Delvin Ogando, Gavriel Pincus

5.2.3 Redesign and Refine

Modifications can be made, but it is not feasible to pursue those.
Possible modifications:
Increase the diameter of the combustion chamber:
This would make it easier to get the pulse jet running by increasing
the overall amount of fuel and air that can be used at once to ignite the pulse jet.
This would also increase the space in which the combustion pulses can occur.
During the original testing phase there were slight complications and difficulties
when trying to initially get the pulse jet to ignite and run properly for a prolonged
period of time.
Reasons for not being able to make improvements:
This would be an impractical because the product has already been completed
with a modified smaller combustion chamber. The originally designed size of the
combustion chamber was not achievable with the resources that we had at our disposal.
The specialist that we outsourced to was restrained by the equipment that he had
available. This meant that the original design was not able to be achieved, and to try to
find another specialist to do the job would both increase the money and time spent in
construction. This would put us in danger of going over budget, or even make us miss our
deadline.
Another major restraint that prevents this improvement from being executed is the
fact that the entire body has been modified. To make this change the entire product would
need to be reconstructed with completely larger components. This would take too much
time to manufacture and it would also force us to go over our initial budget. Also, due to
the limits of the resources that we have at our disposal this product is also not able to be
manufactured without going to yet another specialist.
Increase the overall size and volume of the pulse jet:
By increasing the entirety of the volume of the pulse jet the amount
of thrust that is output would increase. This is because more fuel and are will be
able to be taken in by the intake at once, increasing the intensity and frequency of
the combustions.
Reasons for not being able to make improvements:
These improvements would be impractical at this stage because of the time,
money, and resources that would need to be used in order to achieve it. In order to create a larger
pulse jet, the one that has already been used would not be used anymore which would be a waste
of that time, energy, and resources already put into it. The larger pulse jet would need to be
completely reconstructed which would cause us to go over our budget. Also, as previously
mentioned to increase the size of the combustion chamber can only be increased by outsourcing
to yet another specialist, which would first off require us to find someone capable of this.
Modify the testing procedures as a whole:
 The equipment and actual methods that were used during our
testing can be improved upon in order to make the testing easier to conduct, and
make the results more accurate. One way that the testing procedures can be
improved upon is by beginning with letting a flame run in the pulse jet in order to
increase its initial temperature. This is because we found that while testing the
pulse jet it would run longer and better when it had been warmed up a bit by a
flame. Another, improvement that can be made is to lower the tests times so that
the tests can be run the same amount of time every time, without the potential of
compromising the structure as a whole.
Note: this is the only modification on this list that can be feasibly achieved because it
would require us merely to do more testing, just a slightly modified version of our
original tests.
Change the materials the pulse jet is constructed from:
By using a material such as stainless or carbon steel the durability
and heat capacity of the pulse jet as a whole would increase. This increase in
specific heat and heat capacity would allow the pulse jet and tests to be run at
higher temperatures and would also decrease the likelihood of the metal
beginning to warp and compromise the structure of the pulse jet.
Reasons for not being able to make improvements:
Just like the other modifications this modification is not a feasible one, due to the
fact that it would require a completely new pulse jet to be constructed. The price of stainless steel
is also much higher than that of regular steel, which would mean that we would most definitely
go over our budget. The major constraint of this modification is ultimately the drastic spike in
cost for manufacturing the product.

Technical Improvements:
Increase of the combustion chamber diameter:
If this product was remade, we would make it a priority to increase
the diameter of the combustion chamber for several reasons. By increasing the
diameter of the combustion chamber the process of combustion that goes on
within the chamber would have a much better area in which to combust correctly,
as a result making the ignition process much easier and quicker to accomplish.
Another benefit would be the fact that the overall thrust produced by the pulse jet
would increase due to the propane having a greater area in which to expand after
being ignited. The prototype we made had to have a smaller combustion chamber
than what was in the original designs. This is due to our group not having access
to a sheet metal roller. As a result, we had to use a pipe with a diameter a little
smaller than that of our original designs.
 Increase of the overall volume of the pulse jet:
The increase in the overall volume of the pulse jet would help with
many different issues. By increasing the volume, the amount of propane flowing
and combustion would increase therefore making the thrust output benefit to a
great degree. Additionally the overall use of the pulse jet would be more
appealing to potential customers due to the larger size and larger output while
only adding 5-10 pounds to the overall weight of the pulse jet.
 Testing procedures overhaul:
From our results from testing and running the pulse jet our team
saw that expecting such accurate results using our testing procedures is very
difficult. We saw that while the IR thermometer was held in the hand of the tester
it was very inaccurate due to the sensor itself always moving and being steadily in
one position. If we were to recreate these procedures, our group would make
make a special stand for the IR thermometer in order to get accurate results and
without missing the surface of the pulse jet entirely. We would have a stand with
several different levels so that different parts of the pulse jet could be tested for
their ambient temperature.
Material modification:
If a new prototype was created, the type of material used would be
very important. From our testing we saw that mild steel can definitely stand up to
temperatures in excess of 1500 degrees fahrenheit, although that temperature
cannot be sustained for multiple minutes. By using stainless steel instead of mild
steel there could be a drastic increase of the potential running time due to stainless
steel having a much higher melting or warping temperature when compared to
 mild steel.Additionally the ignition process of the pulse jet may become
streamlined due to stainless steel interacting and reflecting heat much better than
mild steel. This would cause the propane to be able to ignite at a better rate than
with mild steel.

Conclusion Questions:
1. How do all attempts to solve a problem (successfully or not successfully)
contribute to the body of knowledge that designers use as they pursue redesign?
All attempts to solve a problem ultimately contribute to the knowledge of
designers as a whole. This is because it teaches them what they need to improve upon
in order to actually solve the problem. As Thomas Edison once stated, I have not failed,
I have found 10,000 ways that wont work.
2. What resources that you did not use or could not access would have
improved your results? Explain.
Our product would have been more successful had we had access to stainless
steel as a material. This is because it would increase the durability and heat resistance
of the product allowing us to run our test at higher temperatures.