Applied Control System Design

Session F4D

The Use of Applied Process Control Systems Design to Attract Engineering Students Jeffrey R. Mountain Associate Professor, The University of Texas at Tyler, Department of Mechanical Engineering Tyler, TX 75799 [email protected]

Abstract - Hands-on, design oriented experiences have been shown to increase awareness of engineering as a profession and to attract students to enter engineering programs. Most of these programs, while very successful, specifically target highly specialized industries. In an effort to appeal to a wider variety of engineering disciplines, the University of Texas at Tyler, with the aid of National Science Foundation grant funding, has proposed to use the multidisciplinary process control industry as a theme to attract students into the engineering profession. The topic area of process controls has applicability to a wide range of engineering disciplines including agricultural, chemical, electrical, mechanical, and petroleum engineering. This paper will describe how the Process Control Breadboard, a proof of concept system developed to attract and retain engineering students, is being used as both a demonstration tool and a hands-on design, build, test activity for K-12 outreach activities. Preliminary results from initial outreach activities will be presented along with the plan for future activities to stimulate interest, awareness and enrollment of highly qualified engineering students. Index Terms – Hands-on design activities, K-12 Outreach, Multidisciplinary. INTRODUCTION Attracting and inspiring students to enter the engineering profession has achieved a high level of recent attention. A key factor in attracting and retaining students in engineering programs is the level of pre-college preparation. While all high school students must successfully complete a minimum level of mathematics and science coursework, many of these minimal programs do not adequately prepare students to directly enter an engineering program without remediation. As a whole, secondary school students are not sufficiently motivated or prepared in science and mathematics as needed to meet the challenges of the 21st century [1]. An emphasis on stimulating interest is evidenced by the growth of programs such as FIRST [2] and Botball [3]. In addition, programs related to space exploration have also been successful at stimulating interest in engineering careers. Most of these programs, while successful at creating a higher level of initial interest, are in highly specialized, selective employment industries that are not able to employ large numbers of engineers. In order to increase the completion rate of graduate

engineers, there is a need to identify a multidisciplinary industry that has significant employment opportunities. There is also a need to develop a strategy that will make this industry appealing to prospective engineering students. In an effort to inspire more students to adequately prepare themselves to enter university-level engineering programs, the University of Texas at Tyler, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, has proposed the development of an integrated approach to attract and retain engineering students using the multidisciplinary field of process controls as the topical focus. This approach proposes to combine a specially developed system of components with an array of activities to achieve an increase in the quantity and quality of prospective engineering students. The Process Control Breadboard is a proof-of-concept system that is both a demonstration tool and a hands-on design, build, test platform. Although fully capable of providing university-level design capability to help retain students throughout their baccalaureate engineering degree programs [4], this paper will focus on the use of the system as a tool for K-12 outreach activities. Students in grades 8-12 are specifically targeted, since success with this group will provide a near term solution for relieving the shortage of U.S. born and educated engineering professionals. AN INTEGRATED ATTRACT AND RETAIN STRATEGY “Development of a Process Control Breadboard System to Attract and Retain Engineering Students” presents an integrated approach to increase the number students entering and completing university programs in preparation for entering the engineering profession. The project has three goals formulating the strategy to attract and retain future engineering students. The first goal is the development of the system hardware. The second goal is to use the developed system as a means to attract area high school and middle school students to enter the engineering profession. Third, it is proposed to integrate the breadboard system into the mechanical engineering curriculum at each undergraduate academic level to improve the retention rate of engineering students at The University of Texas at Tyler (UT-Tyler). The first goal is almost fully realized. Development of the system hardware is still in progress, but most of the major system components have been developed. A general description of the breadboard system and the inspiration for its development will be presented in a later section of this manuscript.

