Mads'+Log

February 23th, 2009

1hour: looked through books and other resources at my house, found ideas about the evolution of sport and other sport ideas, while looking through found an article about how the soccer ball was altered to be better suited for the world cup. This got me thinking and I thought we could do something about the different materials that you can make sports equipment with and how that would affect the athletes. Basically the idea is have athletes been getting better or has it been all equipment.

10 minutes: thought about what to do with the equipment material idea and I thought that we could do something like the baseball area where you had to thow the baseball, except you have to kick a soccer ball. There will be three soccer balls and one will be an old one one a brand new one and the other in the age between.

February 25th, 2009

1 hour: met with the now called pumpmonkeys group. 1) discussed our idea and came up the idea of having something focused on the heart rate of an athlete. We would have two pump stations set up and you have to pump at the same rate that an athlete would pump doing a certain activity. 2) took a tour of the science center and saw the shops and met Bruce and the other building people that would help us with our project

Also assigned a team, part of the design team!!!

February 28th, 2009

20minutes: briefly talked about what kind of materials to use for the innovation design project with my dad. He suggested to use PVC tubing for the circulation part of the exhibit. Also talked about the fluid to use in the circulation, and agreed with me in the sense that a very non-viscous material. It should be less dense than blood so that it flows easier and therefore does not haveto be pumped as hard.

March 2nd, 2009

45minutes: researched PVC tubing, found a website that outlines the different typesof PVC and the costs for it. It is relatively in-expensive, which is great for our purposes. I also recall that I had used it in a previous project and had forgotten, so I went back to my old project and examined it. I remembered that it was very easy to use and is also available in pretty much every type of shape that we need. The only thing I remember that isn't that good abotu it is that some PVC tubing, mainly the larger pieces, were not available in the pure clear tubing, and had steel wiring in the tubing to reinforce it. This was only found in the larger tubing pieces. It may be that I jsut couldn't find the clear tubing, or that they do that for structure purposes.

Anyway, here's the link for the PVC page that I found [] Also if we can't find a particular piece at a store, then we can just order it of the website

March 5th:

30 minutes: Metting with Bruce and Walter. Spoke about our design and what direction we wanted to go in. This meeting allowed us to flush out a lot of ideas that would be unrealistic because of time or cost restraints. We have decided to stay away from a timer and anything that is electrical, simple electric devices are okay, but we think that we would not be able to complete a complex electrical design given our time and buget, DUring the meeting, we realized that our original design was much too complex and would be unable to do.

March 6th:

20 minutes: Talked with Sarah. Spoke abotu the meeting the previous day and about concerns with the group. I felt that our group did not all have the same idea about the direction that we wanted to go in, indicated by the disorganized nature of our meeting with Bruce. We discussed new ideas for the porject and felt that we were drifting from our original idea and making an idea that was too complex. We thought that it would be easier to have two vertical tubes instead of the one vertical and one horizontal tube. Our original idea was simply to portray that some sports take more cardiac output than others and the horizontal tube is creating a huge problem for draining and engineering design purposes. We felt that if we eliminated the one tube, and had two vertical ones instead, than that would eliminate the problem. If we had the vertical and the horizontal tube, than a person by themselves would not be able to understand the exhibit, which would limit the amount of people able to come to the exhibit. We should make this as simple and open to the greatest amoutn of people to have success for this project.

March 18th

10 minutes: Talked to Walter and updated him about our recent changes to our ideas. Told him that we have decided to do only a vertical tube because of the reasons discussed in our last meeting. He also showed me that Bruce had found us a tube and pump that we could use for our project. It looks like a very simple pump and the size and dimensions look about the right size as well.

March 19th

E-mailed Bruce and walter about the updates and reasons why we decided to change our decisions. Also I asked him if we could meet us again. He responded with his dates that he's available, which is almost every day after march break.

March 27th

Talked to Paul after school about the different budjets that we wanted to get for our innovation project. He talked to Rich Vierra who told us that he is coming in on wednesday. He also discussed people that we could talk to regarding the budget and mentioned Cathie Spencer, who we should call and send a message to ask for the budget.

April 5th (1 hour)

Researched possible materials to match with the pump. I found a really good PVC tubing website, which I'll send an e-mail out for. Also I talked to my dad about the different materials and how we would actually assemble it and he said that our main problem will be in sealing the joints all together. We could talk to Walter and Bruce about some easy ways to seal it up. I also thought of some materials that we could use for the prototype cylinder. There is the standard beaker that we could borrow from the wet lab if that would be okay, or we could use a 2 liter coke bottle. We could also use one of those tetley ice tea 2 liter bottles that are straight rectangular. I thought that would be a really cheap way to do our prototype or at least for the first prototype cause they're easy to cut and easy to get more off without being too costly. I will bring one to the next meeting, so that maybe we could try it out.

