scholarly journals Development of a motorcycle frame as a problem-based learning experience in design courses for Mechanical Engineering students

Author(s):  
Cristian Iorga ◽  
Alain Desrochers

The paradox that exists between the necessity of testing physical prototypes to achieve as much design criteria as possible and the desire to minimize the number of iterations at the experimental validation stage to manage development time and cost, has led the authors to develop a detailed design methodology that guides the engineers and designers through the main activities of the product development process (PDP).The numerical validation activities and the iterations performed at the detailed design phase of the PDP have become key in achieving a product that meets the client needs from a price/performance/reliability perspective. However, before starting the fabrication of a physical prototype, the multidisciplinary team must understand the issues linked to the material behavior under critical conditions of use and in relation with the range of selected processes.In previous papers, a generic methodology that takes into account several design criteria was presented. This methodology was applied to the recreational product industry with the aim of reducing the weight of a roadster frame while controlling its production cost. Specific to vehicle, fatigue and rigidity are amongst the structural criteria that are central to the safety of the user and the handling of the vehicle.The objectives of this paper are thus to outline the advantages of this methodology, show how it could be applied to the structural sub-systems and components of a vehicle, and how it could be integrated in an undergraduate project, taking into account all the design criteria established up-stream in the PDP.As this approach has already been validated in the recreational product industry, it will allow students to converge toward creative, effective but realistic solutions while providing a comprehensive feedback on the client needs.

Author(s):  
Cristian Iorga ◽  
Alain Desrochers

The recent increases in gasoline price have initiated a new thrust to reduce vehicle weight, hence creating a new market opportunity in the recreational product industry. At the same time, integration of both optimization and validation at the detailed design phase into the product development process has become key to achieving a product that meets the client needs from a price/performance/reliability perspective. Such integration also leads to more accurate requirements regarding the behavior of the structural components of a recreational vehicle. Therefore, to reach the objective of a weight reduction for the structural subsystem in a three wheels roadster project, a methodology that optimizes both frame geometry and material properties according to the following types of design criteria has been developed: - Structural criteria in order to support the specified loads;- Weight and cost criteria to assess some performance and market targets;- Qualitative criteria such as aesthetic, assembly or manufacturing. One of the objectives of this paper is to outline a design and validation methodology that could be applied to the structural sub-systems of a recreational product with regard to all the design criteria established up-stream in the product development process. This approach will converge into a creative, effective and profitable solution and will allow designers to offer a feedback on the client needs. The optimization process that the approach entail allows finding one or more combinations of parameters maximizing or minimizing a given design criterion, while the validation activities provide feedback to the designers in order to verify the calculations accuracy and the respect of all design criteria. According to the nature of the load cases identified, the proposed methodology has been applied to design and validate the frame of a three wheels roadster as part of a challenging multidisciplinary project involving students, professors and engineers from the recreational products industry.


Author(s):  
Sanchit Ingale ◽  
Anirudh Srinivasan ◽  
Diana Bairaktarova

Spatial visualization is the ability of an individual to imagine an object mentally and understand its spatial orientation. There have been multiple works proving that spatial visualization skills can be improved with an appropriate training. Such training warrant a critical place in the undergraduate engineering curricula in many engineering schools as spatial skills are considered vital for students’ success in the technical and design fields [1–4]. Enhanced spatial skills help not only professionals in the engineering field but also everyone in the 21st century environment. Drawing sectional views requires mental manipulation and visual thinking. To enhance students spatial reasoning, one of the authors of this study, conducted a class in spatial visualization. The course-learning goal aimed at improving first-year engineering students’ spatial reasoning through instruction on freehand drawings of sectional view. During the semester, two teaching assistants had to grade more than 500 assignments that consisted of sectional views of mechanical objects. This was a tedious and a time consuming task. Motivated by this experience, this paper proposes a software aiming at automating grading of students’ sectional view drawings. The proposed software will also give live feedback to students while they are working on the drawings. This interactive tool aims to 1) improve the learning experience of first year students, with limited CAD knowledge, and 2) introduce a pedagogical tool that can enhance spatial visualization training.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baha Jassemnejad ◽  
Wei Pee ◽  
Kevin Rada ◽  
Montell Wright ◽  
Kaitlin Foran ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Nadine Ibrahim ◽  
Allison Van Beek

A new learning opportunity among civil engineering students is learning about urbanization in cities, which combines the sub-disciplines of civil engineering in a seamlessly interdisciplinary manner.  One of the greatest benefits of learning about a global phenomenon such as urbanization is introducing the opportunities to offer examples of the technological, cultural and social diversity surrounding the evolution of urban design, technologies and sustainable strategies from global cities. The ability to have a globally diverse classroom to bring in these perspectives and create a learning experience that captures this information sharing and exchange can be created through course design, learning activities, and assessments, hence the “global classroom.”  The authors present a case study of the global classroom for the online course “Sustainable Cities: Adding an African Perspective” and share their perspective on learner-driven formats that support the global classroom, which hinges upon students’ own interest and commitment to an online learning format.  


