Development of Faculty Course Assessment Reports for ME Program ABET Accreditation

The assessment of program outcomes for ABET accreditation has become a challenge for engineering programs nationwide. Various methods and approaches have been investigated to develop good practices for program assessment. At South Dakota State University (SDSU), an approach called Faculty Course Assessment Reports (FCAR) has been explored for mechanical engineering (ME) program assessment. FCAR provides an assessment tool to correlate the ME program outcomes with the outcomes of the core ME courses, and to evaluate student performance at the course level based on ABET outcome criterion. This process begins with the development of course objectives and outcomes. Then these course objectives and outcomes are directly mapped with the ME program objectives and outcomes respectively. Further the quantitative and qualitative details generated in the FCAR are lined up directly to ABET program outcome a to k criterion through FCAR rubrics. By use of the FCAR process, all ME program outcomes are evaluated at the course level based on the ABET program outcomes. The assessment results are being used for improvement of the ME curriculum. The process was developed to provide an effective tool for the ME program outcome assessment at the course level with reasonable effort.

ASME Open Source Project: Prototype Re-Design and Conclusion of a Human Powered Water Purification Device

The Western Kentucky University Mechanical Engineering program partnered with ASME to host an Open Source student design project to develop a prototype water purification device in 2008. The project was funded by an ASME grant and is part of a continuing initiative by ASME to extend the relevance of their annual Student Design Competitions (SDC) and link student projects to societal concerns. The Open Source Project extended the 2007 SDC which required students to design and construct human-powered devices to purify water. The design challenge was inspired by Hurricane Katrina-like temporary disasters, but also addresses one of the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges for Engineering: provide access to clean water. Affordable and practical solutions are needed to provide drinkable water to people who do not have the equipment, power or other resources necessary to assure safe water supplies. During the spring and early summer of 2008, five students from various SDC teams qualifying for the 2007 SDC finals used their competition experience to develop a new design for a human powered water purification system. Team members were distributed at universities from Sweden to Venezuela to New Mexico, and therefore interacted via internet and teleconferences to refine the design. Ongoing work was posted to the ASME website, allowing people external to the team a chance to critique or contribute to the design. The team met at WKU in May to construct and test a prototype of the design. The initial prototype was able to purify water at 10 times the rate of any SDC devices, using a combination of passive sand filtration, solar heat collection and mechanical friction heating. While this was a marked improvement, the reality is that the human effort to purify this water is still excessive. The second generation prototype was completed by faculty, staff and students at WKU during the 2009 summer with the information learned and experiences gained from the initial prototype of the distributed team. This paper will discuss the evolution of the project design from the SDC to through the second prototype and the impact of the open source approach to the design process. The project represents ASME’s first attempt at executing an “Open Source” project, providing a forum for mechanical engineers around the world to contribute to solutions of critical social, economic and environmental problems. If the final design proves technically feasible, the Open Source team will seek support from the ASME Center for Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation to commercialize the design.

Using Excel for the Thermodynamic Analysis of Air-Standard Cycles and Combustion Processes

In an undergraduate course or a course-sequence in thermodynamics mechanical engineering students are introduced to air-standard power cycles, refrigeration cycles, and the fundamentals of combustion processes. The analysis of air-standard thermodynamic cycles or solving problems involving combustion processes requires the evaluation of thermodynamic properties either from ideal gas tables or equations developed based on the assumption of constant specific heats. Many students have a difficult time to distinguish the differences between the two property evaluation methods. Also, solving problems involving power and refrigeration cycles or parametric studies of combustion processes involve several steps of property evaluation and some steps require interpolation of data listed in the thermodynamic property tables. Also solution to problems requiring trial and error iterative procedure makes the solution process tedious and time consuming, if it is done manually. This paper provides several examples to demonstrate the effectiveness of Excel in solving problems involving air-standard cycles and combustion processes.

Flow Separation

In thermal science courses, flow over curved objects, like cylinders or spheres are generally discussed qualitatively, followed by the presentation of numerical or experimental results for the drag coefficient, Nusselt number, and flow separation. Rarely, there is much discussion of how solutions are obtained. In this paper the flow separation is first introduced by solving the Falkner-Skan flow. The process for numerical solution of equations is presented to show that the flow separates at a plate angle of about −18°. Comparisons are drawn between this and flow over a cylinder. The non-similar boundary layer equations are then solved flow over a cylinder, using potential flow results for the velocity outside of the boundary layer. This solution shows that the flow separates at 103.5°, which is significantly more than the experimental value of 80°. Using a more realistic velocity for flow outside of the boundary layer, the numerical solution obtained predicts flow separation at an angle of 79°, which is close to the experimental results. All the solutions are obtained using spreadsheets that greatly simplify the analysis.

Determining the Lewis Factor for Plastic Spur Gears With Asymmetric Teeth

The basic weakness of plastic spur gear teeth is tooth fracture brought on by the accumulation of stress at the root of the tooth and by the geometry of the tooth. Tooth width and height play a major role in failure, as does the Lewis factor, which has a direct effect on the expression to calculate tooth strength. This study describes a theoretical analysis of a procedure to determine the Lewis factor for asymmetric teeth.

