Industry Consultant Reflection 

Team 22.7 

Meeting Consultant  Topics  Take Away  Changes to design resulting

date  from meeting 
April 7 Brian Communication is key Initial Role Assignment
(4/7) (Boeing) & Group Structure/Initial Ideas Better understanding of problem statement
Robert Charter
How decisions are made (voting? Etc)
Not making it personal (group check-ins)
5 dysfunctions of a team
 
Important roles in a group:
Note taker
Time keeper
Facilitator (keeping on track)
 
Diverse ideas

April 28 Mirrors Reevaluation of Ram Pump

(4/28) Josh Idea refinement/Potential  Mirrors around to hit conductive material Usage
Martinez problem identification to heat from the bottom
 When using lenses and mirrors diffraction
angle is important
 Lense parabolic to focus all suns energy no
matter the suns angle
 Other options to track sun/ mechanically
change
 Parabolic dish cons
 pointed up rather than down
o a ton of mirrors in different angles
or tracking device for optimal
Placement dependent on suns location
  
 
Relying on the sun entirely could be problematic

 Like our mission

 realistic
 
Don’t need ram pump for this sizing

Materials (Basin)
 Bricks good, not plastic
o keep energy there for a long time
o Blackest black doesn’t gain much
efficiency
 use off the shelf
environmentally friendly,
nontoxic paint
 
Doesn’t have to be potable- Might be more than
what we need for water quality.
 
Reservoir is great idea, always have place to store

May 3  Jeremy Material Suggestions, Sub- Solar Still: Introduced conductive

(5/3) Hanh system breakdown, Overall Design: material idea at the bottom of
Teamwork Solutions  Heat location the basin
o Traditional
o Bottom reflector
 Heat intensity
o Boil
o Evaporation

Pump:
  Ram pump
 Hand pump
 
Basin:
 Material
o Bricks
o Metal
 
Mirrors/Lenses:
 Fresnel lens
 Parabolic mirror
 Flat mirror
 Location of lenses
o Under Solar Still
o Above
o Around
 
 Possible Questions:
 What are the pros and cons of each?
 is it adjustable to be scaled up or down for
different size households?
 Would there be options?

We obtain water elsewhere to make the full 36

gallons.
 Building for a worst case scenario.
 
Keeping cost down through standardization.
Custom creation creates higher cost throughout the
future.
 
Sub groups are looking good. If something is
holding every other group, everyone coming

May 5 Matt Mo Visualize components and
(5/5) (Boeing) sub-systems as one whole
process instead of separate
individual components with
PowerPoint and diagram
May 12 Mckinstry Fluid Dynamics regarding
(5/12) water intake and pump
ideas/designs
together to tackle
Product requirements Re-evaluated the position of
 What are the functions of the specific lens, and importance of each
systems? subsystem.
Subgroups
 Put into perspective our subgroups
 Identified major requirements for each
subgroup
Lens
 Find a way to always direct solar energy to
basin
 Took into consideration fluctuating
temperatures throughout a typical day
(planned for worst case scenario)
Basin Team
 Calculated the Input and Outputs of the
system
o Solid Salt
o Waste Heat
o Fresh Water
Water Control Team
 Calculated the Input and Outputs of the
system
o Salt Water in and Salt Water out
Pump Team Influenced changes in fluid
 Helped in calculating the amount of water calculations for water control
is suitable for the pump and the amount of team
pressure it could withstand
 
How much maintenance is needed to keep
pump functioning Narrowed pump designs to
 Helped in rethinking of different designs crank and pump
that would be best suited for what we need
Reflection/Summary: Throughout the entire quarter our team has been given the opportunity to meet with industry consultants that

range from a variety of different companies that were able to offer good advice and recommendations through each phase. Going into

this project, we knew the importance of getting an outside opinion especially with those who experienced something similar to what

we are doing on a daily basis. Our first meeting with the industry consultants revolved around the importance of team collaboration

and communication, ensuring that all voices and ideas are heard from the group. As the weeks progressed and we got further into our

phases, we noticed that we needed help from the professional industry consultants as they were able to give us an unbiased and

structured look at our idea from the “outside” looking in, chiming in on potential problems, improvements and answering questions

that we were stuck on to help progress our design. Throughout the weeks it was interesting to see how our design slowly changed from

what initially planned with each meeting and it was good to see improvements in our design day by day. Having the perspective of

professionals and getting their thoughts and opinions on what we had was essential and helpful in composing our final design. Their

recommendations and thoughts were very well structured, easy to understand and helped us in a numerous amount of ways which

opened us up to different possibilities without design while still keeping into consideration our intended stake holders, and ultimately

completing the overall goal of our project.