2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Circuit theory and application is a course that introduces mechanical engineering students to electrical and electronic circuits, with emphasis on building a foundation of applications involving mechanical systems. Voltage, current and power are analyzed in direct and alternating current (DC and AC) circuits having components that include resisters, capacitors, inductors, diodes and operational amplifiers. Conventional courses in circuit theory use lectures and readings to explain the theory, and assign paper-based problem sets of theory, possibly supplemented with circuit labs. Conceptual understanding of the course content remains a challenge for many mechanical engineering students. A series of exercises was developed to help students visualize the concepts and gain a better appreciation for how the concepts are useful in real-world situations. Some of the laboratory exercises involve applications having sensors of mechanical phenomenon and data acquisition. Some of the exercises involve building and testing circuits.

Similar to the curriculum at many universities, our program has circuit theory and application course for sophomore students in mechanical engineering. The course structure is 2-hour lecture, 2-hour lab, for a 3-credit course. The following topics are introduced to students: Ohm’s Law, Kirchhoff’s voltage and current laws, methods of circuit analysis, and capacitors, inductors, binary arithmetic, Boolean algebra, logic gates, operational amplifiers, diodes and applications. Problem sets related to these topics were assigned. In order to improve motivation and learning, application-oriented and hands-on design labs and projects were developed, including sensors, Bode plots and filters, counter design, and data acquisition. This paper will describe some of the developed projects and labs.

Evaluations were based on student surveys (course evaluations) and student work (assigned homework, exams and in class lab exercises). Recent offerings of this course taught in the traditional way by the same instructors resulted in only 45% of the students receiving a “B-” or higher grade for the course. In the past 3 years, with new developed laboratory exercises, the number of students who received a “B-” or better increased to 66%. Moreover, 83% of students “agree” or “strongly agree” that application-oriented and hands-on design labs and projects helped them to better learn the course content. 86% “of the students agree” or “strongly agree” that laboratory exercises increased their interest in the subject. Such improvements in the course will help students stay engaged, strengthen their understanding, and prepare for their courses.