Student Comments

The graders provide the instructors with a summary of your comments and suggestions.  Below are reactions to a number of those comments.

Improvements to the Excel Spreadsheet

A number of you suggested specific, useful suggestions for improving the Excel spreadsheet.  We applaud those suggestions and hope that you’ll use them when you prepare a program for Senior Design.  Our goal in this course is to give you a reasonable starting point from which you can improve. 

In fact on the AE Resources website you’ll find an MS Access Database that might well be a significant improvement on Excel.

 

Other Systems

At least one group suggested including other systems (e.g. plumbing and fire protection).  That’s an excellent idea.  We didn’t want to make the requirements overwhelming, but for Senior Design you would indeed want to do that.

 

Basis of Design

Firms like KlingStubbins use a “Basis of Design” document at the beginning of a project.  That would indeed be a good format to completely define a project.  Given the time limitation we didn’t want to ask too much.  When you’re engaged in Senior Design it would be a good model.

 

Library Use

One group noted they’d found very helpful books in the Library.  Yes.  What an amazing concept

EQuest Tutorial

A group suggested posting an eQuest tutorial.  There is very good help available for eQuest in their help files and also separate tutorials.  Feel free during projects to ask for further information.  We’ll post it via the blog.

HVAC Calcs

A group wanted us to post the necessary HVAC equations.  We assume that since you’ve taken the HVAC course that you’ve got notes or have kept the book.  There is also a copy of Stein McGuiness and Reynolds in the lab, which has the equations.

A1–Grader’s Comments

Grader #1

Overall, the quality of these assignments was very good. Just a few suggestions that I have are as follows:

• Remember to provide a downloadable link of your Excel spreadsheet. This will be extremely helpful for future groups to use.
• Be sure to make your intentions clear for each building system. For example, in the VACHVHVAC section let the other engineers/architects know approximately how much room you will need in the plenum for ductwork. Otherwise, you may be very disappointed when the structural engineer doesn’t allow enough space.
• For the integration section of the assignment, but sure to clearly state your priorities for the building. All stakeholders will be interested in looking at this part.

 

Grader #2

The assignments I received were satisfactory, however, many of the groups neglected to fulfill all of the requirements asked of them. Be sure to review all of the requirements prior to submitting your assignment to ensure that you have covered everything that needed to be addressed. Taking it to a real world example, some owners will not even accept a bid if all of the instructions were followed properly. Cross all of your t’s and dot your i’s or you could miss out on a multi-million dollar job one day simply for not following instructions.

Also, as you begin to design your systems, keep in mind that this is an iterative process that will be followed through by successive groups. Note which codes and guidelines you are getting your specifications and data from.

As always too, It is important to work with your team and answer any communications promptly.