Current Week Activities:
– Purchased materials for basic loom to weave the prototype
– Experimented with improvised weaves to create a mesh of hydrophilic and hydrophobic fish line
– Researched suitable environmental chamber for prototype
– Preliminary work done on the report for the final presentation
– Blog-style website uploaded to record progress and publish relevant results
Proposed Work for the Upcoming Week:
Research:
- Find a suitable superhydrophilic material that can feasibly made within time and laboratory constraints
- Look into a sealed chamber that may be manipulated to control temperature and relative humidity
Laboratory:
- Create a weave of P4VP treated fish wire and untreated fish wire using basic loom and test capacity to condense and transport water
- Experiment with metal sheet with controlled geometry to create patterned surface consisting of valleys of iPP and peaks of a superhydrophilic material (Model attached along with Progress Report E-Mail)
- Fabricate an environmental chamber featuring desired controls
Time Log:
– David Pérez: 6 hours
– Matthew Rohde: 6.5 hours
– Noah Lozada: 6.5 hours
– Adrian Yao: 7.5 hours
Comments:
With the end of the year fast approaching, a moment to review task lists and schedules made earlier in the year would be appropriate. It would be helpful as well to check back on the syllabus to ensure that all necessary course objectives have been or will soon be accomplished. The search for a superhydrophilic material has limited progress, and P4VP still underperforms as the hydrophilic material. However, it may be sufficient for the prototype as remains to be seen. Alternatives would be a good choice at this point. From the literature on superhydrophilic materials, silica offers the greatest potential but involved processes often seem beyond our scope. The difficulty of working with wire has also led to experimentation with flat metal sheets, that will be simpler to manipulate, and ultimately may be more effective.