Conference Session

Instrumentation and Measurement Innovation

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dale Litwhiler, Pennsylvania State University, Berks

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

. Hands-on experience with these devices yieldssome unusual behavior (in both the students and the devices). This is the students’ firstencounter with electronic devices that are sensitive to their position on the laboratory bench.Simple apparatus are used to characterize and verify performance of the devices. This paperpresents the laboratory apparatus and software as well as examples of assignments and studentdata analyses.IntroductionAccelerometers have many practical uses in common consumer electronic devices. Microelectro-mechanical system (MEMS) manufacturing techniques have made accelerometers veryinexpensive, compact and easy to incorporate into products. Game systems such as theNintendo® Wii use accelerometers in the handheld controller

Conference Session

New Instrumentation Ideas

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Hergert, Miami University

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

AC 2010-1508: INSTRUMENTATION BASED MOBILE LABORATORIES FOR ANELECTROMECHANICAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY DISTANCEEDUCATION PROGRAMDavid Hergert, Miami University Page 15.754.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010` Instrumentation Based Mobile Laboratories for an Electromechanical Engineering Technology Distance Education ProgramIntroductionThe TAC/ABET accredited B.S. Electromechanical Engineering Technology program describedin this paper includes a distance education component that connects with ten community collegeswithin a 300 mile radius of the host institution. This paper begins with a brief overview ofdistance education lab structures. Then a

Conference Session

Instrumentation in Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Seema Khan, Sonoma State University; Farid Farahmand, Sonoma State University; Saeid Moslehpour, University of Hartford

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

lack of adequate IT support in many cases prohibit utilizing andincorporating these tools in the discipline-based classes.Another major issue with many of the existing content management educational tools is that theycannot be easily customized such that existing lectures, simulation applets, and laboratoryactivities can be utilized. For example, popular tools such as WebCT or Centra, don’t evensupport remote laboratory capabilities. In fact, to the best of our knowledge, there is nocommercially available tool that offers a unified platform to support diverse learning tools, suchas video conferencing and chatting, configurable remote laboratory, simulation modules, anddownloadable course lectures with different formats.Motivated by such

Conference Session

Instrumentation in Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David McDonald, Lake Superior State University

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

ElectricalEngineering and Mechanical Engineering Plans of Study. An overview of the course and it’splacement within a vehicle system option in electrical and mechanical engineering is outlined asa context for the data acquisition and control laboratory activities. Course instruction presentsvehicle data acquisition applications while including discussions on the operation and testing of ageneric electric vehicle drive train. An internal combustion vehicle and a vehicle chassisdynamometer are also used in the laboratory experience.A sample laboratory project and assessment discussion is presented. An assessment datasummary is also provided for the previous offering of the course along with the larger setting ofengineering professionalism data in electrical and

Conference Session

Programs Using New Instrumentation Concepts

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jerry Keska, University of Louisiana, Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

AbstractThis paper reports the results of the development and implementation of hands-on laboratoryexperiments in a newly developed laboratory for a two-semester undergraduate course inInstrumentation and Measurements in Mechanical Engineering. The course, designed for theundergraduate junior level, was a two-semester course for a total of four credits, and it took placein conjunction with a one-hour classroom lecture in mechanical engineering. A modified versionof this approach, however, can easily be used at all levels of the mechanical engineeringcurriculum. An important component to the process involves the utilization of a two-semesterlong, open-ended project (OEP) that required the students to come up with creative approaches toproblem solving

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Measurement Innovation

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gary Mullett, Springfield Technical Community College

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

thatthese programs should be based in electrical and electronics fundamentals but would need coursecomponents covering the fields of electrical power distribution, modern instrumentation andcontrol, sensors, communications, and networking technology. Hopefully, industry will partnerwith educational institutions to provide direction to these efforts and hopefully this will happensooner than later. To date, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded a small Course,Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) project titled “Sensor Network EducationProject”9 that has produced some generic curriculum and laboratory experiments in the sensornetworks area at the two-year college level. This project utilizes a specially configured sensornetwork

Conference Session

New Instrumentation Ideas

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Abhijit Nagchaudhuri, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore; Madhumi Mitra, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore; Xavier Henry, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore; Dayvon Green, Morgan State University

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

mechatronic systems, precision agriculture and remote sensing. Dr. Nagchaudhuri received his bachelors degree from Jadavpur University in Calcutta, India with a honors in Mechanical Engineering in 1983, thereafter, he worked in a multinational industry for 4 years before joining Tulane University as a graduate student in the fall of 1987. He received his M.S. degree from Tulane University in 1989 and Ph.D. degree from Duke University in 1992.Madhumi Mitra, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore Madhumi Mitra is a Associate Professor in the Department of Natural Science at University of Maryland Eastern Shore(UMES). She serves as the Director of Marine Ecology and Paleontology Laboratory and the

Conference Session

Instrumentation in Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Asad Yousuf, Savannah State University; Mohamad Mustafa, Savannah State University; Alberto De La Cruz, Savannah State University

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

inquiry, knowledge building, and resolution. Investigations may be design, decision-making, problem-finding, problem-solving, discovery, or model-building processes.(4) Projects are student-driven to some significant degree. PBL projects are not, in the main, teacher-led, scripted, or packaged. Laboratory exercises and instructional booklets are not examples of PBL, even if they are problem-focused and central to the curriculum. PBL projects do not end up at a predetermined outcome or take predetermined paths. PBL projects incorporate a good deal more student autonomy, choice, unsupervised work time, and responsibility than traditional instruction and traditional projects.(5) Projects are realistic, not school-like. Projects

Conference Session

Programs Using New Instrumentation Concepts

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Layton, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Thomas Adams, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

AC 2010-1626: ON TEACHING THE OPERATING PRINCIPLES OFPIEZORESISTIVE SENSORSRichard Layton, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Richard A. Layton is the Director of the Center for the Practice and Scholarship of Education (CPSE) and an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He earned a B.S. in Engineering from California State University, Northridge, and received his M.S. and Ph.D., both in Mechanical Engineering, from the University of Washington, Seattle. His areas of scholarship include student team management, assessment, education, and remediation, undergraduate engineering laboratory reform focused on student learning, data analysis