Define and Inquire
Our Grade 9 science engineering project is to design a machine or product that clearly shows an energy transfer with considerations of the purpose of the product.
One of my plans for this project is to make a product that absorbs the sunlight, which is solar energy, one of the renewable energy sources, and stores it in a battery that converts it to electrical and potential energy. This electrical energy then will be connected to a light bulb which transfers the energy into light energy.
https://creativewayej.blogspot.com/2021/03/build-your-own-emergency-solar-led.html
The video embedded above and the website include a precedent product that utilized my idea of converting solar energy to light energy. Between converting, they used batteries to store the solar energy to convert it to electrical and potential energy. I really liked using the on/off switch so that the energy can be used effectively, no matter at night or in the morning. We can control the energy released by the switch that connects to the battery with potential energy to store solar energy. Moreover, the creator of the product also tried to utilize renewable materials such as bottle caps as the stand of the lamp, which I also liked about. I disliked how they only used one solar panel, which takes a long time to store energy into the battery. By the light intensity of the LED, it is predictable that it requires high voltage. Therefore, essentially, without more solar panels, it might take a long time to lighten up the LED.
The targetted audiences of my project are people who live in rural places and less advanced countries that lack electricity. Lack of electricity leads to inaccessibility to multiple aspects, one of which is light. It is hard for them to see in the dark and at night, which provokes problems such as safety.
Another plan was an emergence hand crank flashlight; the potential energy of your hands will be used to convert it to light energy. There is a handle that, when you spin it, the potential energy will be sent to a motor that is connected to a light bulb using wires. The more you spin, the more energy will be sent, and the more the motor will work, which the light will be essentially more vital.
The video attached above is the precedent of the hand crank flashlight. It is simple and easy to make with a motor and a light bulb. I like that in this video, the person who makes the emergency hand crank flashlight uses reusable materials to make it. The reusable materials are easy to find anywhere and cleaner in a global environment. However, I don’t like the light bulb he used; it can barely make the room brighter. It will be more efficient to use a bigger light bulb.
For this product, my intended audience is people who often go camping and live in less advanced countries with less electricity, thus making them lack lights. Camping people can use this when they are on a mountain or in an environment with no lights.
My third planned product is a light generator using wind energy, a renewable energy source. For this product, the wind helps process and power the motor. Wind power converts to mechanical energy by powering the motor. In addition, the electrical energy created through the motor will convert to light energy as we light up the light bulb.
https://www.exploratorium.edu/video/light-wind-science-snacks-exploratorium
This video provides a procedure of the precedent of my planned product. It has the same features that my planned product has, which wind energy operates the motor and then lights up the light bulb. The precedent utilizes simple materials; even the fan is made up of popsicle sticks which I like about. Something that I don’t like is using a small light bulb; it might be better to use a bigger light bulb to strengthen the light intensity. This way, the audience can use the product effectively.
The intended audience for Light wind generators is people who live in windy, less advanced countries with a lack of electricity. During the nighttime, people can save electricity by opening their windows and using the breeze and wind to generate light through this product. It essentially can be used as a lamp.
My final planned project is to make some kind of lamp using battery packs. The battery pack will be connected to a switch then a light bulb. The switch is included in determining if we turn/off the light to save energy. The battery will send electrical energy to the light bulb, converting the energy into light energy. On the side, I also want to add another battery charger product with a solar panel. The two products of the battery charger and the lamp are connected into a single product. This way, when the battery is out of battery; thus, it can’t light up the light bulb. Individuals can charge up the battery or use the spare battery charged up. There will be a solar panel connected to a battery slot. When the solar energy absorbs the solar energy through the sun, the solar energy converts the energy into electrical energy through the battery pack slot. The energy transfer will charge up the battery, which we can use these batteries for our lamp.
This video embedded above is an inspiration for one of my products. The battery is connected to a wire and directly to a light bulb. I like this prototype because it utilized a small number of materials and made it work reasonably, efficiently, and effectively. However, I don’t like how the designer didn’t use a switch so that they could save up some batteries for a longer duration of usage time. When people don’t use it, they can easily turn off the switch which the light bulb will be out. For this design, you need to dismantle all of the materials. Utilizing a switch is way more efficient than not using it.
The video embedded above is my precedent of the second product for my fourth plan. It is a solar panel battery charger; it uses a solar panel, wires, and a battery. It works the same way as my plan says. The solar panel collects the solar energy and utilizes the energy to charge up the battery. What I like about the design is that it is easy to make and works efficiently using only two main materials.
