Labman Front
Labman Front
Fundamentals of Mechatronics
Laboratory Manual
rev. 2.1
Fall 2010
by
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page no.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................iii
3 RC Filter..................................................................................................................RC-1
5 Digital I/O................................................................................................................DIO-1
9 Electronic Scale.......................................................................................................ES-1
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the other members of the Mechatronic Curriculum Development
Team: Tai-Ran Hsu, Ji Wang, Addisu Tesfaye, and Fred Barez, from Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering, and Peter Reischl, from Electrical Engineering, for their contributions in initiating,
implementing, and developing the Mechatronics curriculum stem in the Department of
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at San José State University.
We also recognize the help of our student assistants: Joe Christman, Doug Sprock, Marvin Lam,
Mike Kearny, and Jeff Fontana in the development of the Mechatronic Engineering Laboratory
and the laboratory experiments; our administrative assistant, Dorothy Lush, and our technicians,
Lou Schallberger and Tom Ng.
Financial support from the National Science Foundation under grant number DUE-9455395 is
specially acknowledged.
Introduction
If you look around, you’ll notice that many of the devices you use in the course of a day are
mechatronic, that is, they integrate mechanical and electronic functions in a synergistic way. In
fact, it is difficult to avoid mechatronic devices! Microwave ovens, automatic teller machines,
washing and drying machines, dishwashers, cameras, camcorders, VCR’s, CD players,
automobiles… These are all mechatronic devices. And not only consumer products, but
industrial processes, such as a semiconductor fab, also are highly mechatronic in nature.
Because of the ubiquitous nature of mechatronics, the mechanical engineer must understand the
fundamentals of mechanics, electronics, and software in order to be successful in today’s world.
By and large, most undergraduate mechanical engineering programs do a good job teaching the
fundamentals of mechanics, but fall short in giving students the necessary understanding of
electronics, computer interfacing, and how these are integrated in product design and
manufacture. The experiments described in this manual are an attempt to give the student a broad
range of hands-on experiences to help build a solid foundation in analog and digital electronics,
sensors and transducers, actuators, and microprocessor interfacing, so he or she can begin to
function effectively as mechanical engineer in an increasingly mechatronic world.
We developed a new laboratory at San José State University to support the experiments
described in this manual. The Mechatronic Engineering Laboratory has nine workbenches that
each have state-of-the-art electronic test and measurement equipment (oscilloscope, function
generator, multimeter, and power supply), a personal computer, and a printer. Teams of two
students are assigned a solderless breadboard and a toolbox of electronic components at each
bench. Depending on the experiment, additional equipment, such as a microcontroller board, are
assigned to each team. The laboratory allows students to learn about fundamental concepts in
mechatronics in a hands-on, exploratory manner.