Who We Are
Hello from Aidan, Alan, Arsh, Ashlyn, Ben, Brian, David, and Raphael!
We are a team of 7 guys and a gal, 5th and 6th graders, from Cypress Texas. We share a love of Legos and Robots so we got together to form a FIRST team and some of us have competed for 5 years since Jr.FLL. This year we call ourselves the Pipe Perfectionists. After lots of voting we decided on the name because this year's FLL Challenge is HYDRODYNAMICS (click on link for info) and because we chose 'how to reduce the amount of potable water used by a typical Houston home'.
We are a team of 7 guys and a gal, 5th and 6th graders, from Cypress Texas. We share a love of Legos and Robots so we got together to form a FIRST team and some of us have competed for 5 years since Jr.FLL. This year we call ourselves the Pipe Perfectionists. After lots of voting we decided on the name because this year's FLL Challenge is HYDRODYNAMICS (click on link for info) and because we chose 'how to reduce the amount of potable water used by a typical Houston home'.
What We Do
FIRST means for inspiration and recognition of science and technology.
We work together as a team to build and program robots and work on the challenge. Our coaches teach us and guide so we learn together but we do our own work and make the decisions on our robot and project. We then attend a local tournament to learn from and compete with other teams. On December 9th we competed in an FLL tournament at Hogg Middle School in Houston Texas and earned 3rd place for robot design and did well on our Presentation and Core Values challenge.
Our team will advance to the BISH FLL TEXAS SOUTH REGION CHAMPIONSHIP on January 27 2018!
For more info on FIRST in Texas, click on this link. FIRST-TX
We work together as a team to build and program robots and work on the challenge. Our coaches teach us and guide so we learn together but we do our own work and make the decisions on our robot and project. We then attend a local tournament to learn from and compete with other teams. On December 9th we competed in an FLL tournament at Hogg Middle School in Houston Texas and earned 3rd place for robot design and did well on our Presentation and Core Values challenge.
Our team will advance to the BISH FLL TEXAS SOUTH REGION CHAMPIONSHIP on January 27 2018!
For more info on FIRST in Texas, click on this link. FIRST-TX
Our Project
Our project is based on what we see as a hydrodynamic related problem in our community.
PROBLEM: Texas experiences water scarcity. Houston Texas usually has too little water (droughts) or too much water all at once (runoff). We need to use less potable water during our dry summers because of water shortages.
CHALLENGE: How can an existing Houston home can use less potable water?
IDEAS: We researched H2O data online and noticed that homes use a LOT of water on their plants and lawn that doesn't need to be potable. Unlike drinking or cooking water, we could us runoff or rainwater. It would be easier to build a house with rain collection in mind but that isn't a solution for most people so we decided to work on retrofitting (adding something that wasn't there when it was built) existing homes to save water.
SOLUTION: We did a lot of online research on water usage, rain amounts, pumps, water storage, materials cost, and feasibility (can people afford to do this?) and came up with the following presentation of our Solution that we are very proud of!
PROBLEM: Texas experiences water scarcity. Houston Texas usually has too little water (droughts) or too much water all at once (runoff). We need to use less potable water during our dry summers because of water shortages.
CHALLENGE: How can an existing Houston home can use less potable water?
IDEAS: We researched H2O data online and noticed that homes use a LOT of water on their plants and lawn that doesn't need to be potable. Unlike drinking or cooking water, we could us runoff or rainwater. It would be easier to build a house with rain collection in mind but that isn't a solution for most people so we decided to work on retrofitting (adding something that wasn't there when it was built) existing homes to save water.
SOLUTION: We did a lot of online research on water usage, rain amounts, pumps, water storage, materials cost, and feasibility (can people afford to do this?) and came up with the following presentation of our Solution that we are very proud of!
1) Ben - Define the Problem
Most homes in Houston use about 12,000 gallons of potable water per summer watering their lawns. It’s expensive and wasteful.
DATA from the water usage calculator from the Harris County MUD website http://www.harriscountymud208.com/water_usage_calculator.html
2) Brian - The Situation
Because our weather is usually drought during the summer months we need to water twice weekly to keep the grass and plants alive because we don’t have enough rain.
