Integrating commercial process simulators into engineering courses

Abstract: The aim of this article is to encourage university lecturers to utilize commercial process simulation software in engineering courses. This article provides examples on four different simulation modules which are implemented in chemical and electrical engineering courses at Oslo and Akershus University College. The students have given positive evaluation on the learning through the simulation exercises and considered the simulation tool easy to use. Together with the exam results the student feedback indicates enhanced learning outcom

Large-scale training simulators for industry and academia

How should industrial large-scale simulators be used in academia? Which aspects of industrial training can benefit engineering education? This article demonstrates the use of industrial large-scale simulators for educational and training purposes for both academia and industry. The didactic models of the simulator courses are described and the learning results are evaluated for two case examples using the same industrial oil and gas process simulator. The differences and similarities of the didactic models of the courses are explored and the further possibilities for collaboration between academia and industry are outlined

Revisiting materials for teaching languages for specific purposes

Teaching materials in languages for specific purposes have evolved in the last few years dramatically. The Internet currently plays a significant role in such development and has permitted both a wider range of resources and its free availability almost anywhere in the World. This paper presents a selection of different types of recent materials for English for Specific Purposes. The paper begins by defining ESP. Then it approaches how materials should shape the student’s own learning, how materials should be selected according to the different skills and then emphasizes the importance of the Internet as a source of materials. The paper concludes with a set of ideas for the future development of ESP materials. The final goal of this paper is to provide the readers with valuable tools that can enhance their teaching through accessible mean

Teaching photonic integrated circuits with Jupyter notebooks : design, simulation, fabrication

At Ghent University, we have built a course curriculum on integrated photonics, and in particular silicon photonics, based on interactive Jupyter Notebooks. This has been used in short workshops, specialization courses at PhD level, as well as the M.Sc. Photonics Engineering program at Ghent University and the Free University of Brussels. The course material teaches the concepts of on-chip waveguides, basic building blocks, circuits, the design process, fabrication and measurements. The Jupyter notebook environment provides an interface where static didactic content (text, figures, movies, formulas) is mixed with Python code that the user can modify and execute, and interactive plots and widgets to explore the effect of changes in circuits or components. The Python environment supplies a host of scientific and engineering libraries, while the photonic capabilities are based on IPKISS, a commercial design framework for photonic integrated circuits by Luceda Photonics. The IPKISS framework allows scripting of layout and simulation directly from the Jupyter notebooks, so the teaching modules contain live circuit simulation, as well as integration with electromagnetic solvers. Because this is a complete design framework, students can also use it to tape out a small chip design which is fabricated through a rapid prototyping service and then measured, allowing the students to validate the actual performance of their design against the original simulation. The scripting in Jupyter notebooks also provides a self-documenting design flow, and the use of an established design tool guarantees that the acquired skills can be transferred to larger, real-world design projects

Training Pilots or Educating Captains? A Framework for Collegiate Ab Initio Programs

During the past five years, several studies have been conducted to assess the future availability of airline pilots and other aviation professionals (McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Co., 1989; Sypher-Mueller International, 1992; U.S. Department of Defense, 1988; U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration [FAA], 1993). These studies conclude, not surprisingly, that the traditional sources of airline pilots-the military and general aviation-are in a period of decline. This situation, coupled with the predicted flood of airline pilot retirements, will lead to a shortage of pilots before the end of the decade. Although estimates vary, most suggest that the current excess of pilots will be absorbed by 1996

A Virtual University Infrastructure For Orthopaedic Surgical Training With Integrated Simulation

This thesis pivots around the fulcrum of surgical, educational and technological factors. Whilst there is no single conclusion drawn, it is a multidisciplinary thesis exploring the juxtaposition of different academic domains that have a significant influence upon each other. The relationship centres on the engineering and computer science factors in learning technologies for surgery. Following a brief introduction to previous efforts developing surgical simulation, this thesis considers education and learning in orthopaedics, the design and building of a simulator for shoulder surgery. The thesis considers the assessment of such tools and embedding into a virtual learning environment. It explains how the performed experiments clarified issues and their actual significance. This leads to discussion of the work and conclusions are drawn regarding the progress of integration of distributed simulation within the healthcare environment, suggesting how future work can proceed

The use of simulation in chemical process control learning and the development of PISim

PISim is a new piece of software for process control teaching and learning. The software allows control structures to be designed on a piping and instrumentation diagram and, as the structure is created, the software automatically spawns device mimics representing the real physical HMIs that operators would see. These can be placed on a control panel and a simulation of the process can be operated using the student’s control scheme. The use of PISim in an introductory control class at Strathclyde University is described and student feedback is presented