Marble Sorter Project

Fernando Ruiz, Barrett Smith, Jacob Phillips

Principles of Engineering

Mckinney High School

18 February 2015

1

Table of Contents

Design Brief………………………………………………….2

Brainstorming Ideas……………………………………….. 3

Decision Matrix……………………………………………...4

Initial Pseudocode…………………………………………..5

Initial Sketch………………………………………………....6

Gantt Chart………………………………………………......7

Parts List……………………………………………………..8

Design Modifications…………………………….………….9

Building Process……………………………………………10

Program for Build…………………………………………..11

Final Sketch…………………………...…………………....12

Final Design Solution………………………………………13

Reflection……………………………………………………14

References………………………………………………….15

2

Design Brief

Client Company: National Recreation and Park Association Target Consumer: Society Designer: Fernando Ruiz, Barrett Smith, Jacob Phillips Problem Statement: The National Recreation Park Association (NRPA) has asked your team to develop a solution to a growing problem 2in their parks. The association has placed dumpsters for recyclable material throughout the parks. They have a sorting facility; however, they need a device that will sort the recyclable material. Design Statement: Design, model, and test a device that will separate recyclable materials. Constraints: 1. Separation process must be fully automated.

2. Must successfully separate commingled recyclable materials

into individual holding bins.

3. Recyclable materials include 3 different ½­in. material spheres

totalling 15. Examples could include steel, aluminum, wood,

opaque plastic, and clear plastic.

4. Must be efficient­ 2 Minute max for completion of sorting

process.

3

Brainstorming Ideas

4

Decision Matrix

5

Initial Psuedocode

6

Initial Sketch

Created by Jacob Phillips: 2/18/16

7

Gantt Chart

8

Parts List

9

Design Modifications Date Problem/Reason for

Modification Solution Picture

02/25/2016 The platform for where the marbles would be placed in the original design ended up being too unstable.

To solve this, we added support brackets to the beams to keep the platform from moving.

02/25/2016 Our original design included a trap door that would remove the large marble. We realized that the large marble did not have to be included in the project.

So we removed the large marble and the trapdoor to simplify our project.

N/A

02/25/2016 After inserting the lever into the build we realized that the lever was a long enough track for the marbles to roll down.

So we removed the large track that was originally part of the sketch.

03/03/2016 At first we had the barrier controlling the flow of the marbles at the beginning, but then we realized that the speed at which the marbles flowed down the track was to inconsistent, which caused the marbles to land on different spots on the lever.

To solve this problem we moved the barrier closer to the lever to keep the landing spot consistent.

03/04/2016 The marbles did not have enough space at the entrance of the barrier so they would get clogged up, causing the entire sorting process to fail.

We added a ceiling to keep the marbles from clogging up at the entrance.

03/07/2016 The only idea generated to separate the plastic marble and the wood marble was to take advantage of the plastic ball’s ability to bounce higher than the wood.The original idea failed because the plastic marble was not able to bounce high enough off of the base plate.

In order to complete the separation of the marbles we added a metallic tray which allows the plastic marble to bounce higher than the wood.

10

Building Process

Picture taken on: 02/29/2016 Original Entrance/Original Barrier

Picture taken on: 02/29/2016 Lever/Track

Picture taken on: 03/04/2016 Track/Lever/Ceiling

Picture taken on: 03/04/2016 Ceiling/Barrier/Lever

Picture taken on: 03/04/2016 Full Build without containers

11

Program for Build

12

Final Design Sketch

13

Final Design Solution

14

Reflection

In this project our task was to separate 3 different types of marbles into separate containers. Our

team struggled in the beginning because of the fact that we had plenty of ideas but then we realized that the

ideas would not work. Brainstorming was supposed to be a two day process but because of the

complications concerning the ideas we were forced to add on two more days. Even after the 4 days of

brainstorming we still struggled to stick with one idea because of the problems we encountered. We

encountered many problems while building such as having to add a ceiling to keep the marbles from

clogging up, having to move back the barrier and having to constantly adjust the program for the build. Our

team struggled most with the separation of the wood marble and the opaque marble. It was difficult to find

an idea that would complete the task. What made it difficult was the fact that both are the same size and

about the same weight.Towards the end of the project we found a small metallic tray which ended being the

key to our project. This metallic tray allowed the plastic marble to bounce high enough while also keeping

the wood marbles from bouncing too high. We added a small tape barrier to the tray to stop the wood

marbles from bouncing over. We eventually adjusted the barrier enough to keep the wood marble in the tray

while also allowing the plastic marbles to bounce over. On March 18th we were finally ready to test our

project, after three trials our solution was able to put 42 out of 45 marbles in the correct container. Our team

was very satisfied with the results and our solution, as it is the most efficient solution so far. We felt that our

team cooperated very well, there were no real problems regarding our ability to work together as a team to

complete the task. If we were able to redo this project we would most definitely take less time working on the

small things in the project. We didn't really have a time where one person was stuck doing nothing. We all

worked together to attempt to complete the task and ended up having a solution that was able to separate

93.3% of the recyclable materials.

15

References

https://pltw.instructure.com/courses/263826/files/folder/Unit%203%20Control%20Systems/Lesson%203.3%20Design%20Problem%20­%20Materials%20Sorter?preview=56487503

https://pltw.instructure.com/courses/263826/files/folder/Unit%203%20Control%20Systems/Lesson%203.3%20Design%20Problem%20­%20Materials%20Sorter?preview=56487220