Practice-oriented intuitive approach for engineering undergraduates: a case study

• Autores: Huixing Zhou, Peng Sun, Dong Zheng
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 28, no. Extra 4, 2012, págs. 824-830
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Although mathematical illustrations are widely used to explain concepts in control engineering education, however it appearssomewhat difficult for some students to understand in the initial stage and then results in reducing of their learning enthusiasm. Wenoticed that students have huge interesting and active attitudes about experiment. In this paper, we introduced the experiment ofpoint-to-point movement, typically in manufacture industry, for the students with no any control knowledge. Based on theprinciples of traditional rotary motors, students are guided to design a linear motor platform. The linear motor moves from zeroposition to a desired position. Students are requested to do their best to design a controller based on their intuitions andexperiment results. The results and problems occurred will encourage students to study control knowledge and back to solve theproblems. This practice-oriented intuitive approach (POIA) offers an alternative to learning control theory from concreteexperience, so students can grasp knowledge and relate control concepts to simple events. A case study is provided, which involvesa team of five undergraduates with a project named linear motor driven inverted pendulum and controller design sponsoredthrough the Undergraduate Research Program (URP) by China Agricultural University. The results confirm the effectiveness of theproposed method.