Principles of Engineering

Title: Professional Interview

Name: Aman Balam

Class Period: 3A

Home Campus: Heritage High School

Project Objective: Gain more knowledge about a chosen engineering field by speaking to a mentor to plan your goals for the future. 

Design Process: I first reached out to potential mentors outside of my family regarding Mechanical Engineering 

Learning Target: The purpose of this project was to gain a better understanding of the tasks and requirements it took to become an engineer in your chosen field. 

Personal Reflection: This project was one of the harder projects because I had to interact with and meet with a professional to gain more knowledge about my field. However, I was able to gain valuable information that will be essential as I decide what career to pursue. 

Title: Compound Machine Design Project

Name: Aman Balam

Group Members: Kaitlin, Reyansh, Sujal

Class Period: 3A

Home Campus: Heritage High School

Project Objective: In this project, you will design and build a compound machine following the design constraints

Design Process: We first brainstormed ideas on what type of compound machines we could create and after we decided on which one we were going to build, we actually went ahead and built our contraption. Then, we made annotated isometric drawings that detailed the parts of our creation. Finally, the last part was the testing phase, our creation would have to move a 1000g weight  up 6 inches, and we tested this in front of the class. 

Learning Target: Identify different simple machines and how they can be used in conjunction as well as calculate IMA.

Personal Reflection: 

This project was very influential in my understanding of simple machines and how they could be put together to move objects, and how they could be used to make the movement of objects extremely easy. First, I was also able to visualize how AMA, IMA, and efficiency were essential in the movement of the different parts. I am proud of our creation especially because I contributed a significant amount to it and helped in its creation, as well as completing all of the Mechanical Advantage Calculations required. This project was one of the more enjoyable ones as it helped me showcase my mechanical skills as well as my mathematical knowledge. Additionally, the challenge of trying to lift the 1000 g block was exciting and promoted competition among groups. The simple machines that we used in our system are a wheel and axle, a gear system, a pulley, lever, screw system with a worm gear, and an inclined plane. Calculations for the pulley was the easiest since their IMA is just the number of strings were present. However, the screw was somewhat challenging, because of the steps involved in finding the pitch to calculate the MA. However, the great thing about this project is that it helped me improve in this category, I believe I can better incorporate more simple machines and I have learned more about how they all work together.

Title: Engineering Fields Project

Name: Aman Balam

Class Period: 3A

Home Campus: Heritage High School

Project Objective: Create an electronic poster on your chosen field of Engineering. Include information about what an Engineer might do on a typical day, what is the typical starting salary for that field, what education is needed to find a job, and why might you be interested in pursuing a career in that Engineering field.  

Design Process: I first had to identify an Engineering Field that I was interested in. Upon some consideration I chose Electrical Engineering because I wished to major in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering complemented that field. Then I began to research various sites to gain information about  average salary, work day and benefits. Finally, I selected an appropriate image and cited my sources. 

Learning Target: To perform some preliminary research on one of the many engineering fields and present the work in the form of a poster.

Personal Reflection: 

This project helped me learn more about the field of Electrical Engineering and especially why they were important. By doing this project I got more insight about the competitiveness of an Electrical Engineer and the requirements to become one. I was very surprised to see how you only needed a bachelor's degree to get started and succeed in your job. The great thing about doing this project is that I am considering a shift to becoming an Electrical Engineer which I wouldn't have even considered as a job without undertaking this project. Overall, I am now more curious about the field and want to explore more about it. 

Title: Hydrogen Fuel Car Cell

Name: Aman Balam

Group Members: Sujal and Reyansh

Class Period: 3A

Home Campus: Heritage High School

Project Objective: A third of the energy used by people is used for transportation – mostly for cars, trucks, and planes. These are mostly fueled by gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, which we get from petroleum. To use another source of energy like wind, solar, or nuclear energy, the energy must be stored so that it is available on the vehicle. Rechargeable batteries are one familiar technology for storing energy for later use. Another technology uses fuel cells with hydrogen gas. How would a hydrogen-fueled car work? 

