This week with research, I continue testing the piezoelectrics with the oscillating thermal diode (OTD). During the first half of the week, I conducted preliminary tests with the piezoelectrics, which helped me get a better sense of what their voltages would look like during oscillations. For now, I only glued two piezo disks to the device. I originally intended to have at least one piezo on the device, but I have to use at least two because only one causes the surface not to be level, which causes the device to tilt and affect the oscillations.
Once I recorded the data, I started thinking about how I was going to record future data or what kind of experiments I should conduct. I had to aim for experiments that would give me a better sense of what the optimal parameters to operate this device are with piezos. I settled on some of the experiments that I will be conducting, one of which I already finished. I chose to stick with one design of the piezo for now until I have conducted multiple experiments on it. Then, I might change the design and try the same types of experiments again. The experiment I conducted was one where I changed the temperature of the plates (the temperature difference). I recorded different oscillation and voltage data based on the set temperatures I chose to see what impact the temperature difference could have.
I was able to design this whole experiment and take the data myself which ended up feeling pretty good because I felt like I had a better idea of what the trajectory of my future experiments would look like. I gained I better sense of how I’m going to run them, record data, and analyze it. Now I feel a little more hopeful about the data I can gather and what it could mean, especially when I report to my PI each week and when I present the project. This concept of collecting data and how to share it is a concept that comes up a lot in my subgroup meetings with my PI.
I’m glad that I’m getting the chance to improve on how to conduct experiments and share results. I feel that the weekly meetings help me improve because they give me a chance to report my data and project status. I find that preparing for that moment keeps me a little more guided, but it can become a bit stressful because I may question whether what I have is good enough or quantitative enough. Since I am still learning what is bad and what is unnecessary to report, I will still have some uncertainty about it, but I think I am getting better. Having these steps in between the program has helped me keep track of my work and move forward. I am glad I am starting to conduct principal experiments now since we are about halfway through the program.
Since I finished the temperature experiments, I will conduct other different ones soon. Especially since there are so many aspects of the device that I want to change and explore. The amount of possible tests is amplified by the additional piezo-OTD designs that I could try. Some of the experiments I will try next include changing the shuttles and changing the gap sizes. My mentor also suggested that I should conduct more literature review and organize the parameters that other researchers refer to when discussing their OTDs, which may include efficiency, power cost, and frequency. This way, I can organize their findings in charts so that I know what I could aim for or compare my results. Additionally, my PI also clarified the goal again, which is to have a better understanding of an optimal device and determine its potential. He suggested I could find this perhaps by comparing it to other devices that have a similar purpose. This clarification makes me a little more comfortable with the overall goal of the project since it relates to what I could do with the charts. For next week, I look forward to continue doing more experiments, which I enjoyed doing. I look forward to trying out different methods of gathering the data like connecting the device to a capacitor and reading its maximum voltage that it can reach in a certain amount of time. I will also be reading more papers, getting their data, and putting it on the chart.
Also, as a quick note, by the end of the week, we went on a field trip with the REU program. We went to a water treatment facility where we met the plant manager, who was very friendly and informative about the facility. We got to tour the plant and see some of the processes behind them. It was pretty interesting to explore and be exposed to, especially as an insight into future job opportunities. Quick fun fact: that water treatment facility was right next to the high school I went to!