BTEC First Engineering: Core Units for BTEC Firsts in Engineering and Common Specialist Units in All Pathways

305 Pages·2006·10.41 MB·English

BTEC First Engineering:
Core Units for BTEC Firsts in
Engineering and common specialist
units in all pathways
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BTEC First Engineering:

Core Units for BTEC Firsts in Engineering and
common specialist units in all pathways
Mike Tooley
formerly Vice Principal
Brooklands College of Further and Higher Education
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Newnes is an imprint of Elsevier
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First published 2006

Copyright © 2006, Mike Tooley. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

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ISBN 13: 978-0-75-068060-8
ISBN 10: 0-75-068060-1
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Contents
Preface (vi)
1 Working practices in engineering 1
2 Using and interpreting information 41
3 Applied electrical and mechanical 75
science
4 Mathematics for engineering 119
technicians
5 Selecting engineering materials 1 6 3
6 Computer aided drawing 193
techniques
7 Electronic circuit construction and 231
testing
Appendices 1. Abbreviations 277
2. Using the Casio fx-83ES 278
calculator
3. List of BTEC First award units 281
4. Conversion table: inches to mm 282
5. Data on selected engineering 284
materials
6. Useful web addresses 285
7. Answers to numerical Test your 286
knowledge questions
Index 289
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Preface Welcome to the challenging and exciting world of engineering! This
book is designed to help you succeed on a course leading to a BTEC
First award in Engineering. It contains all of the essential
underpinning knowledge required of a student who may never have
studied engineering before and who wishes to explore the subject for
the first time.

About you Have you got what it takes to be an engineer? The BTEC First course
in Engineering will help you find out and still keep your options
open. Successful completion of the course will provide you with a
route into studying engineering at a higher level, for example, a
BTEC National Certificate or BTEC National Diploma in
Engineering, or an NVQ award studied as part of an Engineering
apprenticeship.
Engineering is an immensely diverse field but, to put it simply,
engineering, in whatever area that you choose, is about thinking and
doing. The ‘thinking’ that an engineer does is both logical and
systematic. The ‘doing’ that an engineer does can be anything from
building a bridge to testing a space vehicle. In either case, the
essential engineering skills are the same.
You do not need to have studied engineering before starting a
BTEC First award. All that is required to successfully complete the
course is an enquiring mind, an interest in engineering, and the
ability to explore new ideas in a systematic way. You also need to be
able to express your ideas and communicate these in a clear and
logical way to other people.
As you study your BTEC First course in Engineering you will be
learning in a practical environment as well as in a classroom. This
will help you to put into practice the things that you learn in a formal
class situation. You will also discover that engineering is fun—it’s
not just about learning a whole lot of meaningless facts and figures!

About the BTEC The BTEC First awards in Engineering will help you to build and
apply knowledge in a wide variety of engineering contexts. It will
First awards in
provide you with the understanding and skills necessary to prepare
you for employment or to provide you with opportunities for career
Engineering
development if you are already in work. On successful completion of
a BTEC First qualification, you may progress into employment or
progress your career within employment by continuing to study in
your chosen vocational area.
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Preface vii
The Edexcel Level 2 BTEC First Diploma is a 360 guided learning
hour qualification comprising core and specialist units that cover
aspects of knowledge, understanding and competency necessary for
employment within the sector. As such, the BTEC First Diploma
offers a qualification that can both extend a student’s programme of
study and also provide vocational emphasis within that programme.
Equally, the BTEC First Diploma offers a focused qualification for
students who wish to follow a programme of study that is directly
related to their work experience, or to an aspect of employment into
which they wish to move in due course.
The Edexcel Level 2 BTEC First Certificate is a 180 guided
learning hour qualification which offers a ‘bite-sized’ opportunity for
students to experience a vocational qualification. The BTEC First
Certificate offers a focused vocational qualification for students who
wish to follow a shorter programme of study related to an aspect of
employment that they might wish to move into; or a taster
qualification that can extend their programme of study and provide
an initial experience of a vocational area. The BTEC First Certificate
also provides students with an opportunity to progress to a higher
level qualification relevant to the sector.

