Department of Mechanical Engineering, Unit Catalogue 2009/10 |
ME30295: Electronics, signals and drives |
 Credits:
| 6 |
| Level:
| Honours |
| Period: | Semester 1 |
| Assessment:
| CW 50%, EX 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment: | ME30295 Re-assessment (where allowed by programme regulations) |
| Requisites:
| Before taking this unit you must take ME20021 and take ME20025 |
| Description: | Aims: * To provide a practical understanding of microcontrollers, logic and signal processing and introduce related design methods; to introduce the concept of signals and describe methods for their processing and recording. * To provide an understanding of various electrical devices and methods for their selection in a variety of engineering applications, and to introduce the concepts of performance of electro-mechanical systems. Learning Outcomes: After taking this unit the student should be able to: * Describe the elements of information coding and simple signal conversion. * Understand the basics of micro-controllers and their use. * Specify and select suitable instrumentation equipment for a variety of control and data collection purposes. * Describe the principles of various electrical drives and their selection criteria for practical application in product design. * Apply drive selection techniques and evaluate performance for particular applications. * Make use of appropriate manufacturers' catalogues. Skills: Problem solving; numeracy; written communication; working independently. Content: Microcontroller fundamentals: registers, RAM, ROM, input/output. Assembly code. Applications: a selection from: display driving, motion control, data logging, serial communications to a PC. Operational amplifiers, non-ideal characteristics and circuit applications; noise sources, interference, shielding and grounding techniques, filtering; signal conversion, modulation and multiplexing; examples of transducer families including strain gauges, piezo and digital devices; signal conditioning circuits; transducer and system performance, and selection criteria. Stepper motors and servo motors: types, operational characteristics and models; control techniques for stepper and servo motors; modern drives for stepper and servo motors; determination and characterisation of load cycles; drive selection criteria for various product applications; auxiliary elements of an electro-mechanical drive system; safety, reliability, performance, cost, size/weight and efficiency; design of drive systems for classical applications; manufacturers' catalogues and their use in product design. Topics for self study that may be examined. |