Brunswick Community College
IN-2: Innovation 2

The practice of partnering with local students and businesses to support innovative student projects. Project 1 - Multi-student project working with renewable energy as a source to cool llamas utilizing solar panels as the energy source for a local farm. The concept is to use renewable energy to provide a cooling system for the farm during the hot, summer months. The benefits that it will create for the students is real workd, hands-on problem-solving and critical thinking. "Alternative and renewable energy sources which generate electricity primarily use batteries as energy storage devices. The newly designed 'Super Capacitor' is ideal for battery energy storage enhancement and operation." The Farm, Sund Mist Pastures Farm, located in Bolivia, NC. This farm is a re-habilitation and adoption center for the animals. See the .pdf attachment for the scope and further details. Project 2 - The UROV Project by Douglas Fritchey, 2011. Underwater exploration is such an exciting field of research and the development of sophisticated underwater ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) has had such a beneficial impact. I have built my first UROV in an attempt to better understand the obstacles in which other developers face and overcome. This first UROV was meant to be a simple, cost effective design, providing a foundation to change, improve, and test creative ideas. It is primarily built from PVC pipe and fittings. Three 80mm RC boat props are attached to three 500gph bilge pump motors providing a propulsion system capable of forward, reverse, left turn, and right turn horizontal movement and up and down vertical movement. Motors have a 6 volt tethered power supply. A high resolution camera streams live video to the operator via 30ft Cat5 tether connected to a laptop. This tether provides 12 volt power to the camera. Three electronic speed controls receive signals from a USB powered Pololu servo controller board located in the rear watertight capsule. This controller board receives its commands from software installed on the connected laptop. With the completed UROV I am able to navigate basic underwater terrain and collect and record visual data of the surroundings. Even with a huge lack of functionality and features I am still able to locate and identify fish, vegetation, and man-made objects. Such observations could not be conveniently made without expensive dive gear and certified users. Future improvements will include better navigation utilities, environmental sensors, side to side thrust, and tilt. Additional projects may lead to wireless controls and on-board power.

Student projects are completed or currently underway. "Brunswick Community College has several initiatives in which students are involved, either in-class or as extra curricular activities which touch on areas including sustainability, renewable energy, and recycling [which are innovative]. These include: Engineering courses are working with solar and super capacitor technologies, Bio Tech is working on bio fuel production with bio diesel and other methods, and Horticulture is working on various areas including composting, apiary studies." Dr. Browning email 2/15/2012