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Session F4D The second goal, to attract students to enter an engineering program has three major objectives: a) take the system to the students, b) bring the students to the system and c) gather data from the students that interact with the system to determine if they will enter an engineering program. Both demonstration and hands-on activities will be used to achieve the goal and objectives. Students in grades 8 – 12 fall in a range where they can comprehend the concepts presented and appreciate the relevance of process controls to a diverse set of industries. The third goal, to integrate the use of the system across the UT-Tyler Mechanical Engineering curriculum is presently in progress, having been integrated into Senior and Junior level courses. Integration into a Freshman-level course is currently underway and a sophomore level offering is pending. Initial impressions from students are generally positive and a refinement of the curriculum integration is planned for the next course offerings. While a discussion of achievements related to the second goal is of primary interest, it is difficult to describe activities based on a uniquely developed hardware system without a description of the system. Consequently, a brief discussion of the inspiration for the Process Control Breadboard system, and an introduction to the basic components, follows. THE INSPIRATION The design, build and test of industry relevant thermal/fluid systems in an academic environment are frequently hindered by the costs, of both time and money, involved in system realization. The acquisition of specialized materials and components, the need for skilled tradesmen to assemble the systems and the time required to coordinate and realize the physical design are factors that cause many education-based thermal/fluid system designs to become “paper only” or “virtual” designs. While many trainer-based systems exist, selection and configuration design of these systems are completed by the manufacturers, effectively negating any academic value as design education tools. The challenge is to remove the need for single use components or materials, as well as the need for skilled trades fabrication, while maintaining a viable design education experience. What came to mind is a breadboard-type system, conceptually similar to electrical or mechanical breadboard systems used to realize circuits and transmissions [5, 6]. These systems support a variety of compatible components and require minimal tooling and skills to complete the assembly of a system. Inherent to the concept, students have the ability to select and configure components to realize a working model of a system design. While the quantity and variety of components are limited, the open-ended aspect of system design is not severely compromised by limiting the domain of available components. Selection design and configuration design are recognized design realms that exercise the analytical and decision-making skills required of aspiring engineers. Constraining the design domain only increases the ability to realize the design in an academic environment.

Process control system performance is not strictly determined by the element selection. The physical arrangement of elements can significantly alter the system dynamics, introducing time lags or changing the frequency and/or time domain response of the system. Given the same set of components, different configurations will display different operational characteristics; potentially rendering a viable system of components functionally unusable. The initial concept for the Process Control Breadboard was proposed at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers International Mechanical Engineering Conference and Exposition 2002 (ASME – IMECE 2002) [7]. Comments resulting from the peer review process displayed an enthusiasm for this design approach. Consequently, an unsolicited proposal was prepared and submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF). Based on positive reviews of technical and pedagogical merit, funding for development and implementation, over a three-year time frame, was obtained from the Engineering Education and Centers Division of NSF [8]. THE BREADBOARD SYSTEM Following the first eight months of the project, the breadboard concept has evolved to include the backplane component, flow-control valves, heat generators and exchangers, sensors, vessels, pumps and connectors. A system design can be quickly assembled with essentially no tools and low force using quick-connect devices. The backplane contains multiple, equipotential circuits with access points located on a uniformly spaced grid. Figure 1 is a digital photograph of a backplane component on a rolling frame.

FIGURE 1 BACKPLANE COMPONENT OF THE PROCESS CONTROL BREADBOARD SYSTEM.

Each backplane contains 22 equipotential, manifold circuits with 5 access points in each circuit. The circuits are configured in column format, with two separate rows of circuits. Manually actuated and pneumatically actuated valve elements provide manual and fully automatic control capability. At present, a variety of manual valve sizes and types have been configured to work with the backplane

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Session F4D component. Figure 2 illustrates a sample of the different manually actuated valve components available.

FIGURE 2 A GLOBE VALVE, A BALL VALVE AND A BUTTERFLY VALVE REPRESENT A SAMPLE OF MANUALLY ACTUATED VALVE TYPES AVAILABLE TO ACCOMPLISH THERMAL/FLUID CONTROL.

