This week we met several times to work the NOSE. We started Design Safe and are working individually on our own time to get it completed. Additionally, we have been troubleshooting our code and trying to get the linear actuator and the pressure sensor to run with the same code. If we are unable to accomplish this soon, we will resort to using two separate arduinos. One will run the linear actuator and one will run the pressure sensor. We realize that this is not ideal, but to the time crunch we are planning on using this as our backup plan.
We have started to validate our project with the pressure sensor gauge and the spirometer. However, during this process, we ran into issues with our linear actuator and getting it to move the bellows at a rate similar to that of tidal breathing. We worked to change this in various ways: code manipulation, voltage sources and changing the location of the actuator on the fulcrum of the bellows. We will continue to work on this, but realize that with the amount of time we have left, we may just have to concede on this area of our project and put the rest of our focus into measuring a pressure change with and without the NED. If we can compare these values to baseline (of whatever rate we can get the bellows to move that is closest to tidal breathing), we feel that we can still validate our project and meet the needs of our client.
Over the weekend, we plan to continue validation and putting the final touches on the project. We also want to get moving on the paper as soon as possible.
Best,
Taylor, Nick and Cassie
This past week we have been able to make some progress on the build of our project. After our meeting with our Client on Friday, we attempted to get our code to work with the actuator. During the course of us troubleshooting the actuator, we accidentally shorted out the actuator. This was determined by performing a voltage test via a Triple Output DC Power Supply tool provided by Professor Widder. We ran several tests and even when the proper current and voltage needed to run the actuator (based off of it’s specifications) were applied, we still did not get movement from the actuator. We then asked our client to order another actuator and it should be arriving 4/6/18.
Additionally, we made progress on our mechanical drawings for the NED holder and the frame of our project. We now have a wood furnished box that was built by one of our team members that serve as the frame and hold the bellows.
During the week we had two group meetings. During the first meeting, more progress was made on the mechanical drawings. Additionally, we were able to make progress with the pressure sensor as we confirmed that it works with the new Arduino Uno we purchased. We edited some pre-existing sample code that both confirmed that the sensor was reading the expected atmospheric pressure as well as confirmed our conversion from Pascals to cm H20. During these trials we were also able to confirm that the sensor was able to detect the pressure changes while expanding and compressing the bellows. We were able to get a change of 10 cmH20 with these manual trials.
Currently we are having trouble sending our CAD drawings for the NED holder to our client. The threading that we have on our designs is somehow not included in the files when our client opens them. We plan to meet with our client on 4/6/18 to clarify this issue. Additionally, we may be making some modifications to our NED holder designs to minimize the amount of material we use to print them.
We hope to get the actuator to work early this weekend so we can begin the final verifications and validations as soon as possible. We also plan on purchasing some sealant this weekend to help create more airtight seals to help validate the project.
We have also started organizing the spec sheets and created an outline for our final report.
Have a great weekend!
Best,
Cassie, Nick and Taylor
This past week has been incredibly busy for us in terms of our build process. Our group meet with our client twice over the past week. The first meeting with them was to update them on our goals for the verification and validation process. We also wanted to confirm that the NED holder was up to par with what they were envisioning for the project. They recommended that we add threading and use a more airtight material to print the NED holder. Our clients have access to more 3D printing material so we will plan on sending them our CAD file and they will print out another version of the holder for us.
The remainder of the week was spent troubleshooting and becoming more acquainted with the sensors we are planning to use as well as the Adafruit board. We briefly got a pressure sensor to work with the Adafruit board. We ran into some issues getting multiple sensors to work together during to the hardware of the sensors themselves but came up with the idea of just needing one sensor. Our plan is to have a brief calibration period for the sensor to take the ambient pressure prior to the NOSE being run and using that value as a baseline to subtract from the values during trials with and without the NED. This new plan has been approved by our client and still is meeting the need of our client. Also while troubleshooting the sensor the Adafruit started having issues. Upon more research it appeared that the Adafruit board’s firmware had become corrupted. This lead our team to make a change and use the Arduino Uno as our microcontroller.
After clearing the use of the Arduino Uno with our client, he taught us how to solder the motor board to the pins so that it can be used with the Arduino Uno board. We started working with our actuator as well. We briefly got it to work as well but then were unable to replicate it again. We spent the remainder of our Friday meeting troubleshooting trying to figure out the voltages and currents supplied and needed to get the actuator to move. Our plan this weekend is to continue to troubleshooting the actuator and pressure sensors.
