Engineering Design w/ 3D PrintingReference ID: P120

http://pathways.nppd.com/P120

   

Having a shared learning community is essential in today's fast paced world. Public power by nature is a shared community where ideas, safety tips, lessons learned, and new innovations are shared to benefit the public. This activity utilizes shared learning communities to help you learn the basics of 3D printing correlated with workforce skills including the "Ask" and the "Imagine" stages of the engineering design process.

 

Learning the "PLAN" stage of the engineering design process through a challenging reverse engineering project. Get your hands on an electrical insulator and see if you can replicate it using the engineering process - in reverse!

   

Iterations in the digital world not only improve efficiency it also saves resources. In this activity you will utilize the DESIGN stage of the engineering process and learn to use digital software to design your product.

 

3D printing seems easy - when it works. To avoid sticky situations in the utility industry, we plan for possible challenges. Your task is to create a flow chart that will incorporate the steps for a successful print and at least 3 contingency plans for possible problems that you might face during the printing process.

 

One of the biggest potential gains in wind power rides on the engineering design of the blades. Longer. Stronger. More efficient. These are all challenges you can TEST during this phase of the engineering design process. 

 

The engineering design process doesn't exclusively take place on the development of new inventions. Our challenge in the energy industry isn't to dream of the next big thing - it is to continuously improve existing processes, while working towards the next big thing! Take this challenge to improve upon an existing product using the entire engineering process and implementing your new ideas!