Project Proposal
ENGR 113 - Spring 2019
First-Year Engineering Design
“Group 3 Project Proposal”
Date
Submitted: April 18, 2019
|
Group
Members Ella Johnstad, egj28@drexel.edu
Jake Hobaugh, jgh59@drexel.edu
John Cebollero, jmc663@drexel.edu
Quinn Foerter, qjf25@drexel.edu
Technical
Advisor Dr. Roger Marino, rm88@drexel.edu
Abstract:
For this design project, we plan to experiment
with the primary concept of center of mass. This idea will be transformed into
three, fifty-minute experiments. One experiment will be designing a structure
with multiple tiers. Various sized weights will be distributed throughout the
structure, and the main goal would be to calculate the center of mass. Another
experiment would utilize the 3D printer. Creating a small teeter-totter with
the printer and rolling different objects (toy cars, marbles, etc.) will
display the importance of the center of mass. For the third experiment, we will
demonstrate how mass affects balance. We plan on teaching middle school classes
the fundamental physics and advanced problem-solving skills with engaging
exercises. Some challenges that may be faced is our ability to get our message
and the directions across to the audience. Some significant tasks are going to
be to construct the props for our experiments and evaluating the necessary calculations.
The final goal is to inform our audience about the concept of the center of
mass using captivating methods. Another experiment idea we have is all about
gear ratios. This would be another experiment split into three, fifty-minute
intervals. Through the three labs, middle schoolers would learn different gear
functions and fundamentals, perform tasks with a spring vehicle, and finally,
power an LED light with rotational energy powered by gears. Some technical
challenges faced for this lab would be using the same gears and springs, over
time they would begin to wear down and not perform as well. For this
experiment, the central goal is to educate about the properties of gears and
their operations. The final experiment idea is a one 150 minute lab on
pneumatics. In this lab, a high school class would have to explore a rubber and
copper tubing “hand” and complete different tasks with it and its “fingers.”
This experiment, students will learn how air pressure operates.
1. Introduction
For our lab, we choose between a gear ratio
lab, a center of mass lab, and a pneumatics lab. For the gear ratio lab, we had
three 50 minute labs. The first was exploring different gear combinations and
seeing how gearing things worked. Kids would be given certain gears, and told
to spin the last gear 24 times, while spinning the first one once, or other
scenarios like that. The second part was where the kids had a spring car, and
they would gear it either for speed (and less torque) or strength (and less
speed). The would have to do a series of things like push a block, or race up a
ramp. The last part of this lab was a geared mass-light contraption. This would
have students gear a mass that was hanging on the contraption. This mass would
slowly fall and spin the last gear in the chain very fast so the rotational
energy could power an LED.
The
second lab we came up with was a center of mass based lab. This lab would also
be three 50 minutes mini labs. The first part would be where the students are
given cardboard cutouts, and told to hold loosely at the top, so they would
discover this point was the center of mass. The second part would be using this
to see how center of mass works on balance beams with unusual symmetry. The
culminating activity would be a “Teeter Totter” where the kids would have to
balance specified weights so the force would be even on both sides.
The
third lab we came up with one a hundred and fifty minute lab. In this lab
students would be exploring pneumatics. Students would make a hollow “hand” from
provided step by step instructions. From this students would be given a series
of “puzzles” that they would have to complete. Examples of these would be “Make
the hand point its index finger” or “Have the hand form a peace sign”. The hand
would consist of four hollow fingers and would be make out of rubber and copper
tubing.
2. Deliverables
For the conclusion of the project, we plan on
supplying physical prototypes, algorithms, and test results. At least two
structures will be designed to present how the center of mass works. Algorithms
can be created to aid the younger audience in conducting the experiment. A
large part of one of our operations with the teeter-totter will be test
results. We will have to test multiple objects by rolling them across the
design, testing for speed and balance. For all three of the experiments, we
hope to spend at most $200, create a safe experiment, have an engaging and fun
lab, have something to teach and others learn, an experiment that can be
supervised by one person for thirty students.
3. Technical Activities
- Gear Ratio
Lab - 3x50 minute labs
- Gear Ratio Basics: Students will be given gears of varying sizes
and be allowed to test them together in different combinations to learn
how turning a small gear using a large gear makes it move quickly and
vice versa. This portion of the lab introduces them to gears and how they
function in a simplistic manner.