Heat exchange elements, such as water heaters, steam generators or shell and tube heat exchangers provide sources of controllable process media where selection and configuration of components can greatly influence system performance. Compressed air can also be used as a controllable medium, creating additional design applications. Figure 3 illustrates two shell and tube heat exchanger configurations, developed for use with the breadboard system.

the breadboard backplane, the foundation component of the system. Combined with the modular nature of the components and selection of components that do not require extraordinary power or water resources, a demonstration and hands-on activity can be delivered to area middle, junior high, and high schools with relative ease. Each backplane structure supports two independent backplanes in a back-to-back configuration, allowing for a pre-configured demonstration system on one side and a hands-on activity on the other. Since the system is capable of prototyping fully automatic process control systems, as part of the goal to achieve curriculum integration, a “whiz bang” system demonstrating the design objective of the hands-on activity can be configured. This approach should stimulate interest in process control automation and ultimately initiate inquiry about engineering as a career. Bringing the students to the system will be accomplished during open house activities occurring at various times during the year and during weeklong summer day camps. While the first day camps will not occur until Summer 2004, high school students from four area schools, both public and private, attended an open house activity during Fall 2003. The Process Control Breadboard system was a featured, hands-on exercise during this open house activity. A description of this initial activity and a summary of the feedback from both students and teachers in attendance are presented in the sections to follow. INITIAL OUTREACH ACTIVITY

FIGURE 3 MULTIPASS (LEFT) AND SINGLE PASS (RIGHT) SHELL AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGERS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED TO READILY INTEGRATE INTO PROCESS SYSTEMS USING THE PROCESS CONTROL BREADBOARD SYSTEM.

To complement the control actuators, a variety of sensor components have been configured to interface with the Breadboard system. Devices to measure flow rate, temperature and pressure, with either computer interface or human readable displays, are included to provide additional elements for control system design and operation. Many of these process properties use the measurement of related properties and require the application of constituent equations to determine the property of interest. The application of mathematics and physics to determine the value of control variables provides an interface to the secondary school educational experience. While a complete description of the system capabilities will not be presented, the previous outline will hopefully be sufficient for a basic understanding of the systems capability and operation. With the general description of the system presented, it is now possible to describe how the second goal, to attract students to enter an engineering program, will be achieved. ATTRACTING STUDENTS TO THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION The first strategy to increase student interest requires porting the system to area schools. To help achieve this objective, lightweight components were selected for the construction of

The engineering programs at UT-Tyler have regularly conducted hands-on, on campus, outreach activities for area high schools. While the activities in previous years, such as the Scrap Pile Challenge [9], have been well received, the cost per student, in both time and funding, has been considered relatively high. In 2003, an open house format was adopted so that greater numbers of prospective students could be exposed to a broader view of UT-Tyler engineering programs. The open house is structured so that hands-on activities, showcasing each engineering program, are integrated with a targeted tour of the laboratory facilities. UT-Tyler students perform demonstrations, conduct the tours, and assist with the hands-on activities. Each hands-on activity is to be completed in 30 minutes and needs to accommodate 15 to 20 high school participants. The first open house was conducted in spring 2003. During the Fall 2003 open house, the Process Control Breadboard system became the focus of the Mechanical Engineering program’s hands-on activity. The design problem presented to the students is analogous to the mixing process of a bathtub or shower valve, but was posed as a chemical production process; two chemicals must be mixed at a specific temperature in order to achieve maximum saleable product. Mixing was accomplished by introducing hot and cold water into a common manifold with a single exit connection. The concept of performance constraints was introduced; a minimum allowable temperature was specified, symbolizing the temperature at which usable product would be produced, and a maximum allowable temperature was specified, symbolizing the combustion

