Engineering Fundamentals, Analysis, and Design

Fall 2003

Class Activity Journal

 

Week1 – General Engineering

 

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

 

Team Formation

Team 1

Team 2

Team 3

Jacob Leister

Chris Huff

Austin Zinsu

Jeremy Bass

Mary Evbuomwan

Lee Sanford

Osa Evbuomwan

Young Kim

Robert Nickel

 

Nick Moore

 

 

 

Why Study Engineering? 

 

List of items describing what engineering is:

  • beneficial (to society)
  • profitable
  • evolving
  • beautiful
  • growth (economic, personal, etc)
  • omnipresent

 

Engineering Student Success

 

List if skills particular teams would like to concentrate on this semester

            Team 1 – Will surround themselves with the right people by

                                    befriending classmates in appropriate classes

                                    spending free time with supportive people outside your major

                                    joining/enquiring about clubs in local area

                                    seeking out local engineers for growth/employment opportunities

 

            Team 2 – Will achieve high level of success in using class/lab time wisely by

                                    taking good quality, complete notes

                                    coming to class fully prepared

                                    keep learning goals in mind for each class

                                    reminding selves of main focus frequently

 

            Team 3 – Will significantly increase level of commitment to success by

                                    writing out short and long term learning objectives

                                    keeping focused on goals/objectives through frequent review

                                    keeping a positive attitude and noting personal successes


Thursday, August 28, 2003

 

Why we succeed

 

List of reasons behind successes and failures in our personal pasts

Successes

Failures

Enjoying the activity you are trying to succeed in

Lack of desire/motivation

Prior preparation/planning

Procrastination/no perseverance

Not accepting the possibility of failure

Frustration/insufficient progress

Investing adequate time

Lacking prerequisite skills

Focus

Lack of interest

Resilience/overcoming minor setbacks

 

Committment

 

 

Make personal schedules for planning sufficient time to succeed in classes

Peer assessment performed:  some comments

            Divide out each class separately

            Schedule thinking/idea time

            Don’t underestimate non-educational commitments

            Can break up types of class activity

            Use multiple types of thinking in time organization

 

Types of Engineers with strengths/requirements to be good in that area

            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

           


Tuesday, September 02, 2003

 

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

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

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.

 

Ethics – Types of Ethical Issues Appearing in Case Studies from book

Intel Pentium Chip – Conflict of interest due to personal investment.

Runway Concrete at Denver Airport – Conflict of interest due to personal investment.

Competitive Bidding at Paradyne – Computer Ethics and Conflict of interests

Citicorp Center Case – Conflict of Interest

Sealed Beam Headlight Case – Proprietary Information Case and conflict of interest

 

MS-Word – Templates and Wizards

Teams go through process of

               Finding where Templates/Wizards are in MS Word

               Exploring how to use them and customize them to differing needs/tastes

                        Pay special attention to “Memos” and “Professional Letters”

               Make a 5-8 step summary for a novice that explains Template/Wizard use

 

Group 3

Robert Nickel, Austin Zinsu, Lee Sanford

 

Steps to writing a memo using Microsoft Word

 

  1. Go to start menu, under 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



Steps to writing a letter using Microsoft Word

 

1.      Go to start menu, under 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 “letters/ faxes” from title bar,

4.      Double click professional letter,

5.      Enter Company name, recipients address, then content of the letter

Conclude with your name and job

 

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

 

Team 1:  Specific Instructions for one type wizard

Memos – Wizard

 

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 “Memos” tab in pop-up windows

Step 5 -            Click on Memo Wizard icon

Step 6 -            Click on OK (or double click on icon)

Step 7 -            Follow directions to create the Memo

 

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 “Memos” 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

 

 

 

SII Assessment Methodology for In-class and group design use

S = Strength – identify what you, your teammates, and the entire team did well in terms of accomplishing your teams goal of learning about the assignment topic and responding with high quality work demonstrating your learning.  This should be as analytical as possible, including WHY this strength helped you learn.

 

I = Improvement – identify what you, your teammates, and the entire team need to improve upon in terms of accomplishing your teams goal of learning about the assignment topic and responding with high quality work demonstrating your learning.  This should be as analytical as possible, including WHY this improvement needs to be made in order to help you learn.

 

I = Insight – identify how the group learning activity illuminated your awareness of learning growth as an individual and as a team.  This insight should help you understand how your learning (and ability to do new learning) is growing.

