Running head: IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT

The Science and Improvement of the Common Air Diffusion Product

Griffin Moore, Blake DeGraff, Reed Johnson Chestatee High School 3005 Sardis Road, Gainesville, GA 30506 7 March 2014

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT Table of Contents Abstract . . . . . . . . . . .

Introduction

Literature Review

Research Methodology

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Data Analysis & Interpretation

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Discussion & Conclusion

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Acknowledgements

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References List

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Appendix A

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Appendix B .

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IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT Abstract The purpose of our invented product is now and has always been to create an environment inside the locker rooms that doesnt have an odor or the warm temperatures. To accomplish this task, the invention we created, is an attachment to most fans, in which anyone can use our product. Our product is virtually a miniature hoop filled with a fragrance of the users choice. From this plastic ring, the twisting nozzle will be open or on, allowing for the

fragrance to disperse through the room. The plastic ring is covered on one side by an air filter to keep debris from entering it. In addition, the product becomes attachable to any metal fans by magnetic strips leaving the fragrance ring on the air filter side. Our product, when placed in the locker rooms at Chestatee High School, created positive results from our observation. With this positive outcome, our product is an obvious success and is also obviously worthy to be enhanced to a greater form.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT Introduction

Our group has experienced the worst of the worst locker rooms throughout our life from different schools and we are now reaching out to improve them. Throughout the years, we have seen that the locker rooms provided for athletes in high schools are inadequate and unacceptable for athletes to use. To improve upon the inadequate locker rooms that we have experienced, we decided that smell and temperature needed to be improved in our locker rooms. We established these factors by surveying locker room users. Our essential idea is to make a product that will fulfill the needs of athletes, for both the smell and temperature of our locker rooms. After designing and mocking up our product, we realized that our invention would be available to a larger market than just locker rooms. This is possible because our product is an attachment for all metal fans; a product which most households across the country have ample access to. Our product is an attachment for all metal fans. The product is essentially a miniature hoop filled with a fragrance of choice. From this plastic ring, the twisting nozzle will be open or on, allowing for the fragrance to disperse through the room. The plastic ring is covered on one side by an air filter to keep debris from entering it. In addition, the product becomes attachable to any box fans by hinged hooks leaving the fragrance ring on the air filter side. This product is intended to be relatively inexpensive because of the materials we chose to use in our product. The plastic ring is extremely inexpensive because of plastics ability to be made into a ring shape for a very minimal price. Despite the ring, the price of our product is that of a regular fragrance disperser. Our product will provide the ability to make a fan, with a protective cage surrounding it, the ability to freshen the air it gives out and in some scenarios, will make the use of a room more pleasant to be in. Using our product in homes would give a room a much more pleasant scent.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT Also, the use of it on fans in locker rooms will mask the pungent smell of the locker room and with the use of the fan will circulate the air to cool down the room. It gives the user a way to freshen the air around them while not wasting any of the liquid in our product so its longevity will be increased and refills will be necessary less frequently.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT Literature Review The problem we found was that in any locker room the temperature and smell is inadequate to be in after any extraneous activities which made the uncomfortable temperature hard to cool down and the smell makes it uncomfortable to be in for a long time. Using

conventional air fresheners will make the air smell better but the liquid will run out faster. These air fresheners do not attach to any fans so that it helps diffuse the fragrance into the air and cool down the room. The air fresheners people use on a daily bases use to much of its liquid around the clock to freshen the air while they are not even in the area of use. Just like the plug in wall air freshener I got from Bath and Body Works never stopped putting out its fragrance in my room even when I was not in my room. I found that it ran out faster than I was wanting it to and our plan is the stop this from happening in our product so that the user would not have to refill as much. Our two previous models that we discussed were to have a personal fan for each locker in the locker room. This helps each person cool down faster and make it enjoyable for each. The problem with this is the money that it would cost to install all of these fans in each locker or enough for everyone is too much, so it would be too expensive for any schools or businesses. Our next prototype was to build an attachment for any fan that a magnet could attach to so that anyone could make any fan into one that uses our air freshener to make it more enjoyable for whoever is around. The use of a fan fixes our problem to cool down a room and with our attachment it will freshen the air. Our new prototype will use magnets to attach to fans so that it will be easily removed or refills or to attach to another fan. Our product will make it easier to use an air freshener in any room or building needed. Our design is to be able to replace the liquid inside easily and an infrequent as possible. We will do this by adding a twisting nozzle to

