Abstract:

The use of engineering software to analyze real problems is a common practice by professional engineers; thus, introducing and training engineer students in their use is a concern for higher education institutions. Despite the potential benefits of these tools for the engineers' formation, the existence of different solutions from different companies, their complex interface and functions, the student lack of knowledge (not for CAD functions but specific engineering tools), and the identification of exciting problems become many times unacceptable drawbacks to develop learning activities. This work explains our experience in the development of laboratory activities for manufacturing students, focus on processes that can be modeled or planned by the use of engineering software. Our methodology is based on using different plugins (one for each process to train) inside the same software, a brief introduction about the engineering applications for the computer tool, and the realization of an application example. Hence, a typical laboratory session consists of introducing the software potential applications, an application example, and a description of the tasks that each student has to work for himself. To understand the methodology, we explain two laboratory guides: one activity to train students in the design of sheet metal operations, and another in the ISO code generation for 2.5D milling operations. These experiences can be used by other interested trainers and scholars or be a frame to prepare similar materials and activities.

Keywords:

Computer-Aided Engineering, Simulation, Engineering Education, Learning Engineering Software.