This is a photo of my final product in action.

How does my device function?

The solar panel on this device absorbs sunlight, or solar energy, and converts it to electrical energy to fuel the water pump. The solar panel, switch, and water pump is soldered together in a triangle formation. The pump is underneath the cardboard, submerged in water. After turning the switch on, the pump pushes the water through the PVC tube and straw into the plastic cylinder. From the cylinder, there is a hole where another straw has been placed, and through this final straw, the water will flow onto the plants.

What are some areas of success?

One area of success was soldering the solar panel, switch, and water pump together. I initially struggled with finding a way to fuse these three components, but after creating a stand for the solar panel and rotating it upside down, I found a way to solder them all together. The frame allowed the solar panel to tilt at an angle that could absorb more sunlight, allowing my device to work immediately after I turned on the switch.

Another area of success was the water pump connected to the PVC tube. While assembling the water pump and the tube, I wondered whether the pump would produce enough power to send the water through the tube. But to my surprise, the water pump was able to push the water up the tube and out of the straw into the plastic cylinder.

What are some areas for improvement?

An area to improve would be the plants and sun-board. To recreate the ‘plant-y look’, I added dirt onto the sun-board after painting it brown. While trying to glue the fake plants to the sun-board, I noticed that the glue wasn’t holding them in place for many plants. Instead, the glue stuck to the dirt, not the sun-board, leading to some plants being ‘uprooted’ after being watered. If I could go back to the past, I would fix this by not putting any dirt or by gluing the plants onto the board before adding the soil.

Another area for improvement is also around the sun-board. To simplify this project, I used a sun-board in substitution for where natural plants would go. But the negative about this is that a sun-board acts differently than a planter pot. To improve this in future projects, I can use a small planter pot as a sort of ‘scaffolding’ for where plants would supposedly go.

What are the impacts of my device on the environment and potential customers?

My device is quite sustainable and environmentally friendly as it only uses solar energy from the sun, a natural source, to fuel the water pump. There aren’t any batteries involved, meaning that my device can work without needing to renew its power source. Additionally, there is only a bit of waste energy created, and that waste energy is the sound from the water pump.

This device could help those who constantly forget to or are too busy to water their plants at home. With this device, they only need to add water to the bucket, place the device in a sunny place, turn the switch on, and the sun will water the plants.

February 17:

• Gathered most materials
• Cut the cardboard to fit the bucket

February 21:

• glued the cardboard together
• painted the cardboard to cover the tape
• Cut sun-board and glued it to the bucketFebruary 23:

• painted the sun-board
• cut out cardboard for the switch
• attempted to solder the switch, solar panel and water pump, but the solar panel wouldn’t stand on its own

Outside of school:

• Ordered some plastic plants for the sun-board

February 27:

• used cardboard to make a stand for the solar panel
• soldered the switch, solar panel and water pump together
• Attached the water pump and PVC tube to the cardboard

March 1:

• attached the straw to the PVC tube
• cut out the plastic bottle and drilled a hole into it to attach the straw
• attached plastic bottle to the whole device
• glued the plastic plants to the sun-board
• tested the finished device!

  

Improvements and feedback:

• At first, the main piece of cardboard had tape over it, and it was recommended by some peers that I paint over it, as the packaging tape may ruin the aesthetics.
• Initially, I didn’t plan for a cardboard stand to assist the solar panel. It was suggested by a classmate after we shortly discussed how to fix the unstable solar panel and why this would be better than directly gluing it to the cardboard. This proved to be very beneficial, as it also allowed for the solar panel to tilt in a way that could enable it to absorb sunlight better.
• I lowered the water pump by removing the glue and sliding the PVC tube downwards. This was because I noticed that although I added lots of water to the bucket, the water pump was still not submerged, meaning there would be no way for water to pump through the straw.
• After testing the product for the first time, I, along with some classmates that came to test the device as well, noticed that there was slight leakage around the area of the plastic bottle and where the PVC tube passed through the cardboard and that the tube was slightly sliding downwards into the bucket. To fix this, my classmates recommended that I add more glue to secure the tube so it wouldn’t fall into the water and prevent leaking in further trials.
• I had added some dirt onto the paint on the sun-board to recreate the actual plant ‘look’, but the dirt caused for some fake plants to slip and become unattached while the straw watered them, so if I had left some designated areas just for gluing the plants, I believe that this wouldn’t be a problem.

Sketch planning:

Materials:

9 V mini-DC water pump

6 V solar panel ( 13.5 x 12.5 cm )

Terminal on-off switch

Sunboard – Can be replaced with foam boards, but foam boards might warp with too much moisture

Fake plastic plants

Plastic rectangular box – might have to change the size to not waste too much water since the plants aren’t real

Cardboard – Double wall + single face

Straws

Plastic PVC tube

Wires

1L empty plastic coke? bottle – might have to change sizes to match proportions with the rest of the device

Schedule Plan:

Feb 17-

1.Planning/sketching device

2. gathering materials

3. cutting + gluing cardboard

Feb 21-

1. Painting cardboard

2. Cutting cardboard + sunboard

3. gluing sunboard to bucket

Feb 23-

1. attaching water pump to the cardboard, using PVC plastic tube to connect to straw

2. soldering solar panel, dc water pump, terminal switch together

3. cut cardboard for switch, attach switch to cardboard, attach cardboard to rest of the cardboard

4. paint sunboard

Feb 27-

1. get water bottle and cut into thirds, attach single face cardboard around the bottle

2. melt a hole through the bottle (with soldering iron), attach straw through hole

3. attach straw to PVC tube connecting to water pump

We were assigned a task to create an energy-transferring device within 2 weeks.

Project ideas:

Elastic propeller car-

Challenge rating out of 5: ⭐

Skills used: Gluing wood and elastics, creating models with fusion

• Pros: the project would be very simple to make
• Cons: there would be some trouble finding the fan involved, but Fusion or Tinkercard could be used to create it.

Precedents:

https://www.instructables.com/Propeller-Powered-Car/

The video clearly shows how to create this propeller car, and I could use this video as a guideline while making my own device.

Audience: This device is more like a toy, so it could be targeted towards kids, adults, or anyone who just wants to have some fun.

Solar updraft tower-

Challenge rating out of 5: ⭐

Skills used: Gluing paper

• Pros: The project would be very simple to make
• Cons: It could be a bit difficult to find a lamp as this project is reliant on heat energy to make the fan move

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/stem-activities/solar-updraft-tower

The video provides materials and detailed instructions for building a solar updraft tower.

Audience: This device doesn’t have much practicality but could be targeted towards kids or adults who want to see how heat energy can lead to kinetic energy

Solar plant watering-

Challenge rating out of 5: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Skills used: Soldering skills, gluing skills, knowledge of solar panels

• Pros: It’s more practical and could be used in real-life situations. The video shows how to make it very clearly.
• Cons: The materials could be slightly challenging to find. Additionally, the video doesn’t provide a list of materials used, which could add to the difficulty of finding materials. However, there is a switch involved, and if this were to be used with natural plants, the user would need to add water. 

Audience: This device could be for people who want to water their plants but easily forget to. Solar energy would help them water their plants.