT STATUS : TAKEN
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Rocket motors usually uses turbo pumps to pressurize and inject the liquid propellants into the combustion chamber. It allows to optimize efficiency and weight compared to pressure-fed systems.
The goal of this project is to design the impeller and the volute of the LO2 and ethanol pumps for the given nominal regime, and to find the rotation speed, torque, and power required to drive the pumps at this regime. The pumps’ efficiency (i.e. shaft power w.r.t fluid outlet power) shall also be given. Additionally, if time allows it, those parameters will be explored for different regimes.
An example of the project’s’ unfolding is shown on Figure 2.
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- CAD
- CFD Simulations
- Fluid Dynamics
Contact: theophile.balestrini@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Shiffmann
Number of students: 2
PROJECT STATUS : TAKEN
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Rocket motors using bi-liquid propellants expose their parts to extreme temperatures, well above the melting point of most metals.
In order to be able to fire the engine for long durations, the combustion chamber and nozzle jackets have to be cooled by a fluid, generally the fuel, using regenerative cooling and/or film cooling.
The goal of this project is to design and provide the combustion chamber’s CAD implementing cooling solutions that will allow to reach a thermal regime which is within the parts’ operating range.
An example of the project’s’ unfolding is shown on Figure 2.
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- CAD
- Thermal FEA
- CFD Simulations
- Fluid Dynamics
Contact: theophile.balestrini@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. TBD
Number of students: 1-2
PROJECT STATUS : TAKEN
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Rocket motors usually uses turbo pumps to pressurize and inject the liquid propellants into the combustion chamber. It allows to optimize efficiency and weight compared to pressure-fed systems.
The goal of this project is to design both pumps assemblies and to choose the material, sealing, bearings, and housing solutions, given the performance parameters.
The impeller and volute dimensions will be given by the student(s) working on the parallel semester project.
An example of the project’s’ unfolding is shown on Figure 2.
SKILLS NEEDED (or that you are willing to learn)
- CAD
- Mechanical Intuition
- Standard Element Sizing (bearings, seals, screws, etc)
Contact: theophile.balestrini@epfl.ch
Supervisor: Prof. Shiffmann
Number of students: 2
EPFL ROCKET TEAM
ASSOCIATION
No Association wide project this semester!