Week 4 - Atmospheric Carbon Capture
Aerospace Engineering
This field consists of engineers that design aircrafts and spacecrafts such as planes and ships. Aerospace Engineers have to have a deep understanding of aerodynamics and calculus to apply those principles to the field of aerospace.
Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical engineering is based on designing, developing, and building various components. As one of the broadest fields of engineering, mechanical engineers work on numerous products, including sensors, devices, and more.
Chemical Engineering
Chemical engineers apply various principles of science, especially chemistry and physics, to modify products such as biomedicine, electronics, and more. These engineers use chemical processes to solve various problems.
Industrial Engineering
Industrial engineering is a field of engineering that focuses on manufacturing operations and the workflow of industrial settings. Industrial engineers are involved with the efficiency of workers and their affairs.
Straw Rocket
To begin with, we created a straw rocket; a tiny model rocket made out of rolled paper that has a straw in which you can blow to make it fly.
IMG_6910.movStomp Rocket
The stomp rocket was essentially a bigger version of the straw rocket. This used thicker and better quality paper for sturdiness and an air pump instead of a straw. This gave it much more power, enough to cause our to get stuck on the roof.
capacitatorplane.movCapacitor Plane
We built a model airplane out of foam that's able to fly a reasonable distance. The plane runs on a charged capacitor, where after charging the capacitor, the plane gains power to fly a given distance. This would help carry the carbon capturing device in its initial stage.
Autonomous Drone
Going further, we built an autonomous drone to carry the carbon capturing device to different heights. Our drone flew to a given height, flew in the shape of a square, and then flew to the next given height. This would continue until all the excess carbon in the area has been captured. The drone would then transport the device to a predetermined location, where it will then detach the device onto a team member's hand and return back to base.
flying drone up.movflying drone down.movOur CO2 Capture device design
Our CO2 capture device works by filtering air through the fans which gets sucked into a chamber. The chamber when it reaches a certain level of CO2 will get liquified and stored so it can be later used.
Arduino
We created an Arduino circuit that uses a air quality sensor to detect carbon dioxide levels in its surroundings. It will light up green or red depending on the levels around it.
r0cksim.MOVRockSim
We used RockSim to simulate a 3 stage rocket with a parachute inside. In the simulation the rocket is launched and each stage has a motor of its own. Then, a parachute is deployed when the rocket reaches stage 3.
IQmol
Using IQmol, we simulated greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide as seen in the picture. This helped us understand the structural build of such molecules and how we can chemically reproduce more of these.
Our Rocket
We designed a rocket by curling paper around a PVC pipe and gluing wood fins onto the bottom of the rocket. Then we shaped a nose cone using wood and a knife and put it into the top. We also built a parachute out of a trash bag and strings and put it inside the rocket. Below is a video of our rocket being launched.
945D0A23-8145-4127-911A-0A9E8FADEA5C.mov
