Instructional Laboratory Facilities in Mechanical Engineering
Welcome to Reber Building, home of the Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Program. This web page describes many of the facilities and resources housed in this building. Feel free to take this self-guided tour. Enjoy! |
History of the Department
Self-Guided Tour
Other Highlights, Facilities & Resources
History of the Department
This building was first constructed in 1921, which then only included the middle section of the first two floors and was named the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory. It was built to replace the original Main Engineering Building which burned down in 1918. The building is named after Louis Ehrheart Reber, who first instituted the Mechanical Engineering program in 1886 and was the first Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department. The name was given to the building in the 1990s when the most recent renovations were made and bring it to what you see today. |
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Self-Guided Tour
| Energy Systems Lab - Rm. 101 |
This lab is used to demonstrate the importance of thermodynamic efficiency and energy density. In ME 300 (Thermodynamics), students learn thermodynamic properties and cycles, and have the opportunity to see many of the applications that surround us every day, including the refrigeration cycle used in refrigerators & other HVAC applications as well as the internal combustion engine used in vehicles and equipment. Vibrations which result from a rotating mechanism are explored using a vibrational test stand. One of the few remaining steam Rankine cycles is maintained in the lab as a demonstration of efficiency. The link between the cycles demonstrated here and the environment are discussed on a global scale. |
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| Fluids Lab (ME 325) - Rm. 102 |
| This laboratory course is designed to help the students understand the fundamentals taught in ME 320, Fluid Flow. Different analysis techniques are used when dealing with fluid systems versus a mechanical system. Students see these differences in a hands-on setting by performing experiments involving lift and drag measurements, compressible flows, jet flow mechanics, and water flows using a wind tunnel and a water channel. The students are responsible for designing and completing a final experiment in a team of 2 or 3 students. |
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| Turbomachinery Lab (ME 404) - Rm. 107 |
| This lab is used to run experiments in the “Gas Turbines” technical elective, and also to further demonstrate the thermodynamic applications in the required Thermodynamics courses. Students are shown the importance of energy density and thermodynamic efficiency. Inside the lab, there is a gas turbine fitted with plastic ‘windows’ in which students can see the flow of gas through the cycle. To contrast the larger gas turbine, the smaller turbine shown in the glass case runs at a very high rotational speed but on a much smaller scale. The data acquisition is measured by computer. |
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| Upstairs in South Wing to Third Floor |
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| Microcomputer Interfacing Lab (ME 445) - Rm. 339 |
| In ME 445, a technical elective and lab combined, students develop practical electronics and computer interfacing skills through seven labs and a semester-long project. Two students are assigned to each of 16 PC-based microprocessor development workstations with industry standard A-to-D converter cards, oscilloscope emulation software, and associated electronic peripherals. Students learn the principles of binary number representations, counters, clocks, operational amplifiers, signal processing and filtering, data communication, microcomputer operation, and more. |
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| Back to the Second Floor |
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| Student Lounge - Rm 242 |
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| Controls Lab (ME 355) - Rm 243 |
| Students use SIMULINK (block diagram-oriented package) to simulate the dynamic systems which they will see in the laboratory. Laboratory exercises include efforts to match parameter values and system response between the simulated and actual system. The experiments also focus on computer control of mechanical systems in real time. The control software are hosted Pentium platforms and interact with the processes via multiplexed analog/digital (A/D) and digital/analog (D/A) interfaces. |
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| Second Floor hallway - Senior Design Posters |
The posters displayed in this corridor are the results of the senior capstone design courses, a required senior level course which requires students to complete a design project in cooperation with a company from the industry. Click here to see summaries of recent projects.
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| Vibrations Lab (ME 375) - Rm 239 |
| Students reinforce the information learned in ME 370, Vibration of Mechanical Systems. The students are exposed to Matlab, a data analysis tool; and SigLab, a data acquisition system which includes pre-made virtual instruments. Students examine translational, rotational, and forced vibrational systems. The students are responsible for calculating an expected result using the theoretical approach developed in the classroom, then all of the systems are calibrated, by the students, and finally experimental data is collected. The differences between theoretically calculated results and actual experimental results are discussed. During the last set of experiments, students are exposed to the effects which vibrations have on real-world mechanical equipment such as a water pump and a vehicle suspension. |
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| Instrumentation Lab (ME 345) - Rm 237 |
In ME 345, Mechanical Engineering Measurements, students learn the process of acquiring and analyzing data, what errors and uncertainties there may be associated with the data, and methods of creating experiments including what devices should be used. The commercial software LabVIEW is used in the lab to give the students an idea of what is used in the real world. Exposure to equipment such as dynamometers, tachometers, different displacement meters, strain gages, and thermocouples, gives students an overview of what type of devises are available for measuring parameters in experiments.
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| Heat Transfer Lab (ME 315) - Rm 221 |
| This lab is used to reinforce the concepts learned in ME 410, Heat Transfer. Steady state and transient heat conduction, convection, boiling & phase-change, heat exchanger operation, and radiative heat are all explored in this laboratory course. Different methods of transferring energy, ways to measure the energy transferred as well as the resistance and losses involved in the transfer are explored. Laboratory safety is especially important in this lab since students deal with a wide range of materials at extreme temperatures (for instance liquid nitrogen in the boiling lab). |
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| Down North Stairs to First Floor |
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| Technology Classroom - Rm 135 |
| Includes projection system, sound system and instructor computer with internet access. |
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| End of Self-Guided Tour |
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Other Highlights, Facilities & Resources
| Research Laboratories |
Within Reber building there are several labs used for graduate and undergraduate research. One of the most visible research facilities in the building is the Fuel Cell Lab, across from the Energy Systems Lab. This lab is equipped with a 1kW fuel cell stack and several battery stations where research on the charge and discharge of batteries is done. Other research facilities are found in the Leonhard Building, the Propulsion Center, the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, the High Pressure Combustion Lab, and the Breazeale Nuclear Reactor. |
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| PC Studio, Rm 119 & 120 Reber |
This computer lab is available for use by Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering students with their ID cards. It is equipped with 29 advanced workstations with software used in many MNE courses, including MathCAD, Matlab, AutoCAD, and Pro/E This lab is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With the funding provided by the tuition surcharge fees from the College of Engineering and Penn State, we are able to replace half of the computers every year. So no computer in this lab is older than 2 years. |
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| Centrum Area |
| In the basement of Reber Building is the Instrument Room from which equipment may be borrowed and a full time Machine shop. |
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| The Learning Factory |
| This facility across Atherton Street contains equipment, tools, and expert advice available for students and faculty. Product dissection, senior design projects, and the Society of Automotive Engineers’ design projects utilize the Learning Factory. |
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