Project :: ECE 445 - Senior Design Laboratory

Project

#	Title	Team Members	TA	Documents	Sponsor
17	Off Grid Electrical Cabinet Dehumidifier. Andrew Miller (acm4), Kevin Lee (kevinl8), Andrew Schmitt (ars4)	Andrew Miller Andrew Schmitt Kevin Lee	Shaoyu Meng	design_document1.pdf final_paper1.pdf other1.pdf other2.pdf other3.png other4.png proposal1.pdf
	Problem Description: Ameren Illinois has a series of electrical cabinets that experience the problem of condensation on electrical terminals. This could be solved with a dehumidifying or simple heating system, except that most of these are isolated locations too far from a source of the kind of low voltage power needed to run them. Solution Proposal: Use two 100W solar PV panels and a 400W micro wind turbine to collect renewable energy for an off grid system, that will run a 200W electric resistance heater to prevent condensation on electrical components. It both warms the air around exposed electrical terminals and creates a high pressure zone within the cabinet to lower the relative humidity. A humidity sensor will detect when the heater needs to be turned on and off autonomously and a battery pack will store the electrical energy. Also, if needed, some sort of thermal energy storage may be used. Ameren has already started looking into this project and has purchased most of the parts: solar panels, a wind turbine, humidistat, batteries and an electric heater. However, the system is in need of efficiency and system control optimization, and that is where we want to focus on a few aspects of the design. These include an efficient battery charge controller, precise autonomous control system, and adding an element of thermal storage. Solution Components: Subsystem #1: Battery Charge Controlling The current system uses Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) during the charging process. We are interested in switching over to a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) process. The idea is to adjust the input voltage (from the solar panels) to the DC-DC converter to match the battery’s charging capability (which in turn increases current) to maximize the wattage. This is crucial in the winter months when the solar input is on average lower. Subsystem #2: Sensors/Controls A humidistat has already been acquired, but its measurement is only available locally. This data along with thermostat data should be presented remotely for Ameren, especially noting times of prolonged high humidity. We propose periodically recording humidity/temperature and transmitting the data to put in a graphical format which flags sections of high humidity. Subsystem #3: Thermal Storage With battery capacity being quite expensive, rather than imploding the size of the battery pack, we have the idea to add a separate subsystem that electrically heats a thermal mass only at times where the battery pack is full and our energy sources are still providing power. This could be an existing thermal storage device or a diy container of water with its own electric resistance heat. Criterion for Success: -the MPPT algorithm results in charging efficiency better than what it is currently -a graphical representation of humidity and temperature data is presented remotely -enough added energy storage capacity to prevent the battery pack from being depleted

Title

Team Members

Documents

Sponsor

Off Grid Electrical Cabinet Dehumidifier. Andrew Miller (acm4), Kevin Lee (kevinl8), Andrew Schmitt (ars4)

Andrew Miller
Andrew Schmitt
Kevin Lee

Shaoyu Meng

design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
other1.pdf
other2.pdf
other3.png
other4.png
proposal1.pdf

Problem Description:
Ameren Illinois has a series of electrical cabinets that experience the problem of condensation on electrical terminals. This could be solved with a dehumidifying or simple heating system, except that most of these are isolated locations too far from a source of the kind of low voltage power needed to run them.

Solution Proposal:
Use two 100W solar PV panels and a 400W micro wind turbine to collect renewable energy for an off grid system, that will run a 200W electric resistance heater to prevent condensation on electrical components. It both warms the air around exposed electrical terminals and creates a high pressure zone within the cabinet to lower the relative humidity. A humidity sensor will detect when the heater needs to be turned on and off autonomously and a battery pack will store the electrical energy. Also, if needed, some sort of thermal energy storage may be used.

Ameren has already started looking into this project and has purchased most of the parts: solar panels, a wind turbine, humidistat, batteries and an electric heater. However, the system is in need of efficiency and system control optimization, and that is where we want to focus on a few aspects of the design. These include an efficient battery charge controller, precise autonomous control system, and adding an element of thermal storage.

Solution Components:
Subsystem #1: Battery Charge Controlling
The current system uses Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) during the charging process. We are interested in switching over to a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) process. The idea is to adjust the input voltage (from the solar panels) to the DC-DC converter to match the battery’s charging capability (which in turn increases current) to maximize the wattage. This is crucial in the winter months when the solar input is on average lower.

