Friday, May 28, 2010
Final report of an educational solar kit
The Fabulous Five Team
The Petroleum Institute
Abu Dhabi, UAE
May 27, 2010
Dr. Lana El-Chaar
Renewable Energy Group
Electrical Engineering Department
Dear Dr. Lana El-Chaar,
We are submitting the final design report that we concurred to settle on 27th May 2010 entitled an educational kit using renewable energy.
The main purpose of this report is to illustrate the research that the team has been conducted in order to follow the design process. Additionally, demonstrates the different types of designs that were beforehand painstaking and the final selected design. Furthermore, this report excuses the reasons behind choosing the selected design, clarifies the method in which the device is functioned and presents a comprehensive explanation of the final design. The design solution and recommendations for the project are also presented. The Fabulous Five satisfies your demand while adhering to the restrictions that were designated.
We are The Fabulous Five Team wish this report displays that it is an ideal design and would accomplish the principle stated by you efficiently.
Sincerely yours,
The Fabulous Five
Final Report for Educational Kits Using Solar Energy
STEPS251 – Section 50
To: Dr. Lisa Lamont and Mr. David Moore
From: Fabulous Five Team
Team Members:
Ø Ayesha Al Ali
Ø Faten Bin Ishaq
Ø Khawla Al Saeedi
Ø Mahra Al Qamzi
Ø Mona Nabeel
Date of Submission: 27th May 2010
Executive Summary
As the Fabulous Five Team has been ask to design an educational kit using renewable energy which will be used in the classroom by children between 10 to 12 years old. The kit should be working by wind or solar energy. The aim of this report is to illustrate the research that was conducted during the design progression, validate the reasons behind choosing the selected design, demonstrate the technique wherein the device is functions, and endow with a detailed enlightenment of the final design.
Down to the occurrence of restrictions that were stated by the client, additional of alternative designs that served the same purpose has been unnoticed. These restrictions included that:
· The kit should not exceed 500 dirham’s
· The kit should not exceed a height of 60 cm
· The design should not be complicated
· The design should be assembled and dissembled
The final chosen design satisfies the client’s demand though remaining to the restrictions that were indicated by the client. The design consists of two main subsystems: the electrical subsystem and the mechanical subsystem. The electrical subsystem controls the circuit in order to power the 4 solar panels to rated supply current and voltage. The mechanical subsystem controls the functionality of the kit. The functions and components of each subsystem were discussed in details in addition to a demonstration of how each subsystem fits into the whole design.
Materials such as plastic, light plastic, metal, rubber and steel were purposely chosen owing to their efficiency, price, weight, simplicity, availability and durability. Those preferred materials assist in satisfying the client’s requirements which include efficiency, durability, affordability and safety of the kit and most importantly the education and the environment. Each component was dimensioned cautiously in order to make the mechanized method simpler along with obtaining the finest consequences. Supplementary detailed description of the design components, materials and dimensions were also mentioned.
This report established that it is an ideal design and would achieve the purpose stated by the client professionally. The education kit satisfies your demand while holding to the restrictions that were indicated.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary. 3
1.0. Introduction. 7
2.0. Background Review.. 7
3.0. Problem Definition. 8
3.1. Research Summary. 8
3.2. Client’s Statement. 9
3.3. Revised Client’s Statement. 9
4.0. Project Objectives. 9
4.1. Design Objectives. 9
4.2. Ranking of objectives. 10
4.3. Justification of ranking of objectives. 10
5.0. Generation of Alternatives. 11
5.1. Design Functions and Means. 11
5.2. Morphological Chart. 12
5.3. Alternative designs. 13
5.3.1. Conceptual design 1: The basketball goal 13
5.3.2. Conceptual design 2: The solar race track. 14
5.3.3. Conceptual design 3: The line tracing solar car. 15
5.4. Evaluation Matrix. 16
5.5. Selection of the Design Concept. 17
5.5.1. Decision Making Process. 17
6.0. Final Design. 18
6.1. Selection and justification. 18
6.2. Final Design Operation. 19
6.3. Design assembling parts. 19
6.3.1. Subsystems of the final design. 21
7.0. Conclusion. 26
References. 28
Appendix. 30
Appendix 1: Objectives Tree. 30
Appendix 2: Pairwise Comparison chart. 31
Appendix 3: Metrics. 32
Appendix 4: Research Process. 34
Appendix 5: Bill of Materials. 35
List of Figures
Figure 1. The Basketball Goal 13
Figure 2. The Solar Race Track. 14
Figure 3. The Line Tracing Solar Car. 15
Figure 4. 18
Figure 5. 19
Figure 6. Box Which contains the Mechanical and Electrical Parts. 20
Figure 7. Butterfly Which Will Carry the Solar Panels. 20
Figure 8. Plastic Pipe that Covers the Wires. 20
Figure 9. Maze on the Mat. 21
Figure 10. Circuit. 22
Figure 11. Solar Panels. 22
Figure 12. Mechanical Components. 23
List of Tables
Table 1. The Functions Corresponding to Each Objective. 11
Table 2. Functions and Means of the Objectives. 12
Table 3. Evaluation Matrix of the Three Conceptual Designs. 16
Table 4. The Component and Its Dimensions and Justification. 24
Table 5. The Materials and Justifications. 25
Table 6. Cost Analysis Table. 26
Table 7. Bill of Material 26
Table 8. Design 1. 35
Table 9. Design 2. 35
Table 10. Design 3. 35
1.0. Introduction
For this project, the Fabulous Five Team was requested to build a renewable energy kit for kids between the ages of 10 – 12 years old. The aim of this device is to teach the young fellows about the importance of applying the renewable sources of energy in our basic uses and to aware them from the problems which can be resulted from using non alternative energies. The device should be safe, durable, environmentally friendly, doesn’t exceed 500 AED, portable and easy to assemble according to the clients objectives (Appendix 1).
The scope of this report is to demonstrate the process followed in order to complete the chosen design including detailed explanation, the prototype, the clarification of the types of systems and components used. Furthermore, this report will illustrate the conducted research and the revised client statement and the description of the design objectives and the technique used in ranking each objective. This report will justify the reasons behind choosing the final design and how it fulfills the client’s requirements. Finally the method of the device operates is also explained in this report.
2.0. Background Review
Regarding the information received in the project plan a Gantt chart was produced to be up to date with all the deliverables tasks. Identifying the points of how to manage the project process and organize new ideas to undertake the project in an efficient way were extracted from the deliverables listed below. helped identifying the points of managing the project process Through this semester the following tasks were submitted; Letter of Understanding, Project Management Report and Presentation, Objective Tree, Time and Project Management Charts and Tables, Milestone Report and Conceptual Design Presentation. Those were achieved by keeping in mind the client requirements and making sure that it meets the clients’ satisfaction.
3.0. Problem Definition
3.1. Research Summary
Global warming is the biggest concern in our world these days. The rise in the population is the major cause of global warming, since the number of transportations used is proportional to the number of people, resulting more burning in fuels which release poisonous gases [5].
Renewable energy sources are energies that come in different types from natural resources, such as solar, wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal [3]. Those forms of energies are not limited in supply and they can regenerate quickly after consumption. Those clean energies have been considered as essential nowadays, from the fact that as the need of oil production increases the oil production begins to become less abundant, which as a result will force the people to search for other sources of energy [5]. As a result, the focus should be on new generation who must be well educated about this subject.
Education is helps build opinions and expand different point of views. Furthermore education is the one way road to a bright full future career, from this perspective comes the importance of giving the best and needed education to the kids starting from the intermediate levels. This knowledge will act as a shield which will help in standing high for their rights. Although beside the knowledge that the children get in the frame of school, those intermediate schools should acknowledge their young students of the importance of saving the earth, in order to build a strong and healthy environment.
In the Middle East and especially in the UAE a lot of non renewable sources are used in our everyday life causing damage to our atmosphere. The main cause of these air pollutions is the car exhaust. Educating kids about the importance of using renewable sources of energy in this region of the world must start as young as possible. All young students should be more aware of not harming the surrounding environment and should be capable of applying those green sources in their everyday life. This may come by introducing more practical devices which operates with renewable energies. Lots of different ideas may benefit our country using renewable sources of energy, especially the solar energy since most of the year seasons are sunny which states that the energy coming from the sun is available in an enormous range, It just need the courage to start substituting the previous or well known sources of energy by the green alternative energies in our everyday devices.
3.2. Client’s Statement
The original client’s statement provided the team with a project statement which is stated to design a solar or wind energy educational kit to be used in class rooms for children between 10 and 12 years old.
3.3. Revised Client’s Statement
The above client statement was enhanced by a detailed research, to fulfill the client’s requirements. The following paragraph states the revised client statement.
In this project, the Fabulous Five team is required to meet the client’s statement which acknowledged designing a solar or wind energy educational kit to be used in class rooms in both private and government schools for children between 10 and 12 years old. Additionally, this design should not exceed 500 Dirhams. Besides, the design should be portable and light. The height should be from 30 to 60 cm. The Kit should be safe, durable, portable, and economically feasible. It should be built from materials that are locally available and environmentally friendly. In addition the kit should assemble and dissembled.
4.0. Project Objectives
4.1. Design Objectives
According to the original client’s statement, the client’s objective is to design an educational kit that is used in schools especially in classrooms explains solar or wind energy (renewable energy) to children that are between 10 to 12 years old.
In addition, the client stated several constraints concerning the designing kit, which are as follow:
· The kit should not exceed 500 dirham’s
· The kit should not exceed a height of 60 cm
· The design should not be complicated
· The design should be assembled and dissembled
Moreover, other objectives were deduced from the revised client’s statement to help in modeling the best design possible. Below; the specifications and the requirements deduced from the revised client’s statement are listed.
· Durable
· Portable
· Environmentally friendly
· Easy to assemble
· Safe
· Efficient
· Affordable
· Simple
4.2. Ranking of objectives
After analyzing and understanding the above specifications, the design team produced an objective tree (Appendix 1) that allowed the team to create the most suitable renewable kit for children that fits the client’s specifications and requirements.
After designing the objective tree (Appendix 1), the team realized the importance of performing a pairwise comparison (Appendix 2). The pairwise comparison compares each objective with all other objectives separately. The more important objective gets a point while the less one gets nothing. The decision of choosing the more important objective is based on the client statement and the research done previously. All points add up eventually to determine the least significant objective up to the most significant one.
The goal of this comparison was to rank the design objectives according to their importance which consequently led to a better understanding of the client’s requirements, thus ensuring better results. The comparison also provided a clear perception of the possible methods that could be executed to build the design.
4.3. Justification of ranking of objectives
As shown in the comparison table (Appendix 2), the client’s most significant goal is to design an educational kit that explains renewable energy either solar or wind to children between 10 to 12 years old. The kit’s portability, affordability and the ability to be easy to assemble come in second. Those functions aid in improving the design specification which may help ensuring long-life kit, while using different type of renewable energy (solar or wind). Significant information derived from the comparison shows the importance of making the device to be safe to children, efficient and educational as possible. The whole purpose of this design project is to build an educational kit explains renewable energy to children; therefore, it is given that the design hold safe for the children as well as the environment. As stated before, the decision of ranking the objectives was based on the client statement and the research done previously.
5.0. Generation of Alternatives
5.1. Design Functions and Means
The design functions were generated from the client statement objectives. Functions are related to objectives in the manner that objectives are achieved through functions. This relationship is illustrated in the table below.
