Project training has become one of the main trends at South Ural State University. Project training motivates students for professional activities. It helps students to solve real problems of scientific and practical importance. Projects establish a direct connection of education with practical experience of students in their cognitive and creative, research or educational research activities. One of the interesting projects of the 2019-2020 academic year is the design of a smart temperature gauge. It was successfully completed when a real prototype model of a temperature gauge was built.
New projects, a fresh look
In 2019, 73 projects started at SUSU: 45 of them are new university projects. At the same time, 28 projects are being continued.
The implemented projects are intended to bring education closer to practical activities, change the student’s role to a more active one, individualize the process and make it more creative, to develop teamwork skills in students and make graduates more competitive in the labor market.
Today, project training is combining science and the initiatives of key industrial partners. In the future, it will involve more and more students. All major programs, especially in technical areas, will probably develop within the framework of project training. Students should acquire professional skills in the process of solving real problems. The well-known stereotype of employers: “Forget everything that you were taught at the university” should soon lose its relevance due to the development of project training.
Creating an experimental model of a smart temperature gauge
The School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science is implementing project-based training in the training of bachelors and masters. One of the interesting projects is aimed at creating a smart temperature gauge. D.Sc, associate professor of the Department of Information-measuring Equipment of the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science Vladimir Larionov was the project manager.
Professor Larionov managed the group of undergraduates who worked on a real prototype of a smart temperature gauge with metrological self-diagnostics, which allows to increase the reliability of measurement and to prolong the inter-check interval.
The teachers set the task to teach students modern methods of designing gauges and the processing of data from a measurement experiment.
“During the implementation of the project, an analysis of the known design methods of temperature gauges with metrological self-diagnostics was made, a mathematical model of the electronic part of the gauge was built, calibration methods for the gauges were studied, the gauge design and its software were developed,” says project manager Vladimir Larionov.
The project to develop a smart temperature gauge with a metrological self-monitoring function was carried out in cooperation with the Metran industrial group.
The result of the joint work of graduate students and a teacher was the prototype model of a smart temperature gauge based on a previously obtained patent. At present, prototype sensors have already been built. Experimental studies have shown the operability of the proposed metrological self-monitoring method, which allows not only to diagnose the metrological characteristics of thermoconverter resistance, but also to reduce the temperature measurement error that occurs due to external conditions and the resistance thermocouple aging.
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“Metrological self-monitoring at the operating site allows to reduce errors and thereby evaluate the reliability of the information transmitted by the gauge; to predict its metrological failure and replace it before the start of operation. The gauge failure can lead to large material and financial costs, and even accidents (for example, at nuclear power plants); increase the inter-check interval, which allows operating organizations to reduce the financial costs of gauges servicing, ” Vladimir Larionov explains.
Technologies are constantly evolving, the relevance of such projects is due to the fact that the world is developing and applying smart gauges and smart measuring systems in various fields. Scientists around the world are looking for ways to improve the operation of mechanisms and systems, increase the operational properties of equipment. They try to make it safer, more accurate, more environmentally friendly and energy efficient.
Scientists plan to develop projects that lead to real results. Therefore, productive cooperation with the Metran group in the framework of project training will continue.
South Ural State University is a university of digital transformations, where innovative research is being conducted on most of the priority areas for science and technology development. In accordance with the strategies of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation, the university is focused on large scientific interdisciplinary projects in the field of the digital industry, materials science and ecology.