electronic engineering project?

Question

Hi there,
I am a second year student in electronic engineering. Next year, I'll be studying a "design and build project" module. The thing is that I don't have any practical skills in electronics. The only things I know are concepts from circuit analysis and digital design, as well as programming languages such as c and java. Does any body know a way to learn the practical skills I may need?#

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

I assume you've done some OP-AMP and BJT theory? Build yourself a small amplifier using the theory to design the circuits... then tinker with it to see how well that theory stacks up (check the gain is actually what the theory told you it would be, make sure the base and collector currents are what you expected in a BJT circuit, etc)



The only way to get practical experience, is to do something practically. So get some components, get a solderless breadboard and get building : )

Answer 2

solderless breadboards are great for tweaking and playing with circuit ideas. but the small capacitance between tracks, can affect some circuits, in ways which aren't always covered (directly) in theory. Printed circuit board can suffer those effects too.



real world components aren't ideal. ie all resistors have some inductance, and there values usually end up varying with the temperature they're operated at. If a component value is critical you've either got to chose a precision part, control the enviroment, or figure out a design that's less sensitive. Getting familiar with real world components is really useful. and being able to read resistor colour codes can save a bit of time with circuits- yeah if they're out of a circuit you can read them with a meter, but reading them directly is faster, and what do you do if they're in a circuit?.



soldering would be a great help-even if you'd have access to an automated pick and place machine. not uncommon to swap components in/out during prototyping.



might be useful to know how to make a printed circuit board. Not too difficult to use a laser printer to print out a mask, transfer the tonner to a copper clad board by ironing the paper/copper board, and then etch a board. chances are the board wont be pretty, but as you're leaning all that matters is that it's functional. If it doesn't work, then figuring out why is learning practical skills too.



Maybe you could make some sensor boards that'll convert real world signals into something an ardunio or pic uC could read. keypads, buttons, position sensors, light sensors etc. An output board such as a display board, or a motor driver board are of educational value in themselves, and might save you some work later/make testing a functional prototype easier later. just wire the functional "blocks" together , program, test, and evaluate.If something works really well, and you find it has a use as a whole say a capacitance meter. frequency meter, signal generator or something similar you could try putting that onto a dedicated PCB, and boxing it up If you got time you might be able to combine all the above and make a simple computer controlled X-Y table that would allow a dremel to be used to mill out PCBs in the future.



Best of Luck and hope some of that helps.

Answer 3

Parallax makes a Boe-Bot robotics project that includes a little breadboard area you could use to design a custom accessory for the robot. The book that comes with it gives all sorts of examples of accessories that can be done. You would just have to design one of your own.

Answer 4

After writing a lot of this I realized that there is too much for this space. The short version is provided.



There are a number of different resources you can use to build practical skills. To start with, you will need some pieces of equipment that everybody from the hobbyist to the most skilled Electrical

Engineer or physicist should have (in case you do not have some of this equipment):

>a DMM - short for digital multimeter - I recommend you spend about $60 on one at this point,

>solid core wire, 22 AWG, three rolls, one black, one red, and one green or white,

>wire cutters/strippers or wire cutters and wire strippers,

>solderless breadboards - the longer type such as this one: http://www.digikey.ca/product-search/en?x=15&y=18&lang=en&site=ca&KeyWords=438-1045-ND,

>an oscilloscope - USB for PC versions are more affordable that standalone DSO's and will do for a couple of years but a standalone with at least two inputs would be nice (affordale USB versions:

Parallax Prop Scope has both scope and fx gen, PoScope, Velleman - look them up for one you think will work - make sure to check the frequency range),

>a DC power supply - you can convert one or two old tower PC power supplies for your puposes or there are kits available,

>a function generator - check eBay or a kit or a DIY for more affordable versions, Instructables also has some decent projects you can use - building it yourself can be instructive as well as useful -

as with the oscilloscope, check the frequency range or bandwidth,

>a static free workpad (since you are studying electrical engineering and will work with CMOS ICs),

>a static free wristband,

>a three prong grounding cord (which you can make yourself by soldering a high wattage resistor of around 1 Mohm - 5 Mohm value, make it 5 W, to the grounding wire attached to the grounding prong) - which you attach your workpad and your wristband to when working,

>a hobby level soldering station with a dial to adjust the termperature but no digital readout (to expensive) with a few different sized tips,

>fine gauge solder, fine gauge is better because you can always add more solder while soldering but if the solder is too large you cannot take it way without rework,

>solderstation sponges,

>alcohol dispernser (use 99% alcohol whenever possible), and

>horsehair cleaning brush for use with the alcohol to clean your solder joints (cut the brush bristles down to about 1/4" before using).



Absolute necessities: a DMM, solid core wire, solderless breadboards, and soldering supplies.



There are so many resources out there that it takes a long time to list all of them. Here are the ones that I think will help you the most and act as a good jumping point for the rest:

>Instructables website,

>Make magazine and website,

>Let's Make Robots, and

>WISC-ONLINE for the tutorials on electronics for which I recommend using one or more textbooks as a guide to working through them - I realize this might seem a step back for a student of electrical engineering but the simplistic visuals give a good idea of the practical side of electronics in operation.



There are so many other websites out there that it is incredible. Search them out. Look up forums and email digest/forums on whatever electronics subject you are working on. Yahoo has them, microcontrollers, programming languages, and guitar stompboxes (useful for working with signals) have them.



There are a of books available. Check out all the standard series books such as Dummies, etc. as well as Evil Genius and many others or any books that you see on forums.



Some suppliers have tutorials on their websites so check to see if they do. Adafruit Industries and Sparkfun have them. Some components manufacturers have similar material. You can download Parallax pdf's for free and use the books as needed. This could be especially useful for their analog signals book. Of course, Parallax sells all the stuff they list with their books.



If you would like more specifics I can provide this as well.



In the end, figure out what your goals are for the coming term. You might want to go all basic electronics first and work your way to more complicated circuits. This could take you as little as one week because you will already know most of the material from classes taken. Only one or two projects would be necessary to build from the basics to get a feel for building circuits. You could end up practicing with more complicated circuits as you progress such as building a robot kit or from scratch. Another method would be to work on both the basic electronics and something like a robot kit at the same time. Beginner's robot kits are simple enough so that you do not need a lot of knowledge about electronics to build them.