Catapult Arm

The trebuchet catapult arm is secure now. It has been bolted and hot glued into place which ensure that it is firmly secure in place, but there is the appropriate amount of motion needed for the catapult arm to propel the golf ball through the air. This motion can also be enhanced by applying grease or lubricant on to the pivot point of the trebuchet.

Trebuchet

Our trebuchet is gradually coming together. My absence these past few weeks of the production process meant we were unable as a group to collaborate on decisions, but given these circumstances I believe we will produce a quality trebuchet that provided adequate functionality. We still have the wheels, golf ball holder, and to complete the catapult arm, and we don't have much time left. So this next week we will have to work especially fast and efficiently in the workshop. I may organise with the group to come in the workshop one lunch time.

Recent Progress on my Trebuchet

Week 2 Keeley and I have begun the production process for our Trebuchet. It is comming along nicley as we've managed to construct a sturdy yet smooth functioning trebuchet that meets the requirments for this breif. So far I'm very pleased with the way it is coming along I just hope we don't continue to have nailing issues. Recently Keeley and I have found it difficult to adequtley construct a strong bond between two pieces of wood. We've had to deal with nails that are to long and come out the bottom of the wood when hammered in completely, we've had wood split when we've tried to hammer nails into it, and we've had nails bending whilst we've tried to hammer them in. It really has been a difficult process but it is slowly, piece-by-piece, coming together. We are on schedual so far, lets hope things don't get to much more complicated when Keeley and I begin to make the throwing arm, and the rest of the frame.

Car #2

Car #2

This is an image of my Second Attempt at my vehicle - the difference from this car to my first car is the noticeable incline in slope of the battery pack which should assist the air to flow over the car, which in return will increase the aerodynamics of the car as its velocity increases.
This car has a thinner body, which will decrease the overall mass of the car, and therefore increase the velocity of the object.
So far in this car I have soldered the wires, and even though there are still some fine details that need to be attended to, the overall car has been lubricated and glued on. The vehicles wires have also been connected but I still have to glue the switch in place as well as the front wheels, but I feel confident that it will be ready to go by its due date.

New Unit Of Work

The Breif: Designing a Small Vehicle that can travel 8 meters in the fastest time
possible. 
So far I have only ideated and started working on my vehicles shape. I am beginning to consider the vehicles aerodynamic structure and hopefully by the next lesson I can begin putting together the wires of the car and solder them together. A few things I have noted that I am going to incorporate into my vehicle to ensure it drives as fast as possible is;
- I will minimize the length of the wires to ensure that I utilize as much of the battery energy as possible.
- I will maximize aerodynamics by installing on the tip of my vehicle a plastic pointy tranglular tip that will help direct the wind around the vehicle as it travels.
- I will consider the positioning of all my elements needed to run it (battery pack, motor, switch ect...) to ensure I have an optimal balance of weight on my vehicle that will assist in the vehicle reaching its maximum velocity faster.

Aerodynamics and Car Velocity

Triangular car base
- This will increase aerodynamics as the wind will not cause resistance on the cars movement as the cars pointy tip will break the still air as it passes through, allowing it to reach maximum speed faster.
Plastic Pointy Tip
- This tip will help guide the wind wind/air over the top of the vehicle, this will further decrease the cars resistance and therefore allow it to travel faster.
Tyres
- The tyres can be dismantled further, removing the outside grip and inner rims to reduce total car mass, and a lighter car means less weight and therefore a greater velocity.

WK 6 - Pro Desktop (Drink Bottle)

Today in design Tech. I continued to make progress on my pro desktop objects, and I really did find using the it this time a lot easier. I'm finding myself become more and more familiar with the Pro Desktop software and this has allowed me to do more on pro desktop in the amount of time we're given in class. This lesson I just completed my Drink Bottle and I'm happy with y progress so far. Unfortunatley i wasn't able to save it because i had forgotten my USB, but next lesson i'm sure that i'll be able to recreate the design in no time.

