OH MY LEH ladies and gentlemen, this is gonna be the last blog I am gonna do. And basically this blog is going to run through the chemical product we came up throughout the semester. I am going to go through the Design Specifications for the product and show you the prototype that my group and I produced (Trust me even I didn't think it would be this good)
So if you have read my blogs, we have established that we decided on the theme of an air filter or an air purifier for my CA1 assignment. So what's so good about our air filter?? Can't everyone just buy and air filter from the store? Why did we have to spend one whole semester to think of something that already exists. OUR air purifier does not use the conventional fiberglass filters which are used in households. We use COCONUT FIBRE as the filter substitute, together with activated carbon to increase the filtration efficiency of our filter. Wait, why is coconut fiber such a big deal? Just use fiberglass lah aiyo, so mafan for what?
As we all know the earth's resources are slowly depreciating, which is why we need to preserve what we have by using resources that are typically wasted. AHHH see!!! Coconut fiber is actually a waste product in the food industry, and it is sold cheaply to others. Imagine something that is thrown away so casually be used as something that could improve everyone's life. Such a brilliant idea, and how did we come up with it? This is gonna be the journey of my group Waffle Gelato and how we came up with the idea of using a coconut fiber based air purifier.
Literature Review
Let's start with Literature review, in blog 1 I talked about it but it was time I had shown y'all an example of how my group started our literature review before coming out with our ideas. We took 5 different sources and analyzed them which gave us the first step to our idea.
First we started off with a source that talks about changing the typical plastics we use for our daily life with biodegradable ones instead.
This source talks about how the world uses a lot of plastics which does not decompose over time. And with the development of this biodegradable plastic, we can reduce plastic pollution as it will eventually degrade. Despite taking a long time to decompose, it is better than the everyday plastic which does not decompose at all no matter how long it takes.
The second source that we looked at was about Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). As a chemical Engineering student, the idea of PPE was engraved into our minds. NO matter what activity we did, we always had to wear appropriate PPE before we even begun.
As Covid-19 is still an ongoing pandemic, the medical professions continue to use PPE on a daily basis. The worst thing about their PPE is that, after every use it is meant to be disposed. Majority of the equipment are made of non-degradable plastics.
Similar to the previous source, the PPE would be made out of biodegradable plastics which can slowly decompose over time. As we would take years to recover from the pandemic, using these new biodegradable plastics for our PPE would allow use to reduce plastic prevention while keeping the people healthy.
The third source was something more unique, our clothes are usually made from cotton, silk or NYLON. Nylon even though it may not seem like it, it is actually a type of plastic.
This source is about using the fibers of fungi, we could produce clothing which can be used as substitutes for the current clothing we use.
The fourth source talks about producing masks that have better filtration efficiency than the current 3 ply mask that we wear due to the pandemic.
They have morphologically engineered a new type of filter which can withstand high temperature and have the a lower tendency of getting moist from humidity or sweat. Allowing for a more durable and more longer lasting masks. With the a higher filtration efficiency, the mask can also prevent the spread of germs and bacteria in the surrounding air preventing possible spreading of illnesses.
S.C.A.M.P.E.R
We looked at sources but we had not come up with any new ideas. This is where S.C.A.M.P.E.R comes in. This ideation tool that I had talked about in blog 2, gave us the push to come up with 7 random ideas from the sources analyzed. Let's recap on what SCAMPER is
S - Substitute
C - Combine
A - Adjust
M - Modify
P - Put to another use
E - Eliminate
R - Reverse
From these 7 letters despite not using all of them, we managed to come up with some idea which were really interesting in all honesty.
1.
Substituting the fiberglass with a non hazardous filter made, this would mean that the filter could be disposed without causing pollution to the environment
2.
This idea we came up with is a 2 in 1 device which acts as an air purifier and a mosquito catcher. It uses Carbon Dioxide and heat, which attracts mosquitos to the purifier and then there is a in built mechanism where the attracted mosquitos will be trapped in.
3.
