Browsing by Author "Ribeiro, Maria Cristina"
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- Aquaponics System - An EPS@ISEP 2014 Spring ProjectPublication . Llauradó, Ana Mesas; Docherty, Arlene; Méry, Gwénaël; Sokolowska, Natalia; Keane, Sean; Duarte, Abel José; Malheiro, Benedita; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Ferreira, Fernando José; Silva, Manuel; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroThe goal of this project, one of the proposals of the EPS@ISEP 2014 Spring, was to develop an Aquaponics System. Over recent years Aquaponics systems have received increased attention due to its possibilities in helping reduce strain on resources within 1st and 3rd world countries. Aquaponics is the combination of Hydroponics and Aquaculture and mimics a natural environment in order to successfully apply and enhance the understanding of natural cycles within an indoor process. By using this knowledge of natural cycles it was possible to create a system with the capabilities similar to that of a natural environment with the benefits of electronic adaptions to enhance the overall efficiency of the system. The multinational team involved in its development was composed of five students, from five countries and fields of study. This paper covers their solution, involving overall design, the technology involved and the benefits it could bring to the current market. The team was able to achieve the final rendered Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings, successfully performed all the electronic testing, and designed a solution under budget. Furthermore, the solution presented was deeply studied from the sustainability viewpoint and the team also developed a product specific marketing plan. Finally, the students involved in this project obtained new knowledge and skills.
- Balcony Greenhouse – An EPS@ISEP 2017 ProjectPublication . Calderon, Alisson; Mota, António; Hopchet, Christophe; Grabulosa, Cristina; Roeper, Mathias; Duarte, Abel José; Malheiro, Benedita; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Ferreira, Fernando José; Silva, Manuel; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroThis paper presents the development process of a sustainable solution to grow aromatic plants in small houses. The solution is called The GreenHouse and is meant for people who live in small houses or city apartments and want fresh home grown aromatic plants, but have neither the time nor the space to grow them. The solution is intended to be sustainable and appropriate for people concerned with eating healthy, fresh food. The project was developed by a team of five students enrolled in the European Project Semester (EPS) at the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP) during the spring of 2017. EPS@ISEP is a project-based learning framework which aims to foster personal, teamwork and multidisciplinary problem-solving skills in engineering, business and product design students. Research and discussions within the team were done to develop the product. The existing solutions for growing fresh food in industrial and domestic applications as well as marketing, sustainability and ethical topics were researched and discussed. This way it was possible to define the requirements of The GreenHouse. The GreenHouse is semi-automatic and requires little interaction from the customer. It has two covers, a winter cover and a summer cover, to be changed depending on the season and weather. Solar energy and rainwater are used to enable the growth of aromatic plants, making this a sustainable system. The support is adaptable and made to fit different support sizes so it can be hanged on balconies or windows.
- Design and Development of a Solar Dryer for Microalgae Retrieval - An EPS@ISEP 2013 Spring ProjectPublication . Brygider, Aleksandra; Marciniak, Bartlomiej; Verbraeken, Bénédicte; Ahlskog, Paul; Petersen, Sven; Malheiro, Benedita; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Silva, Manuel; Caetano, Nídia Sá; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroCurrently excessive fossil fuel consumption has become a serious problem. People are searching for new solutions of energy production and there are several options to obtain alternative sources of energy without further devastating the already destroyed environment. One of these solutions is growing microalgae, from which biodiesel can be obtained. The microalgae production is a growing business because of its many useful compounds. In order to collect these compounds microalgae must first be harvested and then dried. Nowadays the solutions used for drying use too much energy and therefore are too expensive and not sustainable. The goal of this project, one of the possible choices during the EPS@ISEP 2013 Spring, was to develop a solar microalgae dryer. The multinational team involved in its development was composed of five students, from distinct countries and fields of study, and was the responsible for designing a solar microalgae dryer prototype for the microalgae laboratory of the chemical engineering department at ISEP, suitable for future tests and incorporating control process (in order not to destroy the microalgae during the drying process). The solar microalgae dryer was built to work as a distiller that gets rid of the excess water from the microalgae suspension. This paper presents a possible solution for this problem, the steps to create the device to harvest the microalgae by drying them with the use of solar energy (also used as an energy source for the solar dryer control system), the technologies used to build the solar microalgae dryer, and the benefits it presents compared to current solutions. It also presents the device from the ethical and sustainable viewpoint. Such alternative to already existing methods is competitive as far as energy usage is concerned.
