Using Alternative Energy

Define the Problem

One must generate enough electricity from a gear box to power ten LED light bulbs�Christmas tree lights.

Brainstorm

�         Solar Panel

�         Water-wheel

�         Hydraulic Fuel Cell

�         Wind Energy: attach a lever and wind turbine

�         Long pull-string with weights

�         String, extra gear, and wind and water energy

�         Hand crank/lever

�         Adding an extra magnet to the magnetized gear

�         Geothermal energy

�         Add iron to the central magnet in order to increase the strength of the electromagnetic field

�         Harness the energy created by a hamster in a hamster wheel or by a fish swimming in water

�         Use the sugars stored in plants to power a gear box that produces energy through an electromagnetic field created when the gears on the gear box are rotated

Research and Generating Ideas

�         Gear ratio http://blueink.com/CLASS/physcom1/gear.htm

�         Wind energy: attach blades to the spinning gear and then introduce this gear to large amounts of artificial wind generated by a fan http://windeis.anl.gov/guide/basics/index.cfm

�         Increase the strength of the electromagnetic field in order to try and elevate the amount of energy produced.� A possible way to do this is by placing a piece of iron near the central magnet http://www.ehow.com/how_4461184_increase-strength-electromagnet.html http://www.ehow.com/how_6391740_strengthen-electromagnetic-field.html

�         Water energy: use a design similar to a waterwheel and place it below running water from the sink in order to cause the wheel to turn.� http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/hydro.htm

�         Use condensed steam to rotate the gear and spin the magnet to generate electricity. http://library.thinkquest.org/C004471/tep/en/how_it_works/steam_power.html

Identify the Criteria and Specify the Constraints

�         The solution to the problem must be functional within the confines of a classroom: there is no natural light or source of continually running water, such as a river.� Therefore, it would be impractical to design a gear box that needs powerfully and continuously running water to function or a gear box that requires natural sunlight to function.�

�         The gear must spin fast enough to generate enough electricity to power ten LED light bulbs, or Christmas tree lights.�

�         The materials used must have easy access: one must be able to attain and use them within a classroom

�         There is a limited budget for the project

�         Limited Time: 7 days

Explore Different Possibilities

Review you brainstorming ideas, look at what others have done, examine your criteria and constraints and come up with at least three different possible solutions to the problem.

Select an Approach

Create a decision matrix to select the best approach to the problem.

Idea one, which uses steam to rotate gears and generate electricity, is the best design to construct because it meets all the criteria at a higher level than the other possible designs.� The materials required to build a steam-powered gear box are easily accessible, it uses a pull string to assist in generating electricity, it possesses a magnet to increase the strength of the electromagnetic field and therefore help generate more electricity, and it is feasible in a classroom setting.� While the other designs, two and three, also have these traits, they do not have them at such a high degree as design idea one.�

Develop a Design Proposal

The first step in making a gear box that utilizes steam to generate enough electricity to power ten LED light bulbs will be to cut six rectangular pieces out of cardboard.� These rectangular pieces of cardboard will be five inches long and two and a half inches wide.� These pieces of cardboard that are rectangular in shape will constitute the �blades� that will be attached to the gear using wooden dowels to create a sort of fan system.� It will be upon these blades that the steam pushes to rotate the gear that will in turn create an energy-generating electromagnetic field.� The next step will be to attach these cardboard rectangles to wooden dowels using a hot glue gun, and then to place these wooden dowels in holes on the rotating gear that, through other gears, is so instrumental in creating an electromagnetic field that produces electricity.� After the �fan system� is in place, a second powerful magnet will be added to the gear on the gear box that has the magnet and, when rotated quickly enough, will become an electromagnetic field that generates electricity. The purpose of adding this second magnet is to increase the strength of the electromagnetic field, and therefore hopefully produce a greater amount of energy. �Subsequent to the addition of this powerful second magnet to the gear box, the cardboard �blades� will be wrapped in duct tape to make them more impervious to water; alone, cardboard would wilt in the presence of the condensed steam it will be subjected to.� However, with the extra fortification of water-resistant duct tape, the cardboard blades will be less likely to become limp, and the energy-generating gear box will therefore be more effective.�

After the gear box is constructed, it will be tested by placing it on a stand above a beaker filled with water�covered by a funnel�on a hot plate.� This beaker and hot plate will be the source of the all-important steam for the project.

Make a Model or Prototype

Test and Evaluate the Design using specifications.

(The speed at which the gear was turning is rated on a scale of one to five, one being completely still, or immobile, and five being that the fan is rotating very rapidly).

Refine the Design

Create or Make it

Alternative Energy Video

Communicate the Processes and Results.

This design, which uses steam energy to generate electricity, was unsuccessful in generating enough electricity to power ten LED lights. The steam couldn�t make the gear rotate rapidly enough to generate enough electricity to power ten LED Christmas tree lights.  However, the artificial wind in the classroom, provided by a box fan, did create enough force to spin the gear with the fan blades fast enough to produce an amount of energy adequate to lighting up ten LED lights.

The steam design failed to function properly because the design did not incorporate a chamber in which the steam could build up and gather pressure.� This pressure is necessary in providing steam with enough force/energy to rotate a relatively heavy gear and produce energy.� Power plants that use steam to produce energy allow the steam to collect and build up pressure in a chamber connected to the location at which the water is heated.� When the steam exits this chamber, it is compressed/condensed and powerful enough to force large turbines to rotate and generate electricity.� This �pressure chamber� is what the design lacked, which resulted in the design failing to even move the blades on the gear.�

However, this design was successful when placed in front of the box fan in the classroom.� The �wind� generated by this fan possessed enough force to cause the gear attached to the tape-covered �fan-gear� to not only rotate, but rotate rapidly enough to cause the gear box to generate enough electricity to power ten LED light bulbs.� �