Novel Demonstration Kits for Fundamental Mechanical Engineering Concepts

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of South Carolina offers academic programs and research opportunities in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, and nuclear engineering led by experienced faculty. USC-ME is a Tier 1 research department, ranked #31 nationally and #1 in the state by the National Research Council. The Mechanical Engineering Department at UofSC is among the front-runners in innovation and technology and boasts one of the largest mechanical engineering programs in South Carolina. With approximately 900 undergraduate students, 180 graduate students and 34 full-time faculty, 5 full-time instructors, and 11 staff members, the department provides world-class, diverse, interdisciplinary, and cutting-edge engineering education to our students. High-quality engineering education is a key activity conducted within the Mechanical Engineering Department at UofSC across a range of courses ranging from introductory general engineering skills to highly specialized cutting-edge concepts. It is critical that students are well-educated in
the fundamental concepts of general and mechanical engineering so that they can be developed into competent, successful engineers to make meaningful contributions to the engineering community.

Mechanical engineering students, Annsley Gray, Michele Lunga, Matt Moore, and Evan Watson under the direction of the course instructor, Dr. Joshua Gray, corporate sponsor, Dr. Subramani Sockalingam, and faculty advisor, Dr. Odell Glenn, created a project entitled "Novel Demonstration Kits for Fundamental Mechanical Engineering Concepts" aimed to create a learning environment that would prove successful for students
attempting to pass two historically rigid classes in the mechanical engineering department to further their degree achievement. The senior design team developed in-class demonstration kits incorporating novel approaches on the following key concepts related to EMCH 200, Statics and EMCH 260, Solid Mechanics: Force and moment equilibrium, Moment of inertia, Friction, Stress-strain, Mohr’s circle, Beam bending, Torsion, and Material failure. The team engaged in weekly meetings with the project sponsor and faculty mentor, market research, as well as interaction with students in these courses. Product Specifications were established through discussion and student testimonials during EMCH 200 classes and Supplemental instruction sessions. Ensuring that these needs are met will guarantee the project sponsor and their goal of consumer satisfaction.

The three design concepts were #1, "The Length Game Design". Students will use the torque along the length of a wrench (also known as the moment arm) to find the force exerted on the wrench. The mechanical engineering students constructed the wrench from pre-manufactured ratchets.  The topics covered in this game are torque, mechanical advantage, and moment. Three topics for which concepts have been considered difficult for students to initially grasp.

The 2nd design concept entitled "Seasaw Demonstration"  Moments and equilibrium design concepts were implemented here. Students used a 3D-printed design with premanufactured weights. In this design, students are given an unknown weight and a known length ratio for each side. They will then use the force balance equation to determine the weight needed on the other side to balance the seesaw.  

Design #3 was entitled "3D Vector Plot Diagram". Visualizing 3-D can be very difficult for students to grasp especially in freshman and sophomore-level courses. Here students use strings on a smaller-scaled 3-D cube to simulate the x, y, and z-axis. The goal is to get students to visualize 3-D components.

All 3 of these designs have been developed and are ready to be implemented in classrooms for trial testing.

Annsley Gray is a senior mechanical engineering student having internship experience in manufacturing settings with reliability engineering and will be working at S