An experimental analysis of the cooling constant computation

This work presents the design of an inexpensive electronic system to measure water temperature and generate an experimental data set used to verify the fitting between experimental and theoretical curves of a water-cooling process. The cooling constant is computed with three different theoretical methods to check their efficiency and this approach allows the association of theoretical and experimental aspects of physics, mathematics and electronic instrumentation, which can motivate interesting discussions in the classroom.

Emulation of Circuits under Test Using Low-Cost Embedded Platforms

Electrical engineering education requires the development of the specific ability and skills to address the design and assembly of practical electronic circuits, as well as the use of advanced electronic instrumentation. However, for electronic instrumentation courses or any other related specialty that pursues to gain expertise testing a physical system, the circuit assembly process itself can represent a bottleneck in a practical session. The time dedicated to the circuit assembly is subtracted both to the measurements and the final decision-making time. Therefore, the student’s practical experience is limited. This article presents a reconfigurable physical system based on the Arduino™ shield pin-out, which (after specific programming) can virtually behave as a device under test to carry out measurement procedures on it, emulating any system or process. Although it has been mainly oriented to the Arduino boards, it is possible to add different control devices with a connector compatible. The user does not need to assemble any circuit. Our approach does not only pursue the correct instrument handling as a goal, but it also immerses the student in the context of the functional theory of the proposed circuit under test. Consequently, the same emulation platform can be utilized for other techno-scientific specialties, such as electrical engineering, automatic control systems or physics courses. Besides that, it is a compact product that can be adapted to the needs of any teaching institution.

IoT systems in the process of multidisciplinary training of personnel for the digital economy and their design

In the context of digitalization of the most knowledge-intensive sectors of the domestic economy, the development of an industrial training system in the field of electronic instrumentation is of great importance. The key areas of its development with the use of information and communication technologies include the development and improvement of the technological basis for training and retraining of personnel in engineering educational programs. One of the elements of this basis is the service of multi-user remote access via the internet to a high-tech experimental equipment laboratory as a service based on internet of things (IoT) systems. Within the framework of this service, an urgent problem is to increase the functional saturation of automated stands/installations, which is currently characterized by a paucity of scientific research. The purpose of the research is to expand the areas of experimental research carried out in the mode of multiuser remote access based on specialized IoT systems. As a result, a method of multidisciplinary application of specialized IoT systems was developed. This consists of the technical implementation of possibilities for additional research: research into technologies underlying both multi-user distributed measuring and control systems and IoT systems in general; research into technologies used in their end-to-end computer-aided design; research into joint interaction of several geographically distributed automated stands/installations, implemented on the basis of a four level IoT reference architecture. A methodology for the design of multi-user distributed measuring and control systems as specialized IoT systems has also been developed, focused on solving multidisciplinary research problems in an interactive dialogue mode based on single sample of experimental equipment. The methodology mobilizes organizational, technical and methodological support for the process of creating such systems with specified target characteristics. In general, the method and methodology developed open up opportunities for systematically implementing the basic principles of the “Education 4.0” concept in the preparation and retraining of engineering personnel in the field of electronic instrumentation.

Signal Conditioning provided by Sensitive Elements of Electric Bioimpedance Sensors

Dry polarizable electric bioimpedance sensors for ECG (electrocardiogram) monitoring requires the use of signal conditioning electronic circuits that take over alternating ΔU voltages with a frequency of 40 kHz and peak-to-peak amplitude in the range of 10-50 mV. The sensitive elements of these sensors are made of sensitive materials like as conductive polymer polypyrrole or hybrid nanocomposite with 10 and 20% Ag incorporated in the polypyrrole polymer. The useful signal is picked up in differential mode by an instrumentation amplifier. The gain of the instrumentation amplifier is set to A = 100 by connecting a single external resistor, RG. The problem of eliminating the mass loops and obtaining a common mode signal is solved by using an amplifier with galvanic isolation, with the amplification factor A = 1, supplied with double differential voltage. To reject any parasitic signals that may accompany the useful signal, an electronic bandpass filtering module is used. Electrical measurements were performed which showed the accuracy of the signal amplified by the electronic instrumentation amplifier module used in the "differential mode" connection.

Diseño y control de una cabina automatizada para la captura de imágenes de miembro inferior residual transtibial

This paper presents the design of an automated cabin for thermal image capture. The device aims to improve precision during the capture and processing of the image in an isolated space. The thermographic pictures are used in the analysis of the residual human limb for transtibial amputee subjects. This study could serve as a non-invasive method seeking a correlation between the quality of the socket and the thermal activity on the amputee stump. The proposed cabin provides a standard process to acquire thermal images of the regions of interest from the participant stump reducing human errors, the variance between samples, and provides an isolated workspace to reduce environmental noise. The methodology includes the computed assisted design of all mechanical elements, the electronic instrumentation for the automation, the interface, and the control algorithm to regulate the thermal camera movements, and numerical simulations to depict the functionality.