Revised 2-2-10

OEES/OEET 221 Cooperative Work Experience
Bruce McDowell
e-mail address and phone
Spring 2010

 
Syllabus

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Reference
mouser.com digikey.com jameco.com

All-Class Projects
Assignment
Number		 Date Description Directions
JA15-28 1-15-10 Learn how to use Ultimate Paint Web page

Individual Projects
Test transistors on can crusher PCB
Musician's Friend Programming and mounting parts on project box.
Solar power systems We'll be building and offering to the public three different sizes of systems. The largest is capable of powering a laptop computer and a satellite Internet dish for many hours each day. The medium-sized system is capable of powering a laptop &/or compact fluorescent lights for a few hours a day. The smallest system is mainly for evaluating a site to determine how much power could be expected from larger systems. This smallest system could also be used to charge cell phones.
Solar heat systems with electronic controls We'll experiment with solar hot-air and solar hot-water systems to determine if they are something we want to offer to the public.
Small electronic devices making use of our custom-designed microcontroller circuit board. Here are some examples:
  • Data collection system that records voltages, temperatures, etc., at specified intervals.
  • Microcontroller trainer and software for use in schools and by hobbyists.
  • Smart swamp-cooler controller that measures indoor and outdoor temperatures to decide if the cooler should be operated in cool mode or vent mode, and to decide whether to run the cooler on high or low.
  • Metronome for musicians. Capable of producing beats corresponding to the basic time signatures used in music.  
  • Electronic pitch pipe for singers, guitarists, etc.
  • Temperature controller for controlling such things as the blower on a solar hot-air system.
  • DC/AC experimenter board (adjustable supplies and function generator)
PC boards:
  • L298 motor driver boards that plug into breadboard.
  • Optoisolators, triacs, unregulated supply
  • +12 V, -12 V, +5 V supplies on one board
  • Stereo amplifier using stereo amplifier chip.
Stereo amplifiers Finish ones that are presently incomplete.
   
Consolidate solar and wind info onto Web pages Put information gathered during last semester's solar and wind energy classes onto a set of  Web pages.
Create Web pages to document the various systems we design and build. Our goal is to make detailed plans so that anyone with Internet access can download them for free and build any of our systems. To this end, some of you may opt to work on creating these Web pages for some of the time this semester. This is work that you could do at home occasionally instead of coming in for some of the class periods.
Use Autocad to create drawings for systems we have designed. If you know how to use Autocad, we'll have you take on an "apprentice" who doesn't know Autocad. 
Work on our Build Your Own Solar Power System Wikibook The same outfit that created Wikipedia (the free online encyclopedia) also has a collection of books (called Wikibooks) that are written by volunteers. (See en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page). By the way, "Wiki" is the Hawaiian word for "quick."

The Wikipedia people have a special subcategory of books that are class projects, where each student is responsible for a portion of the book. (See http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:List_of_class_projects.) The book that we'll be creating will be mostly drawings, photos, schematics, etc., with a minimum of text. Thus, you can breathe a sigh of relief--this won't be like an English paper!