Ideas

Some ideas that I had for this project were mainly designed around the energy input of a hand crank. I wanted to make something that was engaging as well as educational that targeted a younger audience.

I created some variations of the hand crank power banks and added color, lights, and moving parts to show the energy transformation.

Idea 1:

The basic ideas of ideas 1a and 1b are very similar, just consisting of different elements that show the energy transformation. As the hand crank turns, the lights or motors will turn on gradually as the energy increases. Testing will be required to see if the gradual light system functions with a small energy input and without an overly complicated internal system.

Idea 2:

Idea 2 also incorporates LEDs in the designs, but instead of a hand crank used for the power input, the box includes a solar panel attached on top. The body also has a USB socket to provide charging for other devices. A multimeter test will be necessary to see which solar panel creates the most energy because the energy is used to charge both the lights and whatever the USB port is used for.

Idea 3 :

The third idea would be more practical than the others, and it would be a good model and demonstration of how hand-crank pencil sharpeners actually work. The blade inside the machine would spin around the pencils to sharpen the edge, and the shavings would fall into a collection box.

 

Plan

After designing some basic ideas, I created a plan for the final design I wanted to go for. The photo shows different views of the model, and the 2D view shows the inside of the machine and how it would operate. I planned to attach a gear to the shaft connected to the handle because the manual motion would not be enough to spin fast enough to light the LED (2-3 volts required).

I, later on, changed the container shape to a box so that it would be easier to manage and so that the inside could be displayed for better understandings of energy conversion. I also decided that the fan would be attached to the lower shaft with the smaller gear for it to be more impressive by spinning much faster. The bottom gear would spin alongside the top larger gear, and because it is much smaller, the shaft spins nearly 2-4 times faster than the top shaft.