Table 1. The Functions Corresponding to Each Objective
5.2. Morphological Chart
To be able to formulate three different designs and to provide a structure approach to extend the research area in order to find solutions for the design problems a morphological chart was created. Morphological chart helped us to visualize each objective, the functions and the means to approach the stated functions. In the chart, a number of diverse means were listed, in which they would achieve each function, in turn meeting the objectives of the design. Each section lists functions related to a specific objective, and each function had the means listed next to it. The three different designs were based on the diverse selection between the means of this chart.
Table 2. Functions and Means of the Objectives
5.3. Alternative designs
After brainstorming and researching, the team came up with three different designs with the help of the morphological chart which achieve the similar goals. The main components of each design are listed below, in addition to a sketch and a description of the operation of each of the designs .Beside of these three design we have just tested the chosen design while the other two were just and ideas in case our chosen design failed we move to one the two lefts.
5.3.1. Conceptual design 1: The basketball goal
Figure #show the overall first conceptual design which consists of the following components followed by the description and the way how it works.
Figure 1. The Basketball Goal
Device Components
· Wind turbine
· Stick
· Ball
· Boat works with solar energy
· Seesaw
· Ball
· Basket
Device description
The turbine initially started to rotate when the charged solar panel is applied, which causes the stick to swing. When the stick moves, it will hit a stable ball and force it to roll down an inclined path, hitting the boat’s switch. While the boat is moving, the stick which is attached horizontally in front of the boat will hit another ball, causing it to roll and fall into a seesaw. As a result of the force applied from the plunged ball, the ball which is stable on the other side of the seesaw will be projected toward the basket net. The challenge will be to carefully set the game up in order to make the ball reaches its destination.
5.3.2. Conceptual design 2: The solar race track
Figure #show the overall first conceptual design which consists of the following components followed by the description and the way how it works.
Figure 2. The Solar Race Track
Device Components
· Fan
· Stick
· Ball
· Pulley
· Doors
· Car works with solar energy
· Race field
Device description
This design will work by both solar energy and wind energy. A stick will be fixed in the center point of the wind turbine, and it will be connected to the pulley by a rope. As the pulley starts rotating, the door will be lifted up causing the cars to start racing. These cars will be working by using remote controls in order to guide them in the path. Two cars can compete at a time, and the one reaches first will be honored by a candy.
5.3.3. Conceptual design 3: The line tracing solar car
Figure #show the overall first conceptual design which consists of the following components followed by the description and the way how it works.
Figure 3. The Line Tracing Solar Car
Device Components
· Solar Cell
· Car
· Race Field
· Line tracing sensor
Device description
This design consists only of a solar car; it moves only when the line tracking sensor attached at the bottom of the car passes over black drawn lines. These black lines will be sketched by the children.
5.4. Evaluation Matrix
Based on the design objectives the team chose their design using an evaluation matrix and came up with one that was the most efficient and compatible to the client’s specifications. The evaluation matrix was the decision making mechanism for evaluating and prioritizing between the 3 conceptual designs. The designs were weighed according to the mentioned objectives. (See Pairwise Comparison, Appendix 2). Their weights were taken from the pairwise Comparison Chart. The score each design received for a given objective is out of 5. The number 5 means that the designs meet all objectives and the value1 means that the conceptual designs does not meet the objectives. For example the following metrics was created for the Educational objective:
· Clearly demonstrates both energies
· Clearly Demonstrates how solar energy works
· Clearly Demonstrates how wind energy functions
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates both energies
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works
For the other matrices (see Appendix 3).
An evaluation matrix helped our team in analyzing data in a more accurate manner so that we can arrive at the best design. It also helped in identifying the most and the least significant categories. These categories were weighted using the pairwise comparison chart which was created earlier in the designing process. Each design was given a weight based on how it meets the desired functions.
Table 3. Evaluation Matrix of the Three Conceptual Designs
5.5. Selection of the Design Concept
5.5.1. Decision Making Process
The evaluation matrix helped us giving a score to each conceptual design. These scores were obtained by multiplying the weight of each objective by the weight given to each design based on how close it meets the objectives then summed up. The objectives weights were derived from the Pairwise Comparison chart (Appendix 2).
Table 4 shows the score that each design received for a given objective. In durability, Design 1 and 3 obtained the highest score which is 4, since they are mainly built of components that will not require a lot of maintenance unlike design 2 which might need replacement of the pulley’s stings every now and then.
Similar to durability, designs 1 and 3 got the highest scores in environmentally friendly objective. This is because the body of design 2 is mainly maid from plastic. However, all three designs works by either solar or wind energy. This makes them environmentally friendly since clean energy is a solution for pollution.
As it is noticed in Table 4, safety is a major objective and has the weight of 8. This is because our targeted audiences are children and we want to ensure that the kit is safe enough for them to play with. Design 2 is the least safe one; this is because it has sharp edges and a pulling up door that might harm children. Design 1 has got a 3 in the weighing because of the rotating stick which could hit a child if he stands close to it when playing. While design 2 got the highest rank in this category since it had no dangerous components.
Since it is a kit, it should be easy to assemble and portable which means that the design should be light in weight with components that are easily repaired by children. Portability was mostly achieved in the third design since it has less components and light materials. Where designs 1 and 2 got less scores because of the many components they have. Similarly, designs 1 and 2 got the least points in the easily to assemble objective that is because they require many components to assemble in a specific manner.
The most efficient design is the first design that is because it combines more than one idea at once. It has both wind and solar energy components. For this reason it is the most educational game among the three designs.
6.0. Final Design
6.1. Selection and justification
As seen in table 3, design (1) got the highest score which is 146 points, while design (2) received the least score which is 98, and design (3) 140 points. As a result, the team decided to eliminate design (3) completely since it got a score that is very far from the other two. Although design (1) got the highest score, the team decided to use the idea of conceptual design (3). This decision was made because conceptual design (1) has too many components, hard to build, and is more dangerous than conceptual design (3). Then the team decided to change the outer body of that design to handle more than one solar cell.
Since the team did not find a 4 volt and 300m Amps solar cell which are the ratings of the circuit that we built and is demonstrated in the next in the electrical components section. As a result, the team got 4 solar cells each of 1 volt and decided to choose a butterfly outer shape were every solar cell will carry a solar cell.
6.2. Final Design Operation
1. After assembling, the child will have a plastic mat which will come with the kit; a maze will be printed on this mat, in order to help the kid in drawing the path between the mazes.
2. When the solar panels are exposed to sun or intense lamp light, the circuit will function causing the sensors to work. Moreover, the motor will also start rotating causing the wheels to move.
3. The wheels and the sensors function together as the circuit senses the black paths causing movement of the wheels following that drawn path.
6.3. Design assembling parts
Using solid works program the team drew the parts to be assembled and dissembled as shown below:
1. Butterfly which will carry the solar panels
2. Box contain Mechanical part and Electrical part
3. Plastic pipe (pole) that covers the wires.
4. Maze on a mat that the kid will draw the paths on.
6.3.1. Subsystems of the final design
6.3.1.1. Electrical Subsystems
The followings are the electrical components of the design:
· Circuit on PCB
· Line tracking sensors
· Connectors
· Wires
· Solar panels
The circuit consists of basic electrical components (resistors, capacitors, inductors) fixed on a PCB. This circuit is attached to two sensors that are already programmed using C language. The sensors can trace only black colored lines. The ratings of this circuit were calculated (3 volts and 300m A).as mentioned, the circuit is powered by 4 solar panels to generate the required rated supply current and voltage because the team could not find one solar cell with the required ratings. A switch is attached to the circuit so that it is turned on and off easily. Another battery that recharges using solar energy is used.
6.3.1.2. Mechanical Subsystems
The followings are the mechanical components of the design:
· Motor
· Gears
· Cylindrical pole
· Butterfly shape
· Wheels
· Cylindrical body cover
· Metallic ball
A motor is used to create motion; this component converts electrical energy to mechanical energy that moves the toy. Gears are rotating components with teethed edges that are connected with other gears for transmission. The speed is driven from the shaft of the motor to the shaft in the gears which is connected to the rod between the wheels. A pole will cover the wires coming from the circuit to the solar panels. This pole holds the butterfly design with the base. Butterfly shape is used in order to make the design more attractive to children. In order to cover the circuit and to insure the safety of the child and the components a base cover is used. At the bottom of the box a metallic moving ball is used to keep box balanced.
Figure 12. Mechanical Components
The table 4 shows the dimension of each component and the justification for choosing that dimension.
The Component and Its Dimensions and Justification
Part Name
Dimensions
Justification
wheels
Diameter: 3 cm
· To hold the weight of the design since less than that will make the toy move slowly.
· If it would is larger the motor’s torque will not be enough to rotate them.
Base (circuit cover)
Diameter: 10 cm
Length: 10cm
· Needs to be large enough to fit the circuit with the motor since it is basically covering it.
Solar panel
Width: 4 cm
Length: 8 cm
· They were chosen to be small so that they are light in weight.
· Because of the unavailability of smaller panels with the desired ratings
Pole
Length: 10 cm
Diameter: 5cm
· The wires have the same height of the pole because they are placed inside it.
Wires
Length: 10 cm
Diameter: 50mm
· The length is chosen to be no very high so that the specifications limitations are met. This will make the toy portably and of a height less than 30 cm.
· The diameter was chosen to be 5 cm to make the butterfly shape stable.
Oval shape (butterfly wings)
Length: 10 cm
Width: 6 cm
· These dimensions are chosen so that they are a bit bigger than the solar panels that will be placed at each wing.
Metallic ball
Diameter: 5mm
· It is just to place it near the wheels to help the wheels against friction. If it was bigger the design will not move.
Circuit (with sensors and all components)
Length: 8 cm
Width: 5cm
· To fit the components
Maze mat
Length: 75 cm
Width: 60 cm
· A bigger mat will be inconvenient to play with in a class room.
In order for the device to meet specification, certain materials were used. The following table demonstrates the fabrications of the design and the justification of each material used:
Table 5. The Materials and Justifications
Parts Name
Material
Justifications
Connectors
Plastic
· To connect the wires form the circuit to the butterfly shape
Gears
Plastic
· Help with rotation mechanism
Butterfly shape
Light plastic
· To handle the motor its weight
Cylindrical pole
Plastic
· To connect the wires form the circuit to the butterfly shape
Metallic ball
steel
· To keep butterfly shape balanced
· To help in moving the kit
· High corrosion resistant
· Durable
Cylindrical body cover
Plastic
· To be more safer to children
· Long lasting
· Environmentally friendly
Wheels
Rubber and steel
· To make butterfly shape moved
· Long lasting
· Environmentally friendly
Maze mat
plastic
· To erase the black lines easily
From the cost analysis, the team made sure that it does not exceed 500 dirhams as the client specified as seen in the following table:
Table 6. Cost Analysis Table
The bill of material table is created to describe the material used with their quantities.
Table 7. Bill of Material
7.0. Conclusion
The Fabulous Five Team agreed on designing and building an educational kit which will be used in class rooms for children between 10 and 12 years old as well as it will work by using renewable energy especially solar or wind energy. The design consists of two main subsystems: the electrical subsystem and the mechanical subsystem. The electrical subsystem controls the circuit in order to power the 4 solar panels to rated supply current and voltage. The mechanical subsystem controls the functionality of the kit. The functions and components of each subsystem were discussed in details in addition to a demonstration of how each subsystem fits into the whole design.
