Jonathan

Above is a video of my completed design for my battery-powered car.

The design I made above consists of 5 main components, the wheels, the motors, the batteries, the wires, and the main body. Said components work together to efficiently convert the chemical potential energy to kinetic energy. A more detailed explanation is that the chemical potential energy that is contained inside the battery is routed with the help of positive and negative wires into both the switch and the motors. While the switch only takes positive charges, the motors take both negative and positive.

Above is a model of how the wires are routed (positive is red, negative is black)

I consider that my design is overall successful at achieving its starting goal of illustrating energy transfer efficiently while also providing an effective prototype. I also felt like the creation process was successful because I was able to improve my prototype with the help of my peer’s feedback. The improvements made to the battery-powered car included better heat control, faster movement, pleasing aesthetics, and some other minor details such as better wiring.

Though I feel like on average, I succeeded at my task, I feel like I could have improved on better material management, throughout the project, I felt like I had sometimes left a mess on the tables and also on rare occasions, lost some tools or materials, this meant that I would have wasted a lot of unnecessary time cleaning up after my materials, whereas this time could have been used to further brainstorm improvements to my design or even work on my blog posts.

My product’s impact on the environment is not huge or minuscule. The reason being that, though I used recyclable materials and reusable motors, switches, and wires, I also had to use batteries that aren’t rechargeable, this meant that there were 2-3 batteries that couldn’t be used anymore after my design’s preliminary testing. These batteries, if not deposited properly could cause some chemical pollution and in turn harm the environment. Therefore, potential users or customers may find it draining materials-wise.

February 21st– On that day, I was able to finish brainstorming my 4 probable designs for being a double-cylinder engine, a magnet motor, a Rube Goldberg contraption, and a watermill. After brainstorming I checked with Mr. Michie about my final plan, a magnet motor, however, the feedback was that it wasn’t possible and that I should switch to another idea. I eventually decided on a battery-powered car, because it both was less challenging and had an easier concept to grasp.

Above is my first plan for a magnet motor.

February 23rd-I started finding plausible designs for my battery-powered car, this included finding videos and also consulting other teachers on my idea. After my planning, I prioritized the collection of materials, whether it be batteries or wheels. I also started preliminary construction.

Above is my finalized plan for a battery-powered car.

February 27th-I finished the construction and circuiting for the first iteration of my battery-powered car, it utilized 1 battery connected to two motors and was able to slowly move along a given path. However, I found out that the battery died out extremely quick and was handling the load poorly, overheating very often, even when used in 10-20 second intervals. I also noticed that the car very barely moved and definitely didn’t have an adequate amount of torque, these were two takeaways I gained from this class and I decided to fix it the next class.

Above is the first test of the imperfect product.

March 1st– I finished my entire design and optimized the movement as much as I could. The problems from the last class were fixed in the following manner. The inability of one battery to cope with the load of two motors was fixed by connecting another battery to another motor, this meant less strain on the batteries and also more power and battery life. The torque problem was also consequently fixed because the two batteries provided the motors with more “juice” in addition to more efficient wiring on the car itself. I also took the time to make the car look more appealing due to feedback.

Above is my finished product.

Above is a photo of the rewired body of the car.

Feedback From Peers–

Jayden: “Maybe you can work more on the estate appeal of your car.”

William: “I think your car design is very effective, however, it overheats often.”

Andrew F: “At first the car was kind of slow but after it started running it felt very interesting to watch it go zoom zoom zoom.”

Andrew L: “You can decorate the car better, other than that, it seems pretty good at energy transfer.”

Eric: ” I want to see your car’s aesthetic and torque increase”

Above is a photo of the finished product.

Final Takeaways– My battery-powered car is now much more battery efficient and also faster. Therefore, I asked my peers for some final feedback to see if they thought my design had improved.

William: “It has improved a lot and the problems seem to have been fixed.”

Eric: “It improved a lot and everything seemed optimized.”

Jayden: “I like how visible the energy transformation was and how you showed it in the most simple terms.”

Andrew F: “After the improvements were made I think the car was very interesting and worked well.”

Andrew L: “The car is very functional after the series of improvements. Great job!”

After I finalized my idea to create a battery-powered car that transfers chemical potential energy to kinetic energy, I made a general sketch to put my ideas onto paper.

The sketch above shows both the bird’s eye view and the side view, detailing the circuitry and also the placement of parts such as the battery and the on-off switch. The on-off switch sends a signal through the battery to both motors on the back wheels, allowing the vehicle to propel itself.

The video above is an example of a battery-powered car, though it will be much smaller and has less torque than my design. It adequately shows the basic steps of construction and circuiting.

Here is another design I could use since it is larger and may more accurately help guide me in my creation process. This video also made me realize that one motor may be barely enough since it didn’t seem to have a lot of power to move forward.

Above is a diagram of how to circuit the battery to a switch and two motors.

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I also need to figure out cooling for my battery, since, from my research, batteries easily overheat and can cause danger. I also need to figure out a safe way to store my wires in my “car” to prevent anything from shorting out or dragging on the ground. However, I may consider making a tricycle, which could decrease our materials list, though it may prove complex to position a third wheel in front rather than connect it on two sides.

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Success Criteria:

Have a working car design that is powered by a battery.

Sustain a forward movement for a period of time.

Properly utilize and understand energy transfer within my design.

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The materials list is as follows:

1 battery (9V)

1 thin metal rod (14cm)

Two DC motors

Positive and Negative Wires (Refer to the diagram above)

A wooden board (20cm by 10cm)

4 wheels

A straw (10cm)

In our 2-week engineering project, we have a wide array of choices that we can use for our energy transfer creation. Anything could work, from Newton’s Cradle to a Rube Goldberg, to a hydraulic engine. Below, I will introduce my current ideas and thoughts, and potential designs.

This video shows a double-cylinder engine that transfers electrical energy into a kinetic or hydraulic motor. This power can be then harnessed to use as pistons to lift or move some items. This would be a challenging task since the syringes would be hard to coordinate to smoothly spin, therefore, I most likely will not aim to create this design. However, the materials in this design are very simple and that may sway my decision.

Another one of my ideas is a battery-powered car, consisting of 1-2 motors and a switch, converting chemical potential energy to kinetic energy. Though this idea sounds easy on paper, it actually requires a lot of hidden work, whether it be safely routing the power or making a working circuit with multiple motors turning on with a single switch. However, this design seems like a great idea to demonstrate what effective energy transfer can acheive.

My third idea is a Rube Golberg Machine, this machine uses potential energy and sometimes gravitational energy to start a chain of events that will lead to an end goal being achieved. Usually, this end goal is a very simple task like grabbing a bottle or turning off an alarm clock. This energy transfer device is simple, however, it requires a lot of planning, testing, and also a lot of space. With further consideration, I decided that this can also create many examples of energy transfer, perfectly capturing the goal of this unit.

A watermill transfers kinetic energy to mechanical energy, it often uses the flow of water to harness and convert to energy that can be distributed and utilized. However, in a confined space it is hard to harness the full efficiency since we wouldn’t be able to have a full-size water stream inside the building. Though, a sized-down version could be able to properly convey the general ideas.