- Gear Ratio Vehicle: Utilizing a car in which the wheels turn
using gears we can adjust the cars gear ratios to maximize speed and
distance. This teaches a simple practical application of gear ratios.
- Gear Power: A large mass will be tied to a string. The string
will be wrapped around a gear several times and the mass will be released
to slowly turn the gear. The large gear will turn slowly and cause a
smaller gear to spin faster and power a small LED. We can alternate the
gears sizes to affect the rate that the gear spins at and the brightness
of the light.
- Center of Mass - 3x50 minute labs
- Finding the Center of Mass: Students will be given a square of
cardboard, they will hang it by any to points and draw lines straight
down from where they hung it from. The intersection of these points will
be the center of mass. They can then cut the cardboard to make a more
abnormal shape and repeat the process to prove that this works for
non-square shapes.
- Balancing Center of Mass about a certain point: We will have
designed a hanging “tree” that consists of dowel rods stuck through a 1x1
wooden stick. This will be used to hang masses along the horizontal dowel
rods and students will be tasked with maintaining a consistent center of
mass about the central 1x1 wooden stick.
- Rolling Along a Central Axis: We will have a flat inorganically
shaped surface with a central axle that will hang freely between two
points. The center of mass will be along that axle, and the goal is to
roll objects across the surface without tipping it to either side of the
axle and rolling off the side.
- Pneumatic Hand - 1x150 minute lab
- Students will be tasked with creating a hand out of copper tubing
and plastic hose tubing. The joints will be made with flexible plastic
tubing whereas the rest will be made with rigid copper tubing. One end
will be capped off completely while the other will have a syringe that
can add and remove air from the “finger. When air is removed from a
finger it will contract and curl inwards, when air is added to the finger
it will extend and straighten out. Four fingers will be made and taped
together to create one hand (without a thumb).
- Students will then test their hands by making each of the fingers
curl and extend independently as well as grab and lift an object to test
how effective the hand is. The hand will be tasked with lifting different
objects of varying weights and sizes, and make different hand symbols
such as a peace sign (Pointer and middle fingers extended), or the ‘rock
on’ symbol (Pinky and Pointer fingers extended).
4. Project Timeline
Table 1: ENGR 113 Project Gantt Chart
Here is our gantt chart for our engineering
project. We developed this through researching example engineering gantt charts
and from previous experience.
5. Facilities and Resources
For all three projects, a drill and a
screwdriver along with screws would all be needed for us to easily assemble the
lab. A 3D printer will be necessary for creating one of the activities for the
mass lab, and scissors would be useful for all three.
For the students to complete the lab, a
screwdriver would be necessary for the gear ratio and pneumatic lab, but no
tools would be needed for the center of mass.
6. Expertise
Below is a list of expertise needed for the
Center of Mass project. The first bullet point is information that all of the
group members should possess for the ability of them to participate in the
project and for the project to be ultimately successful. The second bullet
point is expertise that only a single group member needs to be have familiarity
with. The third bullet point should be possessed by two group members so that
they can assist each other on the construction of the project.
●
Knowledge of basic center of mass
principles
●
Familiarity or experience with 3D
printing
●
Experience with basic hand-held
tools and building techniques
Below is a list of expertise needed for the
Gear Ratio project. The first bullet point is information that all of the group
members should possess for the ability of them to participate in the project
and for the project to be ultimately successful. The second bullet point is expertise
that only a single group member needs to be have familiarity with.
●
Knowledge of basic gear ratios
●
Knowledge of LEDs and basic
circuitry concepts
Below is a list of expertise needed for the
Pneumatic Hand project. The first bullet point is information that all of the
group members should possess for the ability of them to participate in the
project and for the project to be ultimately successful. The second bullet
point is expertise that only a single group member needs to be have familiarity
with.
●
Knowledge of pneumatics
●
Knowledge of basic joint movements
●
Experience with basic hand-held
tools and building techniques
7. Budget -
Some stuff we would need for the gear ratio
lab would be a knex motor, gears, a pegboard, an LED, and a heavy mass. These would probably all total to about $20.
For the center of mass lab, we would need 3 ¼”
dowel rods, a 1”x1” square dowel rod, several 3D printed parts, and some
cardboard. The total cost of these items would probably be ~$10
For the pneumatic lab, we would need several
pneumatic pistons, and some tubes which could hold the pressure, along with
switches and other extensions for the hand. This cost comes out to be around
$120.
Decision
Matrix
Sensitivity
Analysis
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