Mechatronics
Mechatronics represents modern machine technology as a multidisciplinary field of science, including mechanical engineering with electronics and computer control in the design and manufacture of industrial products. The aim in mechatronics design is to enhance the performance of machines, improve their price-performance ratio and increase functionality. Main research interests in mechatronics include vehicle dynamics in Arctic conditions, hybridisation of mobile machines, industrial internet-connected machines, rotating machinery, tribology and integrated fluid power systems. With respect to integrated fluid power systems, the main research interests are digital hydraulics, magnetorheological actuators, vibration control technology and wave energy applications.
Aalto University Mechatronics group is proud member of Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence on High-Speed Electromechanical Energy Conversion Systems
Teaching
In teaching the Mechatronics Design group is responsible for several key courses in the School of Engineering B.Sc programme and its Mechanical and Structural Engineering major respectively. On M.Sc level the group´s course selection is included in the Master´s programme in Mechanical Engineering. Please see the table below with links to more detailed course descriptions and course responsible teacher contact info.
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Mechatronics group related courses 2020-2021 |
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B.Sc. Level teaching |
(all in Finnish except those indicated*) |
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Computer-aided tools in engineering |
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Computer-aided tools in engineering (international/English version)* |
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Futures forum in Engineering |
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ENG-project |
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Product design |
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Engineering design basics A |
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Engineering design basics B |
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Machine elements |
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Mechanical and structural engineering laboratory |
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Mechatronics basics |
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Mechatronics exercises |
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Bachelor thesis and seminar (Mechanical engineering topics) |
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M.Sc. Level teaching) |
(all in English) |
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Machine design |
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Mechatronic Machine Design |
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Mechatronics Project |
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Fluid Power Basics |
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Fluid Power Systems |
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Fluid Power Dynamics L |
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Advanced Project on Mechatronics V |
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Vehicle Mechatronics: Powertrain L |
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Vehicle Mechatronics: Control L |
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Patents L |
Biotribology
Biotribology research studies the properties and development of prosthetic joints. Biotribology is an established top expertise special area in the Mechatronics group.
The wear of prosthetic joints, especially total hip and knee prostheses, poses a significant clinical problem. The wear products of implants cause adverse tissue reactions, which may lead to substantial loss of bone around the implant and consequently the loosening of the fixation. This requires a revision operation, in which the loose implant is replaced with a revision prosthesis. Revision operations are complicated and expensive, however, and their results are often poor.
Research aims to improve the tribological evaluation methods for prosthetic joints and their materials. Two examples of this activity are the design, building and validation of the 12-station anatomic hip joint simulator HUT-4 and the 100-station pin-on-disk hip wear simulator Super-CTPOD. These two simulators are now commercially available from Phoenix Tribology Ltd (TE 86 and TE 87).
The latest additions to the selection of test devices are RandomPOD, a 16-station, computer-controlled, servo-electric pin-on-disk wear simulator that can be programmed to produce virtually any type of motion and load, even random; and HF-CTPOD, a 3-station, dual motion pin-on-disk device for accelerated wear testing.
The study of tribology (friction, wear and lubrication) of orthopaedic biomaterials started in the Laboratory of Machine Design in 1987. The principal source of funding has been the Academy of Finland. In addition, contract studies have been conducted for the orthopaedic industry and for the National Agency for Medicines.
Contact
TUTLI-projects
Several TUTLI-projects have accumulated special expertise in the group. More information coming soon.
Industrial internet research focuses on applying and developing of digital methods to improve the efficiency and quality in both product design and product use. Essential elements include the identification of new development and application potential and competitive advantages offered by IoT including 5G applications in II. Digital disruption of industry is recognised as a common future challenge and possibility. Aalto Industrial Internet Campus is the primary research environment.
Digital twin concept can be originated to the beginning of 2000’s and the presentation by Dr. Grieves. He a presented a model, in which real world products are mirrored in the virtual space and there is a link between these two worlds – real and virtual. However, creating a twin and mirroring a physical world is not a new idea. NASA already used this approach with Apollo 13 to investigate the behavior of spacecraft during flight and bring the crew safely back home after an explosion of the oxygen tank. In addition, in 1989, the early WWW proposal by Tim Berbers-Lee discussed about linking real objects with WWW.
