This is joint project by the Industrial Laboratory Technology Program and the Heating, Air Conditioning, Refrigeration Technology Program to improve student learning in the areas of instrumentation: sensors, transducers, signal conditioning, IEEE Interfacing, control devices, and computer collection, storage, analysis, and process control. A demonstration/instruction unit consisting of a heat pump package and an instrumentation package is produced and then used with faculty-developed lab exercises to train Industrial Lab students in a specific application (heating and air conditioning) while HVAC students gain experience with instrumentation and the relationships among important heat pump operational parameters. Learning objectives include the placement of temperature, pressure, flow, and level sensors; signal conditioning via the use of the IEEE interface; the logic related to the flow of information in a process; and the use of transducers in energy conversion. Team teaching by faculty and team learning by students occur during the project.
