Mechanical Engineering

What is Mechanical Engineering ?

Mechanical engineering is a descipline that applies the standards of building, material science and materials science for the outline, dissection, assembling, and support of mechanical frameworks. It is the limb of designing that includes the configuration, creation, and operation of hardware and tools.it is one of the most established and broadest of the building controls.
Mechanical engineering is a diverse subject that derives its breadth from the need to design and manufacture everything from small individual parts and devices (e.g., microscale sensors and inkjet printer nozzles) to large systems (e.g., spacecraft and machine tools).

Role of Mechanical Engineer

The role of a mechanical engineer is to take a product from an idea to the marketplace. In order to accomplish this, a broad range of skills are needed. The mechanical engineer needs to acquire particular skills and knowledge. He/she needs to understand the forces and the thermal environment that a product, its parts, or its subsystems will encounter; to design them for functionality, aesthetics, and the ability to withstand the forces and the thermal environment they will be subjected to; and to determine the best way to manufacture them and ensure they will operate without failure. Perhaps the one skill that is the mechanical engineer’s exclusive domain is the ability to analyze and design objects and systems with motion.

Industries

Mechanical engineers play a central role in such industries as automotive (from the car chassis to its every subsystem—engine, transmission, sensors); aerospace (airplanes, aircraft engines, control systems for airplanes and spacecraft); biotechnology (implants, prosthetic devices, fluidic systems for pharmaceutical industries); computers and electronics (disk drives, printers, cooling systems, semiconductor tools); microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS (sensors, actuators, micropower generation); energy conversion (gas turbines, wind turbines, solar energy, fuel cells); environmental control (HVAC, air-conditioning, refrigeration, compressors); automation (robots, data and image acquisition, recognition, control); manufacturing (machining, machine tools, prototyping, microfabrication).

Learning

Mechanical engineers learn about materials, solid and fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, control, instrumentation, design, and manufacturing to understand mechanical systems. Specialized mechanical engineering subjects include biomechanics, cartilage-tissue engineering, energy conversion, laser-assisted materials processing, combustion, MEMS, microfluidic devices, fracture mechanics, nanomechanics, mechanisms, micropower generation, tribology (friction and wear), and vibrations. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) currently lists 36 technical divisions, from advanced energy systems and aerospace engineering to solid-waste engineering and textile engineering.

Course work

The fundamental subjects of mechanical engineering usually include:

Mathematics (in particular, calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra)

Basic physical sciences (including physics and chemistry)

Statics and dynamics

Strength of materials and solid mechanics

Materials Engineering, Composites

Thermodynamics, heat transfer, energy conversion, and HVAC

Fuels, combustion, Internal combustion engine

Fluid mechanics (including fluid statics and fluid dynamics)

Mechanism and Machine design (including kinematics and dynamics)

Instrumentation and measurement

Manufacturing engineering, technology, or processes

Vibration, control theory and control engineering

Hydraulics, and pneumatics

Mechatronics, and robotics

Engineering design and product design

Drafting, computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing 

Subdisciplines

Mechanics

Mechatronics and robotics

Structural analysis

Thermodynamics and thermo-science

Design and drafting

Researche Topics

Micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)

Friction stir welding (FSW)

Composites

Mechatronics

Nanotechnology

Finite element analysis

Biomechanics

Computational fluid dynamics

Acoustical engineering

What can you do ?

Practically every company that designs and produces a product employs a mechanical engineer. But mechanical engineers can also be found in research labs, the military, government, and in other professions such as medicine, law or teaching.

Most mechanical engineering jobs require design experience. When for a new or improved product is needed, companies call upon mechanical engineers to do the job. Engineers have to push beyond the limits of their previous work and use innovative technology to meet project requirements successfully.

A second major area of employment for mechanical engineers is manufacturing. Manufacturing jobs cover nearly everything involved in developing a product, from selecting the appropriate materials to choosing the correct machinery to manufacture the product. Most mechanical engineers in this industry work for equipment manufacturers, aerospace companies, utilities, material processing plants, transportation companies, and petroleum companies. They also work with small firms, consulting practices, universities, and government research labs.

