- WEEK ONE -
This week our team completed several tasks including the creation of our Team Charter and the expansion of our project idea list. We also broke our team into two project idea groups to research separate ideas to prepare our team for a final project vote on Tuesday.
Progress Made This Week
Team Charter
Drafting and revision of the Team Charter was completed this week and submitted on Thursday. However, the following updates were made after this weeks meeting with our Faculty Advisor:- Designated Luke as the primary Drafter.
- Added expected availability times for Teams communications.
- Created a fourth meeting slot: Friday 5:45pm - 6:45pm for those that aren't able to make the original Friday meetings. This slot is meant to be used as needed and may not always be active.
Potential Project Ideas
We brainstormed individually over the weekend and added several new ideas to our potential project list:- Full-faced respirator masks: This mask would provide the user with a seal around their entire face to provide protection for their eyes, nose and mouth. It would function much like a full-faced SCUBA mask and provide the wearer with full visual range and help them from touching their own face. The intended users are medical personnel dealing with COVID-19 patients.
- Early warning air sampler: This device would sample the air in a public place with high rates of foot traffic (malls, trains, airplanes) and filter out viruses from the environment. The filters of this device would need to be retrieved periodically and analyzed for any new types of viruses. This device would not be intended for air purification.
- UV disinfecting hallways: Corridors are narrow and require a certain amount of time for a person to travel the length them. Illuminating them with UV light may add a way of disinfecting the exterior of the persons clothes and skin while they walk. Additionally the light would sanitize the area in the hallway and acting as a virus gate.
Reviewed our PDS Process
We reviewed the steps to be taken in defining the Project Design Specifications for our project:- Design for a Need: Identify a need that has resulted from,or become more necessary to address because of, COVID-19.
- Define Functions: Outline the functional requirements necessary to address the identified need. These functions must be measurable.
- Determine Constraints: Identify the measurable limits on the project.
Narrowed Down our Project List
After discussing all of our ideas, we decided to narrow the project list down to just two choices. We then divided the team into two project idea groups and assigned each to research a project idea:- Ventilator Expansion: This device will expand the amount of people serviceable by a ventilator from one, to two. This device will utilize the existing capabilities of the ventilator and be able to make any necessary adjustments to flow rate on its own so that each patient is receiving the proper flow rate and mixture. This project idea will be researched by Robert, Seth, Alex, and Luke.
- UV Disinfectant Box: This device will disinfect 5-10 N95 respirator masks with UV light. It is expected to be a self-contained box that you would place the masks into, and close the lid for a relatively short amount of time while the disinfecting cycle runs. The box will be able to fit on a counter-top, be mounted on a wall, or be mounted to a rolling base. This project idea will be researched by Stafford, Michael, and Dylan.
Plan for the Coming Week
Our primary goal this week is to finalize our project choice and create our Project Design Specification sheet for it. The detailed plan for the week is as follows:- Over the weekend, each project idea group will conduct research on their idea and create a rough PDS sheet to be sent to and discussed with the entire team on Tuesday's meeting.
- Tuesday we will meet to discuss both project idea group's findings and vote on our final project choice.
- The final draft of our teams PDS will be completed by Wednesday night for the team to review on Thursday morning before it is submitted at 1pm.
Additional goals for this week:
- Stafford and Robert will build out the task lists on Planner for the PDR phase.
- Once a final project choice has been made, each team member will come up with a question for us to discuss on Thursdays meeting and ask the industry advisors.
- Assign tasks for the PDR on Thursday.
- Blog post for Week Two (Assignment labelled Week 3) will be posted by Alex on Friday.