Asee peer logo

Improving Student Motivation Using a 3D Printed Heat Exchanger Project

Download Paper |

Conference

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual Conference

Publication Date

July 26, 2021

Start Date

July 26, 2021

End Date

July 19, 2022

Conference Session

Thermal Fluid Experiment Related

Tagged Division

Mechanical Engineering

Page Count

18

DOI

10.18260/1-2--37311

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/37311

Download Count

396

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

James Canino Trine University

visit author page

Jamie Canino is currently a professor at Trine University where he focuses on undergraduate education research. He teaches in the thermal-fluids and aerospace engineering fields and can be reached at caninoj@trine.edu.

visit author page

author page

Jon Koch Trine University

Download Paper |

Abstract

The importance of hands-on experiences in engineering education has been recognized for decades. Yet creating and running an effective hands-on experience, especially in the thermal sciences is challenging. This paper will outline a project that asks students to design, build, and test a heat exchanger. In addition to being hands-on, the project incorporates two high-impact educational practices. First, the project is collaborative as groups of 4-5 students work on designing their heat exchangers. Second, the project serves a sort of “capstone project” for the thermal science classes by integrating topics from thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. While attempts to incorporate designing, building, and testing of heat exchangers as part of a mechanical engineering curriculum are not new, these projects presented challenges with manufacturing in addition to the thermal design. With the invention of thermally conductive plastics that can be used with a 3D printer, students can have a hands-on thermal science design experience within an 8-week time frame. In order to facilitate testing of the designs, a heat exchanger testing apparatus was built by previous students as their capstone design experience. An outline of the necessary components for the heat exchanger testing apparatus, the 3D printer, and the printer material is presented. The assignment and a few examples of student-generated designs are provided. Finally, the results of a survey that seeks to understand how the project affected the student’s motivation and self-assessed learning are discussed.

Canino, J., & Koch, J. (2021, July), Improving Student Motivation Using a 3D Printed Heat Exchanger Project Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37311

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2021 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015