A Liquid Piston Engine Designette: Creative Learning in Thermodynamics

DS 86: Proceedings of The Fourth International Conference on Design Creativity,Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

Year: 2016
Editor: Julie Linsey, Maria Yang, and Yukari Nagai
Author: Cassandra, Telenko; Shannon, Yee; Julie, Linsey; Todd, Sulchek; Wendy, Newstetter
Series: ICDC
ISBN: 978-1-904670-82-7

Abstract

To develop engineers who can creatively apply their technical knowledge, more opportunities within traditional engineering courses to practice this skill are needed. This paper describes a liquid piston engine designette aimed at infusing more creativity and hands-on learning into a thermodynamics classroom. Thermodynamics presents a challenging topic that can be counter-intuitive and difficult for students. The authors created the designette by adapting laboratory experiments with a low-cost liquid piston engine. The engine design was decomposed into a set of reconfigurable factors and components. Students were given autonomy to select from 12 pre-built configurations based upon their own preliminary analysis. The experimentation greatly increased the number of designs tested for the research project, and allowed students to apply knowledge in an autonomous and creative fashion. This paper presents some of the creative decisions and performance outcomes of the students engaged in the open-ended, creative learning activity.

Keywords: thermodynamics, engine design, design based learning, designettes, undergraduate research