Plastic, light plastic, metal, rubber and steel were purposely chosen owing to their efficiency, price, weight, simplicity, availability and durability. Those preferred materials assist in satisfying the client’s requirements which include efficiency, durability, affordability and safety of the kit and most importantly the education and the environment. Each component was dimensioned cautiously in order to make the mechanized method simpler along with obtaining the finest consequences. Supplementary detailed description of the design components, materials and dimensions were also mentioned.
The Fabulous Five Team strongly conveyed high quality work within the limited time period. The education kit satisfies your demand while holding to the restrictions that were indicated. This report established that it is an ideal design and would achieve the purpose stated by Renewable Energy Group professionally.
References
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[2] Solar energy conversion technologies, http://gcep.stanford.edu/pdfs/assessments/solar_assessment.pdf , accessed on 28-2-2010
[3] Solar advantages and disadvantages, http://ezinearticles.com/?Solar-Energy-Advantages-Disadvantages&id=50178 , accessed on 12-3-2010
[4] The passive solar energy book, by Edward Mazria
[5] Renewable energy book, by Andy Mccrea,
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[8] Myriam Miedzian, “Boys Will Be Boys: Breaking the Link between Masculinity and Violence”, New York: lantern books, 2002.
[9] Renewable energy book by Andy Mccrea, page 106
[10]Power with nature book by Rex A. Ewing, Page 139
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[13] Renewable energy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy, Accessed on 6, March, 2010
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[15]Tore Wizelius”Developing wind power projects theory and practice” London, 2007.
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Appendix
Appendix 1: Objectives Tree
Appendix 2: Pairwise Comparison chart
Appendix 3: Metrics
· Educational
o Clearly demonstrates both energies 5
o Clearly Demonstrates how solar energy works 4
o Clearly Demonstrates how wind energy functions 3
o Doesn’t clearly demonstrates both energies 2
o Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works 1
o Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works 0
· Environmentally friendly
o Recyclable materials 5
o No recyclable materials 2
o Rust
· Portable
o Device can be carried by children’s 5
o Device is easy to move, have wheels 2
o Device need teacher help to move it 1
o Device is portable but very heavy 0
· Durable
o Components can live for more than 2 years /function well 5
o Components are not easily broken 4
o Components can be broken easily 2
o Components can live for more than 2 years /doesn’t function well 1
o Components cannot live for no more than 6 months 0
· Safe
o Protects the user from sharp and moving parts 5
o Doesn’t Protects the user from stable components 4
o Teacher should make sure the kit is not harmful 2
· Easy to assemble
o Clearly written instructions , simple language and pictures 5
o Clearly Visualized instructions 4
o Uses screw drivers 3
o Need the help of the teacher to assemble and disassemble 2
o Need the teacher to read and explain the instructions 1
· Affordable
o Low cost and easily available materials 5
o High cost and easily available materials 2
o Low cost and not easily available materials 1
o High cost and not easily available materials 1
· Efficient
o Meets the children interest 5
o Easy to follow the instruction 4
o It completes the whole kit round 2
o Dose not interest the child 1
Appendix 4: Research Process
The three preliminary designs were sketched after discussing and combining different ideas which were built on the base of each members experience, knowledge and research. The first design scheme is about reaching the goal after proceeding more than one stage, in order to help keeping the child entertained the whole period. The fact of having a different staged kit came from our last year participation in the IEEE activities were one of our engineers build a fun design which consisted of different steps.
The next design thought came from one of the cartoon series, which the main subject is car racing. Since kids at this age like challenging and enjoying betting their friends, we have managed to come with additional cars working by solar. We enhanced this idea and try to make it more fun by adding much stuff such as a pulley which lifts by rotating the wind turbine.
Finally the last idea came with the assistance of a microcontroller engineer, and then we enhanced this thought by making it more interesting through programming the car to trace a line that the child draws.
The Petroleum Institute
Abu Dhabi, UAE
May 27, 2010
Dr. Lana El-Chaar
Renewable Energy Group
Electrical Engineering Department
Dear Dr. Lana El-Chaar,
We are submitting the final design report that we concurred to settle on 27th May 2010 entitled an educational kit using renewable energy.
The main purpose of this report is to illustrate the research that the team has been conducted in order to follow the design process. Additionally, demonstrates the different types of designs that were beforehand painstaking and the final selected design. Furthermore, this report excuses the reasons behind choosing the selected design, clarifies the method in which the device is functioned and presents a comprehensive explanation of the final design. The design solution and recommendations for the project are also presented. The Fabulous Five satisfies your demand while adhering to the restrictions that were designated.
We are The Fabulous Five Team wish this report displays that it is an ideal design and would accomplish the principle stated by you efficiently.
Sincerely yours,
The Fabulous Five
Final Report for Educational Kits Using Solar Energy
STEPS251 – Section 50
To: Dr. Lisa Lamont and Mr. David Moore
From: Fabulous Five Team
Team Members:
Ø Ayesha Al Ali
Ø Faten Bin Ishaq
Ø Khawla Al Saeedi
Ø Mahra Al Qamzi
Ø Mona Nabeel
Date of Submission: 27th May 2010
Executive Summary
As the Fabulous Five Team has been ask to design an educational kit using renewable energy which will be used in the classroom by children between 10 to 12 years old. The kit should be working by wind or solar energy. The aim of this report is to illustrate the research that was conducted during the design progression, validate the reasons behind choosing the selected design, demonstrate the technique wherein the device is functions, and endow with a detailed enlightenment of the final design.
Down to the occurrence of restrictions that were stated by the client, additional of alternative designs that served the same purpose has been unnoticed. These restrictions included that:
· The kit should not exceed 500 dirham’s
· The kit should not exceed a height of 60 cm
· The design should not be complicated
· The design should be assembled and dissembled
The final chosen design satisfies the client’s demand though remaining to the restrictions that were indicated by the client. The design consists of two main subsystems: the electrical subsystem and the mechanical subsystem. The electrical subsystem controls the circuit in order to power the 4 solar panels to rated supply current and voltage. The mechanical subsystem controls the functionality of the kit. The functions and components of each subsystem were discussed in details in addition to a demonstration of how each subsystem fits into the whole design.
Materials such as plastic, light plastic, metal, rubber and steel were purposely chosen owing to their efficiency, price, weight, simplicity, availability and durability. Those preferred materials assist in satisfying the client’s requirements which include efficiency, durability, affordability and safety of the kit and most importantly the education and the environment. Each component was dimensioned cautiously in order to make the mechanized method simpler along with obtaining the finest consequences. Supplementary detailed description of the design components, materials and dimensions were also mentioned.
This report established that it is an ideal design and would achieve the purpose stated by the client professionally. The education kit satisfies your demand while holding to the restrictions that were indicated.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary. 3
1.0. Introduction. 7
2.0. Background Review.. 7
3.0. Problem Definition. 8
3.1. Research Summary. 8
3.2. Client’s Statement. 9
3.3. Revised Client’s Statement. 9
4.0. Project Objectives. 9
4.1. Design Objectives. 9
4.2. Ranking of objectives. 10
4.3. Justification of ranking of objectives. 10
5.0. Generation of Alternatives. 11
5.1. Design Functions and Means. 11
5.2. Morphological Chart. 12
5.3. Alternative designs. 13
5.3.1. Conceptual design 1: The basketball goal 13
5.3.2. Conceptual design 2: The solar race track. 14
5.3.3. Conceptual design 3: The line tracing solar car. 15
5.4. Evaluation Matrix. 16
5.5. Selection of the Design Concept. 17
5.5.1. Decision Making Process. 17
6.0. Final Design. 18
6.1. Selection and justification. 18
6.2. Final Design Operation. 19
6.3. Design assembling parts. 19
6.3.1. Subsystems of the final design. 21
7.0. Conclusion. 26
References. 28
Appendix. 30
Appendix 1: Objectives Tree. 30
Appendix 2: Pairwise Comparison chart. 31
Appendix 3: Metrics. 32
Appendix 4: Research Process. 34
Appendix 5: Bill of Materials. 35
List of Figures
Figure 1. The Basketball Goal 13
Figure 2. The Solar Race Track. 14
Figure 3. The Line Tracing Solar Car. 15
Figure 4. 18
Figure 5. 19
Figure 6. Box Which contains the Mechanical and Electrical Parts. 20
Figure 7. Butterfly Which Will Carry the Solar Panels. 20
Figure 8. Plastic Pipe that Covers the Wires. 20
Figure 9. Maze on the Mat. 21
Figure 10. Circuit. 22
Figure 11. Solar Panels. 22
Figure 12. Mechanical Components. 23
List of Tables
Table 1. The Functions Corresponding to Each Objective. 11
Table 2. Functions and Means of the Objectives. 12
Table 3. Evaluation Matrix of the Three Conceptual Designs. 16
Table 4. The Component and Its Dimensions and Justification. 24
Table 5. The Materials and Justifications. 25
Table 6. Cost Analysis Table. 26
Table 7. Bill of Material 26
Table 8. Design 1. 35
Table 9. Design 2. 35
Table 10. Design 3. 35
1.0. Introduction
For this project, the Fabulous Five Team was requested to build a renewable energy kit for kids between the ages of 10 – 12 years old. The aim of this device is to teach the young fellows about the importance of applying the renewable sources of energy in our basic uses and to aware them from the problems which can be resulted from using non alternative energies. The device should be safe, durable, environmentally friendly, doesn’t exceed 500 AED, portable and easy to assemble according to the clients objectives (Appendix 1).
The scope of this report is to demonstrate the process followed in order to complete the chosen design including detailed explanation, the prototype, the clarification of the types of systems and components used. Furthermore, this report will illustrate the conducted research and the revised client statement and the description of the design objectives and the technique used in ranking each objective. This report will justify the reasons behind choosing the final design and how it fulfills the client’s requirements. Finally the method of the device operates is also explained in this report.
2.0. Background Review
Regarding the information received in the project plan a Gantt chart was produced to be up to date with all the deliverables tasks. Identifying the points of how to manage the project process and organize new ideas to undertake the project in an efficient way were extracted from the deliverables listed below. helped identifying the points of managing the project process Through this semester the following tasks were submitted; Letter of Understanding, Project Management Report and Presentation, Objective Tree, Time and Project Management Charts and Tables, Milestone Report and Conceptual Design Presentation. Those were achieved by keeping in mind the client requirements and making sure that it meets the clients’ satisfaction.
3.0. Problem Definition
3.1. Research Summary
Global warming is the biggest concern in our world these days. The rise in the population is the major cause of global warming, since the number of transportations used is proportional to the number of people, resulting more burning in fuels which release poisonous gases [5].
Renewable energy sources are energies that come in different types from natural resources, such as solar, wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal [3]. Those forms of energies are not limited in supply and they can regenerate quickly after consumption. Those clean energies have been considered as essential nowadays, from the fact that as the need of oil production increases the oil production begins to become less abundant, which as a result will force the people to search for other sources of energy [5]. As a result, the focus should be on new generation who must be well educated about this subject.
Education is helps build opinions and expand different point of views. Furthermore education is the one way road to a bright full future career, from this perspective comes the importance of giving the best and needed education to the kids starting from the intermediate levels. This knowledge will act as a shield which will help in standing high for their rights. Although beside the knowledge that the children get in the frame of school, those intermediate schools should acknowledge their young students of the importance of saving the earth, in order to build a strong and healthy environment.
