User:Mitchell~enwikiversity/ENES100/project 2

My Instructor's user page which points to this.

My task was
Begin the blood cooler project
 * Read over previous team's failure and success
 * Brainstorm ways to seal opening over an arm of any size
 * Brainstorm how to keep water from leaking

What I did

 * Found the official Blood Cooler Project Page and linked all current team members to this page
 * Found that no good CAD drawings exist of current model. Began to draw current blood cooler, making future brainstorming easy:

These images were drawn using more detailed tools in PTC CREO. Original drawings were one single blood cooler part. These new drawings are many assembled parts, as seen in exploded view.


 * 1) 1. Air compressor sucks air through air hose creating a vacuum inside the massive "glove"
 * 2) 2. This vacuum pulls the blood from a person's core into the glove by stopping the normal constriction of tissue and skin due to contact with something cold
 * 3) 3. Frigid water is pumped (pump not shown) through a tube. During circulation, water passes through a copper pipe thus cooling the pipe
 * 4) 4. When hand grasps copper pipe inside of glove, it is quickly cooled
 * 5) 5. The blood that had been pulled to hand is now cooled.
 * 6) 6. When this blood is cooled, it then circulates, cooling a person's core

Proposed next steps

 * Get diameters for blood cooler pieces
 * Re-shape and tweak CAD blood cooler to better resemble actual model
 * Continue to brainstorm how to prevent cold water leakage
 * Continue to brainstorm how to seal vacuum around arms of various sizes
 * Conceive and order needed air hose parts necessary to power blood cooler and other projects (including turbine project)

My task was

 * Get diameters for blood cooler pieces
 * Add proper diameters to CAD model
 * Re-design blood cooler to prevent cold water leakage
 * Brainstorm how to seal vacuum around any size arm

What I did
Measured diameters of current blood cooler and added them to CREO.

Came up with a new concept for blood cooler:
 * Water container and glove are separate units attached only with the water hose and chain.
 * Water hose caries cold water to glove
 * Chain acts as a safety. Keeps glove near water container. If glove is yanked away from cool water, chain will take impact instead of hoses.
 * ̈Water container features:
 * Shoulder straps for transporting from one location to another
 * A base to sit on the ground
 * The capacity to be hung on a wall via shoulder straps
 * Screw-on lid for easy replacement of water
 * Glove features:
 * Minimal parts, lightweight
 * Less prone to breaking
 * User only needs to hold glove, not cool water
 * Glove clips directly onto the side of the water container for easy storage and transportation. (see image of cooler on wall below)

''-Images not drawn to scale. For conceptual use only. Actual glove will probably be close to the size of the water pouch.''

-Hoses, chain, and power cord will all be longer than shown.


 * Opening for glove:
 * Found this vegetable steamer, sometimes called a collapsible strainer or a pop-up steamer insert, that could be perfect for the glove's opening. A cheap one can be bought from Target.
 * Each metal finger closes and opens at the same time, perfect for widening and closing the opening depending on user arm size
 * Need to figure out how to seal the air around the holes. Could either modify a purchased strainer or create a new device using an identical concept.
 * Watch the first 20 seconds of this video to see a collapsible strainer open and close.

Reasoning behind new design:
 * Could do the same thing with a camera Iris, but this design seems cheaper, more easy to manufacture, and more easy to maintain. Could try both and see which works best.
 * Glove can be quickly removed from glove-holder for comfortable use. Can even work while still inside holder.
 * If hung on wall, can create "cooling stations" in a gym or by a track or pool
 * Less likely to leak because hose and plug come out of top of container
 * Easy to transport/carry
 * Maintenance, easy to repair individual components or replace water pump
 * With a solid base, cooler can sit near poolside for individual use
 * Opening should work for almost every arm size

Proposed next steps

 * Disassemble current blood cooler
 * More specifically, remove current water container
 * Create vegetable steamer-style opening for arm
 * Find pouch for water container
 * Create parts list of new blood cooler design
 * Analyze cost of new blood cooler design
 * Analyze pros and cons of new blood cooler design

My task was

 * Brainstorm a way to make the opening of the blood cooler airtight
 * Brainstorm a way to allow this airtight opening to accommodate virtually any size arm
 * The opening must be one with the blood cooler, no separate sleeves, etc.
 * The opening must require minimal user operation. Ideally, the user should only need one arm to seal the opening.
 * Must be cost-effective. Preferably less than $100, ideally less than $20.

What I did

 * Considered using a sleeve with drawstring
 * Similar designs had been tested previously without success
 * Considered using a camera-lens-iris style opening
 * Original blood cooler had camera-lens opening. Cost > $100 constraint
 * Few irises are large enough for a wide arm. Those that are would be extremely expensive
 * Standard camera irises probably not airtight
 * CAD irises to print have many of the above issues.
 * Drawing original CAD model would be very complex.
 * Similar to camera iris, but more the shape of a sleeve, is a 7$ vegetable steamer

Video link:
 * Used a vegetable steamer to create possible one-size-fits-all opening. Air tightness not yet tested.
 * Created this video of the process used to build the prototype, which could later become final. The purpose of the video is for future project teams to see exactly what was attempted, in the event that it works and they wish to repeat it, or it does not work and they want to conclude what may have been overlooked.
 * Never have light source directly behind the camera, a shadow will induce.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogv0_RoZ4t0 Two-minute video of universal opening enclosing around objects of different sizes and how the apparatus was constructed.]

Proposed next steps

 * Connect opening mechanism to mouth of blood cooler
 * Check for leaks in air, make as airtight as necessary
 * Allow for easier opening and closing of device
 * Begin work on team project page and presentation
 * Conduct an experiment to determine minimum amount of air vacuum necessary to prevent blood vessels and capillaries from collapsing

My task was

 * Add to the team project page
 * Design and prototype a new opening for the blood cooler

What I did
Project Page:


 * Added vegetable steamer to list of failed designs on team project page
 * Failed because air could leak between the different prongs of the steamer, so it was not completely airtight
 * Added CREO image of blood cooler
 * Added description of how cooler works below theory of operation

Prototyping:


 * Came up with new theory about opening for blood cooler:
 * Opening has been over-thought so far
 * In trying to make the glove adjustable, it has been assumed that the glove has to be adjustable at all times
 * In other words, someone with a huge arm would have been able to use the glove seconds after someone with a petite arm
 * New goal:
 * Re-think the opening entirely. Glove has to be able to be adjusted in advance for one person's use. Adjustment must be easy, self-explanetory, and able to occur in less than five minutes.
 * After adjustment, opening is at a fixed position. Swimmer can swim laps back-and-forth for as long as he/she wants, cooling off without adjustment at his/her leisure
 * When that swimmer is done, new swimmer can re-adjust to their size in advance before swimming his/her laps.

Interchangeable Openings
 * Since glove isn't portable, could have several entirely different openings chained to glove. User would have to remove old opening and attach the one that fits their arm

Design Matrix:
Items ranked on scales from 1-5 Summary:
 * The vegetable steamer is too complex and had the fewest points in the design matrix.
 * The interchangeable openings is simple to build and reliably airteight but is not user-friendly or cost-effective.
 * The Barrel is bulky but scored well in the most important categories.
 * The cone had the most points overall but is more complex and not necessarily airtight.

Barrel and cone should both be prototyped and the best of the two used in implementation.

Proposed next steps
Design, construct, and implement barrel and cone concepts.