Equipment

Mechatronics

Allen Bradley MicroLogix PLCs
PIC Microcontrollers and Development Boards
Baldor Servo Motors and Ball Screws
Pnuematic Material Handling Systems
MatLab and Simulink Software
LabVIEW Software and Sound and Vibration Toolkit
National Instruments Data Acquistion and Signal Processing Equipment
TTL Logic Training Kits

Vibrations

Piezotronics Impact Hammers
Piezotronics Accelerometers and Force Transducers
TIRA Shaker
Robot: ABB IRB140 6-Axis Industrial Manipulator with IRC5 Controller

Controls

NI PCI-6014 M Series Data Acquisition (DAQ) Card
NI BNC-2120 Signal Processing Unit
NI LabVIEW software
NI Control Design and Simulation (CDSim ) module
Pulse With Modulation (PWM) Servo DC Motor Drivers
Process Simulator (Electrical System)
Temperature Control Stations (Thermal System)
Pendulum Position Control Stations (Mechanical System)
Servo DC Motor Position and Speed Control Stations (Electro-Mechanical System)
Siemens P, PI, PID Industrial Controllers

Analog Circuits

PSPICE Circuit Simulation Software
Tektronix Digital Oscilloscopes
Agilent Function Generators
Circuit-Specialists Power Supplies
Fluke Bench Multimeters
Solderless breadboard
Aluminum Cantilever Beam with Strain Gauges
Miscellaneous (Cd-S photocells, DC motors, Buzzers, LEDs, Diodes, etc)

Overview

The mechatronics, vibrations, and controls laboratory provides students with hands-on experience in four areas of mechanical engineering:

In mechatronics, students learn the fundamentals of automation such as digital logic, microcontrollers, programmable logic controllers, robotics, sensors, and pneumatics.
In vibrations, students learn how structures react to a variety of input forces.
In controls, students learn how to guide or regulate the operation of machines or processes.
In analog circuits, students learn how to design and implement electrical circuits.

Associated Courses

Mechanical engineering students are introduced to the laboratory in the following fashion:

Sophomore year

ME 261: Analog Circuits Lab: Students learn to design. model, build, and test analog circuits.

Junior year

ME 364: Vibrations Lab: Students experimental modal analysis techniques to determine natural frequencies, mode shapes, and frequency response functions of structures.

Senior year

ME 444: Automatic Control Laboratory: Students learn controller design and implementation for a variety electromechanical systems.

ME 460: Robotics Laboratory: Students program an industrial robot to perform a variety of tasks.

ME 490: Mechatronics: Students learn to implement a variety of electromechanical devices such as microcontrollers, programmable logic controllers, pneumatic systems, and servo motor systems.