Overview of Status of Analysis, Design, Fabrication, Tests, etc.
Working on transferring Arduino code to MATLAB to create the GUI
Working on the PCB Eagle schematic
Casing design in progress
LED covers/dividers design in progress
Waiting for heatsink, batteries, chargers, and deltaphase isothermal pad to arrive
Accomplishments from Previous Week
Finished soldering 8 sets of circuit onto the perfboard
Finalized battery choice and method
Goals for Next Week (list names after each item). Use specific and measurable objectives.
Test battery and circuit components with heatsink once parts have arrived (Simon & Nick)
Finish AutoCAD and SolidWorks models for the casing of the system and cut on LaserCAMM with foam-core (Jen)
Get MATLAB GUI code working (Noor)
Finish LED cover design and print on 3D printer (Simon)
Sponsor Comments from Last Meeting and Actions Taken to Address these Comments (indicate date of comments and if via email or in person)
Working with multiple batteries is fine (4/29/14, via email)
Actions taken: will use 2 12V batteries for the system, have ordered 4 batteries
Make a housing for the system that would make everything one easily transportable unit (4/29/14, via email)
Actions taken: have started design for the housing, will cut out of foam-core soon
The professor I contacted about the power meter is out of town til later this week but he thinks he'll be able to help us (4/29/14, via email)
No action necessary
Instructor Comments from Last Meeting and Actions Taken to Address these Comments (indicate date of comments and if via email or in person)
Look into deep-cycle batteries (4/30/14, in person)
Actions taken: Deep cycle batteries help to keep the discharge minimized, but they are expensive and we found that lead-acid batteries work well for what we need
Test the efficiency of the system to see if most of the power is going to the LEDs (4/30/14, in person)
We ran the numbers and less than 10% of the power was going to other components, so the LEDs are getting most of the power.
Comments from Other Students in the Class (indicate date of comments and if via email or in person)
Check the parts room for heatsink (Carlos Acuna, 4/30/14, in person)
Actions taken: Will check the parts room, but plan to purchase a heatsink that comes with the CPU fan.
Look up Noctua Fan for your heat dissipation (Octavio Corona, 4/30/14, in person)
Actions taken: Noctua Fans specialize in sound optimized fans. We don't really need this extra feature. Purchased a CPU fan instead.
Risks and Areas of Concern
Receiving parts so we can work out the more specific details of the design, especially the casing and entire layout of the system
PCB design and ordering to receive by 7th or 8th week at the latest
Resources or Information Required but not Available
N/A
Schedule
Finish PCB schematic for the LEDs and resistor/transistor components so we can order it (this week)
Finish 2D and 3D models of system casing and cut out of foam core (this week)
Finish MATLAB GUI code (by week 7)
Finish LED covers (by week 7)
Budget (list amount spent and amount remaining)
$509.41 spent, $2,490.59 remaining
Progress on Report and Webpage
Finished first draft of the report
Updated webpage as much as possible for our progress