The target of my fourth plan of this science engineering project with the lamp and the battery charger is people who go outdoors and indoors frequently. Also, the target can be people who dwell in rural areas with less electricity and fewer lights but has frequent sunny days. People can utllize the environment to charge up the batteries which can be used to light up the LED. They can use the values of the sun to power up the lamp.
Pros/Cons
The first project using solar panels requires renewable energy, which relies on the weather of the day. There are numerous benefits to using renewable energy; it allows the audiences to utilize it whenever they are required to. However, climates are different from time to time. It might not be a sunny day to use solar energy. Moreover, because of the size of the solar panels, it requires time to gain enough solar energy in the battery to generate light energy. The second project of the hand crank flashlight, it is beneficial because it is easy to make, and there are numerous reusable materials that I can use. However, I think the motor made for hand-crank flashlights is not easy to find. Moreover, when the person top spinning and making the motor stop, the light would not come out. This makes the hand crank flashlight to be inefficient. Furthermore, the third project of the wind light generator is great in that the structure is simple and is easy to make with reusable items. The cons of the product are that it relies on windy weather, which might not work frequently. At last, to address the previous fourth plan of my project, it is great to use renewable energy to charge up the battery and utilize this battery to light up a light bulb. It is easy to make and utilizes non- harming materials. The cons or the problem of this project is that the battery charger relies on solar energy or the sun, so there is not enough sunlight. For the lamp, it might use up too many batteries due to the light bulb’s power. It is efficient to use a bigger light bulb so that people can efficiently use it during nighttime.
Develop and Plan
Sketch of my Idea
Third Plan- Failed
This project failed
The techniques that I am going to use are soldering the wires and the use of different cutting machines. It is my first time using the soldering machine to solder the wires to connect a light bulb with a motor. I will be learning how to use the soldering machine from my peers who have knowledge of the soldering machine and the teachers around me.
Fourth plan
Science 9 Engineering Project Fourth Version Planning PDF Version Link
There are two parts of the product to make; one is the solar panel battery charger, and the other is the lamp using the 1.5 volts batteries. For the solar panel battery charger, the solar panel absorbs the solar energy from the sun then converts it to electrical energy through the wires. In addition, in the lamp, the electrical energy sends the energy to the switch, which determines whether the energy should flow to convert it to light energy using the LED light or to obstruct the energy flow so that it saves up the energy in the batteries and does not light up the LED.
One of the problems for the solar panel battery charger is that the solar panel might have too little power and absorb not enough solar energy to power up our batteries. It is recommended to use two solar panels so that it has double the amount of power. Voltage so it sustainably charges the batteries.
The techniques that I will use are to solder the wires and manage the wires arrangement and the circuits. Moreover, sawing and other machinery uses will be skills that I will learn throughout the making. As mentioned for my last project, it is my first time using a soldering machine to connect wires. The wire arrangement and the circuits are sometimes complicated, but I had experience doing it. Therefore, I will get help from my peers with sufficient design experience and my teachers for the soldering and machinery parts.
Plan
Tuesday- Sketches/ Investigating in designs
Thursday- Investigate the materials. Make the shell that can put the lamp and the battery charger in it. First, Make the base (wood, at the bottom) and the walls (transparent plastic, sides) of the shell and hot glue them together into a triangle shape. * IF there is not enough time, use Monday’s class
Monday- Make the lamp using wires, LED light, 6 batteries, and a switch but don’t hot glue them with the base and the walls first. Test if it works. *If there is not enough time, use the study hall session on Tuesday
Wednesday- Make the battery charger using wires, battery port, LED indicator, and solar panels. Test it out by going outside with sunlight
Friday- Hot glue the lamp and the battery charger into the triangular shell. Receive Feedback from teachers and peers.
Tuesday- FInal touch on my product and reflect on feedback received from others.
Create and Improve
Initially, I started my design by making the shell first by cutting the woods and using the laser cutter. For the base of my product, I have used a wood-based board. I used two transparent plastic-made recyclable boards for the two walls on which the solar battery charger will be placed on one of them. The use of transparent plastic-made boards was intentionally utilized because it is a lamp which exposure of lights is extremely necessary. To further expose the light more, the product’s base can also be changed to transparent plastic-made boards. Moreover, I have used recyclable transparent plastic-made boards so that it is beneficial to the environment, making other individuals use the materials again. I got some support from the design professionals of the circular saw and wood cutting machines for the wood board. I also got help from teachers with the laser cutter machine for my transparent plastic walls. I have earned several new skills while making the shell and the base. The base and the walls were hot-glued, creating a triangular shell where the lamp will be placed inside, and the charger will be glued outside.