Have a great weekend!
Best,
Cassie Davis, Nick Kasparie, and Taylor Pemberton
After returning from Spring Break our group has met to discuss the feedback we received from Kristina on our Verification and Validation paper. Our group has also planned out the remaining meetings for the rest of the semester to complete this project. We have a few tentative dates and are probably going to be adding more meetings as needed.
Today our group is planning to meet with our clients to confirm our verification procedures as well as the validation process discussed in our paper. We are hoping to also meet our third client, Kevin Stock, who also works with Brad and Steve on the NED devices. We are also planning to show them the current NED holder we have printed.to receive feedback and suggestions as to how to improve it. We are also concerned about the dilation problem we addressed at the start of the semester and we are wondering how this is going to play a role in pressure changes and how to account for it. We also are planning to invite our clients to BME Day now that the date has been confirmed. Additionally, we want to add to our calendar any additional times our clients want to meet and check in during this build process.
This weekend our group plans to work on the code to get both the pressure sensors and the actuator working.
Have a great a weekend.
Best,
Cassie Davis, Nick Kasparie, and Taylor Pemberton
This week, our group completed the PowerPoint presentation for the Validation and Verification Report and presented on Wednesday. Additionally, we have scheduled another meeting with our client for Friday, March 23rd during which we will discuss our progress in the assembly of our product. We have all of the parts we expect to use, and we will be begin final assembly as well starting to write the code to control the actuator and complete testing of our pressure sensors after coming back from break.
Best regards,
Nick Kasparie, Cassie Davis, Taylor Pemberton
This week has been primarily dedicated to writing our Verification and Validation Report. As a group we met several times to discuss how to divide up the paper, how best to verify the NOSE and to make edits the paper. Many of our major updates, as well as our verification/validation plans are discussed in our paper that we turned in this past Friday. Many of our plans to test our product will involve spirometry testing and we will have to plan with Professor Widder times we can borrow her equipment. Additionally, we are planning to put a lot of effort in the coming weeks into developing our Adafruit code to run both the pressure sensors and linear actuator. We also received the linear actuator from our client this week as well.
Our goals for the coming week is to help Nick prepare for the V&V presentation. We also hope to meet and develop a schedule prior to spring break to ensure our verification and validation plans are accomplished by mid April to ensure that if any problems arise we will have time to fix them.
Have a great a weekend.
Best,
Cassie Davis, Nick Kasparie, and Taylor Pemberton
This week we continued evaluating the bellows system. We experimented to test if the bellows would be able to move the proper volume of air now that the system no longer has the spring in it. We performed these tests using a spirometry set-up in Professor Widders lab and found that manually we are able to move the bellows with enough force that the volume change would be consistent with our needs. We compared the the data with preset data in the spirometry program as well as data taken from Cassie breathing in the spirometry system. We verified that the bellows will be sufficient for the goals of this project and thus no longer have the concern of going back to the syringe idea. Also given that manually not much force was necessary to move the correct volume of air through the bellows our group looked into various actuators.
In our other meetings later in the week we discussed and finalized the actuator we want purchased and we received confirmation from our client that it has been ordered. We did rough estimates based on fulcrum analysis to confirm that given the speed and force that the actuator can perform at, will result in the rate and with the proper force for the breathing mechanism desired by our client. Taylor and Nick also finalized the CAD drawing of the NED holder and a first draft was printed through STS. The print went well, we may have to make some minor modifications to maintain an air-tight seal but the overall design fits both the NED and the tubing well.
Also in our meeting we discussed the direction of our paper and plan on meeting over the weekend to continue working on it. We hope to have a draft early in the week to bring to Kristina’s TA hours.
Furthermore, using the spirometry equipment has lead us to consider including a spirometry sensor into our system but that is something we plan on bringing up in our next meeting with our client. Over the next week we will continue to research and evaluate the pressure sensors since that was the initial want of our client. We also plan to complete the paper and help Nick prepare for his presentation.
Have a great a weekend.
Best,
Cassie Davis, Nick Kasparie, and Taylor Pemberton
This week was spent building off the progress we achieved last week. As mentioned in our previous update we met with our client Friday afternoon and discussed the design ideas associated with the bellows. In our meeting with our client, we resolved the issues of how to reseal the bellow. We have decided that the spring that comes with the bellow needs to be removed and thus discovering that the metal ring around the bellows can be removed has solved that dilemma. Thus now we can remove the spring and if necessary be able to place any other internal components. We also discussed how to create an air-tight seal in the other channel of the bellow because we are planning on only using one channel.
