Energy Storage II

Project Lead:

Chris Kratzer

Team Members:

Nick Noble
Ben Wilson
Liliana Benzer
Ryan Mazur

Nikera Taylor-Small

Jessica Cashman

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Duration:

January to May 2016

End-Life:

Some components of the machine were immediately disassembled and recycled, and the rest were stored in ESW's club locker. Extra materials (including unused acrylic, bolts, washers, nuts, magnets, lubricant, bands, etc.) were stored in the locker and are ready to be used in future projects.

Publications:

Energy in a Nutshell by Jess
Batteries by Nick
Capacitors by Nick
Material Elasticity by Chris
Fluid Pressure by Chris
Gravity by Ben
Flywheels by Ben
Recycling PMMA by Nikera

Special Thanks:

Angela Gallo
the MECE Machine Shop
Mike Buffalin and the Construct Lab

Description:

We designed and constructed a mechanism that physically demonstrates ways in which mechanical energy can be stored. Our goal was to donate the final product to the RMSC as an interactive exibit. Most of our machine was made from 0.22" PMMA acrylic plexiglass, held together with 4-40 machine screws. We used one of the laser cutters in the Construct lab to precisely cut each layer of our mechanism. To keep the screws in place, we decided to thread all the holes we cut into the acrylic (which was very time-consuming, and something we would not repeat if we were to attempt a project like this again).

Our prototype worked (albeit briefly) as a proof-of-concept; demonstrating gravitational, elastic (tensile and compressive), and magnetic energy storage. The handle broke off during Imagine RIT, so we consider its construction a mixed success.