Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams

CLARKSBURG, Maryland - March 21, 2009

On Friday, March 20, 2009, the Clarksburg High School InvenTeam displayed its Torch Cord™ invention at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History as part of the March Madness for the Mind event, hosted by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). Upon arrival at the museum at 8:00 am, the team prepared its display and attented a networking session led by Wisconsin School of Business professor Joan Gillman. From 12-5:00 pm, during the public exhibition, the InvenTeam along with groups from colleges such as Dartmouth College, Johns Hopkins University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Pennsylvania State University welcomed the public and were available for inquiries. At 2:30 pm, the team presented the Torch Cord™ in the Lemelson Center’s Spark!Lab, a hands-on space for young children and families to learn about the invention process. Following the public exhibition, the InvenTeam attended a formal dedication ceremony for the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation and a reception in honor of Mrs. Dorothy Lemelson, chairwoman of the Lemelson Foundation. Students also had an opportunity to speak with numerous representatives from various colleges about the invention. It would also like to recognize Mr. Paul A. Ormsby, Media Services Technician at Clarksburg High School, for documenting the event. March Madness for the Mind 2009 was an incredible and rewarding experience for the Clarksburg High School InvenTeam.

Media Contact:

Justin Roth

Media and Public Relations Manager

Justin_Roth@cicmd.org

Hi again from Fayetteville, GA.  Time seems to be flying by as we have already completed the second month of this new year.  Overall we made much progress with our dehydration unit, reaching searing hot temperatures.  Since we have managed to produce the amount of heat necessary, we are forging into adapting the system to utilize a throttled air flow mechanism.  Hopefully this will allow us to better control the temperatures inside the chamber since they are currently too hot for the intended goal of dehydration.  Another major event that took place this was our site visit from Ms. Leigh Estabrooks.  In preparing for her arrival to observe our operation, we updated our presentation to mirror our progress.  Fortunately, we were given the opportunity to present in front of several local Toastmasters Chapter Officers and some executives from Ciber, Inc.  These individuals were able to provide us with feedback on many aspects of “how” we presented the information and gave us valuable insights on what we could improve. 

On another note, our news story finally aired on Atlanta’s NBC affiliate WXIA.

Or copy and paste this link into your browser:

http://www.11alive.com/video/default.aspx?playerId=newsmaker&maven_playlistId=1f23dc40ee67898d157716d17d3efded65dbd23b&maven_referrer=mrss&maven_referralPlaylistId=1f23dc40ee67898d157716d17d3efded65dbd23b&maven_referralObject=1028704285

This past month has been both exciting and arduous. We have made significant headway into both development of the dual-filter system, as well as an anti-microbial application of nano-particulate silver.

Our engineering groups have been busy refining their existing filtration systems.  We have now produced more than 20 clay filters and have continued flow rate testing.  Our hope is that as production methods improve, so will flow rate and elimination efficacy. Our second engineering group has made large strides in the creation of a pressurized system - they are also now conducting flow rate testing, and we hope to have positive results next month.

Our chemistry team has been pursuing the use of nano-particulate silver as an anti-microbial agent.  We are currently utilizing a blend of nano-particulate silver in the 30-50 nanometer range.  Our initial solutions lacked long-term stability; the nano-particles settled in the bottom of the solution under a very small time-frame. We are in the process of securing a sonicator for better dispersion of the silver nano-particles.

Finally, our biology group has restarted testing of filter efficacy. In addition, they intend on testing a silver nano-particulate application as well as a silver nano-particulate serial dilution. Both of the tests should establish the efficacy of our purchased silver, as well as a lower bound on the amount of silver required to kill microbes.

Appleton, Wisconsin - February 25^th, 2009

 We have had many significant breakthroughs this month. We started by receiving a shipment from Danger Den of donated radiators and a variable speed pump with which we built our prototype. After the initial testing of our design, and based on feedback from the Lemelson-MIT program, we re-evaluated the coolant we were using and the amount of insulation necessary. Our team has made several modifications to the system and we have begun performing further testing.

In order to better raise awareness about our project and the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam program we created a website. The address is www.aasd.k12.wi.us/tesla/ecofridge.htm.  Please take a look, and comment if it floats your boat!

Best wishes from Project EcoFridge