Driving Question
For this project we were assigned with, find answers to questions about an existing product that are used in the design of another product. So to simplify we were tasked with taking an object we already have take it apart and rebuild it with a new purpose.
Project Report
Break It Apart!
Reverse Engineering
Desktop Fan
By Rohan Ayyar, Abby Bergerson, Morgan Boothe, and Taylor Boothe
September 19, 2019
STEM Senior Engineering
The device we chose to reverse engineer is a desktop fan. This device is made out of polypropylene plastic and a battery powered DC1-6V/3V motor. The device’s purpose is to be a small, portable fan and to cool down the user. The dimensions are 11.5cm x 11.5cm x 7cm.
The fan is comprised of a basket cover, fan blades, and a stand. The plastic basket goes over the fan blades protect people from getting hurt by the rotating blades. The stand holds up the fan and allows people to rotate the direction of the air so they can be more comfortable. Inside the fan there is the motor and batteries. The batteries are the fan’s power source and are located under the fan blades.The batteries are connected to the motor to rotate the blades to move the air. To work the fan there is a switch in the back. That will start to rotate the fan blades.
The fan is made up of 13 parts. There are 4 screws .6 cm in length that secure the fan to the base and the cover to the battery. There are 2 AA batteries that power the machine. Two plastic baskets 10 cm in diameter, one half to protect the user from the fan blades and the other one is used to hold the batteries and the motor. There is one motor with a switch on it which will turn it on and off. The motor is 2 cm in width, 3 cm in length, and 1.5 cm in depth. There is one cover that protects the motor and wires (5.5 cm by 2 cm) and the other cover protects the batteries (5.5 cm by 5 cm). The last two pieces are the fan blades that are 2 cm in length and the stand which is 7.5 cm in height and 12.5 cm in length.
The fan is connected to the stand with screws. There is a pin that connects to the blade of the fan. There are two batteries on the back with a switch that operates the fan. The switch and battery springs connect to a motor which connects to the pin that connects to the blade. The motor is linked to one wire that connects to a conductive metal that transmits the battery energy and another wire that links to the switch and another conductive metal. Basically, when you use force to switch the fan on, the energy from the switch opens the motor to energy, which comes from the battery. If the batteries have energy and the switch is on, the energy goes through the motor and to the end of the pin, which is connected to the fan, causing it to move.
Two different types of plastic are used to make the fan. The body of the fan and fan blades are both made out of Polypropylene. I found this by finding the same product online and looking at the material description. Generally there is a code on most plastics that will tell you what type of plastic it is. Polypropylene is resistant to fatigue and can handle hotter temperatures. That makes it great for medical tools, tupperware, plastic bags, and bottle caps. Some characteristics of polypropylene are that it can float, it is cheaper than other synthetic fibers, waterproof, lightweight, and can be made into many different colors. One challenge of working with this plastic is that it has low friction at the molecular level and most glues won’t bond the plastic to other materials. The motor used inside the fan is a 130 Model DC1-6V/3V. It has an RPM of 17000 to 18000.These motors are used most often in toys and small electronics due to the small shaft size of 2mm. Since the shaft size is so small the torque in turn is also smaller, causing the motor to be fairly weak making it good for toys and small appliances.
Plastic molding is a technique used for shaping the plastics using rigid frames and molds. The molding is commonly used for manufacturing car parts, containers, signs and other high volume items. Plastic molding involves filling liquid polymer in the hollow mold so that it can take its shape. This process involves a high range of pressure and immense heat. There are different techniques used in plastic molding including injection molding, blow molding, rotational molding, and compression molding. The motors includes a motor dc uxcell micro model mini electric speed rc high torque toys toy diy rotary shaft magnetic vibration magnet gear car smart player dvd vdc airplane cylinder hobby helicopter massager pcs cd aircraft terminal part spare cars large stepper wire phase piece rpm output min power terminals appliance kitchen intelligent box varistor cylindrical.
We decided to theoretically redesign this desktop fan with an LED light. Basically, we added an LED light in between the blue wire and replaced the AA battery on that side with a coin cell battery. We did this because an LED light requires around 1.8 to 3.3 Volts to light up and a AA battery provides 1.5 Volts. Because of this, we can’t even reach the minimum of lighting the LED, let alone charging the fan. A coin cell battery, however, provides around 3 Volts of energy, which is enough to charge the LED moderately and charge the fan. A blueprint of the redesigned motor would look like this:
In order to make this motor design fit with the desktop fan, we would drill the left side of the battery so it can fit the coin cell battery. Additionally, we would attach the LED to the outside of the fan so it’s on display while the fan is running. A basic blueprint of the redesign would look like this.
