Rubik's Cube Solver
Aim: Over the years I became quite quick at solving the cube. I was keen to see if I could create a mechanical system that would do it in a similar time. Because of financial limitations and equipment I thought it impossible to achieve my usual times of around 1 minute and so settled on a target of 10 minutes. So my aim became; “To create a mechanical system that could solve the cube 100% reliably in less than 10 minutes” What I did: I started from the view that I wanted to get it to find a solution using the process that I usually use. The downside of this approach was that this approach meant that most internet research was irrelevant to my project. Also some methods I found were very sophisticated and expensive eg. the university professor who created a system to solve it in 6 seconds. I wrote software capable of solving the cube, printed out its results then testing the instruction steps by manually manipulating the cube. This was improved until 100% reliable. I then developed the user interface to input the colours on each face. The building of the hardware to manipulate the cube proved my most difficult challenge. To get the cube flipped and rotated accurately using the 5 servos. I modeled this using lego and popsicle sticks until the movements met the accuracy and reliability outcomes I needed. Surprisingly these materials held up to the challenge. Integrating the software and hardware functional models took a lot longer than anticipated to get the software instructions executed and coordinated. A great deal of fine tuning was required. Outcome: The system solves the cube 100% of the time. I was exceptionally pleased with this result in view of the lego and popsicle stick model. On reflection I have achieved a successful working model that university students have aspired to and this gives me great satisfaction. Conclusion: While the outcome is pleasing I envisaged achieving a much faster system with easier data input using camera and colour recognition software. Unfortunately time and my budget restrictions prevented this from being developed. However this is a step I am interested in implementing in the future. The speed could be improved by designing more efficient cube solving algorithms, implementing a camera with colour recognition, and possibly rethinking and redesigning my mechanical design. I would also like to Figure 1 illustrates how the air would flow through a fan, and get pushed underground in several short HDPE pipes. This tempered air would then be fed into a small, insulated air chamber built against the home that contains an air-sourced heat pump. The walls of this chamber would have small vents to balance air pressure, and an exit near the top for cooled exhaust air. When the temperature outdoors is in the coldest stage of winter (daily average of -3.0ºC), the tempered air being brought into the chamber would simulate an outdoor ambient temperature of about 10.0ºC, allowing a heat pump to operate with a COP of ~3.79 (based on data from Goodman Air Conditioning and Heating).² This means that for every unit of energy put into the heat pump, 3.79 units of energy are extracted. 4. Conclusions: In building an enclosed air chamber for around an air-sourced heat pump, it was found that it is possible to simulate a 10.0ºC climate in the coldest parts of winter through air tempering. This will allow the heat pump to run substantially more efficiently throughout the year. This system could be used effectively to heat a home in the winter, as well as cool a home in the summer.
Inverter
PURPOSE: The purpose of making an Inverter which gets charged with the help of sound energy, produced by speakers for instance, and regenerative shock absorbers which are used in cars so that we can easily charge the inverter with the help of sources which we use in daily life. PROCEDURE: The regenerative shock absorbers are capable of generating electricity when a car moves over bumps. It works by hydraulic fluid passing through a turbine. When the fluid passes through turbine, the turbine turns a small generator and more power is created. A piston is disposed for reciprocating motion within a cylinder as a vehicle’s suspension system deflects. Hydraulic fluid passes through a hydraulic motor to turn its shaft. The hydraulic motor shaft is connected to an electric generator to generate electricity. The second source of energy to charge the inverter is by the help of sound produced in day to day life. Some piezoelectric sensors attached to the board as soon there is a tap or any kind of vibration on the board these and convert them to electrical signals. This means that parasitic energy of busy roads, railroads, footpaths and runways near population centers can be converted into electrical energy that can run public lighting, or fed back into the grid. DATA: The data which have been collected with some experiments is that on an average piezoelectric can produce 330W of power. • When sound pressure is around 62 dB, the frequency is of 102 Hz. • Sound pressure is of 65 dB the frequency is of 500 Hz. Another case when the regenerative shock absorbers come in contact with the piston it produces an average power of 340W-350W. CONCLUSION: With the use age of piezoelectric sensors and regenerative shock absorbers we can produce electricity at a very low cost for inverters; these inverters can provide electrical supplies to the house. The most important reason to make such kind of innovation is one because it is money efficient, second this can come in handy for those who can’t afford to buy inverters at a very high cost and then when charging these inverter these people have to use their electrical supply!