Subsystem #2: Sensors/Controls
A humidistat has already been acquired, but its measurement is only available locally. This data along with thermostat data should be presented remotely for Ameren, especially noting times of prolonged high humidity. We propose periodically recording humidity/temperature and transmitting the data to put in a graphical format which flags sections of high humidity.

Subsystem #3: Thermal Storage
With battery capacity being quite expensive, rather than imploding the size of the battery pack, we have the idea to add a separate subsystem that electrically heats a thermal mass only at times where the battery pack is full and our energy sources are still providing power. This could be an existing thermal storage device or a diy container of water with its own electric resistance heat.

Criterion for Success:
-the MPPT algorithm results in charging efficiency better than what it is currently
-a graphical representation of humidity and temperature data is presented remotely
-enough added energy storage capacity to prevent the battery pack from being depleted

Featured Project

# Musical Hand

Team Members:

- Ramesey Foote (rgfoote2)

- Michelle Zhang (mz32)

- Thomas MacDonald (tcm5)

# Problem

Musical instruments come in all shapes and sizes; however, transporting instruments often involves bulky and heavy cases. Not only can transporting instruments be a hassle, but the initial purchase and maintenance of an instrument can be very expensive. We would like to solve this problem by creating an instrument that is lightweight, compact, and low maintenance.

# Solution

Our project involves a wearable system on the chest and both hands. The left hand will be used to dictate the pitches of three “strings” using relative angles between the palm and fingers. For example, from a flat horizontal hand a small dip in one finger is associated with a low frequency. A greater dip corresponds to a higher frequency pitch. The right hand will modulate the generated sound by adding effects such as vibrato through lateral motion. Finally, the brains of the project will be the central unit, a wearable, chest-mounted subsystem responsible for the audio synthesis and output.

Our solution would provide an instrument that is lightweight and easy to transport. We will be utilizing accelerometers instead of flex sensors to limit wear and tear, which would solve the issue of expensive maintenance typical of more physical synthesis methods.

# Solution Components

The overall solution has three subsystems; a right hand, left hand, and a central unit.

## Subsystem 1 - Left Hand

The left hand subsystem will use four digital accelerometers total: three on the fingers and one on the back of the hand. These sensors will be used to determine the angle between the back of the hand and each of the three fingers (ring, middle, and index) being used for synthesis. Each angle will correspond to an analog signal for pitch with a low frequency corresponding to a completely straight finger and a high frequency corresponding to a completely bent finger. To filter out AC noise, bypass capacitors and possibly resistors will be used when sending the accelerometer signals to the central unit.

## Subsystem 2 - Right Hand

The right subsystem will use one accelerometer to determine the broad movement of the hand. This information will be used to determine how much of a vibrato there is in the output sound. This system will need the accelerometer, bypass capacitors (.1uF), and possibly some resistors if they are needed for the communication scheme used (SPI or I2C).

## Subsystem 3 - Central Unit

The central subsystem utilizes data from the gloves to determine and generate the correct audio. To do this, two microcontrollers from the STM32F3 series will be used. The left and right hand subunits will be connected to the central unit through cabling. One of the microcontrollers will receive information from the sensors on both gloves and use it to calculate the correct frequencies. The other microcontroller uses these frequencies to generate the actual audio. The use of two separate microcontrollers allows for the logic to take longer, accounting for slower human response time, while meeting needs for quicker audio updates. At the output, there will be a second order multiple feedback filter. This will get rid of any switching noise while also allowing us to set a gain. This will be done using an LM358 Op amp along with the necessary resistors and capacitors to generate the filter and gain. This output will then go to an audio jack that will go to a speaker. In addition, bypass capacitors, pull up resistors, pull down resistors, and the necessary programming circuits will be implemented on this board.

# Criterion For Success

The minimum viable product will consist of two wearable gloves and a central unit that will be connected together via cords. The user will be able to adjust three separate notes that will be played simultaneously using the left hand, and will be able to apply a sound effect using the right hand. The output audio should be able to be heard audibly from a speaker.

Project Videos

Musical Hand Demo