Personal Accomplishment:
Mandatory Lab (2 hrs)
- Ethics Lecture
- Discussed ethical components regarding our project and other projects
Design Research and Self Time (8 hrs)
- Worked with Myles on creating multiple versions of propelling coils
- Researched proper formula for magnetic field production, ran calculations on our coils
- Worked on ethics assignments to prepare for the ethics lecture
Absent: (Travelled to NSBE National Conference)
Progress:
With our first solenoid, we discussed our findings with the professor and our concerns that we were not producing enough magnetic field to propel our carrier across our track. After clarification with the professor, we mentioned the multiple missing components we forgot to implement in our calculations, such as the distance of the supporting bolt along the axis, and the change of magnetic field from the corner of the bolt compared to the outside of the coil. We were pointed to this formula:
And used this formula to calculate the magnetic field we produced with our current coil. We also took some pointers from the professor to create a new solenoid. We implemented a new solenoid with a larger radius for the turns of the wire, the distance of the supporting plastic cast along the axis, and placed the coil above the track compared to underneath the track. We ran calculations under the new conditions of our solenoid to confirm that it produced a larger magnetic field than the previous coil. We also ran tests on a single magnet and visually saw how much stronger the magnetic field had an effect on the magnet, and decided to create an even smaller carrier that doesn’t rely on levitation to see whether or not it would propel the carrier. We were able to confirm that the smaller version of the carrier was able to propel in both directions, which only helps to confirm a portion of the MVP, which is to have the carrier properly propel along the meter-long track in both directions.
Schedule:
We are on schedule because we are waiting for the actual carrier’s printing to see the results of the new solenoid we created.
Next Week’s Schedule:
Implement the new solenoids to the 3D-printed track to test the actual results of our carrier. If the results are the same and we are not creating a strong enough magnetic field to propel the carrier, we will create a new solenoid that would implement more turns and a larger radius for the coil turns since we plan on buying a new 24 AWG Copper Wire.