NICE數-正方形與正立方體的切割
源自於Thinking Mathematically這本書的一道題目, 關於正方形的切割問題：將一個正方形切成不重疊的正方形, 所得的個數就可被稱作NICE(好的), 問有哪些數是NICE數？ 在平面的正方形切割的問題, 透過分割技巧, 我們得出了重要的結果：除了2、3、5以外的自然數都是NICE數, 並推導出：若k為NICE數, m為自然數, 則k+3m為NICE數。我們將問題推廣至立方體：將一個正方體切成不重疊的正方體, 所得的個數就可被稱作very NICE(非常好的), 問有哪些數是very NICE數？我們也得出重要的結果：大於47的自然數皆為very NICE數, 並推導出：若 是very NICE數, 且m是自然數, 則k+7m為very NICE數。
The research of Ube anthocyanin characteristics and utilization
Anthocyanin is a water soluble pigment that may appear in various colors such as red, blue, and purple according to the pH. Ube is a fruit in the Philippines that is 3rd of the most cultivated crops. Since Ube contains a lot of anthocyanin, it helps to make the anthocyanin solution. As Anthocyanin reacts to the oxygen quickly it is also used as air pollution indicator because it changes its color according to what substances they are attached to it. To check if the solution reacts to the pollution such as SO2 and NO. When those pollutions are made artificially, examining the intensity of the anthocyanin solution depending on different Mol of the pollutions was able. The power of penetration of lights though the UV-VIS spectrophotometer increases according to the number of molecules of SO2, and also NO. To examine the change of intensity of anthocyanin solution in actual atmosphere, the solutions were exposed outside for several hours. The power of penetration decreases when exposed to an actual atmosphere. The other substances and oxidation were the causes of the changed in color of the solution To facilitate the usage of anthocyanin solution efficiently, it should be preserved, so that the density of specific color will be preserved when used as real air pollution indicator. In order to check what kinds of chemicals can preserve the anthocyanin solution; different kinds of strong acids, strong base, salts, and metals were added to the solution. After getting the data, the characteristics of the chemical which preserved the anthocyanin were scrutinized, than compared to the density of pure anthocyanin solution. To use anthocyanin as air pollution indication as a solid, the Korean traditional paper and cloth were dyed using ube which contains lots of anthocyanin than checked the pixel of red, green, and blue color. Firstly, chose 6 different salts. And then filter and boiled the anthocyanin solution. And then put each different salt in each paper. After that, dried the paper and check the difference of pixel of each paper. As a result, Calcium hydroxide (CaOH2) has highest pixel point. So, using calcium hydroxide to dye clothes is useful and it’s also useful for the air pollution indicator through the experiment. Especially it reacts to Nox and Sox, according to this experiment, it can use for eco-friendly air pollution indicator.
Building Bridges with Water-The Floating Waterbridge
This paper describes the investigation of a fascinating physical phenomenon called the “floating water bridge”. Despite the fact that water is undoubtedly the most important chemical substance on earth, it is practically ubiquitous and it still represents one of the best explored substances, still not all characteristics are well-understood. There are some phenomena like the “floating water bridge”, which cannot be explained. If high voltage is applied to two beakers, which are arranged close to each other and which are filled with deionized water, a connection forms spontaneously, giving the impression of a floating water bridge. For the experiment discussed in this paper, two beakers with a diameter of 50 mm and a height of 80 mm are filled with triply deionized water. Platinum electrodes are submerged in the center of the beakers, one set to ground potential (anode), the other one on high voltage, up to 25 kV dc. Within the scope of this work, an experimental setup was developed, which enables measuring and demonstrating the most important parameters like voltage, current, length and temperature of the water bridge as well as the mass transfer between the beakers. In addition the correlation between the different parameters and the influence on the water bridge could be estimated. Once the beakers are separated, the bridge remains stable for several hours up to a length of 2.5 cm. With platinum electrodes and no electrolysis observed, a small current (≈300µA), a mass flow from anode to cathode and forces were measured. Pictures, taken with an infrared camera and a new developed method to record "infrared-videos", enabled to visualize the heat flow in the water bridge. Furthermore the conversion of energy and the dependence of charge and mass transfer could be estimated roughly. In the course of the investigations it was also tried to prove the water bridge with other liquids like castor oil, olive oil, a mixture of glycol and water as well as tap water - for some of them for the first time. Supplementary the experimental setup was varied by using different electrodes with different sizes and different material as well as beakers of different sizes and materials. In addition, a qualitative explanation was developed. The results of this work enable a better understanding of the floating water bridge and provide a basis for further research as well as for development of future practical applications. One of these applications could be an improved waste water treatment process.