RELC Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-226
Author(s):  
Saeedeh Jafari Pazoki ◽  
Minoo Alemi

Needs analysis is the key step to designing relevant and useful courses in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), but finding ways to deliver needs in a motivating and interesting way is also paramount. Therefore, investigating students’ motivation to learn ESP is central in needs analysis. Few studies have investigated needs from the perspective of ESP learners’ motivation. Focussing on engineering fields at three Iranian state universities, this study aimed to identify factors that affect engineering students’ motivation for learning technical English in ESP courses. Using a mixed method design, this study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, semi-structured interviews with 40 undergraduate students helped to identify motivational variables, select a theoretical framework and develop instruments for the second phase. In the second phase, a survey using a 28-item questionnaire with 152 students, semi-structured interviews with 60 students, in-depth interviews with eight ESP practitioners and non-participant observation in seven ESP classes were done in parallel. Principal Component Analysis on survey data resulted in five motivational components of main sources of engineering students’ motivation to learn technical English: 1) ideal-self, 2) ought-to self, 3) instrumentality promotion motivation, 4) learning conditions, and 5) learning experience. These components were in agreement with Dӧrnyei’s L2 Motivational Self-system. Further quantitative and qualitative data analyses revealed that long-term goals and the practicalities of using technical English in every day life promote motivation more than a sense of obligation to learn technical English. Moreover, the results showed that Engineering students had negative attitudes towards elements of ESP learning experience, which best explained the reasons for students’ low motivation. The findings also supported the significant effect of academic levels on motivation. The factors that motivated students call for modifications in ESP courses which are discussed as pedagogical implications.


Author(s):  
Pramod Rajan ◽  
P. K. Raju ◽  
Chetan S. Sankar

Understanding the real-world issues in the global industry is one of the ways of enhancing the learning experience of engineering students. This paper describes such an experience. This was a collaborative weld design project between Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, India and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Tiruchirappalli, India. The main problems BHEL faced were (1) Inspection time of the welds, (2) Inaccessibility of the welds, and (3) Detection of kissing bond or pasty weld. Three possible solutions to these problems were identified by the practitioners. In order to bring this real-world issue into engineering classrooms, the authors developed a case study. The authors also developed a multimedia CD-ROM which brings the problem live into class rooms using video, audio and pictures. This case study has been tested with mechanical engineering students. The majority of the students found the use of case studies to be beneficial, particularly because of the group work and applicability to real life situations. The details of the case study and its implementation in an engineering class room at Auburn University are discussed in the paper.


Author(s):  
Nazmul Islam

Most of the engineering courses focus more on theory and very little on hands-on, project-based learning in the classroom. Integration of real-world engineering problems and applications in lower division engineering courses will produce engineering students, who will be technically sound and be able to execute and manage real-world projects, when they will do senior design projects in their final year of engineering study. To overcome the engineering design challenges we have developed iHOP (Ingenieŕia Hands on Project) and integrate it with our lower division engineering courses. iHOP has been developed to emphasis the design component at the University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) Engineering Physics curriculum and the project is now an integral part of Introduction to Engineering class. The iHOP project is one that is challenging, fun, requires teamwork, associated with the engineering material being studied, low cost, and doable in a limited amount of time. The experience from iHOP project motivates our freshman students to choose a better senior design project in senior year of their college career. The objectives of the iHOP projects are — to have students develop teamwork skills, and to teach students basic engineering design concepts in a complementary format to the traditional lecture. Various techniques related to team selection, encouraging teamwork, incorporation of engineering topics, keeping costs down, project results presentations, and gathering feedback from students will also be presented in this paper. Integrating iHOP Project with Introduction to Engineering class helped us to improve our retention effort in the engineering department.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-46
Author(s):  
Ommi Alfina ◽  

This research aims to (1) find out the results of the implementation of Learning Management System (LMS)-Google Classroom in the online learning process for Informatics Engineering students, Universitas Potensi Utama during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) learn about students' responses to online learning using LMS-Google Classroom. This research is based on the transformation of the course process from face-to-face learning to remote learning (PJJ) by relying on technology as a substitute for learning media, known as distance learning and online learning. This research was conducted using case study methods. This research was conducted on informatics engineering students in multimedia courses. Sampling techniques using purposive sampling methods. The results showed that the application of LMS-Google Classroom to online learning for Informatics Engineering students during the COVID-19 pandemic had a positive effect, especially in terms of absorption related to understanding lecture materials. Based on the results of student questionnaire calculations, it was obtained that as many as 23% of students find it difficult to attend lectures using LMS-Google Classroom which is reviewed in terms of technological efficiency and material understanding level. Meanwhile, 77% of students are happy and enthusiastic about gaining a new learning experience after using LMS-Google Classroom to participate in multimedia lectures. It can be concluded that the implementation of LMS-Google Classroom in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the solutions that can be used so that the lecture process can continue. However, it is necessary to provide assistance and control over student activities to keep students motivated in following the lecture process in the context of online learning.


Author(s):  
Anja Pfennig ◽  

At HTW Berlin, Germany first year mechanical engineering students are taught material science as one of the fundamental courses with high work load in a blended learning environment with flipped classroom elements. Therefore peer-to-peer lecture films were established as source of theoretical background knowledge provided for self-study periods. Because the teaching method “inverted classroom” and class results directly relate to the quality of the video material one of the columns of lecture video production is the involvement of students in the lecture film production. First year students directly benefit from their fellow student learning experience, needs and perspective on teaching material. From the lecturers perspective students were generally more active and better prepared during class resulting in better grades. Practice examples introduce and evaluate both, the teaching method and videos.


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