Sunday 5 June 2011

Overview of Project

What is the theory or concept behind the topic?

Green energy is being used each day. Wind or water current turbines, hydroelectric dams, geothermal heating/cooling, biofuels and solar panels are all being constantly improved to be more efficient and environmentally friendly. Currently, roughly 7% of the world’s energy is generated from these renewable sources. However, there is a green source of energy that has not yet been fully tapped on yet, i.e rain. The potential energy of 25.4 mm (1 inch) of rainfall on the average single story house, if captured at the roof height, provides approximately 120 kJ of energy. This is even more if the rain can be captured in motion.

In addition, the water itself could be stored for a variety of everyday uses. Norway gets 70% of its electricity from hydro-projects, while Denmark gets its electricity from wind and other renewable sources; in France, 90% of electricity is generated via nuclear power-plants.

Citation:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelrenewable.html

Our Mission

What does the group need to accomplish at the end of the workshop?

Our group intend to seek greater potential in the smallest details of life at the end of the workshop. In short, we want to learn more about Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering after working on our prototype. We are also inquisitive about tapping on water, an energy source which was often overlooked, to produce energy; therefore, we have intended to gain more insights in that area, as well as trying to explore the different possibilities in order to seek "greater potential" in that area of study.

Our Accomplishment

What is the end product or findings?

At the end of the workshop, we managed to construct a prototype which would enable us to use potential energy from water to move a toy car. Bearing in mind that the toy car could not be flung like a projectile, we tried to explore every area to construct the best possible prototype. In the end, we came out with this prototype (refer to picture below) after a few hours of work.



A brief description/explanation of your product/findings


Our Gains

As a group, discuss how the project has helped to deepen your understanding/broaden your awareness on the selected subject discipline.

Describe how the new learning is/can be connected to what you have learnt, or are going to learn.