How to make an electric fan that changes speed? | DF LAB: Inventor Series EP03

EP03 Guide for Adjustable Speed Fan Workshop

Overview

In this workshop, students will design and make an electric fan. It can not only blow out the wind but also change the speed, just like a real electric fan does.

Difficulty Level: 1

Setup

Age: k1-k3

Number of Participants: 1~24

● Prepare a name label for each student in case they don’t know each other

● Arrange tables and chairs in U-shape for each team

● Put tools and other materials in two specified places of the room

Learning Goals

● Design and make an electric fan

● Learn to build up a circuit with BOSON

● Use digital media tools to shoot video clips

Materials

● BOSON Inventor Kit V1.0 (Refer to introduction for more details)

● Lego Blocks

Tool

● Camera or Smart Phone

Time

1~1.5 hours

Award and Evaluation Criteria

Students should be informed of the award and evaluation criteria. Special awards will be given to individuals or teams who perform well in the competition.

Process

● Warm-up

5min Get to know an electric fan

● Introduction

8~12min a. What is BOSON? b. Project interaction display c. Get to know modules and learn how to connect

● Start Making

10~20min a. Analyze and check b. Build up and assemble

Test

5min a. Test structure and function

● Optimization

5~10min a. Project optimization

● Share

5~20min a. Video shooting b. Project presentation

● Evaluation

5min Project evaluation

● Clean up

5min Dismantle projects and clean up

● Rethink

5min Projects review

Warm-up (5min): teachers ask some questions about electric fan to lead students to think about how to design it.

● If we want an electric fan to blow more wind, what should we do?

● Why fan blade can blow out wind？

● Which part of an electric fan do you think is the most important?

Introduction(8~12min):

a.What is BOSON?

b.Project interaction display

c. Get to know modules and learn how to connect

What is BOSON? Teachers play the video below to show students what BOSON is？

Project interaction present

● Teachers demonstrate the project interaction effect using material objects.

● Present the project effect by playing video

BOSON module function and connection

Teachers tell students the module name and similar applications in daily life.

The electric fan needs power from main-board and power source.

How can we adjust the speed of the fan? Use a rotation sensor.

How do we blow out wind? Use the fan module, it is an actuator.

Have you noticed the color of these BOSON modules? Red is for power supply, blue for sensor, and green for actuator. How to connect them correctly?

Place the blue sensor on the left side of the power board, and the green actuator on the right side.

Start Making (10min~20min):

Analyze (how to realize functions and connect hardware) and check; build up and assemble.

Test (5min):

Test whether the project structure is firm and all the modules are tightly clamped.

Test whether the electric fan works as expected.

Optimization (5~10min):

● Use more Lego blocks to decorate the fan

● Improve the project structure

● Connect with more BOSON modules to add functions

Share(5~20min)

a.Shoot a video for the project, and post it to social account.

● Project display

● Effect demonstration

● Group photo

b.Present and introduce the project on stage

● Introduce the basic function of the project

● What improvements have you made? And why do you do that?

● What’s the highlight of your project?

Evaluation (5min)

Assess students’ works according to the Evaluation Criteria(see appendix) and select the best one.

Clean up (5min)

● Dismantle the BOSON module on the project

● Put all modules back to the BOSON box.

● Put Inventor Kit and Tools to the specified place.

● Put away all Lego bricks and put the Lego box to the specified place.

● Clean up the litters on the table and ground.

Rethink (5min)

● How can we change the speed of electric fan? Can you explain it using dam and river flow?

● If we use a push button to replace the rotation sensor, what do you think will happen? Can you tell the difference between the two?

Note

Here are some factors that should be taken into account when designing this workshop, and teachers can adjust, add or cancel some unimportant parts of the process as actual conditions.

● Age: adjust the requirement of skill and knowledge according to students’ age and cognitive ability.

● Time: 50 minutes or more.

● Number of Students: control the number of students and choose to carry out a project in the form of individuals or groups as the actual scene.

Appendix

Material in daily life: single-use cup, colored paper, etc.

Evaluation Criteria: teachers can observe students in the whole process to evaluate their performance.