A New Unit... COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN

We've returned back to a familiar unit that we learnt a bit about last year. Pro Desktop is a designing program that allows you to design, create and build digitalized shapes or objects. Its complex to use but once you understand where the general commands are, the rest is pretty much common sense. It's really interesting to see and learn about how each shape is made and so far im enjoying doing the small objects we've been assigned to make in class. Last lesson we worked on making 3 dimensional toy blocks and fimiliarizing ourselves with the commands on the computer program. It was frustrating at first because i found myself constantly having to startv over, but after a while a got a hang of it. I'm looking forward to continuing on with this unit of work.

Reflection 11

Eco-efficient aspects of the Sustainable Resort include;
-Hydroelectric energy powered by a waterfall to generate electricity.
-Reuse of grey water for day to day bathroom utilization.
-Recycling through the filtration of rainwater to supply water for basic kitchen appliances throughout the building.
-Sea water is pumped from near by beaches and reused for the building after it has been filtered, then sterilized and reused for the waterfall feature.
-Over populating trees in the area are converted into biomass energy that the building takes moderate use of.
-Solar panels are used to convert sunlight into general electricity that can be utilized throughout the entire resort.
-The use of skylights is incorporated throughout the building to save electricity during day time and therefore saving on the use of power being used daily.
-High ceilings and spacious areas throughout the structure are used to create a fluidity throughout the resort, but to also provide a natural airflow throughout the building and provide areas with a natural cooling.
-Natural Ventilation will be incorporated in the resort by the use of natural airflow from the exterior atmosphere of the building through open areas of the building such as the front lobby area.
-The building consists of eco-efficient escalators which function through a highly-efficient drive system which achieve new levels in energy-efficiency, space saving, and aesthetics.

Reflection 10

Probably the most important part of the building has just been finished. Ive been contemplating for a while now how to make the water fall feature in my resort but i think its finally completed and looks fairly convincing that its a waterfall. The water fall feature surrounding the rear of the building isn't just for general building aesthetics, It's  is a detrimental part to the buildings functionality. This feature is the very thing that powers majority of the buildings electrical, and energy based systems, not to mention adds to the overall buildings conveyed message of the reuse of natural resources. What your seeing when you look at this feature is the production of Hydroelectricity. This form of electricity is made through the use of falling or flowing water. The use of falling or flowing water not only creates energy and is in that way Eco efficient but it is a easy, aesthetically pleasing, and modernized way to show the public the many inventive ways energy can be produced.

Reflection 9

My building has come along really well, it's basically complete and is the way I imagined it would be. I feel it has met the requirements of the brief and although it has been difficult acquiring all the different materials from school, craft shops, and home I believe it was all vital to get this final result.
The most difficult part of the resort I think would have to be the painting for everything which was a very messy and long process to get it looking like a resort but I am pleased with the colour of everything and the final painted result. The rocks around the pool area and Under the grass, aswell as the general silver base of the building was probably the most time consuming jobs.
The easiest part I think was probably the water features and roads which where both quick processes that where fairly simple, and we're the least time consuming.

Reflection 8

Front Entrance of my Sustainable Resort

Reflection 7

QUT Excursion

Recently the school took an excursion up to QUT University in Brisbane to see the variety of things on offer for young women intending to study engineering after they graduate school. I found the experience really exciting as I was able to see and learn about a wide selection of new technology the university has acquired that has revolutionized the buildings degree of utility.
It was very interesting to learn about water filteration and the different types of engineering such as civil, environmental, medical and chemical engineering which are just a few different types of engineering. We learnt about different ways to intelligently construct structures such as with bridges. We learnt that each bridge has a purpose and therefore needs to be designed to that community's specific purpose. We learnt the different Safety requirements an engineer had to consider when constructing such buildings or bridges. Depending on the type of engineering your doing each structure can be built differently and can be built to achieve different purposes which makes engineering so exciting because there are so many different ways to build things. Attending QUT taught me that the possibilities in engineering are endless and each engineer is different.

