Week 4 - Journal

My assignment's idea for this week is to design, simulate, and build a simple motorize Skirt (Altanuwra) from cardboard using electronic components.

Because I am impressed by the handmade work, I inspired the idea of assignment from the Skirt (Altanuwra). The design is made from cardboard which is attached to the shaft of the DC motor.

Electronic components:

1- Mini DC Gearbox Motor

A gear motor is a combination of a DC motor and gearbox. The gears use to reduce the speed of the motor while increasing the torque output.

2- 9V DC Adapter

The adaptor converts AC power to 9-volt DC for powering most electronic devices ( in our case the dc motor).

3 - Lamp

4- LED with different colors

Light Emitting Diodes (LED) is widely used in many electronic devices as indicator lamps, on billboards and signs as alphanumeric displays, or even full-color posters, and are commonly used in TVs and color displays. The difference between the normal lamp and LED is, The LED passes current in its forward direction but blocks the flow of current in the reverse direction.

5- ON/OFF Switch

6- DC Jack to terminal block converter

7- Jumper Wires (Male-Male)

8- Crocodile Wires

Materials:

• Cardboard: Cardboard is a heavy-duty paper-based product having a greater thickness and superior durability or other specific mechanical attributes to paper; such as foldability, rigidity, and impact resistance. So, I used it to make the prototype of the design.

software:

Tinkercad is an online 3D modeling program for creating models for 3D printing as well as Circuits and Code Blocks. I used it to build and simulate the full circuits before building and testing them on a physical breadboard.

Design and Simulate Circuits in Tinkercad :

1- After logging in to Tinkercad, click on "Circuits" on the left-hand side.

2- The "Create New Circuit" homepage in Tinkercad.

3- Start by adding the power supply and 3v battery to my design.

4- Add the output action components ( lamp. dc motor and LED ( red, yellow, green) to the circuit design.

5- Add connections between the components.

6-Start the simulation, as shown in the video.

The design and implementation process :

1- The crocodile wires and Jumper Wires have been used to connect the components together (as shown in the photos )

2- The Lamp and Motor have been separately powered at first, with and without the ON/OFF switch, in order to make sure that they are functional, before putting them together in the circuit. The same process for the LEDs.

3- The DC Jack to terminal block converter has been connected to the DC jack of the DC Power adapter to power the motor and the indicator lamp in parallel.

4- The crocodile wires have been used to connect the ON/OFF switch with lamp and motor to the DC Power adapter.

5- The 3 LEDs ( red, green, and yellow ) have been connected and fixed on the 3v battery.

6- The Cardboard has been used to make two wheels (big and small wheel). The big wheel is used as a base to fixed the motor and the small wheel ( attached to the motor shaft ) is used as a base for LEDs and battery.

7- After all connections are completed and ready, the DC power adapter has been plugged into the wall outlet to power the circuit.

8- The video shows the motorized Skirt (Altanuwra) while functioning

From the EOWeek Self-Practice videos, i have learned how to use the Tinkercad to build and simulate the electronics circuits online. This was the first time that I used the online platform ( Tinkercad) to finished my simulation, I am always using the Proteus and MATLAB/SIMULINK.

The challenges

In the first trial, I used one wheel ( the big one ) to fix the LEDs and battery on the top, and the motor on the bottom. But the motor has been able to rotor the wheel because of the overload and its limited torque.

The solution

To overcome this load, I used cardboard to make small wheels. And, the big wheel is used as a base to fixed the motor, but the small wheel has been attached to the motor shaft, and it is used as a base for LEDs and battery.

By the end of this week, I have gotten the following skill that will help me in designing the electronic circuits of the final project :

- Designing and simulating electronic circuits containing multiple components using Tinkercad.

- Using the physical breadboard to connect and wire the electronics components.

- Using the cardboard to Integrate the circuit within the device enclosure.

- Using the Avometer to troubleshoot problems in electrical circuits.

Hackathon RC Car

IN this hackathon, my team worked to design and build an RC car controlled over two h bridge. We built two h-bridge circuits on two separate breadboards to control each of the DC motors separately. The body of the car has been designed using the Fusion 36o. After the car was functional and the final outcome is demonstrated, we used the laser cut machine to fabricate the RC base. After that finished the assembly and testing of the RC car, we were ready for the Sumo battle. Really, It was an amazing and WOW experiment !!!!