Basic Electronics Workshop Conducted at the Model Development Center (MDC)

A workshop-cum-lab was conducted at the Model Development Center on 6th and 7th September, 2003 on the topic, 'Introduction to Basic Electronics' by the students of B Tech, Part 3 for the students of B Tech, Part 1. Among the topics covered were:

(1.) How to read the values of resistors and capacitors.
(2.) How to use a breadboard.
(3.) How to use a multimeter.
(4.) What is a PCB and how soldering is done.
(5.) Basic concepts of diodes, along with simple diode circuits like clippers, peak detectors, rectifiers etc.
(6.) Construction of a 5V dc power supply using a step down transformer, bridge rectifier and a 7805 voltage regulator (which each of the 1st yearites did individually and debugged it using multimeters).

A small test was also conducted at the end of the workshop to get a feedback on how much the students had absorbed. The response was beyond our expectations. Not only did all the students score more than 60% on the test, we have already being overwhelmed by requests to conduct another workshop next weekend. The students have been so impressed by the Model Development Center that they have been asking us questions like, "Can we also donate money for the lab?" and "Please tell us some good books where we can read more in detail about what you have taught us today!" You will also be surprised to know that the second year students actually came to us and said that we are being 'partial' to the first year students by conducting workshops exclusively for them.

We feel that there is a great potential among the 3rd year and 4th year students to disseminate information to the 1st and 2nd year students. However, we are severely limited by resources. The most important instruments we need are component development systems and a computer. We are very grateful to our alumni for offering a donation in terms of both money and equipment. For the above issue, we have spoken with Dr P K Mukherjee, teacher-in-charge of the Model Development Centre, about how we can go about it. He has suggested that those alumni who wish to contribute to this cause may submit a detailed letter about the exact details of the bank account, who will be granted access, how the monetary transactions will be made and the type of account, and in what bank. We feel that the process of withdrawal from our end should necessarily require a signatureof the current head of department and the expenditures should be posted on the website on a regular basis to ensure transparency. Although PKM sir has expressed certain apprehensions about handling such heavy financial matters, he has consented to work with us if he gets a detailed explanation from our alumni. We request the concerned persons to kindly furnish us with the necessary details.