Process of making the shell
After making the shell, I started on my road to making the lamp planned to be on the wooden base. One of the problems I faced was finding a bigger LED so that the lamp could be used efficiently with high light intensity during nighttime. Moreover, because using a bigger LED essentially requires more energy, I had to use 6 batteries to power up the LED. The LED I found required about 6 volts, and unfortunately, I only found 6 battery slot battery ports which with no doubt needed 6 batteries. It had enough electricity and power with 9 voltages of 6 batteries. However, the problem is that it is so detrimental to the environment. There weren’t any bigger LEDs with the high light intensity that required a small amount of power. One of my improvements can be changing a LED that requires less power that can be helpful during nighttime. To ensure my product works, I used the multimeter to test the voltage of the batteries in the battery port and tried to connect the batteries with the LED first so that it demonstrates if it lights up or not. To restrict the amount of light it produces, I have used a switch that people can turn on or off anytime they want. This way, it saves energy. After gathering all the materials, I solder the wires with the materials. The arrangement or the circuit of the wires wasn’t complicated; it wasn’t a hard job than I expected. The soldering process was a new technique that I learned; therefore, with several times of support from peers and teachers, I could fluently finish the soldering process. After the soldering process, I placed the soldered lamp on the wood base and hot glued it. I was satisfied with the outcome because the lamp was well-made and worked perfectly with my plan.
Initial Lamp
After making the lamp, I started making the solar battery charger. Even though I have utilized 6 batteries in my lamp, I determined to use a port for two batteries for my solar battery charger. This was because the space was limited, and the solar panel had not enough power. Two batteries required 3 volts, and the solar panel was barely enough to power up 3 volts. The process of making the charger was easy. One of the pieces of knowledge I learned during the process was the utilization of a small LED as a diode. The diode was needed because It allowed the electrical current to flow easily in one direction but severely restricted current from flowing in the opposite direction. With a mind of the charger’s circuit, the charger was easily made with the soldering skill I learned. After the solar panel absorbs the light, the small LED light will light up, showing that the batteries are charging up. After successfully producing the charger, I equipped it on the transparent wall using hot glue. In addition, to visually look impressive, I have covered up the battery port by placing the solar panel over the battery port. I used two wooden sticks and hot glued them to both the transparent wall and the solar panel to hold the solar panel. Overall, the product was successful but had improvements that could have been made.
After the Soldering Process/ Hotglueing process, place the solar panel over the battery port.
Finished Battery Charger
The final product as a whole with the lamp and the battery charger was definitely a success. The general purpose and goals were met; however, improvements could have optimized the product. Adding another solar panel was essential as I tested it a few times. The solar panel’s power decreased after a few tests of my product. From 3.5 volts to about 2.6 volts. The charger possesses a battery port with 2 battery slot, which requires about 3 voltage. It would have been more successful if two solar panels had been equipped. Moreover, the wires sometimes got disassembled due to the over amount of soldering or too little amount of soldering; improvements on the skills were required. As mentioned, to protect the environment more, it would have been better to use a LED that requires less power (voltage) but has a great light intensity for darkness.
Testing Videos
Final Product
Feedback from peers/ teachers/ design professionals
- Expose the light more
- Add another solar panel.
- Cover up the switch so that from the “switch” view, you don’t see the battery port and the wires
- Change the two slot battery port for the battery charger to 6 slot battery ports to charge 6 batteries that are needed to light up the lamp.
Improvements
The improvements I made were reflected in the comments I have received. Some of the feedback wasn’t reflected due to limited space and time. If there is a future engineering chance, I will continue to further optimize my product by adding solar panels and increasing the battery slot so that the battery charges quicker and has more batteries to charge.
I cut a small piece of wood board to expose the light more and fitted it into the aperture above the switch and between the two transparent walls. This way, the LED can be placed on the wood board and placed more outside the shell. The problem I faced as I hot glued the wood board between the transparent walls was that no glues could immobilize the LED on the board. Hotglues even superglues didn’t work. The only way I solved it was to use a rubber band to fasten it.
