Module guide

HNC Projects in Electrical

Engineering
EEA_5_449

Faculty of Engineering,
Science and the Built
Environment
Academic Year: 2012-2013

become what you want to be

Table of contents
1.0
UNIT DETAILS .................................................................................................... 3
2.0
SHORT DESCRIPTION ...................................................................................... 3
3.0
AIMS OF THE UNIT ............................................................................................ 3
4.0
LEARNING OUTCOMES .................................................................................... 3
4.1 KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING ............................................................ 3
4.2 INTELLECTUAL SKILLS ..................................................................................... 3
4.3 PRACTICAL SKILLS ........................................................................................... 3
4.4 TRANSFERABLE SKILLS ................................................................................... 4
5.0
INTRODUCTION TO STUDYING THE UNIT ...................................................... 4
5.1 OVERVIEW OF THE MAIN CONTENT ............................................................... 4
5.2 OVERVIEW OF TYPES OF CLASSES ............................................................... 4
5.3 IMPORTANCE OF STUDENT SELF-MANAGED LEARNING TIME ................... 4
6.0
THE PROGRAMME OF TEACHING, LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT ............ 5
7.0
ASSESMENT OF THE UNIT ............................................................................... 5
8.0
A GUIDANCE ON CHOICE OF PROJECT ......................................................... 5
8.1 Unsuitable Projects.............................................................................................. 5
8.2 Suitable Projects.................................................................................................. 6
APPENDICES ................................................................................................................ 7
APPENDIX 1 - HND Project Log book- General Notes .................................................... 8
APPENDIX 2 Progress Report Guidance ................................................................. 9
APPENDIX 3 Specimen Front Cover ...................................................................... 13
APPENDIX 4 - Final Project Report Format .............................................................. 14
APPENDIX 5 Indicative Marking Scheme .............................................................. 18

1.0 UNIT DETAILS

Unit Title:
Unit Level:
Unit Reference Number:
Credit Value:
Student Study Hours:
Contact Hours:
Private Study Hours:
Pre-requisite Learning (If applicable):
Co-requisite Units (If applicable):
Course(s):
Year and Semester
Unit Coordinator:
UC Contact Details (Tel, Email, Room)
Teaching Team & Contact Details
(If applicable):
Subject Area:
Summary of Assessment Method:

HNC Project
5
EEA_5_449
1
36 hours workshop
4 hours per week
10 hours per week
Project Planning (HND students only)

Academic Year 2013, Semester 2

Dr Paul Klimo
0207 815 7579 klimop@lsbu.ac.uk T708
Dr Ronnie Swan
Electrical Engineering
Report and Hardware

2.0 SHORT DESCRIPTION

Final Year electronic hardware construction individual assignment.

3.0 AIMS OF THE UNIT

To demonstrate the technical ability to design and build electronic system hardware
and to verify its correct operation.
To demonstrate the ability to provide technical documentation in support of the
electronic system design.

4.0 LEARNING OUTCOMES

4.1 KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
Develop an in-depth technical understanding of a chosen technical subject.

4.2 INTELLECTUAL SKILLS

Apply and integrate a range of the knowledge and skills acquired in the course
being followed to real engineering problems or to models/simulations of real
problems.

4.3 PRACTICAL SKILLS

Become familiar and apply various CAD tools for schematic capture, functional
simulation and PCB design.
Learn methods of electronic hardware construction and practical problem solving
relating to it.

4.4 TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

Develop formal report writing skills and gain practical experience of organisation,
budgeting and meeting project delivery deadline.

5.0 INTRODUCTION TO STUDYING THE UNIT

5.1 OVERVIEW OF THE MAIN CONTENT
This is unit is taken by Final Year students on the HNC course.
As the Project Planning Unit is not part of the HNC course, the HNC students are
expected to choose a suitable Project Title and to perform all the preparatory and the
project execution parts in this single Unit.

5.2 OVERVIEW OF TYPES OF CLASSES

Work takes place during the laboratory time-tabled sessions that are supervised by
staff members assigned for the Project Unit. Attendance of these classes is
compulsory.
In addition, if so required and subject to availability of lab resources, students may
continue with their project work without staff supervision provided that the technical staff
are satisfied that the health and safety issues of students working on University
premises are met.
Students may also work on their projects away from the University, but the University
will not take responsibility for any equipment damage/loss or student heath and safety
issues whilst working away from the University.

