A video clip showing my car running for short distances:
IMG_4053

This product, a solar-powered vehicle, would work with the process of converting solar energy into electric energy, then converting it into kinetic energy. The first part of the transfer could be seen in the design when the solar panel powers up the LED light by turning on and off the switch, indicating the electricity that the solar cells produced has been successfully transferred into the LED. Some wasted energy of the part includes light energy (LED lighting up) and thermal energy (high temperature in LED). For the second part of the energy transfer, the electricity produced by the solar cells on the solar panel makes the motor rotate, meaning the electric energy has been converted to kinetic energy. Some other wasted energy in this part of the circuit includes sound energy (the sound produced by the spinning motor) and thermal energy (the temperature of the motor suddenly rise).

Something I did well on this project is that I learned a lot about some background knowledge about the function of a solar panel circuit or system, implemented these skills into my project, and made my vehicle rotate in the still air. Also, I also applied some of the technical terms in mechanical engineering and automotive design such as front-wheel drive and gear drive, which allows me to understand the physics behind energy transferring products such as solar-powered transportation. By applying this background knowledge, I figured out a way to design a useful tool.

Something that I did not do well this time is that I did not use soldering, which would make my circuit much easier, and lighter to drive the car. Thus, my circuit has been extremely messed up, and the car would be stuck most of the time because, frankly, I did not place the wire in a proper manner. Concurrently, I realized that the motor sometimes functions, but not all of them could function well at any moment. To be honest, I had a hard time selecting gears and placing them at the correct spot, and sometimes they slip away from its original position easily, thus resulting in the ceasing of the vehicle’s motion, and it still could not work even if I cut off the other half of the vehicle’s body. Apart from functioning errors, I also felt like my car looks boring, just as simple as a broken part of a real-life vehicle. In other words, it is not aesthetically attractive to my audiences, and they might not be interested in it.

Something that I will do next time to improve the poor quality that I have this time would be the following. Firstly, I would need to make my plan carefully, because I altered my plan at least 3 times during the exploring stage of the project, and I also changed the overall structure and circuit of my vehicle multiple times when I’m making, which would decrease my overall efficiency while working on this. Moreover, I would have to make it aesthetically appealing because it is seemingly that others would question whether my product is a vehicle or not, and making it aesthetically attractive would make more sense rather than altering a car into part of the engine.

This product is indeed planned to be a toy that toddlers could play with. It also reveals how instant would it be for those whose car is running out of fuel in remote and pristine regions. Concurrently, it exposes how useful and protective renewable energy such as solar energy could benefit the environment. Kinetic energy converted from solar energy would cause less noise damage to the environment, and physically benefit the environment by avoiding greenhouse gas emissions.

After understanding and implementing the theory behind the solar-powered vehicle. I began to make the circuit. I grabbed a LED light, dipping its longer leg to hole g10 and the shorter strip to g9. The LED light acts as a resistor, which prevents the charge from the battery to surpass the maximum voltage that the solar panel could charge, and avoiding the solar panel from being crushed. Then, I found a battery pack that could charge the circuit, but could only work with 2 batteries. I place the red wire of the battery pack to hole f10, and the black wire to g12, to make the battery provide sufficient charge when necessary. After finishing up the battery part, which is the first part of the 1st half of the overall circuit. I placed the wire connecting the negative charge of the solar panel to i12, and I placed the wire connecting to the positive charge of the solar panel to h9 so the charge would not go back to the solar panel, and not break it. Also, I added a switch on this wire because then I could decide on when I would like to charge my circuit if running out of battery. After that, I have fully completed the solar panel part of the circuit. Moving to the motor part, I stretched a wire from hole j12 and attached the other side of it to one side of the electric motor, then stretched another set of wires from the hole j11, connecting it to the other side of the motor, adding a switch in between the wires. Thus, I could decide on when to turn on or turn off the motor.

