In week 1, we had out first ICPD lesson. We were told to form groups that had to have both genders in it. I supposed there must be a reason for asking us to form group like that, perhaps having different genders in a group means that we can have different perspective that we can consider from.
After forming our groups, the teacher let us have 20 minutes to go around the school to do something together, to create a common experience of sorts. We took photos too! Below is one of them.
Btw i'm the girl on the left wearing all blue.🐣✌
The teacher also introduced us to something called the Tuckerman's team formation model which are:
- Forming
- Storming
- Norming
- Performing
- Adjourning
I agree with most of this model except in my case because our team have been form within the class which have been together for 2 years we didn't really go through the phase in Forming where members are treated as stranger. We were all familiar with each other by now.
We were also taught on the subject of chemical product classification. Below are the 4 categories they are classified to.
Commodities
- Made in large quantities
- Traditional focus of chemical engineering
- Made through reaction engineering and unit operations
Molecular products - possess specific chemical structure
- discovered through research
- products with specific function
Chemical devices - miniature process which accomplish a particular chemical transformation
- provides convenience
~ insert a time skip here ~
⏭Fast forward to week 2 where we had our second lesson. we were taught about literature review and pain points.
Literature Review
It is a survey of literature such as books, articles, write-ups, and other sources that helps address the important issues, theories, and concepts relevant to the research area.
It is really important as it will help determine what is already known and how extensively the topic has been researched on previously. It also help us to identify who are the experts on that topic which we can refer to. We can identify research gaps by doing a literature review. Lastly, and perhaps what I feel is the most important point is that it will help us to avoid plagiarism.
Pain Point
Pain points are specific problems experience by the user while a using a product or service. These pain points can generate friction and (in extreme instances) cause customers to abandon the product or service.
In other words, think of it as something that irritates you.
For example, when you are online shopping for a product. You see that it will have to take 3 weeks to ship from the country of origin to your house. You feel irritated as this is way too long to wait for getting a single item. Thus, causing you to give up on buying this product.
This is an example of a pain point commonly experienced by many.
~ insert another time skip here ~
In week 3 we had our first practical. We were told to reverse engineer a coffee machine, a common item that we see everywhere. Honestly, I was quite excited as this is the first time I get to openly take apart something without getting reprimanded for damaging the item😬.
By reversed engineering the coffee machine it allows me to see how it works in the inside. Quite frankly, before this practical I didn't give much thought of how the machine work, I was just glad that it was invented👀.
Below are some pictures we took of the different components of the coffee machine.
After opening up the machine, I was quite surprised to see that many things happen inside the machine to make it work. What really surprised me is that I actually saw a check valve in the machine. I was shocked because I always thought things such as check valves can only be seen in a chemical plant. Another thing that surprise me and is perhaps the main takeaway for this practical is the airlift pump. This is the first time I have heard of this type of pump. It doesn’t need any complicated parts for it to work. All it need is the vapor to help push the hot water up the tube.
Below are the pictures of the check valves.
We also get to built our own air lift pump and tested to see the relationship between submergence ratio and the flow rate.
Here is a picture of the pump we build.
As it turns out the higher the submergence ratio, the higher the flow rate.
We also had a lesson in week 3 where we brainstorm for ideas.
An idea that the group came up with is to make use of citrus skin to make fragrance.
Essentially we wanted to make a miniature device to reuse citrus skin🟠🍋 to make fragrance all in one device. Where it is a batch process that can slice, dry and provide a container for solvent extraction to take place.
This idea actually came up because my grandmother have a habit of eating an orange a day and she always throw away the orange peels. I always felt like that was such a waste and I feel that we can always make something out of it instead of directly throwing it away.
I figured since citrus skin have such a distinctive and nice smell, we can find a way to sort of extract that "smell". Hence, coming up with this idea.
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