Mechatronics

In the Digital Technology module, students learn the basics and components of digital circuits that occur in embedded systems.

The course examines the strains and stresses that form in material areas of loaded components and provides mathematical descriptions for this. With this, strength and stability assessments for components are carried out, as well as the calculation of deformations and forces and moments in overdetermined systems. With the principle of energy methods, an additional possibility is shown to determine forces, moments and deformations in statically determined and overdetermined systems.

The course provides an overview of industrially relevant manufacturing processes for the production of geo-metrically determined parts and assemblies. Following the structure of DIN 8580, relevant manufacturing processes from all main groups are presented. The process principle and variations are explained first. Subsequently, machines and technical equipment for implementation as well as exemplary applications are shown.

Students learn methods for the design and calculation of electrical networks with excitation by harmonic signals, periodic signals and pulsed signals.

The aim of this module is to deepen the knowledge of complex alternating current theory, frequency-dependent networks and complete field theory.

Students are introduced to the mathematical description of the instantaneous states of motion of points and rigid bodies (kinematics) and the resulting forces and moments (kinetics). Therefore, the methods of free cutting and equilibrium of forces and moments known from statics are extended to d'Alembert's principle, and supplemented by the mathematical description of inertial features and their coordinate transformation. The students are gradually introduced to more complex tasks with the help of various practical examples.

The course gives an overview of the different types of machine elements. For selected machine elements, the mode of operation, properties, design principles as well as the design are dealt with in detail.

The subject of this course is the fundamentals of materials engineering. Students get to know the basic relationships between the production, structure and properties of materials,  and their description with subject-specific parameters.

Students learn about resistor circuits and measuring bridges, operational amplifier circuits, multimeters, sensors, analogue-to-digital converters and digital-to-analogue converters, digital measurement technology, spectral analysis of periodic signals and statistics.

The module covers basic circuits, transistor circuits, oscillators and circuit technology for digital circuits.

Students learn the basics of hardware-related programming, including the use of pointers and structure data types to control peripherals using memory mapped IO. The students get to know more complex C projects and learn to structure their own complex projects. They develop hardware-related software including the handling routines of interrupts.

This module gives a basic overview of the theory and application of simulation techniques in the development of injection moulded components made from thermoplastic polymers.

In the first part of the lecture, selected manufacturing technologies for the production of mechatronic systems are explained. The second part deals with organisational forms of production systems and methods for the systematic design of work processes in manufacturing and assembly. In exercises and practical courses, the content is deepened using calculations for process design, as well as practical work for the production of mechatronic components and assemblies.

During the internship, students carry out engineering-related activities based on concrete tasks in an industrial environment. The intership can be completed in a company in Germany or abroad.

The course serves to learn the basics of technical-scientific documentation as well as to gain a deeper understanding of the diverse application possibilities of presentation techniques. The students present with extended media competence. The students further develop their own speaking and performance skills with the aim of presenting confidently.

Introduction to Business Management

The course serves to learn the basics of project management, with a focus on the application in projects.

Students are introduced to the basics of control theory for continuous control loops. This includes, among other things, the description of control loop elements, the essential dynamic properties of control loops and their analysis as well as selected controller design methods. For the implementation of the continuously designed control algorithms on a digitally operating control device, the fundamentals of discrete control loops and the time discretisation of continuous controllers are dealt with.

The basics of control technology are taught from the beginnings to today's common implementations. The main focus of the module is the knowledge of the standardised PLC programming languages according to IEC 61131-3. The handling of the programming system CoDeSys from 3S is learned through diverse tasks and the programming knowledge is deepened. In the practical course, a complex automation task is worked out step-by-step with Simatic S7 PLC and TIA Portal.

Students gain competences in the mode of action of electromagnetic motors and the design of electric drives as a mechatronic system. In addition to the motor, the regulation and control devices, power electronics, position measuring devices and mechanical transmission elements are taken into account. Students understand the design of electrical drive systems, can select suitable motors for the respective drive input and understand technical data of drive components.

This module teaches the basic operation of a modern microcontroller architecture and its peripherals. The students develop their own hardware abstraction layer in assembler and C during the practical course in order to understand and use the configuration options and peripheral functions.

With the Bachelor's thesis, students demonstrate the ability to independently work on the given problem according to scientific methods within the given time limit.

The module deals with the mathematical description, simulation and implementation of the continuously designed control algorithms (see module continuous control technology) on a digitally operating control device. The basics of discrete control loops and the time discretisation of continuous controllers are covered and applied in the practical course.

Students learn how to calculate power converter circuits with diodes and thyristors, DC chopper circuits and converter circuits according to specification, how to scale the components and then analyse simple circuits using measurement technology. Students can analyse the circuits using modern circuit simulators as models.