Here’s a picture of my circuit

Initial structure

At first, I made my car structure according to my plan, which is a 4-wheeled car that applies the term front-wheel drive, in which the car relies on the motor that carries the axis of the front wheels to rotate with 2 gears attaching into each other, known as the term gear drive. Above the axis, it is a huge rectangular 15*10 cardboard. To make the axis stable, I wrapped a tunnel structure with soft cardboard. Everything sounded plausible, and the motor plus the circuit was running well. However, some obstacles occurred during the experimental process. For example, the motor rotated extremely fast in the air, but the car walked at a slow rate on the ground, and sometimes might even halt its motion. Thus, I tried to add 4 fixed bearings (2 bearings for each axis) to make the wheel rotate freely because I thought that the problem was caused by not having adequate space for the rod to move with the wheels, thus causing the immense amount of pressure, and a 6-volt motor could not endure such weight. However, I realized that it was the weight of the fixed bearings that caused the motor to stop spinning. Thus, I replaced the bearings with straws to reduce both the pressure and the weight that the motor pushes, and it worked sometimes. However, the technical term of gear drive was seemingly not working this time because one single 6-volt motor could not push a car plus the entire circuit. Therefore, I decided to alter the manner of the drive but still use the strategy of front-wheel drive, in which I placed 2 motors on the front wheel to carry the entire car. However, the car still could not run on the ground and the wheel is only spinning in the still air. I checked the direction of the wheel spinning, and both of the wheels were rotating in a very similar direction. As a result, I realized that the car could not run because the weight the overall circuit has is heavy, and I altered my car into a 2-wheeled vehicle rather than a 4 wheeled vehicle.

My 2-wheeled vehicle (with the circuit):

At last, I felt like the best way to reduce the weight is by altering the 4-wheel vehicle into a 2-wheel vehicle, and thus it could reduce the overall weight of the vehicle model. After cutting off the majority of the cardboard designed, the only part of the car that remained is only the front wheel, or engine, on the other hand. But surprisingly, it did work, but the vehicle only traveled for a few centimeters, frankly, was incredibly short. It is explicit that this consequence was caused by the immense weight of the car since the 2-wheel car could run for a longer distance compared to its predecessor, a 4-wheeled solar-powered vehicle. However, my 2-wheel car still could not function properly because the thrust that both motors exerted was tiny compared to engines that could push the entire car, and make it run on the ground, and this was probably caused by the small amount of voltage that the engines received, or maybe the battery pack or the solar panel did not produce as much electricity as expected.

Brief Introduction
Based on the obstacle listed above from both of my precedents, I decided to design a product that could solve problems such as transportations suddenly running out of fuels in pristine regions and could not be restored without finding a gas station, or electric-car charger. However, it seems like it would be impossible for me to design a huge product such as solar-powered transportation because of the limited amount of time. Thus, I decided to devise a mini-solar-powered vehicle model that spans about 20*10 cm, but would run the similar circuit that real-life solar-powered transportations acquires, in which the entire circuit would be powered by a 6v solar panel that would supply sufficient electric energy to spin the motor, thus motivating the rotation of the wheels.

Planning

Output (structure/looking):



This is the overall structure of my car. I made it resemble a real-life car model. The vehicle has 4 wheels, and one pair of them would be powered by electricity produced by the solar cells on the 6v solar panel， which is located at the top of the vehicle. Thus, the pair of wheels that spins with the motor would then carry the other pair to rotate simultaneously, and in the same direction, to make the vehicle function. For each side of the car, I decided to make it a little bit creative, to make it aesthetically appealing.

Input (circuit):

The input of the vehicle, frankly, is a simple circuit powered by the 6-volt solar panel. To be brief, the solar panel has 2 types of electric charges, positive and negative, and it would be connected to a motor through sophisticated wire-systems. Specifically, I decided to place a battery pack that could be filled with a maximum of 2 batteries, which acts as a storage battery in the entire circuit, with both of its wire connected to the board. After that, I must connect the positive charge of solar panel to another position on the bread board, and plotting the wire that connects the negative charger of the solar panel, and the 2 wires connecting to the motor in different directions since I must attach both of the plugs of the motor with a wire to let it rotate. Then, I placed a LED light with the longer strip dipped to a hole that is a hole left from the wire that connects to the positive charge of the solar panel, and the shorter strip 1-hole right from where the red wire of the storage battery is placed, and finally completing the circuit. If the volt did transcend, then the electricity from the battery would pass the bread board and flow to the solar panel, thus crashing the panel due to the enormous thrust generated, damaging the overall circuit. The LED light acts as a protector, or a resistance because it could halt the electric current from the storage battery surpass 6-volt, and thus avoid the solar panel from being ravaged. Also, these “equipment” must be stationed at the interior of the vehicle, or otherwise would make the model not aesthetically appealing. However, I recognized that without a switch, I might not be able to stop the motor from rotating, and so would affect the overall motion of the vehicle. Concurrently, I did not want the LED light to be always on since it always acts as a charger for the vehicle. As a result, as I’m planning, I decided to add a switch on one side of the motor that connects with 2 wires and repeated the same step by placing a switch between the wires attached to the positive charge of the solar panel and the bread board. Therefore, I could decide on when I would like to make the vehicle run, and when to fulfill its battery if the car suddenly runs out of it.

