"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
This week went very well, I was able to attach a nozzle to my bucket and place it on top of a stand that I created just using wood and screws. I attached my turbine at the bottom using the acrylic and L shaped brackets that screwed it in place. Along with these I added the tubing by using the nozzle at the bucket and attaching it to the valve that I placed on an extended piece of wood using two zip-ties. Now that the prototype is finished I am running tests to see just how fast the system goes through 1 liter, 2 liters, 3 liters, and 4 liters and how much energy is produced from it. Once I do this I can have a pretty good understanding of how much energy I will be able to create as I continue on for the design of my final product. Hopefully I will be able to finish testing soon and begin construction of my final product that will incorporate the big red bucket as my reservoir and it will be a tad taller but once I have my final product I can literally test it to see how much energy it creates, hopefully reaching my goal. Next week I must present my project to my AP Physics class to get some feedback as well as a feedback session with our own STEM class.
0 Comments
The past weeks have had lots of struggling and overcoming. I have planned everything out to as specific as possible and gone over each step cautiously with Ms. Rathmann, who I might add has been very helpful in the planning and construction of my system. This week I worked on creating a compound gear that would increase the amount of rpms my turbine would rotate and therefor increasing efficiency. I am still designing and working on the set up of the gears but as of now I have a constant height of head, which is a stand that I built a base for so that I can run my tube down the side of it and have an easier time testing my system. Another thing I worked on this week was a makeshift turbine made with acrylic and ping pong balls, almost works better than the manufactured one I had bought earlier this year. My next steps will essentially all be testing of what turbine would work the best and what height of head would be successful in generating enough power. I will continue designing and determining the different aspects and factors of my project.
Everything has arrived. Designs are reaching their finalization. The puzzle pieces are coming together. I am ecstatic to see my ideas hit the page and then slowly come to life. Last week I was not able to get as much work as I wanted done because I got my Wisdom Teeth taken out but the goal is to now get all my data from the turbine to reach a solid efficiency. Before I make any complete finalizations in my design I need to make sure all of my constants will create the best environment in order to create the best efficiency I can. I have been trying to actually get the turbine to spin which is a major conflict I have arrived upon but I am not worried that I won't get it to spin because the amount of friction is more than two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together. As much as I am struggling I am actually hitting all the correct areas that I was hoping to hit such as the amount of materials used and the price of the actual system and I firmly believe that after I run the correct tests and can finalize my constants that the turbine will do amazing things!! Excited for the coming weeks and the building process.
Winter Break has come to a very sad and depressing end. Through my melancholy I have done a lot of research and work in order to understand the actual mathematics of my system. I am working for the best efficiency possible and the only way I can achieve this is with intelligent planning and confident execution. Having the turbine in my hands and being able to run tests on it to better understand it have helped a lot and will continue to help me as I continue my project. I am finalizing my budget in hopes to have all my supplies and components in the maker space as soon as possible so I can begin to construct my system as fast, though precise, as possible. As the week comes to an end I am working to find all the parts of my turbine and system in general that I must evaluate and design to work smoothly and effectively.
My turbine is on the way and I am excited to have it in the maker space when it comes. I have written up and drawn up so many different designs that have either found their home in the recycling bin or in my folder. Each design I can feel I am getting closer to the final dimensions and factors that will contribute to the system as a whole. I have had to research a lot of different equations so that I can get an estimation of how efficient my system will be. I have come across equations dealing with nozzle pressure, viscosity, and head heights that will allow me to find different constants in the many equations I have seen. I am looking forward for my turbine arriving so I can run some tests and then begin ordering more materials. Once more materials come I can begin to construct my system while using the fluid mechanic equations to get certain values that need to be reached to reach maximized efficiency.
