Final Project Journal

Project Ideation

  1. Tell us about the idea of your project. Why do you care about this? What were you inspired by? Include images and videos of similar projects

My idea is architecturally inspired and it is to make a physical model for a modular lover of a building facade that is interactive with the sun rays making it a kinetic responsive facade that works on achieving thermal and visual comfort to building's users. The project would consist of a series of louvers that react independently to sun rays direction to maximize protection from sun rays according to sun altitude.


The introduced design is motorized by servo motor that is controlled by LDRs that indicated sunlight direction. Also a manual mode is added to allow the control by the user using a potentiometer knob.

The perforations also decrease the weight needed to be supported by the building's framework and provides both light and shade. The shade helps with a cooling effect with the hot temperatures, which provides huge benefit. The shade provided by the Kinetic Mesh means that some of the weight can be relieved from such a cooling system.

Equally, within a building the Kinetic Mesh can be used as a design feature. It can replace a solid wall while allowing light and fresh air into an otherwise dark and stuffy room. This is one of the main benefits for interior designers.


Penumbra - A Kinetic Daylighting and Shading System.mp4

Project Construction

2. Explain the CAD process of your project. How did you use the software to design your project? (List the softwares/tools/materials...etc that you used)

Sotwares:

Rhino 3D & Grasshopper (for the Parametric Perforated Screen Louvers with Image Sampler)

Autodesk 3Ds Max (For the design of the enclosure parts 2.5D)

Autodesk Fusion 360 (For the joints assembly ,adding electronic components and exporting 2D .dxf files)

First I started with a 3d model on 3Ds max for the specified number of louvers and the overall design and made connections between the assembly parts (Splines & Extrude) and the fixation of the electronic components (imported servo motor model from thingiverse in 3Ds max).

Then started to design the perforated screen with Nefertiti image in image sampler on grasshopper in rhino 3D and exported it to .dwg and then to 3Ds max to export the whole design with .igs to be imported in Fusion 360. (attached the Code for image sampler code in grasshopper)

Started to project the faces of the design and created the 2D sketches

Saved the 2D sketches into .dxf files

Prepared .dxf files to be imported in laserWorks (overkill the overlapped lines and made the thickness of the lines with 0.00m)

Enclosure Parts & Mesh Parametric Design

3. Explain the fabrication process of your project. How did you use the machine to fabricate your project? (List the softwares/tools/materials...etc that you used)

Software:

Laser Work V6 (To prepare 2D sketches to be cut with laser cut machine)

Procedures:

  • open laser works and import the dxf file and set the speed 23mm/s and the power 65%

  • download the file on the machine and rename the file

  • check the power on the laser cutting machine (power it on)

  • check the origin of the machine by controlling the arrows (up-down-right-left) and click on origin button to set the origin

  • open files on the machine and search for the named file to print and track the cut area

  • control the vertical distance of the bed to the laser handle to just fit a coin (from the side of the machine)

  • select the file again from the machine and start the cut process

Materials and Tools:

Plywood

3mm thickness. (2.5D Parts)

Screws (3mm diameter)

Nuts and Screws


Project Electronics & Power Management

4. Describe your electronic circuit. What are the input and action components? What is the function of each? How do the components integrate together to form your smart system? (List the softwares/tools/components...etc that you used)

The kinetic louvers' mesh is used for external facades rotates to reach maximum shading allover the day to achieve thermal comfort in spaces. this works when the light sensor (2LDRs) tracks the sun light and according to difference in light intensity the controller (arduino) gives a specific rotation angle for the servo motor to rotate and blind sun rays.

In case of switching to manual mode by the switch, the potentiometer starts to control the servo rotation angle.

Technical Modules

1- Mode 1: Automatic mode

Construction Parts: laser cut Louvers and case

Input:

Sensing: LDR sensor (for tracking light)

Action: the louver rotates independently with servo motor according to the sun light sensed to maximize shading and thermal comfort.