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT make it possible for the user to close the canals that the fragrance comes out to preserve the liquid that is in it. In our studies on air fresheners we looked into the dangers of some fragrances have on the general public. The current formula for all air freshener spray on the market includes

phthalates that can be harmful to the general public (Natural Resources Defense Council, 2007). Effects of exposure to phthalates include decreasing of testosterone, malformations of the genitalia, and reduced sperm production. To avoid these horrific side-effects, phthalates need not to be used in the formation of air fragrance. Some companies such as Febreze Air Effects Air Refresher and Renuzit Subtle both contain no dangerous phthalates in their formation. We will find a formula that is same for everyone and will be enjoyable for everyone to be around. The problem we found with this that the magnets that we use do not always have a good connection with the metal it is put on. The temporary Magnets we first thought of using will not last very long and will not hold up to the duration that the user would want (Jezek, 2013). So in our research we found on howmagnetswork.com we found that permanent magnets would be our best choice. The permanent magnets are like any other refrigerator magnet that we are surrounded by every day. Once these magnets are magnetized they retain a specific degree of magnetism that does not decrease over time. Throughout all our research we have found that our final product will consist of a hollow ring that will contain a sack of the preferred fragrance. On the ring there will be magnetic piece that will attach the ring to any metal fan. The fragrance will diffuse through holes in the ring to spread out onto a mesh sheet in the middle of the ring. Below we have included actual reviews of articles we used throughout our research.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT

In Protect Your Family from the Hidden Hazards in Air Fresheners, the NRDC discusses the dangers of air fresheners in a general sense. The current formula for all air freshener spray on the market includes phthalates that can be harmful to the general public. Effects of exposure to phthalates include decreasing of testosterone, malformations of the genitalia, and reduced sperm production. To avoid these horrific side-effects, phthalates need not to be used in the formation of air fragrance. The article goes on to share that on the current market, both Febreze Air Effects Air Refresher and Renuzit Subtle Effects use absolutely no dangerous phthalates in their formation. For that reason this article spurs us on to research further into how these two companies have achieved that safety (NRDC, 2007). In Device to seal lock the containers of fragrances for the environment Artonis patent explains the diffusion sticks. It describes how the fragrance inside a container can travel up the stick, to be diffused into the air. It covers the bases of the invention, from commenting on the issues with the product, to the advantages it has over all the other products. The main issue is with the sticks itself. Sometimes the sticks will not collect and absorb the liquid fragrance. This patent has a sealing device, in which is a rubber stopper with holes big enough for the sticks that keep the liquid from spilling (Artoni, 2009). In Our Fetish for Fake Smells Sardar talks about the danger of the environment we are making around ourselves with perfumes and how it would be healthier if we started to get back to natural odors. It is becoming difficult for people to couple being around natural smells like body odor or just simple soaps. We are looking to make our scents simple but pleasant to be around. All the body sprays that companies put out now are dangerous and very strong smelling. They have found out that their target market is teenage boys that use their product to cover themselves with it. In the business world many companies have policies that declare that their

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT office will be fragrance-free during office hours. Many moms use lemons to clean the countertop so they smell the citrusy smell as they clean the cat pee off the floor. All the

fragrances we smell throughout our day are hazardous, whether it be household cleaning supplies or others from cologne and perfume. Because of the harm that fragrances can have on the environment, it is essential for our invention to include the ability to be turned off from constantly spraying into the air (Sardar, 2000). In our design the mesh screen allows the fragrance to be diffused into the air. We research the term Brownian motion, which is the motion of a small condensed liquid or gas that is diffused into another liquid or gas. The rapid randomized movement of each particle makes our fragrance disperse into the air equally. One example is smoke coming off of a fire that almost instantly dispersed and goes invisible to the naked eye (Merriam-Webster, 2014). The motion of the condensed particles moves at different speeds and in different directions. This helps with the fragrance to disperse it through the air to fill the whole room equally and make it enjoyable for the user. This also helps to not over use the fragrance and use each ounce on it to its full ability (Brownian Motion Revisited, 1992). We have found throughout all of our research different products and different ways to get to our final product that we want. We have looked at our prototypes and the evolution of the way we have come. As we found out Brownian motion was, with the fragrance and the lock that we will reserve and save our liquid to conserve it. With the help of all our research and can find that our final product will help to user in the best possible way.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT Research Methodology

