Manufacturing Process Laboratory/Instructional Facility

该项目开发了一个综合实验室，以促进和加强目前机械工程（ME）课程中制造过程的本科教学。与学院的材料测试设备和计算机辅助工程设计设施一起，新的制造过程实验室允许与制造过程研究相结合的重要实践经验，同时强调制造与产品实现过程的其他关键学科的整合，包括产品设计，应力分析和材料选择。推动制造工艺实验室发展的主要动机是缺乏与之前初级制造工艺课程相关的物理实验室经验。新工厂允许学生通过亲身体验和参与零件的制造和检查来了解制造过程。因此，这些设备提供了理论和应用之间的重要联系，并创造了一个更全面和有趣的学习环境。有了这些知识作为先决条件，学生将有机会在以下额外课程中使用实验室设施：(1)凯普斯通高级设计，为大四学生提供一整年的从设计到制造的实验；(2)计算机集成制造，一门建议的高级选修课，其中涉及计算机辅助设计、制造和质量控制的问题；(3)材料科学，在没有物理演示的情况下分析热塑性塑料及其凝固特性。此外，新设备可以在探索工程课程中介绍给一年级的工程专业学生，这门课程介绍了基本的工程概念和问题。

This project develops an integrated laboratory to facilitate and strengthen the current undergraduate instruction of manufacturing processes within a Mechanical Engineering (ME) curriculum. Along with the college's materials testing equipment and computer-aided engineering and design facility, the new Manufacturing Processes Laboratory allows for vital hands-on experience in conjunction with the study of manufacturing processes, while emphasizing the integration of manufacturing with other key disciplines of the product realization process, including product design, stress analysis, and material selection. The main incentive motivating the development of the Manufacturing Processes Laboratory is the lack of a physical laboratory experience associated with the previous junior-level Manufacturing Processes class. The new facility allows students to learn about manufacturing processes through hands-on experience and participation in the fabrication and inspection of parts. The equipment thus serves to provide the vital link between theory and application and creates a more comprehensive and interesting learning environment. With this knowledge serving as a prerequisite, the students are given the opportunity to use the laboratory facility in the following additional courses: (1) Capstone Senior Design, offering a full year design-to-fabrication experiment to ME seniors, (2) Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, a proposed senior elective where the issues of computer-aided design, manufacturing, and quality control are addressed, and (3) Science of Materials, where the analysis of thermoplastics and their solidification properties has been without the benefit of physical demonstration. In addition, the new equipment can be introduced to freshmen engineering students in Exploring Engineering, a course providing an introduction to basic engineering concepts and issues.