Week 2

Goal: Solidify Project Concept and Complete Research

This week, the group finished finalizing a concept for this project. The main concept of the project, which is the solar responsive windows, remained the same with a few minor alterations. The first of the two changes made was that these windows will be used for a single story greenhouse/nursery rather than a building with multiple stories. The reason behind this being that if these were to operate on a multiple story building, the windows on the upper levels would block some of the sun from reaching the windows below. Therefore, the group decided to used them for a single story building so this issue would not be encountered. The second alteration made to this project was the type of lighting that would be powered. In the initial draft, LED lights were to line the inside of the window and turn on at night. Now, rather than power LED lights, the solar energy collected will power lights that increase plant growth. 

After the project concept was finalized, the remainder of the week was spent researching various aspects of the project so the group could gain a better understanding of the components it needs to include to function properly. During lab, the group discussed which topics needed to be researched. It was decided that the main components were prior inventions or products, greenhouse light optimal for plant growth, solar energy, and the characteristics of sunflowers that will be the foundation of the solar panel design. Conveniently, there were four topics and four members in this design team. Therefore, each member researched one component. All of the research completed this week can be found in the background tab above.

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