In the Middle East and especially in the UAE a lot of non renewable sources are used in our everyday life causing damage to our atmosphere. The main cause of these air pollutions is the car exhaust. Educating kids about the importance of using renewable sources of energy in this region of the world must start as young as possible. All young students should be more aware of not harming the surrounding environment and should be capable of applying those green sources in their everyday life. This may come by introducing more practical devices which operates with renewable energies. Lots of different ideas may benefit our country using renewable sources of energy, especially the solar energy since most of the year seasons are sunny which states that the energy coming from the sun is available in an enormous range, It just need the courage to start substituting the previous or well known sources of energy by the green alternative energies in our everyday devices.
3.2. Client’s Statement
The original client’s statement provided the team with a project statement which is stated to design a solar or wind energy educational kit to be used in class rooms for children between 10 and 12 years old.
3.3. Revised Client’s Statement
The above client statement was enhanced by a detailed research, to fulfill the client’s requirements. The following paragraph states the revised client statement.
In this project, the Fabulous Five team is required to meet the client’s statement which acknowledged designing a solar or wind energy educational kit to be used in class rooms in both private and government schools for children between 10 and 12 years old. Additionally, this design should not exceed 500 Dirhams. Besides, the design should be portable and light. The height should be from 30 to 60 cm. The Kit should be safe, durable, portable, and economically feasible. It should be built from materials that are locally available and environmentally friendly. In addition the kit should assemble and dissembled.
4.0. Project Objectives
4.1. Design Objectives
According to the original client’s statement, the client’s objective is to design an educational kit that is used in schools especially in classrooms explains solar or wind energy (renewable energy) to children that are between 10 to 12 years old.
In addition, the client stated several constraints concerning the designing kit, which are as follow:
· The kit should not exceed 500 dirham’s
· The kit should not exceed a height of 60 cm
· The design should not be complicated
· The design should be assembled and dissembled
Moreover, other objectives were deduced from the revised client’s statement to help in modeling the best design possible. Below; the specifications and the requirements deduced from the revised client’s statement are listed.
· Durable
· Portable
· Environmentally friendly
· Easy to assemble
· Safe
· Efficient
· Affordable
· Simple
4.2. Ranking of objectives
After analyzing and understanding the above specifications, the design team produced an objective tree (Appendix 1) that allowed the team to create the most suitable renewable kit for children that fits the client’s specifications and requirements.
After designing the objective tree (Appendix 1), the team realized the importance of performing a pairwise comparison (Appendix 2). The pairwise comparison compares each objective with all other objectives separately. The more important objective gets a point while the less one gets nothing. The decision of choosing the more important objective is based on the client statement and the research done previously. All points add up eventually to determine the least significant objective up to the most significant one.
The goal of this comparison was to rank the design objectives according to their importance which consequently led to a better understanding of the client’s requirements, thus ensuring better results. The comparison also provided a clear perception of the possible methods that could be executed to build the design.
4.3. Justification of ranking of objectives
As shown in the comparison table (Appendix 2), the client’s most significant goal is to design an educational kit that explains renewable energy either solar or wind to children between 10 to 12 years old. The kit’s portability, affordability and the ability to be easy to assemble come in second. Those functions aid in improving the design specification which may help ensuring long-life kit, while using different type of renewable energy (solar or wind). Significant information derived from the comparison shows the importance of making the device to be safe to children, efficient and educational as possible. The whole purpose of this design project is to build an educational kit explains renewable energy to children; therefore, it is given that the design hold safe for the children as well as the environment. As stated before, the decision of ranking the objectives was based on the client statement and the research done previously.
5.0. Generation of Alternatives
5.1. Design Functions and Means
The design functions were generated from the client statement objectives. Functions are related to objectives in the manner that objectives are achieved through functions. This relationship is illustrated in the table below.
Table 1. The Functions Corresponding to Each Objective
5.2. Morphological Chart
To be able to formulate three different designs and to provide a structure approach to extend the research area in order to find solutions for the design problems a morphological chart was created. Morphological chart helped us to visualize each objective, the functions and the means to approach the stated functions. In the chart, a number of diverse means were listed, in which they would achieve each function, in turn meeting the objectives of the design. Each section lists functions related to a specific objective, and each function had the means listed next to it. The three different designs were based on the diverse selection between the means of this chart.
Table 2. Functions and Means of the Objectives
5.3. Alternative designs
After brainstorming and researching, the team came up with three different designs with the help of the morphological chart which achieve the similar goals. The main components of each design are listed below, in addition to a sketch and a description of the operation of each of the designs .Beside of these three design we have just tested the chosen design while the other two were just and ideas in case our chosen design failed we move to one the two lefts.
5.3.1. Conceptual design 1: The basketball goal
Figure #show the overall first conceptual design which consists of the following components followed by the description and the way how it works.
Figure 1. The Basketball Goal
Device Components
· Wind turbine
· Stick
· Ball
· Boat works with solar energy
· Seesaw
· Ball
· Basket
Device description
The turbine initially started to rotate when the charged solar panel is applied, which causes the stick to swing. When the stick moves, it will hit a stable ball and force it to roll down an inclined path, hitting the boat’s switch. While the boat is moving, the stick which is attached horizontally in front of the boat will hit another ball, causing it to roll and fall into a seesaw. As a result of the force applied from the plunged ball, the ball which is stable on the other side of the seesaw will be projected toward the basket net. The challenge will be to carefully set the game up in order to make the ball reaches its destination.
5.3.2. Conceptual design 2: The solar race track
Figure #show the overall first conceptual design which consists of the following components followed by the description and the way how it works.
Figure 2. The Solar Race Track
Device Components
· Fan
· Stick
· Ball
· Pulley
· Doors
· Car works with solar energy
· Race field
Device description
This design will work by both solar energy and wind energy. A stick will be fixed in the center point of the wind turbine, and it will be connected to the pulley by a rope. As the pulley starts rotating, the door will be lifted up causing the cars to start racing. These cars will be working by using remote controls in order to guide them in the path. Two cars can compete at a time, and the one reaches first will be honored by a candy.
5.3.3. Conceptual design 3: The line tracing solar car
Figure #show the overall first conceptual design which consists of the following components followed by the description and the way how it works.
Figure 3. The Line Tracing Solar Car
Device Components
· Solar Cell
· Car
· Race Field
· Line tracing sensor
Device description
This design consists only of a solar car; it moves only when the line tracking sensor attached at the bottom of the car passes over black drawn lines. These black lines will be sketched by the children.
5.4. Evaluation Matrix
Based on the design objectives the team chose their design using an evaluation matrix and came up with one that was the most efficient and compatible to the client’s specifications. The evaluation matrix was the decision making mechanism for evaluating and prioritizing between the 3 conceptual designs. The designs were weighed according to the mentioned objectives. (See Pairwise Comparison, Appendix 2). Their weights were taken from the pairwise Comparison Chart. The score each design received for a given objective is out of 5. The number 5 means that the designs meet all objectives and the value1 means that the conceptual designs does not meet the objectives. For example the following metrics was created for the Educational objective:
· Clearly demonstrates both energies
· Clearly Demonstrates how solar energy works
· Clearly Demonstrates how wind energy functions
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates both energies
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works
For the other matrices (see Appendix 3).
An evaluation matrix helped our team in analyzing data in a more accurate manner so that we can arrive at the best design. It also helped in identifying the most and the least significant categories. These categories were weighted using the pairwise comparison chart which was created earlier in the designing process. Each design was given a weight based on how it meets the desired functions.
Table 3. Evaluation Matrix of the Three Conceptual Designs
5.5. Selection of the Design Concept
5.5.1. Decision Making Process
The evaluation matrix helped us giving a score to each conceptual design. These scores were obtained by multiplying the weight of each objective by the weight given to each design based on how close it meets the objectives then summed up. The objectives weights were derived from the Pairwise Comparison chart (Appendix 2).
Table 4 shows the score that each design received for a given objective. In durability, Design 1 and 3 obtained the highest score which is 4, since they are mainly built of components that will not require a lot of maintenance unlike design 2 which might need replacement of the pulley’s stings every now and then.
Similar to durability, designs 1 and 3 got the highest scores in environmentally friendly objective. This is because the body of design 2 is mainly maid from plastic. However, all three designs works by either solar or wind energy. This makes them environmentally friendly since clean energy is a solution for pollution.
As it is noticed in Table 4, safety is a major objective and has the weight of 8. This is because our targeted audiences are children and we want to ensure that the kit is safe enough for them to play with. Design 2 is the least safe one; this is because it has sharp edges and a pulling up door that might harm children. Design 1 has got a 3 in the weighing because of the rotating stick which could hit a child if he stands close to it when playing. While design 2 got the highest rank in this category since it had no dangerous components.
Since it is a kit, it should be easy to assemble and portable which means that the design should be light in weight with components that are easily repaired by children. Portability was mostly achieved in the third design since it has less components and light materials. Where designs 1 and 2 got less scores because of the many components they have. Similarly, designs 1 and 2 got the least points in the easily to assemble objective that is because they require many components to assemble in a specific manner.
The most efficient design is the first design that is because it combines more than one idea at once. It has both wind and solar energy components. For this reason it is the most educational game among the three designs.
6.0. Final Design
6.1. Selection and justification
As seen in table 3, design (1) got the highest score which is 146 points, while design (2) received the least score which is 98, and design (3) 140 points. As a result, the team decided to eliminate design (3) completely since it got a score that is very far from the other two. Although design (1) got the highest score, the team decided to use the idea of conceptual design (3). This decision was made because conceptual design (1) has too many components, hard to build, and is more dangerous than conceptual design (3). Then the team decided to change the outer body of that design to handle more than one solar cell.
Since the team did not find a 4 volt and 300m Amps solar cell which are the ratings of the circuit that we built and is demonstrated in the next in the electrical components section. As a result, the team got 4 solar cells each of 1 volt and decided to choose a butterfly outer shape were every solar cell will carry a solar cell.
6.2. Final Design Operation
1. After assembling, the child will have a plastic mat which will come with the kit; a maze will be printed on this mat, in order to help the kid in drawing the path between the mazes.
2. When the solar panels are exposed to sun or intense lamp light, the circuit will function causing the sensors to work. Moreover, the motor will also start rotating causing the wheels to move.
3. The wheels and the sensors function together as the circuit senses the black paths causing movement of the wheels following that drawn path.
6.3. Design assembling parts
Using solid works program the team drew the parts to be assembled and dissembled as shown below:
1. Butterfly which will carry the solar panels
2. Box contain Mechanical part and Electrical part
3. Plastic pipe (pole) that covers the wires.
4. Maze on a mat that the kid will draw the paths on.
6.3.1. Subsystems of the final design
6.3.1.1. Electrical Subsystems
The followings are the electrical components of the design:
· Circuit on PCB
· Line tracking sensors
· Connectors
· Wires
· Solar panels
The circuit consists of basic electrical components (resistors, capacitors, inductors) fixed on a PCB. This circuit is attached to two sensors that are already programmed using C language. The sensors can trace only black colored lines. The ratings of this circuit were calculated (3 volts and 300m A).as mentioned, the circuit is powered by 4 solar panels to generate the required rated supply current and voltage because the team could not find one solar cell with the required ratings. A switch is attached to the circuit so that it is turned on and off easily. Another battery that recharges using solar energy is used.
