Development and Implementation of Didactic Sets in Mechatronics and Industrial Engineering Courses

The collaborative design process supports the development of successful systems and products with a many participating engineers from a variety of disciplines. This kind of working environment lays stress on obtaining such multidisciplinary knowledge. Such efforts became an important element of capstone projects for students from different departments. This paper describes research related to the use of didactic sets in a problem based classroom setting. These sets are designed and implemented by teams comprising students from the Mechatronics and Industrial Engineering departments. They are installed in the mechatronics lab at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, Serbia. The sets are used by students who are enrolled on a number of courses as part of their lab practice in the Mechatronics and Industrial Engineering departments. These didactic sets enable the integration of knowledge gained from various courses. They help the students to understand the connections between different engineering fields. Some of the lab topics that can be delivered with this kind of equipment are: electric motors, frequency controllers, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), fieldbus systems, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. The students are involved in problem-based learning during hands-on activities such as making mechanical connections or wiring. Each didactic set consists of: an asynchronous three-phase electric motor, a frequency controller, a PLC, different relays, pushbuttons, indicators, and wiring. Some of the most important learning benefits are obtained through scenarios that simulate real industrial tasks and conditions.