Project
| # | Title | Team Members | TA | Documents | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | ERSAB: Electronic Response System for Assisted Braking Runner-Up |
Neil Stimpson Prerak Sanghvi Vassily Petrov |
Christopher Horn | design_document4.pdf final_paper1.pdf other1.pdf photo1.jpg presentation1.pptx video1.mp4 video2.txt |
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| Neil Stimpson (nts2) Vassily Petrov (vassily2) Prerak Sanghvi (psangh5) # Problem: When riding a bicycle, one of the risks is not being able to brake in time and crashing. While one can stop quickly by pulling hard on the brakes, some are worried that they will lock up the wheels if they brake too hard and are hesitant about slamming on the brakes as a result. This problem affected our team member Prerak, who flipped his bike when he slammed on his brakes and hurt his hand. Also, Vassily is an avid biker and considers this issue when he rides. # Solution Components: Our idea was to create an electronic braking system for a bicycle. Instead of a mechanical lever like on a normal bike, we would have a pressure switch mounted to the handlebars. There would be a motor for the front brake and a motor for the back brake, a wheel rotation sensor, and a microcontroller. When the rider pushes the pressure switch, the motors would apply a force on the brake cable proportional to how they push the switch. While braking, the system records the speed of rotation of the wheels. If the deceleration of the wheels is such that they begin to lock up, the system will ease off the brakes. The advantage of this system is that it can maximize braking performance without having the wheels lock up. It removes the hesitation that riders might face if they have to brake suddenly. It also makes it easier to apply the brakes for those that have weak hand strength and reduces wrist and hand strain from having to brake frequently. Ultimately, this design will be modular so we can add additional features if time allows. We can mount an ultrasonic sensor to the front to sense obstacles. The sensor could send a signal to apply the brakes automatically if an object is approaching too quickly. We could mount an accelerator to the rear to detect fishtailing and apply the rear brake automatically to correct for this. ## Subsystem 1: Power system A battery will be needed to run the electronics and the motors/actuators. It will need to be specced sufficiently large so that it could last for hours without needing to be recharged. It will need a power converter for generating the necessary voltages for the controller and motor. ## Subsystem 2: Microcontroller The microcontroller will need to be fast enough to handle all of the data from the sensors and be able to react to input quickly. It will need to be energy efficient enough to last for hours running from the battery. It will also need enough inputs to handle the connections from all of the sensors ## Subsystem 3: motor driver & motor The type of motor selected might be a stepper, servo, or brushless depending on how we design the winching pulling system. We will consider the speed and torque of the motor so that it can activate quickly enough and with enough strength to slow down the wheel. The motor driver will need to be able to handle the maximum current of the motor. If possible we will design the motor driver ourselves. ## Subsystem 4: User feedback (LED or display) The user will need feedback as to the status of the battery / to alert when it needs to be recharged. This could be a series of LEDs that indicates battery %, or an lcd display that shows a numerical representation of battery charge. ## Subsystem 5: tension/force sensor The tension sensor would be attached to the brake lever and detect when the user wants to brake. The output will be an analog value so that brake force would be proportional to the reading from the sensor. ## Subsystem 6: wheel rotation sensor/accelerometer The wheel rotation sensor may be optical or magnetic and would be on both the front and rear wheels. Data from these sensors could be used to calculate wheel acceleration. An accelerometer mounted to the frame would be used to detect sudden jolts and shifts which would aid in determining when the bike loses control or begins to flip. # Criterion for Success: Design is able to detect when the bike is about to flip over and adjust the braking thrust in order to ensure maximum safety. The goal is achieved when the bike is able to come to a stop in a shorter distance than would be possible by an average rider. # Additional Features (If there is time): Add an ultrasonic sensor to the bike to detect for oncoming obstacles and automatically brake to prevent potential collisions. Also, if time permits, we would like to incorporate a speed cap that will prevent the bike from going over a desired speed. |
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