WEEK 1
-Date:22/4/21-
With a new academic year🏆 ahead of us, on 22nd April 2021 - Week 1, we were introduced to one of our year 2 modules, this module - Introduction to Chemical Product Design👷 by our cheerful lecturer Dr Noel Kristian🌟.
On that day, he went through an in-depth tutorial lesson with us, explaining the entire module and what is required from us . Paragraphs below show the knowledge that we have gained from week 1's tutorial session and the stuff we did:
Before introducing about the module proper, he gave us a detailed idea of our course - Chemical engineering👷 as some of us, although already in year 2 might still be unaware ❓ of what we are actually studying i.e what Chemical Engineering actually is.
So we learnt Chemical Engineering is traditionally viewed as the "discipline that combines sciences, mathematics and engineering principles to transform laboratory-scale ideas into large-scale production realities using inherently safe and cost-effective process designs and technologies." (reference: Week 1 lecturer slides)
However, with the advancements in technology and resources as well as demand for better quality consumer products from the 2000s, there has been an expanded view of what chemical engineers job scope entails hence now, "Chemical engineering is not only involved in product designs of large-scale productions but is also involved in product designs of a wide range of products" (reference: Week 1 lecturer slides)
Which is why to prepare us for the ever-evolving and competitive😥 industry, our course in SP educates us in both aspects - Process designs as well as Product designs which is what this module- Introduction to Chemical Engineering encompasses 🌈.
💥1) Module Overview.
This module, provides us with an introductory insight into the types of skills that one might need to equip themselves with and prepares us for the demand of future workforce.
Since year 1 we have all heard these 4 letters so frequently - CDIO, the renowned education framework, used by this module, which stands for Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate.
(reference: Week 1 lecturer slides)
Complemented by the Block teaching framework used by our course, the approach for this module leading onto future modules is as follows:
The lessons and concepts learnt in the module Materials for Design in Year 1 (e.g material properties, approach to selecting the best material by evaluation - COWS matrix and more) would be applied in this Year 2 module whereby we would plan and conceive an idea for a chemical product. Further into Year 2 we would then Design the conceived idea in the Semester 2 module - Chemical Product Design and Development. Once we've designed the conceived idea, we would then bring it to life by implementing the designs and building the product as well as operating it in our Year 3 Capstone project.
Then Dr Noel showed us the teaching plan and assessments 😥. He also briefed us that we would have 4 practical activities in this module.
💥2) What is a Chemical Product?
After briefing us on the module overview, Dr Noel explained to us more about chemical product, chemical product design and chemical engineering principles.
We learnt that a chemical product is "defined as a product that is designed or manufactured using chemical engineering principles" and that chemical product design is "the process by which chemical products are designed and developed".
We then wondered 💭 -
1. How are chemical engineering principles applied in the design and/or manufacture of products?
2. How will the process of chemical product design be like?
That was when we were introduced to Chemical Engineering principles (there were a few familiar words): - Fluid flow, heat transfer, mass transfer, mechanical process, reaction, thermodynamics and more.
So to answer question 1 we had, for instance, rheology, which studies flow behaviour of materials with both solid and fluid characteristics, has applications in chemical products such as toothpaste, food thickening agent and concrete.
We then learnt there are 4 categories for chemical products: 1.Commodities 2. Chemical devices 3.Molecular products 4. Micro-structured products.
Specifically for this module, we will be focusing on chemical devices. They are devices where miniature processes occurs that accomplishes a particular chemical transformation, thus proving convenience for the users.
💥3) Activity 1
Category: Household
Sub- Category: Appliances
Chemical Product: Electric Kettle
Working mechanism:
Inside each kettle is a metal coil called the heating element. When the kettle is plugged into an electrical outlet, a large electric current flows into the heating element. The element has a resistance (the tendency any material has to stop electricity flowing through it i.e a measure of the difficulty to pass an electric current through it) which then converts the electrical energy into heat energy as it passes through the coil. The heating element, in direct contact with cold water, transfers heat to the water by conduction and heat is transferred throughout the water by convection [HEAT TRANSFER]. Eventually enough heat is gained by the water molecules such that they become more 'excited' and start to break away from their relatively fixed positions from sliding over one another to moving more randomly - the water has reached its boiling point [HEATING - boiling].
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Reflections📍:
At the end of the activity we realised that the aim of this module is to conceive and design a chemical product by the end of the semester using chemical engineering principles so this activity was a practice to see how chemical engineering principles are widely applied in many chemical products.
💥4) Team Formation👯.
As Dr Noel had selected our groupings for us by randomising our names, we were already assigned to our teams. To ease ourselves into our teams, Dr Noel asked us to go for a team retreat for 15minutes and take a group picture (see in HOME page). For our group, we walked around the blocks and chatted about what we did during the holidays. We also went on a mini adventure to find the rest of the class so we walked to Food Court 2 then to 1 where we found the rest of the class and had some drinks. After settling into our teams, Dr Noel shared with us about Bruce Tuckman's 5 stages of team formation model.
The different phases are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.
1. Forming
This stage is where the team acquaints and establishes ground rules. Formalities are preserved and members are treated as strangers.
2. Storming
Soon after, members will start to communicate with their feelings more, but still view themselves as individuals rather than part of the team. They resist control by group leaders and show hostility.
3. Norming
Teammates will start to work together and feel more like a team as they start to realise that they can achieve work if they accept each other's viewpoints.
4. Performing
The team works in an open and trusting atmosphere where flexibility is the key and hierachy is of little importance.
5. Adjourning
The team conducts an assessment of the year and implements a plan for transitioning roles and recognising member's contributions.
The above shows how team members should work together in order to become a high performing team.
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After this, amongst the 4 of us, we decided on team roles (see roles and responsibilities page). As no one was willing to be the group leader, we randomised our names like what Dr Noel did to pick a leader. By random, Serena was picked as the group leader, Kai rong as the scribe, Kenny as the time-keeper and Jerome the photographer.
💥5) Process of Creating the Blog 💬 & why documentation 📝 is important
Lastly, before the tutorial session ended, Dr Noel told us about something very important - DOCUMENTATION. He told us documentation is important as product design is not a direct 'point A to point B' activity since many changes are inevitable, thus good documentation can track changes and avoid confusion. He further clarifies that detailed recording of workflow of tasks also serves as a good 'instruction manual' to refer to when the task needs to be repeated after a lapse of time.
We learnt we were tasked to create our very own blog for the team to document and record our progress throughout this entire module. This whole process of creating the blog was tough as we could not decide on a design that we want and we have no idea how we want to present our blog to the readers. After some discussion, we came up with this final design that satisfy our requirements.
However, we faced some challenges 😢along the way - since many of us went in to type at one go, google suspected us of spam activity😵 and took down our blog! ;-; so we had to redo everything but this time we learnt from our mistake as well as perfected our layout!🌈🌈
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