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Engineering Design Process Reflection

1. The document describes an engineering design project to create an energy efficient model home using materials like foam board, solar panels, and hot water pumps. 2. During testing of the model home, the student found that heat was escaping through the roof, windows, and walls. To address this, they researched solutions and decided to add aluminum foil to the roof, packing tape around the windows, and reapply hot glue along the edges of walls. 3. After implementing these changes, temperature tests found the average internal temperature increased by 1.87 degrees Celsius, showing the additions successfully increased heat retention in the home. The student proposes further tests and potential applications of these energy efficiency techniques.

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269 views3 pages

Engineering Design Process Reflection

1. The document describes an engineering design project to create an energy efficient model home using materials like foam board, solar panels, and hot water pumps. 2. During testing of the model home, the student found that heat was escaping through the roof, windows, and walls. To address this, they researched solutions and decided to add aluminum foil to the roof, packing tape around the windows, and reapply hot glue along the edges of walls. 3. After implementing these changes, temperature tests found the average internal temperature increased by 1.87 degrees Celsius, showing the additions successfully increased heat retention in the home. The student proposes further tests and potential applications of these energy efficiency techniques.

Uploaded by

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© © All Rights Reserved
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Engineering Design Process Reflection

By: Robert Jones

Goals of the project: The goals of this engineering project is to create a


model home that is energy efficient using foam board, solar panels, hot water
pumps, and other household materials. The final product should be a house that
is as energy efficient as possible for the design.
Engineering Design Process: The engineering design process is a tactic used
by all engineers and builder to construct designs that are creative, effective, and
meet their intended goals. Consisting of the following steps:
1. Define the problem.
2. Research: Existing solutions and relevant information
3. Brainstorm/ Brainstorm Ethics
4. Choosing Design
5. Making Prototype
6. Evaluating Results
7. Implementing: Marketing for sale or applying it for patents or for additional
funding.

*For the purposes of this write up I combined Brainstorming and Design.


Secondly, I did not include Prototyping as the ideas being created were
being added to an existing design.

Engineering Design Process Used for House


Problem
During the Home Design Project, I ran into the problem of containing the heat created by the
coffee cup heater or hot water pump within the confines of the house. Largely, the heat was escaping
through the roof of the house, windows, and the crevices along the walls of the house. Understanding
this was an issue I decided to research and brainstorm ideas to rectify this issue.

Research
Talking with my physics teacher about the problem I was having with heat escaping through the
windows, he recommended that I use packing tape to better seal the edges of the house. Additionally,
through research online and the recommendation to use aluminum foil by Dr.Schmalbeck, I realized that
aluminum foil would be a perfect addition to the house to retain heat within the house. These resources
greatly assisted me in rectifying the issue I had and after researching the material I began to brainstorm
on how to add these ideas to my house.

Brainstorm/ Designing:
1. To add the aluminum foil to my house I decided to apply it to the roof of my houses design.
Not only would this help the house retain heat, but it also would act as a sealant along the
crevice along the roofs edges.
2. To prevent heat from escaping through the house I decided that the best course of action
would be to apply packing tape along the edges of each window. This would provide a
thicker and stronger seal so that heat would not be able to escape as easily.
3. As I was brainstorming on how to better seal the edges of the house I decided it would be a
good Idea to reapply hot glue along each edge of the house to not only create a stronger
bond, but to also act as another layer eat would have to pass through before it could
escape.

Testing
To test these new additions to my house I first tested the heat retained within the house
before applying the additions. To do this I used a coffee cup warmer to create heat within
the house and then collected the average temperature within the house at key locations.
Following this I then applied my new additions to the house and then did the same
experiment and then compared the data.

Before New Additions

Window at the Window at the Side window Ceiling of the Average


front of the house back of the house house Temperature for
(Window 1) (Window 2 (Window 3) the whole house

25.3 degrees 25.15 degrees 26.23 degrees 28.05 degrees 26.1825 degrees
Celsius Celsius Celsius Celsius Celsius

After New Additions

Window at the Window at the Side window Ceiling of the Average


front of the house back of the house house Temperature for
(Window 1) (Window 2 (Window 3) the whole house

27.2 degrees 26.8 degrees 28.2 degrees 30.02 degrees 28.055 degrees
Celsius Celsius Celsius Celsius Celsius
Results:
Comparing the data from before and after the “New Additions” I can say with confidence that
the changes made were a success and did their intended job of increasing the heat retained within the
house. Overall, the temperature of the house raised by about 1.87 degrees Celsius. This is significant as
it shows that the additions made were able to raise the average temperature of the house considerably.
In the future, I would like to see how the average temperature of the house would improve by adding
aluminum foil all around the house instead of just the roof. Additionally, I would like to see how
applying masking tape/packing tape might benefit the house by applying it to where each wall of the
house connects.

Implementation:
The methods used to rectify the issues I was having could potentially be used in designing new
materials for the constructions of houses. The creation of a new material that can retain heat similar to
how aluminum foil did for my house could save Americans millions of dollars in heating and air bills in
the future. Furthermore, the window making industry could conduct similar experiments to see if they
can construct a new design for windows to better seal off windows and prevent air and hear from
escaping through.

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