6.3.1.2. Mechanical Subsystems
The followings are the mechanical components of the design:
· Motor
· Gears
· Cylindrical pole
· Butterfly shape
· Wheels
· Cylindrical body cover
· Metallic ball
A motor is used to create motion; this component converts electrical energy to mechanical energy that moves the toy. Gears are rotating components with teethed edges that are connected with other gears for transmission. The speed is driven from the shaft of the motor to the shaft in the gears which is connected to the rod between the wheels. A pole will cover the wires coming from the circuit to the solar panels. This pole holds the butterfly design with the base. Butterfly shape is used in order to make the design more attractive to children. In order to cover the circuit and to insure the safety of the child and the components a base cover is used. At the bottom of the box a metallic moving ball is used to keep box balanced.
Figure 12. Mechanical Components
The table 4 shows the dimension of each component and the justification for choosing that dimension.
The Component and Its Dimensions and Justification
Part Name
Dimensions
Justification
wheels
Diameter: 3 cm
· To hold the weight of the design since less than that will make the toy move slowly.
· If it would is larger the motor’s torque will not be enough to rotate them.
Base (circuit cover)
Diameter: 10 cm
Length: 10cm
· Needs to be large enough to fit the circuit with the motor since it is basically covering it.
Solar panel
Width: 4 cm
Length: 8 cm
· They were chosen to be small so that they are light in weight.
· Because of the unavailability of smaller panels with the desired ratings
Pole
Length: 10 cm
Diameter: 5cm
· The wires have the same height of the pole because they are placed inside it.
Wires
Length: 10 cm
Diameter: 50mm
· The length is chosen to be no very high so that the specifications limitations are met. This will make the toy portably and of a height less than 30 cm.
· The diameter was chosen to be 5 cm to make the butterfly shape stable.
Oval shape (butterfly wings)
Length: 10 cm
Width: 6 cm
· These dimensions are chosen so that they are a bit bigger than the solar panels that will be placed at each wing.
Metallic ball
Diameter: 5mm
· It is just to place it near the wheels to help the wheels against friction. If it was bigger the design will not move.
Circuit (with sensors and all components)
Length: 8 cm
Width: 5cm
· To fit the components
Maze mat
Length: 75 cm
Width: 60 cm
· A bigger mat will be inconvenient to play with in a class room.
In order for the device to meet specification, certain materials were used. The following table demonstrates the fabrications of the design and the justification of each material used:
Table 5. The Materials and Justifications
Parts Name
Material
Justifications
Connectors
Plastic
· To connect the wires form the circuit to the butterfly shape
Gears
Plastic
· Help with rotation mechanism
Butterfly shape
Light plastic
· To handle the motor its weight
Cylindrical pole
Plastic
· To connect the wires form the circuit to the butterfly shape
Metallic ball
steel
· To keep butterfly shape balanced
· To help in moving the kit
· High corrosion resistant
· Durable
Cylindrical body cover
Plastic
· To be more safer to children
· Long lasting
· Environmentally friendly
Wheels
Rubber and steel
· To make butterfly shape moved
· Long lasting
· Environmentally friendly
Maze mat
plastic
· To erase the black lines easily
From the cost analysis, the team made sure that it does not exceed 500 dirhams as the client specified as seen in the following table:
Table 6. Cost Analysis Table
The bill of material table is created to describe the material used with their quantities.
Table 7. Bill of Material
7.0. Conclusion
The Fabulous Five Team agreed on designing and building an educational kit which will be used in class rooms for children between 10 and 12 years old as well as it will work by using renewable energy especially solar or wind energy. The design consists of two main subsystems: the electrical subsystem and the mechanical subsystem. The electrical subsystem controls the circuit in order to power the 4 solar panels to rated supply current and voltage. The mechanical subsystem controls the functionality of the kit. The functions and components of each subsystem were discussed in details in addition to a demonstration of how each subsystem fits into the whole design.
Plastic, light plastic, metal, rubber and steel were purposely chosen owing to their efficiency, price, weight, simplicity, availability and durability. Those preferred materials assist in satisfying the client’s requirements which include efficiency, durability, affordability and safety of the kit and most importantly the education and the environment. Each component was dimensioned cautiously in order to make the mechanized method simpler along with obtaining the finest consequences. Supplementary detailed description of the design components, materials and dimensions were also mentioned.
The Fabulous Five Team strongly conveyed high quality work within the limited time period. The education kit satisfies your demand while holding to the restrictions that were indicated. This report established that it is an ideal design and would achieve the purpose stated by Renewable Energy Group professionally.
References
[1] The history of solar energy, http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/solar_timeline.pdf ,accessed on 3-3-2010
[2] Solar energy conversion technologies, http://gcep.stanford.edu/pdfs/assessments/solar_assessment.pdf , accessed on 28-2-2010
[3] Solar advantages and disadvantages, http://ezinearticles.com/?Solar-Energy-Advantages-Disadvantages&id=50178 , accessed on 12-3-2010
[4] The passive solar energy book, by Edward Mazria
[5] Renewable energy book, by Andy Mccrea,
[6]Robert W. Harver ”The year’s Christmas toys”, changing times, vol.24, no.12, pp.6, Dec. 1970.
[7] Beatrix Tudor-Hart, “Play and discipline in childhood”, London: redwood press limited, 1970.
[8] Myriam Miedzian, “Boys Will Be Boys: Breaking the Link between Masculinity and Violence”, New York: lantern books, 2002.
[9] Renewable energy book by Andy Mccrea, page 106
[10]Power with nature book by Rex A. Ewing, Page 139
[11] Wind Energy Becomes a Global Option, http://alturl.com/q9hz , Accessed on 2nd, March, 2010.
[12] Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Energy,http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-disadvantages-wind-energy.html,%20Accessed%20on%205,%20March,%202010.%0d
[13] Renewable energy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy, Accessed on 6, March, 2010
[14] Accessed at Thursday 11, March, 2010 https://mail.pi.ac.ae/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.masdar.ae/Ar/home/index.aspx
[15]Tore Wizelius”Developing wind power projects theory and practice” London, 2007.
[16] Accessed at Wednesday March 10, 2010 https://mail.pi.ac.ae/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://windeis.anl.gov/guide/basics/index.cfm
[17] Accessed at Thursday11, March, 2010 https://mail.pi.ac.ae/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.kidwind.org/students_teachers/wp_%2520basics.php
[18] Dr. Jeremy Leggett “Renewable energy A user’s guide” British, 2008
[19] Accessed at Thursday11, March, 2010 https://mail.pi.ac.ae/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.ehow.com/list_5911186_advantages-generating-electricity-wind-turbines.html
[20] Ayhan Demirbaş. “Global Renewable Energy Resources”. Energy Sources, Part A, 28:779-792, 2006.
[21] What is wind energy?. American Wind Energy Association. Retrieved on February 28, 2010, from http://www.awea.org/faq/wwt_basics.html
[22] Renewable Energy. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 28, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy
[23] Wind power. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 29, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power
Appendix
Appendix 1: Objectives Tree
Appendix 2: Pairwise Comparison chart
Appendix 3: Metrics
· Educational
o Clearly demonstrates both energies 5
o Clearly Demonstrates how solar energy works 4
o Clearly Demonstrates how wind energy functions 3
o Doesn’t clearly demonstrates both energies 2
o Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works 1
o Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works 0
· Environmentally friendly
o Recyclable materials 5
o No recyclable materials 2
o Rust
· Portable
o Device can be carried by children’s 5
o Device is easy to move, have wheels 2
o Device need teacher help to move it 1
o Device is portable but very heavy 0
· Durable
o Components can live for more than 2 years /function well 5
o Components are not easily broken 4
o Components can be broken easily 2
o Components can live for more than 2 years /doesn’t function well 1
o Components cannot live for no more than 6 months 0
· Safe
o Protects the user from sharp and moving parts 5
o Doesn’t Protects the user from stable components 4
o Teacher should make sure the kit is not harmful 2
· Easy to assemble
o Clearly written instructions , simple language and pictures 5
o Clearly Visualized instructions 4
o Uses screw drivers 3
o Need the help of the teacher to assemble and disassemble 2
o Need the teacher to read and explain the instructions 1
· Affordable
o Low cost and easily available materials 5
o High cost and easily available materials 2
o Low cost and not easily available materials 1
o High cost and not easily available materials 1
· Efficient
o Meets the children interest 5
o Easy to follow the instruction 4
o It completes the whole kit round 2
o Dose not interest the child 1
Appendix 4: Research Process
The three preliminary designs were sketched after discussing and combining different ideas which were built on the base of each members experience, knowledge and research. The first design scheme is about reaching the goal after proceeding more than one stage, in order to help keeping the child entertained the whole period. The fact of having a different staged kit came from our last year participation in the IEEE activities were one of our engineers build a fun design which consisted of different steps.
The next design thought came from one of the cartoon series, which the main subject is car racing. Since kids at this age like challenging and enjoying betting their friends, we have managed to come with additional cars working by solar. We enhanced this idea and try to make it more fun by adding much stuff such as a pulley which lifts by rotating the wind turbine.
Finally the last idea came with the assistance of a microcontroller engineer, and then we enhanced this thought by making it more interesting through programming the car to trace a line that the child draws.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
khawla's research
Research Assignment
STPS 251 – Section 50
To: Dr. Lisa Lamont & Mr. David Moore
Done by:
vKhawla Awad Al Saeedi
ID#: 920012472
Date of Submission: 14th March 2010
Introduction
As we are living in an undisturbed life cycle, the number of population will increase over the time. As a consequence, the consumption of fossil fuel will increase proportionally in order to meet their requirements. This ascending in oil consumption will consequently raise other noteworthy issues such as climate change and global warming. As a result, thinking about using renewable energy will be the key solution for these issues.
There are many different types of renewable energy such as wind, wave, solar, geothermal and many other types of energy. This research assignment intends to emphasize the meaning of renewable energy and the types of renewable energy. However, it will talk specifically about wind energy as one of the energy that has the potentials to supply some of the electricity needed in the UAE. Finally, how this research could help us in our project.
Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is a clean, uncontaminated or inexhaustible energy such as wind, geothermal, biomass, hydropower, solar and marine energies. In other words, their sources can be found naturally and accessible from the surrounding environment which means it never runs out [1]. Additionally, they “are derived from those natural, mechanical, thermal, and growth processes that repeat themselves within our lifetime and may be relied upon to produce predictable quantities of energy when required”[1]. Looking around these sources, we can find many different benefits that will help our life and our world from serious issues such as global warming and climate change. Regarding to what [1] stated that renewable energy sources have minor and insignificant degrees of constructing or producing greenhouse gases and other pollutants compared to the other source of energy such as fossil energy. Moreover, they have good reduction regard to the environmental effects contrasted to fossil fuels.
Wind Energy
Wind energy is one of the renewable energy sources. Also, it is a convenient source that has the potential to generate some of the electricity needed in the UAE. But, when we think about wind energy, it may come to our mind that from where and how it comes. In point of fact, [2] acknowledged that wind energy is a transformed form of solar energy and this works as following procedure. Briefly and firstly, “the sun's radiation heats different parts of the earth at different rates-most notably during the day and night, but also when different surfaces absorb or reflect at different rates” [2]. After that, the hot air rises causing decreasing in the atmospheric pressure at the earth's surface. On the other hand, the cooler air will replace into the hot air layer. Finally, this process will produce wind energy [2].
