Process Bench For Engineering Technology Laboratory

This paper is a report on work in progress. It describes student involvement in designing a process bench. The Texas A & M University Corpus Christi has recently established four year degree programs in Mechanical Engineering Technology and Control Systems Engineering Technology. Laboratory equipment are being purchased and laboratory exercises are being developed. Many courses e.g. Fluid Mechanics, Principles of Measurements, Control Systems, Digital Logic, Microprocessors and Microcontrollers have laboratory exercises as integral part of the course. Some other courses, such as heat transfer and thermodynamics, would benefit from a laboratory where key principles can be demonstrated. We plan to build a process bench where many of the above mentioned experiments may be conducted and principles demonstrated. Additionally, the program as a whole would benefit from an installation where a series of equipment are interconnected as one sees in an industrial situation. An integrated set up would also provide the students an opportunity to combine a variety of lessons they learn in seemingly unconnected courses. Engineering Technology students in various courses are helping in design and construction of parts of the process bench as project work in these courses.