ADAPTING THE MIT STIRLING ENGINE PROJECT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO, A LAND GRANT INSTITUTION

摘要

Retention of students after completion of the sophomore year in Mechanical Engineering is a problem. Students who remain often display low enthusiasm which is evident in class and on school work. Our goal is to introduce an engineering project in the sophomore year that generates a high level of student interest and aids student retention. To address similar issues, MIT includes the assembly and analysis of a Stirling engine by their sophomore students. Our challenge is to adapt the MIT Stirling engine project into the curriculum of a land grant university with a different fee structure. The Idaho Engineering Works, a group of mechanical engineering graduate students, modified the MIT Stirling engine to allow fabrication in the department machine shop. We introduced the fabrication and assembly project into the Sophomore Laboratory course and designed new laboratory exercises around the Stirling engine. The first iteration of the Stirling engine project was in the spring of 2001. Student response was very positive.