Working model of Hovercraft

The idea of making a Hovercraft dates back to 1716 when Emmanual Swedenborg recorded a design, but it was short lived.  In 1870, Sir John Thornycroft filled patents involving air lubricated hulls. And it was in 1959 a hovercraft was built, by Christopher Sydney Cockerell  by discovering the Momentum Curtain theory. Hover craft also called Air cushion vehicle (ACV) travels on any kind of flat surface. It is supported by a cushion of pressurized air.

Design

• Can be powered by one or more engines
• Small crafts have a single engine with the drive split through a gear box
• Usually one engine drives the fan responsible for lifting the vehicle
• The other forces air from

Working

Two main principles:

1)      Lift

2)      Propulsion

• A skirt is required to quarantine airflow
• No contact with ground hence friction is eliminated
• The shape of the body affects stability
• All parts are essential for proper working

Parts

1)      Lifting fan: Usually a centrifugal fan is preferred. When rotated air is sucked into the center hole, it is coupled via a gearbox and connected to the engine

2)      Thrust propellers: An aircraft type propeller with variable type pitch blades. Diameter ranges from nine feet to nineteen feet. In bigger crafts the propellers are rotated while in smaller ones, rudders are used.

3)      Skirt: Flexible strip which is fitted below the bottom edges of the plenum chamber. Skirt design is the most sensitive design parameter as it protects the craft and helps to lift it even higher.

In theory hover crafts are simple machines but a plethora of problems exist to make a functioning hovercraft. The plans as well as the design must be flawless. To build a hovercraft one must be well aware of the demands of construction. Only then can one design a hovercraft.

Mechanical Engineering Seminar Topics List 2

Air Powered Cars Ablative Materials Aerospace Propulsion Combustion Research Advanced Cooling Systems Active roll-over protection system in Automobiles Air Cushion Vehicles Advances in composite materials Aircraft Egress Advanced Rocket Motors V GENERATION FIGHTER PLANES Air suspension system Aerospace Flywheel Development Adaptive contol Air Casters Advanced Battery and Fuel Cell Development for EV Adaptive Active Phased Array Radars Collision warning system Activated Flyash As A Binder In Pavement Aerodonetics DISKBRAKES MACHINE INTERFACE Airbags & ABS Air Monitoring Advanced Quadruped Robot – BigDog Actuator systems based on Piezoelectric ceramics Acid sulphate soils/estuarine wetlands rehabilitation Aircraft Propeller Air- Augmented Rocket Advances In Capillary Fluid Modelling Aerospikes Air Pollution Control Advanced Propulsion Methods Active Front Lighting System Aircraft design Advanced Off-set printing Advanced Plastics AeroCapture

Pulse Detonation Engine Floating Solar Power Station Advances In Capillary Fluid Modelling Continuously Variable Transmission Hybrid Motorcycles Machine Vision Space Elevator Crew Exploration Vehicles Vacuum Braking System ACC-Plus(Adaptive Cruise Control+ System Micro/Meso-scale Manufacturing Magneto Abrasive Flow Machining Turbines in silicon Self-Healing Polymer Technology Variable Length Intake Manifold (VLIM) Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) Launching Space Vehicles from Moon Advanced Propulsion Methods Pseudoelasticity and Shape Memory in Metal Nanowires Quantum Chromo Dynamics MEMS In Industrial Automation Stirling engine Fluid Energy Milling Snake Well Drill Infrared Thermography New Age Tyres Shock Waves & Shock Diamonds Camless engine with elctromechanical valve actuator

Advances In Capillary Fluid Modelling Hybrid Motorcycles* Machine Vision Crew Exploration Vechicles ACC-Plus(Adaptive Crusie Control+) System Micro/Meso-scale Manufacturing Turbines in silicon Self-Healing Polymer Technology Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) Launching Space Vechicles from Moon Pseudoelasticity and Shape Memory in Metal Nanowires Quantum Chromo Dynamics MEMS In Industrial Automation Fluid Energy Milling Snake Well Drill Infrared Thermography Shock Waves & Shock Diamonds Camless engine with elctromechanical valve actuator Aircraft Egress Molecular Engineering Cordless Tools Free Form Modelling Based on N-Sided Surfaces Functional Nanocrystalline Ceramics Frictionless Compressor Technology Kalina cycle Programmable keyless entry Micromanipulating Micromachine Infrared Curing And Convection Curing Ball Piston machines Autonomous Submarines Automated Highways Pint Sized Power Plants Abrasive Blast Cleaning Air Powered Cars Magnetic Nanocoposites Electrochemical Machining (ECM) & EBM~ Space Robotics Rijke Tube Electromagnetic Bomb Cell Integration Into A Manufacturing System~ Plasma Arc welding Trends in welding Hydrogen Vehicle~ New Rolling Techniques Valvetronic Engine Technology FMS (Flexible Manufacturing Systems) Latest in hitech petrol fuel injection –GDI (Gasoline direct Injection) Underwater wind mill Microfluidics Aircraft Propeller~ Micromixers Nono Fluidics Electronic Road Pricing System~ Micro Heat Exchangers Low inertia dics clutches Electronbeam Machining~ nanobatteries Micro hydraulics Virtual Reality~ Touch trigger probes Solid carbide end mills Ocean Thermal Energy(12) DARK ROOM machining Green Manufacturing Modeling and simulation Lean Burn Spark Ignition Engine(13) Logistics and supply chain management Machine tools vibration, Noise & condition monitoring Ergonomics Safety Systems Nuclear Power Potential as Major Energy Source Energy Conversion and Management Active Electrically Controlled Suspension Special materials for high temperature applications Camless engine with elctromechanical valve actuator Perpetual Motion Machines Recent Trends in Quality Management New trends in Automobile Design Advanced Cooling Systems Fuels from Plastic Wastes Composite materials Geo-Thermal Energy Engineering Applications of Nylon 66 Intelligent manufacturing Variable Valve Timing In I.C. Engines Agile manufacturing Responsive manufacturing Air Cushion Vehicles Human Artificial organs Advances in cutting tool technology Electric Automobiles High speed Railway coaches Hydraulic railway recovery systems Drive-By Wire Systems Pendolina system for railway passenger comfort Safety features of railway rolling stock Hyperplane Fuel Cell Airplane Selective Catalytic Reduction Skid Steer Loader And Multiterrain Loader Control Of Point Of Operation Hazards Air Powered Cars CVT Pneumatics Control Systems Computer Aided Process Planning (Capp) Green Engine Sensotronic Brake Control Space Robotics F1 Track Design And Safety Thermal Barrier Coatings Biomechatronic Hand Total Productive Maintenance Design, Analysis, Fabrication And Testing Of A Composite Leaf Spring HANS Cryogenic Grinding Hydro Drive Explosive Welding Frictionless Compressor Technology