This book provides full coverage of all four core units of the BTEC
How to use this
First awards in Engineering. One chapter is devoted to each core unit
book and each of these chapters contain text, illustrations, examples, ‘test
your knowledge’ questions, activities and a set of review questions.
The ‘test your knowledge’ questions are interspersed with the text
throughout the book. These questions allow you to check your
understanding of the preceding text. They also provide you with an
opportunity to reflect on what you have learned and consolidate this
in manageable chunks.
Most ‘test your knowledge’ questions can be answered in only a
few minutes and the necessary information can be gleaned from the
surrounding text. Activities, on the other hand, require a significantly
greater amount of time to complete. Furthermore, they often require
additional library or resource area research coupled with access to
computing and other information technology resources.
As you work through this book, you will undertake a programme
of activities as directed by your teacher or lecturer. Don’t expect to
complete all of the activities in this book—your teacher or lecturer
will ensure that those activities that you do undertake relate to the
resources available to you and that they can be completed within the
timescale of the course. Activities also make excellent vehicles for
improving your skills and for gathering the evidence that can be used
to demonstrate that you are competent in core skills.
In addition to the core units of the BTEC First programme, the
book also provides coverage of three of the most common specialist
units. These are Unit 8 (Selecting engineering materials), Unit 10
(Computer aided drawing techniques) and Unit 19 (Electronic circuit
construction and testing).
The ‘review questions’ presented at the end of each chapter are
designed to provide you with an opportunity to test your
understanding of each unit. These questions can be used for revision
or as a means of generating a ‘checklist’ of topics with which you
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viii Preface
should be familiar. Here again, your tutor may suggest that you
answer specific questions that relate to the context in which you are
studying the course.
The book ends with some useful information and data presented in
the form of seven appendices. These include abbreviations for
common terms used in engineering, information on how to use a
scientific calculator, data on selected engineering materials, useful
web addresses and answers to the numerical Test your knowledge
questions in Units 3 and 4.
Finally, here are a few general points worth keeping in mind:

• Allow regular time for reading—get into the habit of setting
aside an hour, or two, at the weekend to take a second look at
the topics that you have covered during the week.
• Make notes and file these away neatly for future reference—
lists of facts, definitions and formulae are particularly useful
for revision!
• Look out for the inter-relationship between subjects and units
—you will find many ideas and a number of themes that crop
up in different places and in different units. These can often
help to reinforce your understanding.
• Don’t be afraid to put your new ideas into practice. Remember
that engineering is about thinking and doing—so get out there
and do it!
• Lastly, I hope that you will find some useful support material
at the book’s companion website, http://www.key2study.com.
Tutors will find answers to the numerical Review Questions at
http://textbooks.elsevier.com.

Good luck with your BTEC First Engineering studies!

Mike Tooley

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Working
Unit 1
practices in
engineering
Summary
The unit provides you with an essential tool kit that will help you to embark on a career in
engineering and the skills and knowledge that you gain will be put to good use in your
everyday working life. When you complete this unit you should be able to:
1. Understand statutory regulations and organisational safety requirements
2. Work efficiently and effectively in engineering.
The ability to work safely in an engineering environment is essential for your own well-
being as well as the well-being of others around you. This unit will introduce you to the
essential working practices of engineering and it will also help you to appreciate some of the
potential hazards that exist in the workplace.
The unit starts by considering how materials and equipment should be handled as well as
the most appropriate personal protective equipment (e.g. eye or hand protection) to use when
undertaking particular engineering activities. You will examine some of the hazards and risks
associated with an engineering activity including the environment in which engineering
activities are performed (e.g. working at height), the use of tools and equipment, as well as
working with materials and substances that may cause harm.
The unit will also take you through some of the typical incidents that you may have to deal
with at some point in your career (e.g. summoning help, contacting the first aider, sounding
alarms, stopping machinery). Because most work in engineering requires the co-operation of
others, the unit also looks at ways in which good working relationships can be maintained
with colleagues and other people who provide support, assistance and advice.
Before you get started on developing your engineering skills it is
1.1 Regulations
essential to have an understanding of the appropriate statutory
and safety regulations as well as the safety rules that apply in your school or
college (and also the company in which you might be working). We
begin by taking a look at the Health and Safety at Work Act and the
duties that it imposes on both the employer and the employee. Later
you will put this knowledge to good use as you begin to practice your
skills and get to experience some real engineering activities.
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