ME 413: Design of Assemblies

Fall 2018
INSTRUCTOR Professor James R. Rinderle,
ELab 207c, Marston 129, 545-5901, rinderle@ecs.umass.edu
Office Hours: Immediately after class in ELab 207c. You can also meet me by
appointment or, if I am available, I will meet with walk-ins. Appointments are
most easily set up via email. Any changes in the regular office hours will be
announced in class.
TEACHING ASSTS. Head TA: Aaron Annan, aannan@umass.edu
UTAs: TBA
Q&A SESSION Weekly; Schedule and location to be announced.
COURSE CONTENT
Mechanical assemblies consist of a number of components that interact to achieve the desired functions of a product.
Consequently, the design of assemblies requires integration of component specification decisions and configuration
selection decisions. In prerequisite courses you considered parametric design of components and subjective selection of
configurations. In this course, we emphasize the objective engineering attributes of alternative configurations and
tractable means for rational identification and selection of appropriate assembly configurations.
Approaches to assembly design are discussed in concrete design contexts, e.g. design of a power screwdriver gearhead, a
windmill rotor brake or a positioning system motor drive. These contexts serve to both familiarize students with
important components often used in assemblies and to facilitate the discussion of configuration selection issues and
methods.
COURSE MEETINGS
Regular class meetings will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 – 9:45. Exams and some classes may begin at
8:00 as announced in class in advance. Arrangements for examinations will be discussed in class.
I expect and will greatly appreciate it if you will arrive at class meetings on time.
Assignments, tests and any schedule adjustments will be announced in class. If you do miss a class, be sure to ask a
friend about class announcements concerning schedules, exams, homework etc. You are responsible for all
announcements made in class.

BOOKS AND REQUIRED MATERIALS

The text required in MIE 413 is the same one as used in MIE 313, specifically:
Fundamentals of Machine Component Design (2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th ed.) by R. C. Juvinall and K. M. Marshek.
Note that the print version of the 6th edition does not include Chapter 18 which we will use.
Students should arrange to have a hard copy of the text available for exams.
Alternative treatments of some material can be found in other “component” design texts including one by Shigley.
Design process issues are addressed in Product Design and Development by Ulrich and Eppinger and in The Mechanical
Design Process by Ullman.
iClickers will be used in class. Each student should procure and register their iClicker on Moodle prior to the 2nd class.
EXAMINATIONS
There will be two examinations during the semester and a final
examination during the final exam period. There may be one or more GRADING
unannounced quick quizzes on homework, mini-projects or reading material. Mini-Projects 45 %
Exam dates, times, locations and format will be announced in class one
week in advance of the exam. In class exams 30 %
Because it is difficult to insure that a make-up is truly fair and
Final exam 15 %
comparable, make-up exams and quizzes will not be given except in the Homework (and quizzes 10 %
most extreme circumstances. Extraordinary circumstances, e.g. scheduled and participation)
surgery, varsity athletic competitions or religious observance which could 100 %
influence your ability to appear for examinations on any particular date must
be reported to the instructor by Monday September 10th. Any
accommodation requests must also be submitted by this date.
HOMEWORK, MINI-PROJECTS AND CLASS PARTICIPATION
As with most courses and many other endeavors, deep understanding and mastery is achieved only with
practice. Accordingly, homework exercises will be assigned. Although the homework will constitute only a minor
portion of the course grade, experience has shown that those who do not complete the homework usually do poorly
on examinations and project work. Selected homework solutions will be made available as educational supplements
(in the Exploratorium, ELab 203). You should review the solutions to familiarize yourself with alternative
approaches and to understand the nature of your own errors. Although we will emphasize concepts, the practice of
engineering requires that the concepts be applied carefully so that our designs work and our analyses are correct.
Your efforts in obtaining valid results will constitute a significant portion of credit on tests and, therefore, should
concern you on homework assignments. Assignments are due before the beginning of class, unless otherwise stated.
Assignments will not be accepted late.
In addition to homework exercises, three mini-projects will be assigned. Mini-projects are assigned over
slightly longer periods of time, generally 9 days to 2 weeks, and constitute a very significant portion of your course
grade. Unlike homework exercises, the mini-projects will require substantial independent design effort. Mini-
projects are generally done individually but I anticipate that one part of one mini-project will be executed by teams
of students. Details of each mini-project will be discussed in class.
A professional preparation of all the work you submit is expected. Engineering paper is recommended.
Paper must be 8½ x 11 inch and cannot be torn from a notebook. I recommend writing on one side only. Multiple
page submissions must be stapled. Different problems and sections of problems should be clearly identified. The
units for all numerical values must be given on first use and in all answers. All plots and axes of plots should be
clearly labeled and units should be explicit. Plots should not include insignificant markers. Explanations are
important; equations alone do not suffice. Nonconforming submissions will not be graded and will not earn credit.
Assignments are offered principally to facilitate learning. Cooperation among students can be an important
mechanism for learning and is therefore encouraged on homework assignments. For that reason, homework is
graded, in significant part, on effort. Nevertheless, submitted work must reflect the individual effort of the student.
Students are allowed and encouraged to work together on homework assignments (but not on individual mini-
projects) and to discuss solution approaches and methods. However, final problem solutions must be worked
individually. The use of substantially similar problem solutions from solution manuals or from class materials used
in previous semesters violates the spirit and the letter of the individual effort requirement and will be regarded as an
act of academic dishonesty. In all cases of cooperative effort, students must state on the first page of any submitted
work, the names of cooperating individuals.
It is important that students learn to discuss ideas and approaches and to learn to interact with others in
group settings. For this reason, class participation is required and will contribute to your grade. Students who
participate in class to a greater extent will be given extra credit as will be described early in the semester.

COURSE POLICIES
• iClickers will be used in class and iClicker participation and performance will contribute to each student’s participation
grade. Possession or use of an iClicker registered to another student will be regarded as an act of academic dishonesty on
the part of both students.
• Some announcements may be sent via email (to official UMass email addresses). Students are responsible for email content
as they are for in class announcements. The email distribution list will be generated from the Spire website at noon on
Thursday September 6th. All students should review and update their email contact information in Spire prior to this time.
Any student who cannot arrange to receive email in this way or who cannot read email at least every 24 hours or cannot
complete the formal registration process by this time should see the instructor in person, immediately. Students who do not
attend the first two classes may be dropped from the class.
• All assignments, projects, mini-projects and examinations must be completed on time. Make-up exams and quizzes will not
be given. Exceptions will be made only in the most extreme circumstances.
• You should retain all graded work until the course grade is given.
• All provisions of the University policy regarding academic honesty will be enforced. These policies apply to all graded
work including homework, mini-projects, examinations and the use of iClickers. Any act of academic dishonesty will be
reported to the University Academic Honesty office and will result in a course grade of F. You are responsible for knowing
and adhering to university policies. The academic honesty policy can be found at
http://www.umass.edu/dean_students/codeofconduct/acadhonesty.
• We are all members of an academic community with a shared responsibility to cultivate a climate where all
students/individuals are valued and where both they and their ideas are treated with respect. The diversity of the
participants in this course is a valuable source of ideas, problem solving strategies, and engineering creativity. If you feel
that your contribution is not being valued for any reason, please speak with me privately. If you wish to communicate
anonymously, you may do so in writing or speak with Dr. Paula Rees, Director of Engineering Diversity Programs
(rees@umass.edu, 413.545.6324, Marston 128)