Final Design
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Authors Will G
AJ S
Kalin D
Ian H
Status Deployed
Made Yes
Replicated No
Uses education, science
OKH Manifest Download
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Location Arcata, United States

Air Filtration Demo. The point of this design was to demonstrate air quality engineering. We created a demo that shows the effectiveness of different air filters and why they are needed in your household. This project was designed and built for the span of the spring 2024 semester at Cal Poly Humboldt. And the intended user is a school trying to demonstrate air filter effectiveness and air quality or to use to bring students into the programs.

Background[edit | edit source]

Cal Poly Humboldt, an institution known for its annual admissions events designed to engage the public and attract prospective students, recently underwent a transformation phase. The California state Legislature recently approved a substantial investment of $458 million to elevate Humboldt State University into a polytechnic institution. This expansion plan includes significant growth in the engineering department and the acquisition of two pioneering programs—Mechanical Engineering and Energy Systems Engineering (Cal Poly Humboldt). Our client is the School of Engineering, represented by Eileen Cashman. Because of the recent department expansion, the School of Engineering would like to attract more students to the programs. Admission day is a fun and cheerful day with many prospective students. The spring preview is also an event that has a large impact on prospective students. This event is held indoors, and the School of Engineering gets one or two tables. Currently the School of Engineering only has stickers, flyers, and handouts to promote their programs.  ,

Problem statement[edit | edit source]

The objective of this project is to create an engaging presentation that demonstrates an aspect of air quality engineering. This project should also serve to attract prospective students who may be interested in the engineering program. The product will be small and easily transportable as well as informative because of the nature of the event. This demo will give prospective students an idea of what is covered with engineering classes at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Criteria[edit | edit source]

Include a brief intro to the criteria and then include a table with constraints and weights (0-10 highest).

Criteria Description Weight (1-10)
Effective at communicating about the program No pieces bigger than 4x4 ft. No individual pieces weigh more than 50 pounds. 10
Aesthetics Has to be hands-on for audience members, engaging, Describes what Air Quality engineering is. 9
Durability High Manufacture value, looks well put together, brings people to the table, wow factor. 9
Quick to Set Up Materials can be used multiple times without breaking. Weather resistant 8
Price to Performance/Value No more than $500, longevity, quality of material 8
Portability Easy to Transport Less than ten minutes to set up 7

Prototyping[edit | edit source]

The three prototypes that were created for this project are described in this section.

The first prototype was created using cardboard and hot glue and was a small scale model to show the client the design. This served as the desire prototype and is shown in figure. This prototype also showed the need to test fan positioning.

The first prototype also included a part showing only the “bridge” part of the design. The purpose of this prototype is to test the fan positioning and the functionality of the bridge. This is a functional prototype and is shown in figure. This prototype is a to-scale model that also has a functional “air filter cartridge”. This prototype showed that there was a need for multiple fans.

The second prototype was a full scale model of the entire design and can be seen in Figure. The bridge part was mostly reused from prototype 1, however acrylic was added. The purpose of this prototype was to allow the client to see the size of the project and give feedback so necessary adjustments can be made. This prototype also allowed full testing of fans and ventilation.

The third prototype shows a new design that is better suited to the clients requirements. Client feedback on prototype 2 showed a desire for the final project to take up less table area. Prototype 3 was designed to take up minimal table space by using more vertical space instead of scaling down the design as a whole. Materials from prototype 2 were re-used. This prototype also allows for full testing of the fans, ventilation system, and CO₂ monitor. This prototype can be seen in Figure.

Final product[edit | edit source]

The final product consists of four main aspects: the air contamination box, the chimney, the filter cartridges, and the electronic components. Each of these components will be described below.

The air contamination box is a vented box with an airtight rear door for easy access. The 1ft by 1ft box is designed to hold air pollutants in an engaging manner courtesy of the acrylic front window. While also being safe and enjoyable for the audience.

