Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
47 Bluetooth 24-bits Headphone Adapter
 Noctis Z.
Sang Baek Han
Wangming Yuan
 Zhen Qin design_document0.pdf
design_document0.pdf
final_paper0.pdf
presentation0.pdf
proposal0.pdf
video
Problem Statement and Solution:
If you look at the market nowadays, people consume their media content on the go, on the sofa, on the bed, on the floor. The cord-transmission is fading away from the industry, even charging functionality is being replaced with cordless designs such as Qi charging standard.
Currently, yet, not all media player peripherals are ready for the changes brought by portable device industry. Since currently 3.5mm audio jack has been used mostly all the time, there is a trend for manufacturers to ditch the old part and start seeking for other mains to deliver the experiences.
1) USB Type-C trend
2) Bluetooth (LE mode more preferred)
If we look into this, USB Type-C is more robust and have a max of 40Gbps bandwidth. But it is nowhere to be designed for analog peripherals. Moreover, USB Type-C direct headphones are still a fresh start; the audio quality for any existing products is not sufficiently good.
The other option is Bluetooth. Since Bluetooth 4.X, it has totally re-defined its own capability; especially with the LE mode support. With the low-power consumption mode, we can basically enable to make this device portable.
The top and mid-tier headphones are yet all analog ones. To make the device wirelessly but also with high audio quality, we will add Digital-to-analog-converter (DAC).
For the power supply, lithium battery will be used and this can run 40~50hrs with DAC enabled.

Design Goal:
1) Long wireless range (at least 10m)
2) Low signal loss (dBm)/latency (less than 300-700ms, not delayed too much)
3) Usage of DAC and Amplifier to improve audio quality
4) Longevity battery life for streaming (low power chips)
5) Adaptability to most common peripherals (3.5mm, USB)
6) Size and weight control (lithium battery and case along with antenna material are heavy)
7) Cost efficient
8) Easy to use (more toggles and indicator)
9) PAIR UP EASILY, unlike the common Bluetooth earphones or Apple Pencil (which takes up to 3~7 seconds to link)

Hardware Components:
There will be two modules on this device; a transmitter and a receiver.
For transmitter, the inputs are the audio input port to receive audio data, the amplifier level controller to control amplifier, and mute/unmute controller. The outputs are LEDs/ink screen indicators to show the states and Bluetooth transmitter to send the audio data to receiver. Powered 5V, DC with lithium battery.
For receiver, it is similar to how transmitter is structured. But, there is audio output port to send out the audio data instead of input port.
For the audio source that outputs 24 bits audio data, we are planning to use LG V20, which supports 24bits audio data output. There is an app on the device that allows us to check if the audio data output is 24 bits. We will be having an audio data that produces 24 bits output.
For the verification process of whether receiver actually outputs 24 bits audio data, there is a Dev board for the DAC chip (PCM1794A) that we are using. This dev board can show that it outputs 24 bits audio data.

El Durazno Wind Turbine Project

Alexander Hardiek, Saanil Joshi, Ganpath Karl

El Durazno Wind Turbine Project

Featured Project

Partners: Alexander Hardiek (ahardi6), Saanil Joshi (stjoshi2), and Ganpath Karl (gkarl2)

Project Description: We have decided to innovate a low cost wind turbine to help the villagers of El Durazno in Guatemala access water from mountains, based on the pitch of Prof. Ann Witmer.

Problem: There is currently no water distribution system in place for the villagers to gain access to water. They have to travel my foot over larger distances on mountainous terrain to fetch water. For this reason, it would be better if water could be pumped to a containment tank closer to the village and hopefully distributed with the help of a gravity flow system.

There is an electrical grid system present, however, it is too expensive for the villagers to use. Therefore, we need a cheap renewable energy solution to the problem. Solar energy is not possible as the mountain does not receive enough solar energy to power a motor. Wind energy is a good alternative as the wind speeds and high and since it is a mountain, there is no hindrance to the wind flow.

Solution Overview: We are solving the power generation challenge created by a mismatch between the speed of the wind and the necessary rotational speed required to produce power by the turbine’s generator. We have access to several used car parts, allowing us to salvage or modify different induction motors and gears to make the system work.

We have two approaches we are taking. One method is converting the induction motor to a generator by removing the need of an initial battery input and using the magnetic field created by the magnets. The other method is to rewire the stator so the motor can spin at the necessary rpm.

Subsystems: Our system components are split into two categories: Mechanical and Electrical. All mechanical components came from a used Toyota car such as the wheel hub cap, serpentine belt, car body blade, wheel hub, torsion rod. These components help us covert wind energy into mechanical energy and are already built and ready. Meanwhile, the electrical components are available in the car such as the alternator (induction motor) and are designed by us such as the power electronics (AC/DC converters). We will use capacitors, diodes, relays, resistors and integrated circuits on our printed circuit boards to develop the power electronics. Our electrical components convert the mechanical energy in the turbine into electrical energy available to the residents.

Criterion for success: Our project will be successful when we can successfully convert the available wind energy from our meteorological data into electricity at a low cost from reusable parts available to the residents of El Durazno. In the future, their residents will prototype several versions of our turbine to pump water from the mountains.