Furthermore, to visually look good, I reflected on covering up the wires from the “switch” view, so when people try to turn on the LED by the switch, they don’t see the messy wires. I decided to use wood boards again, and I cut them into small pieces using the woodcutter machinery. Then I used hot glue to stick it around the switch. It worked well, but it might be better if I used a laser cutter to cut only a piece, not several pieces, and use hot glue to connect it. This way, the pieces prevented what happened to me which the parts didn’t match. One of the pieces was too behind the switch one was more close to the switch, which from the side view looks visually disappointing. I reflected on some of the feedback I received, and it was pretty successful, but it can be optimized better.
Reflect and Share
My intention has been to provide a lamp to people in rural areas with fewer lights but frequent sun lights and people who go outdoors or indoors frequently. The purpose was successful in delivering an efficient lamp. However, it wasn’t successful in one side of using the values of their environment to charge up the batteries so that the lamp can be used for a long time.
The product I made can be split into two products; one is a lamp, and the other is a solar battery charger. The lamp worked very well; the energy in the battery port converted to light energy. We can even control the transfer by using the switch; it can let the electrical current flow so that it transfers the energy and light up and can obstruct the electrical current, which will impede the transfer of energy. One problem throughout the process was that it was useless to use a battery port with six battery slots. Six batteries equal to requiring 9 volts; each battery needs 1.5 voltage. The LED only needed about six voltages. It would have been enough to use only a battery port with four slots; unfortunately, I couldn’t find one. The use of an excessive amount of batteries causes adversaries in our environment. Without considering the environment, the lamp was overall a success.
It was successful at first for my solar battery, but it was a failure at last. Before making the solar battery charger, I worried about the solar panels. At first, solar panels had barely enough power, about three voltages to charge up the battery. If we see the first video I embedded, we can see that it worked very well. The LED indicator lightened up below the sun, showing the batteries were getting charged. However, after a few days of working, the solar panel degraded and lost its power. Using the multimeter, the voltage of solar power degraded from 3 voltage to 2.4 voltage. 2 batteries require at least three voltage, as one requires 1.5 voltage. 2.4 isn’t enough to charge these batteries; after a few trails below the sun, as in the last video, it can be seen that the LED indicator isn’t lightening up below the sunlight. The batteries are not charging up. As asked teachers, the problem was the lack of power of solar panels, which they recommended for at least two solar panels to be equipped next time. It would have been a successful product with two or more solar panels. Furthermore, I would apply a more significant battery port with more battery slots to charge more batteries.
Some of the areas where I was successful were already mentioned above; the lamp was a big success. It provided a sufficient amount of light that could be lightened up in darkness. Moreover, it was personally successful throughout the process as I developed several new techniques by learning from teachers and peers.
Some of the areas where I wasn’t successful and required some improvements were mainly on the solar battery charger. As I expected only one solar panel would be enough, I didn’t consider a solar power degree its power, making the batteries unchargeable. If I had a future chance to continue on my product, I would add more solar panels to effectively and quickly charge up the batteries so that people effectively use the values of their environment and use the lamp longer.
The impact of my product on the environment can be harmful but also might be positively eco-friendly. The materials used for my walls, the transparent plastic board, are recyclable as it is made up of plastic. In addition, the wood base can also be reused as I only used hot glue and tapes on them. Nothing dangerous, and chemicals have been used. People can reuse these items in further design projects. Moreover, for my battery charger, with solar panels, the battery charger operates through solar energy, which is a source of renewable energy. Renewable energy is a source of energy that is naturally replenished on a human timescale. Solar panels help combat greenhouse gases and reduce the collective dependence on fossil fuels. Both greenhouse gases and fossil fuels lead to brutal consequences such as global warming, loss of animal habitats, and extinctions. Overall, the utilization of solar panels and recyclable materials positively affects our environment. On the other hand, it is unfortunate that my product might also be detrimental to the environment. As mentioned a few times, I have utilized six batteries to light up the LED for my lamp. If individuals improperly discard these batteries, their chemicals soak into the soil and contaminate groundwater and surface water.
To conclude, to fully optimize and fully operate my product to achieve the intention of providing lights to people who go outdoors and indoors frequently and people who dwell in rural areas with less electricity and fewer lights but have frequent sunny days. It was partially successful due to its lack of power in solar panels at last. If I had more time, I would be much more successful in providing benefits to the intended audiences and consumers.
