Mechanical Systems Design: Engineering Reflection Report - UNSW

This report provides a comprehensive reflection on a master's student's experience with mechanical systems design, specifically focusing on the application of HVAC principles learned during their undergraduate degree. The student recounts their personal motivation, stemming from a desire to install a central air conditioning system in their new house. The report details the project, which involved designing the HVAC system for a two-story building, including calculations for heating and cooling loads, both manual and through CAMEL software. The student's role as a team lead, the organizational structure, and the project's strengths and weaknesses are discussed. The report highlights the practical application of refrigeration and air conditioning knowledge, the use of simulation software, and the challenges faced during the project, concluding with a reflection on the skills gained and the overall success of the project. References to relevant research and resources are also included.

Engineering Reflection on Mechanical Systems Design 1
Engineering Reflection on Mechanical Systems Design
by Student’s Name
Code + Course Name
Professor’s Name
University Name
City, State
Date

Engineering Reflection on Mechanical Systems Design 2
Introduction
My second year as a master’s student in the INSW came with the idea of my father wanting to
put up the foundation of our new house in Pakistan. As a way of getting acquainted with the
skills I had learnt in my masters’ studies, I wanted to showcase what I had learnt from the
fundamentals of Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) this was during my
Mechanical Engineering undergraduate degree. Therefore I wanted to be the one to install the
central air conditioner. In my new house I was able to design my own HVAC. In the University I
had studied Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (RAC) (Azar and Serrano 2017).
Background
I still recall the events of that day as if it was yesterday. I could see vividly the image of my
father throwing food when I was in grade six in the bin just because they could not be preserved
by the broken fridge. The compressor was later fixed by the technician. In a reaction to counter
this, I had to pose tough questions. He was so patient and therefore answered all the questions
but later gave me a handbook to act as my guide in questions relating to refrigeration.
I report successfully that I was able to gain so much from the book. It was able to teach me
refrigeration essentials alongside its importance and the way it affect our lives positively in our
today economy. My quest and persistent drive to know more each day made me develop an
interest in the undergraduate degree of Engineering in Mechanics. In prospect, the course was
well loaded with RAC i.e. Refrigeration and Air Conditioning. The whole experience made me
gain enough knowledge and confidence to undertake any responsibility pertaining to the fitting
of the air conditioning system in my apartment.

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The UNSW has received a lot of tributes among the universities of the world in general. It had
received the title of being ranked the top university in the world having various software and the
laboratories which are in state of the art. In a special way, CAMEL which was a RAC software
trimmed my engineering skills positively. During my sitting times in the laboratory, I would play
with the software in UNSW and trying to find an attachment to it (Martin and Strawser 2017
p.26).
Nature of Project
The project incorporated both the calculation of heating and cooling of a two story building.
They were manually done and through CAMEL software.
Objective of the Project
The project has general objectives which explores real-life experience and relates to calculation
of load in practical situations. Both sensible and latent load had to be calculated and this includes
possibilities of the real world together with safety factors. In this project, buildings which are
newly built have been calculated for in terms of heating and cooling of loads. These buildings
are made up of two floors. The ground floor of the buildings are made up of three sections,
however the first floor has two sections. Variable Refrigerant Volume (VRV) was also applied.
Air-conditioners were also chosen uniquely for each level. Furthermore, couples of reactions
were made on load reduction alongside capacity increase in air conditioning (Hanrahan and
Pedro 2017 p.55).
Nature of My Particular Work Area

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In this project, my main role was to act as the team lead role. Some of the examples of the tasks
were:
 I did the performance of initial project readings.
 I acted as a coordinate between my team members with the professors.
 Project planning and project progress also became my primary role.
 With manual calculations, I was able to calculate the loads ground floor.
 After alI these, I managed to compile the report and make compiled the report and made
technical presentation
Organizational Structure
Work Progress