Reflection 6

Equipment I've used so far:

-Timber
-Plywood
-Aluminium Strip Blinds
-Blue cardboard
-plastic back of a computer screen
-plastic Christmas tree spine extension
-black Grip tape
-spray paint
-tooth picks
-Bamboo Sushi roll mat
-paddle pop sticks
-accessories from the craft shop; small trees and people

I have incorporated all these different feature into my sustainable resort for different elements. I tried very hard to get the similar texture and colour that the items in my resort would realistically have. I am quite pleased so far with the development of my building. I have done most of it at home as all the materials I have used came from home, which I think has allowed me to make the resort look more detailed and realistic as I have been able to utilize a wider variety of materials.

Reflection 5

This is the progress I have made on my sustainable resort and as you can see this is a prototype of what the real building will look like.
I enjoy working by myself on this project because i have full control over what happens with my design in the workshop and i'm able to make faster decisions on how to proceed with the making of my sustaianable resort model.

this is the base - which is where my sustaianable resort will be situated

this is a prototype of one building in my sustainable resort

Reflection 4

I have investigated different ways to generate energy for my sustainable resort and here is some ways my building can be sustainable;

Biomass Energy; Biomass is biological material most often referring to plants or plant-derived materials. and using it as a renewable energy source. Biomass can converted into another type of energy product, this product is called biofuel. Biomass can be converted to energy in three ways: thermal conversion, chemical conversion, and biochemical conversion.

Hydroelectricity Power; Hydroelectricity is a term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; which is the production of electrical power generated through the use of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy, accounting for 16 percent of global electricity generation.

Geothermal electricity; Geothermal electricity is electricity generated from geothermal energy. The process includes dry steam power plants, flash steam power plants and binary cycle power plants. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 24 countries, while geothermal heatings is in use in 70 countries. Geothermal power is considered to be sustainable because the heat extraction is small compared with the Earth's heat content.

Reflection 3

This is my time managment plan...

This will help show the progress and steps I will be taking to completeing my Sustainable Resort.

Reflection 2

Ideation Process

I have begun my ideation process right now and i have decided what design I'm going to do.  This is a sketch of my design and you can see from this how im planning to make my resort look. There are many features in the resort that make it sustainable, such as the hydroelectric energy turbine system which is powered by a waterfall, several solar panels on the roofs of each building, and the use of biomass energy. 

The sketch so far is going to consist of  three buildings grouped together to form a triangle figure that resembles the recycling symbol. This won't just express to visitors and customers the resorts eco friendly nature, but it will also allow the building to become iconic in the field of sustainable architectural design.

Reflection 1 / Term 1 2013

This Semester in Design Technology the class is creating a design of a sustainable resort model. This is a resort that is self sustainable and eco-friendly, which is, i think, a very important aspect of design to learn about because i believe this may be the cure to a lot of global issues today such as; Climate change, and global warming. Sustainable architecture is a general term that describes environmentally conscious design techniques in the field of architecture. Sustainable architecture is framed by the pressing economic and political issues of our world.

Sustainable architecture is always environmentally-friendly. This makes it beneficial to not only the people who wish to inhabit the structure, but also to the environment around the structure. Sustainable architecture is prominently the 'future' of design and the cure to climate change therefore it's importance cannot be emphasised enough.

I'm extremely excited to be working on this unit and so far I have only created the base. The base structure is made of timber, and seeing as it is a model is only quite small (I'm not quite sure the specific measurements of the base).

Hopefully I can start ideation by next week, but currently I am meerly researching and investigating the different materials I will be using in the production of my design, and what a possible resort design I might do.

I will shortly post up a time-management table, which will clearly show how I plan to go about making my structure and will help me manage my time more efficiently.