The Integration of Physical Experimentation Based on NI ELVIS System into an Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Program

Abstract

This paper reports the results of the development and implementation of hands-on laboratory experiments in a newly developed laboratory for a course in Instrumentation and Measurements. The course, designed for the undergraduate junior level, was a two-semester course for a total of four credits, and it took place in conjunction with a one-hour classroom lecture in mechanical engineering. A modified version of this approach, however, can easily be used at all levels of the mechanical engineering curriculum. This laboratory’s development process began by writing a successful proposal for outside funding in order to create a hands-on teaching laboratory. A two-semester long, open-ended project was utilized, a process which required the students to come up with creative approaches to problem solving. Consequently, a full-cycle learning experience took place. The students began with the development of an initial idea, continued on through the design and construction of a working prototype (including both system and measurement sensors on prototyping boards in ELVIS), and concluded by conducting a feasibility study, which involved writing a report and giving a presentation. Currently, the ELVIS system is used extensively in many instructional electrical engineering laboratories. Its application within mechanical engineering programs, however, required the development of completely new experiments involving newly designed software, which had to be developed and built in-house.