Mechanical Engineering (Study Abroad)

This module encourages students to analyse real-world problems, and to use a logical design path and tools and techniques such as 2D and 3D CAD, Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), and Form over Function to arrive at a design that meets the initial requirements. Often working in teams, students will learn about the full product lifecycle, from customer requirements to design process and to product recycling/disposal. As well as the practical aspects of design and innovation, the module covers other skills such as marketing, packaging, completing a statement of requirements, and the human brain.

The module is based on exploration and discovery and evaluated through coursework alone. It also incorporates the ‘IMechE Design Challenge’, a ‘design-make-test’ competition held annually between North West universities.

The module starts with the fundaments of Ohm’s law and introduces the main laws and theorems necessary to understand direct and alternating current flow in a circuit, including Kirchoff’s laws and different simplification theorems. Every student will be able to reduce a circuit to its simplest form and carry out basic voltage and current split calculations.

The module provides students with an understanding of the role and main functions of the key component blocks in many state of the art electronic systems. The theory will be supported with case study applications, where students will look at systems such as the electric guitar, computer mouse, electronic fuel injection and the telephone. Students will gain a basic understanding of the limitations and headline specifications of these items including sensors, signal conditioning, analogue-digital conversion, processors and actuators, and following the flow of information through a typical system.

Students will learn how to perform the basic calculations that underpin the subject, and confidently analyse and solve engineering problems and design solutions.

Applying mathematics to real world problems is a key skill for engineers. This module introduces students to a range of mathematic techniques that can be directly applied to engineering problems. Amongst the topics covered, students will learn about indices and logarithms, as well as complex numbers to enable them to precisely describe an electrical current or signal. They will also learn to manipulate square matrices to find inverses and determinants, and will manipulate vectors to find scalar and vector products.

The mathematical methods used here are put to use in engineering practicals and projects. For example, topics related to matrices are used in the second year robotics project for transforming coordinate systems.

Calculus is a flexible technique that can appear almost anywhere in engineering, from the smallest integrated circuit to the largest nuclear power plant, and this is reflected across the range of modules that calculus features in.

This module provides a broader understanding of functions, limits and series, and knowledge of the basic techniques of differentiation and integration. Students will come to understand the meaning of a derivative, both algebraically and graphically. They will also appreciate the meaning of an integral, and be able to integrate expressions directly by parts and by substitution. From this, students will apply integration to calculate physical quantities, including the arc length of a curve, the area and centroid of a plane region and the surface area, volume and centre of mass of a volume of revolution.

This module introduces students to a further range of mathematic techniques that can be directly applied to engineering problems including the application of matrices, for solving simultaneous linear equations. Students will learn about the application of the Laplace transform, a powerful technique used in electronics, control and vibration analysis which transforms differential equations to a linear function. They will also discover iterative methods that provide extra opportunities to find solutions to equations.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to use a range of mathematical techniques which will be of use in future engineering and mathematics courses. Techniques include Fourier series, simultaneous linear equations, eigenvalues, Laplace transforms and partial derivatives.

Many of the fundamental equations of engineering are written in the form of differential equations and so, this module teaches students the skills necessary to work with these. Students will learn both analytical and numerical techniques, which are of particular relevance to future engineering modules that analyse fluid and heat flow and temperature distribution.

Students will learn to verify that a given function is a solution of a specified first-order or second-order differential equation. They will also, when given an initial-value problem featuring different types of differential equations, find their particular solutions. The equations that will be examined include separable first-order differential equations, linear first-order differential equations, and homogeneous and non-homogenous linear second-order differential equations with constant coefficients.

Introducing a range of key aspects of chemistry that is relevant to engineers, this module addresses atomic and molecular structure. It focuses on chemical reactions and bonding, as well as thermodynamics, acid, based and redox reactions, the kinetics of reactions, and nuclear chemistry. Lectures featured in this module are supported by weekly, small group tutorials that are designed to illustrate the practical applications of the concepts learnt in the lectures.

Students taking this module will develop an appreciation for the importance of electrons in a variety of chemical reactions, such as corrosion and polymerisation. Additionally, the module will enhance students’ ability to balance such chemical reactions, predict the results of key reactions and perform a variety of calculations relating to the determination of reaction rates.

A key feature of today’s cutting-edge electronic technology is the storage of information and its processing. This module uncovers the basic engineering principles behind these critical requirements such as Boolean algebra, truth tables, Karnaugh maps, logic gates and memory circuits. Students will gain both the knowledge and the vocabulary with which to understand digital electronic systems together with the background necessary to appreciate what is likely to be possible in the future.

The module also looks at how analogue electronic components can be combined to perform simple logic functions and how these logic blocks can be combined to perform memory tasks. Students will develop this concept towards the principle of a processor and will learn about simple programmable devices and how these relate to the range of programmable solutions that are currently available.

Sensing and extracting signals from the real-world is a fundamental requirement of virtually all electronic systems. This module provides students with the background knowledge and understanding of the ways in which signals are captured from sensors, then amplified, and then fed into a data acquisition system. It includes work on circuits and networks and introduces the op-amp, which is a fundamental building block of many analogue circuits. Students will also gain an understanding of basic sensor characteristics and of signals, including how they can be represented in the time and frequency domains and how they can be manipulated with filters.

Students have an opportunity to build and test the operation of op-amp and sensor circuits in a dedicated electronics lab during the module.

The global energy sector is continually evolving, particularly around the development of sustainable and renewable energy sources, and this module provides an understanding of this field along with conventional power generation and utilisation. Primarily, students will learn about the fundamental aspects of fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and chemical and nuclear reactions which are essential for those who wish to specialise in these fields.

Students will gain an understanding of the ways in which energy is captured from renewable sources and produced from fossil fuel reserves, as well as a detailed understanding of wind turbine design. The module covers how hydroelectric schemes, tidal barrages and wave energy works and teaches students to make numerate comparisons of the energy available from these sources compared with thermal and nuclear power stations.

This wide-ranging module considers the engineering aspects of transport technology such as fuel consumption and how it may be reduced, types of engines and motors and electric drive systems for land transport. More specifically, students will look at the Otto cycle, aerodynamic drag, basic circuit theory, batteries and fuel cells. They will also learn how to calculate vehicle performance taking account of drag, mass, and propulsion characteristics. Energy flow diagrams for IC engines and electric and hybrid vehicles will be covered, as well as thermodynamic cycles for petrol and diesel engines and their major components.

There are four practical exercises associated with this module reflecting the wide scope of the content. They include evaluating the efficiency of an internal combustion engine, which requires a group to partially dismantle the engine and make measurements to determine its compression ratio and valve timings. The group will then reassemble it and perform calculations based on their measurements. Another exercise involves the economic assessment of a new light rail transport system in the North West.

Manufacturing is at the foundation of global prosperity and is a continually developing field. This module covers a wide range of manufacturing processes used in engineering from the well-established practices such as casting and moulding to modern, growing methods such as additive manufacturing. By the end of the module, students will have gained knowledge of a range of materials and ways of producing them as manufactured or part-manufactured components whilst estimating the cost of doing so.

The lectures are accompanied by hands on experience of machining, welding and material testing techniques in dedicated workshops. There will also be at least one industrial visit to see manufacturing processes in action (most recently Jaguar Land Rover).

The human skeleton, a suspension bridge and a car chassis are examples of structures that are designed to transmit forces from one place to another. To do this safely and efficiently it is important to adopt the right arrangement of load-bearing components and to use materials with appropriate strength and stiffness. In this module, students will learn about structural forms and beam theory and will develop their ability to analyse engineering problems by calculating internal stress of components in tension, compression and bending, and by applying the Euler buckling theory. As a result, students will gain an appreciation of designing simple engineering structures to achieve the required strength and stiffness for a wide range of manufactured products.

Practical sessions will be delivered in our labs and students will work in groups to design, build and test efficient steel box beams to withstand a set load. The exercise comprises application of the analysis techniques learnt in lectures, an element of creative design, sheet metal fabrication and testing, and a final written project report including analysis of the failed beam.

Focusing on the fundamental aspects of process engineering, this module aims to equip students with an understanding of basic processing terminology such as batch, semi-batch, continuous, purge and recycling. There will be a review of processes, along with flow diagrams, process variables and units, and students will become familiar with the mass balance of non-reactive systems, including general material balance of a single-unit operation and multiple-unit operations.

This module will allow students to assign process variables, units and economics; students will develop knowledge of industrial processes along with a working understanding of phase equilibrium thermodynamics to chemical processes. A range of vapour-liquid equilibria, covering the level rule, ideal solutions, Raoult’s Law, Henry’s Law, volatility and relative vitality, will be approached in detail on the module.

Control is about making engineering devices work efficiently and safely. This module gives students the ability to programme to a level where they are able to solve everyday engineering problems, such as controlling the movement of a robot arm. They will gain the ability to use functions, arrays and pointers, and will be able to manipulate strings, format the input/output and carry out basic mathematical calculations.

The fundamentals of structuring and writing a computer programme are included and students will gain experience at interfacing with practical engineering systems such as a motor. The module will be particularly relevant to students with an interest in robotics, computing and control.