Brain: An Arduino board would act as the smart device's brain that processes the light sensor and send orders to sevo motor

Power Management: 9V adaptor


2- Mode 2 : Manual mode

Construction Parts: laser cut Louvers and case

Input:

User Input: switch to turn off automatic mode and a potentiometer

Action: Potentiometer controls louvers rotation in case of automatic mode is off

Brain: An Arduino board would act as the smart device's brain that processes the swiches and send orders to servo motor

Power Management: 9V adaptor

Software:

Arduino IDE ( to design the code for the electronic circuit)

Tinker Cad ( for the wiring illustration and simulation)

Components:

3 Servo Motors

2 LDR Modules

Arduino Uno

Breadboard

Potentiometer (100kohm)


1 Resistors (10kohm)

Slider Switch

Adaptor 9V

Jumpers

Crocodiles

Potentiometer Knob

DC Socket

Wiring Diagram and Simulation

simulation video.wmv

5. What is your power source? How did you select the suitable power source for your project? (List the softwares/tools/components...etc that you used)

Started by creating my components lists according to the action components and input components i needed for the minimum features and calculating the voltage, current and resistances needed for each component (I=V/R) , the required power source was a 9V adaptor and needed a resistor of 10kohm for the slider switch connection to positive pin of the arduino.

Project Programming

6. Describe the code of your project. How did you program each function of the project?

Coding:

when the switch is on (first state):The code essential measures the light intensity from both photo resistors (automatic mode)

it then compares the two to see which is receiving more light and make mapping for the difference value to make the servo rotate with.

If the difference is greater than a small threshold then the Arduino tells the servo to move in that direction to direct the panel towards the light source.

When the switch is off: the potentiometer pin readings is mapped to angles for the servo motor for manual control to the louvers.


Project Integration & Testing

7. Demonstrate with text and visuals how did you integrate the project’s modules together? What are the testing results? (Include a Demo video separately, showing a proof of functionality)

I started making the assembly for the parts and Integerated the Electronic components within it

Test & Demo Videos

automatic mode 1.mp4
manual mode.mp4
automaticmode 2.mp4

Sharing & Collaboration

8. Did you ask for feedback? What are the ideas that others have contributed or suggested? What was someone else’s idea that you built upon? How did you help your peers? How did your peers help you?

Actually I received support from day 1 of thinking about the final project, I got all the support I could need and shared my ideas with my peers.

I learned from my peer's projects how can I use rack and gears to make many elements move with one servo motor, the thing that I could have made if needed

Also my instructor helped me a lot in debugging the errors in the programming code and reach the final code for the project and also helped me a lot in the implementation phase and the connections.I was always getting back to my instructor in every time I got stuck and I've always received support and advice.

Overcoming Challenges

9. When you got stuck, what/who did you turn to? At what point did you have to pause to research or learn more before moving on? What are some mistakes, pitfalls, or challenges that others can avoid if they were doing this project?

I got stuck in the way i should let the louvers rotate and the servo motor fixation. I turned to my instructor who helped me a lot understanding it and making the fixation of the servo motor with the louvers base without any gears, racks, holders. It was the easiest way for me and the most understandable. He also helped me in the fixation process by widening the openings in the servo horn to let a screw with 3mm diameter get through it and get fixed with nuts. Alll i needed was to make 3 holes in the llower plate of the louver to make 3mm diameter circles for each servo motor.

Future Work

10. If you had more time, what is one thing you would change/ Do next in your project?

If I had more time i would have achieved the complete features (louvers responsive to temperature) and the nice to have features (make louvers responsive to motion in case of night mode for privacy) . Also I would have completed the fabrication of the 2 other louvers to complete the design

Complete User Features

  • The louver could also interact with the temperature

    • Action: Servo motor

    • Sensing: Temprature sensor

    • User Input: The system can be controlled by a mobile software in case of manual mode



Nice-to-have User Features

  • The louver interacts with motion at night to achieve privacy

    • Action: Servo motor

    • Sensing: Microwave sensor

    • User Input: The system can be controlled by a mobile software in case of manual mode



Project's Files