KUMAR KUNAL Ph No.: 7135044627.E-mail: [email protected] Academic Qualifications • Pursuing Masters in Mechanical Engineering at University of Houston Current GPA: 4.0/4.0 • Graduated in May 2006 with B.Tech in Mechanical engineering from IIT Guwahati CPI (Cumulative Performance Index): 8.24 / 10 B.Tech Project Title – Modeling and Shape Optimization of Flexible Manipulator Proposed Work – The project had two main aspects- a) Numerical Modeling of the Manipulator to study its Dynamic behavior. b) Shape optimization of the Manipulator to improve the system performance. For the modeling purpose various numerical methods were explored. Mesh free method (MLPG) was tried out first but it was too time consuming. Finally FEM with a new type of shape functions were implemented for the modeling purpose. For Optimization purpose Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) was used. The manipulator was discritized into elements; the area of each was taken as the decision variable. We obtained profiles for the Manipulator, which showed a marked improvement in the system behavior. Guide : Dr. U.S.Dixit, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Guwhati Duration: August 2005 – April 2006 Computer Skills • Programming language : C • Software Knowledge : Matlab, MS Office, Adams, Solid Edge Work Experience • Summer Intern, Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bangalore. Work Summary - I worked on the design of a novel sun tracking system for solar power generation. In most of the traditional design, the receiver is attached to the concentrator. This is disadvantageous in the case of heavy receivers. I proposed a novel design of sun trackers with fixed receivers. The work was presented as a paper in the National Conference on Machines and Mechanisms (NACOM) 2005. Guide : Prof. Ashitava Ghosal, Dept of Mechanical Engineering, IISC Bangalore Duration : May 2005 – July 2005 Publications / Conference Presentations • Aviral Shrot, Kumar Kunal, Ashitava Ghosal, "Design of a novel sun tracking system." Presented as a Paper at The National Conference of Machines and Mechanisms NACOM held at IIT Guwahati (December 2005). Other Projects Done • Intelligent 3-D packaging The project aimed at finding an optimum arrangement of 3D objects in a constrained volume to attain some desired objectives. There are many problems in industry which require optimal arrangement of objects in space. This is done mostly manually by engineers who play out with different configuration in the design space. The project aimed at automating this packaging process. The project had two main considerations – a proper optimization algorithm and an algorithm to check the interference of solids. Octree representation was used as solid representation scheme and an algorithm was developed using this scheme to check the interference. For Optimization Simulated Annealing technique was used. Guide: Dr G.Saravana Kumar, IIT Guwahati • Design of an Autonomous Robot This was my first independent project which I did as a part of organizing team of robotics competition in our annual technical festival, Techniche 2004. It was a visual feed back problem which required the robot to locate a ball and hit it to a goal. A web-cam fixed at the top of the arena captured images at regular intervals. The image was processed to locate the ball and the robot. Accordingly the robot was instructed to move. The robot motion was controlled using digital outputs at the printer port of computer. All codes for image processing and motion control were developed in C. • Study of whirling of shaft The project involved the study of dynamic behavior of rotating shafts under different boundary conditions. Codes were developed in MATLAB which gave the shape function and the critical speed for different modes under different boundary conditions. Guide: Dr. S.K. Dwivedy, IIT Guwahati • Design of an Angle measuring instrument This work was done as term project in the Mechanical Measurement course. The change in the resistance of a rotary potentiometer with angle was used as basic principle for the instrument. A data acquisition circuit was developed for reading the voltage through a PC. A software was developed in C which gave the angle corresponding to different voltage. Guide: Dr. P.K.Mahanta, IIT Guwahati. • Animation software for studying the kinematics of different mechanism The application was programmed in Turbo C and was made for Windows Guide: Prof. A. D. Sahasrabudhe, IIT Guwahati. Seminars • Studied and presented a seminar on "Deformational Analysis in Cold Rolling" under the supervision of Dr. S. K. Pal, IIT Kharagpur. •. Studied and presented a seminar on “Use of passive elements in IC engines to improve the performance of the engine” under the supervision of Dr. S.K. Dwivedy, IIT Guwahati Achievements and Extra-Curricular Activities . • Organized the choreography event in Alcheringa 2005(IIT Guwahati Spring Festival) • Organized Autonomous Robotrix event in Techniche 2005, IIT Guwahati technical festival. Hobbies Playing cricket, reading books, chatting .