Conference Session

Effective Projects and Experiments in Instrumentation and Control

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chao-Chia Cheng, National Central University; Lee king-lien, Department of Electro-Optic Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan 542, R.O.C.; Chih-Hsiung Ku, National Dong Hwa University

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

one important optical property of materials. For liquid materials, it alsoprovides information to analyze liquids or mixed solutions, such as chemicals, foodstuffs, drinks,and pharmaceuticals. In general, the instruments to characterize the index of liquids weredeveloped according to the fundamental optical properties such as total internal reflection (Abberefractrometer)1, diffraction (grating)2, interference3, or deflection4,5, etc.Minimum deviation method (MDM) is one well-known and well-developed index measurementmethod since 1930.6-9 In this method, the index was deduced by the “minimum deviation angle”of the probe beam when it passed through the material under test. Such a material can be solid orliquid, but it has to be shaped as a

Conference Session

Great Ideas for Projects that Teach Instrumentation

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David R. Loker, Pennsylvania State University, Erie; Robert Weissbach, Pennsylvania State University, Erie; Adam Henry, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

to aplastic spindle for driving the conveyor belt, a freely rotating plastic spindle for the opposite side ofthe conveyor belt, and two Plexiglas sides. Three IR reflective sensors (one in the middle and one ateach end) are used to detect the position of an object on the conveyor. The objective of the projectis for students to design the software (using LabVIEW) and hardware interfacing electronics for theconveyor control system such that it mimics the operation of a conveyor with beginning, stamping,and ending stations. Students are required to use a National Instruments data acquisition systemwith analog I/O and digital I/O capability. This paper provides a detailed listing of the engineeringrequirements for the system, the functional test