5.3 IMPORTANCE OF STUDENT SELF-MANAGED

LEARNING TIME
The choice of suitable HNC projects is a responsibility of the students. A guidance
given in the Paragraph 8 of this Unit Guide has to be followed and a project outline
agreed with the member of staff before any detailed work on the project can
commence.
The HNC students have to choose a suitable Project by Week 2 and have it approved
by the staff latest in Week 3.

The student is responsible for continuous project management. This involves:

ensuring that the cost of the project remains within the University allocated sum .
taking responsibility for availability of chosen components, placing component
orders via university stores and monitoring component delivery times.
identifying potential/real time bottle necks and taking acting steps to avoid or
rectify.

6.0 THE PROGRAMME OF TEACHING,

LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT
Week 1-3:
Week 4:
Week 5-12:
Week 13:

HNC students researching a suitable Project Title to agree with staff.

Submission of Progress Report.
Project work.
Hardware Demonstration & Submission of the Final Project Report.

Late submissions of documentation will be penalised. Failure to demonstrate the

hardware by Week 13 will result in failure unless mitigating circumstances can be
accepted.

7.0 ASSESMENT OF THE UNIT

Activity
(a)

(b)

(c)

Max. Mark

Students effort:
Attendance of Time-tabled Sessions
Individual log-book

3
7

Documentation:
Progress Report
Final Report

10
30

Hardware Demonstration:

50

An indicative marking scheme for assessment of Final report and Hardware

Demonstration can be found in Appendix 5.

8.0 A GUIDANCE ON CHOICE OF PROJECT

8.1 UNSUITABLE PROJECTS
Any type of Project deemed to present health and safety issues if the student
allowed to work unsupervised. Examples are projects involving mains/high voltage
or terminals exposed to mains/high voltage, power lasers and power microwave
devices, poisonous/explosive chemicals etc.
Pure software projects not involving control of electronic devices built by the
student.
Literature surveys not involving any electronic device construction.
Mechanical projects involving only a minimum of electronic construction.
Circuits designs involving only CAD simulation without breadboard or PCB
construction.

8.2 SUITABLE PROJECTS

Projects involving as many as possible of the following aspects:
Use of designs available from reliable external sources such as hobbyist magazines
or publications, internet etc, ensuring that they involve readily available components
within the Project budget. Preferably, choose projects were the device operation,
construction and testing techniques are well described.
Partial modification of existing designs by extending circuit functionality, using
alternative components, different circuit layouts etc.
Use of CAD for Schematic Capture and Functional Simulation (entire circuit or parts
thereof).
Design of own PCB layout artwork using in-house available CAD packages.
Component assembly on in-house made PCB or strip-board designs.
Use of ready purchased or in house made/modified enclosures and front panels,
fixing and wiring of controls and displays thereon.
Testing/calibrating and commissioning of equipment following documented
procedures.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1 - HND Project Log book- General Notes

During the project work its essential that you record your work properly in a log book. This will
be a deliverable of the project work and count up to 7% of the unit mark.
Your log book must be a bound notebook (hardback or softback), A4 in size. Ideally, it should
have 5 - mm square paper on every page.
Number all the pages.
Put the date when you make an entry.
It is permissible to attach sheets of graph paper or other data if appropriate, provided this is done
securely e.g. glue, staples, sellotape - not paper clips.
All entries should be in permanent ink.
Do not leave blank pages. Draw lines through unused pages or parts of pages. Never remove
pages from the log book.
In the log book you must keep a complete record of work relating to your project as well as
other work done in the workshop sessions e.g. sources of information investigated, notes on
background information, ideas, rough work, designs, circuit diagrams, results of testing,
analyses, calculations, component lists, costings, diagrams, plots, etc. It should be possible to
extract and re-arrange the information when the time comes to write your reports.
As a general guideline, there should be enough information in the book to enable someone
working in the field to duplicate the work. Hence describe your work in detail and record all
results and observations.
Your log book will not be a formal report but a 'working' document in which you will make
errors and mistakes, rearrange work etc. Do not be afraid of making errors and mistakes. Simply
cross them out. They must not be erased beyond recognition e.g. by using liquid paper, erasers,
etc.

