ME 401

ME ORIENTATION

MODULE 1
ME ORIENTATION

Course Rationale and Description

The course introduces mechanical engineering (ME) as a discipline and its various
applications. It also discusses ME as a profession with emphasis on the requirements for
professional practice as well as career opportunities. The course also provides venues to
develop engineering skills in order to succeed in engineering studies.

Intended Learning Outcomes

After completing the course, the students shall be able to:

ILO1: Explain the field of mechanical engineering and its applications

ILO2: Explain engineering profession and the requirements for professional practice.
ILO3: Define mechanical engineering as a career and identify the career opportunities for
mechanical engineers.

Criteria for Assessment

Online Major Exams (Midterm and Final Examination) – 50%

Narrative Reports (Training and Seminar) – 40%

Class Standing (Quiz/Attendance) – 10%

Topic Outcomes

At the end of this module, the student should be able to:

1. Introduce the curriculums of BS Mechanical Engineering in the university.

2. Familiarize with the professional subjects related in the program.
3. Discuss the field and applications of Mechanical Engineering.
4. Identify the career opportunities in taking up Mechanical Engineering.
 I. CURRICULUM OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
(BSME)
Reference CMOs: CMO No. 97 s. 2017

Curriculum Description
Mechanical Engineering is a profession that concerns itself with mechanical design,
energy conversion, fuel and combustion technologies, heat transfer, materials, noise control,
and acoustics, manufacturing processes, rail transport, automatic control, product safety
and reliability, solar energy, and technological impacts to society.

Program Educational Objectives of Mechanical Engineering

The mechanical engineering alumni three to five years after graduation shall:

1. Successfully practice in mechanical and thermal systems for the advancement of

society.

2. Promote professionalism in mechanical engineering practice.

Student Outcomes
The following skills, knowledge, and behaviors are expected to be attained by students as
they progress through the program:

a. Ability to apply knowledge of mathematics and science to solve engineering

problems.
b. Ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data.
c. Ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within
realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health
and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability, in accordance with standards.
d. Ability to function on multidisciplinary teams.
e. Ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems.
f. Understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.
g. Ability to communicate effectively.
h. Broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a
global, economic, environmental, and societal context.
i. Recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning.
j. Knowledge of contemporary issues.
k. Ability to use techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for
engineering practice.
l. Knowledge and understanding of engineering and management principles as a
member and leader in a team, to manage projects and in multidisciplinary
environments.

BATSTATEU STUDENT’S HANDBOOK LINK:

http://batstate-u.edu.ph/sites/files/osas/New-Student-Handbook-AY-2017-2018.pdf
 II. CAREER OPPORTUNITY IN TAKING BS MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Introduction
One of the most diverse and versatile engineering fields, mechanical engineering is
the study of objects and systems in motion. As such, the field of mechanical engineering
touches virtually every aspect of modern life, including the human body, a highly complex
machine.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the adjective “mechanical” as skilled in
the practical application of an art or science, of the nature of a machine and relating to
or caused movement, physical forces, properties or agents such as is dealt with by
mechanics.
Mechanical engineers play key roles in a wide range of industries including
automotive, aerospace, biotechnology, computers, electronics, microelectromechanical
systems, energy conversion, robotics and automation, and manufacturing. The American
Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) currently lists 36 technical divisions, from
advanced energy systems and aerospace engineering to solid-waste engineering and
textile engineering.

What do the Mechanical Engineers really do?

1. Design, develop and produce many of tools used by another engineer
(innovations).
2. Study the behavior of materials when forces are applied to them or when they are
heated or cooled. Using this knowledge, they design machines such as
automobiles, air conditioners and submarines.
3. Involve with all forms of energy utilization and conversion, manufacturing
(production) material and processes and engines.
4. Use mathematics and physical sciences to analyze problems.
5. May work in maintenance, technical sales or as administrators or managers.
6. Concerns with the design, development and manufacture of machines and
mechanical engineering systems.