3) Arsh - The Solution
Based on the amount of rainfall we get each month we found a website telling us how much rain we can collect when we enter the square footage of our house. We focused on retrofitting current homes and not building new homes. We will collect and store rainwater to water the lawns. We save 27,520 gallons or $183 per summer. Data researched at U.S. Climate Data website www.usclimatedata.com/climate/Houston
4) Aiden - Gutters & Downspouts
On average every year 49.58 inches of water fall on Houston. If we could use the gutters to transport the water to the tank we could collect that much in total by the end of the year. DATA from U.S. Climate Data https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/houston/texas/united-states/ustx0617
5) David - Cistern
We decided to use a fiberglass above ground cistern. Fiberglass is a manmade material which won’t rust like iron or steel or rot like wood. No replacing necessary. A 5000 gallon tank costs $2000. Research from various sources including http://www.plastic-mart.com http://www.rainharvest.com
6) Alan - Pump
We looked up the sprinkler pressure (30 PSI – pounds per square inch) and flow that each sprinkler zone needs (17 gallons per minute). These numbers were used to pick the pump required to do the job which is a 1 ½ HP pump. https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pump-system-curves-d_635.html https://www.uaex.edu/environment-nature/water/docs/IrrigSmart-3241-H-Pump-curves.pdf
7) Raphael - Total Cost
The cost of an in-ground tank was too expensive (about 90 years to payoff) so we decided to use an above ground tank.
Water per summer =$183 Cistern = $2000 Cost of Pump = $349 Cost of piping = $500
Controls = $150 Installation =$3000 TOTAL: about $6000
8) Ashlyn - Conclusion
In conclusion we came up with the idea of using the water that falls on the roof of existing houses and store it in a tank. Then pump the water to the sprinkler system to water the plants.
The 30 year payoff is worst case scenario. We aren’t taking in to account rise in water prices. Also, if there is water restrictions during droughts, homes with a rain collection cistern will NOT have their lawns and plants die!
Most homes in Houston use about 12,000 gallons of potable water per summer watering their lawns. It’s expensive and wasteful.
DATA from the water usage calculator from the Harris County MUD website http://www.harriscountymud208.com/water_usage_calculator.html
2) Brian - The Situation
Because our weather is usually drought during the summer months we need to water twice weekly to keep the grass and plants alive because we don’t have enough rain.
3) Arsh - The Solution
Based on the amount of rainfall we get each month we found a website telling us how much rain we can collect when we enter the square footage of our house. We focused on retrofitting current homes and not building new homes. We will collect and store rainwater to water the lawns. We save 27,520 gallons or $183 per summer. Data researched at U.S. Climate Data website www.usclimatedata.com/climate/Houston
4) Aiden - Gutters & Downspouts
On average every year 49.58 inches of water fall on Houston. If we could use the gutters to transport the water to the tank we could collect that much in total by the end of the year. DATA from U.S. Climate Data https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/houston/texas/united-states/ustx0617
5) David - Cistern
We decided to use a fiberglass above ground cistern. Fiberglass is a manmade material which won’t rust like iron or steel or rot like wood. No replacing necessary. A 5000 gallon tank costs $2000. Research from various sources including http://www.plastic-mart.com http://www.rainharvest.com
6) Alan - Pump
We looked up the sprinkler pressure (30 PSI – pounds per square inch) and flow that each sprinkler zone needs (17 gallons per minute). These numbers were used to pick the pump required to do the job which is a 1 ½ HP pump. https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pump-system-curves-d_635.html https://www.uaex.edu/environment-nature/water/docs/IrrigSmart-3241-H-Pump-curves.pdf
7) Raphael - Total Cost
The cost of an in-ground tank was too expensive (about 90 years to payoff) so we decided to use an above ground tank.
Water per summer =$183 Cistern = $2000 Cost of Pump = $349 Cost of piping = $500
Controls = $150 Installation =$3000 TOTAL: about $6000
8) Ashlyn - Conclusion
In conclusion we came up with the idea of using the water that falls on the roof of existing houses and store it in a tank. Then pump the water to the sprinkler system to water the plants.
The 30 year payoff is worst case scenario. We aren’t taking in to account rise in water prices. Also, if there is water restrictions during droughts, homes with a rain collection cistern will NOT have their lawns and plants die!
CORE VALUES
We are a team.
We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and/or mentors.
We know our coaches and/or mentors don't have all the answers, we learn together.
We honor the spirit of friendly competition.
What we discover is more important than what we win.
We share our experiences with others.
We display gracious professionalism and cooperation in everything we do.
We have fun!
We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and/or mentors.
We know our coaches and/or mentors don't have all the answers, we learn together.
We honor the spirit of friendly competition.
What we discover is more important than what we win.
We share our experiences with others.
We display gracious professionalism and cooperation in everything we do.
We have fun!