8/2/2019 PBL - Heat Energy

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Problem Based LearningHeat Energy WEP# 5

Medical Device Manufacturer - Batch Verification Physics 11

IV Technologies (IVT) manufactures medical devices for heart surgeries. As the last part oftheir manufacturing process, steel tubes are heated to 250 C in special ovens. This heat treatment

gives the steel exact mechanical properties that the device requires.

Medical devices must be manufactured with very controlled processes, to make sure that the

final product is always the same. For example, if the last heat treatment process uses too high ofa temperature, the steel tube may become too brittle or too weak. IVT uses a lot of instruments

to monitor the manufacturing processes. This is also important because it takes a lot of work tomanufacture each device, and it is extremely expensive if IVT does something wrong and has to

throw out products that were made incorrectly.

One day, after nearly completing manufacturing of 40 tubes in the oven, the engineer on duty

realizes that the thermocouple (thermometer) for the oven is broken - the engineer doesn't know

for sure what the temperature of the oven is. In 15 minutes the engineer has to remove the tubesfrom the oven, and he needs to find out the temperature of the small steel tubes. If he doesn't,

IVT will have to throw out all the tubes and they will lose a lot of money.

Luckily for IVT they have hired you as a co-op summer student. You have recently finishedphysics 11 at Prince of Wales, and with knowledge in heat energy fresh in your mind, you can

offer the engineer a way to solve the problem. You need to tell the engineer of a way to measure

the temperature of a steel tube once it is removed from the oven, by using common andunsophisticated laboratory equipment.

While working through this problem, keep in mind some key terms and learning objectives:

Temperature Heat Conservation of energy Specific heat

You will likely need to understand the above words and terms, and be able to apply them to the

above scenario, in order to solve the problem.

What you will deliver

1. Working in Groups, each group will submit 1 solution which contains the following:- A paragraph describing your solution to the problem- A description of the physics behind your solution (this may include some written

descriptions of physics phenomena, equations that may be used in computations, sample

calculations)- Citations for the materials youve used to help you come up with your solution2. Each group member has to submit their own short summary of their role in finding the

solution, and comment on their experience (did you like the problem solving, was it a good

way to learn, what was good or bad about the process). This summary should be around 250

words.