Design Process: We first created the car by following the instructions outlined in the PowerPoint. Then we connected the Hydrogen Fuel Cell to the Car by using jumper cables. Then we recorded a 5-6 second video of the car moving 

Learning Target: In this activity, your team will power a small vehicle using a fuel cell. You will use the electricity to separate hydrogen from oxygen, harness the hydrogen, and then use the hydrogen as fuel. 

Personal Reflection: 

This project was very helpful in helping me understand how the hydrogen fuel cell works and seeing it work in action was very influential because it amazed me that it used so many processes and was able to move. It was also nice to see another practical aspect of breadboarding after constructing the series and parallel circuits. Overall, this project was very enjoyable in that it utilized basic electrical engineering to cause movement. Additionally, I liked learning about the different types of fuel sources from the notes I took over the energy sources. It was especially interesting to see the practical application of one of those fuel sources. However, electricity is very difficult to understand, and I still don't feel that I have breadboarding fully understood, so I will continue to learn and practice solving electrical problems, using voltage, current, and resistance until I am satisfied with my understanding. 

Title: Renewable Insulation Project

Name: Aman Balam

Group Members: Kaitlin, Reyansh, Sujal

Class Period: 3A

Home Campus: Heritage High School

Project Objective: Your team will design a renewable composite insulation material to trap the heat that is generated from a lightbulb inside a box. 

Design Process: We first discussed materials that could be used as insulation and took notes down on those potential insulators, then Kaitlin created a simple insulating device using our ideas and the examples provided in class. Then we took data on how much heat we permitted to escape and how much the internal and external temperatures varied with the Vernier Graphical Analysis tool. After we found this data, we uploaded it to a spreadsheet and created a graph as well. Then we finally did calculations to calculate the exact amount by which heat was exchanged within our system. 

Learning Target: How heat escapes and how different types of insulating material work to effectively retain heat. Learn about specific calculations that solve for the net temperature change and insulation. 

Personal Reflection: 

I learned many things from this project. First, I gained more information about the general equation to calculate heat through Q=MC∆T and how to track that heat as time passes. Moreover, I learned how to use graphical analysis tools and was able to see how the temperature changed. It was surprising to learn about heat from electricity just earlier though, and I was surprised by how many physics concepts are being incorporated into these projects. The calculations were enjoyable and I was able to understand how the formulas all came together. But there are some things I can improve on. First, I didn't truly understand how to properly graph the data. I didn't understand how to represent the two temperature changes until I asked for help. I also have to be more attentive to my data, I accidentally messed up on a calculation because I had entered the room temperature instead of the final temperature, which got me a skewed result. Overall, this project was fun to work on as it had a practical application to everyday life, and I was able to answer questions about how blankets and sweaters truly warmed up the human body.  

Title: Breadboarding Activity

Name: Aman Balam

Class Period: 3A

Home Campus: Heritage High School

Project Objective: You will design 3 circuits on TinkerCAD and Physically. A Series, Parallel, and Combination Circuit will be modeled in TinkerCAD and then constructed. 

Design Process: I first did some preliminary notes on Voltage, Current, and Resistance. Then we were given a PowerPoint with information on how to create a TinkerCAD account and how to model these circuits online. Mrs. Heffernan went over the circuits in detail and demonstrated how the circuits would work. I followed her advice and Mr.Medcalf's advice and completed the Series and Parallel Circuits. Then I completed the Combination Circuit using the Parallel Circuit as a base and incorporated a series circuit into it as well. Finally, I modeled those Circuits online with LED lights on a physical breadboard.

Learning Target: This activity will provide you with an introduction to voltage, current, resistance, series circuits, parallel circuits, and Ohm’s Law. Your team will construct circuits using various electronic components. You will use a digital multimeter to measure properties within the circuit.

