So today we finally managed to grab a bit of Andy’s time to discuss our projects direction and where we could improve on. I think these talks are good for any group since at this stage, fairly quite a lot of groups are still in that stage where they’re still unsure of what to do.
One thing that im glad about is the attention that Andy had brought up with our complexity of our switching system. I think that with how we branch out the objects will be the highlight of this networks system we are trying to achieve. Since we are aiming for a distributed network the system will have to be complex enough to know where to direct the objects even if one rail was down.
Weve also decided that we’d narrow our idea more, since it seems to be all over the place. Our idea is basically a mailing service but only a mailing service within a small facility. We based this project on our previous project which focuses on solar flares and electromagnetic storms. Its essentially to keep communication between people. In a modern sort of way even though you could send a message in person. Its an ease of getting back to simpler methods.
Above is a picture of the current switching system according to Lucy is called the flip flop system with zig zags to slow down the mails to a certain speed.
Here is a more detailed look at our switching system that would be located at each station at a high point. At the moment we are relying on different levels and pivot points that will be controlled by using a counterweight system that will react according to the weight of the object.
Its a bit rough atm for me to understand since i have been focusing more on the construction of the stirling engine. Whilst this is a group effort we have divided ourselves into two groups that would work on either the rail or the engine. So Ben and i are in charge of the engine whilst Lucy and Tim is in charge of the rail system.
I think one of the challenges with building this project is the rail system which would require a fairly advance and unique way of switching objects if they aren’t in the correct station.
In this drawing however it only focuses on how to will propel a object or lift an object to the height we need.
At this stage it is fairly basic and i still think we need a more elaborate and unqiue way of transferring objects around our network. Since stirling engines have been made before i think the highlight of this network will have to be the switching system in which it arranges objects without the use of electricity and minimal manual input.
So Ben has arrived back from his trip to uk. We can finally run over some ideas that we have came up during his absence and hopefully he agrees. We want him to agree since he has the director and voice to elaborate our idea further.
So basically we have presented him with our idea of the stirling engines powering an elevator that would bring it up high a certain point and eventually send the object through a rail system that uses gravitational energy to propel it towards its destination.
It shows on the picture that we have four major points that would require a stirling engine each so that it can receive objects and propel them to another node if not at the correct station.
Its good that he has complied with our idea and now we can start on building the stirling engines.
Whilst Ben and i prepare for the construction of the stirling engines Lucy and Tim find new ways of moving objects around. With this marble machine that is somewhat a Rube Goldberg inspired machine it definitely shows a way in which to mange objects easily by putting in a weight sensitive lever. It does it in a way when it reaches a certain amount of marbles it will tip releasing them to continue the journey to prevent clog ups and traffic. They also implement a vortex funnel in that also slows down the count of marbles flowing into the mechanical elevator mechanism they have which in my opinion could work well in our project.
I really do like the construction of these machines although making it precise in our project may prove to be quite difficult since all of us in our group doesn’t have that much mechanical engineering experience.
I still think that it is still quite possible for us to make. I just hope we can finish it on time.
Here is another engine from the same guy that had made the first one with more improvements to it. As you can see he has added the air pump at the side to help cool down the displacer inside the can. The more massive the temperature difference the more power you will get since the bottom half of the can will be so hot whilst the top of the can is cold enough to cool down the displacer once it reaches to the top.
I think with this design it has much higher efficiency than the other stirling engine since it grabs more air to cool down the hot displacer. The only thing though is that this design only comes with a pdf for instructions which aren’t as clear to follow compared to the other engine that has a video to show how it was made.
Both engines are quite in theory easy to make, although im still not confident as to making them work.
Here is one of the stirling engines that Lucy has found that could potentially work with our project. It is made from cans and tins that we could surely find and gather. With stirling engines. To make it output more power there needs to be a massive temperature difference. Hot at the bottom and cold at the top to get that rapid transference of energy.
Whats useful is that this comes with instructions that makes it a lot easier for Ben and i to fabricate and complete.
Studio 3 - New engine
After researching on steam engines, we found an alternative solution to building a steam engine. The new engine is called a stirling engine which basically runs on hot air that is contained which then pushes up on a displacer moving pistons and cranks until it has cooled down again.
The reason of change is that a steam engine requires alot of precision of getting it all airtight at the same time be able to control that pressure without it exploding, which basically means that stirling engines are a lot easier to manage and safer to work with in a studio environment.
The steam engine requires water that will need an exhaust pipe to let it out although with the stirling engine it doesn’t require one therefore making it more cost effective.
I think this change is engine has no difference in our meaning with this project since both are alternative ways to electricity, but i think its just the availability in materials and cost that make it better for the change. With steam engines we would have needed some heavy duty containers whilst stirling engines can be made from everyday resources that we’d find at home. The only thing that worries me though is that finding that contextual meaning to why we we will be using everyday materials compared to fabricated materials.
reflection
With this project it feels like its quite challenging to the point where we can only achieve to a certain point. I mean there’s a whole lot of factors to consider specifically with our project. Since we based this on our film about solar flares affecting communication with other people through digital means, it means that we have to make a solution that doesn’t require electricity at all.
That leads us to a point where we have to make a system using almost older methods of transferring messages. A system that would send mail to different nodes but in order to do so, we would have some knowledge of engineering principles that we haven’t learnt yet.
On top of that we have to maintain our creativity as well. It sounds all good in paper but i still feel as if were missing a need for conceptual statements, and why we are doing things in the way they are now.
Rube Goldberg machine. He is one of our main source of ideas. His machines and contraptions help us to find innovative ways of transferring an object from point a to be using different methods and devices.