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Session F4D temperature that would lead to catastrophic failure. The students were told that falling below the minimum production temperature, after initial startup, could cost the company money and the design team their “job.” Since the breadboard backplanes are arranged in back-to-back pairings, two teams shared hot water supplies and a common cold water connection. This created an integrated disturbance due to the system interactions. Each cold water system was equipped with a valve that would reduce the available cold water and initiate an external disturbance. The activity began with an introduction to the system and the engineering student assistants and included a presentation of the objective. A brief demonstration of a system, configured with additional components, was provided to illustrate that the objective could be realized. Brief descriptions of valves, based on their color-coded handles and adjustment characteristics, were provided since valve selection was one of the principle design decisions to be made. The shared resources for hot water and cold water were preconfigured and each team was provided with a temperature probe port connector, digital thermometer and effluent hose connection so that the systems could be completed and tested in the time allotted. Student assistants helped locate component parts, but provided only minimal technical assistance; the goal was to have the high school students get their hands-on experience. Teams were allowed approximately 18 minutes to select, assemble and test their systems. Actuating a disturbance valve, once complementary teams had completed their system assembly, increased the excitement level and appeared to fully engage the students in an effort to stabilize their systems. All of the students appeared to appreciate the complexity of disturbance problem, as well as the problems associated with the shared resources. Figure 4 shows student groups beginning to configure their systems by selecting an initial location for the temperature probe connector.

FIGURE 4 FOUR TEAMS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS BEGINNING TO CONFIGURE THEIR MIXING SYSTEMS DURING THE FALL 2003 OPEN HOUSE ACTIVITY.

level of engagement was typical for each of the four groups of students that were rotated through this activity during this open house. It should be noted that a high percentage of female participants were actively engaged in all aspects of the exercise; a result that was desirable, but not necessarily expected. Figure 5 shows a team adjusting their system to operate at their specified set point and illustrates the active engagement of the female participants.

FIGURE 5 A TEAM OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ADJUSTS THEIR SYSTEM TO OPERATE AT THE SPECIFIED SET POINT.

ACTIVITY ASSESSMENT At the conclusion of the activity student assistants disconnected the systems and returned the components to their storage locations while each participant was provided with a simple survey to evaluate the activity. Questions were numerically rated on a scale from 1 to 5 and accompanied by a linguistic equivalent phrase to assist in the rating procedure. Table I summarizes the results from 43 survey respondents. In addition, a free form comments area was provided. More than 1/3 of the respondents felt compelled to provide a comment. The only negative commentary provided was “Could be more intricate.” There was at least 1 comment that was focused more on the open house experience as a whole, rather than specifically targeted at the process control activity. Although no specific demographic data was obtained, approximately one third of the high school participants were female. Given the wording of the survey instrument, evaluation scale and the limited exposure time for the activity, the survey results indicate an apparently successful initial offering. In addition, comments provided by teachers accompanying the students were all positive and encouraging with regards to the process control activity as a whole.

The photograph illustrates a significant number of students were actively engaged while working on the project, although 100% active participation was not achieved. This 0-7803-8552-7/04/$20.00 © 2004 IEEE October 20 – 23, 2004, Savannah, GA 34th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference F4D-9

Session F4D TABLE I SUMMARY OF THE PROCESS CONTROL BREADBOARD OPEN HOUSE ACTIVITY ASSESSMENT SURVEY. QUESTION AVERAGE (LINGUISTIC EQUIVALENT) HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE “HANDS-ON” COMPONENT OF THIS 4.59 ACTIVITY? (MOSTLY HANDS-ON) HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE MENTAL DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF THIS 3.19 ACTIVITY? (IT TOOK SOME THOUGHT) HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE PHYSICAL DIFFICULTY ASPECT OF 2.30 THIS ACTIVITY? (SOMEWHAT EASY) HOW DID THIS ACTIVITY AFFECT 3.36 YOUR AWARENESS OF ENGIEERING? (LEARNED SOMETHING NEW) HOW HAS THIS ACTIVITY AFFECTED 3.91 YOUR INTEREST IN ENGINEERING? (SOMEWHAT INTERESTED) IF YOU HAD A CHANCE TO ATTEND A SUMMER DAY CAMP THAT 3.51 FEATURED A VARIETY OF THIS TYPE (PROBABLY) OF ACTIVITY, WOULD YOU HAVE ATTENDED?

