Hello everyone, welcome back to the first blog in nearly two months! I just completed an extremely fun practical---------------- Design of Experiment.
In this blog, I will document and describe how I performed both the FULL FACTORIAL data analysis and the FACTIONAL FACTORIAL data analysis to solve the case study.
In addition, I will include my personal learning reflection on DOE, regarding my experiences on tutorial and practical session (THIS IS GONNA BE A FUN ONE).
LET'S JUMP RIGHT INTO THE FULL FACTORIAL DATA ANALYSIS
Determine the effect of single factor and their ranking
From the grpah plotted, we can deduce that factor C (power setting of microwave) has the most siginificant impact on the number of inedible "bullets" (un-popped kernels) remain at the bottom of the bag. This is because it has the greatest gradient among all three factors. By using the equation displayed in EXCEL, we can conclude the the significance of the factors is:
FACTOR C > FACTOR B > FACTOR A
On the other hand, all three factors have similar impact on the number of "bullets". As seen in the graph, they all have a negative gradient, which indicates the number of "bullets" decreases as the factors change from LOW to HIGH.
Determine the interaction effects
Tables and graphs
Conclusion of the data analysis
FRACTIONAL FACTORIAL DATA ANALYSIS
Determine the effect of single factors and their rankings
From the graph plotted, factor C (power setting of microwave) has the most significant effect on number of "bullets" remained at the bottom of the bag as it has the greatest gradient among all three factors. Factor B (microwaving time) has a moderate impact while factor A (diameter of the bowl to contain the corn) as the smallest gradient and therefore has the least significance.
The significance of the order in descending order:
Factor C > Factor B > Factor A
Factor B and C have a negative impact on the number of "bullets", i.e. as the factor changes from Low(-) to High (+), the number of bullets decreases. Conversely, Factor A have a positive impact on the number of "bullets", i.e. as the diameter of the bowl to contain the corn increases, the number of "bullets" remained increases.
Tables and graphs
Conclusion of the data analysis
PERSONAL LEARNING REFLECTION
Design of experiment provides great learning experiences in the tutorial and also in the practical. During tutorial session, we got to apply what we have learnt in EXCEL Day to construct a table, plot a graph and then analyse it using the functions in EXCEL. This is very relevant to what we will be doing in the future as Microsoft Office is one of the most important skills for us to possess. In addition to software, I had a chance to learn how to design an experiment taking all the factors into consideration. Previously in CP5202 LPS II, we had learnt how to design how to design an experiment to obtain the optimal coffee yield. In CPDD DOE, we learned Fractioal Factorial design which enables us to determine the factor effect using fewer treatments.
The model above is very useful when we want to figure out if our hypothesis is valid. As the old saying goes, "Practice makes perfect". We have to apply what we have learnt in order to strengthen our understanding of the concept while having fun. The practical is about determine the effect of arm length, projectile weight and stop angle on the distance travelled by the projectile. Subsequently, we did something similar to our pre-practical task, plotting graphs to determine the effect of the factor. While performing the same experiment, our gorup ended up getting a result that is somewhat different from other groups. This made me deliberate why the results would differ. After observing the way other groups lauched the catapult, we realized that the way we launched the catapult and the number of cranks used play a part in the final result. Additionally, the way we measured the distanced travelled by the projectile is different as well.
The most fun part is the group challenge in which each group were tasked to bring the targets (MR CHUA, DR NOEL, MS OH and MR TING) down using the catapult. Each team has three trials and two attempts on each object. Frankly speaking, our group entered the competition with no expectation whatsoever as the challenge looked rather tough and we really had no hope in ourselves. My group only roughly measured the distance between each teacher to the starting line and tried a handful times.
As the first two groups managed to bring MR CHUA and MR TING down, I felt disheartened as it certainly made the game harder. I believed that we were fated to get last place as other teams spent way more time during the preparation phase.
" The secret to happiness is having low expectations" Warren Buffett
My groupmate Joel quickly took down MR TING and DR NOEL. He even used an angle shot to take MR CHUA down. We had yet to use a single trial. At that point we secured the second place, only trailing Aminur and Junkai group who managed to take down all targets. ... As everyone looked forward to a "grand slam" in baseball, our first attempt on MS OH failed.
We used "long arm, heavy ball, 6 crank and a stop angle of 70 degree" for the first attempt and the distance travelled by the projectile was clearly inadequate. Therefore, we replaced the heavy projectile with the light projectile instead.
THANK GODDDDDDDD! THE TRIAL WORKED!
.....
Now we had a tough choice to make as we only had one attempt left to bring MS OH down and two more trials left trying to ensure we could conquer the challenge. Jian Lun wanted to go for one more trial while Joel and I had the mindset of "now or never". Therefore, we chose the latter AND
JUST LIKE THAT WE DID IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From zero expectation to perfection, what a miraculous journey. A BIGGG shoutout to Aminur's group for providing a lot of tips that came in handy. This got to be one of my happiest moments in my poly life and kudos to JOEL who executed all these immaculately. BRAVO SIR!
This has to be the best experiment I've ever had so far and I hope we will have such opportunities in the future. Thank you DR Noel for making this whole learning experiece so fun and inspiring. See you guys soon!
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