Make and Test Projects in Engineering Design: Creativity, Engagement and Learning

Summary:

This is a book about the invention and testing of ideas. By describing how to generate engaging problem situations for engineering students to solve it inspires original currents of thought.

Make-and-test (MaT) is a practical way of testing ideas that challenges the validity of the ideas themselves and the manufacturing skills of the participants. Much of the project work described makes use of such simple materials as balsa wood and candle wax with the occasional appearance of the more exotic: fibre-glass-epoxy composites, for example; the properties and uses of these are examined in depth. All of the inventions described are intended to be well within the range of ingenuity and skills of first- and second-year engineering undergraduates. They can also be useful in stimulating the problem-solving skills of professional engineering and architectural designers so that everyday design questions and more one-off and personal undertakings such as the periodic design challenges offered by professional engineering societies can be interpreted more creatively. The major part of the book is devoted to case examples based on the author's twenty-five years of experience in supervising MaT work but there are many opportunities and exercises throughout the text to explore new MaT projects.

In essence, Make and Test Projects in Engineering Design encapsulates the experience of engineering design from the uncertainty of "Can I tackle this problem?" to the joyous "Aha!" when a solution is discovered. An invaluable teaching tool and resource for the engineering educator and all those planning and conducting make and test projects, this is the first book that formalises an important aspectof early learning in engineering design.


TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Foreword vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgement xv

1. Introduction 1

2. Invention, Creativity, Engagement 13
- 2.1 Inventing, Inventions and Design 17
- 2.2 An Instructive Example: The Can Opener 23
- 2.3 Cognitive Science, Creativity and Analysis in Design 31
- 2.4 Engagement and Learning 38
- 2.5 Some Examples of Generic MaT Projects in Engineering Design 42
- 2.6 The Benefits and Costs of MaT Projects 45
- 2.7 Chapter Summary 52

3. The Genesis and Development of MaT Projects 53
- 3.1 MaT Projects Using Static Structures 53
- Design for Axial Loading (Struts) 54
- Design for Transverse Loading (beams) 55
- 3.2 MaT Projects Designed to Use Moving and
- Dynamic Devices 58
- Energy Sources 58
- Potential Performance Requirements and Variables 59
- Wheeled Vehicles 59
- Vehicles Designed to travel in or Over Water 61
- Airborne Vehicles 63
- Devices with Mixed Performance Requirements 63
- 3.3 Some Key Materials of Construction 65
- 3.4 Level of Difficulty and Complexity of Projects 66
- 3.5 Team Dynamics 70
- 3.6 Morphology of MaT Projects 71
- 3.7 Chapter Summary 76

4. Properties and Application of Some Unconventional Engineering Materials 77
- 4.1 Balsa Wood 78
- Mechanical Properties 80
- 4.2 Newsprint 82
- Mechanical Properties of Paper 88
- 4.3 Polymers, Composites, and Other Strange Structural Materials 89
- Rigid Polyurethane Foam and Foamcore 89
- Bamboo Skewers 90
- Drinking Straws, Spaghetti 91
- Cotton Thread 92
- 4.4 Establishing Mechanical Properties for Materials Used in MaT Model Construction 93
- Testing Balsa Wood 93
- Testing Newsprint 95
- Testing of Other Unconventional Structural Materials 96
- Some Additional Notes on Testing and Failure Behaviour 97
- 4.5 Adhesives 98
- 4.6 Test Results for Mechanical Properties of MaT Project Construction Materials 101
- 4.7 Chapter Summary 106

5. MaT Projects for Static Load-bearing Structures 107
- 5.1 Sample MaT Project Problems and Presentation 107
- 5.2 Case Examples of Static MaT Projects 113
- 5.2.1 Balsa Bridge 113
- 5.2.2 Balsa Structure 116
- 5.2.3 Paper Column 118
- 5.2.3 Urethane Foam Structure 122
- 5.3 Supplementary Opportunities for Static MaT Projects 125
- 5.4 Chapter Summary and Caveats 128

6. Dynamic MaT Projects: Things That Go "Bump" 129
- 6.1 Energy Sources and Their Measurement 130
- Thermal Energy 130
- Potential Energy (Gravity Driven) 132
- Kinetic Energy 133
- Elastic Energy 135
- Electrical Energy Sources 139
- 6.2 A Panoply of Dynamic MaT Projects 142
- Fetch and Carry MaT Projects 143
- Navigationally Challenged Vehicles 144
- "How Can it be Done?" Projects 144
- 6.3 Administration and Conduct of Dynamic MaT Projects 145
- 6.4 Case studies of Dynamic MaT Projects 149
- 6.5 Experimental Evaluation of Energy Available from Various Sources Energy from Toy Rubber Balloons and Mousetraps 150
- 6.6 Chapter Summary 154

7. Case Examples of Dynamic MaT Projects 155
- Projects with Special Focus on Energy Capture and Conversion 156
- Projects Involving Water-based Transport 156
- Projects Using Ground Transport 157
- Airborne MaT Projects 157
- 7.1 A Generic MaT Project Case Example A Beverage Can Roller (ABC) 157
- Sample Entries 159
- 7.2 Three More Documented Case Examples 168
- Case Example 2 – Walking on Water (Aquaped) 168
- Case Example 3 – One Candle-power Engine (OCPE) 176
- Case Example 4 – Mechanical Frog (JFC) 186
- 7.3 A Brief Description of Other MaT Projects 193
- Daring Young Designers and Flying-machines (DYDaF) 193
- Payloads on Pools (PoP) 194
- Projects Involving Direct Head-to-head Contests (Drawbar Pull) 196
- Projects Using Various Novel Forms of Energy 197
- Climbing and Jumping MaT Projects 197
- 7.4 Some Concluding Notes on Design Guidance and Engagement 201
- 7.5 Chapter Summary 202

8. Concluding Notes and Some "CUTIEs" 203
- 8.1 CUTIE 1: Temperature-controlled Soldering Iron 204
- 8.2 CUTIE 2: Galileo's Thermometer 205
- 8.3 CUTIE 3: Tensegrity Structures 207
- 8.4 CUTIE 4: Renewable Energy Sources 209
- Wind Farms 209
- Energy from the Ocean 209
- 8.5 Demonstration of Physics Principles 211
- MaT Project Metaphor 211
- 8.6 Some Further Interesting Problems 218
- The Shape of Things 219
- The Way Things Work 221
- Limits of Performance 223
- Some Not-so-clever Inventions 223
- Creative Ideas and Patents 225
- 8.7 Chapter Summary 228
- References and Bibliography 229
- Engineering Case Library 241
- Readings for MaT Project Planning 242

Appendix A1. A Primer on Mechanics 243
- A1.1 Statics 243
- A1.1.1 Forces 243
- A1.1.2 Planar Pinned Structures 245
- A1-1.3 Bending 248
- A1-1.4 Torsion 251
- A1.2 Dynamics 252
- A1.2.1 Force and Acceleration 252
- A1.2.2 Work and Energy 254
- A1.3 Very Elementary Gas Dynamics 257
- A1.4 Newton or Aristotle? 261

Appendix A2. Units of Measurement and Conversion Factors 263
- Systems of Measurement and Standardisation 264
- The Seven Fundamental SI Units 265
- Some Derived Units and Dimensions 265
- Conversion Factors 268

Appendix A3. Some Properties of Plane Sections and Answers to Selected Exercises 269

Index 273