Prof H S Reehal (Oct 04)

APPENDIX 2 Progress Report Guidance

The Progress Report will describe the work carried out up to the date of the issue.
The significant landmark to guide you is that, following the submission of the Progress
Report, the student should be fully in position to start the construction and (if applicable)
detailed design. That means that the Progress Report needs, as a minimum, to provide
full Project Topic definition, circuit diagrams, description of construction technique,
availability and cost of components, ordering information on suppliers.
For HND students, additional work carried out under the Project Planning Unit should
also be included (i.e. details of any CAD, PCB design etc).
The progress report should be word-processed. Can be stapled or bound. For graphic
images use CAD if possible, but technical drawings and diagrams drawn by
ruler/compass are also acceptable. Photocopies of articles or of graphic images are
not acceptable, but you can import graphic files or scan graphic images from external
sources. Always reference all sources of information at the point of use.
The suggested structure is:
1.

Title Page
Give the project title (not longer than 15 words), your name, course, date of
submission and the lecturers name.

2.

Contents Page
Give page numbers and section headings.

3.

Introduction
This sets the scene and gives the reader a background to your project describing
what is being done and why. Give references for the literature you cite.
It may help you to answer questions like: What does the circuit do? How does it do
this? What else like this is available? Where can it be used? What else like this is
being used? What is different about what I am doing? Is it an improvement over
what is available (e.g. more useful, simpler, cheaper, etc)?
Do not give circuit diagrams or details of circuit operation in this section.
This is done in section 5.

4.

Aim, Objectives and Deliverables

Refer to the lecture notes on project planning.
Aim
Give the main aim of your project. This is what you hope to achieve by the end of
the project. There should be only one Aim for the entire project. Try to make
this as specific as possible so that you and others can assess how successful you
have been at the end of the project.

Objectives
These are subsidiary aims whose completion will enable the main aim to be met.
There can be several of these. You should not have more than 6-7 objectives. List
the objectives.
Deliverables
Deliverables are the main outputs of the project i.e. what will be available at the
end of the project e.g. the final report, the project hardware itself, any manuals etc.
Deliverables are obviously related to the aim/objectives. List the deliverables.
5.

Technical Background
For your chosen project, give block and circuit diagrams which you took from the
literature, internet, etc. Describe in detail how the circuit works (circuit operation,
theory, etc). If you changed/modified/enhanced the circuit in any way, give details
of the changes to the circuit and their effect on its operation.
Give the complete functional and technical specifications for the project.
All the sources of information must be fully referenced.

6.

Technical Approach/Procedure
This is the 'how you do it' or method part of the report.
Describe the main constructional aspects of work to be carried out on designing,
building and testing the project. This should include some considerations on circuit
layout design, design of the overall project including the case, procedure used for
simulating the circuit, procedure for building and procedure for testing.

7.

Project Planning
A key aim of planning your project is to ensure it can be completed in the time
allocated. The subject was discussed in detail in the project lectures. You must
give an Action plan and Gantt chart covering the period from the start of your
project to its conclusion. Review your chart regularly when you start constructional
part of your project. You will need to re-plan as the project progresses to take
account of changes.
You must also give a list of the main milestones for the project. Milestones are
used to measure progress and generally coincide with main events during the
project. An example of a milestone is " design of amplifier completed by end
February 2004". Think of the key events for your project and their endpoints to
come up with a few key milestones. Milestones can be shown on the Gantt chart
or listed separately.

8.

Work Progress
In this section you present all subsequent work done but not included under the
previous headings.

9.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Summarize your key findings , successes and problems encountered. Assess the
work so far against the aims and objectives listed at the beginning of the report
and the deliverables. Are you on the way to meet these?

10

10. Appendices
An appendix is really optional reading for the reader but which you wish to include
in the report for completeness. Only include items that are referred to in the report.
Data sheets or similar information may be photo-copied.
Do not include published work - this should just be listed in the references.

Optimum REPORT LENGTH between 10 and 15 pages.

11

APPENDIX 3 -THE FINAL PROJECT REPORT

GENERAL POINTS
You are required to produce a formal final project report in the style prescribed below.
You must follow this style. One of the aims of doing this is to give you practice for
producing reports in a prescribed "company style" which you will be required to do in a
future job as an engineer.
1.

The report must be typed, with a bound-side margin at least 1.5" wide.

2.

Use single or one-and-a-half spacing between lines. Do not use double-spacing.

