Individual Report Summary Page
November 30th, 2006
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| Author: Rion D. Gull | Team: Tornado Machine |
Objectives
The Tornado Machine design involves directing air from the viewing (middle) chamber of the Tornado Machine to the inlet of the fan. The fan that was selected came equipped with a safety grate which covers the inlet with a wire mesh. It was proposed that this metal grate be removed to enhance the flow characteristics of the incoming air. This would require the development of a new safety feature for the fan inlet to ensure that the user/observer would not inadvertently lodge objects (e.g. fingers, twigs, candy) in the fan blades. My design contribution involved addressing this issue.
Approach
The approach used to determine the best possible solution to the problem statement described in this report was to conceptually develop several solutions and down select them using a decision matrix where several metrics were established. Trial and error methods were also used in the development of the best possible solution.
Results
Several designs were considered to provide a safe, reliable, and aesthetic way to connect the visualization chamber of the Tornado Machine to the inlet of the radial fan. We had initially planned on removing the safety grate from the fan in order to improve the flow features of the inlet air. This would have required an alternate design to safely keep objects away from the fan blades. The results from the decision matrix of possible designs suggested that keeping the fan’s safety grate was the overall optimal decision. Using the safety grate also simplified the physical connection of the features. Furthermore, through qualitative experimental testing we determined that the overall effectiveness of Tornado Machine was not significantly altered by the presence of the fan’s safety grate, justifying the choice to keep the safety grate on the fan.
Conclusions
Using the safety grate in the ‘sandwich’ design provides the optimal way to achieve a reliable, safe, aesthetic design for connecting the visualization chamber to the inlet of the radial fan. This design was selected based mainly on the decision matrix down selection process (i.e. careful selection and assessment of engineering and non-engineering metrics. Furthermore, this design choice was validated by qualitative experimental testing.
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