Define A Problem
We divided up the work so that we can efficiently and effectively accomplish what we need to do. A way to do this was to create a gantt chart which evenly divided up the work between me and my partner. This is going to make sure that all the work gets done on time.
Team Responsibilities:
My responsibilities during this project have been to help in research and brainstorming, attain the inexpensive materials that we have chosen to use, and help to assemble and test the prototype.
Ryan's responsibilities during this project have been to help in research and brainstorming, work on the weebly writing requirements, help in assembling the prototype and testing it.
Team Responsibilities:
My responsibilities during this project have been to help in research and brainstorming, attain the inexpensive materials that we have chosen to use, and help to assemble and test the prototype.
Ryan's responsibilities during this project have been to help in research and brainstorming, work on the weebly writing requirements, help in assembling the prototype and testing it.
Brainstorm
Research and Generate Ideas
Explore Possibilities
Materials Tested: Carbon, Cotton, Sand, Small Pebbles and Coffee Filters
Carbon: The carbon by itself only purified the water to about 400 turbidity value. It will be a useful component in the final product though.
Cotton: The cotton by itself got the dirty water down to a turbidity value of about 370 which is a little better than the carbon. We are planning on using this at the very bottom of our filter.
Sand: The sand by itself got rid of major particles but left a cloudy water as the product. That cloudy water also gave a turbidity value of around 400.
Small pebbles: By themselves they did not filter the water very well. It caught some particles and left a product that still had a turbidity value at about 400.
Coffee Filters: The filters actually filtered the water good bit but not to well. It got rid of the big particles but most of the small particles made it through making it still cloudy. The product had a turbidity value at around 390.
Carbon: The carbon by itself only purified the water to about 400 turbidity value. It will be a useful component in the final product though.
Cotton: The cotton by itself got the dirty water down to a turbidity value of about 370 which is a little better than the carbon. We are planning on using this at the very bottom of our filter.
Sand: The sand by itself got rid of major particles but left a cloudy water as the product. That cloudy water also gave a turbidity value of around 400.
Small pebbles: By themselves they did not filter the water very well. It caught some particles and left a product that still had a turbidity value at about 400.
Coffee Filters: The filters actually filtered the water good bit but not to well. It got rid of the big particles but most of the small particles made it through making it still cloudy. The product had a turbidity value at around 390.
Select an Approach
Develop a Design Proposal
Model/Prototype
Testing
First Test: Turbidity value of 90
Second Test: Turbidity value of 74
Final Test: Turbidity value of 48
Our original "final design" was not even close to the turbidity value that we needed. It was about 40 away. We made a few revisions but nothing to major and got it down to a turbidity value of about 74 which was better but not good enough. We made some final major revisions and finally got the turbidity value to 48 which was below the value of 50 that we needed to reach.
Second Test: Turbidity value of 74
Final Test: Turbidity value of 48
Our original "final design" was not even close to the turbidity value that we needed. It was about 40 away. We made a few revisions but nothing to major and got it down to a turbidity value of about 74 which was better but not good enough. We made some final major revisions and finally got the turbidity value to 48 which was below the value of 50 that we needed to reach.
Refine
Our original "final design" was not that similar wit our actual final design. Our actual final design is what we able to achieve a turbidity value of 50 with. At first we had several natural materials (such as sand charcoal and pebbles) and realized that that was not filtering the water enough. So after we tested out first prototype, we revised out new prototype to have more absorbent materials and less natural. We took away the sand we were using and added in layers of cotton filter, sponges and tissues. Those revised layers were what got us below the turbidity value of 50.
Communicate Processes and Results
Conclusion/Reflection
This project was actually very enjoyable for me. I believe this was a nice project to reintroduce the full design process to us after having strayed away from it the past few years. I believe Ryan and I worked very well together, since we were able to get done our project within the time frame. We started by making a Gantt chart to plan out our steps for the week. We researched different do-it-yourself water filters online to start to get an idea for how we were gonna filter 400+ ntu water down to under 50 ntu within a week. Our first design we tested was composed of carbon, sand, and pebbles stacked with the finest material at the bottom. This design only brought the ntu down to around 120 or so, so we decided to use some different materials. We used coffee filters to separate the layers, and used cotton aswell to add a bit more filtration. This still only brought the ntu down to around 80 or so, so we decided to add 2 completely new materials: sponges and tissues. These materials by themselves didn't do too much filtering, but when we added them to our final filter design, the ntu was brought down to our lowest point, 48 ntu. We were both excited and proud that we had finally gotten a filter to do what we needed it to do after working on it for so many consecutive days. For next year, some students may need an extra day or so just to finish their weebly's and whatnot, but other than that I really enjoyed this project and thought it was a great project to kick off our final year.