Month of November

November has been a month of hands-on preparation for us.

As mentioned before, we had obtained a vacuum cleaner for us to experiment with.  Firstly, it was disassembled in order for us to understand the technology behind it. We had discovered how the fan, motor, and filter worked in conjunction with one another. Thanks to this, our understanding has increased.

During this time, we also had meetings with our mentors, one of whom has granted us access to a lab and machinery. One notable discussion we had was about the limitations of our invention. Examples of this discussion are how would our invention deal with water and snow in the tracks, how could we measure and reduce noise levels, and how powerful would the engine need to be in order to increase efficiency. For the latter, we have come up with an experiment that could give us data on the strength of our current vacuum's engines and ones in the future too.

Our experiment includes a vacuum cleaner, a string, a piece of cloth, and a newton spring scale. Firstly, we attach the cloth to the string, and then the string to the scale. Then, we would turn on the vacuum and allow it to pull in the cloth, which in turn would pull on the string, then on the scale, resulting in a measurable, quantitative reading. With this, we could measure and compare the strengths of multiple engines, and seeing if it's strong enough to pick up litter

We now have our sights set on building our prototype. We have been making a list of items to be bought along with their prices. Our Technical Group has gone to a Solid Works training and they have been working on making a 3D version of our prototype with their new found knowledge.