Week 7: N-Light System

This week was once again an easy week. My assigned work was to complete a N-light system for the Koch building. N-light systems are lighting systems that are controlled by a computer. A cat 6 wire is connected to the back of the computer and it is connected to the system. The job I had was to insert bar-code numbers for each light into AutoCAD. If I had to guess, I would say there was at least 75 lights. The second job I was assigned on Thursday was cleaning CAD backgrounds. The background is suppose to have certain colors for each the walls, furniture, doors, etc. The background I was given had the incorrect colors, so I had to change that.

I was very successful on my goals for this week. The first goal was to interview my mentor for the district newsletter. I also had to ask him 7-8 questions. I completed both of these by asking him seven questions about himself and his career. The next goal was to purchase gift cards for the invention fair prizes. I bought two $25 visa gift cards, two $15 iTunes gift cards, and two $10 amazon gift cards. I did not learn five new terms this week, but I did learn four. The terms I learned were N-light system, cat 6 wire, relay pack, and a ceiling mounted dual tech occupancy sensor. My last goal was to email the elementary school teachers about the number of projects they have. I did not get this goal completed this week. This was a very good week for me. I have learned a lot.

This is how an N-Light system works.

Week 6: Derby Lift Station

This week was another easy week, especially since I was only there for two days. On Tuesday school was cancelled, so I did not go to my internship. On Wednesday and Thursday I worked on the Derby Lift Station. I made corrections to markups that my mentor gave to me. One of the things I needed to correct was an underground wire. I needed to connect the wire from a power pole to a disconnect. I also learned how to use different layers for the equipment that I insert into the drawings. The layers are basically different colored line segments which makes it easier to see in the drawings.

This week was a successful week for my goals. I completed my judging criteria for my project. This will help decide who has the best projects. I also got some pictures for my presentation. The two pictures I took were with my mentor and a picture of a lead sheet (at bottom). A lead sheet gives you information about symbols in the actual drawings. It can also provide notes for the project if needed. The creative first slide I came up with was the number of days I was at my internship then I will extend on that. I would have completed my one-line diagram that I was working on last week but my mentor finished it. I did do some corrections on it though. My question this week was if he had a P.E. degree or only an electrical engineering degree. He said that he has a P.E. degree. This cover electrical, structural, and mechanical engineering.

This is a picture of a lead sheet.

Week 5: More AutoCAD

This was another easy week for me. This week I had three different projects, but I only had time to complete two. One of the complete projects was for Koch. I was suppose to clean up a project by deleting unwanted sheets. The other completed project was for the 37th street pump station. During this project I corrected lead sheets. Lead sheets are basically information sheets, they don't have a lot of drawings on them. It can tell you what a symbol means or it can have some general notes about the project. I also did this for my other project, but I did not complete all of the sheets. For this one I got to create a one-line diagram. This is a diagram showing how electricity is being ran to the building.

I did not achieve all of my goals for this week. This week went a little different then I thought it would, so I was not working on the correct project to complete my goals. The one goal I did complete was picking a date for the invention fair. It will be held on December 7th at Colwich Elementary School for the 8th graders of Colwich, St. Marks, and Andale. Two of my goals I could not complete because I was assigned to a different job. I did not complete the Ronald McDonald house because my mentor needed to complete it himself. I also did not learn new lighting terms because I did not work with any lighting. Another one of my goals was to ask my mentor if he had a degree for all engineering or if it was only electrical. I did not get an answer because I did not find a time to ask him. Hopefully I can find out next week. The last goal was to come up with criteria for judging. My partner Ethan and I have started, but we have not completed this. I am disappointed that I did not complete more goals this week.

Hesston Pump Station Project

This week was a fairly simple week. I continued to work on the Hess pump station by placing electrical equipment and mechanical equipment. By Thursday, I had this completed and began to work on a new project for the Ronald McDonald House. For this project I will be copying the lighting system from the first floor plans to the second floor plan. The rough part of the week was my health. I did not feel very good the whole week, but I pushed through and completed the tasks that were assigned to me.

Since I did not feel very good and I had a lot of work, which made me work slow, I failed to complete all of my goals. The first goal that I did meet was the completion of the Hess pump station. I had been working on this project for several days, but I finally finished it this week. Another goal I met was for my semester project. It was to schedule a meeting with Andale Elementary to talk about our invention fair. The question I asked my mentor this week was: what was the most difficult part about the engineering program? He responded with, "the math classes because most of them were taught by professors who did not speak English as their first language. It made learning concepts very difficult." The goals I failed to meet were learning five new electrical terms and schedule a date for the science fair. The five new electrical terms goal was not met because I worked on the same project from the previous week, so I was not exposed to new terms. The date for the science fair was not met because Ethan, my partner, and I did not get the chance to talk to each school about the day that works best for them. I hope I can achieve all five of my goals next week.