Using a small timer chip and a lot of imagination, UWindsor engineering students have spent a semester creating electrical circuit powered machines that can follow a line, deter intruders and even heat water.
First and second year electrical engineering students will present those projects and more in UWindsor’s first Electrical Circuit Design Competition between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. on April 7 in the Centre for Engineering Innovation’s industrial courtyard.
The Windsor chapters of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and IEEE Women In Engineering (WIE) organized the event and will judge each project based on student presentations. Founded in November 2014, IEEE Windsor has grown to nearly 170 members and was recently lauded for its recruitment efforts, receiving IEEE’s 2016 Outstanding Section Membership Recruitment Performance award.
The students had a semester to design an electrical circuit using a 555 timer — an integrated circuit (chip) that can be used in a variety of timer, pulse generation and oscillator applications. Approximately 80 students will compete for first place overall and IEEE WIE’s recognition for top female contestant(s).
The IEEE has approximately 430,000 members in more than 160 countries. It is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing innovation and technological excellence for the benefit of humanity and is designed to serve professionals involved in all aspects of the electrical, electronic and computing fields and related areas of science and technology. IEEE WIE is the largest international professional organization dedicated to promoting women engineers and scientists.