Integrated Instrumentation And Control For Mechanical And Electrical Engineering Technology

Instrumentation, measurement and control involving modern industrial processes have evolved significantly during past few decades. Availability of smart sensors and fast data acquisition, processing and control technology have integrated instrumentation and control to a more cost effective, speedy and reliable process. To address industry need in the skill of engineering graduates as well as practicing engineers/technicians, a modular curriculum and laboratory is being developed in the subject area. These modules are (a) modern industrial processes, (b) sensors and transducers, (c) data acquisition and data processing, (d) process control, and (e) integrated measurement, data acquisition and control. This modular curriculum is designed to fulfill the need for two and four year undergraduate programs in mechanical engineering technology (MET) and electrical engineering technology (EET), as well as training industrial professionals. By varying the emphasis on each module, the same curriculum and laboratory may be used for each category of audience. While MET programs will emphasize more module (a), (b) and (e); EET students will focus more on module (c), (d) and (e). Training programs for industry professionals will be customized case by case. The laboratory consists of LavVolt process stations, actuators drives, commercially available sensors/transducers, National Instrument data acquisition hardware and PC with LabVIEW software. This NSF sponsored project is scheduled for completion by June 2000.