In order to generate electricity by using wind, it requires turning blades, 2 or more, pinned and fixed to the turbine where the air can flows along the blades and produces wind energy. This phenomenon occurs by “transforms the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical or electrical energy that can be harnessed for practical use” [2]. This type of renewable energy has been utilized for centuries in order to power windmills to mill wheat or pump water and this can be call a mechanical energy usage of wind energy [1]. Additionally, it can be used in many different other purposes such as grinding grain, sawing, pushing a sailboat, etc. On the other hand, “wind electric turbines generate electricity for homes and businesses and for sale to utilities” [2]. Rewardingly and lately, large wind turbines have been devised that be used in generating electricity.
This type of source of energy is uncontaminated and freely accessible in many areas, wind turbines become more capable and resourceful. Additionally, electricity cost that they generate is declining or cheaper. Hence, there are some advantages of wind turbines such as “they can produce electricity whenever the wind blows at night and also during the day” [1]. Moreover to that, wind energy itself has many different advantages and disadvantages. For example, as [1] stated that wind systems hypothetically can generate electricity 24 hours every day comparing to the photovoltaic (PV) systems that are not practical at night.
Wind Energy and Our Project
Our project is stated to design a solar or wind energy educational kit to be used in class rooms for children between 10 and 12 years old. We decided to build out educational kit by using wind and solar energy and that will make it special and different form the other groups.
Conclusion
In summary, wind energy is one type of the renewable energy that is also one of the energy that has the potentials to supply some of the electricity needed in the UAE. Besides, this research assignment has been done in order to help us in our project that required us to build an educational kit by using wind or solar energy. Moreover, now we can clearly know the meaning of renewable energy as well as wind energy which is one of the requirements to the educational kit.
References
[1] Ayhan Demirbaş. “Global Renewable Energy Resources”. Energy Sources, Part A, 28:779-792, 2006.
[2] What is wind energy?. American Wind Energy Association. Retrieved on February 28, 2010, from http://www.awea.org/faq/wwt_basics.html
[3] Renewable Energy. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 28, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy
[4] Wind power. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 29, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power
STPS 251 – Section 50
To: Dr. Lisa Lamont & Mr. David Moore
Done by:
vKhawla Awad Al Saeedi
ID#: 920012472
Date of Submission: 14th March 2010
Introduction
As we are living in an undisturbed life cycle, the number of population will increase over the time. As a consequence, the consumption of fossil fuel will increase proportionally in order to meet their requirements. This ascending in oil consumption will consequently raise other noteworthy issues such as climate change and global warming. As a result, thinking about using renewable energy will be the key solution for these issues.
There are many different types of renewable energy such as wind, wave, solar, geothermal and many other types of energy. This research assignment intends to emphasize the meaning of renewable energy and the types of renewable energy. However, it will talk specifically about wind energy as one of the energy that has the potentials to supply some of the electricity needed in the UAE. Finally, how this research could help us in our project.
Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is a clean, uncontaminated or inexhaustible energy such as wind, geothermal, biomass, hydropower, solar and marine energies. In other words, their sources can be found naturally and accessible from the surrounding environment which means it never runs out [1]. Additionally, they “are derived from those natural, mechanical, thermal, and growth processes that repeat themselves within our lifetime and may be relied upon to produce predictable quantities of energy when required”[1]. Looking around these sources, we can find many different benefits that will help our life and our world from serious issues such as global warming and climate change. Regarding to what [1] stated that renewable energy sources have minor and insignificant degrees of constructing or producing greenhouse gases and other pollutants compared to the other source of energy such as fossil energy. Moreover, they have good reduction regard to the environmental effects contrasted to fossil fuels.
Wind Energy
Wind energy is one of the renewable energy sources. Also, it is a convenient source that has the potential to generate some of the electricity needed in the UAE. But, when we think about wind energy, it may come to our mind that from where and how it comes. In point of fact, [2] acknowledged that wind energy is a transformed form of solar energy and this works as following procedure. Briefly and firstly, “the sun's radiation heats different parts of the earth at different rates-most notably during the day and night, but also when different surfaces absorb or reflect at different rates” [2]. After that, the hot air rises causing decreasing in the atmospheric pressure at the earth's surface. On the other hand, the cooler air will replace into the hot air layer. Finally, this process will produce wind energy [2].
In order to generate electricity by using wind, it requires turning blades, 2 or more, pinned and fixed to the turbine where the air can flows along the blades and produces wind energy. This phenomenon occurs by “transforms the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical or electrical energy that can be harnessed for practical use” [2]. This type of renewable energy has been utilized for centuries in order to power windmills to mill wheat or pump water and this can be call a mechanical energy usage of wind energy [1]. Additionally, it can be used in many different other purposes such as grinding grain, sawing, pushing a sailboat, etc. On the other hand, “wind electric turbines generate electricity for homes and businesses and for sale to utilities” [2]. Rewardingly and lately, large wind turbines have been devised that be used in generating electricity.
This type of source of energy is uncontaminated and freely accessible in many areas, wind turbines become more capable and resourceful. Additionally, electricity cost that they generate is declining or cheaper. Hence, there are some advantages of wind turbines such as “they can produce electricity whenever the wind blows at night and also during the day” [1]. Moreover to that, wind energy itself has many different advantages and disadvantages. For example, as [1] stated that wind systems hypothetically can generate electricity 24 hours every day comparing to the photovoltaic (PV) systems that are not practical at night.
Wind Energy and Our Project
Our project is stated to design a solar or wind energy educational kit to be used in class rooms for children between 10 and 12 years old. We decided to build out educational kit by using wind and solar energy and that will make it special and different form the other groups.
Conclusion
In summary, wind energy is one type of the renewable energy that is also one of the energy that has the potentials to supply some of the electricity needed in the UAE. Besides, this research assignment has been done in order to help us in our project that required us to build an educational kit by using wind or solar energy. Moreover, now we can clearly know the meaning of renewable energy as well as wind energy which is one of the requirements to the educational kit.
References
[1] Ayhan Demirbaş. “Global Renewable Energy Resources”. Energy Sources, Part A, 28:779-792, 2006.
[2] What is wind energy?. American Wind Energy Association. Retrieved on February 28, 2010, from http://www.awea.org/faq/wwt_basics.html
[3] Renewable Energy. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 28, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy
[4] Wind power. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 29, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power
Thursday, May 20, 2010
mahra's research (Solar Energy)
The Petroleum Institute
Electrical Engineering Department
Strategies for Team-based Engineering Problem Solving II – ELEG
Solar energy –individual research
Name
Mahra AlQamzi
ID
2129
Due Date
13-2-2010
Instructor
David Moore
The PI Honor Pledge:
“We pledge that we have neither given nor received any unauthorized assistance on this laboratory lab assignment.”
Abstract
The main aim of writing this report is to have a better understanding of the solar energy and its specifications. Furthermore is to conclude whether this energy is suitable in having it as a main source of function in our final project which is to be an educational kit.
Introduction
A lot are not aware of how will be the future of our earth in the coming twenty years. Most of our daily equipments works based on non-renewable mineral sources such as coal and oil. Those sources of energy are causing a non healthy environment, furthermore those type of energies never last long and when their consumed they couldn’t be reused again. Moreover, as the need of oil production increases the oil production begins to become less abundant, which as a result will force the people to search for other sources of energy. On the other hand there are several of different renewable sources of energies that can help reducing the effect that the other nonrenewable sources cause. Renewable energy sources are basically energies that comes in different types from natural resources, such as solar , wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal. Those forms of energies are not limited in supply and they can regenerate quickly after consumption. The previous facts are the reason why renewable sources of energy have been considered as necessitate in nowadays. This report will focus on a certain type of the renewable energy which is the solar energy and it will discuss how it may help in choosing our design.
History of solar energy
Solar energy was known from the 7th century till nowadays, beginning with the magnifying glasses and ending with a PV (photovoltaic cells) used to be able to benefit from the solar energy. Ages ago the Greeks and Romans used magnifying glasses to light torches for religious purposes, furthermore a Greek scientist Archimedes used the reflective properties of the bronze shield to burn wooden ships from the roman empire. In those days the famous Romans bathhouses worked with solar energy , a large window was used to set facing the south to let in as much heat as possible In 1954 , the photovoltaic technology was discovered in America by three scientists Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson when they developed the silicon photovoltaic cells to be capable of storing the energy coming from the sun and converting it into electricity to be used by any application but the efficiency was to low. From that period of time till today a lot of scientists had worked hard in improving the efficiency of the photovoltaic cells to be able to consume a lot of the solar energy.
The importance the process of converting the solar
As it is well known solar energy is the energy obtained from the sun rays, those rays contains molecules including protons and electrons. The importance of this energy is that it can produces gasses which enrich the plants to grow, it also controls the currents flowing in the ocean so that it doesn’t get frozen, furthermore it is affordable to everyone as long as the sun stays shinning and finally it helps reducing the amount of electricity generated from nonrenewable sources of energy and consumed in our everyday life. Solar energy can be used to power different electronic supplies such as TV, refrigerators, mobiles, Cars, computers and etc. A photovoltaic (PV) cells are used to store and convert the energy coming from the sunlight into direct currents (DC), then those currents passes through an inverter to convert them to an alternating currents (AC) in order to function the appliances.
Advantages and disadvantages
Applying renewable sources of energy to an application is great, but it carries some disadvantages. Considering the advantages of the solar power we can observe that is friendly to the environment, no maintenances, saves money and independent. It is not harmful to the earth were no carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide or sulphur mercury is released to the atmosphere as other mineral sources of energy, in addition to that it is generated when it is needed it has no limit. The solar energy systems can be installed with free maintenance and will last for decades, it doesn’t have moving parts, they operates silently and they don’t release offensive smells. Since we are dealing with energy coming from the sun then it is free charged energy and it will help in reducing the amount of money paid for the electricity bill. Finally, the solar power can independently operate the electricity of a whole house without the need of depending on the other nonrenewable sources. However beside those advantages there are some disadvantages of this source of energy, the production of solar energy might decrease in they presence of clouds and pollution in the atmosphere. Moreover solar panels will require large area in order to achieve a high point of efficiency.
How can it help us in our design?
This type of renewable energy consists of different characteristics which may help our design to approach its goals. After conducting this research it have been noticed that this energy can store the inverted rays in a certain capacitor to be used later ,moreover it can be used directly once it is applied to the load. In fact, the children in this range of years are willing to have kits which function faster. Most of our main objectives the solar energy is part of it, such as cost effective and environmentally friendly.
Conclusion
Summing up, this report covered the history of the solar power, its importance and the process of converting to electrical energy, later on the advantages and disadvantages of using this energy were identified. Finally, how this energy is going to help us further in designing our final project.
References
[1] The history of solar energy, http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/solar_timeline.pdf ,accessed on 3-3-2010
[2] Solar energy conversion technologies, http://gcep.stanford.edu/pdfs/assessments/solar_assessment.pdf , accessed on 28-2-2010
[3] Solar advantages and disadvantages, http://ezinearticles.com/?Solar-Energy-Advantages-Disadvantages&id=50178 , accessed on 12-3-2010
[5] The passive solar energy book, by Edward Mazria
[6] Renewable energy book, by Andy Mccrea,
Electrical Engineering Department
Strategies for Team-based Engineering Problem Solving II – ELEG
Solar energy –individual research
Name
Mahra AlQamzi
ID
2129
Due Date
13-2-2010
Instructor
David Moore
The PI Honor Pledge:
“We pledge that we have neither given nor received any unauthorized assistance on this laboratory lab assignment.”
