User:Chong Tian Lin/ENES-100/Project 1

My Instructor's course page which points to this.

Project Preference
I chose to do an Escher Demonstration project.

Problem Statement
We are asked to design a system with a reliable structure that demonstrates the "Escher Illusion Effect" The infrastructure will have to be stable enough to support the flow of water or other materials only towards one direction while creating an Escher effect through a designated camera angle.

Week 1 Narrative
During this week, I managed to come up with a viable design to present the Escher effect. It involves a rigid platform with a slight angle in terms of the horizontal ground. One end of the platform is in contact with the ground while the other side is in midair. In order to support the platform, there are 2 pillars on each side of the platform, yielding a total of 4 pillars. The angle between the pillars and the platform will have to be at least 90 degrees or more so that when the camera is tilted, it will capture an illusion that the platform is slanted the other way and the water appears to be flowing up the sloped platform.

Below is an overall design diagram of the concept that was described earlierː

Based on the design that I created, I started to build a mini prototype in order to test the stability of the structure and whether its effective or not as a demonstration of the Escher effect. I used a lightweight and easy-to-carry styrofoam sheet  as the platform and I cut out cardboard paper towel cylinders.







Week 2 Narrative
In this week, The first prototype was constructed. Then, the end cup was attached to catch the output and poured water into the higher end of the tubing. Unfortunately, there was too much surface tension between the water and tube, causing a congestion in the flow.

Possible Solutions

 * Widening the tubing to allow for higher rate of flow
 * Changing to beads or other solid material to prevent surface tension
 * Increasing the angle of decline of the platform by lengthening the pillars and allowing for a stronger gravitational pull
 * Lubricating the inner tubing with alcohol to minimize surface tension

The original design was modified by switching to beads that are less than 1/4cm in diameter in order to fit through the tube. The angle was also steepened for the main platform from 15 degrees to 35 degrees by lengthened the support pillars to have a stronger force and faster acceleration due to gravity so that friction is guaranteed to be overcome. The tubing itself was also stretched more linearly to avoid sharp turns that could potentially create more traffic bottleneck in the flow.

Next Steps
So far, the beads have little to no problem of consistently rolling through the tubing and reaching their destination. They are slightly hard to see as the beads themselves are colorless. In the future, colors will be applied to enhance the visibility and begin on experimenting for the optimal camera angle to film the demo.



Week 3 Narrative
During this week, a more matured prototype was produced by combining both designs from Yuchen and I. It is our latest prototype and will be demonstrated during the engineering seminar next week along with a PowerPoint presentation that highlights the accomplishments so far and various obstacles in the last 3 weeks.

Major Enhancements

 * Pink tape with a high friction coefficient was used to create a channel/track that kept the object straight while it is running down the slope on the main platform (replaced the water tubing and diameter size limits entirely)
 * A sturdier piece of plastic was used as the main platform as opposed to the flimsy Styrofoam before
 * A floor board along with a cutout of a room was attached surrounding the main platform to cover up background distractions and suggest a level environment by angling the entire room 15 degrees
 * Water was



Video of the initial run with a single marble was tested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjjT-_trwpI

A parallel track was later added and filmed in a dark room with a spotlight. Marbles of different sizes were tested side by side and simultaneously through each race.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoxOri6dcBM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3pGX-uO6LQ

Next Steps

 * Enlarge the prototype into a full scale product
 * Play with different type of marbles (material, volume, mass, etc)
 * Test out more unique track designs

Week 4 Narrative
In this final week dedicated to project 1, there were 5 main designs of track patterns that were designed and tested. Many of these designs incorporated an improvement of aesthetics and more unique marble movements to watch.All tracks were tested with a 5 degree angle of decline and a 0.75 inch diameter glass marble.



New Designs
Design 1: Zig-zag This design is mainly composed of 5 inch tapes strips that covers a zig zag shaped track that alternates left and right turns continuously.

The railings from pinching the tapes allowed a smooth curvature in the track path and also turns the marble and guides it from going on a spontaneous tangent.

Next Steps

 * Try to construct the track designs with more reliable and design-oriented materials
 * Incorporate friction into the track at conjunction points to enhance certain designs
 * Develop more track designs that could lead to a second floor platform