Projects
- Factors Affecting Creativity in the Product Design Industry
Too often is creativity use simply as a buzzword without considering its deep philisophical underpinnings. The individuals behind todays coolest products are required to have a very specific skill set: the creativity of an artist with the analytical skills of an engineer. Of these two skills, creativity is still a topic that is largely misunderstood. What factors hinder creativity in this field? What factors help it flourish?
Old Projects:
- Enhanced Wind Turbine
The idea of hooking 40,000 volts up to an airfoil doesn’t seem like it would do a whole lot, but with certain configurations, the electrical potential energy can be dissociated into the air around the airfoil, causing it to have intresting effects on the air flowing past. The result is increased boundary layer adhesion, which basically makes the airfoil more efficient. For more details on this project, please review the full report by clicking the title.
- Forced Hydrocarbon Formation
Hydrocarbons, the stuff that makes up our plastics and polymers — and more importantly our fuels — are made of hydrogen and carbon mixed together in different ways. If one takes hydrogen and carbon, puts them in a jar and shakes them together, he ought to be able to get different permutations of hydrocarbons similar to what is found when drilling for oil. This project aims to investigate just that. Solid carbon is gassified through ionization in a 99% hydrogen atmosphere and the two are allowed to react. The most interesting thing about the process is the fact that the ionization requires a powerful electric arc to work — something that generally causes hydrogen to explode. Fortunately it only does so in the presence of an oxydizer (like the oxygen in air).