Multidisciplinary Design Of A Reporting System Utilizing Pager Technology

This is an industrial capstone design project involving the design of an electromechanical transfer system capable of winding and unwinding a material from one spool to another. The distance between the spools is provided. It is also specified that the material be under constant tension during the operation; the linear speed of the material be user-controlled during run time; and the system be able to operable in the either clockwise or counterclockwise direction. It is also required to design a monitoring system using microprocessor technology to periodically report the operating status, operating speed, operating time, and operating direction to an alphanumeric pager. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the problem, the electrical engineering and mechanical engineering departments formed an interdisciplinary student design team to participate in the project. The students designed, produced and tested the system to fulfill the major requirements. The paper presents the design and more importantly the lessons learned and the benefits derived this experience.