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To begin the research portion and method of design of our invention, we knew that is was necessary to improve the quality of both smell and temperature in local locker rooms. From this problem stemmed two ideas of innovation. These different solutions, as shown in the chart below, were an attachment for an average fan and the idea of a personal fan that also serves as an air freshener. Branching from these two ideas, fundamental problems were found with each that would make their creation impossible in our current state of inventing. In terms of the fan attachment, we deduced that a mechanism to turn off the device was needed for optimal usability. Relating to the idea of the personal fan, this invention would prove to be far too expensive for our current economic state. Our flow of ideas then moved to the state of solving the problems with each of our ideas. Although we could not overcome the economic issues that we faced, we were able to create a mechanism for turning the attachment on and off, to prevent contentious fragrance flow into the surroundings. With these changes in mind, our final invention solution was an attachment to fans, which attaches by magnets, with a filter on the back, and has a twisting nozzle that seals the fragrance inside when not being used. This final idea was created by realizing the faults within our previous designs and ideas.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT

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Over all Problems: Smell and temperature of locker rooms are inadequate.

Possible Solution: Attachment for fans that serves as an air freshener.

Possible Solution: Personal fans that user can use air freshener when needed.

Problem: There wasnt a shut off mechanism, which allowed for the excessive use of the fragrance.

Problem: This would be too expensive to make a product for all students to use.

Solution: Solution: Create a twisting nozzle that allows the use for the flow of the fragrance, but a plug for when its not being used. There is no possible solution due to our financial status.

Final solution: Attachment to fans, that attaches by magnets, with a filter on the back, and has a twisting nozzle that seals the fragrance inside when not being used.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT Data Analysis/ Interpretation Prediction: With our prototype, we are going to test them in the boys basketball locker room. The

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locker room has an awful odor in it, because of the sewage system in the bathrooms above. We will place our prototype in the locker room every day for a week for an hour each morning. By the end of the day, we expect to walk in the locker room and no longer find an unpleasant odor. If not completely, we anticipate at least some of the odor to be diffused by the fragrance. If we do this for a week, by putting the prototype in there every day for an hour for an entire week, we will expect for all of the smell to be gone. We therefore predict that, if you walked into the boys locker room, you would not think that there was ever an unbearable odor. Collected Data: Although our group believes that we have not yet created a final product, we have conducted initial testing to discover if our product is feasible for real world use. These tests have been primarily qualitative because of the state of our product. Without a well-produced, finished product, we have only collected data that illustrates the usability of our product. We have found that the placement of our device in a commonly used locker room has resulted in the decrease of foul smell and the increase of user approval of the overall locker room. Our group has personally seen the results of our device. Reed Johnson, a key member of our design team, has experienced results first hand. By placing our device inside his locker room before his class period and then observing the change in smell after his class period, he found that the smell was somewhat enhanced throughout his locker room. We now hope to conduct more data collection with our final product which is currently being produced. With our final product, quantitative data will be found by observing the amount in which smell is improved.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT Discussion and Conclusion Our purpose is to eliminate and reduce the smell and temperature in locker rooms to

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make them more adequate to change in. We wanted to seek out a new type of air freshener that could be attached to any fan. Soon after, our idea expanded as we discovered we could easily broaden our reach to any room that has a fan in it. With the attachment, we found that our original prototype did not have an off switch, which allowed the liquid fragrance to run nonstop. We reengineered our prototype and came up with a twisting nozzle that will allow for our attachment to turn off. We also ran into a problem with trying to attach our product to the fan itself. Since most fans are made of metal, whether it is the blades, the base, or the cage around it, we decided to use magnets in order to make our product stay on the fan. Our product, the attachable air freshener to fans, is a better product than our competitors in the fact that there are no other products like ours. We have designed our product to be attached by magnets, instead of being plugged into a wall, or just left sitting on a table. Our product allows for the whole room to be fragranced, due to the product being attached to the fan itself, the fragrance will be dispersed, instead of just in one confined place, as common in our competitors product. In addition, unlike some of our competitors, our product has the ability to turn off and stop the release of the liquid fragrance from our product. With our product, we added a ventilation unit onto it, which helps keep the debris out, which other consumer product do not have. One of the main delimitation that we kept running into was how we could make a durable, but affordable, prototype with all of the features that is has. For example, the on/off switch, we could have used many other means of making it turn either off or on, but we chose to go with the twistable nozzle because it is both durable and affordable. This coincides with some

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT of our sources of error. Besides the nozzle, we had multiple errors when it came to finding out

