New lab project for non-EE majors provides hands-on experience with Analog/Digital, and Programmable temperature controllers

Abstract

We designed and implemented in Fall 2010 a new laboratory project in a large introductory course in Electrical Engineering (EE) for non-EE majors. This project provides hands-on experience with electronic devices that combine analog, digital, and programmable circuits, which engineering students can easily relate to projects in their field of major. During 2 hours in the lab, students (in teams of two) work with two partly prebuilt temperature controllers (TC) that have the same functionality and use the same type of thermistor as the sensor, and the same actuators: 3 light-emitting diodes and a cooling fan (turning the fan on/off includes hysteresis). [#1] The Analog/Digital TC is based on TC621 IC and two ICs with logic gates. [#2] The Programmable TC is based on PSoC EVAL1 evaluation kit, which includes a Programmable System on the Chip by Cypress Semiconductor, donated through their University Alliance Program. All key concepts of this project are covered in lectures and may be transferable to other fields of engineering in which the students major. Our learning objectives include: understanding the block diagrams and principles of operation; partial building of the circuits; verification of the functionality of both temperature controllers; varying the temperature set point by setting the potentiometer in controller #1 and by programming of controller #2. In the Fall 2010 semester we offered this lab project to 209 engineering students in our introductory course for non-EE majors and collected feedback from 167 students in a survey with multiple-choice questions and in focus group discussions. 84% students see this lab as interesting; 75-78% agree that theoretical concepts and in-lab procedures are clearly explained in the manual; 75% feel that the in-lab assignment helped them understand the principles of the system; 57% feel that they can apply the concepts and skills learned in this project to other courses; 54% students feel that these concepts and skills are valuable for their future careers. © 2011 American Society for Engineering Education.