Day 09 - Frame the Base & Pivot-Point
Today we have a guest speaker scheduled. Katelynn Barnett is the Program Coordinator for Undergraduate Enrollment into the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) at the University of Cincinnati. As part of her job she travels around to area high schools to speak to students who are ready to think about whether they should plan on applying to CEAS. Although the STEM program at Princeton High School is not designed to propel graduates directly into engineering programs, it will give you a solid foundation of mental tools and the ability to solve unstructured problems. If you think you might want to pursue a career in engineering, UC's program is a strong contender on the national stage and should be high on your list of considerations.
Time permitting, we will break out the tools and get to work on building the base structures for our hydraulic arms. At this point you should have a clear image of how your hydraulic arm will have to be assembled to get it to reach the cups and the bin, including how to allow for the placement of a syringe directly on the base to pivot the arm from left to right and back again. Before building the arm or the grabbing mechanism at the end you must have a functioning base. For many teams this is the make-or-break part of the build - so attend to the details and get it right the first time!
Hydraulic calculations
- calculate the area of a circle (Acircle = πr2).
- calcuate the mechanical advantage of a system (M.A. = Fout/Fin)
- know that in general, output distance traveled must be multiplied by M.A. of the system to know input distance traveled
- calculate the volume of a cylinder (Vcylinder = πr2h)
- calculate the radius of a circle given its diameter (r = d/2, or d = 2r)
- know that in general, M.A. = Fout/Fin = Aout/Ain = Δhin/Δhout
- hydraulics
- the branch of engineering concerned with the conveyance of liquids through pipes and channels, especially as a source of mechanical force or control.