A Template for the Integration of Teaching and Learning of Communication Skills in the Engineering Course

Published studies in the open literature and experience of new engineering graduates have shown that employees who are able to clearly communicate their thoughts and ideas to their employers through written reports and oral presentations advance more quickly in the organisation compared to those who lack these skills even if they possess superior technical knowledge. Also, surveys of engineering employers have shown that while the technical knowledge of engineering graduates is considered to be adequate, the perception is that graduates lack the personal communication skills required of them in the work place. The traditional method of teaching communication skills to engineering students is through especially designed units which are taught by specialists in the field of communication. Engineering students generally consider these units to be of little importance due to a lack of engineering relevance. In order to overcome such shortcomings, teaching and learning of communication skills was integrated with the teaching of technical contents to final year students in a two-semester long Final Year Project (FYP) core unit in the undergraduate engineering degree during 2003 to 2008. The assessments tasks for the FYP unit included submission of a Project Proposal, a Progress Report, a Research Paper and a Final Report, plus an Oral Presentation. Students were given instruction on how to prepare for these activities at appropriate times during the semester. This paper describes the details of the approach used and the results obtained by students who have completed this unit.

Transformative Learning Opportunities Help Prepare Students for Their Future Careers

A large percentage of the mechanical engineering students at the University of North Florida have been extensively exposed to transformative learning opportunities over the past five years. Through collaborative efforts with local industry and other institutions, the students have had the opportunity to utilize their engineering knowledge in real-world applications. Students engaged in these projects have improved several of their technical skills in, for example, computer-aided engineering, design, mechanical testing, and analysis. Nontechnical objectives of these projects include improving communication skills, learning how an engineering firm functions, and learning how to research relevant data. Technical and non-technical objectives were met by students working on engineering projects sponsored by partnering collaborators. The collaborators defined the engineering project and the students, under the supervision of faculty, carried out the project tasks. This paper discusses a number of different transformative learning opportunities for students; it discusses the educational objectives and skills developed for each project, and it describes how the students are better prepared for their future careers through their involvement with the program. Many of the students have found rewarding engineering careers and a few have continued to pursue graduate degrees. Furthermore, the paper discusses how the efforts of this program are aligned with the mission of the University in that it heavily emphasizes transformational learning opportunities for the whole university community.

Performance of Air Conditioners With Commercial Desuperheaters: A Green Energy Project as an Undergraduate Research

The goal of the design project titled “Domestic Hot Water Heater Using Air Conditioner Waste Heat” was to introduce students to designing mechanical systems in the “ETME475-Mechanical Systems Design” course. Two students completed the design project in spring 2007. Some test runs were conducted with a commercial desuperheater to measure the efficiency of the unit and its effect on the Coefficient of Performance (COP) of the Heat Pump when the heat pump is operated in air conditioning (A/C) mode. Contrary to author’s expectations, results indicated that, COP values were reduced by about 22%. Measured efficiency of the desuperheater was about 18% [1]. The current project is an extension of the original project with the new National Instruments data acquisition board, a newly developed LabVIEW data acquisition program, and with a more realistic heat transfer loop. The study covers performance of the heat pump operating in A/C mode as well as in heating mode. Results indicate, depending on the water temperature in the desuperheater, heat pump COP dropped 6–17% in A/C mode and 8–38% in heating mode. Again depending on the average water temperature in the ECU, the ECU efficiencies ranged from 12% to 27% for cooling and 11% to 39% for heating.

Enhanced Instruction of Engineering Mechanics Using Curvature Experiments

Resistive strain gauges are the most commonly used experimental devices for stress analysis. Their versatility stems from their ability to directly measure local strain on the surface of a structure, almost regardless of geometry. This strength can represent an educational limitation, however. Measurements made using strain gauges tend to provide results without students assessing or understanding the global structural response; limiting the insight gained and the instructional value of the experiment. Herein a low-cost device is presented that allows accurate measurement of local curvature in a beam. Once the local curvature is known, the elastic equations governing the beam may be used to calculate the local strain, stress, and deflection. The educational strength of the device is that students are forced to understand the interrelation of stress, strain, and deflection to post-process the experimental results. The device, though limited to beam geometries, has proven effective in helping students master engineering mechanics. It also allows investigation of the entire beam without added expense; as the device is not permanently affixed to one location. This is a significant advantage compared to strain gauges that provide only point data and are single-use. Details of the device itself, how it has been incorporated into the curriculum, and data assessing its effectiveness within a junior-level course are presented.

An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Traveling Engineering Activity Kits in Pre-College Classrooms

The focus of this paper is assessment of the effectiveness of Traveling Engineering Activity Kits (TEAK) in engaging pre-college students in engineering-related activities. This includes a discussion of the challenges in assessing such a brief interaction with groups of middle school students with widely varying backgrounds as well as a discussion of how past assessment has led to modifications in TEAK activities. Program assessment has evolved from pre- and post-visit quizzes on technical content and interest in engineering to instructor observation of student engagement during TEAK visits relative to engagement during a typical class period. Initial results from pre- and post-visit quizzes showed that the vast majority of students self-reported an increased interest in engineering but that the percentage of students showing an increased understanding of engineering topics was highly dependent on the background of the students. Students who did well on the pre-visit quizzes would show less improvement after a TEAK visit, because their initial level of knowledge was higher. In the present model of rating levels of student engagement during TEAK visits, results seem much more promising, with teachers indicating that, during TEAK activities, their students are more engaged and ask more and better questions than during a typical class.