Critical Thinking & Communication Module

  The Webpage "What is Honda vtec and how it works" (Alex Hevesey, 2023) introduces the concept of VTEC(Variable Vale Time and Electronic Lift Control), which are mainly used in the japanese automotive maker, Honda. VTEC makes use of rocker arms and camshaft to control the power which the engine is outputting. Principally, at low RPMs, the rocker arms are engaged with the camshaft lobes which are of a less aggresive profile, which in this case of the article, 2/3 of the rocker arms are engaged to the camshaft. Higher RPMs would see all 3 rocker arms on each cylinder fully engaged and performing at its peaked potential. VTEC was essentially made with the idea of maximising your mileage(Km/L) while still ensuring the vehicle is still able to eke out every bit of performance that is available in the engine thru the activation/deactivation of the rocker arms and camshafts. VTEC is a groundbreaking technology that Honda innovated, giving them an edge over their industry rivals.

The team had the same idea of working on this topic for this specific bike engine. Zaki used to own one while Yi Han is currently riding one. Through everyone’s experience in riding the Honda CB400 SuperFour Revo, the team have prior knowledge in this bike engine. The team did a general Google search on this bike model and engine, gathering several links to articles and videos. The articles are mainly from motorcycle review platforms, technical articles about Honda’s VTEC system. There are more articles that refers to VTEC system applied in cars, which the team have decided to pick out the relevant points and explain it in the context of motorcycle engines. Zaki found three articles about the VTEC system while Yi Han also found 3 articles and a video explaining the working principle, the advantages from VTEC system. The team is also using Chat GPT to find out the differences between the application of VTEC system in cars and motorcycles, also obtaining an overview of how the Honda VTEC...

  https://youtu.be/4MjkIku6C1w?si=3ki3WMopNcXPOpki

Dear Professor Blackstone, I am Yi Han and I am writing this letter to introduce myself to you. I took aerospace technology back at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, with a specialization in aviation management. I first took an interest in engineering through my curiosity about how things operate and the principles behind how things work. This interest stemmed from my liking for cars and motorcycles, which I went online to search for the specifications and went on YouTube to watch videos related to  I would say that my communication strength is my ability to be able to jump into any topic that my partner is interested in and discuss our views on it. Even if I do not know much about the topic, I am willing to learn about what they are interested in and keep an open ear, asking questions to gain more knowledge. For example, if my partner is talking about the NBA which I am not familiar with, I would listen to him talk about it, asking questions along the way to get to know more about what the NB...

“Without clear lines of communication, our ideas would stay within our own small development teams instead of becoming mature products. While this is obvious to those of us who have become experienced engineers, the real question is: Why is it lost to us when we are engineering students?” Akbar R Khan, Software Systems Engineer, USA, “Good Communication Is Essential...” Me and my partner, Qayyum chose this quote to interpret. We discussed that we engineers particularly have to work on our communication skills as we often work in teams, and rarely, or even never alone. Therefore, from the quote, without the ability to clearly bring across and communicate your thinking and ideas across to others, it would be a huge challenge not just for yourself, but for the team as it would slow the progress that everyone is working on, preventing the outcome from happening. Imagine a scenario where all engineers are able to convey their own thinking and train of thought effectively to not just fellow ...