This course is part of the engineering design sequence and is intended to give you a realistic exposure to unfamiliar equipment, procedures and incompletely defined problems. You will have to depend upon your ingenuity and persistence to overcome difficulties. You will think that the lab is unorganized and inadequately equipped and be frustrated in getting the right instrument or instructions for the job. Such conditions simulate situations you will encounter in Clinic and later when you are at work in your career.
Of course we want you to obtain good results and make useful comments about them, but you will also be evaluated on the way you approach the assigned task, including your cooperation as a member of a team assigned to work together for the semester. You will be expected to "land on your feet" when dropped into the sticky, uncertain, sometimes easy, sometimes difficult situations the lab presents.
The general approach in which we want you to become proficient is:
a. Come to Lab having decided what the problem is you are going to work on that week.
b. Have a definite plan in mind for how you will approach looking for the solution.
c. Collect and organize a minimum of suitable equipment.
d. Learn how the equipment works.
e. Following your plan, use the equipment to collect the proper data.
f. Record and plot (where appropriate) the raw data in your notebook, by hand, as you take it: then reduce those data to usable, interpretable form.
g. Deliver, at the end of the experiment, a write-up of your results, and conclusions.
In Clinic and on the job after graduation, you will be expected to use all the help you can find to work out your solutions. We want you to do the same in this course, whether the source is another student, a book, a proctor, an instructor not associated with the lab, etc. Seeking help in this way is intended to provide you with the background information you need to do the experiment yourself. You may never use material from present or past write-ups for this laboratory.
Engineering faculty will give background lectures as a supplement to the laboratory assignments. Your attendance at these lectures is required. The Lecture Schedule follows.
Jan 20 BEM/RLC............................……………………….......RW
Jan 22 Active Filter........................................….........................AR
Jan 27 Bucket...................................................………..............AR
Jan 29 Heat Transfer..................................................................MC
Feb 3 Beams.............................…..……….........…................. SS
Feb 5 Fluids .................................…………......…....................MC
Feb 10 Vibration Isolation..........................……......…................SS
Feb 12 PID Control....................................……..........................AR
Feb 17 Digital Logic....................................….............................RW
Feb 19 Chemical Reactor..........................………......................MC
Feb 24 Heat Treatment, Metallography......................................JK
Feb 26 Graphics/Shop...............................…..............................JK
Mar 3 Graphics/Shop................................…….........................JK
Mar 5 Graphics/Shop.................................………....................JK
Mar 10 Graphics/Shop........................................…….................JK
Mar 12 Graphics/Shop....................................……….................JK
Mar 17 Graphics/Shop.................................................................JK
Working groups of two or three will be assigned randomly in each section. The teams will last for the duration of the course. The group shall select a team leader for each of the experiments. Leadership duty shall be divided as equally as possible based on the number of experiments and number of students in the team. The teams leader's name must be clearly indicated in the lab book Table of Contents. The team leader will be the person responsible for co-ordinating prelab activities and writing in the lab notebook. At the first meeting of the lab, your instructor will assign a number to each group so the attached project schedule can be used to determine when you are expected to begin work on each of the 11 projects.
Obtain the same type of cross-sectioned paper, brown, bound notebook that you had for physics courses. Only one notebook will be kept per team but it usually requires 2-3 notebooks to complete all labs. On the outside cover, mark your Lab Section and Team Number. List the names of the members of your team. On the first page, provide a table of contents listing the page numbers for each experiment and a place-holder for indicating team leader. At the extreme right, provide a column for the instructor to mark your grade for each experiment. Start each day's work with the name of the experiment.
The format used in an engineering notebook is not generally the same as the format you learned in your physics or chemistry lab courses. The engineering lab book is generally a running account of the experimental equipment, methods used, the anticipated results, actual results and some explanation for discrepancies. To this end, we suggest and anticipate you will follow the following guidelines.
IT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE THAT YOUR WORK BE LEGIBLE!
1. PRELAB: You are strongly encouraged to study the statement of the experiment and the general engineering field prior to tackling the experiment. The information you develop will be used to predict your results and complete your design. Prelab is not copying formulas from a book into a word processor and pasting the printed output into your notebook. Rather, it is devising a plan or rationale of approach with relevant algorithms, equations and theory.
2. INTRODUCTION: Write 2 or 3 sentences describing the objectives of the lab. An engineering notebook documenting a piece of detailed design should begin with a statement of requirements for the (sub)system being designed. A numbered, step-by-step detailed plan for approaching the design should be included near the beginning so that each phase of the work can be placed in the context of the overall task.
3. PROCEDURES: A detailed description of apparatus used is required. This will typically include a schematic of the experimental setup. Ambient conditions should be reported. Include sufficient description of the procedure such that the work can be easily followed. Procedures such as individual measurements and simulation should be documented prior to actually making the measurement or running the simulation. The function of the measurement or simulation in the overall task should be clearly explained. Remember this important rule: Anyone reading your notebook should be able to understand what you did and why you did it and reproduce you procedure based only on your entries.
4. DATA: Use a consistent set of units and indicate the units clearly. Data should be tabulated whenever possible. All graphs (tables) should have axes (columns) clearly labeled with unit and scale clearly indicated. Hand plotting raw data as you take it - particularly log plots -can help you spot trends and concentrate your measurements on parameter ranges of interest.
Every plot and graph should be explained. Do not append unnecessary graphs and plots. Finally, do not present reduced data as raw data.
5. ANALYSIS: Compare analytical predictions with experimental results.
When discrepancies arise, explain the differences. Provide sample hand calculations with sufficient detail so others can verify your analysis. Provide some interpretation to your results. Report problems encountered and likely sources of error. The best work will include estimates of all errors and analysis of error propagation in the calculations.
6. DESIGN: Reflect on the sensibility of your final design. Are the sizes realistic? Is it practical?
DO NOT REMOVE LAB
BOOKS FROM THE LAB!
Each report will be graded on a 0 to 100 point basis. If you miss all of the sessions of a given lab you will receive zero credit for that lab even though your team members completed the lab satisfactorily. If you miss 1/2 or 1/3 of a lab, then your grade will be recorded at that fraction of the score achieved by the other members of your team. The final course grade will be determined from the average of the report scores and the scores on the graphics and shop prorated according to the following credit ratios.
Lab 70% Graphics 15% Shop 15%
Lab make-up will be done only during the week noted on the attached schedule. The entire team must be present during the make-up session. The team needing lab make-up will be responsible for scheduling the lab, the required supplies, the professor and the lab proctor.
When you are in the lab, be certain that you know:
1. The best way out of the area.
2. The nearest fire extinguisher.
3. The main power shut-off switch.
4. The nearest fire blanket and first-aid kit.
5. The nearest phone and the procedure for getting medical and fire aid.
6. The nearest shower for washing off corrosive material.
An important part of good lab practice which affects safety is good housekeeping. Keep your work area clean and neat. Do not operate equipment alone. It is your responsibility to have at least one other person within earshot. Eye protection is required when you are using rotating or reciprocating machines or when you are working with dangerous fluids. Do not wear shorts or short pants. Avoid wearing long loose sleeves, ties or dangerously long hair while working on rotating or reciprocating machines. Closed shoes and socks are required in the lab and shop areas at all times. Also, no food or drink is allowed the Labs.