April 27th- 201- Bike Shelter Update

Mr. P discussed with the Bike Shelter group a new option, to construct the shelter out of pressure-treated wood, based on a design used by the Portland Oregon Public schools. See Bike Shelter Development Guide

Building the shelter out of wood instead of metal would significantly reduce the project costs, as well as enabling the project to be wholly constructed by Newton North students instead of having to hire a contractor.

It would also be a joint venture between Green Engineering and the Wood Technology program.

April 27th- 101's- Research

The 101's continued to research their Quarter 4 Inquiry research projects- come up with one central question that can be tested, then answer that question.


Conduct a six week scientific inquiry independent research project. This gives students the opportunity to hone in on the skills they have learned during boot camp and the Core 4.

• ​Weeks 1-2: Create a detailed proposal of what you will research, which answers 3 basic questions:
• ​What? What is your research topic?
• So What? What will be the impact of your project
• Now What? What are you going to do? Create a timeline of what you will be doing...

Research a topic that could become a new 'Core 4' topic, producing material that other students can build upon.

April 12th-Xplorers- Plastics Recycling Projects

The Xplorers continued on their work to come up with creative ways to upcycle plastics:

Mr. P explaining the plastics shredder:

Experimenting with the injection molder:

Attempt at shrink-wrapping plastic to make a hat:

Pieces of a future frisbee:

Creating a cellphone stand from bamboo:

Attempt at using a hot-glue gun to extrude polystyrene plastic:

April 10th- Xplorers Design Review

Plastic Upcycling Design Review Outdoors- First warm spring day!

Parachute-

Real one would be 25-45' in diameter.

How thick would the material be?

We could test its wind resistance by running.

Frisbee-

Why is a frisbee the shape it is? What role does the lip play in its aerodynamics?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-frisbee-aerodynamics/

Compare to an Aerobie-

How does it work?

Iphone Case-

What type of plastic would you use?

Chandelier-

Hat

Passive speaker for smartphone using bamboo-

Table

Keychain

Upcycling.

April 7th- 101 Check-Ins; Quarter 4 Outline

Reviewed visit to Greentown Labs.

Need self-evaluation sheets from everyone by the end of today- need evidence to support your evaluations.

It is now the start of Term 4-

• Read Term 4 sheets
• Need to continue your Core 4 project, or, if done
• Scientific Inquiry Project

You have 2 weeks to come up with a proposal-

• 6 minute presentation
• What?--What are you going to investigate?
• So What? Impact Goals
• Now What? What are your specific steps?

Come up with a timeline for the next 6 weeks.

Will produce a scientific poster on your project at the end of Term 4.

If you are continuing with the Core 4--what are you personally going to do? 

i.e. Journal articles you will read, what will you build or do?

If you are stuck-- sources include asking Dr. T, Pinterest, Instructables, TED talks.

Proposal action starts May 4th.

Group Check-Ins:

Algae Group:

The algae group restarted a number of bioreactor bottles,  with new manifolds for aeration and new airstones.

Improved aeration and air stones, and not over-feeding, has improved growth significantly.

The Algae group will continue working with the algae project- pursue harvesting, oil/lipid extraction, etc.

Questions/Next steps-- Could you keep the algae alive over the summer?

Bikes Group:

Will be working to stabilize the bike frame, and investigating ways to produce continuous power output.

Generator charges battery using solar panel controller( Vellaman 80L4UCN2)- automatically switches load to battery when charged.

Left 2 terminals: 12V to inverter( Cobra CPI 480 DC to Ac Inverter)

Center 2 terminals connected to 12V gel-cell battery

Terminals 5 and 7 connected to generator or to solar cells

Materials Group:

Moving on to mycelium project. Soaked straw substrate in Hydrogen Peroxide to sterilize; will inoculate with mycelium spores.

Began building prototype for rooftop garden system.

