Introduction to Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering

Resources

• • Syllabus (Fall 2016)

  • Passport Assignment (Part 1, due in class during the week of 08/29). Create your own Google Site for your Passport. (A 4-minute tutorial on creating Sites is here.)

    • Add your name on the Site

    • Attach the categories "AENG-MENG 1001", "Parks College", and "passport". (Important: I mistakenly say/type "portfolio" in the example. Please use passport as a category, not portfolio.)

    • Give view access (not edit access) to me and to the TA. (Our e-mail addresses are in the Syllabus, above.)

  • Block Diagram Assignment (due the week of 08/29). Choose either a product (e.g., internal combustion engine) or a process (e.g., secure communications from London the French Resistance in World War II). You may work in teams, but your teams must submit one product/process per person on the team. (In other words, a team of 3 must do this assignment for three different items/process.)

• • 1. Draw the block diagram, showing input and output relations between the action blocks. Your block diagram must have at least three elements.

    2. Use the block diagram to diagnose a potential problem. (For example, if the engine won't run, it could be because of a problem with the air intake.)

    3. Use the block diagram to identify a change/improvement that might make the system better. (For example, in the secure-communications problem, the line connecting London to the French Resistance is extremely vulnerable. We might be able to improve things by hiding/obscuring the line of communications between the two - perhaps by embedding our messages in newspaper advertisements.)

(If you see "File Not Found", then you need to Sign In with your SLU ID - scroll all the way to the bottom left corner.)

Design Project Teams

Spring 2016 Assignments (may be changed before they are officially assigned for Fall 2016)

• Design Project

  • • Pt 1: Find the Pain (due 02/22). In your team, identify 3 pains/problems that you would want to solve in this class.

      • The pain must be solvable, meaning that it is something that can be addressed by the creation, deletion or change of something physical. For this class, the focus is on "widgets" not public works.

      • For each pain, you must present the pain to the class in the form of a haiku (3 lines: 5 syllables, then 7 syllables, then 5).

        • You will write your haiku on the board

        • Focus on the problem, not on solutions

    • Pt 2: Benchmarks and Metrics (due 03/14). For one problem, do the following

      • Find 5 benchmarks (existing products or attempts to solve your problem)

        • At least one benchmark must be from outside the domain

        • One of your benchmarks should be the current solution to the problem (or "nothing", if no current solution exists)

      • Define your metrics - the "score card" that will be used to compare two designs and pick the best one

        • You should have between 3 and 7 metrics.

        • The best metrics are measurable - you can assign an objective number to it, rather than a feeling.

        • Weight your metrics to come up with a total score

      • Evaluate your 5 benchmarks using the metrics

        • Score each of the benchmarks to the best of your ability

        • Provide the rating/scoring on a spreadsheet that is shared with the TA and instructor

      • In class, you will briefly (haiku-length, or provide a picture/diagram) introduce your problem, your 5 benchmarks, and your evaluation spreadsheet. Explain what was surprising or unexpected about the results.

    • Pt 3: Concept Generation and Selection (due 03/21). Now is the time to come up with solutions to the problem.

      • Come up with 6 concepts to the solve the problem.

        • These concepts must be new (i.e., not an existing product or service)

        • These concepts must be distinct (each concept must have something important/different about it compared to the other concepts). A bicycle with two wheels is distinct from a "bicycle" with three wheels. A red bicycle is not distinct from a blue bicycle.

        • One of your concepts must be the status quo (i.e., doing nothing, if no product currently exists, or an existing product that has suboptimal equilibrium).

        • One of your concepts must be crazy (i.e., is impractical, impossible or otherwise unlikely to work)

        • If you come up with more than 6 concepts, pare down your list of concepts to the best 4 (plus "status quo" and "crazy"), using your metrics (see below).

      • Using the (updated) metric calculator from Part 2, evaluate all 6 concepts.

      • Create a 7th concept that is the combination of two (or more) of the 6 concepts (i.e., combine the strengths of two concepts that, hopefully, offset the weaknesses). Rate this concept as well.

      • Choose which concept you want to pursue, and explain why you picked this one over the others.

      • In class, you will have 7 minutes to:

        • Briefly (haiku-length, or using a picture/diagram) introduce your problem

        • Show your 6 concepts (using a picture/diagram for each)

        • Show your rating system

        • Introduce your 7th concept and its score

        • Explain which of the 7 concepts you choose, and why

    • Pt 4: Final Presentation (due 05/02). Take your concept to completion.

      • Make a CAD drawing of your product/solution

      • Estimate your sales, both in terms of the total market, and what fraction of the market will be your sales

      • Do a rough-order-of-magnitude (ROM) cost, as we did in class

        • Include estimates for the cost of materials, assembly, infrastructure, transportation, overhead, retail markup

        • Set a sale price

      • Find 3 volunteers (NOT in this class) to review your project

        • Explain to them the original problem/pain you are solving

        • Show them your final design

        • Have them rate your design (using this form)

      • In class, you will have 10 minutes to:

        • Briefly (haiku-length, or using a picture/diagram) introduce your problem. Make sure that you include a "pain" slide, that demonstrates/shows the original pain/need that motivated this problem.

        • Review the metrics and benchmarks, showing that there is a gap in the metrics where the benchmarks can be improved

        • Review 3 of the losing concepts you tried out before settling on your final concept

        • Show your final concept in both CAD and practical terms, if possible

        • Provide your cost estimate

        • Tell us what your outside reviewers thought of your product. Did you make any changes based on their feedback?

        • Explain the strengths and weaknesses of this design. What is good about it? What is bad about it? What would you need in order to improve it? (Examples: More time to design it, better technical knowledge to refine it, a whole new concept, and/or new technologies that haven't been invented, yet.)

• Playpumps

  • • First video (8 minutes)

    • Second video (20 minutes, starting about 3 minutes in)

    • Assignment (Spring 2016)

Note that most of content of this page requires a SLU login to view. The SLU sign-in is just below this line.

You also must have Javascript enabled.