Project Overview

Problem Overview/Backgroud:

It is in the best interest of developing African countries to develop alternative penetrating oil for WD-40 that would be easily accessible as well as cost effective and sustainable. In developing African countries today, penetration oils such as WD-40 are often too expensive and not accessible by many poor communities. These communities are plagued with rusted bolts and fasteners that cannot be replaced without the help of a penetrating option. The longer the bolts are allowed to rust, the more of them that cannot be saved and reused later on because of the extensive damage done to them by continuous oxidation of iron. Penetration oils can help loosen these damaged bolts and act as a temporary rust preventative for replacements. For this reason, cheap alternative penetrating oil that is easily accessible to the African people would save homes and structures throughout the continent.

Problem Statement:

It is in the best interest of developing African countries to develop alternative penetrating oil for WD-40 that would be easily accessible as well as cost effective and sustainable. 

Stakeholders:

Direct:

·         Community

·         Design team

·         Hardware stores

·         Environment

·         Manufacturers

·         Machinists

Indirect:

·         Pat Delany

·         Alexander Moseson

Needs/Priorities and Constraints:

Primary:

·         The alternative penetrating oil must be able to reduce the friction of the fasteners in order to properly remove, adjust, or replace them.

·         The penetrating oil must be able to prevent rust corrosion

·         The penetrating oil must be able to be safely disposed of

Secondary:

·         The penetrating oil must be cheap and accessible

Tertiary:

·         The penetrating oil must be able to earn a significant income

Initial Concepts:

The main design being considered is the half transmission oil/half acetone + paraffin mix. Since transmission oil and acetone don’t mix very well, paraffin is added to the design to make these two reactants mix. Transmission oil in this design acts as a lubricator while acetone is the rust remover. The trick is to find the right mix in order to make the product cost efficient at the same time as being effective. In order to achieve this, a series of trial and error experiments will be performed in order to find the right percentage of acetone and transmission oil. Paraffin is also great at prevent iron and steel from oxidation, which will help the effectiveness of our final product.

Another design being considered is replacing transmission oil with vegetable oil in this case. In order to make this product more accessible the ingredients themselves need to be easy to get. Also, by replacing transmission oil with vegetable oil you get a more “green” product for the environment. This is something being seriously considered since sustainability is important.

Project Deliverables:

After the conclusion of this project several deliverables will be given. A series of alternative penetrating oils will be tested and ranked by their efficiency, sustainability, and cost. Also data pertaining to penetrating oils tested will be available to help determine which one is the best option to use in a developing country. Information regarding certain mixes which work better in certain situations will also be given to help inform the African society about when certain mixes of penetration oil should be utilized.

Project Schedule:

The group had to find appropriate times for the group to meet to thoroughly discuss the strategy, they were able to set a meeting schedule for Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7-9pm at the Drexel University Library, tests would be done at the Drexel University machine shop.

	Tuesday	Thursday
Week 4	Materials would be gathered.	Set up of materials for experiments.
Week 5	Experiments would be done to test other chemicals for lubrication and rust prevention also putting into consideration cost effectiveness and environmentally safety.	Results obtained from the Tuesdays experiments would be correlated and assessed.
Week 6	Experiments would be done to test other chemicals for lubrication and rust prevention also putting into consideration cost effectiveness and environmentally safety.	Results obtained from the Tuesdays experiments would be correlated and assessed.
Week 7	Best alternative would be decided out of those tested.	Results obtained from Tuesdays would be correlated and assessed.
Week 8	Tests would be done to figure out exact  make-up of the penetrating oils in existence.	Results obtained from the Tuesdays experiments would be correlated and assessed.
Week 9	If experiments prove successful,  test would be done on new rusted material as a confirmation.	Results obtained from the Tuesdays experiments would be correlated and assessed.
Week 10	Final product.	Results obtained from the Tuesdays experiments would be correlated and assessed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Budget:

Acetone (4oz)	Paraffin (Sears)	Crisco (48oz)	Toilet Paper (6 pack)	Transmission Oil (1 qt)
$8.19	$3.51	$3.00	$7.00 6pk	$20.00

Projected total Cost:  $41.70

Decision Matrix:

Decision Matrix (based on research, subject to change during testing)

Alternatives	Lubricating ability	Rust prevention	CO2 emission	Disposability	Cost	Weighted Score
Option A	1	4	5	3	2	52
Option B	3	4	5	2	1	46
Option C	1	2	4	5	3	49

Option A:  Transmission oil (can be used), paraffin wax, acetone

Option B:  Vegetable oil, paraffin wax, acetone

Option C:  WD-40 (contents secret)

Capabilities	Weighted Importance (1-most important, 5 least important)
Lubricating ability	1
Rust prevention	5
CO2 emission	3
Disposability	4
Cost	2