Blog Entry 7

Yooo!!! Sadly, this will be the last blog I will be publishing about my learning experience through this module, CP5095 Introduction to Chemical Product Design.😪😢😭

Today, I will be sharing about everything about my product from preliminary ideation to prototyping, decribing how it works and its chemical engineering principles. My group's product is a portable water filtration kit.

This is a picture of our final prototype design:

Literature Review

What is literature review about?

• It is a survey of literature such as books, article, write-ups, and other sources that help you address the important issues, theories, and concepts relevant to your research area.
• It examines sources relevant to your research area and aims to provide a critical evaluation and summary of them.
• It critically analyses the information gathered by identifying gaps in current knowledge; by showing limitations of theories and points of view; and by formulating areas for further research and reviewing areas of controversy.

The importance of literature review:

1. Assessment of the current state of research on a topic
2. Identification of the experts on a particular topic
3. Identification of key questions about a topic that need further research
4. It helps steer clear of inadvertent plagiarism

Since my group's product is a water filtration kit, our research area is on what raw materials should be used in the filtration kit.

After doing extensive results, the raw materials we touched on are Sand, Gravel, Corals and Coconut Fibers.

These are the functions of the different raw materials we learned through our research:

 Therefore, my group decided to use these 4 raw materials (Sand, Gravel, Coral, Coconut fiber) in our water filtration kit.

Ideation (SCAMPER)

In the ideation process, we were tasked to identify gaps and/or opportunities to work on by using SCAMPER.

We needed to use at least 3 letters in SCAMPER. After discussing and brainstorming, we came up with 5 ideas using Substitute, Combine and Reverse.

For idea #1, we decided to substitute coconut fibre with banana corm as they both have similar characteristic in water filtration.

For idea #2, we decided to subsititute sand with powdered calcite as they both serve the same purpose in water filtration.

For idea #3, we decided to subsitute coral and oyster shell as they both have similar characteristic in water filtration.

For idea #4, we decided to combine coconut fibre with rice husk as we researched and found out that with the presence of rice husk, it enchances the coconut fibre's ability to purify water.

For idea #5, we decided to reverse the order of the raw materials as it may improve the effectiveness of water filtration.

Ideation Screening

After completing the ideation process, we apply a feasibility analysis on the ideas we came up with to ensure that the ideas are feasible.

To ensure that the ideas are feasible, it must pass all the requirements on the feasible table.

After applying this to all of our ideas, we realised that all of our ideas passed the requirements and are feasible.

Material Selection (COWS)

In order to select the best among the ideas that passed the feasibility analysis, a decision matrix can be used such as COWS.

Before applying the COWS matrix, we had to come up with criterions to be used for comparison and have their corresponding weightages assigned.

Now, with the criterions and its weightages, we can proceed to evaluate the ideas against the criteria and identify the best idea for further development.

Final Decision:

The team’s final decision is idea #4 (Combining coconut fibre with rice husk). This is because after applying the COWS matrix, it obtained the highest score out of the 5 ideas. Idea #4 is also the best in the availability of materials, ease of maintenance, separability and weight. Although idea #4 is not the most cost effective, it is still relatively cheap and it is also within the budget of $2000.

With our water filtration kit design finalised, we are able to proceed to the prototyping of our product. WOOHOO!!😎😎😎

Why do Prototyping?

Prototyping allows the designer to:

• Have s solid foundation from which to ideate towards improvements. Gives a clearer picture of the potential benefits, risks and costs associated with where a prototype might lead.

• Adapt to changes early thereby avoiding commitment to a single, falsely-ideal version and later incurring heavy costs due to oversights.

• Show the design to the users to gather feedback to help pinpoint which elements/variants work best and whether an overhaul is required.

• Get insights into less-obvious areas of the users' world.

• Provide a sense of ownership to all concerned stakeholders, fostering emotional investment in the product's ultimate success.

• Improve time-to-market by minimizing the number of errors to correct before product release.

Prototype Journey

Objectives of our prototype:
1. Show how the user interacts with the product
2. Feature one mechanism that enhance the chemical engineering principle that the product is based on
3. Be sturdy enough to be passed around the class and operated repeatedly

To complete our prototype, Shaira decided to open up her house and invited us over. How nice of her!!! The best part was her mum cooked lunch for us and it was very very very good :D

Here's a video of us eating at Shaira's house:

We are required to construct and build our prototype using solely cardboard. However, my group was very uncertain on how to construct our prototype as our product is a water filtration kit. If our cylinder is built using cardboard, it will not be possible to see through and showcase the raw materials used.

Due to this, we went to consult our teacher, Mr Chua, and he recommended using a plastic cylinder instead so that the raw material contained in it can be visible.

To obtain the plastic cylinder, my group and I bought 2 1.5L bottle of coke and quickly finish it HAHAHA.

After having 2 empty plastic bottle, we cut the base of both bottles and taped them together to achieve a cylinder.

Next, we measured the diameter of our new plastic cylinder and cut out circular shapes of cardboard using the measurements. 

These circular shapes are used as platforms in our water filtration kit to hold each layer of raw materials.

After that, we had to use cardboard to create our different raw materials.

Sand:

Used a lighter shade of carboard and drew dots on it

Gravel:

Crushed pieces of cardboard

Filter paper:

Drew vertical and horizontal lines on cardboard

Coral:

Torn stripes of cardboard

Coconut fiber:

Crushed small pieces of cardboard (similar to gravel but smaller)

Sand

Gravel

Filter paper

Coral

Coconut Fiber

Here are some pictures of us working diligently on our prototype:

Chemical Engineering Principles

1. Physical Filtration

• Physical filtration is the removal of solid particles present in water
• Sand and gravel are used for physical filtration as they removes dirt and heavy metals in water

2. Chemical Filtration

• Chemical filtration refers to any filtering substances that is designed to change the chemical composition of the water
• Corals and coconut fibers are used for chemical filtration as corals remove mercury and lead, while coconut fibers remove petroleum

3. Adsorption

• Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules from a gas, liquid or dissolved solid to a surface.
• Coral conducts water filtration through adsorption by using its tentacles
• Coconut fiber conducts water filtration through adsorption by using its pores

Specification Table