Gill Slitt

GILL SLIT

SONIC RESPONSIVE DESIGN ARCH 6005-004 UNIVERSITY OF UTAH CA+P FALL 2014

By Fatima Malekloo, Lindsay Raudales and Tales Brito

COMPONENTS FINS CONNECTIONS FRAME SERVOS AND GRASSHOPER

C O N C E P T

SHARK GILLS MUSHROOMS LAMELLAS

ONE OCEAN PAVILION

P R E C E D E N T

SONIC REACTIVE SYSTEM

A MICROPHONE WILL RECIVE SOUND CREATED BY PEOPLE AND FINS WILL OPEN

ANALYZING MOVEMENT MECHANISM

EVOLUTION OF FINS

FINS

EXPERIMENTING WITH DIFFERENT MATERIALS

FABRIC AND PAPER

AFTER TESTING SOME MATERIALS WE CHOSE THE HDPE. THEN WE STARTED TESTING THE THICKNESSES OF THIS AND WE DECIDED THAT THE 1/16” WAS GIVING US THE MOVEMENT WE WANTED TO HAVE.

H D P E

CONNECTIONS

SKETCH FIRST TEST WITH NAILS

CONNECTING FIN TO FRAME

SECOND TEST WITH METAL UNION

FINAL TEST ROD END WITH BALL JOINT

GEARS AND PINS

SUPPORT FOR SERVO

FRAME

GRASSHOPER

FIN ALGORITHM

SERVO ALGORITHM

FINAL MODEL

PARTS LIST TIMBER FOR FOOT STRUCTURE HALF A SHEET (1/8” X 46.5”) BALTIC BURCH WOOD: CONNECTIONS AND FRAME (1/16”) HDPE: FINS (1/16”) BALSA WOOD: GEARS (1/2” X 3/4”) ALUMINUM CHANNEL 10 ROD END BALL JOINT 10 (5/15”) THREADED ROD + 40 (5/15”) NUTS: GEARS 10 SKATE BEARING: GEARS NUMBER 6 SCREWS (3/4”) NUTS: CONNECTION FRAME TO FINS NUMBER 4 SCREWS (3/8”) + NUTS: CONNECTING GEARS TO FINS 10 SERVO 3 COLOR WIRE (3/8”)WIRE WRAP

WEEKLY BREAKDOWN WEEK ONE

The past week we researched visual patterns in nature and we felt drawn to the smooth lines and movement of shark gills and the intricacies of mushroom lamellas.

Our next step was to begin conceptualizing a wall that would contain the same essence as these elements. We studied some precedents and the most helpful was the One Ocean Pavilion. It contains a system that applies a force upward and downward on a strip of glass fiber reinforced plastic causing it to twist. Each fin is individually controlled by linear actuators in order to make a wave like effect on the façade. Our objective is to have a very similar effect that will respondto sound waves. We experimented with some different iterations and material.

WEEK TWO

For the pin up of this week we exposed were we are in the process of the design. What is our precedent, our concept and the different models that we have made to experiment different materials. In addition we presented the new proposal for the mechanism we are trying to use which consist of a gear wheel attached to the bottom of each panel that help to move the panel up and down to create the opening and closing of the wall.

Tuesday October 28 we build a box to test different fins made out of HDPE. The first one has a thickness of 1/32 and has a support of one nail in the right side on the bottom and at the top, and a wood piece representing the mechanism to move the fin on the left side. The second fin is exactly the same with the difference that is 1/16 of thickness. The third one is 1/16 of thickness but has a hinged connection on the right side allowing the panel to move more.

WEEK THREE

We built another model with the top and bottom frame in an angle to make the fins more flexible. We also made the gear to connect it to the servo and we tested it to find out the things we have to change or fix in the model. The gears are connected to servos and to Arduino. It is the time to test primary codes with servo and see how they work. It sounded fine but wasn’t very smooth and a bit jittery at the beginning. At this time we tested 2 fins to see fins’ behavior together like angel, overlap and friction.

After testing servos with 2 fins, we decided to think and sketch for a while. We thought to have two fins that work together instead of one. Each pair has 2 actuators that move fins and open the aperture in respond to sound. Also we start to think about the frame and connections of fins and servos to frame. It is very important because they affect the movement of fins a lot.

