A bright laboratory with three window fronts and high-desk tables, an interactive 98-inch screen on the wall, a digital electric drive system for experimenting and state-of-the-art software - this is what teaching in Mechanical Engineering at Aalen University of Applied Sciences looks like today. The "General Mechanical Engineering" degree programme opened its Interactive Learning Laboratory for Digitalization in Mechanical Engineering (ILLDiM) just in time for the summer semester 2022. "None of the digitalization and development of sustainable technologies happens without engineers," says project coordinator Professor Jens Krotsch.
Artificial intelligence, robotics, e-mobility, Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things - Mechanical Engineering is becoming more interdisciplinary and mechanical, electronic and IT skills are in demand. The project team from the "General Mechanical Engineering" degree programme, consisting of project coordinator Prof. Dr. Jens Krotsch, Prof. Dr. Sebastian Feldmann, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Trost, Prof. Dr. Steffen Schwarzer, Markus Hubel and Stefan Zorniger, has created a learning laboratory with a new concept for free, independent and project-oriented staff and experimentation.
Safety equipment plays a particularly important role in this interactive laboratory / lab, as students experiment on electrical machines and exercise equipment. The room equipment and safety devices were completely redesigned for this purpose. The project team was also able to count on support from industry in the realization of the learning lab. Moritz Haas and Ralf Prinz from INNEO Solutions GmbH in Ellwangen donated the standard equipment for the Industry 4.0 demo factory, which students will use in future to work on scientific questions relating to modern production. In addition, practical drive experiments were made possible with the support of ebm-papst Mulfingen GmbH & Co. Following the opening of the "Interactive Learning Lab for Digitalization in Mechanical Engineering", it will make the complex contents of electrical-mechanical systems and digitalization "tangible" for students in the truest sense of the word.
New concept: Active Lab, Digital Lab, Systems Lab and Living Lab
"Active Lab means that students actively develop their theoretical and practical knowledge through prepared experiments, but especially through free experimentation," says Krotsch, whose fields of expertise include electrical drive technology, Metrology and Simulation. In the laboratory / lab's "makerspace", an open workshop, they have a field (of) which they can use to realize their own ideas as part of small projects accompanying the lectures. This allows students to put the knowledge they acquire interactively under optimal prerequisite(s) in the laboratory / lab directly into practice.
As the name suggests, the learning content in the Digitalization Learning Lab has a large web-based and virtual component (Digital Lab). Prof. Dr. Sebastian Feldmann, Head /Director of the "General Mechanical Engineering" degree programme, will discuss the application and significance of artificial intelligence for Mechanical Engineering. "I will also include the topics of control technology, robotics and IoT systems. I have already set up an IoT platform for this, which students can use in the lecture," says Feldmann, whose main topics are AI, robotics, the Internet of Things and feedback control (systems). The keyword Systems Lab means that the course content from digitalization, robotics and AI is interlinked in experiments that build on each other, so that students work on tasks in a project-oriented manner over several semesters. For example, experiments on the operating behavior of electric motors and gearboxes, measurement and sensor technology as well as digital control and condition monitoring of electrical-mechanical drive systems are interlinked. Theory from lectures is combined with Simulation and real measurement results at ILLDiM. "There should be none of the times when the laboratory / lab is empty. We want it to be a busy meeting place for specialist disciplines and interest, a living lab," explains Krotsch.
Sustainability solutions in Mechanical Engineering
"It's not just the tables that are green here," said President Prof. Dr. Harald Riegel at the opening. Energy efficiency and sustainable Product Development will also play an important role in the learning lab. "With the ILLDiM and the neighboring machine hall, we want to offer students a platform that ranges from efficient and sustainable energy conversion to digital system integration," says Krotsch. "Engineers have secure career prospects because they are shaping the digital future of our region and Germany," the project team agrees.
Starting Mechanical Engineering Studies in the winter semester 2022
Prospective students can apply for a Mechanical Engineering degree program at Aalen University of Applied Sciences from May and start at the beginning of October. The Student Advisory Service, academic advising also answers questions about studying Mechanical Engineering via WhatsApp on 0152-27 14 93 14.
