Session: 09-11-01: Engineering Research Innovation I

Paper Number: 70718

Start Time: Tuesday, 03:50 PM

70718 - Undergraduate Research With Entrepreneurial Approach: Creating New Insulation Materials Using Biomass Fibers 

Entrepreneurial approach suggests the creation and development of economic ventures. This study describes the activity for students for Clean Energy Systems course. The Undergraduate Research Integration is a project for students which is about writing a proposal report and giving presentations. Each team writes a research proposal during the course of the semester that involves the use of biomass composites. The proposal is assigned in the third week of the semester and is due at the end of the semester.

Student teams performed a preliminary study to create, test, and document a new environmentally friendly material that will be used in their dorm insulation. This project introduces sustainable engineering issues to students. Students also have to bring biomass material samples collected from nature as a project deliverable.

Entrepreneurially Minded Learning (EML) focuses on identifying unexpected opportunities. Students are encouraged to be curious, connecting information to gain insights, and lookout for value. In reality, entrepreneur may not have a complete strategy to solve the problems. Within any type of market, stakeholder feedback is vital because it suggests re-evaluation of opportunities.  Out-of-the-box thinking is essential for creating value and it becomes habitual through exercise.

Adaptability, communication, and management skills influences the way people interact and engage with colleagues. Placing students in groups and giving them tasks that they depend on each other is a great way to utilize the social needs of students. Overall, increased level of student enthusiasm was observed compared to previous years. Students were engaged in group meetings and often lead asking questions at the group presentations in class. The creative nature of the project made students think outside the box and have interesting ideas.

Students selected acorns, beer hops and fabric pieces to use as fiber to use in the project. They explained how they will extract fibers and make the composite from these fibers. They made a research on what types of testing methods they will follow for manufactured composite.

Learning objectives of this project are explaining the issues regarding traditional insulation materials assessing the economic, safety, reliability, and/or social impact of the insulation materials. Students performed financial comparison of insulation materials. They carried out basic U-value calculations for windows and insulation materials. They explored different types of biomass fibers. They made a research on thermal conductivity values of insulation materials as well as waste plants. They gathered biomass materials from nature and suggested a chopping/grinding technique, preparation of the composite and testing of the composite.  

Presenting Author: Birce Dikici Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU)

Authors:

Birce Dikici Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU)