RUNNING HEAD: PROGRESS REPORT 1 1

Progress Report 1

Noah Egan, Alen Jomon, Shahid Khan

Governor’s School at Innovation Park

Dr. Psaker

November 15th, 2018

PROGRESS REPORT 1 2

Heating Scuba Divers Underwater

Objectives: In the next couple weeks we plan on ordering and receiving copper wiring.

We plan to test this wire by heating it up to see the heat of small pad against a surface. Another

order we want to make is an Arduino Kit as a miniature processor that can work underwater. We

also plan on learning about how to plastic seal some of the objects, such as wiring, that cannot

work underwater.
PROGRESS REPORT 1 3

How it All Began

Our project began with an idea of using supercapacitors to make wearable technology

such as a wristwatch. This idea did not last very long, and we moved on to thinking of how to

help people with Alzheimer’s. The complications of this experience revolving around needing a

volunteer caused us to abandon this idea. Finally, we settled on how to prevent hypothermia

underwater for scuba divers. This wouldn’t need a human volunteer to go diving, because we

could just test anything at a local pool. Our first ideas on this revolved around using a

thermoelectric generator or a cooler. The cooler would be used to heat up a person’s body

resulting from a difference in temperature between the water and the human. We moved on from

this specific idea because we found a more efficient way to heat a body. This new idea would

revolve around using resistive wiring to heat up a pad placed on the chest area of the body. The

wiring we plan on using is copper, but it was initially nichrome. We ended up not using

nichrome because of possible complications such as not having the correct equipment to

precisely measure values in order to prevent safety hazards. Our goals for Joules in heat that we

want to produce are 80,000 Joules inside the wire in 20 minutes. We are currently in the process

of finding out the values of some variables, but for this, we would need to experiment under

water. Using the equation H = (1/J)(V2/R)t – where H is the heat in Joules, J is the joule constant,

V is the voltage from the battery, and R is the resistivity of the copper wiring – we cannot factor

in many environmental forces externally acting on the wire – , we can calculate the temperature

inside the wire. We will then use the formula of heat transfer through conduction, Q= (KA(Thot

−Tcold ))/d, where Q represents heat in watts, K is the thermal conductivity of the plastic we

choose, and d is the thickness of the plastic. Once we find out all of the information surrounding

the experiment, we will perform it at the Freedom Aquatic Center.

PROGRESS REPORT 1 4

Materials and Methods

Materials Used/Planning to be ordered and used in the near future:

 Arduino Uno

 28-gauge copper wire

 Two 9V batteries

 Waterproof battery casing

 Potentiometer

 Vacuum Sealing Machine

 Wetsuit fabric

 Pressure-Sensitive Conductive Sheet (Velostat/Linqstat)

 STMicroelectronics BUTW92 Transistor

 Rubber sealant

 Vacuum sealer

Safety Concerns (once we finish the design):

 Electrocution if water sealant doesn’t work properly

o This can be avoided by running our apparatus with only a 9 V battery, which

would result in a lower current.

 Battery casing breaking under pressure

o This can be prevented by using strong material for the casing and testing it under

increasing pressure

Planned Procedure:
PROGRESS REPORT 1 5

1. Before we start building the heater, we will calculate the rate of heat transfer between the

wire and body through the plastic. We will also order all materials and 3D print the

casing.

2. After all materials are gathered, we plan to put the Arduino Uno, battery, and transistor

into the battery casing. We will then feed wires from the heating pad, thermometer, and

potentiometer into the casing. The wires from the thermometer and potentiometer will go

into the Arduino Uno, and the wires from the heating pad will connect to the battery and

transistor.

3. The thermometer and copper wire will be laid out on the thermally conductive plastic.

Then, the plastic will be vacuum sealed and flame sealed, with wires going out of the

plastic area.

4. After the heating pad is sealed, all wire entry and exit points from the heating pad and

battery casing will be sealed with a rubber seal, making the device water proof.

5. After the device is made, it will be tested using the thermometer by measuring the time it

takes to achieve a certain temperature, and if that temperature can be kept constant. The

device will also be tested under water pressure at the Freedom Center pool.
PROGRESS REPORT 1 6

Data

As of now, we have not received materials to conduct our experiment. Therefore, we do not

currently have presentable data.

PROGRESS REPORT 1 7

References

Ghosh, S. (2018, September 08). Joule's Law of Heating. Retrieved November 1, 2018, from

https://www.electrical4u.com/joules-law/

Resistance and Resistivity. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2018, from http://hyperphysics.phy-

astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/resis.html

Table of Resistivity. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2018, from

https://www.tedpella.com/company_html/wire-gauge-vs-dia.htm

Wire Gauge vs. Diameter. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2018, from

https://www.tedpella.com/company_html/wire-gauge-vs-dia.htm