Conference Session

Project-based Education in Energy Courses

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig Somerton, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

. Page 15.140.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010An Appropriate Technology Project: A Solar Powered Vaccine RefrigeratorIntroductionNearly half of the vaccines in developing countries go to waste every year due totemperature spoilage, according to the World Health Organization. Currenttransportation and storage methods in remote regions rely on ice packs that lastjust a few days. In order to maintain the optimal temperature range of 2 to 8° Cfor vaccine preservation, these regions need reliable long-term refrigeration whereelectricity is not available.To address this problem, a capstone design team developed an affordable, robustrefrigerator that operates with energy from the sun. The vaccine refrigerator wasdesigned with

Conference Session

Sustainable Energy Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas Shepard, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Camille George, University of St. Thomas

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

Page 15.1073.3The project was open-ended and the performance of the design was minimally weightedin the grading to allow students to be as creative as they liked. The instructor wasavailable for questions and to help recognize potential issues but refrained from offeringsuggestions during the design phase. As the students had yet to take a heat transfercourse the project was not intended to be a capstone, but did provide a qualitativeintroduction to the different forms of heat transfer and how they occur. The finalproducts can be seen in Figure 1; note the use of shaded glasses for protection from thebrightness of the collected and focused light. Figure 1. Solar cookers in actionUpon completion, the solar cookers

Conference Session

Curricular Developments in Energy Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jaby Mohammed, The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi; Sana Nawaz, Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne; Reynaldo Pablo, Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

offered every year in spring.Currently the instructoris of the view “After taking this course a student should be able to take the LEED APAccreditation Exam with very little preparation of his own, the only two reasons for him nottaking the exam can be money or being tired of school”To further strengthening the knowledge of students towards LEED rating system, some practicalwork experience was needed. So the instructor decided to modify one of the existing courses andmaking it as a Group work Project course in which all students had to work on one real timeproject which is trying to achieve LEED Certification. The modified course was introduced as“Senior Capstone I”. Practically looking at the LEED Rating system greatly helped students inbetter

Conference Session

Energy Education and Industry Needs

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jai Agrawal, Purdue University, Calumet; Omer Farook, Purdue University, Calumet; Chandra Sekhar, Purdue University, Calumet

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

currentmethods of conversion to useful forms. In the second component, the students are required toread, and critically analyze two current research papers in the related field of renewable energytechnology. In the third component, students prepare design of projects that are targeted to needsof the local community. Project design is the capstone activity involving literature search andapplication of multiple learned concepts and techniques. The paper will share the experiences ofoffering two of these courses at Purdue University Calumet.The paper also shows that how classroom learning can be enhanced by making available tolearners the classroom lecture in audio /video/pdf format from anywhere and at all times ondemand. This technology, called the

Conference Session

Curricular Developments in Energy Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kenneth Van Treuren, Baylor University; Ian Gravagne, Baylor University

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

AC 2010-851: DEVELOPING AN ENERGY LITERACY CURRICULUM FORINCOMING FRESHMEN AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY: LESSONS LEARNEDKenneth Van Treuren, Baylor University Dr. Van Treuren is a professor on the faculty in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Baylor University. He teaches the capstone Mechanical Engineering Laboratory course as well as courses in heat transfer, aerospace engineering, gas turbines, fluid mechanics, and wind power. His research interests include energy education and gas turbine heat transfer. He can be contacted at Kenneth_Van_Treuren@baylor.edu.Ian Gravagne, Baylor University Dr. Gravagne is an assistant professor with the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at

Conference Session

Learning about Power Systems and Power Consumption

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Justin Reed, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Daniel Ludois, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Maria Hamlin, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

power electronics orother power conversion course could improve student engagement throughout the course ascompared to more conventional sample applications. Furthermore, it will be shown that theknowledge base necessary to build an SSTC spans far more technical areas than required in mostconventional power electronics projects, and therefore justifies the SSTC as practical classroomexercise. The hypotheses presented in this paper are investigated and further evaluated with asurvey to gauge student interest in enrolling in a power electronics course based on a variety ofsample applications, including the SSTC. (a) (b) (c

Conference Session

Energy Education and Industry Needs

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Darrell Wallace, Youngstown State University; Brian Vuksanovich, Youngstown State University; Michael Costarell, Youngstown State University

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

their field ofexpertise. This can only be achieved by breaking down walls of isolation between specialtieswithin engineering disciplines and with other relevant disciplines such as business andmarketing.ConclusionsThe difference in focus between engineering and technology programs has grown increasinglywide as they attempt to differentiate themselves. As engineering programs become increasinglybased on engineering science, the practical component of traditional engineering curricula growsweaker. In many programs it is reduced to a single senior capstone project conducted withclassmates of the same discipline. Throughout all levels of the system, both industry andacademia, over-specialization has created an environment in which cross