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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
MAE 300, Engineering Instrumentation and Measurement
_________________________________________________________________________
Instructor: Dr. Huy Hoang Office: VEC-217
Office hours: Monday 11:00AM-12:30 PM Email: Huy.Hoang@csulb.edu
Tuesday 11:00AM-12:15PM
Wednesday: 11:00AM-12:30PM
Course: MAE 300, Section 1,2 & 3 Term: Fall 2014
Meeting Time: Monday 8:00- 8:50AM Class Location: ECS-115
__________________________________________________________________

Course Objectives: To familiarize students with laboratory equipments and statistical analysis for
experimental data. By the end of the course, students will be expected to have mastery in the following
areas:
1. Statistical analysis of experimental data, uncertainty analysis, various statistical distributions and
test of goodness of fit, correlation coefficient and multivariable regression.
2. An understanding of the basic principles of several engineering instrumentations including
different types of passive and active transducers, electronics for instrumentation, computer based
data acquisition systems, and experiments on pressure, temperature and force measurements.

Course Prerequisites: Math 224, Physics 151, 152 (Grade C or better)

Required Textbooks:
Instrumentation and Measurements, H. R. Rahai, Spring 2013 ( Beachboard)
MAE 300 Laboratory Experiments 2014, H. R. Rahai ( Beachboard)
A Beginners Guide to technical communication, Anne Eisenberg, McGraw Hill,
1998. (Optional)

Recommended references:
D.C. Ramsay, Principles of Engineering Instrumentation, by D.C. Ramsay, Arnold
Publishing, 1996.
F.S. TSE and I.E. Morse, Measurement and Instrumentation in Engineering, MARCEL
DEKKER Inc., 1989.

Grading: Experiments 50 %
HW 20 %
Midterms 30 %


Students should be present during the experimentation. Absence without a strong and valid
(certified) excuse will result in complete loss of credit for that experiment. No make up will be
provided. Reports are due at the beginning of the class, two weeks after experimentation. Late
lab report will be subjected to 10% penalty for every day (including the due date) passed due date.
The assigned homework is due at the beginning of the lecture class. Late homework is not
accepted.
90%-100% A
80%-89.9% B
60%-79.9% C
40%-59.9% D
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TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE (Academic Year)
(The following course outline is not fixed. Regular class attendance is recommended.)
Instruction Weeks Subject
1-5 Introduction, experimental uncertainty, statistical methods for engineers, pressure
and force measurements
2 Experiment No. 1
6,7 Temperature measurements, computer controlled data acquisition and analysis
4 Experiment No. 2.
6 Experiment No. 3.
8 Midterm I
7-8 Active and passive transducers, flow measurements
9 Experiment No. 4
10-12 Transient heat transfer
12 Experiment No. 5
14 Experiment X
15 Midterm II
Course Surveys: As part of the course continuous improvement process, course surveys may be
conducted at the end of the semester.

General Rules and Regulations
Withdrawals:
It is the students responsibility to withdraw from classes. Instructors have no obligation to
withdraw students who do not attend courses, and may choose not to do so. Course withdrawals
must be made according to CSULB University Policy. Check schedule of classes for deadlines and
important information.

Attendance: Regular class attendance is strongly recommended. The University Policy for
attendance can be found at the website: http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/catalog/2011-
2012/academic_information/class_attendance.html

Make-up policy: Make-up for midterm tests will be arranged for excused absences (per University
Policy) only. Be prepared to show documentation.

Accommodation: It is the students responsibility to notify the instructor in advance of the need for
accommodation of a university verified disability.

Lab Safety: Safety is a main consideration in any experiment. It is expected that students must follow
the laboratory procedures and under the guidance of the instructor. Safety rules, regulations, and
practices associated with the use of laboratory materials, equipment, and other items identified as
potentially hazardous will be instructed by the instructor. All enrolled students have to sign safety
instruction verification forms. Refusal to sign the certification form may lead to withdrawal of the
student from the class. Disagreements involving the request for compliance shall be referred to the
MAE department chair for resolution.
Plagiarism: The University policy in regard to plagiarism will be enforced. The policy can be found at
the website:
http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/catalog/2011-2012/academic_information/cheating_plagiarism.html
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FORMAT FOR WRITING LABORATORY REPORTS:

The following points should be noted in the presentation of your lab report:
(a) Use 8 by 11 inch paper,
(b) Type your report on one side only
(c) Number pages
(d) Spell, hyphenate, abbreviate words correctly
(e) Punctuate correctly
(f) Write in third person past tense. Avoid using I and We

1 Title Sheet (3 points): Title of the experiment, students name(s), date of performing the
experiment, and date of submitting the experiment.

2. Abstract (15 points):
An abstract is a summary, condensed explanation of:
(a) What the experiment is about and its purpose,
(b) How the work was done, what equipment was used and how the information was
obtained, and
(c) Major result(s) discovered. Include some recommendations here if applicable.

Write in 3
rd
person past tense. Avoid using I and We. Abstract is about one or
two paragraphs and should not be more than 250 words.

3. Background/Theory (10 points)
Provide some literature/theory and all relevant information such as equations, tables, and
graphs .that are related and required for understanding the experiment.

4. Experimental procedure (5 points). Write in essay format and in past tense the steps and
procedure you went through to complete the experiment. If the experiment has several parts,
then you indicate that at the beginning and then explain each part.

5. Raw data (10 points) Arrange all raw data that you collected from the experiment in tabular
form. Do not include any calculated data here.

6. Calculations and Results (25 points): show sample calculations, tables, graphs, uncertainty
analysis, etc.
If you use spreadsheet, you can cut and paste that here, however, on the spreadsheet,
each calculation should be clearly marked. Pay attention to the number of decimals. If
the accuracy of the data is up to 2 decimal places, your results cannot have higher
accuracy than 2 decimals.
All graphs and tables should have captions.
Example: Figure 1. Normalized histogram.

Do not discuss your results here. Observations and discussions belong to the next section.


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7. Discussion of results (15 points):
Discuss any unusual results, point(s) of agreement(s) and disagreement(s), sources of errors,
etc.
Start your discussion by referring to figures and tables and then explain them.
For example: Figure 1 shows distribution of normalized histogram for data of part one of the
experiment. As the figure shows
Avoid general statement such as results are good and as expected. Be specific about your
results. If your discussions are limited to the general statements without being specific, you
will not get any credit for this section.
8. Conclusions and recommendations (15 points): Summarize your results here. State briefly
what you did, how you did, and the results of the experiment, before drawing your conclusions.

9. Bibliography/References (2 points) List sources of referenced literature.

10. Appendix (optional): If you have large data files, you can place your raw data in the
appendix.