TechnoLab™
TechnoLab™ is the registered trademark under which an innovative series of Australian made Statics, Mechanics & Dynamics "hands-on" teaching products is marketed by STRUCOMP Pty Ltd. STRUCOMP Pty Ltd was established in 1996 by Nicholas and Julie Haritos.
Nicholas Haritos has held academic positions at The University of Melbourne since 1973, (currently an honorary Principal Fellow), and also at Swinburne University of Technology where he is an Adjunct Professor.
Nicholas has over 40 years of experience in the teaching of subjects to Civil, Structural, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering students in Statics, Mechanics of Solids/Materials, Structural Mechanics, Structural Analysis & Design, Structural Modelling/Finite Element Modelling, Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering. His extensive teaching and practical consulting experience has been the "driving force" behind the user-friendly design of this very effective and engaging suite of hands-on experiment-based TechnoLab™ teaching products, first launched in the market-place in the third quarter of 2014. The products are normally marketed to Engineering Schools in bundled sets of thematic experiments, eg Basic equilibrium; Flexure; Column Buckling; Plastic Collapse; Structural Dynamics, etc.
TechnoLab™ Features:
Innovations and distinguishing attributes include:
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the TechnoLab™ system offers a large number of experiment kit options, fully supported by the developer with additional material including: experiment description sheets; pro-forma reporting sheets; support Excel spreadsheets and software that is experiment dependent; tutor support material (Tutor_kit)
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the system is versatile and easily expandable to accommodate new experiment kits that are continuing to be developed (expt_list)
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TechnoLab™ offers experiments that other suppliers of test equipment for Statics, Mechanics and Dynamics currently do not, eg: Equilibrium of a 2D rigid body subjected point forces and a couple; Bifurcation of column buckling with sway, determination of Poisson's ratio for selection of materials (available March, 2018)
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the large range of test specimen/test parameter combinations (specimens) available to the majority of experiment kits that TechnoLab™ supports, (for example a number of material types: timber, steel, aluminium, polycarbonate, perspex, carbon-fibre and copper with several cross-section combinations (not across all material types) of: rectangular, square – solid and hollow, circular – solid and hollow) reduces/eliminates opportunities for plagiarism in experiment reporting by students, often noted as a perennial issue by many universities
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the system offers distance learning opportunities, hitherto not otherwise economically possible (closed_case)
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it is affordable to tertiary institutions throughout the world despite the rather “tight” current financial climate (contact STRUCOMP P/L for a quotation - click onto the "Click Here" button alongside contact us below)
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the hardware of the system is easy to assemble and portable (Aluminium Case, Satchel)
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the platform does not require special facilities (eg laboratory space) or special instrumentation
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the system incorporates a Pixi Frame™ (Pixi) that is approx. A3 in size that can accommodate a large number of experiment kits specifically designed for it by the developer, Nicholas Haritos – a retired long serving academic with over 40 years of teaching experience in the fundamental engineering material that this system treats
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it is marketed in terms of a bundled set of supported experiments - typically 12 Pixi/Window Frames with a chosen set of experiment kits from the available list to suit the teaching subject it is meant to support which is suited to a class of 24 students. Students work in pairs to perform experiments and thereby gain a true “hands-on” learning experience – not merely a demonstration. (Note: TechnoLab™ provides a 13th set of hardware for the Tutor/Demonstrator of the class as a “bonus” when the system is purchased as a bundle in this way).
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experiment kits that the Pixi Frames™ support are focused on the particular lesson(s) associated with the topic being treated in an easy to observe and revealing approach (eg deflections/deformations of members/elements in the experiment under investigation are exaggerated to be clearly visible and recorded on a Window Frame (window) that accompanies the Pixi Frame™ or compared against predicted results on a notebook computer screen (screen); digital scales are used to measure reaction forces (Scales); Loading is via a mechanical spring force transducer (force) or load buckets using accurate ball-bearing weights or a variable assembly of screw-on disk weights are attached directly onto the specimen under test or via a string-and-pulley arrangement (load)
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should additional accuracy beyond that achieved by the use of digital calipers (supplied) or reading directly off the graticule on the Window Frame be desirable, the system offers “xyRectify” digital photogrammetric software (xyRectify) that allows rectification of digital images taken by digital cameras (phone cameras can be used), to obtain co-ordinates of desired points/features of test specimens to typically a better than 0.1 mm accuracy – dependent on camera resolution (xyRectify-image)