Are there really enough engineering-related visual presentations in today's classrooms? Of course not! This is why the Society of Manufacturing Engineers encourages its chapters to "hit the ground running" when it comes to showing our students how much fun engineering can be.
We started out with a really cool digital fiberoptic sensor and are slowly building upon it. Here's what we have thus far......
 |
Let's see if you can spot the following:
Digital multimeter |
||
|
Many thanks must be extended to Keyence, Clayton Controls, and Marshall Wolfautomation for their donations and technical assistance. | ||
 |
This rendered image of a partially-complete
assembly (courtesy of IronCAD) gives you an idea of what the stand will look
like. Not shown is the Gast diaphram compressor and compressed air storage tank. |
||
 Here're a couple of photos that show the latest additions - from left to right: 24V power supply, terminal strip, key ignition switch, and 24V flashing alarm strobe light. You can see the diaphragm compressor and compressed air storage tank at the bottom of the following photo. Note the solenoid valve that bleeds air that would be trapped in between the compressor and a check valve. This makes it much easier for the compressor start back up again. The left-side digital pressure sensor shuts off the compressor when the tank pressure reaches 40 psi and the sensor to the right of that one turns on the compressor when tank pressure drops to 30 psi.
|
Let's just say that prototype wiring is almost
always a bit "messy". I did find that one of the pneumatic
cylinder-actuating solenoids is not functioning properly and a new one is on
its way. I also realized that one-way flow control valves for the second and
third pneumatic cylinders are absolutely necessary to prevent the steel ball
from being propelled like buckshot from a rifle!
Also, I added a rare green (dual lens) fiber optic sensor to the very last segment of the steel ball path. The next step is to tidy up all this wiring - not a small feat by any stretch of the imagination! Well, after a few travel-related glitches surfaced at Patrick Henry High, this "Sensors Gone Wild" project proved to be very informative AND entertaining. See pics of this event here.
This night time shot shows the recently installed laser (mounted to the acrylic post at the left front corner) and an LED+piezo alarm (see with 4 LEDs glowing). The laser spot can be seen on the right side-positioned black drill case. This laser has a 1 meter range and features an adjustable aperture for elongating the beam spot. |