Also in our meeting we discussed how to assemble some of the circuitry with the adafruit parts and our client recommended how to download the most up to date adafruit program through arduino. Furthermore, our group discussed some modifications for the NED holder and the connection to the tubing. We took these suggestions from our client and intend to modify our initial CAD drawing this weekend. We also discussed the placement of sensors and that is something we plan to test this weekend.
We had a meeting early in the week as a group and discussed plans of how to experiment with the bellows and the pressure sensors this weekend. During that meeting we remembered a lab we had in QP 2 about breathing and flow and realized that we may be able to measure flow through the bellow. We contacted Professor Widder about being able to use the parts from that lab and she has set the equipment necessary aside for us to use this weekend.
Thus our goal for the coming week is to get a sense for the flow of air through the bellows, the amount of force to compress and recoil the bellow, and how to use the adafruit pressure sensors. Furthermore, once this experimenting has given us some results we plan to order an actuator. Lastly, we will try to print our CAD design of the NED holder.
We are also hoping to schedule a meeting with Professor Yin for this coming week (2/19-2/23) to discuss the direction we are going with our paper. Please let us know your availability.
Thanks so much,
Cassie, Nick and Taylor
This week has been rather productive for our group. We received the Adafruit parts and bellows that we had our clients order. In our meeting this week we made sure to take inventory to confirm we received all the parts that were ordered and to add up the costs so far in our budget. Also in our meeting we took some time to understand the different Adafruit parts we ordered and attempted building a few circuits. Our teammate Nick found an Adafruit app for cell phones and this is now something we are considering adding to our project if time permits. Furthermore, we realized that given the complexity of our design we are going to have to look into the possibility of having multiple microcontrollers and how to run simultaneous codes.
Additionally, a lot of time was spent brainstorming how to most effectively use the bellows that we have ordered. We dismantled one of the bellows we received to act as a practice bellow to see what types of modifications are possible. Thus our goal for the next week is to determine the most effective way to open the bellows to add the necessary components to the inside of the bellows and to recreate an air-tight seal. We are also looking into options of drivers that would be strong enough to compress and cause an effective recoil of the bellow.
We have also developed a general CAD drawing of a potential design for the NED holder that will connect a range of different sized NEDs to a broad spectrum of hoses. We intend to ask our client for a practice NED that we can borrow for the duration of the prototyping and will start planning with Professor Widder when we can print the first iteration of this NED holder.
We plan to meet with our client today to present them with the information and design ideas we have so far.
We are also hoping to schedule a meeting with Professor Yin for the week of the of 2/19-2/23 to discuss the direction we are going with our paper. Please let us know your availability for that week.
Thanks so much,
Cassie, Nick and Taylor
Due to the rather dramatic change in our design we met up this week to redesign our project. We now have sketches that include a bellows system, rather than a syringe, as the air chamber of our design. With this change we needed to consider other components such as motors instead of a linear actuator to control the bellows system. Now that we have a new design in place, we should be ready to start prototyping this design once the parts come in. We are also waiting on the CAD sketches of the NED device itself so that we can begin to sketch the component that will house the NED. This part of our design has not changed.
We have been in regular contact with our client and the transition from the syringe to the bellows system has been well received by Brad and Steve. They are excited about this change and are anxious to see what we have come up with.
Thanks,
Taylor, Nick and Cassie
At the end of last week we met with our client to discuss our design plans and verify what they wanted from the project. We also spent time discussing the budget and they requested that we have a parts list, with individual prices of each item turned into them by Wednesday. They will be using this information to request funding from the NSF. We also set up another meeting with our client on February 9th to check in on our progress with the build of the project.
On Monday of this week, we had a Skype conversation with Professor Yin to discuss the feedback from our Progress Report. After conversations with our client and Professor Yin, we have decided to go in a different direction with our design. We will be using a Bellows system to model the respiratory system, as opposed to the previously agreed upon syringe idea. We see a lot of potential in this design.
We turned our parts list in to our client on Wednesday and are excited to start building our project as soon as the parts come in.
Thanks,
Taylor, Cassie and Nick