International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Research ISSN 2348-6988 (online) Vol. 8, Issue 2, pp: (42-49), Month: April - June 2020, Available at: www.researchpublish.com
DEVELOPMENT OF AN INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL TRAINER FOR ENGINEERING LABORATORIES Ysabelle Louiseanne R. Cruto1, Iverson P. Sasis2 and Dave T. Alviz3, 12
Researcher and 3Research Adviser
123
Lyceum of The Philippines University, General Trias City, Philippines
Abstract: The purpose of this research is for engineering students and faculty members, especially electronics, electrical, and mechanical engineering to have an instrumentation and control laboratory trainer that can measure flow rate, water level, temperature, and pressure, and control the latter three parameters. Mixed method was used in this study since this research is both qualitative and quantitative. The results show that the trainer prototype is properly functional as evaluated by engineering students and faculty members. The validation data shows that it has an overall grand mean of 4.72 for its functionality. Hence, it can be concluded that the prototype can properly function as intended and is a reliable trainer for engineering students to learn applications of instrumentation and control. It is recommended that future researchers need to improve the design and add more functions for the prototype such as devices that can provide a more accurate and faster control and materials that can withstand more extreme conditions. Index Terms: Prototype, trainer, measurement and control.
I. INTRODUCTION Through the advancement of technology, various instruments have been developed to extend the range of the human senses, measure and observe more quantities in new discovered methods and instrumentation, making the field of knowledge wider and more efficient. Instrumentation is a part of engineering which deals in measuring and controlling physical and chemical properties in a system. In an instrumentation system, there are three stages: input, signal processing, and the output. When the measuring and controlling instruments are combined, providing automation from reactions from signals, result into a control system [1]. Sensor is a device that is able to detect the changes within its range and delivers information or signal to other electronic devices [2]. Transducers are like sensors, but instead, it transforms physical quantity to an electrical signal[3]. Meanwhile, actuator is a device that can be controlled, commonly by an electrical signal, which then causes change in a physical system by means of producing heat, force, light or motion [4]. On-off controller, commonly known as a stop-start, is used for motor controls. On the other hand, PID controller or Proportional-Integral-Derivative controller is a control loop that is commonly used in industrial control system [5]. Some universities have concerns about the availability of instrumentation and control laboratory trainers. Students learn from their lecture classes but may have difficulty applying the acquired knowledge during experiments or hands-on applications. Thus, this may result into failure of the said experiment or cause the students to find a hard time during the experiment period, reflecting a low technical skill evaluation for the concerned lesson. As students would not want to fail, they will keep asking for help from the professor which may turn into a spoon-feeding activity and limit the students’ own capability to analyze the technicalities of instrumentation and to troubleshoot when needed. Another concern is
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