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!”
