Fluids Learning Discussion

In order to learn all of the competencies expected of a Mechanical Engineering graduate there are many different learning paths that will be taken by our program. One of them is learning discussions that the students and faculty will have together. Our first discussion was on the topic of fluids. Together with Dan we started to lay out a concept map for the course. To say the least we did not get too far along before getting into a very intense conversation dealing with the fluid property of density. We used the example of air. The air closest to the ground is the most dense. The reason for this it is heavier, having the highest oxygen content. This is why breathing gets harder as you move up in elevation. On hot days, air is less dense than it is on cold days. Airplanes often struggle in warm weather; because of the lower density the wings travel easier through the air and it is harder to create the same amount of drag and lift that there is on a cold day. The same principle says that a baseball will travel faster on a warm day. We also made the relation of this topic to snowmobile carburetors and the use of jetting. Jetting is simply a way to change the amount of air to fuel mixture entering the carburetor. In colder weather, a larger fuel jet is used to increase the amount of fuel going into the carbeurator to compensate the increased amount of Oxygen in the air. The machine would be running lean in this case if you did not jet. In the mountains a smaller jet is needed to limit the fuel to compensate the less dense air. Not jetting would result in a machine running rich, to much fuel for the amount of air. If you want to get a better understanding of density check this site out: http://www.bettinginfo.net/art41.html

proofed by Alex and Cory

Blandin Cart

The Blandin cart group had a project meeting with Blandin the other day. This was our first go around with our project based learning. The Blandin engineers told us what was good and bad about our design. After the meeting, we regrouped and made changes that were needed in our project. Now we are waiting for our next meeting with Blandin, which is early next week.
What is nice about this project is that we are doing a industry based project with a industrial client. This is different than past projects that were done internally. This being our first out of house project, we have had to learn a lot. Communication is the limiting factor, which has slowed us down. Also, we have to deal with the manufacturer to build the cart, which has also challenged us. We have come to realize that you are always making changes all the time throughout the design process. Overall, the project has been a fun learning experience, and it has been a challenge for all of us.

Proofed by Tyler and Dannyl

ICC

Friday was a day spent at ICC. For most of the day, we all worked on our projects. However, throughout the day, we all had meetings with ICC's EPD 2 and EPD 4 classes. They have been assigned some projects and have entered the project cycle, just as we have. The meetings were meant for us to be guides and mentors for the ICC students and to help them in any way that we could, giving them advice about their papers and about their projects.

We also had a meeting with Jon Byrne, from ICC. He helped us develop a more formal format for our future technical papers. He also met with each of the project groups and went through their Request for Project Proposal. He didn't know much about our projects, but he knew a lot about grammar and what is presentable and appropriate for technical papers and what should be reserved for less technical type documents. It was interesting to learn.

Today, we are back at IRE and we're continuing to work on our projects. This afternoon will be the second design review for our projects. I believe this review will be focused on how we are learning the competencies that we have stated we will learn in the RFPP.

Proofed by: Cory Moran

Dan's Raft Cart

Our initial project for this semester is to build Dan a raft cart. For this raft cart project, we were assigned to build a cart to transport an inflatable raft. This raft is used on the Alaskan shore, so seawater will be present. This constraint, limits the building materials we can choose from due to corrosion factors. The cart is being built for our new teacher Dan. One of his needs is that he wants it to be light enough so that his wife could also be able to use it. The main objective for the cart is to transport the raft from his cabin to the shoreline, over rocks and other rough terrain. Our design was built around these constraints. We used ProE to model our initial design for the first design review. For me, getting used to ProE again was a little work. I had not used the program extensively since my first semester of freshman year at ICC. I was amazed at the commands and controls I remembered after only a short amount of time. By the end of the day I had built multiple parts for the cart. In one day, the group modeled a complete cart, a raft, and two handle attachments. We will meet Dan later today to recieve feedback on our initial design.

proofed by Austin

Super Cooled

Today the Sauna Heater Team had the opportunity to play with heat transfer. This team has the task to provide a product that has the ability to heat a 6'x8'x7' sauna from 65 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. The city of Virginia, MN steam heats about 2,500 accounts, businesses and residents. The steam plant on the other side of Silver Lake burns biomass to create steam. The steam is fed through turbines to knock down the pressure to 50 psig (pounds per square inch gauge), and to create a little electricity. The steam is fed through insulated copper piping to houses around town. Our group of 4 is going to use this steam heat to warm our consumer's sauna. Three of my group members: Erin, Richie, and Deric, have had thermodynamics. I have not taken thermodynamics yet. This provides for a very interesting learning experience to say the least. Today I learned about super heated steam and sub-cooled steam. I kept calling it super cooled steam because it sounded sweet. One group member didn't seem to like it as much and made sure to correct me often. Since the steam around town is anywhere from 10-50 psig. We are under the assumption that the steam is super cooled or I mean sub cooled. What this means is that its right or below 212 degree saturation temperature; below this temperature it is classified as a sub-cooled liquid. If it was above its saturation temperature of 212 degrees it would be super heated. Saturation temperature is where a phase change occurs so liquid water boils at 212 at sea level so this is its saturation temperature. Today at IRE I'm one step further on my Thermodynamics journey.

 

Proofed by: Ewin

Projects and Mankato

Last Thursday marked the start of our project cycle. We're starting with a relatively small, internal project. This project will be used as a test run for the future project cycles to come. The group that has been working on the Blandin Project will continue working on this project. Another group will be working on a cart for a raft and the other group will be working on a sauna heater. Today, our first Request for Project Proposal is due for the project. All the projects have the due date of February 11. I'm excited to see how everything works out, and to learn what goes right and what can be improved, so that our methods will be improved.

Over the weekend, all of us went down to Mankato. On the way down, we stopped and toured Owatonna Tool Company. Then, we went to Mankato. Saturday night we all went to the Minnesota State University, Mankato vs. UMD men's hockey game. We got tickets to what is called the Blue Line Club. An hour before the game, we met at their civic center. We got free food, door prizes were given away and we got to hear the MSU Mankato coach give a speech. It was a pretty sweet deal. Then we headed across the street to the arena to watch the game; where we were given access to the Presidential Box. We definitely got the royal treatment down there. It was a lot of fun.

Now we're back in Virginia, working hard at IRE once again.

Proofed by: Erin Lamke

New Semester

Though we all enjoyed the cold winter break, we are ready to put IRE into working order. The first day back, we went to NRRI to learn more about the mining process. Throughout the day we learned about mineral processing. We focused mainly on the liberation of the material. I didn't know they had so many methods to crush and break apart the rock. Crushers, rod mills, and high pressure grinding may all complete the same main task, but they all have their specific application in the mining process. We were also taught the different ways of separation and were able to see them first hand in their lab.
On Tuesday we met with both Ron and Dan. We received word that we will be launching a new project this Thursday. None of us know what it entails so we are eager to get started. We also discussed how we will format and write what we call "Request For Project Proposals". This will basically be a detailed report including an executive summary, a detailed learning plan with both learning objectives and learning modes, and a detailed design plan. We will all write one of these for each of our projects to establish an organized way to complete the project while learning the correlated professional and technical competencies.

Proofed by Tyler