Engineering Fundamentals, Analysis, and Design
Fall 2004
Class Activity Journal
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Team 1 |
Team 2 |
Team 3 |
Team 4 |
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Geno |
Santosh |
Surendra |
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Mahesh |
Jason |
Matt |
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Birendra |
Juan |
Christie |
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Jesse |
Tyler |
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Why Study Engineering?
List of items describing what engineering is:
List of skills particular teams would like to concentrate on this semester
Team 1 – Use class time more wisely by focusing more on the Prof’s lectures, staying busy through working ahead on things if we finish class tasks early, and participating in order to help ourselves learn the information better.
Team 2 – Focus on Productivity: Do not get sidetracked on the small things, be a more active learner, and have a clear destination. Engineering is awesome.
Team 3 – Learn the rules of the game by listening to tips and advice, working ahead on assignments so we can ask questions and read the assignments before we work on them. We also want to surround ourselves with the right people by choosing to be with people that want to succeed, and people that share the same goals and are willing to spend time and be flexible.
Why we succeed
List of reasons behind successes and failures in our personal pasts
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Successes |
Failures |
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Made it a priority |
Lack of drive |
|
Set mind to it |
Laziness |
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Family Support |
Procrastination/Distraction (party’n) |
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Hard Work – Passion |
Lack of Prioritizing |
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Determination |
Excuses |
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Devotion |
Negligence |
Make personal schedules for planning sufficient time to succeed in classes
Peer assessment performed:
Some comments from this year’s class
Insight: most students had similar time commitments (busy)
some comments from last year’s class
Improvement: Divide out each class separately to help prioritize
Insight: Need to schedule thinking/idea time
Insight: Don’t underestimate non-educational commitments
Improvement: Can break up types of class activity to help look for inefficiency
Strength: Use multiple types of thinking in time organization to see different aspects of
planning your week
Types of Engineers
with strengths/requirements to be good in that area
Some results from this year’s class:
Design Engineer: Imagination, creativity, flexible, good planner, and very detailed/explicit.
Test Engineer: Ability to criticize components of products, knowledge of what is being tested,
extremely up-to-date w/products he/she is testing.
Experimental engineer:
Enjoy hands on activities
Be able to visualize possible outcomes
Enjoy not being stuck in desk
Some results from last year’s class
Analytical -
Experimental – mechanical skills
Design – pay attention to detail, good idea generator, see big picture
Research -
Test – in-depth knowledge of tools used, build on past improvements
Consulting – broad experience
Management – economic skills, people skills
Professor – clear communication
Discussion on
Engineering Statistics
Roughly 1% of the US population could be considered an “engineer”
Only 3% of the engineering workforce is replaced each year
The slowed economy does not change long term significant growth predictions
Discussion on The
Engineering Team
Summary of quotes from 2003 class:
Scientists gather the new information that engineers use to design new products and services which the technologists implement.
Scientists study, engineers design, and technologists build. (expand this?)
Scientists research to understand, engineers endeavor to design, and technologists identify appropriate implementation.
MS Word – Useful Tools
Practiced Items on Sheet in Class
Ethics – Importance and Codes
Recognize potential humanitarian problem before they come to act.
Find out if something will cause a potential religious conflict or not.
Taking into consideration other people’s values
Being open with your own beliefs
Ethics can help protect the environment and conserve it.
Engineering ethics help improve life.
Results from 2003 class are below:
It is a guide to better ethical decision making.
It gives a framework to work within.
It may not be a personal value.
Ethics can protect one as an employer/employee.
Provide insight when used.
It makes sequences of decisions run more smoothly if followed accordingly.
It helps to make good decisions by pointing out bad choices.
MS-Word – Templates and Wizards
Teams go through process of revising/improving instructions from last year’s teams.
Team 3
Steps
to writing a memo using Microsoft Word
1. Go to Start, under All Programs, click
Microsoft Word.
2. Under the File menu, click New. On the
right hand side of the screen under. New From Templates, click General
Templates.
3. Select the Memos title bar.
4. Then select Memo Wizard then click OK.
5. Follow instruction given by Memo Wizard,
entering style, title, heading fields, recipients, closing fields, and header/
footer.
6. Next, include your memo content.
Team 1: Specific Instructions for one type of template
Professional Letter Template
Step 1 – Open MS Word
Step 2 – Click on File and select New
Step 3 - Under New from Templates in the navigation bar
Click on general templates
Step 4 - Click on “Letters and Faxes” tab in pop-up windows
Step 5 - Click on Professional Letter icon
Step 6 - Click on OK (or double click on icon)
Step 7 - Fill out all areas with desired information
We put in Letters and Faxes in Step 4 instead of Memos. The instructions on how to use
memo were good and we understood them well.
Team
2
2003
Version
Team #2 (Combined Wizard/Template Instructions)
1. open a new document
2. on the task pane click on general templates.
