WEEK 4.LAB: BUILDING A PROTOTYPE

Unfortunately, the solenoid valves we ordered on Tuesday didn't end up being delivered in time for this week's lab. However, with all of the materials we purchased on Wednesday, we were ready to have a productive lab period and build our prototype. Since we didn't have our valves, our main goal (as far as proof of concept goes) was to show water going from the reservoir to the volume chamber and to show the functionality of a drip watering system. We used the larger Tupperware container as a model water reservoir and the smaller container as the set-volume chamber. Additionally, we used some extra plastic from the casing of our electrical wire to construct our prototype drip watering ring.

The Tupperware-made prototype showed us that the water flow from reservoir to volume chamber was weaker than we'd anticipated. To combat this, we decided that, with our final product, the reservoir would be higher position-wise than the volume chamber. This way, gravity would work with our system and allow the most efficient operation. Aside from this pitfall, our drip watering ring worked well, exhibiting an even and spread out delivery of water (Figure 1).

 

Figure 1: Our prototype watering ring spreads water from a sink out into many small streams.

WEEK 4.2: HOME DEPOT (AGAIN)

On Wednesday of week 4, we met up and drove in Tommy's car to Home Depot. We got in and out quickly and were able to find everything we were looking for. Our only regret was that we were unable to find tupperware containers of our preferred size (Figure 1). We had hoped to find smaller containers but, realizing the tupperware containers are only going to be used to construct our prototype, decided to purchase the larger containers.

Figure 1: Home Depot's selection of Tupperware containers.

WEEK 4.1: ELECTRICALLY-OPERATED VALVES

This week, we met up on Tuesday, before our lab period. We decided that the next day we would meet up again and head to Home Depot with a list of materials to be purchased. The shopping list consisted of:

-flower seeds
-tupperware containers
-clear, 1/2" tubing
-flower pots
-electrical wire

We made the decision to purchase flower seeds upon realizing that the lettuce seeds were meant to be planted in a field or garden rather than a pot.

We realized that Home Depot didn't carry any electrically-operated valves, so we took to the internet to find a provider. We ended up making the purchase on adafruit.com, which offered two plastic water solenoid valves on next day air shipping for only $24.17 (Figure 1). We plan to have the valves by Thursday morning, in time for us to work with them during our lab period. Even if they don't arrive in time, we will still be able to use the resources and time offered during the lab period as well as the materials we will purchase from Home Depot to build a proof of concept prototype system.

Figure 1: A picture of the order confirmation screen for the valves we purchased.

WEEK 3.2: GATHERING MATERIALS (CONT.)

We took a group trip to the local Home Depot today and wound up purchasing these Lettuce seeds, as seen in Figure 2 below, to use for our project. The goal is to have a working model soon in the upcoming weeks and will be using said model to grow lettuce. This will hopefully be able to show the class the fruits of our labor. We researched online and found that lettuce takes roughly four to five weeks which would fit the time frame of the quarter perfectly.

Figure 2: Lettuce seeds purchased from Home Depot

WEEK 3.1: GATHERING MATERIALS

This meeting, we focussed on acquiring an alarm clock for our invention. The alarm clock is an important aspect because it will be rewired to activate the watering system at specific time intervals. We purposely went for an analog style clock, as seen in Figure 1 below, rather than a digital one in order to avoid any unnecessary electronics and/or wiring. The current plan of action is to disassemble the clock in a future lab period in order to understand how it works.

Figure 1: The purchased analog alarm clock

WEEK 3.LAB

This lab period was mainly focused on making a design for the reservoir tank. The image created below, Figure 1, was made using Creo Parametric. With the design set, we will be shortly creating the proposal to use one of Drexel's 3D printers. Furthermore, more of the required materials were decided upon and will be purchased shortly.

Figure 1: Creo Model of Tank

WEEK 2.2: RESEARCHING MATERIALS

The point of today's meeting was to ultimately figure out what specific materials we need to purchase. The creation of the reservoir tank will be hopefully 3D printed. The rest of our supplies will be purchased via the local Home Depot and anything else will be purchased on via Amazon or Ebay. On the off chance we can't print out the tank, we will purchase a tank such as the one in Figure 3 from Amazon.

Figure 3: A standard reservoir bottle [1]

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Dorman-603-100-Coolant-Reservoir-Bottle/dp/B000E300OE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1429328287&sr=8-3&keywords=reservoir+tank

WEEK 2.1: CREATING THE PROCESS

Meeting up today, we decided to write down the process of how our project works. In our concept notes below in Figure 2, we have made a simple procedure with notes for each step. Our new idea was to incorporate an alarm clock in order to make our watering system automatic. The plan is to rewire a battery powered alarm clock and have the product go off twice a day for maximum efficiency. We will also attempt to have interchangeable of different sizes in order to expand the usability to potentially any plant.

Figure 2: Our rough interpretation of how the product will function

WEEK 2.LAB

Today's lab period was mainly focused on getting professional feedback on our design proposal further researching our topic. We learned that when it comes to explaining the product, the description needs to be as concise as possible. Relating back to the project itself, a rough idea was sketched out and can be seen in Figure 1 below. The idea is to have a reservoir tank that will supply the drip system with water. The bottom of the sketch also portrays our concept of a drip system.

Figure 1: A rough sketch of the project

WEEK 1.2: TENTATIVE BUDGET

We met up again on Sunday of Week 1. We discussed how we would structure our design proposal and found ourselves even more motivated to move forward with this project.
  
We began a weekly timeline for completion of our product, talked about all the materials and resources we may need, including the use of 3D printing for some of the system's main components, and came to the conclusion that our budget for this project would fall somewhere around $88.94. (Figure 1). The bulk of our money will be going towards watering equipment, which entails non-porous tubing and various pipes. We would likely have to put much more money into constructing the tank and chamber components of our system if we weren't able to 3D print them for free.

 

 Figure 1: A cohesive budget prediction.

WEEK 1.1: WATER PRESSURE ISSUE

During our first out of class meeting on Saturday of Week 1, we brainstormed for possible issues that we might have to overcome in order to create a successful product. These problems involve issues of precision, accuracy, consistency, and the application of laws of physics within the real world. One major decision we made specifically to avoid a faulty product was deciding that our watering system would deliver water to plants based on volume of water delivered as opposed to being based on water flow and time. We applied concepts of physics to determine that water pressure, which water flow is dependent on, is a property that varies based on changing volume, and is therefore unreliable as a means of consistent water delivery (figure 3). Instead, we decided that our watering system would deliver water through fixed volume chambers, ensuring the same amount of water would be delivered to plants regardless of the volume of water in the system's main tank.

 Figure 3: A chart depicting the relationship between pressure and volume of a substance. [1]

References:

[1] Gas Laws & Physics. [Online]. Available FTP: http://www.sdm.scot.nhs.uk Directory: gas_laws/
  

WEEK 1.LAB: FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH AND MOTIVATION

During week 1, we decided that, for our freshman design project, we would be creating an automatic plant-watering system. This seemed like the best fit for our specific strengths, considering Ryan possesses extensive knowledge on gardening and plants (thanks to doing landscaping with his dad) and all of the members are proficient in the field of product design. We found ourselves excited and eager to create a functioning product and began to see this project as more of an educational opportunity than a chore. 

We conducted research on plant-watering system and, on Ryan's suggestions, decided that creating a drip watering system would be the most intelligent decision to make. Drip watering systems consist of rubber tubing with tiny incisions made throughout, allowing water, when it flows through the system, to be distributed evenly around a plant. These types of systems are displayed in figure 1.

 

Figure1: A medium sized drip-watering ring around a tree trunk. [1]

References: