Instrumentation Lab
Third year students in the MAE department are introduced throughout the academic year to 16 different experiments that rise in complexity as the year progresses. The objectives of these experiments is to teach why experiments are being conducted, what are some of the common experimental methods, how results are being assessed, and what are the shortcomings of experiments. Experiments in the first semester start with simple measurement such as strain, and temperature but gradually progress to the characterization of oscillating beams, measurements of the volumetric airflow through a fan or the efficiency of single phase electric motors. By using digital data acquisition students learn about automation of experiments and statistical analysis of large data files. In the second semester, students may chose between experiments that characterize an air compressors, water pump, thermoelectric coolers, electromechanically active materials, heat exchangers, heat transfer phenomena, analyze the extent of brain injury due to head impact in car crashes or the energy transfer associate with human gait, study supersonic flows through nozzles or the aerodynamic characteristics of airfoils in subsonic wind tunnels. Some of these experiments are driven by research activities in the department and provide insight into cutting edge technology. With these experiments, concepts taught in the classroom are brought to life and applied as students gather actual data while learning important testing, data acquisition and reduction techniques.