3. choose templates button at the right bottom
4. choose a tab corresponding with the type of
document you want
5. choose any pre-existing templates or
6. choose wizard for the type of document you
want
7. follow the steps to customize for exactly what
you want
8. fill out the different sections of the
template you have chosen
Revised 2004 Version
Group 2 Microsoft Word: Wizard Memo and Template Instructions
1. Click on the Windows Start button
2. Go to All Programs and click on Microsoft Word
3. Go to File menu bar and click on New Document
4. On the right hand side of screen go to New
from template
5. Click on General Templates
6. Click on Memo tab
7. Click on Memo Wizard and select the template
key and press OK
8. Fill out the Memo Wizard form according to
your preference
9. Work on your memo
Engineering Analysis
How would you use analysis in designing the following items:
Results from last year
Tips for using units in calculations
1. Write units with every number that has one associated with it
2. Always include units when “plugging in” to equations
3. Don’t convert in your head. Show your work.
4. Wait until algebra is finished before plugging in numbers with their units and doing conversions.
5. Square the number square the unit, or cube the number cube the unit
Analysis Methodology Comments for Quality HW
Top 4 points for what you need to do to make a quality engineering analysis for your homework assignments.
Understand the problem
Clearly show your work
Make diagrams
Double check and compare your work
Make data easy to understand
Have detailed organization of your layout
Show work/equations
Show the steps on how you got there
Calculate in an efficient way
Write down the givens
Discussing your assumptions
Neatness
Egg Drop Test Results
Stages of team performance: You are all doing quite fine.
1. forming
2. storming
3. norming
4. performing
5. success
% of original mass remaining and time it took and could you eat them
Team
1 20% 30min yes, but a little burned microwave on paper towel 10min at a time
2 26% 60min yes, they are OK but tough heat gun with wire mesh in glass dish
3 9% 15 min No, caramelized and pasty foil in frying pan on stove burner on high
Bridge testing
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Team |
Team 1 |
Team 2 |
Team 3 |
|
Mass held |
Bucket String ball 6*100g 2*50g |
Everything we had didn’t break it, but Nearly Matt’s entire mass did |
Bucket String Ball 1000g 10*500g 17*200g 17*100g 4*50g 453.59g 250g 12.03kg + bucket + ball |
|
Bridge mass |
1.23 oz |
5.1oz |
1.94 oz |
|
Bridge efficiency |
<1kg/oz |
~13kg/oz |
~6kg/oz |
Industrial Engineering Ideas for improving bullet production
Extra shift
Maintenance during breaks – automatic inspection BEFORE it breaks
Feedback loop for employees to report problems
Teaching maintenance to operators
Supervisors step in at break time
Step breaks one after another so that an employee can fill in at breaks
Cost analysis on replacing machine with new one
Redundant machine to take over when one breaks
Consider maintenance required to raise performance of machine
Electric Motor Design Results
Team1 –
Results
· motor not operational
· reed switch to control current did not appear to go on/off at the proper intervals for continuous rotation
· used parallel circuit on electromagnet to maximize power
· used CPU cooling fan on wooden axel of 1 inch diameter
Lessons Learned
· Find people that you can work with that have knowledge in the area already. It is easy for a person to explain something rather than the internet.
· We should be able to give more time.
· We should be able to test more prototypes.
· Experiment with all options we had.
Team2 –
Results
· 2.45 seconds to fill bag
· took apart remote control car motor and reverse engineered it to suit your design goal
· axel – old screw driver
· commutator – copper wire
· brushes – from an alternator
· stator – home depot flat iron plate with a hole drilled
· 3 electromagnets wound from coated copper wire
Lessons Learned
· Understand phenomenon involved
· Take into account working designs
· Be patient, first cut probably won’t work, go back and figure out fatal errors
· Team members may have applicable practical knowledge for design and construction
· Start early
· Work together, share knowledge/ ideas
Team3 –
Results
· motor not operational
· ABS pipe as housing and tried building inside it (difficult)
· CPU fan
· Tried using speaker magnet but found its circular geometry was a problem since electromagnets were always looking at the same pole
· Wrapped 10 sets of wire on 3/8 inch wood dowel for electromagnets. Originally had wires wrapped 5 in each direction. That cancelled out the magnetic effects and no magnetic field was observed when it was activated. Could enhance strength by wrapping on an iron bearing dowel.
Lessons Learned
· Research more than you think you need to
· Draw a clear/specific design before you begin
· Consider and compare all teammate’s ideas
· Don’t underestimate the construction time
Manufacturing Race – M&M Electrical Circuit
Team 1 – 33 min 30 sec, 5 incomplete but 2/3 done each, 4 of the finished ones had string not quite touching the M&Ms
Team 2 – 19min 20 sec, 6 had string not quite touching the M&Ms
Team 3 – 24 min 40 sec, 9 had string not quite touching the M&Ms and one of those was missing two wire segments
Reasons it takes so long
Sticky fingers!!!
Precision measuring
Thin string hard to handle
Lack of quality control
Question on how to cut the string at components
Glued along entire string length
How could you speed this up?
Glue dots, not lines
Cut all lengths at beginning using both people
Cut multiple string segments at once (make them slighty short of 4 or 2 in)
Waste wire by using overlap at corners (will also help keep fingers clean)