Abstract
The main aim of writing this report is to have a better understanding of the solar energy and its specifications. Furthermore is to conclude whether this energy is suitable in having it as a main source of function in our final project which is to be an educational kit.
Introduction
A lot are not aware of how will be the future of our earth in the coming twenty years. Most of our daily equipments works based on non-renewable mineral sources such as coal and oil. Those sources of energy are causing a non healthy environment, furthermore those type of energies never last long and when their consumed they couldn’t be reused again. Moreover, as the need of oil production increases the oil production begins to become less abundant, which as a result will force the people to search for other sources of energy. On the other hand there are several of different renewable sources of energies that can help reducing the effect that the other nonrenewable sources cause. Renewable energy sources are basically energies that comes in different types from natural resources, such as solar , wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal. Those forms of energies are not limited in supply and they can regenerate quickly after consumption. The previous facts are the reason why renewable sources of energy have been considered as necessitate in nowadays. This report will focus on a certain type of the renewable energy which is the solar energy and it will discuss how it may help in choosing our design.
History of solar energy
Solar energy was known from the 7th century till nowadays, beginning with the magnifying glasses and ending with a PV (photovoltaic cells) used to be able to benefit from the solar energy. Ages ago the Greeks and Romans used magnifying glasses to light torches for religious purposes, furthermore a Greek scientist Archimedes used the reflective properties of the bronze shield to burn wooden ships from the roman empire. In those days the famous Romans bathhouses worked with solar energy , a large window was used to set facing the south to let in as much heat as possible In 1954 , the photovoltaic technology was discovered in America by three scientists Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson when they developed the silicon photovoltaic cells to be capable of storing the energy coming from the sun and converting it into electricity to be used by any application but the efficiency was to low. From that period of time till today a lot of scientists had worked hard in improving the efficiency of the photovoltaic cells to be able to consume a lot of the solar energy.
The importance the process of converting the solar
As it is well known solar energy is the energy obtained from the sun rays, those rays contains molecules including protons and electrons. The importance of this energy is that it can produces gasses which enrich the plants to grow, it also controls the currents flowing in the ocean so that it doesn’t get frozen, furthermore it is affordable to everyone as long as the sun stays shinning and finally it helps reducing the amount of electricity generated from nonrenewable sources of energy and consumed in our everyday life. Solar energy can be used to power different electronic supplies such as TV, refrigerators, mobiles, Cars, computers and etc. A photovoltaic (PV) cells are used to store and convert the energy coming from the sunlight into direct currents (DC), then those currents passes through an inverter to convert them to an alternating currents (AC) in order to function the appliances.
Advantages and disadvantages
Applying renewable sources of energy to an application is great, but it carries some disadvantages. Considering the advantages of the solar power we can observe that is friendly to the environment, no maintenances, saves money and independent. It is not harmful to the earth were no carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide or sulphur mercury is released to the atmosphere as other mineral sources of energy, in addition to that it is generated when it is needed it has no limit. The solar energy systems can be installed with free maintenance and will last for decades, it doesn’t have moving parts, they operates silently and they don’t release offensive smells. Since we are dealing with energy coming from the sun then it is free charged energy and it will help in reducing the amount of money paid for the electricity bill. Finally, the solar power can independently operate the electricity of a whole house without the need of depending on the other nonrenewable sources. However beside those advantages there are some disadvantages of this source of energy, the production of solar energy might decrease in they presence of clouds and pollution in the atmosphere. Moreover solar panels will require large area in order to achieve a high point of efficiency.
How can it help us in our design?
This type of renewable energy consists of different characteristics which may help our design to approach its goals. After conducting this research it have been noticed that this energy can store the inverted rays in a certain capacitor to be used later ,moreover it can be used directly once it is applied to the load. In fact, the children in this range of years are willing to have kits which function faster. Most of our main objectives the solar energy is part of it, such as cost effective and environmentally friendly.
Conclusion
Summing up, this report covered the history of the solar power, its importance and the process of converting to electrical energy, later on the advantages and disadvantages of using this energy were identified. Finally, how this energy is going to help us further in designing our final project.
References
[1] The history of solar energy, http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/solar_timeline.pdf ,accessed on 3-3-2010
[2] Solar energy conversion technologies, http://gcep.stanford.edu/pdfs/assessments/solar_assessment.pdf , accessed on 28-2-2010
[3] Solar advantages and disadvantages, http://ezinearticles.com/?Solar-Energy-Advantages-Disadvantages&id=50178 , accessed on 12-3-2010
[5] The passive solar energy book, by Edward Mazria
[6] Renewable energy book, by Andy Mccrea,
mona's research paper about Toys and children
The Petroleum Institute
STPS 251
Section 50
____________________
Research Assignment
Toys And Children
To: Mr. David Moore
Dr. Lisa Lamont
From: Mona Mohamed
Date: Thursday, May 20, 2010
”I pledge that I have neither given nor received any unauthorized assistance on this assignment”
Signature
Mona Mohamed
STPS 251
Section 50
____________________
Research Assignment
Toys And Children
To: Mr. David Moore
Dr. Lisa Lamont
From: Mona Mohamed
Date: Thursday, May 20, 2010
”I pledge that I have neither given nor received any unauthorized assistance on this assignment”
Signature
Mona Mohamed
Introduction
Researching is very important to any designing process because it answers specific questions that the designing team might have. The objective of this assignment is to have more background knowledge about our design in order to produce three different conceptual designs. The team was asked to design an educational kit that explains renewable (wind or solar) energy for children between 10-12 years old.
Our team specified five different areas that we should research in order to come up with a design that meets our client’s expectations. The following topics were divided among team members:
· Wind energy
· Solar energy
· Education in the UAE
· Toys and educational toys
· Teaching methods
In this paper, I will research toys specifically educational toys to get a brief background of the type of toys that will aid our research. Toys in general have a very wide market and are progressing more and more each season. Many questions are raised when researching toys such as: what kind of toys would interest children and why? Which toys do parents buy for their kids? How toys influence children? And many more that will be answered throughout this paper.
This paper includes four parts, the first part explains which types of toys attract children. The second part focuses on the physiological needs that toys should satisfy. The third part explains parent’s point of view when buying toys for their children. While the fourth part discusses the influence that toys have on children.
What kind of educational toys attract children?
In the markets, there are many types of educational toys that children don’t buy. Not because they are not good ones but because they are not appealing to them or in other words not attractive enough. According to [1] educational toys are boring to many children because they are missing fun either in their designs or colors. This issue can be avoided by making the toy fun, colorful, and exciting in a way that keeps the child interested in the learning process that it carries.
What needs do toys satisfy?
When designing an educational toy, physiological needs and instinctive urges of a child should be taken into consideration. Children like to mimic grownups and like to undertake activities that are done by adults around them. An example of that would be cleaning, driving, washing,…etc. These activities give them the feeling that they are independent as their parents are as [2] suggested. An example of educational toys that does not satisfy those needs are those that the children do not commence for their own sake but for the sake of obtaining a hidden end. In other words, the toy should not be a substitute of a real tool or a real activity because it is not teaching children independency. A child will not want to look at a buttoning toy that shows the process, he would rather do the buttoning himself as [2] added.
Toys that encourage initiative, independence, and self reliance are the one’s parents should buy for their children. Parents should take into consideration the play material of these toys, which is the idea and the playing mechanism of the toy, it should be something that a child can use, understand, and enjoy by himself. Moreover, Play materials should always suit the child’s ability and should be age appropriate to encourage him and avoid getting an age inappropriate toy which may be difficult for him to understand and as a consequence will discourage and depress him since children can easily be discouraged [2] illustrated.
Toys criteria according to parents
Parents have certain criteria when choosing toys for their kids. Parents usually prefer educational toys that help in the mental and psychological development of their children. These toys must be light in weight, made from safe material, have a safe shape so that children play with without parental supervision, with no small components for young aged children, durable so that they are kept for a while, appropriate for their child’s age, and most importantly affordable as [2] explained.
Some parents have no criteria when buying toys either because they have an only child and want to spoil him so that he will not feel lonely or they are rich and can afford any toy or because they want their kids occupied at all times no matter what the cost is as [2] implied.
Toys effects on children’s behaviors
Some toys influence children’s behaviors in a way that makes them violent, aggressive, and introversive. An example of these toys are guns, boxing sets, and any toy that is ranked as a war game as [3] suggested. These toys may present violence to them in an exciting and an appealing game environment; where the children are able to compete with their peers in order to win the war.
According to [3], Children between 10 to 15 years are more attracted to video games. Researchers found that the more time they spend on a video game the more aggressive, unfocused, tired, and distracted they get. This might be caused from focusing continuously on the screen, being exposed to screen vibes frequently, and not getting enough food and sleep in some cases.
Conclusion
In brief, our team should keep in mind some specifications and requirements when designing the educational kit. The design should be attractive, colorful, and exciting so that children are not easily bored by it. It should encourage them in a way that helps building their personality. Some psychological needs must be met such as independency; for this reason the kit should be simple and understandable. Additionally, the kit should meet certain criteria that parents may have such as safety, cost efficiency, and the learning materials and values that it contains. Moreover, we should make the kit as friendly as it could get to discourage violence.
This research discussed four topics that will help our team in designing an educational kit for children between 10 and 12 years old to explain renewable energy in a fun way. The first topic was about the toys that attract children’s attention, while the second topic discussed the needs that toys should satisfy, the third topic illustrated the criteria that toys should meet and finally, the affects of toys on children’s behaviors was discussed.
References
[1]Robert W. Harver ”The year’s Christmas toys”, changing times, vol.24, no.12, pp.6, Dec. 1970.
[2] Beatrix Tudor-Hart, “Play and discipline in childhood”, London: redwood press limited, 1970.
[3] Myriam Miedzian, “Boys Will Be Boys: Breaking the Link Between Masculinity and Violence” , New York: lantern books, 2002.
conceptual design report
Conceptual Design Report For An Educational Kit using renewable energy ( Solar or Wind)
STPS 251 – Section 50
To: Dr. Lisa Lamont and Mr. David Moore
From: Fabulous 5 Team
Team Members:
Ayesha Al Ali
Faten Bin Ishaq
Khawla Al Saeedi
Mahra Al Qamzi
Mona Nabeel
Date of Submission: 18th March 2010
Executive Summary
This report presents a design of an educational kit to be constructed for children between 10 to 12 years old, using either wind or solar energy and to be used in classrooms. Three kit designs were created and then compared according to certain criteria and objectives in order to choose the best design. Those three designs are Design 1 is “The Basket Ball Goal”, design 2 is “The Solar Race Track” and the third design is “The Line Tracing Solar Car”. After creating the three designs we constructed an evaluation matrix to help us giving a score to each conceptual design, based on the main weighted objective that were ranked using a Pairwise Comparison chart (APPENDIX 2). It is concluded that design 2 ““The Basket Ball Goal” is the best design. This design was chosen because it meets most of the objectives since it got the highest score in the evaluation matrix (Table 4).
1.0. Introduction
The project necessitates designing a renewable energy educational kit for children of ages between 10-12 years old. The aim of constructing this design is to educate the children on the importance of using renewable sources of energy instead of polluting their earth with nonrenewable sources. This report follows our understanding of the revised problem stated by the client, toward the identified constrains and the established metrics for objectives.