Specific assignments might involve research and development, design of equipment or systems, supervision of production, plant engineering, administration, sales engineering, the testing and evaluation of machines and entire plants. Some mechanical engineering titles and their functions include:

Automotive engineer: Mechanical engineers design many car parts for the automobile industry. As an automotive engineer, you could solve transportation and safety problems by creating better and more efficient engines or by developing improved safety features

Biomedical engineer: Mechanical engineers work with a variety of medical professionals to design mobility aids, prosthetics, and artificial organs.

Consulting: Once mechanical engineers have gained significant on-the-job experience and developed a high level of expertise, they might choose to work for themselves as consultants or independent contractors. Here they can work on projects of their choosing for clients they respect. The consulting field offers opportunities in large and small engineering service firms and in private practice.

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) engineer: In this field, engineers design refrigeration systems for making frozen foods, or air-conditioning and heating systems for businesses and industrial buildings, residential homes, autos, hospitals, and schools.

Nuclear engineer: The design of nuclear power plants requires the services of a mechanical engineer. The engineer must understand the fundamentals of nuclear design, know how to operate the plant efficiently, and evaluate the environmental factors associated with nuclear plants.

Robotics engineer: A mechanical engineer may design machines that build other machines. For instance, a robotics engineer may be involved with creating the devices that are used in assembling automobiles. Engineers are concerned with the robot's structure, its joint mechanisms, bearings, and heat transfer characteristics.

Teaching: A desire to help mold the next generation of engineers motivates some mechanical engineers to move into academic careers. Engineers in colleges oversee research activities, manage laboratories, and mentor students. They also write and publish books and technical papers about mechanical engineering.

Other mechanical engineering job titles include:

Acoustics engineer

Design engineer

Energy conservation engineer

Engineer, power generation

Fluid mechanics engineer

Mechanical maintenance engineer

Piping engineer

Thermal design engineer

Tool engineer

Top Universites

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2014 - Engineering - Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) United States
2. Stanford UniversityStanford University United States
3. University of CambridgeUniversity of Cambridge United Kingdom
4. University of California, Berkeley (UCB) United States
5. University of Michigan United States
6. Imperial College LondonImperial College London United Kingdom
7. National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore
8. Harvard UniversityHarvard University United States
9. University of OxfordUniversity of Oxford United Kingdom
10. The University of Tokyo Japan
11. Georgia Institute of Technology United States
12. Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore
13. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)California Institute of Technology (Caltech) United States
14. Purdue University United States
15. Tsinghua UniversityTsinghua University China
16. Northwestern University United States
17. The University of Melbourne Australia
18. Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen Germany
19. Delft University of Technology Netherlands
20. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong
21. KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology South Korea
22. KTH, Royal Institute of Technology Sweden
23. Princeton UniversityPrinceton University United States
24. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign United States
25. Seoul National University South Korea
26. ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) Switzerland
27. The University of Sydney Australia
28. Cornell University United States
29. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) United States
30. Kyoto University Japan
31. Politecnico di MilanoPolitecnico di Milano Italy
32. Technische Universität München Germany
33. Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityShanghai Jiao Tong University China
34. National Taiwan University (NTU) Taiwan
35. University of Hong KongUniversity of Hong Kong Hong Kong
36. Tokyo Institute of Technology Japan
37. Pennsylvania State University United States
38. The University of New South WalesThe University of New South Wales Australia
39. Cranfield University United Kingdom
40. Peking UniversityPeking University China
41. Monash University Australia
42. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong
43. Pohang University of Science And Technology (POSTECH) South Korea
44. The University of Manchester United Kingdom
45. Tohoku University Japan
46. University of Pennsylvania United States
47. Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Switzerland
48. McGill University Canada
49. Universität Stuttgart Germany
50. University of Texas at Austin United States