User:Jacobfeldman1021/project 3

Project Preference
Project Preferences:

1) Further design and build composting bin + gas chamber system

2) Configure presentation for seminar on updated progress of the project

3) Work on coding for various systematic functions

Problem Statement
My group is continuing work on the compost bin and monitoring system. The goal of this project period is to hopefully finish building a working prototype, and to come up with some coding for the several different sensors used in the gas chamber.

Project Plan
The plan over the next three weeks is to continue building the different parts of the composting system. Additionally, the coding has to be completed for all of the different sensors. The frame for the bin must also be fitted to the bin correctly. Both fans must have coding done for them and be altered to perform relay tasks. I also have to find a way to attach the gas chamber to the bin so that they are functional together.

Week 1 Narrative
I brought additional vacuum tubing for the system. I decided to use the tubing for several different purposes. The first was to connect the gas chamber to the bin directly. I simply fed the tube through the side hole of the chamber and into the bottom of the compost bin. I cut another piece of tube, roughly one foot long, and placed it onto the top of one of the fans. This tube was to act as a chimney, so that when gas was being pulled out from the chamber, the person working on the compost bin wouldn't have to smell or breathe in the hazardous gases.

With the relays from the previous project period, all I had to do was solder them onto the inside of the fans. After I did this, I had to test the fans to make sure that they worked. By opening the fans, I connected and disconnected the switch near where the batteries are located, and the fan turned on accordingly. All I had to do at that point was figure out the coding for the fans so that I could have them switch directions when I wanted them to.

Week 2 Narrative
Over the course of the second week, my partner and I prepared for a presentation at the seminar class. Although it was a short presentation, roughly 5-10 minutes, we made a powerpoint showing our progress from day one to the day of the presentation. Since I had made a presentation of this same project a few weeks before with a different group, we had to show mostly the progress made since the last time everybody saw the project. Mostly, we talked about the fans and arduino coding that needed to be done for them, as well as the coding and setup of the gas and temperature sensors in the chamber. We demonstrated how the project ideally was supposed to work since we had most of the physical components in place. I believe we did fairly well with our presentation, and hopefully the rest of the engineering students and teachers would agree.

I used cementing glue on styrofoam to put on the inside and outside of the side hole of the gas chamber. This was to allow more surface area for the vacuum tube to be glued to, making it more structurally sound. I was introduced to a fellow engineering student who said he was able to help us with our coding, because both my partner and I are completely new to coding and have no experience with it thus far. Ultimately, our schedules did not permit for us to be able to meet up and work on the coding, so my partner and I were left to do some googling. This put us a bit behind schedule, so we decided with the spare amount of time we did have left, to work on the mechanics of the composting bin itself. We remeasured the holes and setup, and saw that adjustments had to be made. I cut a wider hole on the bottom of the bin so that the vacuum tube connecting it to the gas sensor could fit inside comfortably. With the last week of the project coming up, it was very important to try to assemble everything and try to at the very minimum test it out.

Week 3 Narrative
With an inability to accomplish the coding for the fans and sensors, and not actually having the sensors present, we had very little time and things to work on. I recut the bottom of the frame because the bin did not line up with it very well. Instead of a hole, I decided to make a V-shaped cut so that the tube could rest on the slant. This allowed for more flexibility and less difficult gluing problems. I took both of the fans, cut two different holes on the top of the chamber (the lid), and placed them side by side. I fed them both into the chamber using some of the extra vacuum tubing, and I planned on connecting them both together using a piece of PVC pipe. This was for the exhaustion of the gases, and the flow of the overall system. It was both practical and easier to connect the fans together as one, and it would work better, I believe, in accomplishing its goals of cyphening gas in and out of the system. The mechanical aspect of the project was nearly completed, and all that was left to do was to code everything, get the various sensors, and install them into the gas chamber.

With no realistic way to finish the project in time, we decided to slow down on building it because we lacked the proper materials, information, and most importantly time. I am very proud of what I was able to accomplish in the time allotted for this project, and I hope that someone next semester decides to pick it up and continue with it. I would be very interested in seeing a finished product, and to see if all of the work I put into it was worthwhile. Other than that, the project definitely helped me to understand basic engineering fundamentals and thought processes, as well as teamwork and reliability with others. I think that the general goal of this class was to accomplish just that, and so I believe that I was able to succeed accordingly. To anyone taking this class in the future, I would advise them to spend a lot of time working from home in their engineering notebooks, and to take the time to try several different ideas and theories before choosing a specific path. Also, choose a project that peaks your interest, not something that someone else is doing, or something that seems like it would just be easy.

Week 4 Narrative
--- no week 4 during of project time ---