Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
17 Dual Coil Wireless Power Transmission for Forestry Vehicles
 Anthony Roth
Geri Hasanaj
Timothy Vyhnanek
 Zhen Qin
Problem
Currently, industrial equipment manufacturers such as John Deere use flexible hydraulic lines to transfer power in their forestry vehicles. These lines are often crimped and punctured during operation, leading to vehicle down time and resources wasted on repairs.

A previous project team (Project #28, Spring 2018) collaborated with ME 470 students to successfully construct a ball joint that wirelessly transfers power from the stationary segment to the mobile segment via resonant inductive coupling. This eliminates the need for delicate cables in hazardous areas. However, this technique requires the primary and secondary coils to be perfectly aligned to transmit power efficiently. Since the ball joint travles +/- 45 degrees alongs its axis, up to 50% of the power is lost due to misalignment.

Solution Overview
Due to the successes of the previous project, we will continue to explore resonant inductive coupling. Instead of using a single secondary coil located at the center of the joint’s motion, we intend to use a dual-coil system [1], one located at each of the 45 degree extremes. These two secondary coils will act in tandem to efficiently transfer power across the joint without interruptions.

Subsystems
Resonant Coil Subsystem
Similar to the first iteration of this project, we plan on constructing a RLC circuit on the stationary (transmitter) side of the joint. On the mobile (reciever) side, we will construct two identical RLC circuits tuned to the resonant frequency of the transmitter.
Criteria for Success: Transmits 500-1000W across the joint across the entire range of motion.

Gyroscopic Sensor Subsystem
A gyroscopic sensor will be mounted on the joint to determine what angle it is currently operating at. This data will be quantized and fed into the load balancing subsystem.
Criteria for Success: Accurately measures the angle of the joint from -45 to 45 degrees.

Load Balancing Subsystem
This subsystem will take the information from the gyro sensor and use it to balance the loads across the two secondary coils proportionally. For example, if the joint is at 20 degrees, approximately 75% of the power will come from the near coil, and the other 25% will come from the far coil. This will be accomplished with a series of power MOSFETs and pairs of auctioneering diodes.
Criteria for Success: The subsystem is able to switch the loading between the two coils while keeping transients within the acceptable operating range of the loads.

Power Distribution System
This subsystem will consist of protective circuitry to ensure that the transmitted power is suitable for the loads on the vehicle.

Criteria for Success: Provides a steady supply of useable power within the ratings of the loads.

References
[1] Enabling multi-angle wireless power transmission via magnetic resonant coupling “https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6530559/”

[2] Original idea post: https://courses.engr.illinois.edu/ece445/pace/view-topic.asp?id=27707

Electronic Replacement for COVID-19 Building Monitors @ UIUC

Patrick McBrayer, Zewen Rao, Yijie Zhang

Featured Project

Team Members: Patrick McBrayer, Yijie Zhang, Zewen Rao

Problem Statement:

Students who volunteer to monitor buildings at UIUC are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 itself, and passing it on to others before they are aware of the infection. Due to this, I propose a project that would create a technological solution to this issue using physical 2-factor authentication through the “airlock” style doorways we have at ECEB and across campus.

Solution Overview:

As we do not have access to the backend of the Safer Illinois application, or the ability to use campus buildings as a workspace for our project, we will be designing a proof of concept 2FA system for UIUC building access. Our solution would be composed of two main subsystems, one that allows initial entry into the “airlock” portion of the building using a scannable QR code, and the other that detects the number of people that entered the space, to determine whether or not the user will be granted access to the interior of the building.

Solution Components:

Subsystem #1: Initial Detection of Building Access

- QR/barcode scanner capable of reading the code presented by the user, that tells the system whether that person has been granted or denied building access. (An example of this type of sensor: (https://www.amazon.com/Barcode-Reading-Scanner-Electronic-Connector/dp/B082B8SVB2/ref=sr_1_11?dchild=1&keywords=gm65+scanner&qid=1595651995&sr=8-11)

- QR code generator using C++/Python to support the QR code scanner.

- Microcontroller to receive the information from the QR code reader and decode the information, then decide whether to unlock the door, or keep it shut. (The microcontroller would also need an internal timer, as we plan on encoding a lifespan into the QR code, therefore making them unusable after 4 days).

- LED Light to indicate to the user whether or not access was granted.

- Electronic locking mechanism to open both sets of doors.

Subsystem #2: Airlock Authentication of a Single User

- 2 aligned sensors ( one tx and other is rx) on the bottom of the door that counts the number of people crossing a certain line. (possibly considering two sets of these, so the person could not jump over, or move under the sensors. Most likely having the second set around the middle of the door frame.

- Microcontroller to decode the information provided by the door sensors, and then determine the number of people who have entered the space. Based on this information we can either grant or deny access to the interior building.

- LED Light to indicate to the user if they have been granted access.

- Possibly a speaker at this stage as well, to tell the user the reason they have not been granted access, and letting them know the

incident has been reported if they attempted to let someone into the building.

Criterion of Success:

- Our system generates valid QR codes that can be read by our scanner, and the data encoded such as lifespan of the code and building access is transmitted to the microcontroller.

- Our 2FA detection of multiple entries into the space works across a wide range of users. This includes users bound to wheelchairs, and a wide range of heights and body sizes.