Reverse Engineering
Desktop Fan
By Rohan Ayyar, Abby Bergerson, Morgan Boothe, and Taylor Boothe
September 19, 2019
STEM Senior Engineering
The device we chose to reverse engineer is a desktop fan. This device is made out of polypropylene plastic and a battery powered DC1-6V/3V motor. The device’s purpose is to be a small, portable fan and to cool down the user. The dimensions are 11.5cm x 11.5cm x 7cm.
The fan is comprised of a basket cover, fan blades, and a stand. The plastic basket goes over the fan blades protect people from getting hurt by the rotating blades. The stand holds up the fan and allows people to rotate the direction of the air so they can be more comfortable. Inside the fan there is the motor and batteries. The batteries are the fan’s power source and are located under the fan blades.The batteries are connected to the motor to rotate the blades to move the air. To work the fan there is a switch in the back. That will start to rotate the fan blades.
The fan is made up of 13 parts. There are 4 screws .6 cm in length that secure the fan to the base and the cover to the battery. There are 2 AA batteries that power the machine. Two plastic baskets 10 cm in diameter, one half to protect the user from the fan blades and the other one is used to hold the batteries and the motor. There is one motor with a switch on it which will turn it on and off. The motor is 2 cm in width, 3 cm in length, and 1.5 cm in depth. There is one cover that protects the motor and wires (5.5 cm by 2 cm) and the other cover protects the batteries (5.5 cm by 5 cm). The last two pieces are the fan blades that are 2 cm in length and the stand which is 7.5 cm in height and 12.5 cm in length.
The fan is connected to the stand with screws. There is a pin that connects to the blade of the fan. There are two batteries on the back with a switch that operates the fan. The switch and battery springs connect to a motor which connects to the pin that connects to the blade. The motor is linked to one wire that connects to a conductive metal that transmits the battery energy and another wire that links to the switch and another conductive metal. Basically, when you use force to switch the fan on, the energy from the switch opens the motor to energy, which comes from the battery. If the batteries have energy and the switch is on, the energy goes through the motor and to the end of the pin, which is connected to the fan, causing it to move.
Two different types of plastic are used to make the fan. The body of the fan and fan blades are both made out of Polypropylene. I found this by finding the same product online and looking at the material description. Generally there is a code on most plastics that will tell you what type of plastic it is. Polypropylene is resistant to fatigue and can handle hotter temperatures. That makes it great for medical tools, tupperware, plastic bags, and bottle caps. Some characteristics of polypropylene are that it can float, it is cheaper than other synthetic fibers, waterproof, lightweight, and can be made into many different colors. One challenge of working with this plastic is that it has low friction at the molecular level and most glues won’t bond the plastic to other materials. The motor used inside the fan is a 130 Model DC1-6V/3V. It has an RPM of 17000 to 18000.These motors are used most often in toys and small electronics due to the small shaft size of 2mm. Since the shaft size is so small the torque in turn is also smaller, causing the motor to be fairly weak making it good for toys and small appliances.
Plastic molding is a technique used for shaping the plastics using rigid frames and molds. The molding is commonly used for manufacturing car parts, containers, signs and other high volume items. Plastic molding involves filling liquid polymer in the hollow mold so that it can take its shape. This process involves a high range of pressure and immense heat. There are different techniques used in plastic molding including injection molding, blow molding, rotational molding, and compression molding. The motors includes a motor dc uxcell micro model mini electric speed rc high torque toys toy diy rotary shaft magnetic vibration magnet gear car smart player dvd vdc airplane cylinder hobby helicopter massager pcs cd aircraft terminal part spare cars large stepper wire phase piece rpm output min power terminals appliance kitchen intelligent box varistor cylindrical.
We decided to theoretically redesign this desktop fan with an LED light. Basically, we added an LED light in between the blue wire and replaced the AA battery on that side with a coin cell battery. We did this because an LED light requires around 1.8 to 3.3 Volts to light up and a AA battery provides 1.5 Volts. Because of this, we can’t even reach the minimum of lighting the LED, let alone charging the fan. A coin cell battery, however, provides around 3 Volts of energy, which is enough to charge the LED moderately and charge the fan. A blueprint of the redesigned motor would look like this:
In order to make this motor design fit with the desktop fan, we would drill the left side of the battery so it can fit the coin cell battery. Additionally, we would attach the LED to the outside of the fan so it’s on display while the fan is running. A basic blueprint of the redesign would look like this.
Reflection
Overall I think this was a good project however I have multiple things to work on. I feel my communication and work ethic need to be improved. Multiple time I was unclear of what the actual task at hand was and allowed my groups to do more work than their share whereas if I had better communication I could have helped and worked more with my group. Something that I think did end up going well was our presentation it clearly showed what we learn about our object. However we weren't able to fully reverse engineer our design we did have the plans to which I thought was a key part of the project.