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Session 1566

Multidisciplinary Design of a Reporting System Utilizing Pager Technology

Samuel Owusu-Ofori, Ali Abul-Fadl North Carolina A&T State University

Abstract

This is an industrial capstone design project involving the design of an electromechanical transfer system capable of winding and unwinding a material from one spool to another. The distance between the spools is provided. It is also specified that the material be under constant tension during the operation; the linear speed of the material be user-controlled during run time; and the system be able to operable in the either clockwise or counterclockwise direction. It is also required to design a monitoring system using microprocessor technology to periodically report the operating status, operating speed, operating time, and operating direction to an alphanumeric pager. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the problem, the electrical engineering and mechanical engineering departments formed an interdisciplinary student design team to participate in the project. The students designed, produced and tested the system to fulfill the major requirements. The paper presents the design and more importantly the lessons learned and the benefits derived this experience.

I. Introduction

Each department in the College of Engineering at North Carolina A&T State University has a capstone design project course requirement. This project seeks to engage mechanical and electrical engineering seniors to work in a multidisciplinary team. The electrical engineering department offers a two-sequence capstone design projects course for its students. Design teams are formed. However teams are formed within the discipline and there is no cross interaction with students from other disciplines. Each design team is assigned a project selected from a list of topics suggested by industry and faculty. They design, develop specifications, implement the design, build a working prototype, estimate costs and develop a formal report all within the confines of each discipline. Unfortunately, most of these projects involve mechanical components, which the typical electrical engineering student is not capable of analyzing

The mechanical engineering department has had a different senior design philosophy for sometime. It considered the two major stems of the program, namely, the thermal and mechanical system. Students take a 3-hour thermal systems design course with the emphasis on fluids and energy system design to meet system performance and economic constraints. Then there is a 3-hour mechanical system capstone design course. Comprehensive group projects are assigned involving the design of engineering systems aimed to apply the

Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Education

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Abul-Fadl, A., & Owusu-Ofori, S. (2001, June), Multidisciplinary Design Of A Reporting System Utilizing Pager Technology Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9575