Progress Reports - EE 492
*click on the period buttons to see pdf report
This is the first period of the semester for EE492 and is the first three weeks of the semester. We had our first meeting with out faculty advisers on 1/26 and discussed what the current status is of the project, what we had completed during the first two weeks of the semester, and our current goals and timeline for the project. We also met with our EE492 professor George Amariucai to talk with him about the project and what he will be expecting from us as the semester goes on. Overall, he likes the project and feels that we are making good progress.
This period consisted of work on the PCB and enclosure designs, beginning work on Raspberry Pi base station, as well as some more testing of the charging circuitry and charging coils/antennas. PCB design has almost been finalized and is waiting on the inductive coil circuit to be completed in order to have an initial prototype be sent off for fabrication.
During the third period we have finalized the PCB design for the circuit excluding the charging portion, contacted Linear Technology about the current being drawn from the chip. It looks like we may need to change the chip that we are using. More communication with the representative from Linear Technology later in the week. Finalized the design for mounting the PCB to the enclosure. Further testing with the inductive coils on power efficiencies and output.
During the fourth period we decided on parts and ordered them to build our initial prototypes. Unfortunately, the parts were late on the shipping and arrived while we were all gone during spring break. We changed the design of the induction coils as well as the charging chip that we are using to regulate the charging current for the battery. We finished the enclosure design for the nodes that do not use the wireless charging.
During this period, we have received the PCBs and components that are to be placed onto the PCBs. We have finalized the enclosure design and ordered prototypes for testing. Mitch has soldered the PCBs using the reflow oven in Coover. We had our second meeting with George for the semester and delivered our presentation to him. A new version of the charging circuitry has been chosen and testing is underway. The new charging chip has come in as well and testing has begun on it.
During this period, we have finished designing the PCBs that include the charging circuitry. We are waiting for the PCBs and the components to come in. We have begun testing with concrete and parts have been ordered to create our final prototypes. As a group, we created and finalized the poster design and submitted it for review. Work has started on updating and finalizing the documentation for the project.
During this period, we finished putting together the PCBs and enclosures to ready them for final presentations and demonstrations. The team finished the documentation for the project and made the final changes to the presentation that will be given to the industry review panel. The poster was finalized, sent off for printing, laminated, and mounted to a board for the final demonstration.