Main Engine: Motor


I decided to design the motor by using the idea of gear drive, an academic term that is being frequently used in mechanical engineering, in which a smaller gear (gear 1) would be plugged onto the tiny axis elongated from the center of the side surface of the 6-volt motor, then make the teeth of it loosely adhered to a bulkier gear (gear 2) comparing to gear 1 (gear 1 is thicker comparing to gear 2, and it probably allow more force to push the car forward to be exerted from the motor because a gear with analogous size comparing to gear 2 would add up the resistance). The hole in the middle of gear 2 is being pierced by a metal rod with each side of it attached to the front wheel of the vehicle, and by doing so supports, and promotes the back wheel to rotate with the thrust from the engine. In the discussion of automotive design, this is a type of dynamic distribution, which is as known as the front wheel drive. This specific type of dynamic distribution is especially useful for my vehicle model because power system is mainly concentrated on the front portion of the car, thus providing space for me to place the main circuit at the middle-back portion of the vehicle, which is a lot of space. Concurrently, it provides the car sufficient electricity to power-up the motor, and makes it function efficiently, thus making my vehicle run.

Problem: Driving in remote and pristine regions

Some explorers, or nature lover, such as tourists, enjoy visiting and adventuring in wild and remote places because of its beautiful landscape, and driving in these regions with attractive natural panoramas around them. Although these driving tours are always exciting, there are always some who’s car would run out of fuel or electricity (Tesla), due to the great distances that the tourists need to travel in one trip, and gas stations and Tesla chargers that supply energies required for the vehicle are unavailable in pristine regions around the world. To avoid these obstacles, tourists must drive a type of car that relies on renewable and natural energy in such pristine regions. The two most common types of energy that comes from our mother nature, solar and wind energy, are probably the most useful energy that we could use for our cars during a trip in remote regions. However, it would be more reasonable to use solar energy in such regions because it is always accessible as long as light is available in the region, which is particularly useful during the day. Winds is indeed a good source of energy. However, it is unlikely to work for cars since winds are not always available in any places around the world. Despite the fact that the climate could suddenly alter in mountainous regions, and the valleys between the hills are rich in wind energy, the type of wind are also wind gusts. Concurrently, the higher elevation or altitude in mountainous regions provide more sunlight with the thinning of the atmosphere, making the sunlight more powerful, and intense simultaneously. As a result, solar energy became the energy that I will be using, and it would provide energy for a transportation tool that could make the car drivers through.

Precedents
Solar Car

Link: https://www.cartrade.com/blog/2015/greens/solar-cars-pros-and-cons-1181.html
Since our sun is an immutable source of energy, it is always the most sustainable energy for producing electricity to run the car engines. Comparing to cars that rely on electricity and fossil fuel, and running out of battery or fuels easily during a long distance trip passing through pristine regions with rare or no metropolitan areas, solar vehicles are less likely to run out of batteries since remote regions are always open spaced, where sunlight are always available during days, in which the cars could be easily charged and acquire adequate solar energy for charging. Concurrently, the solar cars have a faster speed comparing to gasoline and diesel cars due to its aluminum and lightweight components that made up the entire vehicle. Apart from travelling benefits, solar vehicle is also known as a type of green transportation, which would have multiple positive impacts and advantages. To begin with, solar vehicle is eco-friendly, which benefits the environment by not polluting (greenhouse gas emission) the environment. According to recent researches, the emission level of solar-powered vehicles stayed at zero. The transportation utilizes renewable energy, and the electric motors would not generate electricity emitting contaminants that are hazardous to our nature. Moreover, the quietness of solar-powered car would not distract thee environment. The enormous thrust that diesel and gasoline vehicles’ engine exerted could make loud noises that could be distracting to the ecosystems in remote regions, and thus ravaging the life cycle of the biodiversity.

