Udacity Course

At IRE, all students are currently working on their team project, competencies, and professionalism; concurrently, several students are also undertaking an innovative, online class through Udacity. Udacity is offering several free, online courses, beginning with a computer science 101 class. The ultimate goal of the class is to write a web crawler program which is like a simplified version of Google’s or Bing’s search engines. The online class involves watching short YouTube videos, answering questions about those videos, and then practicing writing a program as homework. The programming environment is in Python, which I have found similar to several of the languages I have previously used, i.e. C++ and VBA. Overall, the course has provided a good review of programming and has introduced several new concepts.

Below is a sample of code used to print out multiplication or division of two input numbers:

 

 Proofread by Brian Stephenson and Michael Rudi

Essar Steel Substation Design

This semester I, along with my team, have been tasked with designing a building that will contain the electrical equipment for Essar Steel's new pellet plant being constructed just outside of Nashwauk, MN. The design envolves creating an equipment layout, a grounding system design, a structural building design, a design for lighting, and heating ventalation & air conditioning system design. The scope of our project is rather large compared to other projects that I have been on while at IRE. Due to this large scope we have split our team of six into smaller groups to tackle each of the tasks.

Throughout the first half of our project our team had some very valuable experiences. The team dealt with changes in the design everyday due to factors beyond of our control. I think this is definitely how the industrial world works, so the team learns to manage these changes. Another great experience this project provides is involvment in multiple disciplines of engineering. The project envolves civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering concepts. This project gives our team a close, practical, look at how all disciplines need to work together to produce a high-quality design.


This project, like most IRE projects, helps to shape us as engineers and gives us experiences that help us grow technically, professionally and personally.

Project No. 2

This semester I was given the opportunity to work on second project with DMR Electronics. DMR Electronics is a local company based in Hibbing. They design, manufacture and remanufacture industrial electronic components and wiring harnesses. They also provide electronic manufacturing services (contract manufacturing) for circuit board assemblies.

For this project, I am working alongside fellow Iron Range Engineering student Graham Redshaw. Our project is very detailed. The problem DMR is having is that their power factor is extremely low. Power factor is the ratio of real power to total power and is an indicator of power loss in a distribution system. The lower the power factor, the more wasted energy there is that the power company has to deal with. Therefore, if a company has a low power factor in their equipment, the power company will often implement a surcharge.

Our project involves 4 main steps. Step 1 will be to research power factor. This will give us a background as we move forward in the project. Step 2 is to locate the proper equipment and measure the power factor of all their machines. Step 3 is to analyze the results, and draw conclusions of possible reasons why the power factor is so low. Step 4 will be to give DMR cost estimates of possible solutions to correct their power factor.

This project will be beneficial to me in a number of ways. To begin with, I am improving my professionalism by working with two of DMR’s engineers, Wade Thorson and Steve Dureen. Secondly, I am gaining hands-on experience from working with their equipment and machines. Lastly and most importantly, I am incorporating my technical learning into a real-life project, which is what engineering is all about.

Posted by Cord Semotink

Chemical Engineering Conference

Last week, the three IRE chemical engineering students traveled down to New Orleans for a chemical engineering conference. They were accompanied by Maggie Skelton, who is a chemical engineer at Minnesota Power. Maggie is also their project manager. The conference was held over three days. It covered a wide spectrum of topic areas related to chemical engineering with a heavy focus on safety precautions of operation and design within each area. The conference was populated with people from many different industries which provided the students with an opportunity to look at real chemical engineering case studies. It also introduced them to the real heart of chemical engineering. This was a very valuable experience that will improve chemical engineering curriculum at IRE for future students. The students and program would like to thank Maggie for her guidance and support during the conference and project.

Proofread by: Ron Ulseth, PE

TesGen Prototype Construction

The TesGen team recently visited HydroSolutions of Duluth to fabricate sheet metal parts for our generator. The HydroSolutions staff provided excellent service and expertise about their waterjet capabilities. The staff also took the time to give the Tesgen team a tour of the facilities, explained past projects and provided additional details about the waterjet cutting operations. Some of the topics discussed were tolerances, abrasive material used, cutting pressures, importing .dwg files and the software used in the cutting process.

The team submitted CAD files to Chad, the waterjet operator; and within a few minutes, we were able to begin the cutting process. Below is a picture of the desired cutting path (red) and nozzle path (green)


The parts that we received were machined to the high degree of accuracy that was required. The team is planning to return to HydroSolutions in the near future in order to finish cutting operations and create the bends and rolls necessary for continued construction of the generator.

Manufacturing Tour

From February 8^th to the 10^th sixteen IRE students traveled to Winnipeg, Canada to observe manufacturing styles and techniques at various companies and manufactures. The purpose was to gain a broad understanding of numerous manufacturing processes which could be implemented in future projects.

On the first day we drove through Bagley to visit TEAM industries. They showed us their manufacturing floor and explained to us how they use Lean and Kanban to make their processes run smoothly. The design engineers work hand in hand with the manufacturing side to make all of their products which drives innovation into their power-train solutions.

The next stop was DigiKey. While they do not manufacture anything, we went to see the innovative ways orders are received and shipped within 20 minutes. DigiKey offers great customer service and computer operated management of their packing lines to keep their competitive edge.

From these monsters to the small shop ideas of PodCo, we were able to see a company that is willing to powder coat items to look like anything you want. Their small business mentality gets them their customers and keeps them competitive.

The second day started out in Winnipeg where we went to tour MacDon, a producer of large farm equipment. It was fascinating to see how they are taking their current operations with massive forklift crews and large part bins to something that will eventually be able to be supplied all by hand. Getting to see the old next to the new, you can see the innovation at work.

We continued on to Ancast industries, a small foundry that supplies cast iron products. Their willingness to make products no one else will keeps them competitive. We got to see how real world scenarios can be different than what you may see on a computer. They spend a lot of time and resources perfecting each mold dye so that it will produce what the customer wants and still work on their machines.

CG global was our first stop on the third day. It was astounding to see the size of the transformers and the way that CG builds and tests all of their products. Since these huge pieces have to be transported by train or truck to get to their destinations, we saw how things have to be designed with travel and manufacturing in mind. From the giant windings of copper to the lightning machine, CG conducts an amazing operation.

Finally our tour stopped off at Marvin windows in Warroad, MN. It was amazing to see how much product the company goes through every three weeks. Their “random” warehouse operates by placing items wherever they will fit. The items are catalogued on a computer according to their location by row, height, and section. This allows them to quickly fill and find all of the product in their large warehouse. Their method of producing windows after they are ordered leaves space for inventory of parts and brand new windows for their customers.

IRE would like to thank all of the industries that allowed us to tour their places of business. We also thank all of the individuals who took the time to explain and show us the work that they do.

Proofread by Matt Hudson