 

 


Tuesday, September 09, 2003

 

Engineering Analysis

How would you use analysis in designing the following items:

  1. staple remover-corrosion resistance, thermal fatigue, life expectancy, cost
  2. scissors-Dimension, Weight, Force required to cut material, stress, abrasive resistance, cost
  3. fork-Dimension, weight, cost
  4. mechanical pencil- life expectancy, fatigue, spring tension
  5. door hinge – max & min angle of door, weight of door, number of hinges
  6. paper clip – possible max & min number of paper
  7. toilet – max weight of person, required volume of water, size of water box, diameter of drain, strength of handle
  8. incandescent light bulb – watt, average life time, thickness of filament, thickness of glass, mass of coating
  9. cereal box - dimensions, thickness of cardboard, adhesiveness of the glue, density of cereal to be put in.
  10. coat hanger - thickness of the metal to be used, energy required to melt the metal to the required form.
  11. three-ring binder - Dimensions of cardboard, tensile strength of plastic, mechanism of lever opening the rings, size/thickness of the rings.
  12. light switch - dimensions of the light switch, thickness of plastic shielding the wires, heat retention of material to be used as wire.

 

 

 

 

Insights

-         looking at all directions – analysis based on design choices affects all related analyses, so one must make compromises

-         data and analysis are very different – analysis is not just looking up info in a book

-         considering the end user affects which analysis needs to be done

-         practicality – you can’t calculate some things

-         many of calculation is needed for one thing.


Unit Conversions and Dimensional Analysis

 

When performing unit conversions

Remember!

  • For squared quantities (power of 2):  Square the number AND square the unit
  • For cubed quantities (power of 3):  Cube the number AND cube the unit

 

Always write everything out with in fraction form to help visualize which units cancel.  Just because you can do it in your head does not mean you will get it right!

 

Read the problem carefully so that the correct quantity goes in the numerator

 

You don’t need to invent new conversions.  Combining basic conversions by using each as a separate ratio is OK.

 

You need to have your prefixes memorized!

 

Performing Conversions in MS Word

  • Use the equation editor to display the conversions in ratio form.
  • Remember to do the superscripts and subscripts
  • Note that sin, cos, ln, and e (for exponential) never carry units as a whole.  If the parts inside carry units, they must cancel.

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

 

Egg Drop Design Results

Team 3:  Airborne Eggspress – 14m

Team 2: 9m

Team 1:  Good try from about 5m

 

Why did the highest design work

         Durability of outer shell

         Fresh foam is good shock absorber completely around egg

         Egg moves with package but does not achieve large velocity relative to package

 

Analysis Methodology

·  Problem Statement – givens and what you need to find; as short as possible

·  Diagram – includes labels known quantities with units; illuminates the problem to give a physical picture of what is happening

·  Assumptions – listed

·  Governing Equations – separate from calculations

·  Calculations – shows the manipulation of governing eqs to obtain an answer; includes units throughout

·  Solution Check – double check work

·  Discussion – explain why answer makes some sense

 

Aerospace

  • Mass is like an amount of stuff, while weight is a force from gravity acting on a mass
  • What is unit of drag force?  N for Newtons, like all forces
  • When does terminal velocity occur?  Drag force up equals gravitational force down
  • What was the key to solving the Mars lander example?  Lands at terminal velocity

 

 

Thursday September 18, 2003

 

Design and its relationship with analysis

               Max mass was found for a fast closing valve – how does this impact the rest of the valve design?

§         This gives you a starting point to make further desing choices such as what types of materials can be used.

§         The combination of a material choice and the calculated mass give dimensional limits for geometries such as square valves, circular valves, etc. 


Thursday, September 25, 2003

 

Ideas for very specific agricultural engineering projects

o       Reducing size of harvesting equipment for corn while maintaining efficiency

o       Improved irrigation coverage for higher degree of uniformity in water received by plants

o       Optimize type of sprinkler for specific soils

o       Fertilizer applicator design to reduce waste and maximize delivery to plants

o       Applying soil organic coverage “net” to reduce dust and loss of topsoil

 

Design Objectives Used in paper airplanes

              

               Stiffen material to house engine to prevent deformation

               Balance engine thrust with aerodynamic considerations for a stable flight

               Achieve a straight flight via wing design to minimize wasted flight time.

               Minimize height gain by balancing horizontal range to achieve a high score

               Ease of construction

               Use light weight materials for easy launch by hand

 

Using MS EXCEL and WORD to produce good total problem Solution

o       Graphics in Word

§         View à Toolbars à Draw

§         Autoshapes à Basics Shapes and Lines are the most useful

·        Changing colors, etc à Right Click Autoshape and play with options

§         Text Boxes – click the text box icon, click on insertion location, and type in the box

o       Formatting a Document for Analysis Methodology

§         Need sections for

·        Problem Statement

·        Diagram

·        Assumptions

·        Governing Equations

·        Calculations – just type See EXCEL for now

·        Discussion

§         Use a custom template to create Analysis Methodology Template

·        File à New

·        In lower left corner of dialog box click “Create New” General Template

·        Define your sections as listed above with appropriate ways to separate them, such as lines or boxes.  See one example below

·        Save – give a name for future use such as Analysis Methodology.  It will appear as a template option when you go to “File à New” the next time.

