ELIAS ALJOOFRI

Background

The project we joined aims to research methods of improving ventilation in hawker centres to achieve better thermal comfort for patrons. Hawker centres are the most popular dining locations in Singapore, yet a recent survey by the National Environment Agency (NEA) revealed that only 86.9 per cent of 1,046 respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the ventilation, cleanliness and hygiene of hawker centres. A good solution which balances energy/cost efficiency while achieving maximum thermal comfort would allow implementation in hawker centres islandwide, which would benefit many people.

SIT had been contracted by an external vendor to research this topic, Kai Yang and I were brought in to offer a fresh set of eyes and input on this project. Due to time constraints, we were unable to run any practical tests or simulations, thus our work was primarily literature research and theoretical applications. We were hence unable to verify our solution as one that would practically work through a model or simulation.

A regular week

We would work on the research for the first part of the week before meeting our mentors for an update and our next tasks.

The students and researchers at SIT had mainly been focusing on coming up with a better fan and fan blade design to improve airflow.

We were initially told to focus on the same. However, after about a week of research, we uncovered no more than what the SIT researchers had.

After a talk with our teacher mentor, we decided there was not much we could significantly contribute to the design of the fan. This was considering our limited knowledge in this field and that there was already a team of people working on it.

We then decided to tackle the problem from a different angle, one which could be approached with our limited understanding of the subject matter. We attempted to solve the problem not by improving fan design, but by optimising the placement of fans such that existing fans and systems could be upgraded at low cost.

The result

In the end, we had come up with a report touching on various factors affecting the ventilation of hawker centres. These included the design of the fan (type of blade, number of blades and material of blades), natural/cross ventilation and the location/placements of fans to create effective airflow. We then proceeded to place our focus on our proposed solution wherein we came up with several draft sketches of the layout.

original sketches of the floor plan

After finding some flaws in the original design. We made a more refined and detailed layout with further measurements.

revised sketches of layout

In the end, we were able to devise a workable solution different from that which SIT was already working on. We were able to turn our incompetence in the subject matter to our advantage, thinking out of the box. From here, hopefully SIT will be able to follow up on our design by doing some practical testing and simulations.

3 content knowledge/skills learnt

I learnt a great deal about fluid dynamics. Prior to this attachment, I had considered issues such as the one we tackled. But apart from a cursory google search or ten minute ponder, I assumed a lack of knowledge and dismissed it. Perhaps the most valuable skill I gained was the ability to research something I have little prior knowledge about, things beyond my level but not my comprehension. In this case, I learnt a great deal about airflow and the role of each component of a fluid flow system. Most importantly, that a proper constant flow had to be maintained for effective ventilation. I gained a glimpse into some higher level physics content and was able to comprehend a good amount of it. Occurrences such as turbulent flow and vortex flow were cleared up thanks to our mentors.
Computational fluid dynamics(CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyse and solve problems that involve fluid flows. I learnt how to read and understand these CFD diagrams. These diagrams were critical in understanding fluid flow, with vortex formation being the key point. These diagrams were foreign to us at first, however after some explanations and further reading up, we were able to make better sense of them.

example of a CFD diagram: airflow generated by a ceiling fan

3. Through this attachment, we were able to write our first scientific research paper and get a glimpse of the work University students would go through. Specifically, we learnt how to come up with a scientific solution based purely on theory and literature research. In the working world, researchers are not always allowed the luxury of a drawn out investigation, so working on preexisting research is an essential skill. We learnt about the stringent requirements for research papers and found ourselves having to go back to every source we used to reference them. Additionally, I discovered a few shortcuts to streamline the repetitive process of referencing. Including copy-pasting superscript numbers linked to the references section.

2 interesting aspects of your learning

1. Something we had to accept early on was that we would not always be successful in finding out what we wanted to. The nature of research, especially our type of research meant that we would not be able to conclude something if there was little preexisting research. In our case, when we were tasked to research on wall mounted fans and their flow patterns, we uncovered close to no studies on them. The vast majority of research on domestic fans were ceiling fans. Due to the difference in mounting of the two and wall fans' oscillation function, we were unable to draw many conclusions based on their similarities. This was the main reason we switched to a wider focus. This spirit of research is what intrigued me.

2. I was pleasantly surprised at the plethora of scientific research equipment SIT students/researchers had at their disposal. Including a bubble machine, high speed camera and a wind tunnel. It was interesting to see these equipments in action and in person and definitely helped with visualising theoretical concepts.

1 takeaway for life

Perhaps the most important thing I have learned from this experience is that problem solving need not be only done by professionals. Although the professionals and researchers would have more actual knowledge of the issue and concepts behind it, students such as myself can still find meaningful ways to contribute towards a solution. I have learned how to approach problems at different angles by exploiting my inexperience in a field. And while further specific development of the solution will require specific knowledge, this is something that can be acquired. By not discounting ideas on the basis of no experience, different solutions can be found.

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