Mechanical Engineering as a Profession

It will lead into one of the broadest area engineering. There is job for Mechanical
Engineer in nearly every area of industry.

Mechanical Engineering Domain

1. Development (Analysis, Research)
 Development Engineers are responsible for designing, creating and testing new
products for companies. They work in every industry imaginable, developing products that
vary dramatically. One Development Engineer may spend their career creating mechanical
toys, while another may create medical devices. They are also referred to as Product
Development Engineers. Most Development Engineers have a background in an area such
as mechanical engineering or bioengineering.

Development Engineers may work in teams developing products or may be hired to

independently create devices or merchandise. Although much of the work is performed on
their own, they do report to a team leader, project manager or executive who has the final
say in whether or not a product will be developed. According to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, Mechanical Engineers are expected to see a job increase of 5 percent through
2024. This will add an estimated 14,600 jobs to this sector during this period.

2. Design
Mechanical design engineers create, develop and test products such as machines,
tools and sensors. They solve problems by applying the principles of physics, chemistry and
mechanics to the real world. They also collect data on prototype performance and supervise
the manufacturing process for their designs.

To be adequately prepared for the demands of their profession, mechanical design

engineers must complete a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Because their
work is centered around testing and adapting multiple versions of their products, mechanical
design engineers must be persistent and have strong problem-solving skills. They should
also be creative enough to generate innovative ideas and bring them to fruition.

3. Manufacture
Manufacturing engineers are responsible for the technical management,
maintenance and development of new and existing production lines. Shift and ‘on-call' work
may be required, particularly where manufacturing equipment is in continual 24-hour
operation. Career progression often happens through moves into managerial positions or
related areas of employment such as plant/production engineering.

4. Maintenance of mechanical system

A mechanical maintenance engineer is a person who carries
out maintenance on mechanical systems and equipment. Mechanical maintenance
engineers play a key role in ensuring that the mechanical systems and equipment in
domestic, commercial and industrial environments function efficiently. The maintenance
tasks performed by mechanical maintenance engineers can be divided into two types: time-
based maintenance (also known as planned, scheduled, preventive or routine maintenance)
and unplanned maintenance (also called unscheduled, corrective, reactive or breakdown
maintenance).
In time-based maintenance, the mechanical maintenance engineer
performs maintenance checks at regular intervals and acts preventively to avoid situations
from arising that may compromise the proper functioning of machinery and equipment, e.g.
replacing worn components, lubricating gears, motors, pumps and mechanical moving parts,
changing out dull tools, calibrating instruments and replacing filters, gears, valves, tubes and
cables.A specific sub-group of time-based maintenance is known as predictive maintenance,
which is based on the expected life span of an item of machinery or equipment. Predictive
maintenance aims to prevent unplanned downtime by ensuring that components are
replaced before their expiry date. To achieve this aim, maintenance is performed according
to a schedule, which is typically set by the maintenance manager.
Planned maintenance interventions may require operations to be interrupted. Any
such downtime needs to be scheduled by mechanical maintenance engineers in agreement
with their co-workers (e.g. technicians, production operatives and other employees).If
an unexpected failure occurs, mechanical maintenance engineers carry out
unplanned corrective maintenance (also known as reactive, unplanned or breakdown
maintenance). The first step of corrective maintenance is fault analysis, which involves
identifying the cause of a failure using diagnostic tools and selecting the most appropriate
procedures to resolve the issue and restore functionality. The mechanical maintenance
engineer may be required to disassemble machinery to remove any damaged or defective
components, so that they can be replaced or repaired. Once the machinery has been
reassembled, the mechanical maintenance engineer performs post-maintenance functional
tests and checks to verify that the maintenance action was successful.
Corrective maintenance calls for strong analytical and problem-solving skills and the
ability to act swiftly and efficiently to allow normal functionality to be restored as quickly as
possible.
Mechanical maintenance engineers are also responsible
for documenting maintenance operations (e.g. keeping a log of maintenance activities,
gathering data and preparing reports on repairs carried out, frequent breakdowns and
routine checks) and report to a supervisor - typically the maintenance
manager or production manager. They may also be in charge of the spare parts warehouse,
where their task is to ensure the availability of the materials needed for maintenance
operations.