In Aalto University, we have further developed the concept of digital twin. Our short definition to a digital twin is: “digital twin is a virtual entity that is linked to a real-world entity”. A Digital twin makes available the product data from all systems it is currently scattered around. It offers various features depending on its use case, such as simulation and monitoring. These features are linked and made available by a Data Link. The framework for structuring digital twins was introduced by Autiosalo et al. in their article “Feature-based Digital Twin”. The practical implementation of the Data Link and a digital twin of an overhead crane following this framework was presented by Ala-Laurinaho et al. The current aims of our research are standardization of the document describing the metadata of digital twin and connecting several digital twins.
Aalto University – where Digital Twin Web was born, our research has indicated that Digital Twins are developed in a similar manner to Internet. The structure proposes and data links developed lead to structure similar to WWW. This actually feels quite natural development of Industrial Internet or IoT.
Contact
Integrated fluid power research focuses on energy efficiency, covering a broad spectrum in the areas of control, component and systems development and energy management. Topics of interest include digital hydraulic valve development and new manufacturing methods, hybrid systems and autonomous actuators and energy management focused on regenerative systems in general, using external and renewable energy, pressure accumulators, pumps and compressors, and also benefitting from new manufacturing technologies. As fluid power technology is tightly integrated with other technologies, such as electronics, mechanics and thermodynamics, these aspects are also considered in most research.
Digital hydraulics enables realising hydraulic systems that are robust, more fault-tolerant, have better controllability and operational characteristics and are also more cost- and energy-efficient than the hydraulic systems commonly used today. Research focuses on valve development and new manufacturing methods. Due to its advantages, digital hydraulics is expected to seize the hydraulics market in the near future.
Hybrid systems enable using different kinds of energy sources, thus improving their energy economics. The research focuses on autonomous actuators, which are expected to replace some of the central hydraulic systems in various machines due to their clear advantages in e.g. self-sufficiency, fewer design constraints, an optimised selection of components and better maintainability.
Energy management research is focused on regenerative systems in general, using external and renewable energy, pressure accumulators, pumps and compressors, and also exploiting new manufacturing technologies. The market for energy-efficient systems is increasing due to the rapid increase in global energy usage and risks posed by global warming.
Contact
Aalto University Engineering Design group has a history of research activities in metrology and manufacturing of rotating machinery from over two decades. Facilities at the ARotor laboratory include a full-size rotor test bench with versatile measurement equipment and support for rotors, bearings and other drivetrain components up to 25 000 kg.
Research topics include rotor dynamics, geometry measurement, measurement of harmonic and subharmonic vibration and bearing excitations.
Contact
See also
Powertrain and operation optimization are important when designing sustainable vehicles. The operation of vehicles depends on the driver, route, traffic and weather conditions, which in turn related to the powertrain design. These uncertain factors can cause suboptimal driving behavior and oversizing of powertrain components, such as the battery. Our research aims at analyzing the uncertain factors and their impact on energy consumption in order to optimize the design of powertrain and operation. Model predictive control has been utilized for optimizing driving under uncertain conditions. Our research interest is mainly on fully electric and electro-hybrid technologies. And our applications focus is mainly on heavy vehicles and ferry ships.
Intelligent Transportation Systems play a big role in the transition towards autonomous, safe and sustainable mobility. Our research efforts revolve around machine vision applications, installed in the vehicle and as intelligent infrastructure. Our machine vision systems include methods and application that aim to improve the perception of road users, braking events and trash inside the vehicle. Road users are detected and tracked to warn drivers of concerning behavior they cannot perceive. For instance, an adaptive cruise control algorithm has been improved with a computer vision observing braking lights in traffic. As another example, we developed a computer vision application to assess cleanliness of vehicle cabin.
Autonomous vehicle operation allows for better people and logistic flows due to the decrease of traffic jams and better predictability. Autonomous systems include passenger vehicles and service robots, such as autonomous delivery robots that transport small goods and take-away meals. The robustness and sustainability of autonomous mobility are the key aspects of our research. The human-machine interaction of these robots is studied in virtual and mixed reality environments. Our autonomous research vehicles start from small autonomous three-wheelers ranging up to full-size SUV.
Autonomous mobility lab facility is being renewed. The lab is shared with traffic engineering having vehicle workshop for 4 vehicles, electronic workshop in it, one-axle chassis dynamometer and large cold room. Our one-axle dynamometer has an ability to test vehicle propulsion as well as energy recovery. Our facility is located next to teaching and research workshops at Aalto University Works.