Blog 2: Our Product Ideation and Idea Selection
- May 22, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 22, 2024
Hey guys,
IT'S TIME,
for Blog 2!!!
which will be about the chemical device from Blog 1, the ✨algae bioreactor✨
but before we even make our own device, we have to learn about other devices first!
Which brings us to...the very first practical for this module😊
Practical 1
For our first practical, we learnt about how an airlift pump works🤔
In the first experiment, we did some reverse engineering on a coffee maker and found out that it makes use of an airlift pump's working principles to make coffee.
Here's a simple explanation of how it works:
Add water & coffee powder, turn on the coffee maker,
some of the water boils💧, creating pockets of steam💨 which is less dense.
One-way valve causes pockets of steam push the water up the other side of the tube and into the coffee powder, making coffee☕
In the second experiment, we got to use this airlift pump shown below😲
Here's a video of my group during the experiment:
For this experiment, we measured the amount of water collected for different lengths of the pipe above the water🪣. After a few runs, we used our tabulated data to plot this graph:
(Submergence ratio = submerged height/submerged + exposed heights)
Since only the exposed height was changed, we came to the conclusion that having less pipe exposed above water increases submergence ratio and flow rate, thus improving the efficiency of the airlift pump📈📈📈
A few more pictures from Practical 1 can be found here↩️
Now, moving on to the next part...👇🏼
Ideation and Idea selection
After looking at the coffee maker, it was time to create ideas💡 for our own device and we used the Miro board to write down any ideas that we had. Since we already had a sense of what our device would do, most of the ideas were possible replacements or additions to parts of the device, instead of a different version of it.
For example we could use either a bubbler🫧 or stirrer🌪️ to agitate the algae in the bioreactor (🚫prevents algae sticking on the walls), or even add a separate drying sheet for sample collection.
In the end, we did a quick screening of our ideas and chose the bubbler since it was cheaper💸, as well as some other ideas.
Then, the different ideas were combined to create 5 different versions of the bioreactor.
Using the Criteria Options Weighing Score(COWS🐮) decision matrix, we totaled all the scores and ended up with the final product which includes a bubbler, vent, clear acrylic tubes,...and a few other parts.
And for the last section,...our second practical!
Practical 2
For our second practical, we got to play around with cardboard📦 and do Arts and Crafts🎨
Our theme was SHARK🦈 and we had to include a movable joint for the cardboard shark.
After seeing other groups bring out their multiple sketches, we realized that we were cooked🫠💀 since all we had was a simple MS Paint drawing of our shark's rotating jaw.
Because of that, we had to spend some time planning while other groups were starting to cut out their parts already✂️
Thanks to Fiona, we got these sketches of our shark's body and lower jaw as 2 separate pieces
Transferring that drawing onto cardboard 1:3 took a lot of time as well✏️😣, at that point, we could only hope for it to come out great in the end🤞🏼
Here, you can see me and Rakshan cutting out the shark's body while Muhsin and Isaac are drawing out it's lower jaw on the other half of the cardboard.
Part of the requirements was also to use as little glue as possible so we tried using this Tab-n-Slot method, which we saw on another cardboard model, to connect the sides.
A regular slot would be used to insert the fins and tail.
However, we faced some challenges towards the end of the practical:
The Tab-n-Slot connections were coming apart (we had to use brass fasteners to secure them🔒)
The shark's body and lower jaw were slanted (our sketches were not completely perfect)
One of the connections for the lower jaw was misaligned (we used the chopstick as the connection and joint at the same time)
And here is our completed shark! (it did not have much space for side fins so we only added 1 fin)
V.S
We do not talk about the "other" side. Shark bullying will not be tolerated🚫🙅♂️
Also, more pictures of our toothless shark can be found here👈🏼
Anyways, we love our shark very much🩶🦈 and Practical 2 was a very fun experience overall🙃
It taught me that proper preparation is necessary for when we make our chemical device.
There were a few challenges here and there, but we persevered and made the best cardboard shark with a movable jaw😄
...OK that's all for this blog, byeee👋🏼👋🏼
References:
Hesketh, Robert. Slater, C. Stewart. 1997. 'Demonstration of Chemical Engineering principles to a multidisciplinary engineering audience', pp. 4
Cardboard 101, 2020 [PDF] Available at: https://inventionlandeducation.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Cardboard-101.pdf [Accessed 22 May 2024].
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