WEEK 1

19/4/2021

It was the first week, first day of Year 2 today. Had an introductory class on the chemical product design module. Frankly speaking, it looks like it will be one very tedious and strenuous module, as we'll have to constantly think of innovative ways to carry this project forward and there are a lot of components and resources needed to successfully complete this module. 

For today's class, we were introduced to what this module was about and how it would benefit us in the future, especially for those with an aptitude for designing. Then, we formed our own groups, which was a fortunate thing as this group would have to last us till Year 3's capstone project. After we formed our groups, we went on a "retreat", where we did 5 things together. For our group, we went to go get a drink together, go to the toilet together, take an overhead shot together, play scissors-paper-stone and enjoyed the aircon. We were also introduced to Tuckman's different phases of a team, forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Although we already know each other and are already friends, it is inevitable that we will have disagreements and misunderstandings. Hence, we will use Tuckman's different phases of a team to peacefully resolve our problems, acknowledging each other and eventually completing the project.  

We then ended off the lesson with a short activity where we picked an chemical product based on the categories given, and explained what where the chemical engineering principles involved. A chemical product is any product designed and/or manufactured using chemical engineering principles. Some example of chemical engineering principles are rheology, energy and mass balance, and evaporation, while some categories of a chemical product are commodities, chemical device, molecular products and micro-structured products. We chose an Air Fryer and mainly talked about its heat transfer feature through forced convection. The fan in the top section of a air fryer blows hot air (forced convection) around the food and the that hot air circulates around the food, making it cooked and crisp.