Short Programs
Principles & Practice of Advanced Mechanical and Precision Machine Design [2.75s]
Date: July 26-28, 2010 (tentative) | Tuition: $2,250 | Continuing Education Units (CEUs): 1.8 (tentative)
Introduction | Who Should Attend | Learning Objectives | Why Take This Course | Tour and Question Sessions | Schedule | Teaching Staff | Updates
Introduction
Intensive coverage of precision engineering theory, modeling, design and manufacturing practices. Emphasis is placed on understanding principles and how they were applied to current and emerging applications. The fundamentals are reinforced via case studies from diverse fields, including:
- Optics (X-rays and micro-scale)
- Biomedical instruments
- Consumer products
- Nanopositioners
- Machine tools
- Instruments
- MEMS
Fundamentals: Core concepts, understandings and tools (70%)
Latest Developments: Recent advances and future trends (15%)
Industry Applications: Linking theory and real-world (15%)
Lecture: Delivery of material in a lecture format (65%)
Labs: Demonstrations, experiments, simulations (35%)
Introductory: Appropriate for a general audience (50%)
Advanced: In-depth explorations at the graduate level (50%)
Who Should Attend
Technical professionals (engineers, scientists, manufacturers, machine designers, product designers, instrumentation engineers, etc.) that either have little experience with precision engineering or that have some expertise in disparate areas of precision and wish to gain a more holistic understanding. This course is also designed to help marketing/purchasing personnel make decisions, provided that they would feel comfortable with the following basic topics after a brief review:
- Trigonometry (sine, cosine, etc.)
- Linear elastic stress-strain
- Free body diagrams
- Vector addition
Participants may compliment this experience by taking the 1.5 day course 2.75Ps: Precision Engineering: Design and Practice, wherein they will follow the design process for the modeling/creation of a desktop precision lathe, and then build/characterize the lathe in a lab setting. Participants may keep the lathe after the course. The lathe is easily capable of cutting aluminum and brass; some low-hardness steels may also be cut.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the basic principles and concepts of Precision Engineering
- Define the physics that govern behavior.
- Understand the various quantitative and qualitative approaches to modeling.
- Examine the suitability of precision machines/devices/products for specific applications.
Why take this course
The successful development of technologies which need micron to nanometer-level precision (e.g. Machine tools, Nano-manufacturing, MEMS, Space-based telescopes, etc..) requires knowledge of Precision Engineering principles, their application and new technology emerging from research efforts. This course provides an overview of the fundamentals of precision engineering. Several tours of MIT Precision Engineering Laboratories will also be held.
Course schedule and registration times
Class runs 8:30 am - 5:00 pm on Monday and Tuesday and from 8:30 am - 12:00 noon on Wednesday.
Registration is on Monday morning from 7:45 - 8:15 am.
Tour and question sessions
These sessions are interspersed between lectures/seminars. The goal is to provide an opportunity for participants to examine new concepts in precision engineering research and experimental hardware/prototypes. These tours enable one-on-one interaction with course instructors and researchers from the following laboratories:
- Cranfield Manufacturing Systems Department
- MIT Precision Compliant Systems Laboratory
- MIT Precision Engineering Research Group
- MIT Space Nanotechnology Laboratory
- MIT Precision Motion Control Laboratory
Teaching staff
This course is taught by a staff of leaders in the fields of precision engineering, precision machine design and precision manufacturing.
Martin Culpepper
Prof. Culpepper is Director of the MIT Precision Compliant Systems Laboratory. Prof. Culpepper's areas of expertise include:
- Constraint-based synthesis and modeling of compliant mechanisms
- Fabrication and integration compliant mechanisms and elastic systems
- Carbon Nanotube-based compliant mechanisms
Professor Culpepper was honored at the White House in 2005--click here to read the article
Paul Shore (Cranfield program co-director)
Prof. Paul Shore holds the McKeown Chair of Ultra-precision Technologies at Cranfield University. Prof. Shore's areas of expertise are in precision mass production, ultra precision production processes, intelligent precision machine systems and process monitoring methods.
Updates
There are no updates at this time.
