{"id":305,"date":"2021-09-06T14:12:30","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T13:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/?p=305"},"modified":"2021-11-03T09:46:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T09:46:11","slug":"reflecting-on-the-2021-digifab-hackathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/2021\/09\/06\/reflecting-on-the-2021-digifab-hackathon\/","title":{"rendered":"Hack it! Reflecting on the 2021 DigiFAB Hackathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/em>Undergraduate students Kin Weng Chao and Yuchen Lou (both Chemistry) and Way Gene Hoo (Chemical Engineering) took part in this year\u2019s <\/em>DigiFAB Hackathon Challenge<\/em><\/a>. Here they tell us more about the challenge, how they hacked it and what they learnt along the way.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Kin Weng Chao, Yuchen Lou and Way Gene Hoo<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exploring beyond the undergraduate lab<\/h1>\n

As undergraduate Chemistry students we\u2019re usually based in South Kensington. This Hackathon looked interesting because it presented an opportunity to get involved in the new DigiFAB Institute<\/a> and Advanced Hackspace<\/a>, and explore our Department’s space at White City<\/a>. The challenge<\/a> also looked very cool, allowing us to learn about and play around with new techniques, like 3D printing. <\/p>\n

The undergraduate laboratory format is somewhat fixed; we often take those table-top setups, equipment and sensors for granted. Research beyond undergraduate level, however \u2013 or even problem solving in general \u2013 may be quite different, and require specialised equipment. This was the challenge we were confronted with on our first day of the Hackathon. Reaching a solution was rather straightforward \u2013 just do it yourself! The actual process of getting to the end resolution, however, was not so straightforward. The project gave us a taste of the world of design engineering, and it was really a reminder that you don\u2019t have to be a professional to take charge of a seemingly impossible problem in need of solving.<\/p>\n

The challenge<\/h1>\n

Our challenge was to make a small, functional turbidimeter (which is a device that measures the cloudiness \u2013 or the amount of suspended particle \u2013 in a solution). Commercially available turbidimeters are often either too large to fit in a normal sized reactor and\/or too expensive for effective experimentation in an academic research context, so this was an interesting, real-world project.<\/p>\n

Nephelometers, and their close cousin turbidimeters, are often used in monitoring water quality and air levels. They also have applications in the chemical and wine industries. As an example, we were given a commercially available nephelometer, which uses the open-source electronic prototyping platform, Ardruino. This nephelometer worked by shining infrared (IR) light at a 90\u00b0 angle to a sensor \u2013 in this case a phototransistor (PTR). If more insoluble particles were present in the solution, then there was a higher degree of scattering. Some scattered light went into the PTR, allowing more current to pass through, and the process could be quantitatively detected allowing us to work out the turbidity of the solution.<\/p>\n

An iterative design process<\/h1>\n

We took an iterative approach to designing our prototype; all we could gather initially were pictures of proprietary instruments only somewhat resembling what we had in mind. Using some fundamental aspects of the nephelometer, we constructed our first prototype pretty quickly, viewing it as a flexible testing apparatus which would allow us to refine and identify the ideal design parameters (for example, the optimum distance between the emitter and the receiver, the angles between them and the optimum resistance that we would need to use).<\/p>\n

Next, we conducted various tests \u2013 from using glass sphere suspension for calibration, to using tape and glue for troubleshooting \u2013 using our findings to construct the second prototype. This methodology worked well for us since we were working with easily repeatable, quick and inexpensive methods like 3D printing and laser cutting. Our initial designs were also kept as simple as possible with the goal of having a functional device before optimising it and adding extra features.<\/p>\n