3.

The font size should not be smaller than Times New Roman 12 or equivalent.

4.

Number the pages.

5.

All documents must be A4 in size. Documents larger than this will not be
accepted.

6.

A good standard of English is expected-check your spelling and grammar and get
someone else to do this as well if appropriate.

7.

Writing style do not use first person singular. Your report must be written in the
impersonal passive voice. For example:
Instead of writing:
I designed a circuit to ..
Use:
A circuit was designed to .

8.

SI units must be used wherever possible.

9.

All documents must be securely bound. Use spiral-binding or the report can be
hard bound using black covers. You must not submit documents in ring binders.

10. Print your initials, surname, course and the academic year on the spine.
11. You must use the standard cover available in the Faculty Office for the report [a
specimen is shown on the next page]; fill in all the details indicated. Reports which
are submitted without the required information on the cover will not be accepted.

12

APPENDIX 3 Specimen Front Cover

Department of Electrical, Computer and Communications Engineering

HND Project in Electrical Engineering
Final Project Report

Title:

Author:

Academic Session:

Supervisor:

13

APPENDIX 4 - Final Project Report Format

1.

Title Page
Give the project title (not longer than 15 words), your name, course, date of
submission and the lecturers name.

2.

Acknowledgements Page
Short acknowledgement of people who helped you. (Optional)

3.

Contents Page
Give page numbers and section headings.

4.

Abstract
The abstract should be a short summary (about 100-200 words) of the
aims/objectives of your work, the methods used and your main
results/achievements. It should be written last, after the main report is finished. It
can be distilled from the introduction, conclusions and recommendations of your
report. Abstracts play a key role in engineering and scientific reporting. They tell
the reader what your work is about and what has been achieved. If the reader is
interested, they can continue reading the report. If not they will have wasted little
time.

5.

Introduction
This sets the scene and gives the reader a background to your project describing
what is being done and why. Give references for the literature you cite.
It may help you to answer questions like: What does the circuit do? How does it do
this? What else like this is available? Where can it be used? What else like this is
being used? What is different about what I am doing? Is it an improvement over
what is available (e.g. more useful, simpler, cheaper, etc)?
Do not give circuit diagrams or details of circuit operation in this section.
This is done in section 7.
This section and the references to published work should bring the reader to the
point where he/she is in a position to read and understand your report in detail.
A short, example Introduction is given below. Your Introduction is expected to be
more detailed and longer.

6.

Aim, Objectives and Deliverables

Refer to the lecture notes on project planning.
Aim
Give the main aim of your project. This is what you hope to achieve by the end of
the project. There should be only one Aim for the entire project. Try to make
this as specific as possible so that you and others can assess how successful you
have been at the end of the project.

14

Objectives
These are subsidiary aims whose completion will enable the main aim to be met.
There can be several of these. You should not have more than 6-7 objectives. List
the objectives.
Deliverables
Deliverables are the main outputs of the project i.e. what will be available at the
end of the project e.g. the final report, the project hardware itself, any manuals etc.
Deliverables are obviously related to the aim/objectives. List the deliverables.
7.

Technical Background
For your chosen project, give block and circuit diagrams which you took from the
literature, internet, etc. Describe in detail how the circuit works (circuit operation,
theory, etc). If you changed/modified/enhanced the circuit in any way, give details
of the changes to the circuit and their effect on its operation.
Give the complete functional and technical specifications for the project.
All the sources of information must be fully referenced.

8.

Technical Approach/Procedure
This is the 'how you did it' or method part of the report.
Describe in detail the work carried out on designing, building and testing the
project. This should cover circuit layout design, design of the overall project
including the case, procedure used for simulating the circuit, procedure for building
and procedure for testing.
You can often do things in more than one way and you may have tried different
approaches describe these. You should also describe the technical problems
you encountered and your attempts to solve them.
Organize this section using different sub-headings as appropriate for your work.

9.

Results
In this section you need to present your main results from performance testing. If
the data you give is quantitative, present it carefully using diagrams, tables and
graphs as appropriate. If it is qualitative describe it in the context of the
test/evaluation procedure used.