The main purpose of writing this report is to present three different conceptual designs. Furthermore, it will list the process followed to evaluate each design in order to choose a final design which will be illustrated to the client. After conducting different research regarding the same topic, the team members came up with an enhanced understanding to the subsystems of both wind and solar energies, a summarized sample is illustrated in the appendix. As a result of the previous studies, those conceptual designs are clearly described including the designs rationale, operating process, components, subsystems, materials and dimensions.
2.0. Problem Definition
2.1. Revised client statement
In this project, the Fabulous Five team is required to meet the client’s statement which required us to design a solar or wind energy educational kit to be used in class rooms in both private and government schools for children between 10 and 12 years old. Additionally, this design should not exceed 500 Dirhams. Besides, the design should be portable and light. The height should be from 30 to 60 cm. The Kit should be safe, durable, portable, and economically feasible. It should be built from materials that are locally available and environmentally friendly. In addition the kit should be easily assembled and dissembled by the children themselves.
In order to meet the specifications and constrains that were studied by the team, an objective tree was designed (Appendix 1).
Figure 1. Objective treeThe purpose of this tree is to help the team demonstrate the objectives and achieve them easily. Moreover, a Pairwise comparison chart was created to rank the project objectives according to their importance which will help us in understanding the requirements better. Additionally, this will assist the team in choosing the possible methods that could be used in building the design (Table 1).
Table 1: Pairwise Comparison Chart
3.0. Research Process
The three preliminary designs were sketched after discussing and combining different ideas which were built on the base of each members experience, knowledge and research. The first design scheme is about reaching the goal after proceeding more than one stage, in order to help keep the child entertained for the whole period. The fact of having a different staged kit came from our last year participation in the IEEE activities were one of our engineers build a fun design which consisted of different steps according to [1].
The next design thought came from one of the cartoon series, which the main subject is car racing. Since kids at this age like challenging and enjoying betting their friends, we have managed to come with additional cars working by solar. We enhanced this idea and try to make it more fun by adding many stuff such as a pulley which lifts by rotating the wind turbine as stated in [2].
Finally the last idea came with the assistance of a microcontroller engineer, and then we enhanced this thought by making it more interesting through programming the car using microcontroller program to trace a line that the child draws as [3] agreed.
4.0. Generation and Evaluation of Alternatives
4.1. Design Functions
Functions are related to objectives in the manner that objectives are achieved through functions. This relationship is illustrated in the table below.
4.1. Function Specifications
· The kit should not exceed 500 dirham’s
· The kit should not exceed a height of 60 cm
· The design should not be complicated
· The design should be assembled and dissembled
4.2. Morphological Chart
To be able to formulate three different designs a morphological chart was created. In the chart, a number of diverse means were listed, in which they would achieve each function, in turn meeting the objectives of the design. Each section lists functions related to a specific objective, and each function had the means listed next to it. The three different designs were based on the diverse selection between the means of this chart.
Table 3. Functions and Means of the Objectives
5.1. Conceptual Designs
4.1.1. Design 1: The basketball goal
Figure 2. The basket ball goal 
Device Components
§ Wind turbine
§ Stick
§ Ball
§ Boat with fan that works with solar energy
§ Seesaw
§ Ball
§ Basket
Device description
The turbine initially started to rotate when the charged solar panel is applied, which causes the stick to swing. When the stick moves, it will hit a stable ball and force it to roll down an inclined path, hitting the boat’s switch. While the boat is moving, the stick which is attached horizontally in front of the boat will hit another ball, causing it to roll and fall into a seesaw. As a result of the force applied from the plunged ball, the ball which is stable on the other side of the seesaw will be projected toward the basket net. The challenge will be to carefully set the game up in order to make the ball reaches its destination.
4.1.2. Design 2: The solar race track
Figure 3. The solar race track 
Device Components
§ Fan
§ Stick
§ Ball
§ Pulley
§ Doors
§ Car works with solar energy
§ Race field
§ Remote controls
Device description
This design will work by both solar energy and wind energy. A stick will be fixed in the center point of the wind turbine, and it will be connected to the pulley by a rope. As the pulley starts rotating, the door will be lifted up causing the cars to start racing. These cars will be working by using remote controls in order to guide them in the path. Two cars can compete at a time, and the one reaches first will be honored by a candy.
4.1.3. Design 3: The line tracing solar car
Figure 4. The line tracing solar car
Device Components
§ Solar Cell
§ Car
§ Race Field
§ Line tracing sensor
Device description
This design consists only of a solar car; it moves only when the line tracking sensor attached at the bottom of the car passes over black drawn lines. These black lines will be sketched by the children.
5.0. Evaluation and Decision Making
5.1. Evaluation Matrix
Based on the design objectives the team chose their design using an evaluation matrix and came up with one that was the most efficient and compatible to the client’s specifications. The evaluation matrix was the decision making mechanism for evaluating and prioritizing between the 3 conceptual designs. The designs were weighed according to the mentioned objectives. (See Pairwise Comparison chart in APPENDIX 2). Their weights were taken from the Pairwise Comparison Chart. The score each design received for a given objective is out of 5. The number 5 means that the designs meet all objectives and the value1 means that the conceptual designs does not meet the objectives. For example the following metrics was created for the Educational objective:
Educational
· Clearly demonstrates both energies 5
· Clearly Demonstrates how solar energy works 4
· Clearly Demonstrates how wind energy functions 3
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates both energies 2
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works 1
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works 0
For the other matrices’ see Appendix 3
An evaluation matrix helped our team in analyzing data in a more accurate manner so that we can arrive at the best design. It also helped in identifying the most and the least significant categories. These categories were weighted using the Pairwise comparison chart which was created earlier in the designing process. Each design was given a weight based on how it meets the desired functions.
Table 4: Evaluation matrix of the three conceptual designs
5.2. Selection of the Design Concept
5.2.1. Decision Making Process
The evaluation matrix helped us giving a score to each conceptual design. These scores were obtained by multiplying the weight of each objective by the weight given to each design based on how close it meets the objectives then summed up. The objectives weights were derived from the Pairwise Comparison chart (APPENDIX 2).
Table 4 shows the score that each design received for a given objective. In durability, Design 1 and 3 obtained the highest score which is 4, since they are mainly built of components that will not require a lot of maintenance unlike design 2 which might need replacement of the pulley’s stings every now and then.
Similar to durability, designs 1 and 3 got the highest scores in environmentally friendly objective. This is because the body of design 2 is mainly maid from plastic. However, all three designs works by either solar or wind energy. This makes them environmentally friendly since clean energy is a solution for pollution.
As it is noticed in Table 4, safety is a major objective and has the weight of 8. This is because our targeted audiences are children and we want to ensure that the kit is safe enough for them to play with. Design 2 is the least safe one; this is because it has sharp edges and a pulling up door that might harm children. Design 1 has got a 3 in the weighing because of the rotating stick which could hit a child if he stands close to it when playing. While design 2 got the highest rank in this category since it had no dangerous components.
Since it is a kit, it should be easy to assemble and portable which means that the design should be light in weight with components that are easily repaired by children. Portability was mostly achieved in the third design since it has less components and light materials. Where designs 1 and 2 got less scores because of the many components they have. Similarly, designs 1 and 2 got the least points in the easily to assemble objective that is because they require many components to assemble in a specific manner.
The most efficient design is the first design that is because it combines more than one idea at once. It has both wind and solar energy components. For this reason it is the most educational game among the three designs.
5.2.2. The Chosen Design
As seen in Table 4, design 1 got the highest score which is 146 points, while design 2 received the least score which is 98, and design 3 140 points. As a result, the team decided to eliminate design 3 completely since it got a score that is very far from the other two. The team decided to chose design 1 as the final design and design 2. At this stage, design 1 which was explained earlier will be built and tested. However, some modification could occur either because the team has more to offer or the client has asked for any modification. Additionally, ideas of design 3 “the line tracing solar car” might be used in the modification process.
6.0. Conclusion
This report aims to give an overview about the three conceptual designs of the project. The project is to build an educational kit that works by the renewable source either wind or solar energy. In this report we have mentioned the client requirements, objectives of the projects and constraints of the design. In addition this report includes the three conceptual designs where we have explained each design functions and analyzed the means using morphological charts. Also we described the alternative design and showed the weighted matrix for the alternative design objectives. Our preliminary design has been chosen according to the highest score in the evaluation matrix, which is the one that meets the design objectives required by the client. This design is conceptual design number 1. Finally our next step is to start building the device according to this detailed report, test it to measure its performance and modify it accordingly.
7.0. References
[1] Andrew Rolling ,Ernest Adams , Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on game design, New Riders, 2003, Vol 621, pp 38.
[2]Pam Sommers , Bringing up baby: the illustrated guide to raising humans, Vol 95 ,Chronicle Books, 1996.
[3] Owen Bishop, Electronics: A First Course, , Vol 223 pages, Newnes, 2006, pp 172.
Appendix
Metrics
Educational
· Clearly demonstrates bothenergies 5
· Clearly Demonstrates how solar energy works 4
· Clearly Demonstrates how wind energy functions 3
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates both energies 2
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works 1
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works 0
Environmentally friendly
· Recyclable materials 5
· No recyclable materials 2
· Rust 1
Portable
· Device can be carried by children’s 5
· Device is easy to move, have wheels 2
· Device need teacher help to move it Device is portable but very heavy 0
Durable
· Components can live for more than 2 years /function well 5
· Components are not easily broken 4
· Components can be broken easily 2
· Components can live for more than 2 years /doesn’t function well 1
· Components cannot live for no more than 6 months 0
Safe
· Protects the user from sharp and moving parts 5
· Doesn’t Protects the user from stable components 4
· Teacher should make sure the kit is not harmful 2
Easy to assemble
· Clearly written instructions , simple language and pictures 5
· Clearly Visualized instructions 4
· Uses screw drivers 3
· Need the help of the teacher to assemble and disassemble 2
· Need the teacher to read and explain the instructions 1
Affordable
· Low cost and easily available materials 5
· High cost and easily available materials 2
· Low cost and not easily available materials 1
· High cost and not easily available materials 1
Efficient
· Meets the children interest 5
· Easy to follow the instruction 4
· It completes the hole kit round2
· Dose not interest the child 1
Educational
· Clearly demonstrates bothenergies 5
· Clearly Demonstrates how solar energy works 4
· Clearly Demonstrates how wind energy functions 3
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates both energies 2
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works 1
· Doesn’t clearly demonstrates how solar energy works 0
Environmentally friendly
· Recyclable materials 5
· No recyclable materials 2
· Rust 1
Portable
· Device can be carried by children’s 5
· Device is easy to move, have wheels 2
· Device need teacher help to move it Device is portable but very heavy 0
Durable
· Components can live for more than 2 years /function well 5
· Components are not easily broken 4
· Components can be broken easily 2
· Components can live for more than 2 years /doesn’t function well 1
· Components cannot live for no more than 6 months 0
Safe
· Protects the user from sharp and moving parts 5
· Doesn’t Protects the user from stable components 4
· Teacher should make sure the kit is not harmful 2
Easy to assemble
· Clearly written instructions , simple language and pictures 5
· Clearly Visualized instructions 4
· Uses screw drivers 3
· Need the help of the teacher to assemble and disassemble 2
· Need the teacher to read and explain the instructions 1
Affordable
· Low cost and easily available materials 5
· High cost and easily available materials 2
· Low cost and not easily available materials 1
· High cost and not easily available materials 1
Efficient
· Meets the children interest 5
· Easy to follow the instruction 4
· It completes the hole kit round2
· Dose not interest the child 1
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