3 weeks until Winter Break, little time to get a lot done. My design is evolving more and more each day, small features that did not even cross my mind when I created my first design are now large components of my present design. Even though my design is not finished I am looking to obtain all the materials that are constants right now and get them ordered. I reached a slight road block when one of the prime factors, the turbine, of my system was out of stock on Amazon I had to do some digging and I finally found the same one for a lot cheaper and in stock! I am excited to obtain the turbine when it arrives because it is a major component and I begin testing it to see just how efficient it is and how I can implement it the best in my system. The battery and motor that comes with it only runs at about 6 V DC so I am thinking I might interchange it with a larger motor to be able to have a higher voltage. I am doing research and finding other micro hydropower designs and adding certain features they have to my design in hopes of reaching the maximized efficiency.
A long range of things that need to be accomplished by the end of the week. Final Literature Review needs to be formatted correctly to be used as my introduction paragraph in my Proposal, due Monday. After is my Methodologies that explain my goals, objectives, and my step by step as I proceed with my project and actually creating it. This week has been a lot of written work but along with it came the ability to continue refining my system and create more designs. My budget is looking great after I went through every factor and part of my system to find something I can order online or even better look for recycled parts and apply them to my project. One of my objectives is to ensure my system is made to be the most efficient but at the same time be the cheapest and use the least material as possible, the more recycled parts the better. I am continuing to put together my paper for the proposal and make sure it is the best I can submit before I begin actually trying to create my project physically. In the mean time I am putting my design through different sets of evaluations to find where I can improve efficiency. I am excited to put my proposal together and begin creating my system, things will become more concrete after I have the basis of my project created.
This week has been geared towards understanding our goal versus understanding our objective. As my goal is to provide a way for people living in areas where hydropower is the best option to obtain all the energy they are missing out on. On the other hand my objectives range from being able to power a lightbulb for the very least one day along with the objective to use the smallest amount of material and money as possible. Another side goal of this is to elaborate on how we can use what we call "trash" and recycle it in our own ways if we think outside of the box. Maximizing efficiency is one great thing but recycling objects we already have to create something that obtains electricity from a commodity we use everyday is an amazing thing, at least in my opinion. Now my goal and objectives are set and I am starting to take my research and make more concrete designs, the more I can evaluate the better it is. I take my design and I look at flaws and highlight them, sometimes they are able to be fixed but other times it is too hard and I must accept the loss in efficiency but work to make it back in another area. I am really excited to move on from my design but in the next week or so I am working to understand the right materials I am going to use.
This week was the definition of The Grind, I had to outline, compose, and correct my Literature Review and though it was a lot of work I learned a lot about my own project and provided a great outline to move forward from. All week I was able to get sources with more information that I could use to create my system but also why I am creating my system. This research project would be intended for places that endure large amounts of perception each year along with their inability to generate clean energy efficiently. I researched places that rained a lot because my project could maximize its efficiency by having the most amount of rainwater run through the system as possible; Potential energy = water. In my Literature Review I am able to clearly state my "Why, What, and How" in essay formate while using my research to justify it. This helps not only others trying to understand my project and its reasoning but also help myself to better understand why I am doing this and how. I am not looking to understand more about the materials I will be using as well as how to actually build my system correctly and with the right dimensions. All in all I am ready to proceed on to more difficult material when trying to understand the Calculus and math equations involved in calculating efficiency with a turbine of this specific nature:
During this week I was able to finish my Annotated Bibliography on time! I researched a lot of sources and read a lot of the book Intro to Fluid Mechanics in order to get a better scope of what equations I would be using as well as how I can get the best efficiency for my small micro hydropower system. As I did more research a learned a lot about turbines and what turbine I should use; the Pelton Turbine. I chose this turbine because it seemed to work best with falling water and had a specific blade design that would allow for my system to get the most energy it possibly could from the potential energy being the water. I learned a lot from my Annotated bibliography, first being that it is a lot easier to navigate through my sources when I have a nice paragraph describing the most important details from each source. I also learned that doing work like this will give me a good base understanding of how hydropower works and how I can evaluate my system to have the best possible efficiency. Excited to move forward.
|
Devan JonesBullis Student ArchivesCategories |