Aquaponics Group-

Have been replacing plants, adding supports to pea plants; working on building a refilling station,

will begin planning temperature control system.

May move on to bikes. May get fish for system.

April 5th- Field Trip to Greentown Labs

April 5th- The Greengineers visited Greentown Labs - presentations included:

• ​Promethean Power Systems- Milk Chiller for Rural India
• IVYS Energy Solutions -Hydrogen Fuel for Vehicles
• Grove Systems- Aquaponics
• AquaFresco- Water Recycling
• Loci Controls- Automated Landfill Gas Collection
• CertainTeed-Saint Gobain- Glass and Insulation Systems
• Right-Hand Robotics- Factory Automation
• Rise Robotics- Exosuits
• Voxel8- Multi-material Digital Manufacturing
• 
  

March 31st- 201's- Presentations

The 201's gave short update presentations today:

Aquaponics tank group-

They have finished paneling one long side and one short side of the main tank. They used up the Gorilla Glue and are now uing other adhesive. Next week they need to work with Carpentry to cut up more pallets into pieces, then plan to coat everything in polyurethane.

Aquaponics plants group-

They have transplanted a number of plants, and started new ones. The fine mesh screen on the drain has been clogging up with clay fragments, so they are making a coarser screen using coarser mesh.

They also rearranged the tank room and diss-assembled  shelving.

Next steps will include an auto grow-bed.

Fish Feeder(Spencer)-

Spencer is finishing up the revised fish feeder mechanism, which uses a screw auger:

Plastics-

 Toby demonstrated his new and improved penny-board.

Mr. P-

Margaret Ford from Students for a Greener World( http://sgw.greennewton.org/ ) was here last week. She would like Green Engineering to present at the Newton Library on May 22nd @ 7 PM.

Each group should make a short video about their project both for the presentation and for the website.

Decide what topics go in, show the team and the prototypes.

Discussed what makes a documentary video- A- roll(interview)+ B-roll (action shots)

https://blog.pond5.com/8324-a-roll-and-b-roll-the-two-types-of-footage-you-need-to-tell-a-great-story/

March 30th- 201's

Spencer made a lot of progress designing an improved fish feeder using the 3D-printed auger:

Version One used a modified section of PVC pipe:

 Iteration #2 Used copper sheet metal:

Both versions were effective at moving the fish pellets.

Meanwhile the rest of the team rearranged the aquaponics system to get more room:

...while the soap team is cranking out soap bars for the upcoming Cambridge Science Festival:

For Friday: Presentations. Begin work on a short video presentation for Green Newton, funders, etc.

https://blog.pond5.com/8324-a-roll-and-b-roll-the-two-types-of-footage-you-need-to-tell-a-great-story/

Example: The Magic of Making at MIT https://youtu.be/fQL7eArB4Qo

March 27th- Xplorers- Plastic Recycling

Up-cycling With Plastic!!!

Your task is to use HDPE and LDPE to build a product. You will be up-cycling, which means that your product needs to have more value in it’s final state. You must be creative, and think about what products will benefit from the properties of the reworked plastic. The best projects will look like something that you would actually buy in a store.

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4
Questions 1 – 3: Research and design your product	Questions 3 - 4: Design and build prototype	Question 5: Design Review	Build product and incorporate feedback from design review

1.     Research up-cycling with plastic. List two websites that helped you think about products that you could create and the process involved.

2.     Start brainstorming what your product will be, and how you will make it.

a.     Materials?

 Demo: Injection Molding Process

March 24th- GRNG 101's

Algae is doing well. T-connectors giving uneven air pressure.

 Dr. T researched buying additional gas manifolds.

Materials Group worked on chair design using recycled materials, with water bottles serving as legs. I suggested that water bottles should be filled for greater compressive strength.

Bicycle group tested generator- put out 12-13.5 volts when pedaling fast. Was able to use to charge a cellphone.

Aquaponics team studied water supply system.

March 22nd- 201's