Project Based Learning Approach in the Heat Transfer Course for Undergraduate Students

Computer engineering courses often require knowledge from other fields, such as numerical methods and heat transfer. It is challenging to motivate students and show them how the contents presented in these units are connected to the core of their course. This paper presents a project based learning experience for third year undergraduate students of computer engineering at Insper Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa. The students are required to work in teams to design a cooling system to a processor in a free version of the finite element software LISA. The theme of the project builds the bridge between heat transfer and computer engineering and the tool shows the importance of numerical methods in engineering. Teams are free to select any processor available in the market and choose fictitious parts, such as fans and fins, from a list provided by the instructor. Each item in the list is associated with a price, so they must propose and simulate numerous designs to optimize their final cost. Their designs are initially based on observation of the cooling systems available in computers and smartphones and then improved by their heat transfer knowledge. Students present their solutions to sell their designs in the end of the project. This experience could be adapted into a contest for the lowest cost if a single processor was provided to all groups. A contest can motivate the students, but may also worry them, while a free choice has been successful in making them active and keeping a light environment. This experience can be accomplished remotely without expensive software and create a bond between heat transfer, numerical methods and computer engineering.