Personal Reflection: 

This project was a lot to take in. Before this assignment, I had completed some basic problems regarding circuits in which I had to solve for Resistance, Voltage, or Current given some of the other variables, which I had completed with ease. But this project was different, it took me a while to get used to TinkerCAD and understand how to connect my LED lights properly. I had to understand where to put the positive and negative jumper wires along with how to align the Push Button which took time to understand. The most confusing part of this assignment was simply understanding that where you placed an object on the breadboard had a significant impact on the flow of the current. However, I was able to learn and complete this project. Overall, this project was valuable in learning more about electricity and helped me understand more about the ways to harness electricity and see its application today. 

Title: Truss Design Activity

Name: Aman Balam

Class Period: 3A

Home Campus: Heritage High School

Project Objective: The objective of this project is to construct a truss according to design requirements from an option of Truss 1 or 2 and then test that truss in the Structural Stress Analyzer

Learning Target: Understand how to both build the truss and calculate the force and the type (Tension/Compression) on separate members of different types of trusses

Personal Reflection: Overall, I was surprised by many things during this project. First, I was surprised by how much the maximum force varied on glue, gussets, type of truss, and members. My specific truss held 35lbs of force which was impressive given that my Truss #1 had only 3 members and still managed to hold that amount. I was also able to understand more about how trusses worked and what was needed to calculate the efficiency of the truss. Alongside this, I learned more about how simply gluing the truss properly together changed the maximum force that could be held. I also was able to practice the calculations that I had learned and also checked myself using MDSolids. I also did run into some problems such as having to redo my members to make sure they lined up properly and were able to get glued together. I had accidentally cut them wrong so I had to redo them by realigning the balsa wood and cutting them more accurately. This forced me to take things slowly and pace myself so I prevented myself from making such mistakes in the future. Overall, I was able to learn about the steps required to build a truss and then implement them. 

Title: Machine Control Design

Name: Aman Balam

Group Members: Kaitlin, Reyansh, Sujal

Class Period: 3A

Home Campus: Heritage High School

Project Objective: Your team selects three of six different types of marbles with which to work. The six choices of marbles are clear glass, red glass, multicolor glass, steel, plastic, and wood.  Your team must design and build a prototype with controls to receive a batch of 20 random marbles and sort them into three different bins, based on their color/type.  Your prototype must also keep a tally of the results on the display. 

Design Process: We first discussed potential ideas that we could do and devices that we could use (such as an optical sensor) to solve this task. This included a few different solutions with a ramp or a lever to bring the marbles down and then manually sort them with a lever into their correct places. Eventually, we decided to incorporate both aspects and include a ramp and a gear train that would shift the positioning of the chute for the marbles to be sorted according to their color. 

Learning Target: How different VEX sensors work, completing and running VEX code, designing and building a machine using these elements to solve a common problem.

Personal Reflection: 

This project was a combination of many things. It included having to juggle the responsibility of creating a timeline and following it accordingly, while also forcing us to use creativity in our tasks.  Our chosen project which included a marble sorter had to deal with numerous things which included building the ramp, sorter, and constantly changing the hues for the optical sensor. We decided to initially go through this by splitting our team into two groups. The first consisted of the main builders which included me and Sujal, while the second consisted of programming and building which included Kaitlin and Reyansh. For the building aspect each of us were supposed to design and brainstorm ideas on building the project using research which led us to settle on a ramp system with levers that would hold the marble in place for the optical sensor to sense the color and then move it into the designated cup accordingly. As a builder I helped with screwing parts on, designing the locations of the cups and other solutions and offering ideas as a whole. Over the course of the project I was able to understand the importance of taking unconventional methods and thinking outside of the box. We had to line the C-Channel and rails with white paper to allow the optical sensor to detect the hues of the marbles properly and we also had to use rubber bands to lock the rails together to create a lever for the marbles to roll into to then get sorted. Overall, I was also able to understand how important it is to keep tweaking the models and ideas as we had to change our design implementation and go with the flow multiple times as problems with the code and optical sensor occurred. I was able to learn a lot about the mindset that we need to have as engineers to resolve a problem. One thing that I wish I worked more on was the programming aspect of the project as that was a missed opportunity. Other than that I believe I performed within my expectations on this project and to the best of our abilities as our machine was worked properly and fulfills its functions.