Integrating Graphics And The Concurrent Engineering Design Process Into Electrical Engineering Education

This paper describes a laboratory exercise performed by Electrical Engineering majors taking a first course in electrical circuit theory. The goal of this exercise was to familiarize students with engineering drawings, concurrent product engineering and manufacturing considerations within the context of design applications for an electrical circuit theory class. Since much of engineering design culminates in a manufactured product, the ability to read an engineering drawing should be a developed communication skill. This would promote communication between engineers during the entire design process, thus advancing the progress of the design paradigm termed “concurrent engineering”. These skills can be taught by integrating engineering drawings into existing design projects. This paper describes the integration of graphics and rapid prototyping into an electronic circuit design class and the outcome of the project.