BLOG ENTRY #7

 WELCOME BACK EVERYONE !!! This would be my final blog for this semester as we have our long awaited semester break. This final blog would be about our product including things like our design sketches and notes, operating principals and mechanisms. Without further ado, lets go!!

Firstly, when we were told to come up with a product that we would like to pursue for this semester, Mr Chua mentioned on a few categories the product could be from, one of which he mentioned on global warming. This made us think: what product do we use on a day to day basis could contribute to global warming. After much thinking, we decided to pursue a refrigerator. With our product now chosen, we were then set to complete our CA1 based on our product. We first had to complete 5 literature reviews. What is literature review you might ask?? Well, it is basically looking at reports written by different people to help us with our project. This allows us to see what they have done and maybe we could approach our project from a different angle as compared to what they have done. Regardless of how we choose to approach our project, literature review gives us more insights to a specific problem and what other researches have done in response to the problem. However for us, there was a stipulation where 3 out of the 5 have to be peer-reviewed journals. Here is one example of a literature review on a peer-reviewed journal.

After completing our literature review, we were then tasked to create a project proposal which includes our project synopsis, equipment and materials needed and the workshop that we would need. Following the proposal, we had to go through many different design processes to help us determine which one would be the best and most efficient. We went through SCAMPER, COWS matrix, feasibility analysis and a idea decision matrix. (All of which have been covered in the previous blogs. Do check them out if you would like to know more). Lastly, to round up our CA1, we had to come up with a sketch of our product using 1 or 2 dimensions drawing. Here is our initial sketch of  our product.

After that, we ha our mid-semester break and when we came back, we moved onto our CA2 where we recapped on previous concepts like Materials For Design(MFD). We also learned new concepts such as DFM, operating principals and mechanisms. Mr Chua also explained to us how chemical principals, operating principals and mechanisms were related and how we could incorporate them into our product. Since our product is a fridge, we managed to identify the main 2 chemical principals that a normal fridge would use and they are: Heat Transfer and Vapour Compression Cycle. The picture below would explain it better.

After figuring out the principals behind a fridge, we decided that our initial sketch was looking a little plain so we decided to redraw it, but make it as detailed as we could.

After finishing our sketch, we proceeded to do a specifications table, which is a table where we identified the different aspects of the fridge that are the most important. 

Once all this is done, we can then move onto designing our prototype. We had to use cardboard for the majority of the build which was quite easy since we had past experiences with cardboard. Based on our final sketch, we decided to scale down the dimensions to prevent the prototype from being too big.

We basically just cut out a few rectangular pieces for the main body of the fridge. Moving onto the door, we decided to use cable ties to act as hinges so that the door can move.

Next, we decided to cut out another rectangular piece and glue that inside the fridge. This would act as the different layers that a normal fridge would have.

Lastly, to make the fridge more detailed, we decided to add the door handle and we also decided to use straws to imitate the coils behind and on top of the fridge.

With that, our prototype is finished!! To show that the cable ties idea worked, here is a short clip of the door moving. 

And with that, this module has unfortunately come to an end😭😭. It has been a very fun journey with my groupmates and I definitely couldn't have done it without them!! This module has gave me a few new experiences mainly using a 3D printer. My creativity has also improved all thanks to this module. It is sad that the module had to end but I can't wait for what sem 2 has in store. 

Thanks for reading up till here and stay tuned hopefully for more blogs!!