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 Academic Year: | 2016/7 |
| Owning Department/School: | Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| Credits: | 6 [equivalent to 12 CATS credits] |
| Notional Study Hours: | 120 |
| Level: | Honours (FHEQ level 6) |
| Period: |
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| Assessment Summary: | CW 40%, EX 60% |
| Assessment Detail: |
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| Supplementary Assessment: |
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| Requisites: | |
| Description:
| Aims: To provide a practical understanding of microcontrollers, logic and signal processing and introduce related design methods; to introduce the concept of signals and describe methods for their processing and recording. To provide an understanding of various electrical devices and methods for their selection in a variety of engineering applications, and to introduce the concepts of performance of electro-mechanical systems. Learning Outcomes: After taking this unit the student should be able to: * Describe the elements of information coding and simple signal conversion. * Understand the basics of micro-controllers and their use. * Specify and select suitable instrumentation equipment for a variety of control and data collection purposes. * Describe the principles of various electrical drives and their selection criteria for practical application in product design. * Apply drive selection techniques and evaluate performance for particular applications. * Make use of appropriate manufacturers' catalogues. Skills: Problem solving; numeracy; written communication; working independently. Content: Microcontroller fundamentals: registers, RAM, ROM, input/output. Assembly code. Applications: a selection from: display driving, motion control, data logging, serial communications to a PC. Operational amplifiers, non-ideal characteristics and circuit applications; noise sources, interference, shielding and grounding techniques, filtering; signal conversion, modulation and multiplexing; examples of transducer families including strain gauges, piezo and digital devices; signal conditioning circuits; transducer and system performance, and selection criteria. Stepper motors and servo motors: types, operational characteristics and models; control techniques for stepper and servo motors; modern drives for stepper and servo motors; determination and characterisation of load cycles; drive selection criteria for various product applications; auxiliary elements of an electro-mechanical drive system; safety, reliability, performance, cost, size/weight and efficiency; design of drive systems for classical applications; manufacturers' catalogues and their use in product design. Topics for self study that may be examined. |
| Programme availability: |
ME30295 is Compulsory on the following programmes:Department of Mechanical Engineering
ME30295 is Optional on the following programmes:Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Notes:
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