Overview of Status of Analysis, Design, Fabrication, Tests, etc.
We are beginning the risk reduction on thermocouple placement and ensuring that the wind tunnel is sufficiently sized and the fan is sufficiently powerful so that it is possible to reach fully developed flow.
Accomplishments from Previous Week
Obtained hot plates for testing thermocouple placement
Modified wind tunnel so that flowmeter can be inserted to test velocity profile
Began testing labview code for gathering thermocouple data - the current DAQ may not be enough resolution (14 bit) for the thermocouple
Measured velocity profiles inside wind tunnel for varying input voltage values for the smaller fan
Goals for Next Week (list names after each item). Use specific and measurable objectives.
Calculate resolution of DAQ (Anthony)
Determine whether necessary for experiment to achieve fully developed flow (Tian)
Attach different sized fans onto wind tunnel (Liz)
Setup wind tunnel to be compatible with hot plates (Austin)
Sponsor Comments from Last Meeting and Actions Taken to Address these Comments
Using an RTD will require building a signal conditioning circuit for each RTD attached. As a result, we are strongly leaning toward using thermocouples instead. There also have been few issues with reduction of reliability of the thermocouples in the thermo-plume experiment, even with the thermocouples sitting in a water tank.
Steve Roberts has a thermocouple welder, so we just need thermocouple wire to make the thermocouples.
Instructor Comments from Last Meeting and Actions Taken to Address these Comments
Dr. T strongly recommended looking into RTD’s over thermocouples, but we spoke to the sponsor about this and are still leaning toward thermocouples (see sponsor comments section).
We have begun looking into different power converters and types of heat pads that we can use.
Risks and Areas of Concern
Is it acceptable to use a temperature controlling heat pad for the experiment?
Do we need to fabricate different types of fins for the heat transfer experiment?