5. Consultation
 Mechanical Engineer Consultant is a person who is not working for the company
that is hired to aid in some ways to the company. Usually in the development process but
also in maintenance manufacturing, etc.
Consultants are hired because they have specific skills or knowledge that the
company does not have at that moment and they need it for some project. Rather than
trying to find an experienced employee to tackle this issue if the management decides that
the job is temporary, they will hire a consultant. The consultant's work can be in
organization, programming (CAM), designing, calculating, motor sizing, estimating and etc.

Mechanical Engineering Disciplines

Major Area of Specialization
1. Combustion and Fuels
Combustion is a chemical process in which a substance reacts rapidly with oxygen
and gives off heat. The original substance is called the fuel, and the source of oxygen is called
the oxidizer.

2. Heat Transfer
Heat energy can be transferred from one body to the other or from one location in a
body to the other. Study of the techniques and methods adopted to transfer heat energy is
known as ‘Heat Transfer’. To facilitate heat transfer between 2 bodies there needs to be a
temperature difference between them. This means that these bodies must be a 2 different
temperatures one higher than the other to allow heat to flow from one body to the other.
This means that no heat transfer occurs between 2 bodies which are at the same
temperature. At the same time, it is very important to note that heat only flows from a body
at higher temperature to a body at a lower temperature. Although this may look obvious,
this law is very important from the point of view of thermodynamics.

3. Energy systems
Energy systems engineers oversee complex energy conversion and distribution
systems, work to improve energy storage systems, and manage the efficient use of energy
in building, manufacturing, and processing systems. ESE professionals also study the
secondary effects of energy usage from a local environmental impact, regional and national
economic impact, and global climate change perspective.
 Energy systems engineers pursue a variety of jobs and occupations. For example,
they might be hired to do any of the following:
1. Manage operations of a wind turbine farm
2. Analyze efficiency of hydro-electric power systems
3. Oversee production of innovative fuel-cell technologies
4. Evaluate the economic viability of new solar power installations
5. Assess the environmental impact of alternative energy systems

4. Fluid flow (mechanics)

Fluid Flow is a part of fluid mechanics and deals with fluid dynamics. Fluids such as
gases and liquids in motion are called fluid flow. It involves the motion of a fluid subjected
to unbalanced forces. This motion continues as long as unbalanced forces are applied.

5. Innovation and design

6. Material selection
If a systematic material selection procedure is not in place, it impacts the design of
the product/component making it highly susceptible to failure. Considering the Mechanical
Material attributes based on the function, objective and constrains your design, ensures
that the design is technically fit to deliver the desired performance. Ideal material choice for
your design gives you a competitive edge by affecting and invariably improving the factors
such as function, mechanical properties, quality, manufacturability, endurance and
performance, environmental impact and the cost of your mechanical product/component
design.

7. Control systems
A control system is a system of devices or set of devices, that manages,
commands, directs or regulates the behavior of other devices or systems to achieve
desired results. In other words, the definition of a control system can be simplified as a
system, which controls other systems. As the human civilization is being modernized day
by day the demand for automation is increasing accordingly. Automation highly requires
control of devices.
 8. Turbomachinery
Turbomachinery, in mechanical engineering, describes that transfer energy
between a rotor and a fluid, including both turbines and compressors. A turbine
transfers energy from a rotor to a fluid. centrifugal pumps are also turbomachines that
transfer energy from a rotor to a fluid, usually a liquid, while turbines and compressors
usually works with gas.

9. Noise and vibration control

Noise and vibration control: The reduction of noise and vibration in the building
caused by either internal or external sources.

Sound isolation: Reducing the transmission of unwanted sound from one space to
another.

10. Automatic control

Automatic control is the application of control theory for regulation of processes
without direct human intervention. In the simplest type of an automatic control loop, a
controller compares a measured value of a process with a desired set value, and
processes the resulting error signal to change some input to the process, in such a way
that the process stays at its set point despite disturbances. This closed-loop control is an
application of negative feedback to a system. The mathematical basis of control theory was
begun in the 18th century, and advanced rapidly in the 20th. Designing a system with
features of automatic control generally requires the feeding of electrical or mechanical
energy to enhance the dynamic features of an otherwise sluggish or variant, even errant
system. The control is applied by regulating the energy feed.

11. Computer aided engineering

Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is the broad usage of computer software to aid
in engineering analysis tasks. It includes finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid
dynamics (CFD), multibody dynamics (MBD), durability and optimization. It is included
with computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) in the
collective abbreviation "CAx".
 12. Management of project
The role of Mechanical Project Engineer is typically a supervisory position. They delegate tasks to
junior engineers and any other employee involved in the manufacturing process. A fair portion of their
work takes place in a typical office environment, but part of their job involves being present on the
manufacturing floor and ensuring everything is going to plan.

13. Biomedical engineering

Biomechanical engineering is a bioengineering subdiscipline, which applies
principles of mechanical engineering to biological systems and stems from the scientific
discipline of biomechanics. Topics of interest in the field include biomedical
engineering and agricultural engineering. Biomechanics, specifically, is the study of
biological systems such as the human body, combined with the study of mechanics, or
mechanical applications. Using the skills learned from biology, engineering, and physics to
research and development for health care, such as organs that have been made from
artificial materials, or new advances with prosthetic limbs. The creation of biomaterial,
which is a fake material that can be integrated into living tissue or can live in sync with
biological material, is one of the biggest advances in medicine to this day. Those in this field
might also hold the job of not only installing, but also adjusting, maintain, repairing, and
providing technical help for all the biomaterial. The combination of knowledge from
mechanical engineering and biology is used to potentially improve quality of life for an
organism.

14. Aeronautics
Aeronautical Engineering and aircraft maintenance engineering deal with the
designing, maintaining and repairing air crafts. Aeronautics is basically divided into three
sections which are aviation, aeronautical science and aeronautical engineering.
Aeronautics also refers to the operating of aircraft and rockets in the atmosphere. Now,
first of all, let us know about aviation. Aviation means the flying of air crafts for military
purpose, surrounding flight an entire aircraft industry. Secondly, aeronautical science this
section deals with the design and study of aircraft. Third comes aeronautical engineering
this field deal with the designing, maintaining and repairing air crafts.

15. Robotics
Mechanical engineering is another branch of engineering that helps with an aspect
of robotics technology. Mechanical engineers work to design and develop, build and test
mechanical sensors and devices.
In the robotics field, mechanical engineers would be in charge of the physical make-
up of a robot. Mechanical engineering courses like, mechanics, materials engineering and
manufacturing are central to understanding how robotics works.
In addition to mechanics, materials engineering and manufacturing courses, many
mechanical engineering courses offer specializations in mechatronics or robotics that allow
students to focus on the physical design and actuation of a robot.

How do you become a mechanical engineer?

1. A strong interest in mathematics and science
2. A strong social awareness and concern for the quality of life.
3. A desire to put ideas into action.
4. A curiosity about how things work and how to make them better.
5. A good academic background.
6. Ability and determination to succeed and to continue self-education upon completion
of your studies.
7. Good communication.
Sample of Job Titles
Design engineer Manufacturing engineer
Test engineer System analyst
Application engineer Mechanical engineer
Computer science engineer Aerospace engineer
Materials handling engineer Consultant
Project engineer Machine designer
Industrial engineer Lecturer
Packaging engineer Domestic engineer
Sales engineer