Tecnologías ESO : Analysis of an invention: Fan

THE INVENTOR

Schuyler Wheeler was born in New York, in May,1860.

He was educated at Columbia College.

At the age of 21, he left the school to become assistant of an electric company and then he started working with Thomas Edison.

He was the inventor of many electrical devices.

Schuyler died in Manhattan in 1923

ANALYSIS OF FORM

• Parts:

§ Propeller: They are responsible for producing the flow of hot or cold air, spinning at high or low speeds.

§ Engine: This charge of transforming electrical energy into mechanical energy which this engine is operated fan.

§ Coil: Stores energy in the magnetic field, this field flows through the coil center.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

• The engine is made of copper, iron, steel and bronze and the rest of the object is made of plastic, it protects the engine and the cables and the blades are made of it. Its pieces are joined together by steel screws.

• It is manufactured in electronics and computing industries where they study how to improve the product by making it smaller, more quiet and more powerfull.

• The standard dimensions are about 30cm high, 15cm length and 25cm width. It has a small size because it has to fit in small places in the house.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

• It satisfies the human beings’s need of cooling when it is very hot.

• Before, when it was very hoy they had to put up with it and they got cooler by drinking a lot of water and bathing in cool water and after the fan was invented, there has invented better objects that have the same objective as the fan, like the air conditioner.

• The manufacturing process involves environmental effects like the polluting gases from the factories where they are fabricated and social effects like that it has been one of the drivers of the nanotechnology. During the use, it consumes electrical energy often polluting but it reduces the medioambiental impact comparing to the air conditioner for example. Once the object is “dead”, it pollutes the environment if it isn’t correctly recycled.

• It is sold in electrical appliance shops and its price goes around 15 and 30 euros.

ANALYSIS OF FUNCTION

• The fan is used to ventilate a room

• To ensure proper maintenance it must be:

§ Store in a dry place away from heat when not working

§ disconnect once over use.

§ If overheating disconnect from the network

• Safety risks:

§ ensure proper installation before starting it

§ no manipulations performed without disconnecting from the network

§ objects avoid entering the area of the blades

Research material