STUDENT HIGHLIGHT
REFRIGERATION Lucas Curry and Memo Cervantes engineer a working refrigerator
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mbracing the hands-on nature of the practical program, Form 7 students Lucas Curry and Memo Cervantes set out to engineer a refrigerator. This ambitious project brought many obstacles, prompting Lucas and Memo to apply their knowledge of electricity, physics, and computer principles. They persevered and managed to build a functional device through research, study, and creative problemsolving. Delphian Magazine: What inspired you to engineer a refrigerator? Lucas Curry: I found a video online of someone doing it, and it seemed like a crazy idea at first. But as I thought about it more, it seemed like something cool to learn more about. Memo Cervantes: Lucas showed me the video, which looked interesting, and convinced me that we should try it. I didn’t think it would work and that it would be a total failure. Regardless, we decided it would be fun to try anyway. I remember we didn’t even totally know where to start, but after each step, we just kept asking, “Okay, what’s next?” DM: What is the basic process? MC: First, you take an insulated container—we used an old beach cooler— and wire a few specialized parts called heat sinks on opposite ends of a thermoelectric module called a Peltier plate. Then you plug the plate into an electrical source. Once an electrical current runs through the heat sinks, they work to expel heat from the container, and you have a fridge.
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