Conference Session

Great Ideas for Projects that Teach Instrumentation

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Keller, University of Tulsa; Jeremy S. Daily, University of Tulsa

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

programming of a simple control system in LabVIEW with the goal of achievingthe highest swing height for a given initial pressure. This is the capstone lab of the course andcomes after 4 dedicated LabVIEW programing labs and two previous, directed labs usingLabVIEW to interface with data acquisition (DAQ) hardware. Some previous familiarity with thepractical aspects of DAQ implementation is critical to the success of this experiment.Description of the Lab ExerciseThe goal of this is lab is two-fold.1) Determine the thrust characteristicsof a simple, pendulum attached,pressurized air rocket and 2) constructa simple control system that attains thehighest possible swing height for a giveninitial rocket pressure. This experimentintroduces the students to