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how we could disperse the fragrance throughout the room. We started with diffusion sticks, but then got rid of them, for they were useless. Also, we ran into difficulty with the casing to hold the liquid fragrance. We had to have a material that would not rust, that is affordable, and durable, so we ended up going with a plastic ring. In the future, we plan on getting our product into houses, and other places that our product could be used, throughout the United States. Also, to work on getting a patent for our product, so it can officially be our own product. However, this will take some time to accomplish, so in the meantime, we will work to modify and improve our product.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT Acknowledgements Throughout the process of creating an invention and researching the science of that

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invention, we received help from multiple people and groups to bring us to this point. We would like to acknowledge all of those that contributed towards the completion of our project, but we are also aware that it would be impossible to recognize each person that provided an idea or discussion for our group to ponder. Without the assistance and inspiration from our teacher, the idea of creating an invention, the means to create that invention, and our groups passion for our invention would not exist. In providing this assignment for our group, Mrs. Holland provided the assistance to begin our process of the Inventure Project. Throughout the long journey of creation, Mrs. Holland also served our group by providing literature and personal advice pertaining to our lack of knowledge in the area of research. To invent a successful and marketable product, market research must first be completed to insure eventual productivity. The assistance that we received from our Scientific Research peers was essential to obtain that market research. Answering surveys, and providing our design team with advice was necessary throughout our design process and was impossible without the efforts of our fellow classmates. The assistance of Director Amit Jariwala and Doctor Roxanne Moore provided our group with the most knowledgeable and scientific information that we obtained during our process. In listening to our group pitch our ideas for an invention, Director Jariwala provided feedback towards next steps and overall presentation skills. Doctor Moore provided immeasurable assistance by reading the first draft of our scientific paper and advising us on topics to research

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT further and tips for overall scientific writing. We are genuinely thankful for all the assistance provided by multiple sources throughout the process.

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IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT References Artoni, S. (2009). U.S. Patent No. EP2070554 A1. Washington, DC: Deo Promotion S.r.I.

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(2013). Brownian movement. In The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. The Columbia University Press. Retrieved from http://www.questiaschool.com/read/1E1-Einstein/einstein-albert (1992, August 15). Brown's 'Brownian Motion' Revisited. Science News, 142(7), 109. Retrieved from http://www.questiaschool.com/read/1G1-12548751/brown-s-brownian-motionrevisited Fliegel, F. C. (1993). Diffusion Research in Rural Sociology: The Record and Prospects for the Future. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Retrieved from
http://www.questiaschool.com/read/23341786/diffusion-research-in-rural-sociology-the-record

(2008). Fresh and Toxic? Science and Children, 46(1). Retrieved from http://www.questiaschool.com/read/1G1-186384348/fresh-and-toxic (2004). Hamm, E. M. Managing Asthma in the Classroom. Childhood Education, 81(1), 16+. Retrieved from http://www.questiaschool.com/read/1G1-124077828/managing-asthmain-the-classroom (2013). Jezek, G. Types of Magnets. How Magnets Work. Retrieved from http://howmagnetswork.com/types.html (2014). Brownian Motion. An Encyclopedia Britannica Company. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brownian%20motion Natural Resources Defense Council. (2007). Protect Your Family from the Hidden Hazards in Air Fresheners. Health Facts. Retrieved from http://www.nrdc.org/health/home/airfresheners/fairfresheners.pdf

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT (2000, September 11). Sardar, Z. Our Fetish for Fake Smells. New Statesman ,129(4503),25.

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Retrieved from http://www.questiaschool.com/read/1G1-65329040/our-fetish-for-fake-smells

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT Appendix A Materials and Instruments

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Plastic Ring Plastic nozzle Permanent Magnets Air filters Liquid Fragrance Makerbot Replicator 2

IMPROVEMENT OF THE AIR DIFFUSION PRODUCT Appendix B Procedures for Prototypes Prototype 1: 1. Obtained construction paper and taped them into a hollow ring shape 2. Placed wooded sticks in a position to have them coming out of the paper 3. Fashioned a vent to a shape that would fit our prototype 4. Taped everything together and made our first prototype Prototype 2: 1. Found a baby play toy for the hollow ring shape 2. Made small holes in the plastic ring for the diffusion sticks to stick out towards the middle 3. Cut a vent to fit our prototype taped it to the back 4. Attached a clip to the back for attachment to any fan Prototype 3: 1. Made a plastic hollow ring using the Makerbot Replicator 2 2. Attached a twisting nozzle onto the ring for an on/off switch 3. Attached a ventilation system to the back of the prototype 4. Attached magnets to the back of the prototype for easy attachment and removal from the fan

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