Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
25 Adaptive Fast Charger and Power Pack
Brian Uznanski
Dalton Hite
Nikhil Kamath
Jackson Lenz design_document0.pdf
final_paper0.pdf
presentation0.pptx
proposal0.pdf
Team Members:

Brian Uznanski uznansk2

Nikhil Kamath nkamath2

Dalton Hite dchite2

Problem Statement:

Rapidly charging smartphone batteries leads to unnecessary battery degradation due to increased heat during charge and a greater amount of time spent at 100% SOC. Additionally, existing power packs rarely include rapid charge functionality or charge rate indication.

Proposed solution:

An AC/DC wall adapter with an intelligent charge rate limit and a built in rapid charging battery. The device will have a button for the user to select a charge rate limit manually and indicators to display charge rate, charge rate limit, and an SOC indicator for the internal battery.

Requirements:

Intelligent charge limit selection with user override.

LED indication of charge rate, charge rate limit, and battery SOC.

Internal battery rapid charging.

Constraints:

Size is a key constraint, as is effective heat dissipation.

Uniqueness:

To our knowledge, there are not yet fast chargers on the market that support seamless switching between charge rates from a single port. Additionally, no chargers have any kind of learning algorithm implemented to automatically switch between fast and slow charging when the user does not want to make that decision.

Previous Posts:

https://courses.engr.illinois.edu/ece445/pace/view-topic.asp?id=13437

Low Cost Myoelectric Prosthetic Hand

Michael Fatina, Jonathan Pan-Doh, Edward Wu

Low Cost Myoelectric Prosthetic Hand

Featured Project

According to the WHO, 80% of amputees are in developing nations, and less than 3% of that 80% have access to rehabilitative care. In a study by Heidi Witteveen, “the lack of sensory feedback was indicated as one of the major factors of prosthesis abandonment.” A low cost myoelectric prosthetic hand interfaced with a sensory substitution system returns functionality, increases the availability to amputees, and provides users with sensory feedback.

We will work with Aadeel Akhtar to develop a new iteration of his open source, low cost, myoelectric prosthetic hand. The current revision uses eight EMG channels, with sensors placed on the residual limb. A microcontroller communicates with an ADC, runs a classifier to determine the user’s type of grip, and controls motors in the hand achieving desired grips at predetermined velocities.

As requested by Aadeel, the socket and hand will operate independently using separate microcontrollers and interface with each other, providing modularity and customizability. The microcontroller in the socket will interface with the ADC and run the grip classifier, which will be expanded so finger velocities correspond to the amplitude of the user’s muscle activity. The hand microcontroller controls the motors and receives grip and velocity commands. Contact reflexes will be added via pressure sensors in fingertips, adjusting grip strength and velocity. The hand microcontroller will interface with existing sensory substitution systems using the pressure sensors. A PCB with a custom motor controller will fit inside the palm of the hand, and interface with the hand microcontroller.

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