Internet of Things: Remote Integrated Laboratory Activities in Green Energy Manufacturing and Energy Management Learning Modules: Heat Exchangers Efficiency, the Design Perspective

Irina Nicoleta Ciobanescu Husanu; Richard Chiou

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Conference: 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Publication Date: June 24, 2017
Start Date: June 24, 2017
End Date: June 28, 2017
Conference Session: Integrated Activities for Green Energy and Manufacturing Education
Tagged Division: Manufacturing
Page Count: 13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--28574
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/28574
Download Count: 614

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Paper Authors

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Irina Nicoleta Ciobanescu Husanu Drexel University (Tech.)

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Irina Ciobanescu Husanu, Ph. D. is Assistant Clinical Professor with Drexel University, Engineering Technology program. Her area of expertise is in thermo-fluid sciences with applications in micro-combustion, fuel cells, green fuels and plasma assisted combustion. She has prior industrial experience in aerospace engineering that encompasses both theoretical analysis and experimental investigations such as designing and testing of propulsion systems including design and development of pilot testing facility, mechanical instrumentation, and industrial applications of aircraft engines. Also, in the past 10 years she gained experience in teaching ME and ET courses in both quality control and quality assurance areas as well as in thermal-fluid, energy conversion and mechanical areas from various levels of instruction and addressed to a broad spectrum of students, from freshmen to seniors, from high school graduates to adult learners. She also has extended experience in curriculum development. Dr Husanu developed laboratory activities for Measurement and Instrumentation course as well as for quality control undergraduate and graduate courses in ET Masters program. Also, she introduced the first experiential activity for Applied Mechanics courses. She is coordinator and advisor for capstone projects for Engineering Technology.

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Richard Chiou Drexel University (Eng. & Eng. Tech.)

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Dr. Richard Chiou is Associate Professor within the Engineering Technology Department at Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA. He received his Ph.D. degree in the G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. His educational background is in manufacturing with an emphasis on mechatronics. In addition to his many years of industrial experience, he has taught many different engineering and technology courses at undergraduate and graduate levels. His tremendous research experience in manufacturing includes environmentally conscious manufacturing, Internet based robotics, and Web based quality. In the past years, he has been involved in sustainable manufacturing for maximizing energy and material recovery while minimizing environmental impact.

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Abstract

Internet of Things: Remote Integrated Laboratory Activities in Green Energy Manufacturing and Energy Management Learning Modules: Heat Exchangers Efficiency, the Design Perspective

Abstract

The global context regarding energy and sustainability evolved rapidly and what we considered to be emerging technologies less than a decade ago became mature technologies nowadays, already implemented at large scales in industry. Moreover, the constant preoccupation regarding green energy manufacturing as a method of reducing the carbon footprint generated not only the path towards new technologies but also to new educational programs and trends. Following these trends and industry demands, the engineering curricula evolved to include more and more courses in the area of energy conversion, green energy and sustainability. However, several “traditional” courses remained more or less the same, mostly in the area of thermal-fluid areas. While there have been reported several attempts to improve these courses by including project-based learning activities, it was concluded that such projects involving industry-like scenarios where lengthy and costly, and eventually were stopped or replaced with traditional lectures. Nonetheless, these studies and attempts had a significant contribution in underlying the importance of practical approaches in conveying knowledge to students in heat transfer and thermodynamics courses, which traditionally are dry-lecture based. Moreover, the contribution of thermal-fluids energy systems performance in global sustainable development is substantial but was not emphasized until recently. Therefore it may not be reflected in the already developed learning modules for these traditional courses.

In this paper we aim to present our efforts in re-developing our thermal-fluid related courses in Engineering Technology curricula by including several modules involving industry-like scenarios as laboratory activities performed remotely (through Internet), using four heat exchanger configurations and thermography (using a thermal imaging camera) in teaching fundamental principles and notions of heat transfer as well as teaching more complex aspects of heat exchanger design and performance. The scenarios were inspired from manufacturing industry related energy management applications, focusing on giving the students a more global and interdisciplinary understanding of the applications of the imparted knowledge. This lab-lecture integrated approach, with ”in-lecture” Internet based remotely performed activities, complemented by hands-on laboratory activities, significantly improved the understanding, knowledge retention and also it enhanced student motivation. Students were required to compare results obtained through various methods including thermography to discuss and assess system efficiency and design parameters.