This is a combination of an air purifier and an antibacterial UV filter. So as we all know, the filter removes dirt, dust and bacteria from the surrounding air while releasing clean air. These bacteria trapped in the purifier may grow, due to the presence of warmth and moisture from the water vapour in the air. As bacteria grows, mould will be produced meaning that the filter has to be replaced.
By adding a UV light, we had prevent bacteria from growing making the replaceable filter in the purifier longer lasting and more sustainable from the earth
4.
The 4th idea was the typically using of a solar panel. As solar energy is a new and rising renewable source of energy. By implementing and solar panel to an air purifier, we can supply energy for the it using sunlight allowing us to save energy.
5.
This idea is actually very simple, the addition of a very fine filter which contains a corrugated structure would increase the efficiency of the filter as more finer air particles could be removed from the surrounding air
6.
This is another 2 in 1 device, where we use an air purifier together with an humidifier. The humidifier makes the air purifier more appealing to customers as it is one of the products which are heavily in demand as they produce a satisfying aroma for people to relax.
Feasibility Analysis
After coming up with 7 different idea, we need to see if they are even feasible. As students with only school laboratory facilities and a budget it is hard for us to produce a product which requires a lot of resources and money. Therefore, there was a checklist provided for us to fill in order to see if it is possible for us to accomplish this within the deadline of one semester.
Ideally, if all the boxes are ticked in the YES column the idea would be feasible for us to make it as student in the Singapore Polytechnic Laboratory and those ideas will be selected. So after the process of elimination, from 7 Idea we figured out that there were 4 possible ideas. One of which consisted of our original idea of using a biodegradable filter layer for the air purifier.
C.O.W.S Matrix
So now we have 4 ideas, HOW can I find out which is the most sensible choice to choose? Which idea would fit most of my criteria? Which one is the best option? THAT'S when we use C.O.W.S matrix to rate each criteria of the ideas and tally the score.
We had 5 main criteria which came into play when it came to rating the ideas. And each of the criteria has a different weightage due to the importance of the criteria and how much it effect it has on the final decision.
After appropriately giving the weightages, all we had left to do was rate and calculate the final score.
The final product chosen was the biodegradable disposable filter layer made of coconut fiber.
Design Specifications
So what is design specification??? A specification is a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. It is a common preliminary part of any engineering design and product development process.
There are 4 main types of specification that we need to mention.
- Material Specification
- Functional/Performance Specification
- Standard Specification
- Test Standard
So what are the specifications about our idea? We need something convenient so it should be light weight and thing. Light enough that it is easy to carry while having a hard casing. It should also be easy to replace the filter and dispose of it. Last but not least it should have a goof filtration efficiency while being cost effective at the same time. As we wanna reduce the cost of the purifier maintenance, we also made it so that the coconut fiber filter can at least last year before replacement.
Prototype
Why do we do prototyping? It may seem very unimportant but it actually allows us to visualize what our product would look like. It also allows us to make any changed before being too overly invested in the product. If we are too invested, it might be too late to make changes which will be very costly. not only does allow us to visualize it, it also allows us to get feedback from others as they took can see a live version of the product.
So what is our prototype like? If it made of few different parts. Consisting of the casing itself and the HEPA filter, together with the coconut fiber filter and the activated carbon filter layer.
This is the coconut fiber layer, the true beauty of our product. Even though it does replicate an actual coconut fiber filter. It is close enough example of what a corrugated filter would look like.
This layer is the carbon fiber layer, which uses adsorption to remove particles from the air as the particles tend to stick to the carbon layer.
This is what the casing would look like without the interior parts of the filters. As we already plan to use cardboard as the casing to make the filter sustainable for the environment, it is a close example. The only difference would be using cardboard which is thicker and has more layers within it, to withstand more force.
This a video of how the final product looks, amazing right?? This was all thanks to my group mate Dylan and his genius mind HAHAHAHA.
This is the end of my final blog and I hope that everyone had fun reading it. Honestly speaking this has made me reflect on all the things I have done during this module. I genuinely would have forgotten all these memories that I have made, if it were not due to this blog. I hope you all enjoyed reading it and ADIOS!!!
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