April 14th (1.5 hours)

Researched possible materials and drew up a draft for the possible design. It's a rough copy, but it has a list and account of different materials that we could use. Basically, it can be made with simple wood for the base, we could even fashion it out of popsicle sticks or we could use some plywood or we could use some really cheap wood chip stuff that's good for the base and it's light too. I thought of the cylinder that we could use and as mentioned before, we could use pop bottles or we could even just take PVC tubing as I said before, or take a cheap measuring cup, or a litre clear gatorade bottle or something like that. Something with measurements on it already. Then for putting it all together, that all depends on the weight, if it's something really light, hot glue is the way to go, but I think screws are the best reinforced and waterproofed with hot glue or a filler in to seal the screw holes.

April 15th (Meeting...1 hour)

Decided on the focus for the project, my job for this week is to go to home depot and get prices for PVC tubing and the wood like substance that we discussed at the meeting. I will also try and get a 2 litre rectangular bottle in order for us to use in the prototype.

April 18th (1 hour)

Went to home depot and found out prices for different materials

PVC black tubing (2" diameter, 10 feet long) = $5.98 Screw FH quadrex 6x5/8 In. -Pack of 25= $1.45

April 23rd (2 hours)

Discussed the chosen materials with my father, who recommended to use vinyl tubing rather than PVC tubing. It was slightly less in cost and there was a larger variety available. Purchased 10 feet of 1/2" diameter clear vinyl tubing. Bought several reduction valves to transfer between the large pipe on the tube to the small 1/2" tubing. Also purchased some wood in order to make the base for our prototype that would encompass everything in the design to make it more consumer friendly.

After a trip to home depot, went home and built the box using a nail gun and quarter round to use as the supporting wall corners between the thin pieces of wood. Did not do a very detailed job, just a quick job in order to test the strength of the material and the look of the box. Built the box to have a top that was 2' by 2' and with a height of 1'.

April 24th (2 hours)

Met with the group and decided to build the prototype. Decided to use a cardboard box instead of the one that was built by me just in case mistakes and changes in the size was needed. We tested all the tubing and the pump mechanism. After a few trials, and a call to bruce, we figured out the mechanics of the pump and found that it works fantastically. We then assembled all the different parts of the circuit and made a few changes to the original design along the way. For example, we decided not to have the reduction cups, but rather simply have the large tube running from the pump right into the bottle and the smaller tube to be running right out of the bottle. The smaller tube was fastened to the bottle by poking a hole through the bottle's cap and putting the tube through it. This virtually sealed the tube and also allows for us to be able to take the tubing off whenever it will be necessary in the future.

After testing each individual aspect and completing the circuit without having the materials in the box, we discussed the necessary holes that were needed in the box and then I put them there. I placed a 2" by 4" rectangular hole in the top of the box to allow for the bottle to be held and put another 1 1/2" hole in the top of the box to allow for the pump to run through. The position of the box was also changed due to the 3' height of the pump, we decided to have the box 2' high, 2' long and 1' wide. This also allows us to have a wide open area in the back of the prototype to allow for grace to be able to apply the clamp to stop the materials when needed. After the bottle and the pump was put into place, there were some temporary adjustments needed, like taping the larger tube to the pump in order for the prototype to stand up straight. This change will not be in the final prototype, it was just put into place to make up for the lack of strength in the cardboard box.

April 26th (1 hour)

Went to Rona and bought new nails and wood to support the final box that will be created as the previous one did not hole together well enough. This new box can substitute the cardboard box that is housing the rough prototype.

I predict the final prototype to be finished and ready for painting and final artistic touches by tuesday.

April 27th (1 hour 45 minutes)

Created a new box to be used in the final prototype. This box was reinforced with some other wood to allow for extra strength. Shorter nails were also used in order to match the short 1/4 round that was placed on each side of the box for reinforcement. There were two holes placed in the top of the box. One 1.5 in diameter hole for the pump and the second was a 2" by 4" hole for the bottle to be placed in. The back of the box was left open to allow for quick and easy assembly as well as enabling us to reveal the mechanics behind our circuit as well as to allow for easy access when our clamp is needed to stop the water from going through the circuit, ending the 30 seconds.

April 29th (45 minutes)

Assembled the new prototype using the new box that was fabricated.

May 1st (45 minutes)

Had a meeting where we tested the final prototype and found that there were a few leaks within it, but those can be fixed with some sealing product or tape.