Hello everyone and happy Valentine’s week! As you can see from the title of this week’s blog, our group loves IPPD and being able to work together to create this awesome project!
Y’all know that we love IPPD and our project because we have been working hard! This week, we were able to be productive and come up with a concrete plan for the rest of the semester, taking into consideration where we are now and some of the setbacks we’ve encountered. Some tasks we’ve accomplished this week are:
- purchasing A LOT of components during our liaison meeting
- reviewing and updating our BOM and Purchasing Sheet
- receiving components from the McMaster-Carr orders
- taking inventory of all the parts we have
- solidifying the lead time on the system’s frame
- finalizing testing plans for when we have the appropriate components
- planning data analysis (calibration curves) for purchased measurement devices (thermocouples, pressure gauges, etc.)
During our weekly liaison meeting with Dr. MacIntosh, we turned our normal one-hour event into two hours to ensure we purchased the appropriate parts. Our BOM has been a bit of a mess with the changing design, but we’re getting it figured out. Luckily, we were able to make some progress and order 30 different parts from vendors like McMaster-Carr, Brewer’s Hardware, and Amazon. One of the biggest roadblocks our team has run into with part sourcing is the changing CAD model; therefore, the small connections (NPT, tri-clover, hose, etc.) have been variable.
The BEST news, however, is regarding the system’s frame. At the beginning of this month, we ordered and received the steel rods and caster wheels to be welded by a colleague of Dr. Mac’s in the IFAS Agriculture department. EvapoGATOR is happy to share that our frame is almost finished! Today, we were informed that the frame is welded, and the last thing to attach is the caster wheels! Yay!! Hopefully, you’ll be seeing some pictures of the manufactured frame here next week, so keep an eye out.
In the meantime, here are a few things our team is planning to work on next week:
- finalizing the CAD and BOM
- ordering the rest of the parts for the system
- beginning assembly of the main process units on the frame
- testing pressure gauges and creating calibration curves
- preparing for QRB2 on 2/28
That’s our update for the week! Now please enjoy a picture of Ryan and Emily unboxing all our parts from McMaster-Carr that arrived this week. Side note: should we become engineering influencers and start a YouTube channel where we do unboxing videos? Does anyone still watch YouTube? Let us know in the comments below!! (Jk, there aren’t comments) ((Okay, update: there are comments here. Do with that what you will.))