- Design and Implementation of a Biologically Inspired Flying Robot - An EPS@ISEP 2014 Spring ProjectPublication . Caramin, Bénédicte Anki; Dunn, Iain; Ney, Rauno; Klawikowski, Yvonne; Malheiro, Benedita; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Silva, Manuel; Caetano, Nídia Sá; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroThe goal of this EPS@ISEP project proposed in the Spring of 2014 was to develop a flapping wing flying robot. The project was embraced by a multinational team composed of four students from different countries and fields of study. The team designed and implemented a robot inspired by a biplane design, constructed from lightweight materials and battery powered. The prototype, called MyBird, was built with a 250 € budget, reuse existing materials as well as low cost solutions. Although the team's initial idea was to build a light radio controlled robot, time limitations along with setbacks involving the required electrical components led to a light but not radio controlled prototype. The team, from the experience gathered, made a number of future improvement suggestions, namely, the addition of radio control and a camera and the adoption of articulated monoplane design instead of the current biplane design for the wings.
- Design and Implementation of a Biologically Inspired Swimming Robot - An EPS@ISEP 2014 Spring ProjectPublication . Ishii, Alicia Moreno; Heibeck, Magdalena; Blazejewski, Marcin; Nybjörk, Rasmus; Duarte, Abel José; Malheiro, Benedita; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Ferreira, Fernando José; Silva, Manuel; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroThis paper presents the development of a fish-like robot called Bro-Fish. Bro-Fish aims to be an educational toy dedicated to teaching mechanics, programming and the physics of floating objects to youngsters. The underlying intention is to awaken the interest of children for technology, especially biomimetic (biologically inspired) approaches, in order to promote sustainability and raise the level of ecological awareness. The main focus of this project was to create a robot with carangiform locomotion and controllable swimming, providing the opportunity to customize parts and experiment with the physics of floating objects. Therefore, the locomotion principles of fishes and mechanisms developed in related projects were analysed. Inspired by this background knowledge, a prototype was designed and implemented. The main achievement is the new tail mechanism that propels the robot. The tail resembles the undulation motion of fish bodies and is actuated in an innovative way, triggered by an elegant movement of a rotating helicoidal. First experimental tests revealed the potential of the proposed methodology to effectively generate forward propulsion.
- Design of sustainable domes in the context of EPS@ISEPPublication . Balbaert, Joppe; Pérez Daza, Jairo; Barb, Bogdan Marius; Duarte, Abel José; Malheiro, Benedita; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Ferreira, Fernando José; Silva, Manuel; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, Pedro; Park, Jaehyun; Marimon, Ramon; Serfozo, Akos; Cazelles, Marine; Domenic, Stancel Constantin; Speckstadt, Arne; Skonieczna, Klaudia; Rajnai, GergelyThe European Project Semester (EPS) is a one-semester capstone project/internship program offered to engineering, product design and business undergraduates by 18 European engineering schools. EPS aims to prepare future engineers to think and act globally, by adopting project-based learning and teamwork methodologies, fostering the development of complementary skills and addressing sustainability and multiculturalism. In 2016, two EPS@ISEP teams embraced the challenge of building a robust, inexpensive, modular, comfortable and safe wooden / metallic dome using simple techniques and sustainable materials. This challenge is demanding - requires a multidisciplinary and user-centred design - as well as rewarding - contributes to satisfy the right to adequate, safe and affordable housing as stated in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The goal is to solve the problem in a modular and sustainable way, i.e., by using repetitive linear elements made of locally available materials. This approach aims to dramatically decrease the cost of production and shipping, simplify the construction process and address the needs of the dome users. Although geodesic cross-linked structures have been studied for some time, their design requires the involvement of all stakeholders as well as a team which understands and integrates the contributions from areas such as electronics, mechanics, civil, environmental or materials engineering. The project-based learning approach fosters, on the one hand, autonomy, responsibility and the ability to make sound technical-scientific choices and, on the other hand, develops teamwork, sustainable development and personal and cross-cultural communication skills, while promoting the emergence of innovative, creative and sometimes audacious solutions, typical of the youth.
