Prototyping Update
We have spent the first few weeks of the semester prototyping our solar dryer designs. After a woodshop training in the ECJ (Civil Engineering Building) basement, a couple trips to Home Depot, and two weekends of working, we have almost completed our functional prototypes for testing, shown in the gallery below.
We also learned a lot about construction, power tools, and working with challenging materials like glass along the way. This video is for the laughs and shows we've definitely come a long way since our first days in the woodshop. We can't wait to build our final prototypes later this spring!
Each team has a preliminary experimentation plan to start collecting performance data for our dryers. To mimic the conditions and locations of our solar dryers, we worked with Charlie, one of our technical advisors from the Webber Energy Group, to secure a location for experimentation on the roof of the ETC (the mechanical engineering building). We will be running experiments to test the temperature capacity, air flow, and moisture reduction of our ovens starting next week. We have also submitted a 30% drawing and cost plan for our designs to our professors.
We also have a couple of profit share events coming up at Mango8 and Chipotle. If we have 50 people come to Chipotle, we'll get a whopping 50% of the profit! Check out our Facebook page for more information!
In addition to everything above, we have created a Duolingo group to practice our Spanish and motivate each other. We are also preparing our own travel application and Restricted Regions Request form to receive travel from the UT International Office. Stay tuned for more updates about our experimentation, our continued work with our NGO, Tejiendo Alianzas, and our in the coming months. Saludos!
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