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The development of each stage followed one another successively with an organized order. To
begin with, I stated my calculations manually by working the load of ground floor in terms of
heating and cooling.
Figure illustrating the main design conditions and assumptions (Erdelez 2018 p.755)
Second to this came the calculation of the ground floor structure

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Table showing the ground floor details (Gaus 2017 p.100)
What followed next was a calculation of heat gain through each component that is the walls,
floor

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Solar heat gain via reference glass (w/m^2)

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Last but not least, I calculated the total heat gained in summers. All the calculations were had a
repetition using the various conditions for the calculation in heat loss in winter. This was done
for all the individual components. Further an addition was made to get the winter’s total heat
loss. The letters Qs represented the summer’s heat gain while Qw represented the winter’s heat
loss (Whalen, Berlin, Ekberg, Barletta and Hammersberg 2018 p.335).

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Figure Illustrating the Design Components Required (Whalen, Berlin, Ekberg, Barletta and
Hammersberg 2018 p.335)
Strengths
In making a suggestion to the structural changes for the building to reduce the overall load, I
made an addition of different structural features. For instance, I employed windows with shades,
reduction of the areas of the windows; I also added the use of different features in materials for
partition alongside thickness of the walls. I used introduced the simulation of CAMEL to view
the changes I had made. Therefore, in changing some of these factors I was able to reduce the
load to some extent.
Teamwork was also one factor that made work to be done easier and more convenient since work
load was split into various degrees. Availability of materials for the activities made the work
easier. A lot of research and consultations also paved way into comprehending and generating
good results (Lucietto, Scott and Berry 2018).
Weaknesses
Working with the manual calculations was often tedious and tiresome. Some values and
parameters could bring confusion due to elaborated formulae used. The practical aspect was also
a little bit expensive such as the simulation. The team was also large and therefore coordination
became somehow challenging to due to different understanding nature of individuals
(Penzenstadler 2018 p.134).
Conclusion

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In a nutshell, this paper highlights the effects of having defective mechanical appliances like
refrigerators, the wastes that it crews and the possible remedies the field of Mechanical
engineering has come up with. It also highlighted the various steps that were followed in coming
up with solutions for interior designing. The skills obtained from the universities and the
applications of the knowledge of Air conditioning and refrigeration. Hypotheses were generated,
worked out and tested practically ensuring that the house was a success.

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References
Azar, A.T. and Serrano, F.E., 2017. Stabilization of mechanical systems with backlash by PI
loop shaping. In Artificial Intelligence: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications(pp.
2333-2360). IGI Global.
Erdelez, S., 2018. Accidental Information Discovery: Cultivating Serendipity in the Digital Age.
Tammera M. Race & Stephann Makri. Cambridge, MA: Chandos Publishing. 2016. 136 pp.
$80.00 (paperback).(ISBN 9781843347507). Journal of the Association for Information Science
and Technology, 69(5), pp.753-756.
Gaus, N., 2017. Selecting research approaches and research designs: a reflective
essay. Qualitative Research Journal, 17(2), pp.99-112.
Hanrahan, S.J. and Pedro, R.A., 2017. Team-building activities in dance classes and discoveries
from reflective essays. Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education, 8(1),
pp.53-66.
Lucietto, A.M., Scott, A. and Berry, F., 2018. Engineering Technology Students: Do they
approach capstone courses differently than other students?.
Martin, J.M. and Strawser, M.G., 2017. Transforming the capstone: Transformative learning as a
pedagogical framework and vehicle for ethical reflection in the capstone course. The Journal of
Faculty Development, 31(1), pp.25-34.
Penzenstadler, B., 2018. Sustainability analysis and ease of learning in artifact-based
requirements engineering: The newest member of the family of studies (It’sa girl!). Information
and Software Technology, 95, pp.130-146.

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Whalen, K.A., Berlin, C., Ekberg, J., Barletta, I. and Hammersberg, P., 2018. ‘All they do is
win’: Lessons learned from use of a serious game for Circular Economy education. Resources,
Conservation and Recycling, 135, pp.335-345.