- Developing an aquaponics system to learn sustainability and social compromise skillsPublication . Duarte, Abel José; Malheiro, Benedita; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Silva, Manuel; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroThe goal of this project, one of the proposals of the EPS@ISEP Spring 2014, was to develop an Aquaponics System. Over recent years Aquaponics systems have received increased attention since they contribute to reduce the strain on resources within 1st and 3rd world countries. Aquaponics is the combination of Hydroponics and Aquaculture, mimicking a natural environment in order to successfully apply and enhance the understanding of natural cycles within an indoor process. Using this knowledge of natural cycles, it was possible to create a system with capabilities similar to that of a natural environment with the support of electronics, enhancing the overall efficiency of the system. The multinational team involved in the development of this system was composed of five students from five countries and fields of study. This paper describes their solution, including the overall design, the technology involved and the benefits it can bring to the current market. The team was able to design and render the Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings of the prototype, assemble all components, successfully test the electronics and comply with the budget. Furthermore, the designed solution was supported by a product sustainability study and included a specific marketing plan. Last but not least, the students enrolled in this project obtained new multidisciplinary knowledge and increased their team work and cross-cultural communication skills.
- Development of Biomimetic Robots in the EPS Engineering Programme Capstone ProjectPublication . Silva, Manuel; Malheiro, Benedita; Guedes, Pedro; Ferreira, Paulo; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Ferreira, Fernando José; Duarte, Abel JoséThis paper proposes the development of biologically inspired robots as the capstone project of the European Project Semester (EPS) framework. EPS is a one semester student centred international programme offered by a group of European engineering schools (EPS Providers) as part of their student exchange programme portfolio. EPS is organized around a central module (the EPS project) and a set of complementary supportive modules. Project proposals refer to open multidisciplinary real world problems. Its purpose is to expose students to problems of a greater dimension and complexity than those faced throughout the degree programme as well as to put them in contact with the socalled real world, in opposition to the academic world. Students are organized in teams, grouping individuals from diverse academic backgrounds and nationalities, and each team is fully responsible for conducting its project. EPS provides an integrated framework for undertaking capstone projects, which is focused on multicultural and multidisciplinary teamwork, communication, problem-solving, creativity, leadership, entrepreneurship, ethical reasoning and global contextual analysis. The design and development of biologically inspired robots allows the students to fulfil the previously described requirements and objectives and, as a result, we recommend the adoption of these projects within the EPS project capstone module for the benefit of engineering students.
- Interactive light and sound table: an EPS@ISEP projectPublication . Reimus, Aare; Miklaszewska, Izabela; Fernandez, Maria Ricondo; Jurjonaité, Toma; Silva, António Ferreira da; Malheiro, Benedita; Silva, Manuel F.; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Caetano, Nídia Sá; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroInteractive products are appealing objects in a technology-driven society and the offer in the market is wide and varied. Most of the existing interactive products only provide either light or sound experiences. Therefore, the goal of this project was to develop a product aimed for children combining both features. This project was developed by a team of four thirdyear students with different engineering backgrounds and nationalities during the European Project Semester at ISEP (EPS@ISEP) in 2012. This paper presents the process that led to the development of an interactive sound table that combines nine identical interaction blocks, a control block and a sound block. Each interaction block works independently and is composed of four light emitting diodes (LED) and one infrared (IR) sensor. The control is performed by an Arduino microcontroller and the sound block includes a music shield and a pair of loud speakers. A number of tests were carried out to assess whether the controller, IR sensors, LED, music shield and speakers work together properly and if the ensemble was a viable interactive light and sound device for children.
- Learning sustainability by developing a solar dryer for microalgae retrievalPublication . Malheiro, Benedita; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Silva, Manuel; Caetano, Nídia Sá; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroThe development of nations depends on energy consumption, which is generally based on fossil fuels. This dependency produces irreversible and dramatic effects on the environment, e.g. large greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn cause global warming and climate changes, responsible for the rise of the sea level, floods, and other extreme weather events. Transportation is one of the main uses of energy, and its excessive fossil fuel dependency is driving the search for alternative and sustainable sources of energy such as microalgae, from which biodiesel, among other useful compounds, can be obtained. The process includes harvesting and drying, two energy consuming steps, which are, therefore, expensive and unsustainable. The goal of this EPS@ISEP Spring 2013 project was to develop a solar microalgae dryer for the microalgae laboratory of ISEP. A multinational team of five students from distinct fields of study was responsible for designing and building the solar microalgae dryer prototype. The prototype includes a control system to ensure that the microalgae are not destroyed during the drying process. The solar microalgae dryer works as a distiller, extracting the excess water from the microalgae suspension. This paper details the design steps, the building technologies, the ethical and sustainable concerns and compares the prototype with existing solutions. The proposed sustainable microalgae drying process is competitive as far as energy usage is concerned. Finally, the project contributed to increase the deontological ethics, social compromise skills and sustainable development awareness of the students.