The Chimney component houses both fan 1 and fan 2, the air sensor, the Arduino display, and the exchangeable filter cartridge and redundancy filter. The chimney is 2’x5”x5”. The display will be placed so that it is outside the chimney at eye level. The sensor will be inside the chimney. Fan 1 will be at the very bottom and fan 2 will be at the top just below the redundancy filter.

The Air Filter Cartridge will be housed in the chimney where it will hold our filter material with the added benefit of being able to slide in and out of the chimney when we want to swap cartridges.

The electronics components include an Arduino, battery, and a 2.5 ppm air quality sensor. These electronics/sensors will be located at the top of the chimney to test incoming air contaminants for our project.

Construction[edit | edit source]

The primary material that was used in the construction of this tabletop demonstration was quarter-inch plywood. We started with a 4-foot by 8-foot sheet of plywood and used the tabletop saw to cut out five 1-foot by 1-foot squares. We will use these to create the main box. We cut out three 2-foot-long and 5-inch wide sheets for the chimney with the remaining plywood. We then took some scrap wood and cut out inch-by-inch cubes to use to screw into to put the boxes together because the quarter-inch plywood was too thin. To cut the door, fan hole(the hole that connects the main box to the chimney), and air vents, we first drew them out, then drilled small holes in each corner and used a scroll saw to cut out the shape we wanted and then used a chisel and file set to get it to the exact size. We traced a piece of leftover plywood out a door and cut it on the table saw. We then used a jig to hold two pieces of wood at a time together and square. With the sheet still in the jig, we used wood glue to glue the small cubes on the inside at the bottom, top, and middle, ensuring they were level and leaving room for fans at the top and bottom. After the glue dried, we drilled two holes, one on each corner of the sheet, through the sheet, and into the cubes (make sure to leave space for both drills, one at the top and one at the bottom of the cube). After drilling the holes, we then put a screw. We used two hinges to attach the door to the back. We made the bottom five-sided box and the three-sided chimney separate. We then used silicone to seal all the cracks between the wood. After everything was dry, we spray-painted all of its gold inside and out. We then found an image of the school logo online, and I used my iPad and a sheet of thin paper to take out the logo and transform it into a larger piece of thick cardboard. Then, I used that as a template to spray paint the logo. Next, we got two pieces of clear acrylic and cut one 1 foot by 1 foot and the other 2 feet by 5 inches. Then, we used the slicer to attach them to the front of the demonstration. Once both pieces were fully assembled, we placed the fans and used L brackets to attach the two prices. After they were both attached, we silicone the connection. As for the filter cartridges, we used a 3-D printer to print out interchangeable cartridges. And 3-D printed a Handel to be screwed onto the door.

Bill of materials[edit | edit source]

Design cost

For the entire project, a total of $268.46 was spent on materials and 12 collective hours was spent on the design phase of all three prototypes, followed by 7 hours allocated to construction and an additional 2 hours for testing.

Prototyping cost

A total of $62.72 was spent on materials used in prototyping and 7 hours were spent on building each prototype. As seen in Table… we saved a large amount of money by reusing materials from previous projects and taking advantage of free materials we were able to find in the workshops.

Final Build Cost

In total we spent $267.74, with $62 spent for resources utilized across all prototypes. We ended up saving a significant amount of money by leveraging existing materials for prototype construction.

The 2 120mm fans and 2 2ft x 4ft plastic boards was the most significant expense for prototyping. In the final design phase, we allocated a larger portion of our budget to filter materials. This was to preemptively account for maintenance costs, ensuring we had an excess supply to accommodate any unforeseen wear and tear.

