Dashiell B.
8/23/23
First day of Wisrd junior year, I want to start working on turning salt water into fresh water to help the world and help people with limited access to fresh water. Currently, I’m looking into improving the efficiency of power and heat that is needed to make this process happen. As water is a very limited resource and many places in the world don’t have access to fresh water this is very important
Research interests: Current research interests are desalination (turning salt water to fresh) trying to improve this process so that it becomes more viable for the world
Second Semester
January 2, 2024
I focus on finding a new 3D printing nylon filament and looking at the fine-tuning precision that helps increase the accuracy and sustainability of printers.
My other goal is to find a new research question for my desalination lab. This is because I want a testable scientific question that will create more meaningful research.
January 3, 2024
I have found that mushrooms might be a good source for desalination; they are commonly used in the process of gray water purification, and the University of Riverside has been studying these mushrooms
Mushrooms of interest:
The Salty Agaric, Agaricus Bernardii
Shiitake mushrooms
Mycelium
January 9, 2024
Today, I cleaned the ultimate s5 extrusion box and increased the pressure that grips the filament.
This implementation proceeded to fix the extrusion issue, after increasing pressure, one calibration dragon was printed, and two miniature rotors were printed, these three parts were the most sturdy and stable I have seen so far. Following this, 2 large rotors were printed on a different filament, but this print failed. However, the first half of the print is almost perfect, being very strong and clean with some minor slight issues. The issue only started on both parts at about halfway up. This leads me to three hypotheses, one is that as it got later into the night, it started to get colder and caused the print to have temperature inconsistencies, and these thermal issues led to layering issues. My other hypothesis would be that as the filament was left out, the longer it sat, the more hydrated it got. My last hypothesis would be that during the night, a recorded earthquake created layering issues and led the entire print to fail. This could totally lead to a large-scale failure. Another thing to note is that the extrusion box was full of yellow filament shavings and was eating away while in the extruder. The next thing I would like to test is utilizing the dehumidifying box to see if it will improve the quality of our prints, if it does, this would mean that the WISRD lab is too humid for successful, consistent printing. If this implementation shows nothing and after changing this filament, no change is made, then the problem is the temperature in the room later in the day.
January 18, 2024
Today, I learned about the hydroponix system and recorded information for leaf quantity and total height of the plant using a set of calipers. An overflow started while adjusting the middle row due to issues with the hydroponics flow rate. Additionally, I worked on disassembling the Ultimaker print core as the WISRD Lab has been using them up and having significant jams/issues with nozzles for multiple months. I learned how to disassemble and clean the print core properly and believe I now know how to extend the life of each core tenfold.
January 22, 2024
This week, I started researching a new interest of mine, lab-grown produce that is acceptable for consumption. So far, I'm looking at different ways of producing a sustainable food source. At first, I looked at 3D printing. However, this printing is more entry-level to the idea of sustainability, and what seems to be a much more promising future would be growing our own cultures of cells using plant cell structures such as synthetic salmon.
January 25, 2024
Today, I began the assembly of an Ultimaker s5 hood. This will help with temperature regulation and help reduce the amount of dust that is getting into the Ultimaker s5 and should reduce total print failure. Additionally, Bob mentioned using electrolysis to separate the hydrogen and oxygen from saltwater. This is a very promising idea for desalination and could be an exciting collaboration with reverse osmosis. Another idea is looking at toroidal propellers in air vs. water, I also looked at new ideas for hydroponics, one idea of getting sound from plants that are growing in the hydroponics tank and comparing levels of salt within the water and how they
Change their sound output with the different living conditions. Another fun experiment to test would be how water and air plants' oxygen levels change their growth. Two ideas for testing this would be Using/creating oxygenated water or adapting the hydroponics chamber into a hyperbaric hydroponics chamber
January 29, 2024
Looking further into 3D printers, focusing on the Bamboo Labs x1e, this printer uses advanced technologies and AI, making it stand out from many other printers. Bamboo Labs has been striving most in the field of 3D printing and creating advanced printers at lower prices. This printer is a strong choice for upgrading our current printers or purchasing new printers for the coming school year.
January 30, 2024
Today, I spent time studying microfiltration and the connection it has to desalination and hydroponics. Looking at mushrooms and possible fungi-based filtration. Fungi have been used previously as filters for many gray water cleaning systems on a non commercial level.
Currently looking at this paper by Pubmed A self-floating and integrated bionic mushroom for highly efficient solar steam generation
And this paper by https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/EW/D2EW00924B
Febuary 6th, 2024
To further my project of desalination and clearing of water through the utilization of mushrooms I decided that it was necessary to further my research into the basics of mushrooms and understanding them on a more fundamental molecular level.
February 14th, 2024
Recorded plant heights on google sheets for hydroponics to record the differences in plant growth. The best method for cleaning water will be using mycelium sheets or rolls.
https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(20)30444-X
Began looking into a paper by MIT going over the extraction of water from the air and harvesting humidity.
February 15th 2024
Updated the treasury log.
disposed of old, defective, and dead hydroponics saplings. Replanted nine new saplings, then replaced their water with 1000 ml of distilled water having no salinity. I have also looked into the idea of alternative designs for reverse osmosis filtration. The most interesting alternative to desalination seems to be solar desalination.
Feb 26, 2024
Solar steam generator needs no lenses or mirrors | Physics Today | AIP Publishing
Comparing systems of desalination, such as Solar steam generation working with desalination, versus more traditional desalination methods, such as RO
Mar 12, 2024
I have been researching hydroponics, fertilizers, and the optimal ratios for plant growth, looking into the hydroponics path for the 2025 school year and trying to determine the next steps for hydroponics now that we have found the approximate range of salinity that the current plants can handle.
Mar 14, 2024
Recorded starting plant height and leaf count for new hydroponics plants, reset hydroponics system with tomatoes
Reset the hydroponics system with a new batch of tomatoes, gathering data of current plant health after germination and before putting plants into the hydroponics system. Recording plant height, leaf quantity, and overall health of plants.
Mar 18, 2024
Looking into ED desalination and prototyping a system that I will be able to show during the poster session
Apr 8, 2024
Today, I took a deep dive into MIT's previous papers, patents, and journals. This research led me to find a paper that covers all of the desalination and will significantly aid my research and help me begin Sketching future designs to build in WISRD. This Paper is so significant as it studied the ability to extend the life of solar desalination filters, both reducing required maintenance and increasing overall efficiency.
April 11, 2024
Began researching designs for DIY air control systems for 3D printing. Following this research, I started taking measurements of our Ultimaker 3 as this printer needs to be very temperature-controlled and humidity-controlled. This air filter will help increase the safety of 3D printing in WISRD, as possibly harmful Materials can be printed in a controlled chamber.
Apr 15, 2024
I updated the treasury report and am preparing it for review by the board.