10. Discussion
Describe how the results of testing have compared with any simulation results.
State how significant you think the work is and support your claims with evidence
from your results, the literature, etc.
11. Conclusions and Recommendations for Further Work
Summarize your key findings and results, successes and failures and problems
encountered. Assess the work against the aims and objectives listed at the
beginning of the report and the deliverables. Have you met these? Finish off with
recommendations for further work that needs to be done or could be done to
enhance the project. The use of bullet points is a very effective way of listing the
conclusions and is recommended.

15

12. References
Give a complete list of books, magazine articles, web sites, etc. that you have
consulted and referenced in the report. References are essential. You must give
the complete details for every work and use a consistent format as described in
the example Introduction below or in the Study Skills Survival Guide.
11. Project Planning
A key aim of planning your project is to ensure it can be completed in the time
allocated. The subject was discussed in detail in the project lectures. You must
give an Action plan and Gantt chart covering the period from the start of your
project to its conclusion. Review your chart regularly. You will need to re-plan as
the project progresses to take account of changes. In your final report you should
show the initial Action Plan and Gantt chart drawn, a revised Gantt chart drawn
half way through Semester 2 and a final end of project Gantt chart.
You must also give a list of the main milestones for the project. Milestones are
used to measure progress and generally coincide with main events during the
project. An example of a milestone is " design of amplifier completed by end
February 2004". Think of the key events for your project and their endpoints to
come up with a few key milestones. Milestones can be shown on the Gantt chart
or listed separately.
12. Appendices
An appendix is really optional reading for the reader but which you wish to include
in the report for completeness. Only include items that are referred to in the report.
Do not include published work - this should just be listed in the references. Inserts
such as floppy disks must be securely attached to the inside-back cover of the
report; they must be easily accessible and replaceable. If there is a large
document as an appendix e.g. a user manual, this may be submitted separately. In
this case it must be labelled clearly on the cover and spine.

Optimum REPORT LENGTH between 30 and 40 pages.

16

Specimen Introduction and Method of Referencing

This is a very short example. Your Introduction is expected to be more detailed and
longer.
FABRICATION AND CHARACTERISATION OF SILICON SOLAR CELLS

Introduction
The generation of electricity from sunlight using photovoltaic (PV) devices or solar cells
promises to make an important contribution to energy generation in this century [1].
Compared to traditional energy sources, PV is clean and environmentally friendly and
could play an important role in limiting the damage caused by global warming. It can
also improve the quality of life in less developed countries.

Currently, PV solar energy generation is dominated by silicon solar cells which account
for ~80 % of world production. These cells are p/n junction devices made from single
crystal or multi crystalline silicon wafers. The p/n junction is generally formed by
diffusing a thin (~0.3 m) n+ region in a p-type silicon wafer. A top grid-like contact plus
an anti-reflection coating, and a bottom contact layer, complete the structure [2,3]. The
maximum theoretical efficiency of the cells is ~28 % under 1 sun illumination whereas
practical cells have efficiencies lying in the range 14-18 % [4].

This project is aimed at fabricating a simple p/n junction solar cell from single crystal
silicon wafers and then determining its efficiency from current-voltage characteristics
measured under simulated sunlight. In addition to learning about the manufacture of
solar cells, the work will provide an understanding of the factors that control cell
performance.
References
[1] W Palz, PV For The New Century, Renewable Energy World, March-April, 24-37
(2000)
[2] T Markvart (Ed), Solar Electricity, John Wiley, Chichester, England, (1994), ISBN 0
471 94161 1
[3] M A Green, Solar Cells - Operating Principles, Technology and System
Applications, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, (1992), ISBN 0 13 82270
[4] S R Wenham and M A Green, Silicon Solar Cells, Progress in Photovoltaics:
Research and Applications, 4, 3-33 (1996)
17

APPENDIX 5 Indicative Marking Scheme

Project Report
Aspect
Presentation
Structure
Clarity of Style
Correct Spelling
Quality of graphics

Max Mark

3
3
2
2
Total 10

Content
Degree to which design modified
5
Use of Schematic Capture
1
Use/evidence of Circuit Simulation
3
Own PCB layout design
4
Quality of Discussion/Conclusions
5
Evidence of Project Planning
2
Total 20

Hardware Demonstration
Aspect

Max Mark

Constructional Complexity
10
In-house designed & produced PCB 6
Quality of Component Assembly
8
Enclosure & PCB Fitting/Wiring
5
Front Panel & Indicators
8
Fully Functional Hardware
10
Discussion with student
4
Total 50

18