Wet Battery Regulator
Introduction:
In order to gain familiarity with a wide variety of engineering disciplines
an incoming freshman should be involved in labs which introduce concepts which
are an integral part of the major fields of engineering, namely, chemical,
mechanical, and electrical. The challenge in designing such a lab is that it
must not only teach the student the required information but also whet his or
her appetite to probe deeper and discover more about the fields of
engineering. I am proposing one such lego lab for incoming freshman which I
feel will accomplish the aforementioned objectives.
Voltage Regulated Battery Supply:
The principal goal of this lab is to design a fully automated, voltage
regulated wet battery supply for some undetermined load. Chemistry has taught
us that by connecting certain chemicals in beakers by a thin copper wire, a
voltage potential can be generated between the two beakers. This DC voltage
can be used to power a variety of low input power devices. However, over time
and use, the potential between the two beakers will diminish and the chemicals
will have to be replenished in order to maintain the desired voltage and
current. Therefore, the student should create a control system which will
monitor the current state of the system, whether that be the pH of the
chemicals and/or the voltage between the beakers, and mantain the desired
status (voltage, current, or pH level) over time.
This lab would introduce a variety of important and intriguing aspects of
engineering to the student. First, the student would learn applied chemistry
in the building of a practical wet battery. The student would gain an
understanding of the chemical process in a wet battery and also the
relationship between the molarity (or pH) of the chemicals to the voltage of
the created battery. It would also require the design of a mechanical system
which would physically regulate the chemical concentration in the beakers. An
understanding of control systems would also have to be realized in order to
create the closed-loop control system required to regulate the system.
Knowledge of computer science algorithms would be gained by programming the
computer interface to the Lego kits, and an understanding of electrical
engineering would be gained by designing and analyzing a voltage
meter/feedback loop for the system.
Conclusion:
By completing the lab sketched out above, the student would gain a
significant understanding of multiple fields of engineering, with emphasis
placed on chemical, electrical, and mechanical engineering. This lab would be
extremely valuable to an incoming freshman because it would introduce to him
or her a wide variety of disciplines and increase the student's desire to
learn more about engineering, both theoretical and practical.