FUTURE DIRECTIONS The open house activity previously outlined represents the first time that the Process Control Breadboard system has been used in a K-12 activity. Given the positive response to this type of activity, continued inclusion in future open house and recruiting activities is almost assured. But the limitations imposed by these types of activities cannot provide all of the exposure necessary to fully influence the number and quality of students entering engineering programs; the exposure time is too little and the age group too advanced. In order to have a most powerful and lasting impact, younger students should have greater exposure to this type of hands-on experience. The next major phase of activities will provide this type of longer-term exposure to a younger group of prospective engineers. Scheduled for summer 2004 and 2005, weeklong day camps for rising 8th and 9th grade students are currently planned. Students will be encouraged to enroll in advanced high school math and science classes, and to pursue careers in engineering by discovering the field of process controls. The list of planned activities include presentations from engineers employed by process industry relevant companies, field trips to process design and fabrication facilities, development of CAD–based virtual models of breadboard systems, and handson design, build and test of process control systems using the breadboard components. Seminar content will emphasize the many engineering disciplines that are employed in the process control industry and the importance of math and science preparation. University level engineering students will act as mentors and teaching assistants for teams of 3 – 4 students; helping them to recognize how mathematics and science form the foundation of an engineering education and that a career in engineering can be challenging, rewarding, interesting and fun. At present, brochures outlining the summer day camp concept have been developed and distributed to several area

junior high and middle school teachers during a regional Math Counts competition; a mathematics competition for middle school students sponsored by the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. Many of the teachers indicated a willingness to promote the camps to their students and several students have already pre-registered for the 2004 camps. Additional meetings with teachers and school administrators, accompanied by demonstrations of the breadboard system, are planned to further advertise the summer day camp concept. CONCLUDING REMARKS The necessity of increasing the quantity and quality of graduate engineers requires attracting and encouraging well prepared students to enter engineering programs. The use of the process control industry as a theme to inspire interest in the engineering profession represents an attempt to use a conventional, broad spectrum, engineering topic to achieve an increase engineering enrollments. Initial activities using the Process Control Breadboard system appear to have been successful at stimulating interest in the engineering profession, and additional activities targeting a broader group of students have been planned. Even if fully successful, the activities described represent only half of a planned attract and retain strategy. The missing pieces include integrating hands-on, process control activities into engineering curricula and tracking the success of the approach as a means for increasing the number of engineering graduates. Follow up studies of this strategy to attract and retain engineering students will ultimately determine the effectiveness of the approach. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to acknowledge the National Science Foundation’s Division of Engineering Education and Centers for funding award number EEC-0234671; without which this approach to attract and retain engineering students would not have an opportunity to be realized. The College of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Tyler must also be acknowledged for their support of the author’s outreach and educational research activities. REFERENCES [1]

Glenn, J, et. al., “Before It’s Too Late”, A Report to the Nation from the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, Department of Education, 2000.

[2]

FIRST— For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (2001), FIRST, http://www.usfirst.org/, (5 Feb. 2002).

[3]

KISS Institute for Practical Robotics (1999), Botball, KISS Institute for Practical Robotics, http://www.botball.org/, (6 Feb. 2002).

[4]

Mountain, Jeffrey R., “Applied Process Control Systems Design: HandsOn Laboratory Experiences for Multiple Disciplines and Academic Levels,” 34th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Savannah, Georgia, 2004.

[5]

Global Specialties – Experimentor Solderless Breadboards, http://www.globalspecialties.com/experimentor.html, Global Specialties 2001, (10 Jan. 2002).

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Session F4D [6]

Breadboard Components – Product Lines of W. M. Berg Mechanical Components, http://www.wmberg.com/prbreadboard.html, W. M. Berg, Inc., Invensys Company, 2001, (10 Jan. 2002).

[7]

Mountain, Jeffrey R., “Development Of a Breadboard System For Process Control Design: Part I,” Proceedings of IMECE 2002 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Conference and Exposition, Vol 2, Paper IMECE2002-32152, 2002.

[8]

Mountain, Jeffrey R., “Development of a Process Control Breadboard System to Attract and Retain Engineering Students,” National Science Foundation Award Number: EEC-0234671, Division of Engineering Education and Centers – Unsolicited Proposals Program, 2003.

[9]

Mountain, Jeffrey R. and Wells, Robert L., “Engaging K-12 Students and Teachers Using Competitive Interactive Design,” 32nd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, 2002, pp. T3C/12 – T3C/17.

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