WEEK FOUR

This weekend we built a full scale mock-up model with 3 fins installed. We laser cut the fins and the edges were slightly charred. In order to make it more clean we used sand paper on the edges and wiped it off right after. It seemed to have solve the problem. The next step will be to test a different design with the fins and also attach motors to them. We will be trying stepper motors instead of servos due to price and low noise. We have also worked on different types of design for the frame. Because we got inspiration from ocean animals and mushrooms we experimented with different curvy profiles for our frame.

They all resembled fish, and we were not very satisfied with it. We also tried to create an algorithm for a parametric design for the fins but we had problems figuring out the process. Our next step is to try a curvy design in plan instead of elevation.

Over the last couple of days we continued to work with our full scale mock up by incorporating more fins to it and testing with different patterns on the fins themselves as well as connections. The patterns on the fins did not bend the way we expected and became very distracting in the overall aesthetics of the project. We tested different types of connections including the ball joint and really liked it. So we ordered a smaller version of those joints for further investigation.

We tested with a stepper motor without much success. The torque wasn’t enough to turn the gear designed for the servos even with a shop fabricated coupler. Our next step is to test a different type of servo, a much cheaper and weaker one to see if it will lift the fins. We will also test a different type of connection for the steppers based on a threaded rod which will transfer the resistance from the motor to the rod.

WEEK FIVE

This weekend we worked in testing the stepper motor but after not having the result we wanted, we decided to go with the servo. Because of that we tested a weaker servo in our full scale mock up and it did the work just fine, the same as the other servos and even better because it was not choppy. The servo is shown in the pictures below. Parallel to that we worked in the grasshopper file creating a 3D model to experiment with the curve of the opening in the fins.

In order to define a final design we created a small mock up out of chipboard.

In this model we were testing how our frame could be for the final model. We tested the curves and how the fins could react to those curves. After looking at the model we decided to go with just one curve instead of two. Parallel to the model we got our small ball joint that we are using as a connection of the fin to the frame. We tested it in two different ways the first one was to connect it with a metal wire to have a more freely movement and the second one was with a nail and hot glue having a result very similar with the previous connection.

For Friday we were working in creating a 3D model of our final frame with the changes suggested with the small mock up model. We decided to go with a one curve frame and have triangles of wood were we will attach every connection of the fins. We also designed a frame in the back part to give stability to the model that consists of rods attached to the top and bottom frames. Parallel to the 3D, we search for screws to attach the small ball joint to the frame having no results because of the small scale those are. Because of that we bought new metal rod ends that we will use in the final model to connect the fins to the frame. We also worked in the code in grasshopper that is going to respond to the sound. The louder the sound is the faster is going to open. We are trying to loop the code.

WEEK SIX

For Monday we started to connect all the fins with the same nail connection that we were working previously since we are waiting for our rod ends. Then we fix the servos holders in our mock up model for our review on Wednesday. We also connected the 12 servos with wires to the breadboard, batteries and to the Arduino to test them. At the first test they were not working properly, and after we fix the servo algorithm in grasshopper they worked fine. Attach are the videos showing the grasshopper file and the mock up model with the 6 bottom servos working.

WEEK SEVEN

Today we started to work on the final mock up model. We C & C Baltic Burch wood for triangular components and cover sheets for frame. Cutting other pieces like threatened rods, Aluminum channels and gluing them.

Making small pieces out of wood to connect them on the upper part of the frame, then drilling and screwing rod-end ball joints to them. Also we laser cut gears. So almost every component was ready to assemble.

We start to assemble and attach components we made the other day. It was rough to align up and down since they had to be shifted. We worked on it and glued and nailed all parts. The last part to work was making foot for the frame in a way to hold it and not be visible. Our mission was to finding out the right length, where to connect it on the frame and how to fix the upper part to that. We also put servos on their place, fixed them and connected wires to each.

We used wire wrap to hide wires to have a cleaner model. After it got finish we started to test it with codes and Arduino. This time we test it with microphone and tried to find the best threshold. We shoot a video because it was working great.