 

 

Template for Analysis Methodology Using several Tables:

 

Problem Statement

 

Diagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assumptions

Governing Equations

 

 

Calculations – See attached EXCEL or MATLAB document

            Title of attachment: 

 

Discussion

 

 

 

              

Tuesday, September 30

Industrial chemical reactions require precise flows of different reactants

 

Mass flow rate = density * velocity * cross-sectional area of flow

 

How do you get between volume quantities and mass quantities?

               Use the density as a conversion factor since the units are [kg/m3]

 

How do you get between given volumes and surface areas?

  • Use the equation for volume to solve for particular dimensions like the length of a side (volume = length^3 for cubes) or radius (volume = (4/3)pi*r^3 for spheres).
  • Use the dimensions found from the volume equation to calculate the desired surface area using the equations for surface area that go with the desired shape.

 

Thursday, October 02, 2003

Embedding and Linking from EXCEL into WORD

 

From Word   File à Insert

               Choose your excel file

               Insert as a Link to update when you make changes

               Insert normally to embed a non-changing image into the Word document

 

OR

 

Select your chart or data set in EXCEL

Copy

Paste into Word

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday and Thursday, October 7 and 9

 

Excel

  • Practice entering data, manipulating data with equations, formatting cells, and making graphs (line graphs) from a parametric analysis
  • Breaking complex formulas into parts can save time

o       Not so many parentheses

o       Easier to check work

 

Parametric analysis of a beam deflection

  • Varying amount of weight on beam

o       Deflection is directly proportional to load          

  • Varying length – deflection

o       Deflection increase with load but not linearly. 

o       The deflection relationship to beam length is a complex third order polynomial in the denominator of the equation for deflection

 

Civil Engineering

  • Structure of all types are studied
  • Specialty in environmental engineering and water resources not as well known as buildings/roads/bridges

 

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

 

Testing Bridges:  Team 1 = 12.44 lb for a 1.75oz bridge

                                    Team 2 = 9.62 for a 47g bridge

                                    Team 3 = 22.07 for a 1.8 oz. bridge

 

 

Computer Engineering

               Toll booth traffic analogy for series and parallel circuits

                        Series   – all cars must go through each tollbooth à slow

                                    - all electrons must go through same resistor à small current

                                   

                        Parallel – cars have a choice of which toll booth to use à fast

                               - electrons have a choice of which resistor to use à big current

 

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

 

Electric Power

               Note home appliances Wattage and you can easily calculate the current they

               draw if you remember that wall voltage is 120V.

 

               Ex.  A typical microwave is 1200W, so I = P/V = 1200W/120V = 10 Amps

 

 

Lightning Bolt example:  WOW, high power!  10^12 is on the order of the most powerful machines ever made.

 

 

 

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Industrial Engineering

               Industrial Engineers tend to be concerned with efficiency.  This includes all aspects of efficiency from raw materials shipment and storage, to human factors and ergonomics, to maintenance of equipment, to health and safety.

 

CAPACITY FACTOR

 

               CF = (what you actually produced/what you could have produced)x100%

 

Hint on units:  numerator and denominator need the same units

                        Use the % in 100% as a unit and be sure to include it in the equation

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

 

Electric Motor Tests

None of the designs were able to blow up the garbage bag:  WHY?

o       Not enough torque to drive a heavy shaft

o       Friction on bearings that hold the shaft

o       Asymmetry in shaft caused bouncing

o       Relatively weak permanent magnets (need rare earth magnets)

o       Alignment of brushes/commutator and magnets not aligned or commentator gap too small

o       Compensation for weak magnetic fields by using more wire and thus reducing current flow due to increased resistance. (Note:  two wires in parallel can overcome this problem.)

 

Tuesday and Thursday, November 11 and 13

Materials Engineering

               Thinking in Cubes

               Atoms in corners have 1/8 of their volume in the unit cube itself

               Atoms on faces have ½ of their volume in the unit cube itself

               Atoms in the center have their entire volume in the unit cube

 

               Atoms cannot overlap, but there will be some space between them.

 

Tuesday, December 2, 2003

 

Solving problems with the first law of thermodynamics

o       Lay out all the governing equation first

o       Determine which variable are known by given information

o       Make assumptions necessary to determine some variable or allow them to be calculated

o       Determine additional equations needed to calculate remaining unknown variables