The total cost of our final product amounted to $205.74

Item Amount Cost per unit Total
¼ in Plywood 1 USD 50.00 USD 50.00
Silicone 1 USD 10.99 USD 10.99
Acrylic 1 USD 0.00 USD 0.00
Dual 120mm USB fans 1 USD 20.00 USD 20.00
Hinges 1 USD 4.75 USD 4.75
Incense 10 USD 0.50 USD 5.00
Sage 1 USD 5.00 USD 5.00
Battery pack 1 USD 30.00 USD 30.00
Filter materials 1 USD 80.00 USD 80.00
Grand total USD 205.74EUR 176.94 <br />GBP 150.19 <br />CAD 255.12 <br />MXN 4,289.68 <br />INR 15,399.64 <br />

Operation[edit | edit source]

To operate the air quality demo correctly, please follow the steps stated below.

1
Placement

Place the demo flat on a table top, then ensure that the filter cartridges are in place and the redundancy filter is on top of the chimney. Next, turn on the power source and turn on the fans to high. Turn on the Arduino air testers and display.

2
Light incense

Open up the back door and place the ceramic tray with the glass cup on top right under the fan. Then light the incense. It is important to light the incense inside the box so that as much smoke as possible is filtered through the chimney.

3
Student Use

To use the air filter demo, prospective students should read the information about each filter material and then choose the one they would like to place in the chimney. At this point, it is important for the filter cartridge to be exchanged very quickly so that minimal smoke escapes. They should take note of the reading before and after they have replaced the filter to determine which one is better.

4
Cleaning

After use, extinguish and dispose of the incense. The fans should be left running until the display reads no more than 100ppm of the original reading and the air filter demo should be cleaned out with Clorox wipes to remove most of the soot and sent. The air filter cartridges can be placed in a plastic bag or disposed of. After cleaning is done, turn off the fans and power source.

Maintenance[edit | edit source]

There is not much maintenance, just routine cleaning and charging from time to time.

  • Please check and follow the maintenance schedule as listed below.

Maintenance schedule[edit | edit source]

After Every Use
  • Clean and Wipe down inside to remove soot and smell
  • Remove material that was used to dirty air, disregard it safely, or store it for another use.
Every Other Use
  • Charge Batteries
  • Check to make sure the filter material is good. If filter material is showing wear, please replace

Occasionally

  • When already made filter material run out make extra filter material by cutting 5.5in squares out of spare fiberglass and cotton. Hot glue 3-4 pieces together at the corners.

Conclusion[edit | edit source]

Testing results[edit | edit source]

In Appendix C

Lessons learned[edit | edit source]

One thing that we would do differently if we built this project again was that we would use clear silicone. One major thing that we did wrong was not doing enough research on what type of sensor we needed to use. We initially chose a sensor that would not work with the type of filter material we chose. The sensor was monitoring the CO2 ppm, and the filters only filter out particulate matter not gas.

Next steps[edit | edit source]

The next step for our project is to paint over some of the imperfections. Because we wanted to spray paint the interior, it was necessary to spray paint before everything way put together. This left some things unpainted such as the L brackets and some amount of silicone.

Troubleshooting[edit | edit source]

This is only how to troubleshoot basic operation. For complex issues, the solution might just say something like contact ________. It should be a table in this format:

Problem Suggestion
Example issue Example solution or suggestion
Does not turn on Make sure it is plugged in
Another issue Etc.

Team[edit | edit source]

Team WAKI is an acronym for the first letter of the names of each person in the team

  • Will Gaeta
  • AJ Sverlow-Mendoza
  • Kalin Dyn
  • Ian Hunt

References[edit | edit source]


FA info icon.svg Angle down icon.svg Page data
Part of Engr205 Introduction to Design
Keywords air quality, filters, ppm, air quality test, air filter, air sensor, air sensors, air filters, pm2.5, pm10
SDG SDG03 Good health and well-being
Authors Will Gaeta, AJ Sverlow-Mendoza, Kalin Dyn, Ian Hunt
License CC-BY-SA-4.0
Organizations Cal Poly Humboldt, CPH Engineering Department
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 2 pages link here
Impact 64 page views (more)
Created April 24, 2024 by Lonny Grafman
Last modified May 6, 2024 by StandardWikitext bot
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