Solar Ship

Link:https://www.amlu.com/2018/04/14/tesla-of-the-sea-soelcat-12-is-a-solar-powered-electric-catamaran/
This is a picture of the Tesla of the Sea: SoelCat 12, a solar-powered ship produced by the Dutch company of Soel Yachts. It is not only a luxury watercraft, but a symbolization of future water transportation. This ship, in particular has a functional solar electric propulsion system, which has a maximized efficiency, ideal for 24-hour services, the 16-person craft has a range of 150nm. Since the ship is not a diesel engine transportation, SoelCat 12 is a noise-free vessel, thus tourists could only hear water when the ship’s “engines” are set, and thus avoiding the noise contamination of water. Also, this could eliminate the possibility of water pollution because the energy that the ship exerted would have 0 level greenhouse gas emissions. Apart from efficiently using renewable energy, this boat could also allow the tourists to have a safe and comfortable trip since it provides sofa, food, and other daily necessities. In the discussion of pristine and remote areas, this boat could probably fulfill the tourists’ requirements during a medium length trip. However, it would not support long trips across the sea because the distance, and the pressure in some oceanic regions are not suitable for this tiny solar-powered boat.

Brief Description of solar circuit

I found this circuit as my precedent circuit because it is indeed simple and would not take a lot of space for my product. This is a solar-motor circuit where a diode is located on the wire connected to the positive charge of the 6-volt solar panel to prevent the charge from the solar panel from returning to solar panel, and damaging the overall circuit. In between the motor and the solar panel, a battery pack is being placed to act as a storage battery, and a resistor must be added between the battery, and the solar panel because the charge from the battery would ravage the solar panel if its voltage surpass the solar panel’s voltage. 2 switches are added on each side of the circuit. 1 of them (left of the picture) is used for operating the motor, and the other (right of the picture) is used for charging the motor.

The main character in Evan Hunter’s short story entitled “On the Sidewalk Bleeding” initially believes that it is not shameful as a member of the Royals. Still, later he understands that no one would be there to aid and support him when he had an accident because of stereotypes. His changing understanding is revealed through actions, self-reflection, and symbolism in On the Sidewalk Bleeding story.

Actions: “He tried to speak. He tried to move. He tried to crawl toward the doorway. He tried to make a noise, a sound, and a grunt came, a low animal grunt of pain.” This quote showed Andy’s action when he was desired to survive the pain after being stabbed by someone.

Self-reflection: “He felt the pain tearing at his stomach when he moved. If he never did another thing, he wanted to take off the jacket. The jacket had only one meaning now, and that was a straightforward meaning.” The quote reveals that Andy finally recognized that he had to take the jacket off or nobody would assist him and call the cop. Thus, it is a way of self-reflection.

Symbolism: “If he had not been wearing the jacket, he wouldn’t have been stabbed. The knife had not been plunged in hatred of Andy. The knife hated only the purple jacket. The jacket was a stupid, meaningless thing that was robbing him of his life.” This quote exposes that the purple jacket that Andy was wearing symbolized the Royals, a gang that almost everyone abhors in the story, which abetted him getting stabbed by someone.

Strengths: I’m good at listening and speaking.
Weaknesses: I think I still need to work on my reading and writing skills.

Link of my book: https://sway.office.com/wiH6r1eg6sPsiqyl?ref=Link

link to video: https://isbtube.isb.bj.edu.cn/video/Chinese-cultural-revolution/46c82b7199baccd8d3d60e0b06aa2f72

This is our video about the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution. The video talked about the red guards, the impact of Mao, and the Gang of Four. The Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution is to accelerate the industrial development of China advocated by Mao Zedong, the first chairman of China. It started from 1966 after the Great Famine, one of the most severe natural disaster after the establishment of People’s republic of China in 1949. Also, the video discussed about the symbolizations and the obliteration of Gang of Four later by 1976. In conclusion, this video shows a brief understanding from my perspective during the Cultural Revolution.

The book Fatal Fever – Tracking Down Typhoid Mary is about a disease called typhoid. Which killed thousands of people in the city Ithanca. The story happened during the 20th century. At the time, Dr. Soper found out that Mary Mallon spread the disease and told her she should be quarantined. However, she deliberately refused to cooperate with him and the government. At last, they tracked her successfully and clean the city. Thus, the book theme is everyone should cooperate during a pandemic in order to fight against the disease or virus. We should read the book because it has a lot of fun facts to know. For example, our world is now fighting against the corona. Another reason is because we know how to fight the disease and learn about the medical care during that time.

Video link: https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/a8775513-2fef-4938-843c-c54aacff1fbd