As traditional learning methods are time consuming and sometimes impractical, learning through the Internet will significantly increase the access to modern learning tools for all students including minorities and disadvantaged student communities, due to its affordability and ease of use, without curtailing the quality of knowledge conveyed. In recent years due to the Internet advances, the use of virtual and remote distance experiments in engineering education has been well accepted in many different education areas and at many universities. This paper presents an Internet-based remote platform conceived for the study of the thermal energy conversion systems, as well as monitoring using virtual instrumentation. This platform will provide students with enhanced tools of study. The platform was developed as a part of a DOED funded educational research.

Citation
Format

Ciobanescu Husanu, I. N., & Chiou, R. (2017, June), Internet of Things: Remote Integrated Laboratory Activities in Green Energy Manufacturing and Energy Management Learning Modules: Heat Exchangers Efficiency, the Design Perspective Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--28574

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Internet of Things: Remote Integrated Laboratory Activities in Green Energy Manufacturing and Energy Management Learning Modules: Heat Exchangers Efficiency, the Design Perspective

Abstract

The global context regarding energy and sustainability evolved rapidly and what we considered to be emerging technologies less than a decade ago became mature technologies nowadays, already implemented at large scales in industry. Moreover, the constant preoccupation regarding green energy manufacturing as a method of reducing the carbon footprint generated not only the path towards new technologies but also to new educational programs and trends. Following these trends and industry demands, the engineering curricula evolved to include more and more courses in the area of energy conversion, green energy and sustainability. However, several “traditional” courses remained more or less the same, mostly in the area of thermal-fluid areas. While there have been reported several attempts to improve these courses by including project-based learning activities, it was concluded that such projects involving industry-like scenarios where lengthy and costly, and eventually were stopped or replaced with traditional lectures. Nonetheless, these studies and attempts had a significant contribution in underlying the importance of practical approaches in conveying knowledge to students in heat transfer and thermodynamics courses, which traditionally are dry-lecture based. Moreover, the contribution of thermal-fluids energy systems performance in global sustainable development is substantial but was not emphasized until recently. Therefore it may not be reflected in the already developed learning modules for these traditional courses.

In this paper we aim to present our efforts in re-developing our thermal-fluid related courses in Engineering Technology curricula by including several modules involving industry-like scenarios as laboratory activities performed remotely (through Internet), using four heat exchanger configurations and thermography (using a thermal imaging camera) in teaching fundamental principles and notions of heat transfer as well as teaching more complex aspects of heat exchanger design and performance. The scenarios were inspired from manufacturing industry related energy management applications, focusing on giving the students a more global and interdisciplinary understanding of the applications of the imparted knowledge. This lab-lecture integrated approach, with ”in-lecture” Internet based remotely performed activities, complemented by hands-on laboratory activities, significantly improved the understanding, knowledge retention and also it enhanced student motivation. Students were required to compare results obtained through various methods including thermography to discuss and assess system efficiency and design parameters.

As traditional learning methods are time consuming and sometimes impractical, learning through the Internet will significantly increase the access to modern learning tools for all students including minorities and disadvantaged student communities, due to its affordability and ease of use, without curtailing the quality of knowledge conveyed. In recent years due to the Internet advances, the use of virtual and remote distance experiments in engineering education has been well accepted in many different education areas and at many universities. This paper presents an Internet-based remote platform conceived for the study of the thermal energy conversion systems, as well as monitoring using virtual instrumentation. This platform will provide students with enhanced tools of study. The platform was developed as a part of a DOED funded educational research.


AU  - Irina Nicoleta Ciobanescu Husanu
AU  - Richard Chiou
CY  - Columbus, Ohio
DA  - 2017/06/24
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Internet of Things: Remote Integrated Laboratory Activities in Green Energy Manufacturing and Energy Management Learning Modules: Heat Exchangers Efficiency, the Design Perspective
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/28574
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--28574
ER  -